PMG's 2026 Winter Adventures and Stories
- Pika Mountain Guides Office
- Jul 25
- 6 min read
A fanfare winter of building guest experiences and memories, and dreaming of the future!
Here at Pika Mountain Guides, the 2026 winter and spring was a huge success! We had so many of you come out for local ski touring as well as our European ski adventures. It was so great to spend time with all our guests, skiing, laughing, and growing through our winter and spring programs.
The highlight of this season was spending more time with our returning guests, watching their excitement and joy out in the backcountry. We also welcomed new guests, with whom we became fast friends. Some of our trips consisted of groups who were looking to share new experiences with their friends, and others were a splendid mix of individuals who formed supportive, energetic and super fun crews and it was just pure joy to guide all of these groups. We even had an all women's group come out and enjoy 6 days of ski touring in Switzerland with us!
Wilkommen - los geht's (let's go)!
2026 PMG Swiss Hut-to-Hut Ski Tours
Our European ski adventures began with back to back Swiss Hut-to-Hut Ski Tours this past April. For six days our guests skied on the vast glaciers of the Berner Oberland with overnight stays in alpine huts, where we refueled with homecooked meals and looked back at our freshly carved tracks. We experienced almost perfect weather on both our trips, which boosted our choice of ski lines, but at the same time accommodated for the energy and skill levels of the team. Some days we simply enjoyed long descents on the glaciers, while other days we opted for steeper lines, each day ending at a hut with incredible views, hot delicious meals, and a bed to call our own.
A special part of these Swiss ski tours was the opportunity to work alongside another female guide, Barbara, who was also Swiss. With two Swiss female guides at the helm, we were able to tailor our terrain choices to the skill and goals of each individual guest. It's rare that guides in the US work together in the field, let alone two women side by side - female guides make up only 10% of all American guides. So, this was an amazing experience for both Barbara and me.
The Hut Life - A Relaxed and Recuperative Affair
The huts in the Berner Oberland are mostly run by the Swiss Alpine Club. They provide overnight accommodations, include a 3-course dinner and breakfast, and offer additional delicious home cooked and local delights such as fresh baked pies and tortes, local beer, wine and spirits, and of course our favorite and a popular dish among ski tourers, "Roesti" - a mouth watering concoction of hash browns, cheese, egg, and ham. After 5-7 hours of ski touring, there was nothing more rewarding than arriving at a hut, ordering some refreshments and homemade food, and sitting out on the large deck overlooking the glaciers and the lines we just skied.
Importance of Teamwork and Group Dynamics
Each morning, we would depart the hut after a hearty breakfast, excited to get on our skis and start on our daily adventure to the next hut. Group dynamic and teamwork is essential on these tours, with sometimes long distances to endure, potential weather, and making key decisions along the way that are appropriate for the entire team. The main takeaway from these trips is that we had groups that worked so well together to make the day enjoyable for everyone, and we still accomplished individual goals. Through everyone's daily cooperation, support, and positivity, we were able to summit peaks, use our ski mountaineering skills, ski steeper lines, and tick off everyone's goals for the trip. Every day was an adventure filled with adventure, challenge, and joy.
Thank you to all our PMG guests that came out on these Swiss hut-to-hut ski tours and made it a trip of a lifetime for everyone! It was a real pleasure to introduce you to some of the best ski terrain in Switzerland!
2026 PMG Norway Ski & Sail
After our super successful Swiss Hut-to-Hut Tours, I flew up to Norway to meet my guests for a 7-day Ski & Sail adventure on a boat called Comrades, with our favorite Captain Dave at the helm. Even though the weather and climate is never predictable in this part of the world, I had reserved beginning of May to run these tours because it gave us the best chance of calm seas and blue skies. Once on board, we immediately settled in and made ourselves comfortable in our floating accommodations that would provide us with access to these amazing fjords and mountains for a week.
Our Guests
Our group this year was 7 guests, all individuals except for a couple - a great combo of 3 women and 4 men. As Pika Mountain Guides includes a local training day for guests who sign up for our Europe ski trips, most of the Norway group had met only once before coming on board. However, from the start, it was evident that these folks would be become a solid and supportive group helping to make our Ski & Sail a huge success.
We had so much fun skiing, sailing, fishing, eating, hot tubing and cold plunging, and I was truly amazed at the support, friendship, and energy this group exhibited on our trip. They arrived as strangers, but departed with the strong bond of friendship. It was a pure pleasure to guide this group!
A Slight Hiccup
I've run Norway Ski & Sail trips for 3 years, but this was the first trip that really tested my logistics and planning. While I arrived at the small airport in northern Norway two days early, I found that my ski bag had not! Being in such a remote location inside the Arctic Circle, I knew this was going to be a difficult situation to remedy. With no outdoor gear stores in the area, I was nervous that I wouldn't get my ski bag in time to leave port and I would have no gear to use on our trip. However, just twenty four hours prior to the Comrades setting sail, I found a local guiding company that rented me skis, and I ran into the ski guide who had worked the previous trip on the Comrades who lent me his gear (and ski shells, which might have added some style points to my outfit). To top it all off, our trusted Captain Dave gave me his hat and, in the end, I had all the gear I needed to guide, and in style, too!
Smooth Sailing
Other than my luggage snafu, the rest of our Norway Ski & Sail trip went incredibly smoothly. The weather and conditions enabled us to stick to our itinerary, and we found high quality descents from cold powder to spring corn, fantastic views for days, and the camaraderie on the boat was unforgettable. Thank you to all the guests who came out and helped create these long lasting memories!
Looking Forward to 2027!
With the success we had with our 2026 trips at Pika Mountain Guides, we foresee more amazing ski touring adventures next year. We will be running our Swiss Hut-to-Hut tours in the Berner Oberland again, but we aim to expand our Swiss tours to include the Urner mountain range as well. We return in May 2027 to Norway for our annual Ski & Sail trip, but for those guests who don't fair well long term on boats, we are adding a second trip which is lodge-based, and this will be earlier in the Spring.
Early Registration Recommended!
Our PMG Europe spring ski tours are very popular, and we had a wait list for our 2026 trips. We try to fill our Norway trips by early fall due to the logistics of boat rentals and the commitment of captain and crew, so we expect our roster to be full by October at the latest for the Ski & Sail trip. The Swiss Hut-to-Hut trips are expected to fill by early November, so for guests looking to join us on our PMG trips in 2027, it's time to start planning out next winter!
All information about Pika Mountain Guides ski tours and trips can be found online at www.pikamountainguides.com, and inquiries can be made by contacting us directly through the website, or emailing pikamountainguides@gmail.com. We can't wait for next winter's adventures to begin and are looking forward to creating more amazing memories with you!
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