This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (January 2011)

This article appears to be written like an advertisement. Please help improve it by rewriting promotional content from a neutral point of view and removing any inappropriate external links. (February 2011)

Adrian Ballinger is a fully certified IFMGA/AMGA guide (one of only 70 in the USA), certified through the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA Rock, Alpine, and Ski Certifications). Ballinger has been guiding full-time for 15 years, and has led over 100 international climbing expeditions on 5 continents. In 2004 Ballinger founded Alpenglow Expeditions, a mountaineering guide service specializing in high altitude guiding worldwide. Alpenglow Expeditions is the first American guide service to require AMGA/IFMGA certification from its lead guides, and is known for its small groups, low client:guide ratios, and top-quality logistics in all the countries they operate. Ballinger is also the lead Everest guide for Himalayan Experience—or HIMEX—considered by many as the premier 8000-meter peak guiding outfit in the world. Ballinger, along with HIMEX's founder, Russell Brice, has been featured on the Discovery Channel’s Everest: Beyond the Limit series. Ballinger has emerged as one of the premier high-altitude mountain guides in the world, leading clients up some of the world's biggest mountains. During the 2010 climbing season on Mt. Everest, Ballinger summited the mountain twice in 3 weeks, first on May 5 and then again on May 22. On his May 5 summit, Ballinger was the first non-sherpa of the season to summit, achieved while fixing ropes, replacing anchors, and removing old ropes from the mountain in partnership with 9 sherpa. Also in 2010, Ballinger led an Alpenglow Expeditions Clean Up Expedition on Ama Dablam. This team, along with summitting the mountain, removed thousands of feet of old fixed rope from the route, along with hundreds of pounds of trash from the camps. They also provided outreach to sherpa and members of other climbing teams to teach the use of human waste disposal kits while on the mountain, and donated human waste disposal bags to many of those teams. In 2011, he repeated his feat of summiting Everest twice (May 5 and May 20) in only a few weeks and added his first summit of Lhotse (May 26) to that schedule as well. Ballinger has led successful expeditions to more than 25 Himalayan summits over 6000 meters, including eight ascents of Ama Dablam—a highly technical 6800m peak next to Everest. Since 2007, he has guided clients to the summit of Everest 3 times,^[1] Manaslu 3 times, and has guided on Cho Oyu. Ballinger has also guided extensively on many of the world's iconic peaks, including Kilimanjaro (13 times by 4 different routes), Denali (by the West Rib), Alpamayo (14 times by 3 different routes), Huascaran Sur (3 times by 2 routes), Cotopaxi (more than 30 times), and many other expeditions including multiple ascents on Orizaba, Huayna Potosi, Quitaraju, Chopicalqui, Chimborazo, Cayambe, Mt. Blanc, Island Peak, Lobuche Peak, Mera Peak and many North American peaks. Ballinger's personal ascents include technical alpine-style climbs on the South Ridge of Pumo Ri, the West Face of Cayesh, and the NE Ridge of Huascaran Norte. Ballinger also ski, ice, and rock guides in his dual “hometowns” of Squaw Valley, California and Chamonix, France (with lots of time in nearby La Grave), guiding in the Mt Blanc region for Chamonix Experience. Ballinger is sponsored by Marmot, La Sportiva, Edelrid, and Kaenon Polarized. Ballinger has been featured in many magazine articles and industry papers.^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Adrian Ballinger - Guide profile

Ingrid Backstrom is an internationally ranked professional skier from Seattle, Washington.^[1] Born August 21, 1978,^[2] Backstrom graduated from Whitman College in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts in Geology.^[3]

Backstrom established herself on the freeskiing scene through her performances in Matchstick Production's 2004Yearbook and 2005 The Hit List.^[4] Since then she has been featured in several other ski films including Warren Miller's Impact (2004),^[3] Mark Obenhaus's Steep (2007)^[5] Matchstrick Production's 'Seven Sunny Days' (2007)Claim (2008)'In Deep' (2009) 'The Way I See It'(2010) and 'Atack of La Nina' (2012).^[6]

Backstrom was the only female to be featured as one of Powder Magazine's Future Big Mountain Heroes in 2002. She has gone on to win several other awards for her performances in ski films including "Best Female Performance" and "Breakthrough Performance" at the 2005 Powder Magazine Video Awards.^[7]

References[link]

External links[link]

• ingridbackstrom.com

This biographical article about a person from Washington involved in sports is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e