Overview and Background

Christian is a an amazing mountain athlete who has done harcore first ascents in Patagonia inlcuding The Dream (VII, 5.10, A4+) and has been featured in two Warren Miller films. He is a full-time ski mountaineering and climbing guide as well as an avalanche safety trainer. He owns Aerial Boundaries guide service, is one of two chief guides for Exum Guides and is sponsored by Marmot, Keen shoes, Mountain Athlete gym and and Tram Bar. The Tetons are his home range, but he's guided all over the world.

In this interview you'll hear Christian explain why he switched from snowboard to telemark to alpine touring and we'll talk about recent innovations in backcountry ski gear. Watchword of the year: rocker.

Christian also gives the lowdown three key avalanche safety practices that will help keep you alive in the backcountry this season.

He'll also talk about the guiding life, what he does to bring people along and improve their outdoor skills, and why clients who are solid skiers and mountaineers in their own right hire Christian. We also talk about how to stay motivated through a long season and always give your clients a great experience.

I also talked to Christian about the Global Community Project, a not-for-profit service learning organization he founded that takes kids to Chile for service work, such as taking a census of the endangered huemul deer. That work has also carried over into running Social Impact projects for the Wharton School of Business.

I wish you could hear this interview, but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway.