Is Your Guide Certified?

Just like a surgeon or a pilot, you want your guide to have the best training. And proof of it.

Certification in the US is run by the American Mountain Guides Association. The AMGA is part of the 27-member International Federation of Mountain Guide Associations (IFMGA).

The AMGA has three disciplines of certification: ski, rock, and alpine. Make sure your guide is certified in the discipline they are guiding. For example, if you are hiring a ski guide, or taking an avalanche course, make sure they are ski guide certified. This AMGA certification is in addition to maintaining a current Wilderness First Responder cert, and Avalanche Pro 2 cert by the American Avalanche Association.

A guide certified in all three AMGA disciplines—ski, rock, and alpine—is internationally licensed by the IFMGA. They are known as an IFMGA Mountain Guide, or in the US, as an American Mountain Guide. This level is recognized in countries world-wide that have a culture of mountain guiding. Becoming an IFMGA Mountain Guide includes 86 days of courses and exams while training and gaining experience. Altogether it takes most guides 5-10 years to achieve.