Grew up scampering around the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and North Carolina but soon found that the higher mountains of Colorado would be the ideal setting to challenge himself as a mountain guide. At the age of 19, Jeff packed up his truck and relocated to the Front Range of Colorado where he started his love affair with the Rocky Mountains.
Jeff spent years playing and working in the mountains cultivating the skills necessary to guide successfully at a high level. He spent 5 summers in Alaska working as a guide on Mt McKinley as well as a Search and Rescue Ranger for the National Park Service. This was a critical period in Jeff’s development as a guide in challenging situations at extreme altitudes.
Early on, Jeff accepted the role as the primary guide for blind athlete/climber Erik Weihenmayer. Together, they problem solved methods of travel and communication to tackle the hardest climbing and mountaineering projects any disabled athlete had ever attempted. Some of their more notable ascents include Mt McKinley, El Capitan, Leaning Tower, Aconcagua, Mt Athabasca, culminating with a successful summit of Mt Everest in 2001 that gained much international attention as the first successful blind summit of the highest mountain in the world.
Somewhere squeezed between his years of mountain guiding, Jeff found time to finish his training as an Emergency Medicine Physician Assistant. He has focused his medical training even more with an emphasis on travel and altitude medicine, stressing safety and health on every one of his trips.
