Tactical Alpinism

Silas Rossi is an IFMGA guide, Instructor team member, on the Board of Directors and President of the AMGA. He was recommended as a guest due to being a good guy and a great instructor. Previous guest Dave Leydet says "Silas-ism's" are what he routinely relies on when making decisions in the mountains.

Scott Johnston and Maury Birdwell are both incredibly experienced mountain athletes and endurance Coaches for both military selections and people that want to go bigger in the mountains.  Maury currently holds the fastest known time on the Diamond of Long’s Peak, a 1000’ rock face that climbs at the grade of 5.10 and is usually a 12 hour or longer outing for most parties. He completed it in just 3...

Snow has started to fall throughout much of the Western US and Europe, so this discussion is timely. Today’s guest is Doug Bernard. He is a Green Beret who is also an avalanche instructor, certified ski guide and apprentice alpine guide. He has been operating in the mountains for a long time. It also took me a while to get him to agree to talk on the podcast. He is one of those silent professional...

Alyssa is a professional Ultra runner who specializes in distances over 100 miles. She has won the San Diego 100, HURT 100, Moab 240 and starting during COVID, set a Guinness world record for doing 95 marathon in 95 days, many of those on a treadmill.  Codi is an active duty US navy engineer and diver, a split boarder and an aspiring professional ultra racing crew member. They currently are living...

Austria is well known for their mountain warfare training courses, and expertise. Their program has a deliberate and specific progression from zero to Mountaineering. This episode's guest is a certified Austrian Military Mountain Guide and has been teaching Mountain courses in Austria for a long time. The main difference between an Austrian Military Mountain Guide and IFMGA Guide? The climbing mov...

This episode is an overview of several different courses and certifications that we can search out to gain more experience and expand our safety margin in the outdoors. Recreational Courses include: Outdoor Rock Climbing Backcountry Skiing/Riding Avalanche Education Mountaineering Professional Courses Include: Avalanche Pro Courses AMGA Mountain Guide Progression

Is mountain warfare training relevant as we look at how warfare is changing? This is part 2/2 with LTC Nate Fry. Nate is the current commander of 3-172 Mountain Infantry in the Vermont National Guard. Additionally, he is an Infantry Officer, AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide, Assistant Alpine Guide, Avalanche PRO2 and Avalanche Educator. He was the 2023 Edelweiss Raid Team Captain and previously worked a...

LTC Nate Fry is the current commander of 3-172 Mountain Infantry in the Vermont National Guard. Additionally, he is an Infantry Officer, AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide, Assistant Alpine Guide, Avalanche PRO2 and Avalanche Educator. He was the 2023 Edelweiss Raid Team Captain and previously worked at the AMWS for three years as the executive officer and training officer. General Anderson’s Paper: https...

Arthur did not take a straight path to joining the military, in fact he was inspired to become a PJ because he was rescued and treated by one on Denali. To join the email list send a note to... Email: info@tacticalalpinism.com IG: @tacticalalpinism

Christian Beckwith is a veteran alpinist, climbing historian and host of the Ninety-Pound Rucksack, a podcast about the US Army’s 10th Mountain Division and the dawn of America’s $1T outdoor recreation industry.  The 10th Mountain was an unprecedented unit of World War II climbers and skiers who trained for more than two years in the Colorado Rockies to fight the Axis powers in extreme cold and mo...

Christian Beckwith is a climber, skier and self-dubbed climbing historian... whatever that means. He is currently researching and publishing a podcast about the founding of the 10th Mountain Division. Follow his work over at the 90 Pound Rucksack Podcast, @beckwithchristian on instagram and at www.christianbeckwith.com.

Dave is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army who is is currently conducting PhD research on conflict in high mountain Asia, with a secific focus on the impacts of climate change within the mountains. Since mountains are one of the primary terrain features that makes up borders, understanding how people within the environment are affected, react and make decisions as conditions change is important....

John Littleton served for a time as an enlisted member of the Navy. He is now an AMGA certified ski guide and one of the lead instructors for training AIARE avalanche instructors in the US. In this episode we discuss his transition out of the navy, feeling of being purposeless and then finding skiing again. Eventually he turned that into becoming a professional ski guide and continues to seek cont...

CSM Jay Levy and SSG Zach White share their experiences from training in Alaska to operating in the mountains of Afghanistan. Including the impacts of the mountain environment on Soldiers and their equipment and the value of building from simple to more complex repetitions.

Tactical alpinism is intended to expand your ability to go bigger in the mountains, with an expanded margin of safety. To do this, guests will be sharing their experience and expertise so that you can maybe apply something that you learn to your own mountain objectives and missions. 
 All views and opinions expressed are those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent the stance of any enti...