The ISM Team

Time to meet the core team of ISM. All Guides hold the International Carnet of the UIAGM / IFMGA and have worked with ISM for many years. We meet several times per year to review the course programme and make decisions on the running and direction of the school. We are introduced here in alphabetical order.

Aaron Beardmore

Aaron grew up and learned to climb and ski in the small mountain town of Revelstoke in British Columbia. He has climbed extensively in the Canadian Rockies, memorable ascents including the NE Buttress of Howse Peak and an ascent of Slipstream on the East face of Snowdome. Aaron is a Canadian member of the IFMGA who travels to Europe for the alpine season to work with the ISM team. He has a dedicated approach to instruction and guiding with an easy-going, good humoured attitude, and feels this maximizes the guests' mountain experiences and learning. He values the international experience that both guides and guests bring to ISM courses, and feels this is cultivated by the school.

Gary Dickson

One of New Zealand's leading and most experienced IFMGA mountain and Ski guides, Gary has been professionally guiding for 15 years (5 of those with ISM). As well as running his own guiding company in New Zealand he is a Mountain Guides Senior Examiner and NZ alpine cliff rescue expert. Gary is a year-round mountain professional enjoying the diversity working in both hemispheres. He is a brilliant coach on the technical aspects of mountaineering and exudes competence in all situations in the mountains. A dry sense of humour makes him great company and he takes pride in running good fun, well organised trips that fit well with clients' needs and aspirations. He feels that ISM does this to a high standard and is proud to be continuing the spirit and traditions of the school.

Thomas Hallen

Thomas grew up in Sweden but has lived, skied and climbed in the Alps for the last 17 years. He began to ski aged 4 (!), and love of skiing inspired a move to the Alps where he became the first Scandinavian to qualify through the Swiss Mountain Guide scheme.

An outgoing personality and a deep knowledge of Switzerland and its mountains make Thomas great company, both on and off the mountain. He guides year-round, spending the winter ski-touring and off-piste skiing all over the Alps and, since 1998, the summer season working with ISM. Thomas feels that ISM is a unique set-up in the Alps because of the knowledge and experience of the ISM team coupled with the exchange of information between guides. His own skills as a linguist combined with great enthusiasm for guiding make Thomas a special person to climb with and a valued new member of the ISM team.

Eira Hughes

Eira runs our UK office and is most people’s first contact with ISM. She was born and raised in Snowdonia by parents who both loved the mountains (her mother Joan climbed Mont Blanc in 1948 aged nineteen). As well as climbing with friends since her early teens, Eira has joined a great many ISM courses and has considerable first-hand experience of how mountain guiding operates on the ground. This is a huge strength when discussing plans with clients. We know from our ‘Feedback Forms’ that clients greatly appreciate Eira’s friendly and ‘approachable’ nature and this, combined with a formal training in business management, makes her an ideal person to take the major role in the administration of ISM.

Steve Jones

Perhaps the most experienced British guide working in the Alps, Steve has lived in Switzerland for more than 20yrs. He is a member of the Swiss Guides association as well as the British Mountain Guides. Having climbed and travelled in most parts of the world, Steve has made the Alps his home and is particularly knowledgeable about the lesser-known areas. As one of the first British guides to ski to a high standard, Steve has specialised in skiing and ski touring and is an acknowledged expert on avalanches (training fellow guides in avalanche awareness skills). He also has a major role in devising and running our summer Haute Routes.

Pat Littlejohn

Raised in Devon where he developed a lifelong passion for sea-cliff climbing, Pat had notched up more first ascents than any British climber when he took over directorship of ISM in 1983. Well known for a ‘clean climbing’ ethic and adherence to the lightweight, ‘alpine-style’ approach he has a worldwide portfolio of first ascents including the NE Pillar of Taweche (Nepal), Raven’s Pyramid (Karakoram), Poi N Face (Kenya) and Kjerag N Buttress (Norway). Having qualified as a teacher and worked in outdoor centres in the 1970’s, he enjoys passing on the skills acquired over four decades of climbing and is keen to ensure that mountaineering’s unique ‘spirit of adventure’ is kept alive within ISM.

Steve Monks

Certainly the most famous international climber to have come out of his home town of Bristol, Steve now lives in Australia outside of the alpine season. He is renowned in the local climbing scene for an appetite for exploring and pioneering many climbs in some of Australia's wildest places - such as the incredible "Totem Pole" sea stack in Tasmania. Steve has climbed in the Alps almost every season since 1977, notable achievements including the first British ascent of the ‘Supercouloir’ and the second British solo (there have only been two!) of the Eiger Nordwand. .He still climbs to an extremely high standard on both rock and ice - when climbing with him you can’t fail to learn a lot and his boundless enthusiasm is sure to rub off!

Adrian Nelhams

During his 10 year commitment to the team Adrian has played a key role in the development of ISM. He has made numerous first ascents with clients on ISM's Virgin Peaks expeditions and also on icefall climbing trips to the Canadian Rockies. His mountaineering experience is worldwide and includes major routes in the Mt Cook region of New Zealand, El Capitan in the Yosemite Valley, peaks in Nepal and 'grande courses' in the main alpine areas. With rock trips to Australia, across America and throughout Europe, Adrian has a real breath of knowledge and experience - and an enthusiasm and love for the mountains which has a great effect on the people who climb with him.

When not travelling and having adventures abroad, Adrian spends his time with his family or climbing and cycling at home in the Lake District.

Terry Ralphs

Terry learnt to climb on the gritstone edges of the Peak District then after graduating from Leeds University he decided to make his living in the outdoors, moving to North Wales to work at Plas y Brenin before guiding in the Himalaya leading treks and trekking peak expeditions. Terry now guides through the winter, spring and summer in the Alps and loves the changes of activity that each season brings. He feels that the wide-ranging programme of ISM gives him variety in his guiding work that would be difficult to find elsewhere. In his free time he remains a dedicated enthusiastic climber with a penchant for long and sustained rock routes such as those in Yosemite and Spain. He has a craftsmanlike approach to his climbing with a precise and controlled technique – whether on ice or rock you can learn a lot just by watching him climb.

Victor Saunders

While based in London and working as an Architect Victor rose to fame in the mountaineering world by making a number of ground-breaking expeditions to the Himalaya with the likes of Mick Fowler, Steve Sustad and Andy Parkin. The Golden Pillar of Spantik is perhaps the best known of these climbs. Gradually mountaineering began to take over his life and he decided to qualify as a Mountain Guide. He has been with ISM since 1996, combining work with his passion for the hills in all its forms; from high altitude mountaineering to ski touring and rock climbing. He has written two books about his expeditions, one of which (Elusive Summits) won the Boardman Tasker Award for mountaineering literature and he is currently working on a new book in between work and expeditions.

Anders Swensson

Anders was one of the first group of Swedish mountaineers to qualify as Mountain Guides and he has been working as a full time Guide for ten years. Before joining ISM he lived and worked above the Artic Circle in Sweden where he specialised in heli-skiing and explored many remote ice climbs, most of which were first accents. He also climbed and guided extensively in the Lofoten Islands and other areas of Norway. In recent years he has spent the winter months in the Alps where he guides off-piste skiing and ski-touring and helps to run ISM’s ice climbing programme. On the mountain Anders exudes competence and experience and is a great man to be roped with whether in summer in the Alps or high in the Andes where for the past two years he has guided ISM expeditions.

Mike Wright

Based in the Alps all year round, Mike has been a skier from childhood and a highly motivated climber for the past 15 years. He does everything to a high standard – rock climbing to the 7c grade and climbing ED2 routes on big alpine faces. He loves exploring new terrain with friends and has made first ascents in Greenland, South America and the Himalaya. Mike is a great guy to climb with, and his philosophy as a mountain guide is to give clients unforgettable experiences and open the door to the world that he loves.