Guiding/Outdoor Experience

I’ve spent my life exploring wild spaces across the world, and have been empowering others as a guide since 2011.

As of Fall 2023, I have 216 days of guiding experience.

I currently guide for Andrew Skurka Adventures guiding off-trail high routes across the American West and Alaska.

Here is my technical experience log, which documents all major trips that I’ve been on.

Specifics (as of Fall 2023):

Backpacking since 2000 - 281 total days out, 80 days guiding, 2144 miles traveled.

Highlights include:

• 7-day off-trail Bailey Traverse in Olympic National Park (personal)

• 7-day off-trail portion of Skurka's Northern Yosemite High Route (personal)

• 5- day solo off-trail portion of Skurka's Wind River High Route (personal)

• offtrail travel to 20+ wilderness glaciers in Glacier National Park as part of my Glaciers of Glacier National Park Storytelling Project (personal)

• guided a 7-day traverse of Skurka’s Southern Yosemite High Route

• guided an 11-day offtrail route in Gates of the Arctic National Park for Skurka

• guided two 5-day and one 7-day trips offtrail backpacking routes in Olympic National Park for Skurka

Whitewater Boating since 2010 - 80 days noncommercial, 80 days guiding, 2054 river miles

Highlights include:

• noncommercially guiding an 18' raft down the Grand Canyon of the Colorado over 27 days

• an 84-mile packrafting trip down the Rio Grande, TX

• a 35-mile packrafting and canyoneering trip down the Escalante River, UT

Rock Climbing since 2011 - 186 days climbing, 21 days guiding, 646 total pitches climbed

Highlights include:

• Complete Exum Ridge of Grand Teton - 13 pitch 5.7 in the Tetons

• Iconoclast - 7 pitch 5.10c in Leavenworth, WA

• Rattletale - 3 pitch 5.10b in Index, WA

Mountaineering and Backcountry Skiing since 2011 - 223 days out, 35 days guiding, 48 mountaineering trips, 98 bc skiing trips

Highlights include:

• skiing Mt. Rainier in a day via the Fuhrer Finger

• climbing Mt. Rainier via Kautz and via Emmons

• Glacier Peak via Cool/Gerdine Glaciers in two days with a bivy on the summit - a more enjoyable idea in concept than reality

• Mount Baker via Easton Glacier

• Traversing the Ptarmigan Traverse on foot in WA (4 day)

• Skiing the Isolation (4 day), Chiwaukum (2 day), and Enchantments (2 day) Traverses in WA.

Recent Guided Trips

2023 - Guided three trips over 17 days in Olympic National Park (Washington) for Andrew Skurka Adventures

2023 - Guided an 11-day trip in the Gates of the Arctic National Park (Alaska) for Andrew Skurka Adventures

2022 - Guided a 6-day trip on the Southern Yosemite High Route (California) for Andrew Skurka Adventures

2023 Client Testimonials

• “Very in-tune with group pace, could tell how hard to push pace and how to keep pace manageable as a group. Great positive and supportive spirit. Brought much joy, laughter, and fun to our group while still being an encouraging and thoughtful guide who seemed to care genuinely deeply about each of us.”

• “Richard is extremely knowledgeable about glaciers, flora, river crossings, and backcountry travel, generally. His positive demeanor and boundless energy bolstered the group during periods of incessant rain.”

• “Not only was Richard knowledgeable and helpful, he really supported each individual in the group throughout the week and put others before himself. He also set great expectations at the start of the trip and helped us process the experience. I think he did a great job of keeping the group positive, even in hard moments and really helped the group appreciate the landscape and opportunity that we had that week.”

• “Richard helped to create a setting where people felt comfortable sharing and being themselves. Within a day on the trail, everyone was getting along great thanks to the leadership he set.”

• “His greatest strength IMO is that when people would share something (especially being vulnerable to the group) he was quick to respond and validate that person’s feelings and thoughts, making them feel heard and understood. He is a good listener and natural leader.”

2022 Client Testimonials

• "Richard had a broad knowledge of nature and backcountry skills. He's so articulate and patient with teaching, as well as truly curious about so many things. He's also super skillful on rocks, holy crap."

• "Great communication and decision-making. Also took excellent pictures!"

• "He's very skilled in reading terrain and selecting good routes up and over passes, strong physically, knowledgeable on the scientific side in geology, plants, history, maps, etc. He is also very personable and able to relate to clients' needs."

• "Mary (lead guide) and he did a great job asking what our goals were and making good efforts so that we all had opportunities to work at those goals."