Felix Berg, our CEO, lived a year in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, in 2002. Thereby he got to know the country and its people, and those who are capable of reliably organizing mountain trips and safaris. These long-term partnerships and dedicated teams are what make us stand out as tour operator in Africa. Our center for all tours in East Africa is logically located in Nairobi, a meanwhile extremely modern city. It is about 150km away from both Kilimanjaro like Mount Kenya and therefore an excellent starting point for safaris and mountain tours. In Moshi, Tanzania, we have established a partner agency that supports all our Kilimanjaro climbs. Our trips to Uganda, Central Africa and North Africa are organized or supported by reputable agencies in the respective countries.
Felix Berg has been involved as a trainer for the KWS (Kenyan Wildlife Service) Rescue Team since 2004, hence knows many of the rescue staff personally and the best climbers and mountaineers of the country. Duncan Nderitu is our most important asset in Kenya: mountain guide through the KWS program, he now our summit guide on Mount Kenya. He lives with his family in Naro Moro at the foot of the mountain and takes care of our mountain operations and staff. Together with our experienced kitchen team and the motivated porters - by the way all from the Kikuyu tribe - our local team in Kenya forms a top team. So your trip, whether trekking or climbing, will be a success - with many insights into the country and its people and a good atmosphere. Our Safari organizer and backup in Nairobi is Elvira: a Swiss woman who discovered her love for Africa, emigrated to Nairobi and took over a travel agency there and does our travel logistics management in Kenya.
Kilele means "summit" in Kiswahili, the national language of Tanzania. Since 2003 we have been working with Yitzhack Maasi from Tanzania. This extremely experienced and reliable man organizes and personally accompanies many of our trekking trips to Kilimanjaro. We also work with certified guides from KiNepa (Kilimanjaro National Park) and are committed to good working conditions for the porters. With "Kilele Climb" we helped Yitzhack to set up his own agency., and together with IVBV mountain guides we constantly train our local guides. Kilele maintains our equipment store with kitchen tents, lounge tents and sleeping tents - to offer the highest standard on the mountain - and operate classic safari excursions into the surrounding national parks with two of their own 4x4 Toyota Landcruiser safari vehicles. Experienced drivers, porters and a super kitchen crew will ensure that Kilimanjaro or your safari (translated: "journey") is a life-time experience well remembered.
Since 2009, when Felix Berg discovered the Rwenzori Mountains during a pioneering traverse from Congo (DRC) to Uganda, we regularly operate mountain treks and climbs in Uganda. He was supported by Bonifence Byamukama, who worked as a ranger in the Ruwenzori National Park and built up the central circuit of the trekking route, now Chairman of the Uganda Association of Tour Operators (umbrella organization of all tourism companies in Uganda). Bonifence with its agency Kitandara supports us logistically and with the selection of the best guides. We are very happy to be able to rely on Bonifence's excellent political connections when we are running complicated expeditions. Our base in Uganda is Kampala. From there we also organize all normal Rwenzori trips and safaris. Uganda is an adventurous country, the sensational gorilla tracking is a popular highlight for visitors. Our exploration trips to little known parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo complete our profile in East Africa.
Over many big expeditions and small treks, we have build reliable and long-standing partners in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, in Russia (unfortunately now closed to the terrible conflict), in Western China and Tibet/China (both reopening 2023 / 2024), and Pakistan. We are also proud to have some of the best country experts in our ranks, and reliable partner agencies. Along the entire Greater Himalayans, in the Karakoram, Pamir, Tien Shan and Caucasus we offer a variety of exciting treks, climbs and expeditions, and can accommodate individual tours.
The autonomous regions in China Xinjiang and Tibet host or border some of the highest mountains in the world (K2, Mount Everest). For these regions we have two different agencies, one in Kashgar and one coming from Nepal with CTMA (Chinese Tibetern Mountaineering Association): Both are highly experienced and give us good assessments on how to conduct expeditions in these areas. We recruit personnel and staff as far as possible as well as participants from abroad (Central Asia, Nepal) in order to maintain the usual high SummitClimb standard.
Our CEO Felix Berg was in Nepal for the first time in 2001, even before that US partner Daniel Mazur has been working with Murari Sharma and his agency Everest Parivar since 1991, and since 2018 we switched to bigger logistics with helicopter support and very comfortable base camps. Our specially trained and equipped Sherpa for SummitClimb treks and expeditions complete our team there. In the meantime, we are able to run a variety of tours in Nepal flexibly with or without European leadership, whether small trek or 8000m expedition. In Kathmandu, you operate our material warehouse with SummitClimb, we have other partnerships with lodges and deposit expedition material there. This is the only way we can realize our expeditions at these fair prices. In Nepal, we are involved in projects to support local schools, a health station and have helped to launch the Mount Everest Biogas Project, support Sherpa survivors. In these projects, some of our high camp Sherpa are active even after the end of their active mountaineering career.
In Pakistan, we are currently transitioning to the next generation of younger expedition providers. Previously, we worked with Nazir Sabir. He was the first Pakistani to climb K2, has been on expeditions with Reinhold Messner, and spent a term as a member of the Pakistani Parliament. His agency and staff are among the best in Pakistan. In 2014, this special collaboration began with the Broad Peak Expedition led by Felix Berg, Expedition Leader and Managing Director at SummitClimb. Since then, this collaboration fructified and in Skardu we store our own equipment for all types of expeditions, whether climbing, trekking or high-altitude mountaineering. Especially such a wild region as the Karakorum needs an extreme amount of expertise, timely and thorough preparation. Many of the world's most experienced climbers choose SummitClimb in Pakistan for the realization of their personal projects.
Many years we are already in Nepal, and so developed an extremely motivated and loyal team of Sherpas. They play a central role on all our expeditions in Nepal and China/Tibet, and increasingly in Central Asia and Pakistan: Thanks to them we have a very high success rate on the 8000m peaks. Jangbu Patale Sherpa is one of our "super star Sherpas". He has been on Everest 23 times, Cho Oyu 8 times, Ama Dablam 9 times, Baruntse 7 times with Summitclimb and our members. Mingma Sherpa, from Namche (Khumbu) is so experienced in leading trekking tours and expeditions that he has also led Kilimanjaro tours for us. For us it is absolutely clear that Sherpas not only carry loads, but climb with us to the summit and are fully untrusted members of the team.
Our Europe stretches from our head quarters in Switzerland to the Swiss mountains (alps inn generell) and France (pyrenees) to Mount Elbrus in Russia (unfortunately currently suspended in terrible crisis). The Alps are the home of many of our guides and a favorite vacation destination for many of our participants. At SummitClimb we focus on expeditions to the big mountains of the world, so "only" our preparation events and the ascent of Elbrus take place in Europe. Soon you will find here more information about our European teams and partners.
After cooperating with ALE since 2018, we have been on Antarctica with our own setup since 2022: Felix and Magdalena led a small expedition and climbed Mount Vinson, Mount Shinn and Mount Rossmann. With our expertise from explorations on the highest mountains in the world, we are well equipped to lead your expedition in the extreme environment of Antarctica.
We are a preferred guiding company for ALE, the only operator for touristic activity in Western Antarctica and therefore Mount Vinson. With more than 30 years of experience, ALE, the Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions LLC, is the leading provider of polar expeditions to the south polar continent of Antarctica. Founded in 1985, they are also the sole provider of flights to Union Glacier - they operate this "ice airport" - and Mount Vinson since the acquisition of Adventure Network International in 2003. We can arrange for you to participate in ALE expeditions, and draw on ALE logistics for our own expeditions. The back office of ALE is located in Salt Lake City, USA. In Punta Arenas, Chile, they have a seasonal office operated by their Chilean partner Red de Aventura a la Antártica (RAAL). Operations in Antarctica are extremely complex due to international agreements and the remoteness of the continent, and ALE is our reliable partner for Antarctica. Together with you, we organize the most remote adventures: the visit to the South Pole, ski crossings and the ascent of the coveted Seven Summit, Mount Vinson.
In South America we maintain good relationships with well-known mountaineers and mountain guides. Along the Andes, jungle, snow mountains, plateaus, coasts can be combined to diverse mountain trips. In the mountains of the Andes many well known alpinists started their career in the higher mountains, like our managing director and expedition leader Felix Berg in 2000 with a youth expedition in the Peruvian Cordilleras. Felix was on Kangchenzönga in 2002 with Ivan Vallejo from Ecuador ("Desafio 14" - ascent of 14 x 8000m, completed May 2008), since then one of our valued Summit-Climb-friends.
Aconcagua as the highest peak of the American continent, one of the coveted Seven Summits, is one of our focal points in the Andes. Maximo "Max" Kausch with Andes Specialists organizes our tours together with specific SummitClimb-picked guides. He runs one of the largest independent providers, and is our choice to climb Aconcagua. South America expert Max leads expeditions throughout the southern Andes range. Besides the Aconcagua we organize the exciting desert tour to the Ojos del Salados in Chile, ascents of the Mercedario in Argentina and in the whole Andes interesting 6000m expeditions off the beaten track. His expertise - evident, for example, in the fact that he is the only person in the world to have climbed almost 90 of the 120 mountains over 6000 meters in South America - together with our organization backup makes SummitClimb simply the first choice for any 6000 meter expeditions in South America.
Ecuador, land of volcanoes and contrasts: Amazonas, mountain worlds, Galapagos. Here, the Swiss Egloff family is our base: enthusiastic organizers and highly motivated sportsmen. Karl Egloff holds world records in speed mountaineering on Cotopaxi, many Andean mountains, and to 4 of the 7 Summits: Aconcagua, Denali, Elbrus and Kilimanjaro. Felix Berg was personally on Chimborazo in 2009 and 2015 - also to visit his friend Ivan Vallejo, an Ecuadorian mountaineering legend. The best local mountain guides - now also IVBV certified - lead many of our tours and help us on the mountain. For Galapagos and jungle tours, the Egloff family works together with nature specialists and selects the most suitable offer on request. Whether "pure mountains" or a comprehensive adventure and nature trip: with us you are in the best hands in Ecuador.