Renata is happy to belong to this amazing company. She is friendly and outgoing, likes to make new friends wherever she goes, and always DOES AND GIVES HER BEST.

Tim is proud to be a veteran of 20 years of expedition leadership, both on the ground and behind the scenes. When away from Antarctica, he resides in rural Alaska, or travels the world. With fifteen Antarctic seasons under his belt, he can confidently say that he keeps returning partially because of the beauty of the environment, but mostly because of a fascination with the strange fauna that inhabit the remote outposts that many of us call home. Read Tim’s Staff Spotlight.

Martin has been Medical Director of ALE since 2003. He is a wilderness medicine specialist and ensures all of our guests remain safe and well throughout their time in Antarctica. Martin trained in Emergency Medicine and General Practice in Sheffield, and is now back there, having lived and worked in France and Spain. Life is busy with teenagers and dog, but he still loves to road and mountain-bike, ski and climb mountains 

Simon is a professional IFMGA certified Mountain Guide based in the French Alps. He’s worked around the world since 1987 and in Antarctica since 1992. Simon researches and maintains safe routes around our main camp at Union Glacier as well as assisting field teams with risk assessment and route planning. Read Simon’s Staff Spotlight.

Josh is a full-time, year-round guide, who splits his time between working in Alaska as a climbing guide and in Antarctica as a Travel Safety Manager. He began climbing in 1999 and moved to Alaska in 2003 because of its endless climbing potential and motivated outdoor community. He values teaching students outdoor pursuits skills and the science behind climbing systems.

Avi divides her year between Denmark, New Zealand, Greenland and Antarctica. Her work takes her onboard cruise ships and on land-based tours with guests. Her dream of Antarctica came true in 2016 when she started working for ALE. She has also done one season at the Antarctic Peninsula, where South Georgia was a personal highlight, but Union Glacier is the place that has stolen her heart.

Julia is from Boston, USA but has spent the past 10 years between the USA, Chile, and Antarctica. When she is not on the ice she is usually travelling, working with goats, and developing her skills as a medical interpreter. Read Julia’s Staff Spotlight.

Alan comes from England and prior to ALE, worked for the British Antarctic Survey for several seasons. He’s completed many overland tractor traverses across the continent and truly keeps our camp running as the head mechanic. If anything breaks, he’s the man that can fix it! Read Al’s Staff Spotlight.

Nestor was born and raised on the island of Borneo. He now resides in New Zealand and considers himself lucky to have the best of both worlds, tropical sun and sea, plus the cool weather. When not working for ALE he does chefing work all over New Zealand and at the North Pole during the Arctic summer.

Tim is our Logistics Manager, having previously worked in the mechanical services department and as the Ski Aircraft Coordinator and Assistant. In his free time, when not in Antarctica, he enjoys going scuba diving, four wheel driving and work maintaining his family’s farm property.

Lucy spends most of the year working as an Outdoor Instructor in the UK. She is based in North Wales in the summer and Scotland in the winter. She enjoys anything outdoors and is a keen mountain and road biker, climber, mountaineer and ski tourer – always with a smile on her face!

Larry has been guiding full-time since 2007, primarily on the mountains and rivers of Alaska. He also works on many safety, science and industrial support projects which have taken him around the globe. In his free time he likes to thaw out from the mountains in tropical locales.

Gerardo (Gordo) was born in Argentina, has lived in Svalbard, Norway and currently resides in Spain. He has spent last eight years working and living in Antarctica and the high Arctic, including as part of the expedition team on board expedition vessels. In his free time Gordo enjoys bike touring, skiing and discovering new beaches.

Fritz was born and raised in Flanders, Belgium. He studied Chemistry at the University of Leuven (KUL) followed by a postgraduate degree in Environmental Sciences. He began sailing at age 13 and became a passionate competitor in regattas, where meteorology played an important tactical role. This allowed Fritz to start working at the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium as an Operational Forecaster. He was then lucky enough to combine his two passions, working as a Weather Router for sailors as well as forecasting for Kite driven Arctic/Antarctic expeditions.

As one of ALE’s meteorologists, Marc provides forecasts for our intercontinental and ski aircraft flights, field camps, climbing groups and ski expeditions. When not working for ALE, he works as a meteorologist for the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium. He also has his own business called Facta (weather4expeditions.com), supporting operations and expeditions in remote places. Prior to working for ALE, he worked in Antarctica for the British Antarctic Survey and the Australian Antarctic Division. Read Marc’s Staff Spotlight.

Tony is from Australia and has worked for the Australian Bureau of Meteorology for 30 years, including several deployments to the Antarctic stations of Casey, Davis, and Mawson. He enjoys traveling generally, especially into the remote Australian deserts, and flying light airplanes whenever he can afford to.

Wesley began guiding in 1993 and His adventures have taken him to many of the world’s great ranges. He has always taken great delight in movement through interesting terrain. When not working, he finds himself ski touring, bike touring, and hanging out with his many canine friends.

Darren completed a PhD in geology and physics, before deciding to pursue a career in mountaineering and snowsports. He has been guiding/instructing for 25 years, being a qualified Mountaineering Instructor (MIA) and ski/snowboard teacher. Darren ran his own guiding service for 10 years, on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. He now lives in La Grave, French Alps where he runs French Alps Treks. This will be his 10th season with ALE.

Eli has been guiding in the mountains of Alaska for nearly 15 years and has been on approximately 50 expeditions in Alaska. He shares a simple, off -grid home with his wife and two dogs, in remote, McCarthy, Alaska. Eli is forever drawn to wild places and looks forward to exploring “Terra Incognita”.

Scott is an expedition leader and professional mountaineering instructor from the Highlands of Scotland. Before joining ALE, Scott worked as a field guide for the British Antarctic Survey, completing six summer seasons and two over-winters. Out of the Antarctic, Scott has led mountaineering and skiing trips to Mongolia, Greenland, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and other remote locations.

Pato is known for dishing up fantastic breakfasts and plenty of laughs in the Union Glacier dining tent each season. If you’re passing through Vina del Mar, Chile be sure to stop by his family’s restaurant, La Cuisine, and say hello.

Priscilla was born and raised in Chile’s Atacama desert and is always looking for new adventures, new books, new movies and new recipes. Her friends often call her the ‘Queen of Desserts’ because of her sweet tooth! Prior to starting the ALE season, Priscilla traveled throughout the year to explore what lies beyond the Andes Mountains.

Hernan is a Punta Arenas native and previously worked in the Falkland Islands as a tour guide for 10 years. He is the first member of the ALE team many guests meet, so look forward to a happy face, ready to greet you outside baggage claim at the  Punta Arenas airport.

Ricardo manages the Punta Arenas warehouse and coordinates the receipt of all our container shipments from Salt Lake City and transferring inventory on to the ice. Before joining ALE, Ricardo worked in airport operations.

Macarena was born and raised in Punta Arenas. She studied hotel administration and gained experience working for 10 years in Torres del Paine National Park, Patagonia Chile. She likes listening to music, watching movies, reading, and she loves drinking whiskey after a long day at work.

Moises is married and has a beautiful daughter. He is a truck driver and has driven fuel tankers, transporting hydrocarbons for the National Petroleum Company. He also has experience with building pre-fabricated buildings from the USA.

Ramón started as a driver for the company more than 20 years ago and helped set up ALE’s Chilean entity, Red de Aventura a la Antártica Ltda (RAAL) in 2005.

Mel oversees sales, human resources, and accounting. She works closely with our seasonal teams in Punta Arenas and Union Glacier to ensure all guests have a seamless experience.

Steph works closely with all future guests to answer questions throughout the booking process and prepare them for their Antarctic experience. She also serves as an Account Manager for many of our travel agent and guide company partners.

Jake joined ALE in September of 2022 on the heels of two years with the United States Antarctic Program. His time with USAP included one summer and two winters in Antarctica, where he served as a Heavy Equipment Operator on the South Pole Traverse and a Foreman/Operator for the maintenance, construction, and testing of Phoenix Airfield at McMurdo Station. Jake is from Patoka, Illinois, and he earned his engineering degree from nearby Kaskaskia College. His work experience includes LTL logistics management, logistics and inventory control management in biotechnology, custom wheat harvesting field operations management, and oil and gas midstream construction, testing, and maintenance. For recreation, Jake enjoys scuba diving, overland vehicle travel, 4×4 club involvement, and self-improvement in the form of continuing education, among other things.

Heather Bowers was born and raised in the sunny state of California. She graduated from Brigham Young University with a B.A. in public relations and a minor in business management. Heather started in the nonprofit world and transitioned to digital marketing in 2018. She lived for a time in Peru and has also traveled across Europe and Asia. When she’s not organizing and creating spreadsheets, she loves trying new foods, improv comedy, and mixed martial arts (MMA).

Before landing in Utah, Maya started her journey in Washington State. Her infinite passion for planning and travel took her to live across the states and discover the globe on adventures. Maya knows that preparation is a big part of any trip, especially for unique destinations like Antarctica. She works directly with guests, happily navigating them through the booking process and answering any questions that may arise. When she’s not nose-deep in research, Maya loves traveling outdoors, filmmaking, and writing.

Miri is the newest member to join the SLC team as a Travel Specialist. Miri is a Utah native with a passion for outdoor adventure. She earned her Sustainable Tourism degree from the University of Utah and spent five years as a river guide on the Snake River in Wyoming. In her free time she enjoys playing dungeons & dragons, volunteering at the aquarium, and spending time with her sister’s kids and her cat Bear.

Rachel has a degree in geology, and put it to use while working as a rock climbing guide, conservation volunteer, and filmmaker. She’s travelled to the remote regions of the planet, capturing our natural world and those who care about it. When she’s not making puns, learning about antarctica, or curating beautiful imagery, Rachel spends her time rock climbing, running, or working as a cinematographer

Also known as our “Chief Chippy”, Walt constructs all of our specialized structures and adapts equipment for use on the ice.

Mike was born & educated in Australia. His career began on MacQuarie Island as a geophysicist with an Australian expedition in 1971. He would go on to found Quark Expeditions and pioneer tourism transit to the polar regions with Russian icebreakers. In the late 1990s, he sold Quark in order to focus on new ventures in space travel and deep ocean exploration. He currently serves on the board of Space Adventures which offers space travel to the general public and operates Deep Ocean Expeditions which has coordinated dive expeditions to the Titanic, the Bismarck, and the Mariana Trench.

David visited Antarctica for the first time in 1976 with the British Antarctic Survey. After serving as Station Manager for BAS until 1984, he went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Polar Studies at Cambridge. Now he manages all of the environmental logistics and permitting for our operation as well as overseeing the Salt Lake City office, sales, and marketing. In addition to ALE, he runs Poles Apart Ltd where he and Nick Lewis worked together for several years, and which offers environmental and logistical support to many polar film projects including several Shackleton productions. David has been married for over 30 years and has two children; he resides outside of Cambridge and is an excellent photographer & bird enthusiast.   

Steve started with ALE as a field guide and then served as Field Operations Manager for 6 years. Working from the UK as the Expeditions Manager, he is the main point of contact for all independent expeditions and also contributes to the operations planning for each Antarctic season.

John is ALE’s Human Resources Manager, supporting our seasonal and fulltime workers around the globe. He believes a positive employee experience translates into a great experience for our Guests and uses his strong HR background to achieve this outcome. John is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he teaches Human Resources in the College of Business. Before moving to a career in Human Resources, John worked as a wilderness canoe guide, backpacking guide, and wilderness trip leader.

Rachel has been with ALE since 1992, first working as a field guide and guest liaison in Antarctica, then as Punta Arenas Operations Manager in Chile. She now supports a variety of ALE projects from her home-office in Squamish, Canada. Rachel is a life learner, who is grateful for the many learning opportunities and challenges she has had over the years – from experiencing Antarctica, to learning to speak Spanish, and building ALE’s first booking database. In her free time, she enjoys being in nature and managing local citizen science projects. According to her friends, she spends way too much time doing yard projects and cruising dog rescue websites. 

Kimbra hails from Wanaka in New Zealand. She has spent the past four years snowmaking and grooming at her local ski resort and the four years before that in various other mountain related jobs. Kimbra is a lover of adventures and good food, particularly when they are combined.

Ben grew up in a small New Zealand town and is passionate about the outdoors. He enjoys white water kayaking and skiing.

Nigel is a mechanic from Cumbria, England. He keeps the ALE vehicles and generators operational as well as providing ground crew assistance for flight operations on the blue-ice runway. Nigel first worked in Antarctica with the British Antarctic Survey in 1994 and since then has spent 3 winter seasons and more than 15 summer seasons on the continent.

Nick is originally from Wales and another British Antarctic Survey alum. He has an extensive climbing background and oversees our mountain and guiding operations on Vinson and in the Ellsworth Mountains as well as coordinating seasonal staffing. His favorite ALE experiences include Climb and Ski Antarctica which offer guests an authentic exploration that is totally unique. An environmental scientist by background, he worked on numerous polar and desert projects while a partner at Poles Apart. He met his wife while working on the Emmy Award-Winning NOVA Shackleton documentary. They now live in New England with their young daughter where they enjoy living close to the beach and the mountains.