Tested and Trusted In The Field

HMG ambassadors are testers, critics and storytellers of our products. Putting our gear through the paces of their explorations, these experts provide critical feedback helping to shape the final result. We build our products with confidence that they will perform in the world’s toughest playgrounds… where they start.

Visit our blog to read more about some of these ambassadors’ trips.

Forrest McCarthy

Whether by foot, rope, ski, mountain bike, packraft, camera or pen, Forrest's passion is the exploration, conservation, and celebration of big wild landscapes.

Visit Forrest's Blog: http://forrestmccarthy.blogspot.com/

Roman Dial

Roman Dial, professor of math and biology at Alaska Pacific University, pioneered adventure racing, off-trail mountain biking, canopy trekking, and is the author of "Packrafting! An Introduction and How-to Guide." A long-time Alaskan resident he lives in Anchorage with his wife, Peggy. 

Check out Roman's blog: http://packrafting.blogspot.com/

Lizzy Scully

Lizzy Scully has climbed rocks for 18 years. Her most notable ascents include the third ascent of Inshallah (VII 5.12 A1) on the 4500-foot wall Shipton Spire (19,500’) and the first free ascent of Bad Hair Day (V 5.12-, 1,800') on the South Howser Minaret, Bugaboos, which she and Heidi Wirtz did in alpine style in 2 days in 2002. Lizzy thrives on climbing light and fast, and has climbed hundreds of multi-pitch and/or alpine routes in her home “crag”, Rocky Mountain National Park. More recently in the past couple years she took up sport climbing and has discovered that she can climb 5.12. Lizzy also writes about climbing, and currently runs The Mountain Blog (www.mountaingear.com/blog) and ClimbingGreenland (www.climbinggreenland.com).

She has an MS in communications and has written for newspapers, online publications, and various national and international climbing magazines for more than a decade. She was a Senior Contributing Editor for both Climbing and Rock & Ice. As well, she founded the women’s climbing magazine, She Sends, and the nonprofit organization, Girls Education International (www.girlsed.org). Most recently the summer of 2010, she founded the small company MergeThis Media (MTM). She and two staff members manage social media programs for small businesses such as Stonewear Designs and the American Mountain Guide Association, among others. They develop and provide content for blogs and for the diverse array of existing social media platforms. Lizzy works and lives in Lyons, Colorado. She’s a practicing Buddhist, gardener, and she appreciates and loves her life, friends, and the mountains she has called home for the last few decades.

Steve Graepel

Steve Graepel spent the first 18 years of his life learning how to pronounce his name and has been in group therapy ever since. Probably best known for his controversial second place finish in the 1983 stare-down world championships, his loss is currently in arbitration (amidst rumors of the first place team doping on no-doze). A documentary of Steve's controversial loss will be airing this Fall on the Lifetime Channel. In the 90's, Steve made dozens of dollars in the first dot-com, but lost it all in an investment opportunity in Nigeria. Steve made a comeback, winning a masters degree from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in a card game on the Travel Channel and went on to publish his highly acclaimed scratch and sniff roadkill identification book, which sat on the NY Post top seller list for 15 minutes. If you don't count his mother, Steve has 5 friends on Facebook. He likes to spend his time plotting how and when he will go to space. Steve likes to drink Tang because it makes him feel closer to space and space related activities.

For the curious, it’s pronounced Stiev.

Additional facts about Steve:
Steve Graepel's adventure roots grew out of mountaineering and ultra running. With a full plate at home, he is in constant pursuit of quality over quantity, seeking multi sport adventures inside a long weekend, weaving packrafting, skiing, mountain biking, climbing and running. Steve is a medical illustrator and art director, and finds times to write and illustrate for National Geographic Adventure, Patagonia's The Cleanest Line, Trail Runner and Rock and Ice and OuterLocal. Steve's favorite piece of HMG is the tried and true Windrider pack.

Keep up with Steve: http://adventureblog.nationalgeographic.com/author/stevegraepel/

Chris Nance

Chris is from Texas, and beyond his wicked two-step, he loves climbing.  Rock or ice, sport or trad, alpine or mountaineering, he loves climbing.  He began climbing when he was 18 and after spending a semester in the Rockies with NOLS, he discovered his passion for alpinism and interest in guiding. Shortly after NOLS, Chris went to Alaska for the first time and has been going back every summer since.  He spends most of his time these days exploring the desert southwest, climbing new routes, and planning multi-disciplined trips. After spending time guiding ice and rock in New England Chris began working on the volcanoes of Ecuador.  He loves South America and has been climbing rock and alpine routes in Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina over the years. He has also been guiding clients in Antarctica on both Vinson Massif and Mount Shinn for the past 6 Austral Summers.  His love for exploration, whether in the form of new routes or new locations, is a driving force for Chris. Plus, climbing...on anything or anywhere, is just plain fun. Whether he is pulling down hard on some obscure boulder problem, destroying himself on a heinous off-width crack, or hanging on the side of a frozen cliff in Antarctica, Chris Nance loves it all."

Chris Minson

Minson is a jack-of-all-trades, meaning he is not very good at anything.  Instead he is marginal at a lot of things and prefers to mix-it up whenever possible.  Adventures that include bikes, skis, ‘biners, picks, or boats (and preferably all simultaneously), are what motivate him to get out the door.  Through a combination of dumb luck and hard work he is able to combine his interests in outdoor adventure with his alter-ego as an exercise physiologist studying environmental impacts on the human body and the limits of human performance.  The greatest adventure he’s undertaken involves attempting to find the perfect balance between family, work, and play. That, and trying to remain gluten/wheat free while heading into the hills with partners. Easily distracted by bright, shiny objects, he believes great adventures can be had close to home and are best shared with good partners.  He lives by the ethos of “a pound of weight expends two pounds of fun”.

http://physiology.uoregon.edu/people/minson

Luc Mehl

Luc grew up in rural Alaska and lives in Anchorage. He credits his village skill set for his success testing the limits of unsupported multi-sport wilderness travel. His recent trips include a 370-mile paddle/ski traverse from Yakutat to McCarthy over Mt. Logan (19,551 ft.) and a 200-mile bike/ski/raft traverse over Denali (20,320 ft.) In 2011 he became the first racer to win both the summer and winter Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classics, averaging 48 and 44 miles per day, respectively. Luc tries to capture his childish appreciation of mountain sports in his photo and video trip reports.

Check out Luc's blog: http://thingstolucat.com/

Amy Hatch

Amy is the owner of Jackson Hole Packraft &Packraft Rentals Anywhere, a company that rents packrafts both locally and throughout the Lower 48 and Canada. She is also the secretary of the American Packrafting Association, a freelance writer, ultrarunner, skier (alpine, telemark, skate and classic), mountain biker, and – most importantly – mom and wife. Now that backcountry adventures require packing for a little one, she’s more than ever a fan of lightweight gear. Never one to slow down (except maybe after an all-day or multi-day excursion), her latest project is Garage GrownGear, a website devoted to gear made in the USA and Canada. 

To learn a little more about Amy, check out this article written about her from summer 2012:  Amy Hatch on Entrepreneurship, Packrafting, Ultrarunning, Motherhood, and How to Balance it All 

Quinn Brett

Born in Minnesota, Quinn Brett is now 32 years young!  She began climbing casually in 6th grade with my her best friend, whose dad had a rope and some knot skills! Quinn fell in love.  As a youth she actually joined the local Civil Air Patrol because they had weekend climbing outings.  Quinn has an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Leadership from the University of Minnesota, a Graduate degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Colorado.  Along the way she has also acquired a teaching license in Secondary Social Studies Education, her Yoga Alliance Certification, is a Wilderness E.M.T and started her own guiding company Dovetail Mountain Endeavors.  Dovetail, founded in 2010, specializes in combined retreats with other local companies including; yoga, rock climbing, trail running, and hiking.  Quinn loves running and soloing the many ridges and climbs in her backyard of over 10 years, Estes Park, Colorado.  The former Female Nose Speed Record holder thrives on moving fast, sunshine, and laughter!!

Quinn climbs solid 5.12a/b everywhere from Arizona’s La Milagrosa Canyon to Rifle Mountain Park to long mountain routes in Rocky Mountain National Park. She’s climbed serious routes, such as Whiteman 5.11c on Lumpy Ridge’s Sundance as well as Spearhead’s mulit-pitch alpine rock route, All Too Obvious, 5.12a. She is also well versed in big wall climbing, and, with her partner, broke the NIAD Female Team record in June 2012, doing The Nose in 10:19. She thrives on climbing quickly. In addition to breaking the women’s Nose record, she has done a 37-pitch link-up on Lumpy Ridge’s various formations car to car in 7 hours. Her first go at Moonlight Buttress in Zion took 4 hours (with aid), and Touchstone in Zion in 7 hours. She also loves soloing long, easy routes as quickly as possible. She also regularly runs triathalons, races, and marathon or half marathons.

Visit Quinn's personal adventure blog at: www.lookstandbreathe.blogspot.com

Matt LaClair

Matthew La Clair “aka” Porter has been banging around the Adirondacks for over 30 years. After completing the 133 mile NP trail he was hooked on long distance hiking. He has since hiked the Long trail, Cohos trail, Ocala trail, Wonderland trail, West Coast trail and thru hiked the A/T in 4 months in 2011 ( also known as the A/T pub crawl). He is an ADK 46er and has 89 of the 115 peaks in the Northeast completed. He began his going light journey after carrying 55 lbs on the Long Trail. Porter was named so by A/T thru hikers because he was carrying such a big pack. After seeing Deva’s HMG gear he was hooked. His pack weight ended up at 22 lbs with water and four days of food.

Porter now believes in doing everything light. He will only drink a ½ pint of beer at a time, wear crew cut socks, hike with dehydrated water, won’t carry a toothbrush even when traveling by car and refuses to lug around a spoon.

Porter will continue to push light backpacking, hiking, climbing and pack-rafting.

Hendrik Morkel

Hendrik Morkel is a Wilderness Guide and author based in Finland. An ultralight backpacking evangelist, he doesn't limit himself to backpacking alone, but likes to mix it up and uses his UL skills and gear for various activities, from bikepacking and packrafting over climbing to skiing and ice-climbing. He likes to build communities and get like-minded people together, and is one of the founders of Nordic Lightpacking, a group of outdoor bloggers from Scandinavia; and is the mastermind behind the Ultralight Summit, a gathering of UL aficionados from across the globe. You can read more about his adventures at Hiking in Finland and follow him on Twitter.

David Ure

I began trekking in my youth, although most hikes were of the day variety.  Living in Western Canada, close to Banff and Jasper National Parks afforded me such opportunities.  But it wasn't until after my early twenties that I was determined to trek farther and longer into the back country.  Like many, my early gear choices were marred by packing things based on what 'could happen' in the back country.  Undoubtedly, it is easy to 'pack your fears' in gear weight and in my case, this resulted in 60 plus pounds for a weekend trip.  After a while, backpacking simply wasn't fun for me.  I locked onto lightweight backpacking about 10 years later and have never looked back.  What a pleasure to now carry 25lbs of gear, food, and water for a week in my HMG Porter!

Thomas Turiano

Climbing throughout North America, with many new routes in the Tetons. Many ski descents of peaks throughout the Greater Yellowstone area. Ascents of over 450 different mountains in Greater Yellowstone region. Numerous ski and packrafting traverses in the Greater Yellowstone area, southern Utah, Northern Rockies, and Alaska's Brooks and Hayse ranges. Mountaineering and ski guide with Exum Mountain Guides and Jackson Hole Alpine Guides for 27 years. Author of two definitive books on ski mountaineering and mountaineering: Teton Skiing: A History and Guide and award-winning Select Peaks of Greater Yellowstone: A Mountaineering History and Guide. Professional finger-style guitarist.

See what Thomas is up to: http://www.selectpeaks.com/

Nick Truax

Raised in New York’s Adirondack foothills, I have a life-long history of hiking, backpacking, skiing, canoeing, running, climbing, and exploring the outdoors.

My home is now Montana and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Whether it is climbing in the Tetons, backpacking in Yellowstone, or ice climbing in Hyalite, I have access to some outstanding countryside. Moving fast and light is how I enjoy traveling in the backcountry. I'm part of a small team at a locally owned business who curates a line of lightweight backpacking and alpine gear, and am always looking for the latest and greatest in terms of functional lightweight equipment. With this, I am pleased and honored to be working with HMG in the pursuit of better outdoor gear.

Keep up with Nick: http://www.nicktruax.com/

Beau Fredlund

Beau Fredlund is an aspiring backcountry ski guide, photographer and
videographer living in Silver Gate, Montana.  He has orchestrated many
wonderful ski mountaineering expeditions to places like Alaska, New
Zealand, Norway, Kyrgystan, and Kamchatka, but is especially fond of
adventure and exploration around the Greater Yellowstone.

Some of his stories can be found at www.cookecitychronicle.blogspot.com

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Mike Curiak

Mike Curiak helped to pioneer ultra-distance mountain bike racing in the '90s and '00s, and has worked tirelessly to continue the evolution of the genre.  He has chronicled the advancement of the sport in words and photos, and collaborated with manufacturers to envision and produce gear specific to such pursuits.  When he isn't building custom 29" wheels for an international clientele, he endeavors to spend his time outside, preferably moving to and through remote and austere places by mountain bike, skis, fatbike, packraft, or simply scrambling behind his faithful dog Fang off the beaten track.  He usually has a camera in-hand and loves to share stories and images from his travels HERE.

Moe Witschard

Moe Witschard is a funhog and avid adventurer. He lives in Bozeman, Montana and works as a photographer during the year and as a backcountry guide in Alaska during the summer months. Currently, his greatest backcountry passion is packrafting, which works really well with ultra light gear choices. He has packrafted extensively in Alaska, the northern Rockies, and in southern Utah. This past year included two weeks of packrafting in Bosnia and he just returned from running the Franklin River in Tasmania. His new goal is to find the best packrafting trip on each continent. To check out some of Moe's photographic work, check out www.moephotography.com . To see the types of backcountry trips that he guides, go to www.arcticwild.com.

Seth Timpano

Seth developed a passion for the outdoors while growing up and playing in the mountains of Montana. This combined with an affinity for travel and learning about unique cultures has led him on climbing trips throughout the globe including: Antarctica, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Alaska, Canada, Spain, France, Italy, Thailand, Nepal, New Zealand and is planning an alpine climbing expedition to Kyrgyzstan in the fall of 2012. When he is not out searching for his own adventures, Seth enjoys working as a mountain guide and teaching people the necessary skills to climb big mountains, in addition to leading expeditions around the world. Some of his more memorable summits include: Mount Huntington in the Alaska Range, Moses in Canyonlands, El Capitan of Yosemite, Artesonraju in the Cordillera Blanca of Peru, Mount Shinn in Antarctica and Cerro Fitz Roy in Patagonia

Todd Passey

As a professional IFMGA certified mountain guide Todd spends most of his time climbing and skiing in the mountains. When not  guiding Todd's personal passion is climbing alpine routes like the Cassin ridge on Denali and the Walker spur on the Grand Jorasses, or backcountry skiing in his "backyard" the Wasatch.

Check out Todd's blog: www.inthecompanyofguides.com

Glenn Charles

Traveling by bike, kayak, and packraft, I am an adventure traveller, writer and photographer seeking out new ways to explore the world, meet new people and grow as a person. In a quest to travel more than 50,000 mile by human power, my goal is simple, inspire both young and old to reconnect with nature and lead simpler and happier lives.  

To date I have traveled more than 15,500 miles using only human powered forms of transportation.  Highlights of the last three years include a solo 1,800 mile expedition from Seattle to Glacier bay via kayak; a 3,300 mile solo expedition to paddle the entire US Atlantic coastline; and almost 10,000 miles of solo bike expeditions through North America, Europe and Africa.

Follow Glenn's journey at: www.thetravelingvagabond.com

Marko Pujic

Marko Pujic is passionate about all things mountain. He has been climbing for over 15 years, with his first exposure to the alpine world in the Julian Alps not long after. Ever since he has been obsessed about being in and moving through the mountains. Originally born in Croatia, he is now chasing a vertical lifestyle out of Bozeman Montana. While the root of all his motivation is alpine climbing, he has spent the past few years putting up new mixed lines and aggressively crushing ice and mixed test pieces in Hylite Canyon near his home, and anywhere else water freezes in the Rockies. With recent trips to the Alps and Himalaya, this 'young beast at large' has only just begun to gain momentum.

Dave Lamb

When Dave isn't  controlling air traffic in the northeast, he and his family have split their time between the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the coast of Maine.  After spending his youth bicycle and ski racing, Dave has spent the last 17 years focusing on adventure racing through out the United States and places like New Zealand and Switzerland.  As the sport of adventure racing requires orienteering, mountain biking, kayaking, rappelling and trail running for sometimes week long races, Dave has focused on researching the most versatile gear and tweaking his equipment to shave weight where he can.

For more information on Dave's adventure racing team and how you can participate, see:  www.untamedadventure.com

Kai Larson

Kai Larson began climbing in the 1980’s back when 5.10 rock routes and WI4 ice climbs were considered “hard” instead of “moderate.”   Since then, he’s taken every opportunity to get out in the backcountry, escaping his full time job as a corporate lawyer to go climbing, backcountry skiing, backpacking, fly-fishing, and hiking whenever possible.   Currently, he’s enjoying the mountains and canyons near his home in Salt Lake City, with the occasional trip to Chamonix, the Cascades, Tetons, Canadian Rockies, or other mountain playgrounds. 

In spite of a climbing career that spans almost 30 years, he’s never done any hard climbs.  He’s not famous.  He’s a simple “weekend warrior” who loves to get outside whenever possible, whether it’s on a “moderate” trad route on Little Cottonwood Canyon’s beautiful granite crags, skiing backcountry powder in Colorado or the Wasatch, or on an alpine climbing route far from home. 

Kai authors a web site, www.mediocremountaineering.com, which is aimed at the not-so-hard-core outdoor enthusiast, who just wants to get out and push his or her own personal limits in the mountains.  

Ryan Jordan

Ryan Jordan is a university system expat and recovering engineering professor. He founded an online magazine and enthusiast community in 2001 (backpackinglight.com) but he spends most of his allocated time as an organizational development consultant with a focus on simplifying business processes and engineered systems. In his spare time, he's a Scoutmaster, adventurer, speaker, instructor, and wilderness guide. He guides private expeditions in the Northern Rockies by foot, ski, packraft, and tenkara, and was the first licensed guide in the United States focusing exclusively on teaching the tenkara method of fly fishing on Montana's Blue Ribbon trout streams. He has an unusual passion for big trout, but his best friend is still his wife, and they live in Bozeman, Montana. Their summer home is a truck with a canopy and platform bed that rambles up jeep roads into Wild Places in the mountains, where they can still live their dream: a dirtbag lifestyle without their clients, church friends and family finding out.

Visit Ryan online: http://www.ryanjordan.com/

Follow Ryan on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bigskyry

Matt Schonwald

Matt began skiing in New York’s Catskill mountains at 9 years old and a summer ski trip to Mt Hood inspired him  to move from New York to Washington State for college and he never looked back. Matt is a certified Ski-Mountaineering Guide with the American Mountain Guides Association and an AIARE avalanche safety instructor dedicated to perfecting his craft. He began his professional ski career in 1993 as a ski instructor and let his curiosity for steep, wild places lead him to a full time career as professional mountain guide. Matt found a way to combine his passion for travel, wild snow and big mountains by guiding trekking, climbing, skiing and making connections across cultural and linguistic divides around the globe in Antarctica, Europe, Asia, North & South America. He has made many technical climbs & ski descents in the Vinson Massif of Antarctica, Chamonix, Denali, Mt Rainier and Nepal. In an effort to help preserve wild places, Matt completed his MBA in sustainable business from BGI and started his own company, Back Country Adventure Guides. When not out trekking, climbing or skiing, Matt works on his own personal sustainability in Seattle with his wife, daughter and his snow dog.