Reliability, consistency, personality. Choosing a professional, especially one you will live with on a mountainside, needs those qualities . . . and more. When you take precious time out of your busy schedule and invest hard-earned dollars into a special adventure, you deserve climbing guides who are experienced, knowledgeable, certified – and also know how to tell a good joke! In the dynamic, ever-changing environment of international climbing and alpine adventures, you also want a company like Go Trek and its irrepressible leader, Craig Van Hoy. He has mountaineering, cultural and environmental awareness, and approaches each climb with contagious enthusiasm. Go Trek’s reputation has brought repeat clientele for both international expeditions and domestic trips – a testament that Craig and his climbing guides are simply the very best in the business.
Craig, born and raised in a South Seattle community bordering Puget Sound, began his mountaineering career as a teenager by climbing virtually every peak in the Cascades and Olympic mountains. His first international trip, made at age 20, was the ascent of a peak in the Indian Himalayas. Since then, he has reached the summit of Mt. Rainier more than 300 times and has personally lead more than 60 successful treks and climbs in Mexico, South America, Asia, Africa, Europe and Antarctica. Craig has participated on impressive expeditions to climb the world’s highest mountains including Mt. Everest from the north side in 1987 and again in 1991. In 1989, he was a member of the first American team to reach the summit of Kangchenjunga, the world’s third highest mountain.