Meet Our Guides

Tim, one of the founders, has been guiding and operating SWS Mountain Guides for over 40 years. He has over 100+ summits on Mt. Shasta and over 100+ on Mt. Whitney. As an avid backcountry skier, he has logged countless ski ascents on Mt. Shasta, Mt Lassen, and several Trans Sierra Ski crossings and various climbing and skiing routes in the High Sierras. Tim’s high altitude experience includes ascents and 40 plus international expeditions in Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Tanzania, Nepal, and Russia.

• AMGA Alpine Guides Course
• AMGA Certified Single Pitch
• Professional Climbing Instructor Guides Institute Certified Top Rope Guide
• Wilderness First Responder
• Certified American Avalanche
• Association Avalanche Instructor
• Pro 2 Avalanche Training
• Certification, Graduate from the
  National Avalanche School
• Leave Not Trace Certified Trainer
• Membership in the American Alpine Club since 1997.
• BA in Geography from Humboldt State University
• Tim speaks Spanish, is married to Emily White-Keating, and has a 22-year-old son; Joshua plays college baseball.

David is one of the principal owners of SWS Mountain Guides and has over 25 years of managing & guiding experience for SWS Mountain Guides. Dave is a veteran SWS guide, having over 100 summits on Mt. Shasta to his name. In addition, Dave has high altitude experience and International expeditions in Ecuador, Bolivia, Russia, and Argentina. Dave’s true passion, however, is climbing in the Palisades on mixed routes. A little-known fact about Dave is that he is a fantastic backcountry chef and can cook a mean couscous burrito. Dave is a graduate of the 10-day AMGA Alpine Guide Course, AMGA Single Pitch Instructor, holds a Wilderness First Responder (WFR), and is a graduate of the National Avalanche School and Avalanche Level I & Level II. In addition, he graduated from Humboldt University with B.S. Degrees in Biology, Zoology, and Oceanography. Dave lives in Mt. Shasta with his wife, Alana. They have three children Jarrod, Mariah, and Jesse.

Born and raised in Mérida, Venezuela, Kique grew up scrambling up 4,000mts peaks. Summers saw him taking 72hr bus trips to explore the Andes in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. After graduate studies in Switzerland at the ETH and in California at UC Berkeley, Kique completed a 15 yr career as a Program Manager at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory while leading 15 expeditions to South America. Since then he has joined SWS and his organizational skills, attention to detail, AMGA training, and in depth knowledge of the Andes have allowed him to tailor highly successful expeditions at all experience levels. Kique is fluent in English, Spanish, German, and Japanese. He is an AMGA Certified Rock Guide, AMGA Certified Alpine Guide, and an AMGA Assistant Ski Guide.

Tony started climbing in MT in 1997 after moving there for college. From then on, all he wanted to be was a climber. Tony started guiding in 2004 and became an AMGA certified rock guide in 2007. He has climbed fairly extensively in the American west and has found success on a few trips to Europe. Tony is a full time science teacher and is raising two children that will be better rock climbers than he is in short order. 

.

Dr. Emily Sagalyn-Brown is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine and holds the internationally recognized Diploma in Mountain Medicine (DiMM)

Dr. Emily Sagalyn-Brown is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine and holds the internationally recognized Diploma in Mountain Medicine (DiMM) training in glacier, high altitude, avalanche, and helicopter rescue. She is also the faculty of the DiMM program through the Wilderness Medical Society (WMS). Emily received her B.A. from Columbia University in New York, NY. She received her medical degree from the University of Massachusetts in Worcester, MA. She completed her Emergency Medicine residency at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA, and a fellowship in Wilderness Medicine and EMS at the University of Utah. While in Utah, she also completed her MPH. She serves on the board of the Wilderness Medical Society and earned their Fellowship of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine (FAWM). Emily has been the consulting physician for SWS Mountain Guides since 2010. She has provided wilderness medical care at the Kunde Hospital in Nepal, the medical clinics in Big Sky, Montana and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and various locations throughout Utah.

Winston Mueller – As a southern Oregon native, Winston has built his experience climbing rock and mountaineering in Oregon’s Cascade range and high desert crags.  Winston has been guiding with SWS since the 2021 season and plans to continue developing his skills and education through the AMGA all while guiding Mt. Shasta and rock climbing around the west.

Andrew was born and raised in Florida but quickly tired of swamps and alligators, and decided to trade it all in for bottomless powder days and splitter cracks. Since moving out west almost a decade ago he has dove head first into splitboarding and rock climbing and continues to look for bigger lines and harder climbs while exploring the ranges across the Americas. But always finds his way back home to the Sierra Nevada where he spends most of his time. The mountains are where Andrew feels most himself and while perfect turns and climbing big rocks is super rad, sharing the experiences with people and the knowledge he has gained in the mountains over the years is truly his passion.:

• AMGA Apprentice Ski Guide
• AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide
• AIARE Pro 1
• WFR (Wilderness First Responder)

Ben Rademacher – Ben has had a long time passion for the outdoors, starting as a young boy hiking and hunting through the forests of Wisconsin. The Navy brought Ben out West where the mountains captivated his imagination. While finishing his service in 2015 Ben began to look for a new adventure in life, having been captivated by the mountains of the West Ben started honing his mountain skills, further pushing his personal climbing and training as a professional. Guiding for Ben has allowed him to combine his passion for teaching with his love for the mountains. Over the last few years he has began to build his skills in the rock and alpine realm with an emphasis on big mountain exploration from the Sierras, Cascades and into British Columbia.with a desire to continue his AMGA Alpine and Rock training. 
“Climbing for me is relatable in many aspects of my life. It’s brings focus, commitment, trust, presence. I am at peace when climbing, totally immersed on the task at hand. The experience brings a feeling of accomplishment and yet a humble grounding to earth. It helps put the grand scheme into perspective and creates a human connection with your partners you don’t find everywhere.”

• Wilderness First Responder
• Avalanche Level 1 & Rescue Clinic
• AMGA SPI course,
• AMGA Alpine Guide Course
• AMGA Rock Guide Course, 

Bec is a passionate and skilled educator and has taught at all ages in public and private sectors. She has completed the triple crown, traveled a 500 mile exploratory route through the desert of Nevada, California and Southern Oregon. She has completed alpine routes in Yosemite, the Wind River Range, Inyo Mountains, Elkhorns, Steen Mountains, the L2H Route, and several volcanic circumnavigations. She has hiked well over 10,000 miles and spent hundreds of nights in the backcountry. More recently her passion has transitioned into the winter high alpine. Bec has climbed and skied every volcano in the Cascade Arc, and many in the Chilean Ring of Fire. She guides because she is determined to pass on knowledge to people who love, or will grow to love, the outdoors as much as she does. 

• Avalanche Level Pro 1
• WFR (Wilderness First Responder)

“Liz started outdoors hiking at a young age in California.  During college she took an introductory rock climbing course and fell in love with the idea of outdoor climbing while pursuing a biology degree in Washington.  After college, she joined a gym and skipped sport climbing and bouldering entirely when a mentor introduced trad climbing for her first outdoor experiences.  While developing her rock climbing skills, she also became more interested in mountaineering and started climbing increasingly technical peaks all over the Sierras.  She has  Wilderness First Responder and AIARE I certifications, and has taken the SPI Course.”

Hayden was fortunate to grow up surrounded by the Central Cascades and having much of his family either an outdoor educator or working to spend their extra time in the outdoors. Once he received his license and purchased a car much of his free time was spent driving to Smith Rocks to climb or exploring new trailheads and unfamiliar aspects of the Cascade volcanoes. After leaving home to attend college at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado the drive to spend more time within the outdoors grew. After two years enjoying and learning from professors and classmates he returned to Oregon due to his mother becoming diagnosed with ALS. While back home working towards a degree in Outdoor Leadership his professor encouraged him to seek an assistant guide position at SWS. Seven years later and Hayden is still with us. Since his time at our company he has explored 2,800 miles of Chile and Argentina by motorcycle. Worked for the United States Antarctic Program as a mountaineer and search and rescue lead. His most memorable time in Antarctica was spending a month and a half at 12,000 feet on Mt. Erebus assisting seismologists. Currently he lives in Tacoma, Washington volunteering for Tacoma Mountain Rescue while his partner completes her doctorate in physical therapy. 

Coming Soon!

James Brown, aka “JB,” was one of the principal owners of SWS Mountain Guides with over 20 yrs of guiding experience. After college, “JB” moved to the mountains of Wyoming and Utah to live his passion. JB has climbed or guided in almost every significant range in the US and four continents. He guided for SWS in the Cascades, Eastern Sierra, and Internationally. In addition to his guiding career, JB is also an avid backcountry skier and ski mountaineer. If you can’t find him skiing big mountain lines in the winter, you can find him teaching, guiding, or mentoring in the western mountains’ mountain ranges.

• IFMGA Guide
• AMGA Certified Ski Guide
• AMGA Certified Alpine Guide
• AMGA Assistant Rock Guide
• PSIA Alpine Instructor level II
• Certified Backcountry Instructor
• Avalanche Level Pro 2
• Board Member, Sierra Avalanche Center
• Leave No Trace Certification
• ADA Specialist
  JBs favorite trip to guide is Island Peak, Nepal.