Wally Berg

“Wally Berg is living the dream.  Acclaimed climber, recognized explorer, respected expedition leader, four-time summiter of Everest and tested veteran of more than one hundred ascents of the Seven Summits, he has gone where so many of us dared to think about while scampering around the Magic Mountains.” Defined by his peers as “one of the world’s premier mountaineers,” Wally is a member of a small, elite group of high-altitude climbers. He has summited Everest four times. Wally and climbing partner Scott Fischer were the first Americans to reach the top of Lhotse, the world’s fourth-highest peak.  With over 40 years of experience in the field, Wally dedicates himself to the educational and life-enriching values of mountain adventure. He is committed to building life-long personal and professional relationships within the diverse cultures in which he works on every continent.  “The real draw in mountaineering for me is mountain cultures, mountain people, living the way they’ve always lived.  I don’t think I would have climbed nearly as much if that wasn’t a big part of it.”     Wally Berg An interest in climbing germinated at the tender age of 16 while working with the Boy Scouts of America at the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. As Wally recalls, “I developed a love for living in the mountains, and sharing experiences in the mountains with other people, and since that time the taste for that life stayed with me.” In 2012 the Philmont awarded Wally the inaugural “Distinguished Staff Alumni Award” in recognition of his spirit of adventure and passion for learning espoused by the organization. This passion continued to grow as Wally became an instructor for the Colorado Outward Bound School. He worked his way up to International Course Director and Corporate Program Director. Wally proved himself a diverse and skilled employee, able to work with Fortune 500 executives and varied international cultures alike.  Wally’s interest in avalanche control and forecasting led him to work as a professional ski patrol at Copper Mountain in Colorado for 13 seasons. He was a Level Three Avalanche Control Route Leader and focused his efforts in the remote ‘Copper Bowl’ area of the ski resort. He also worked as an instructor for the American Avalanche Institute.  In 1986, at 31 years of age, Wally’s extensive experiences in teaching, guiding and climbing prompted him to empty his bank account and make his first trip the Himalayas. The goal was to climb Kangchungtse.  The trip  “… really opened up the doors for me to do what I’ve done – teach mountain cultures to others,” Wally reflects. During the 1990’s, Wally became the foremost “Seven Summits” guide, making it possible for many climbers to ascend the highest peak on each of the seven continents. A constant trademark of Wally’s expeditions is that every journey is undertaken with humility to the landscape and respect for local cultures.  Among the local Sherpas, he became known as “the quiet American.”  On May 13, 1990, Wally and climbing partner Scott Fischer were the first Americans to reach the top of Lhotse, the world’s fourth-highest peak. He also became involved in scientific and medical research projects.  With Wally’s inquisitive nature, tenacity and resourcefulness in wild places, his project-oriented trips surpass expectations.  “In the words of Bradford Washburn of the Boston Museum of Science, “Wally can get the job done! He knows how to handle bad - going up high.”  Wally guided the International Everest Expedition in 1992 and the American Everest “GPS” Expedition in 1998. On the later he installed a baseplate for a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver at Bishop’s Rock, just 40 feet below the summit of Everest, and activated a Trimble 4800 receiver to capture geographic data from the highest fixed point on the planet. In 2000, Wally’s “Embree Glacier Exploratory Expedition” in Antarctica (a prestigious Explorers Club “Flag Expedition”), surveyed a previously unvisited region of the Ellsworth Mountains. They completed first ascents and gathered data for NASA scholars at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  In 2006 Wally organized and led “One Team – One Mountain: Berg Adventures Everest Expedition”. The journey was highlighted by the spectacular ski descent from the summit of Everest by Kit and Rob DesLauriers, photographed by Jimmy Chin. An account of the expedition appears in the January, 2007, issue of Outside Magazine.   Peter Potterfield of Mountain Zone puts it this way, “While other veterans of Himalayan climbing are flashier, Berg keeps a low profile – and keeps getting to the top.”  In 2001 Wally founded Berg Adventures International which has become one of the world’s leading adventure travel and mountaineering companies. BAI offers expeditions to all of the Seven Summits as well as trekking and safari trips. Regardless of the destination, Wally focuses on the educational journey and a client’s personal goals and achievements. Berg Adventures International is a natural extension of Wally’s enthusiasm for unique projects, his love of scientific missions and his respect for local cultures and the landscapes in which he travels.  Noting Wally’s success as a “world class mountaineer, explorer and educator,” Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado bestowed upon him in 1997 an honorary degree of Humane Letters. Wally is only the third person in the institution’s history to receive such a degree. In 1999 he was made a Fellow in the Explorers Club. Wally is also a member of the American Associate of Avalanche Professionals, the Canadian Avalanche Association, the Wilderness Medical Society and the American Alpine Club.  “Wally’s success as an international mountain guide goes far beyond physical ability. His skill as an organizer, his ability to motivate his students and clients, and his ability to work effectively with  people from diverse cultures have provided the groundwork for his mountaineering achievements.” -        Walter Walter, Fort Lewis College, 1997  Wally’s dramatic photographs has been published in prestigious media such as National Geographic Magazine, Time Magazine Online, Wired Magazine, Mountainzone.com, Prentice Hall Publishing, US Naval Academy/Pearson Custom Publishing, Professional Surveyor Magazine, and in national magazine print ad campaigns.  “My mountaineering goal is to be an old mountaineer. That has two aspects to it. I want to continue to climb, walk and ski in the mountains all my life, as long as I can. And I want to be the sort of person  people can look up to in terms of experiencing the mountains. I want to be a role model for people who want to enjoy the mountains and help them benefit spiritually and physically from being there.” “Perhaps the pinnacle of Wally’s climbing career occurred on May 20, 1998, when, as leader of another Brad Washburn scientific expedition, he made his fourth summit of the world’s highest peak.  Wally stamped his name forever in Everest lore when he succeeded in installing a GPS receiver on Bishop’s Rock, the highest exposed bedrock in the world that allowed new measurements of the mountain’s height.  A day after other members of his team had failed to reach the top; Wally made a solo ascent, and then spent an unheard-of two hours alone on the summit drilling holes in the rock to hold the receiver in place.  A photo he took that day, “Shadow of Everest at Sunrise,” was chosen by National Geographic as the signature illustration for its article in May 2003 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first successful Everest climb.”              

Marketing, climbing, hiking, trekking, adventure travel, travel to Russia, travel to Nepal, travel to Argentina, photography, climbing Everest. climbing Aconcagua, climbing Elbrus, climbing Ararat, travel to Turkey