More than two years and sixty straight episodes for the Duffel Shuffle! Adrian calls in from a Nicaragua surf trip, and before getting into it, he and Sam touch on a rough week of accidents on classic trade routes (Mont Blanc, Huascarán, Rainier) and the FAA's new approval of drones for avalanche mitigation.

The real focus of the episode is a full roadmap for getting into climbing and mountaineering — for total beginners and for rock climbers eyeing high-altitude objectives alike. Adrian traces his own path in from age 12 on local Massachusetts crags through a college outdoor program that eventually got him to Ecuador at 17, and makes the case that adults break into the sport just as often as kids do.

• Sam and Adrian lay out where to actually build the skills: climbing gyms, guide companies, and clubs for the technical basics (ropes, knots, belaying, crampon work); 

• via ferrata's and plain time on trails for the underrated skill of moving efficiently on uneven, exposed terrain; and a progression from guided client to genuine climbing partner, built through repeat trips with the same guide or company. 

• And risk — how hazard and consequence combine, why mismatched risk tolerance between partners causes the most friction in the mountains, and why so much of a guide's training is really about risk management rather than technical skill.

Parting advice: don't overthink the big goal, find your first one, and give it a few real tries before deciding it's not for you.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast where you can learn more about us and our guests. Visit our website at www.duffelshufflepodcast.com and join our mailing list.

The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram to learn more.

Sam and Adrian open episode 59 with three news stories — a bolting controversy resolved (kind of?) on Snake Dike, the public comment window on the PARC Act's draft management plans, and freeride skiing's addition to the 2030 Olympics — before shifting into a full rundown of the Pakistan 8,000-meter season, now underway.

Following spring season in the Himalaya, climbers and skiers move on to the Karakoram range, with the season often starting in June and peaking in July before temps warm too much into August. 

• Why Pakistan Climbs in Summer Nepal and Tibet's Himalayan season runs spring and fall because their more southern latitude brings a powerful summer monsoon that makes climbing impossible — and increasingly, makes even the shoulder seasons too warm for features like the Khumbu Icefall to hold together. Pakistan's Karakoram sits further north and west, giving it a weather pattern closer to Europe or North America, with a summer window instead. That window is compressing too: teams are now pushing to finish by mid-July rather than mid-August as glaciers destabilize earlier each year.

• Nanga Parbat: A Season Already Winding Down — Except One Face Of Pakistan's five 8,000-meter peaks, Nanga Parbat climbs earliest, partly because it sits further south and is technically part of the Himalayan range rather than the Karakoram. The normal Diamir Face route is already falling out of condition. Meanwhile, a team is still attempting a new route on the Rupal Face — the mountain's massive alpine wall, home to some of the biggest lines in the world — in a pure alpine style (no camps, no fixed ropes, no pre-carrying gear).

• A Quieter Pakistan Season: War and Infrastructure This year's season is noticeably smaller. Sam and Adrian point to the ongoing conflict along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, which escalated sharply in February and forced expedition companies — including Alpenglow, along with Furtenbach Adventures and Madison Mountaineering — to sit the season out on safety and logistics grounds, while some Nepali operators chose to run smaller trips anyway. Beyond the war, Adrian frames Pakistan as roughly 20 years behind Nepal on tourism infrastructure: more avalanche exposure on routes like Broad Peak, and far less-developed logistics, hygiene, and food quality at base camp. He argues that gap will close, and that the Baltoro trek and Pakistan's climbing and skiing terrain — bigger, steeper, and less crowded than Nepal's — are worth experiencing before it does.

• Andrzej Bargiel's Continuous Ski Descent of Nanga Parbat Andrzej Bargiel completed the first continuous ski descent of Nanga Parbat, skiing from summit to snowline without a break — distinct from the mountain's first-ever ski descent (Hans Kammerlander, 1990s) and last year's Rupal Face descent, both of which included overnight stops partway down. Bargiel used drone-guided route-finding to link a new line through the Diamir Face's serac zones, avoiding a rocky section that has forced other skiers to remove their skis. The descent makes Nanga Parbat his eighth of fourteen 8,000-meter peaks skied without supplemental oxygen, putting him on pace toward being the first to ski all fourteen in that style.

• Remembering Guillaume "Gee" Pierrel A brief check-in following the loss of ski mountaineer Gee Pierrel on K6 a couple episodes back — his teammates are down safely, though no further details on the incident have been released.

• More From the Karakoram Playground A team of Italian climbers put up a new 30-plus-pitch mixed route on K7 without summiting, which Sam and Adrian frame as a legitimate new-route achievement independent of a summit push. More broadly, they note this year's smaller, less commercial Pakistan season is producing an outsized share of no-oxygen and new-route climbing — with K2's fixed ropes up to Camp 2, and Broad Peak and the Gasherbrums positioning for summit pushes as climbers stack peaks ahead of K2's mid-to-late July window.

Follow along on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast and visit www.duffelshufflepodcast.com to join our mailing list.

The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram.

Episode 58 brings the Duffel Shuffle audience back to the top story from the 2025 Everest Season. While both Sam and Adrian have been skeptical of the use of Xenon Gas that made headlines last season, the two sit down with Garth Miller, a UK-based airline captain and former British Army officer. 

In 2025, Garth was part of a four-person team that pulled off a London-to-London ascent of Everest in just 6.5 days, attributing their success and safety margin to the use of Xenon Gas. The conversation opened Sam and Adrian's own thinking on the substance and hearing the details behind their adventure connected some dots that had been left out in most of the media coverage surrounding their climb. 

• Garth first attempted Everest in 2004, turning back near the Second Step after a failed oxygen system caused repeated panic attacks. He returned in 2022, summiting Everest and Lhotse in a 21-day push

• In 2025 he joined a Furtenbach Adventures expedition with three other former British special forces members, training with 550–650 hours of pre-acclimatization before a single 25-minute Xenon exposure in Germany two weeks out

• The team framed Xenon as a safety tool for its neuroprotective and cardiopulmonary properties, not a performance enhancer, and pushes back on media narratives conflating it with doping

• Garth points out that other altitude aids already in common use — Diamox, dexamethasone — are also WADA-banned substances, complicating the "cheating" framing Xenon received

• They summited together after weathering a serious storm below the South Summit that sent much of their Sherpa team back down, and were caught in a Khumbu Icefall avalanche on the way up

• Garth sees client experience-vetting, not crowding, as the bigger lever for Everest safety, and notes the team raised over $500,000 for veterans' charities including Scotty's Little Soldiers

Follow us on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast and visit www.duffelshufflepodcast.com to join our mailing list.

The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram.

On episode 57, Sam and Adrian dig into two stories making waves in their respective corners of the outdoor world before launching into an unplanned fifth installment of Everest season coverage and a full listener mailbag.

Sam kicks things off with a story from his own week on Mount Shasta, where he watched runner Sarah Burke blow past his group near the summit and set a new women's unsupported FKT — Horse Camp to summit in 2 hours and 10 seconds, breaking the previous mark of roughly 2:13. The moment sends him down a rabbit hole into Shasta's surprisingly deep speed-record history, from John Muir's 4:10 ascent in 1874 to Norman Clyde's 2:43 in 1923, and into a broader conversation with Adrian about what "unsupported" really means when guided teams and other climbers are nearby to help if something goes wrong. 

Adrian brings his own story from Yosemite, where guidebook author Eric Sloan has added roughly 16 new bolts to the first three pitches of the famous Snake Dike route on Half Dome, shrinking runouts that once stretched 50 to 100 feet down to just 10 or 12. The move has reignited a long-simmering debate over who gets to decide how safe a historic climb should be, and both hosts land on the same conclusion: it's a conversation best settled locally, by the climbing community itself, rather than dictated from the top down.

From there, the two pivot into a story too big to leave out of the season: a fifth, unplanned Everest episode.

• Hillary Dawa's Six-Day Survival on Everest — A Sherpa originally hired as a Camp Two cook for the small operator Himalayan Traverse Adventure was put on a summit push he wasn't trained or equipped for. On the descent, with the team low on oxygen and one client struggling badly, Dawa was left seated near the Yellow Band while the rest of the group continued down — and no apparent search effort followed. He spent six days descending alone, fell into a crevasse near 18,000 feet and broke his femur, survived two days trapped before an avalanche gave him a way out, and was eventually spotted crawling through the bottom of the icefall by a trash-cleanup crew before being helicoptered to safety.

• What Went Wrong — and What Needs to Change — Sam and Adrian walk through the chain of decisions that led to the accident, from the irresponsibility of putting an undertrained worker on a summit push to the company's failure to search once he went missing. They push for changes that outlast this season's headlines: minimum experience standards at every level of a team, an independent rescue presence on the mountain, and government oversight enforcing basic rules at every camp.

• Listener Mailbag: Suffering, Decision-Making, and the Case for a Mountain Guide — Tying directly back to the Dawa story, Adrian breaks down how to tell productive suffering from real danger at altitude, using headache severity as a rough gauge. Both hosts agree that knowing where that gray-area line sits is exactly the judgment call a certified, IFMGA/AMGA-trained mountain guide is built to make — and what was missing on Dawa's team.

• Listener Mailbag: Quick Hits — Rounding out the episode: theft at high-altitude camps (rare for passports and valuables, more common as opportunistic gear grabs), training mental toughness through repeated exposure to difficulty and failure, Adrian's picks for a favorite 8,000-meter peak beyond Everest (Cho Oyu for safety and beauty, Makalu for those chasing something wilder), techniques for safely passing on crowded fixed lines, preventing snow blindness through consistent eye protection, and a candid rundown of how mountaineers manage GI distress at altitude.

With Everest properly wrapped, Sam and Adrian are turning toward guest episodes and the approaching Karakoram season, with K2 and the rest of Pakistan's big peaks on deck.

Follow us on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast and visit www.duffelshufflepodcast.com to join our mailing list.

The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram.

With the 2026 Everest season now officially in the books, Sam and Adrian are back for their fourth and final installment of Everest coverage, with Adrian calling in from Denver where the season's biggest stories have been the talk of the festival floor.

Before diving into Everest, Sam and Adrian each share a news story from the week. Adrian touches on the trending trademark lawsuit between outdoor apparel giant Patagonia and Pattie Gonia, the drag persona of environmental activist and outdoor influencer Wyn Wiley, unpacking the nuance on both sides and why two brands with nearly identical values find themselves here. Sam flags two recent search and rescue incidents in the South Lake Tahoe area, which leads to a spirited debate on satellite communicators vs. iPhone satellite messaging — both landing on the same conclusion: redundancy wins.

From there, Sam and Adrian cover the following from the 2026 Everest season:

- Bartek Ziemski: Story of the Season: No contest for Adrian. The Polish ski mountaineer — a software engineer with no social media — skied Lhotse without oxygen, rested briefly, then summited and skied Everest without oxygen as well, keeping his skis on from top to bottom. Adrian reflects on what it takes physically and mentally to turn around for a second no-oxygen 8,000-meter peak in a single season, and what Bartek's ascents mean for the next generation of Himalayan ski mountaineering.

- The Season by the Numbers: A record number of climbers, a record single-day summit of 274 people, roughly five fatalities — and what may be the best no-oxygen season on record with four successful ascents including Bartek, Kristen Harila, and Nirmal Purja. Garrett Madison notched his 16th summit, Kenton Cool his 21st, and Kami Rita Sherpa extended his record to 32.

- Aviation: The Season's Most Complicated Story: Drones moving thousands of kilograms of equipment over the Khumbu Icefall represent real progress toward reducing worker trips through the mountain's most dangerous section. But widespread abuse of the helicopter rescue system — with climbers faking medical emergencies to skip the descent — is a growing problem, and Adrian argues the current regulatory framework is failing.

- Three Climbers Stranded Above the Icefall: As of recording, two Americans and a Sherpa remain at Camp 2 after the icefall was decommissioned, waiting on a helicopter that weather has so far prevented from reaching them. Adrian weighs in on the decision-making that put them there — and what it says about following the rules of the mountain you're on.

- The FKT Question — Karl Egloff and Tyler Andrews: Karl turned around below Camp 4, staying true to his no-oxygen-only philosophy. Tyler eventually summited with oxygen in just under 10 hours. Adrian congratulates Tyler on seeing the full mountain but is direct: oxygen FKTs and no-oxygen FKTs are not the same record, and keeping that distinction clear matters for the athletes still chasing the real one.

One more episode is coming. Send your Everest questions via DM, YouTube comments, or the website — Sam and Adrian are planning a bonus listener Q&A before moving on to K2 season.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast where you can learn more about us and our guests. Visit our website at www.duffelshufflepodcast.com and join our mailing list.

The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram to learn more.

With the 2026 Everest season hitting its most critical stretch, Sam and Adrian are back for their third installment of armchair mountaineering coverage. 

Before diving into Everest, Adrian recommends HBO's four-part series The Dark Wizard on the life of Dean Potter, which has now released all episodes and has been making the rounds well beyond the climbing community. Adrian reflects on  his feeling genuinely moved by how elegantly the filmmakers handled the full arc of Dean's life, his struggles, and ultimately his death. Sam touches on a new GPS-based avalanche transceiver from German company Nivia Safety, claiming to speed up burial searches by up to 30% and set to launch in fall 2026.

From there, Sam and Adrian cover the following from the 2026 Everest season:

• Bartek Ziemski on Lhotse: The Polish ski mountaineer made only the second ski descent of the Lhotse Couloir — the first without oxygen, without new fixed ropes above Camp 3, and without ever taking his skis off, including finding a creative line through the icefall. Adrian, who made the first ski descent of Makalu and has a personal connection to Bartek, calls it one of the most groundbreaking Himalayan ski mountaineering achievements he's seen. Since recording this episode, Bartek went on to successfully summit and ski Everest without oxygen as well. 

• The First Summit Wave: The rope fixing team reached the summit and six clients followed before the weather window closed. Adrian celebrates the fixing effort while pushing back on the practice of clients climbing on rope fixing day — a habit that adds pressure to the team doing the most dangerous work on the mountain.

• Summit Windows and Crowd Management: With a record number of climbers on the south side and a compressed season, Adrian breaks down what the next 10 days look like, how teams are positioning themselves across two potential windows, and why he's always preferred a marginal weather day with fewer people over a perfect day with 150 climbers on the route.

• Speed Ascents, Kristen Harila, and No-Oxygen Attempts: A look at the notable storylines shaping up for the final push — including Tyler Andrews and Karl Egloff's contrasting acclimatization approaches ahead of their FKT attempts, and Kristen Harila's no-oxygen bid after summiting Nuptse without supplemental oxygen as a warmup.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast where you can learn more about us and our guests. Visit our website at www.duffelshufflepodcast.com and join our mailing list. The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram to learn more.

With the 2026 Everest season now firmly underway and the icefall finally open, Sam and Adrian are back for their second installment of armchair mountaineering coverage. 

Sam opens with a somber news section, paying tribute to two losses that hit close to home in the outdoor community: Bernie Rosow of Mammoth and Will Stanhope of BC, killed in separate incidents within days of each other. Adrian knew both casually, and reflects on what made each of them so magnetic — Bernie grinding away as a snow cat driver while somehow getting out more than anyone on the east side of the Sierra, and Will quietly pushing the cutting edge of hard trad lines in Squamish and around the world for decades. Adrian also brings a lighter story out of the Himalaya: a Russian and Ukrainian climber who headed to Manaslu in the spring off-season, found the mountain entirely to themselves, and hung it way out there in proper old-school style — a good reminder that the vast majority of the world's mountains can still deliver wild experiences. 

From there, Sam and Adrian dig into the following topics from the 2026 Everest season:

- The Icefall Opens: The threatening serac that delayed the season has partially fallen, a route has been threaded, and teams are moving — but the season is now running in the most compressed window of the modern era, with record permit numbers and a shortened timeline creating real human factors pressure.

- Drones on Everest: Last season's successful drone trials have hit a regulatory pause, and Adrian unpacks why that's both completely predictable and genuinely frustrating — and why getting drones properly established on the mountain may be the single most important step toward making the south side safe enough for Alpenglow to return.

- Topo's First Impressions and Season Conditions: Alpenglow guide Topo Mena has made his first carry to Camp Two on the south side with early reports positive. Adrian also notes the mountain is running unusually dry this season, which exposes hard ice on the Lhotse Face and adds challenge for everyone — including speed climbers Tyler Andrews and Karl Egloff, who are on the mountain chasing records.

- Listener Question — Does the Round Trip Count?: A listener asks the guys to weigh in on whether a summit counts if you don't make it back under your own power. Sam and Adrian don't hold back.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast where you can learn more about us and our guests. Visit our website at www.duffelshufflepodcast.com and join our mailing list. The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram to learn more.

With the 2026 Everest season officially underway, Sam and Adrian kick off what will be four consecutive episodes of armchair mountaineering — a first for Adrian, who for most of the last two decades has been on the mountain rather than watching from home. It's a unique vantage point, and one he's leaning into fully.

Before diving into Everest, the guys pay tribute to Jim Whittaker, the first American to summit Everest in 1963, whose passing was announced recently at the age of 97. Adrian reflects on Whittaker's outsized influence on American mountain guiding culture — from his early days at REI to his brother Lou's founding of RMI, the institution that shaped a generation of guides and guide companies across the country. Sam also circles back on a story that slipped through the cracks last episode: Cody Townsend and Tommy Caldwell's first ski-climb winter traverse of Norman's 13 in the Eastern Sierra — an eight-day, 40,000-foot suffer fest that Adrian and Sam dig into with obvious admiration.

From there, Sam and Adrian cover the following topics from the opening weeks of the 2026 Everest season:

• Early Summits on Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, and Makalu: What's driving the trend of climbers targeting multiple 8,000-meter peaks in a single season, and what the logistical and safety implications of that strategy actually look like on the ground.

• Khumbu Icefall Delays: A threatening serac has delayed route fixing through the icefall, pushing the season's timeline later than ideal. Adrian provides important context on where the serac likely is, why the media narrative may be off, and what the icefall doctors' cautious approach actually signals.

• Topo Mena on the South Side: Alpenglow guide Topo Mena is heading to Everest's south side with a small, fast team through Pemba Gelje's Expeditions High Mountain — and Adrian explains why this trip is as much an information-gathering mission for Alpenglow's future south side decision-making as it is a personal guiding trip for Topo and Carla. 

• Ryan Mitchell and the Oxygen Debate: A Minecraft-turned-mountaineer's medical emergency at base camp sparks a broader conversation about what it actually means to climb Everest without supplemental oxygen, where the line is, and how oxygen compares to other forms of aid on the mountain.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast where you can learn more about us and our guests. Visit our website at www.duffelshufflepodcast.com and join our mailing list. The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram to learn more.

With a string of high-profile guiding accidents making headlines this winter — including close to home here in Tahoe — Sam and Adrian sit down to dig into what it actually means to be a mountain guide, how guide companies are held accountable, and what you, as a consumer, should be looking for before you hire someone to take you into the mountains.

Before diving in, Adrian shares a personal update: a fractured back sustained in a sport climbing fall at Starwall that has him sidelined for the spring. Ever the risk management thinker, he unpacks the decision-making lapse that led to the accident and what the takeaway actually is. Sam, freshly back from a family ski trip to Davos, also weighs in on a developing fraud story out of Nepal in which rescue companies are alleged to have poisoned clients with baking soda to trigger fraudulent helicopter rescues — and why the distinction between mountain guides and high-altitude workers matters enormously in that conversation.

From there, Sam and Adrian turn to the main event: a wide-ranging conversation on guiding, certification, and accreditation.

• What Is a Mountain Guide?: Why the term is so contested in the US versus Europe, and why the semantics actually matter for clients trying to evaluate who they're hiring.

• Certification: How the AMGA certification and scope of practice system works, where Sam sits in that process, and why the gold standard is both certification and experience — not one without the other.

• Accreditation: What AMGA accreditation means for guide companies, why only 32 businesses in the US have achieved it, and why Adrian believes it should become the industry standard — not the exception.

• The Client's Role: Why the best guided experiences are partnerships, and why showing up as an active participant — not just a passenger — matters regardless of how qualified your guide is.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast where you can learn more about us and our guests. Visit our website at www.duffelshufflepodcast.com and join our mailing list. The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram to learn more.

Outdoor Alliance is the only organization in the U.S. that unites the voices of outdoor enthusiasts to conserve public lands. They help ensure those lands are managed in a way that embraces the human-powered experience. 

Sam and Adrian host Adam Cramer, CEO of Outdoor Alliance, and Nicole Brown, Communications & Public Engagement Manager. Adam and Nicole's passion for the outdoors is clear, and their joy in representing and connecting human powered users is contagious. 

- With the first public comment period on rescinding the Roadless Rule recently closing, Adam shares the importance of sharing your voice with your representatives. 

- Nicole dives into some of the Outdoor Alliance's recent big wins, most notably the 10 year process of advocating for and working with policy makers to develop and pass the EXPLORE Act. 

- With ongoing threats to our public lands, Adam and Nicole emphasize the importance of these protected areas, and what can be done to continue fighting for them. 

Outdoor Alliance is a nonprofit coalition of national advocacy organizations that includes American Whitewater, American Canoe Association, Access Fund, International Mountain Bicycling Association, Winter Wildlands Alliance, the Mountaineers, the American Alpine Club, the Colorado Mountain Club, and the Surfrider Foundation. Visit www.outdooralliance.org for more information, or follow Outdoor Alliance on Instagram, Facebook, X or LinkedIn. 

Follow our podcast on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast where you can learn more about us and our guests. Visit our website at www.duffelshufflepodcast.com and join our mailing list. The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram to learn more.

Garrett Madison is considered to be one of America's premier Everest guides. In addition to leading nearly 100 clients to the summit of Mt. Everest, Garrett has made a lasting impact on the world of expedition climbing in the Himalaya and Karakoram, with notable firsts including the first guided climbs of K2 and guided linkups of Everest and Lhotse. 

Prior to departing for the 2025 Everest season, Garrett joined Sam and Adrian on episode 26 of the Duffel Shuffle Podcast. Garrett shares his journey to becoming a guide, and the incredible opportunities he's had throughout his career. 

- Garrett's initial interest in becoming a guide started on Mt. Rainier, where he got his start in the profession through hundreds of ascents in his early years as a guide. 

- Garrett shares his experience with guide certification, and how his career has followed a path in which formal training/certification has not been necessary. 

- Garrett talks about what he's seen change in the industry, and how he's focused on mitigating the negative impacts around the increase in number of climbers each season. 

You can learn more about Garrett on Instagram, @garrettmadison1 and through his business, Madison Mountaineering, on Instagram @madisonmtng and online at www.madisonmountaineering.com. To learn more about his foundation, visit www.madisonmountaineering.com/foundation.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast where you can learn more about us and our guests. Visit our website at www.duffelshufflepodcast.com and join our mailing list. The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram to learn more.

Referred to by Outside Magazine as "one of the world's most respected chroniclers of Everest," Alan Arnette is not only a journalist, but also a climber. At age 38, Alan discovered a passion for climbing and completed over 37 expeditions, including Mt. Everest and K2. Living in Colorado, he has summited all 58 of the 14,000-foot mountains over 225 times.

In anticipation of the 2025 Mt Everest climbing season, Alan joins Sam and Adrian on episode 25 of the Duffel Shuffle Podcast! Alan talks about his life, entering the world of climbing and mountaineering as an adult.

- Alan shares his path to climbing, and how he shifted his life at age 38 and became quickly embedded into the world of mountaineering.

- Alan talks about some of his experiences on expeditions, including Mt Everest and K2 expeditions that were transformative in his life as a climber.

- Alan highlights the importance of having a purpose in climbing, and shares his connection to Alzheimer's advocacy after watching his mom, Ida, decline. Today, he advocates for Alzheimer's patients and caregivers through his mountain climbing.

You can learn more about Alan through his blog, https://www.alanarnette.com/ and his Instagram, @arnette.alan. Alan's coaching services can be followed at https://summitcoach.org/.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast where you can learn more about us and our guests. Visit our website at www.duffelshufflepodcast.com and join our mailing list. The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram to learn more.

On Episode 24 of The Duffel Shuffle Podcast, Sam and Adrian dive into the nitty gritty details of what goes into planning an Everest Expedition, behind the scenes. Adrian has guided dozens of expeditions to the Himalaya, and while the industry and technology are forever changing, the process of planning a Himalayan expedition, particularly to Mt Everest, follows a fairly typically path. 

- Everest planning is truly a year-round activity, but Adrian tries to protect the month of July as his "no Everest" month. 

- Beginning in August, and lasting until the early part of January, Adrian is focused on building the best possible team. This often starts with clients, but by the permit deadline he has his clients, guides and sherpa team established. 

- Once the CTMA (Chinese Tibetan Mountaineering Association) permit deadline comes and goes, Adrian's focus turns to equipment and travel plans. With gear cache's in Tingri, Tibet and Kathmandu Nepal, as well as the US, and other supplies coming from Europe and South America, the duffel shuffle is always extensive. 

- Finally, with visa's secured, and equipment en route, Adrian and the team will begin their travels through China, into the TAR, and onto Basecamp. 

You can follow Adrian's Everest season and more on Instagram @adrianballinger, and the entire team through @alpenglowexpeditions.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast where you can learn more about us and our guests. Visit our website at www.duffelshufflepodcast.com and join our mailing list. The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram to learn more.

Tyler Andrews is a world class endurance runner whose start on the road has paved the way for success in the mountains. He competed in two Olympic Trials, three World Championships, and found his true passion in the mountains, where he has set countless world records in the Himalaya, Andes, USA, and Africa.

Not just an athlete, Tyler has also been working with athletes of all levels as a coach for more than a decade. 

Tyler joins Sam and Adrian on Episode 23 of the Duffel Shuffle Podcast! The three talk about Tylers blast onto the scene of big mountains. 

- Tyler talks about his background as a professional runner, and how the cancellation of races during COVID launched him into the scene of Fastest Known Times (FKT's). 

- He shares some of his experiences and strategies in the Himalaya, from FKT's on peaks like Manaslu and Ama Dablam, to treks in the Khumbu. 

- With training as a paramount focus, Tyler talks about his own goals and strategies, as well as his business, Chaski, which offers training support to athletes of all levels. 

You can follow Tyler on Instagram, @tylercandrews, and learn more about his big mountain adventures. More on Tyler's training collective, Chaski, can be found online here. Additionally, Tyler's training can be followed on his Substack and you can hear about it and more on his YouTube.

Monica Piris is an expedition doctor who has been working in the Himalaya since before Adrian started climbing there, by one expedition! Together, Monica and Adrian have completed dozens of expeditions, and Monica has established herself as one of the best known high altitude doctor's on the planet. She has been a critical part of countless Everest expeditions, and has worked with hundreds of climbers to reach their goals of climbing the highest peaks in the world. 

Monica joins Sam and Adrian on Episode 22 of the Duffel Shuffle Podcast! The three talk about Monica's career as an expedition doctor.

- Monica shares how she got her start on an early expedition in the Himalaya with Russell Brice. 

- She sheds light on the realities of being an expedition doctor, including the day to day medical value which is primarily basic care. Generally speaking, most of the expedition doctors role is addressing minor altitude, gastrointestinal and upper respiratory illnesses. 

- In collaboration with the expedition leader, Monica talks about the decisions she helps make, from both a medical and logistical perspective. Part of her value is having a clear perspective as she's not on the mountain at higher altitudes. 

You can follow Monica on Instagram, @monica_piris, and learn more about her work through Alpenglow Expeditions' blogs and webpages. 

Follow our podcast on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast where you can learn more about us and our guests. Visit our website at www.duffelshufflepodcast.com and join our mailing list. The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram to learn more.

Nick Russell has been exploring the world by snowboard for more than a decade now. What started as a career competing has transitioned to strictly human powered exploration to some of the worlds highest peaks. Nick's drive comes from being truly passionate about riding his snowboard, and loves travel and exploration just as much as a day in Truckee riding with friends.

Sam and Adrian sit down with Nick to talk about his path to riding professionally:
- The three talk about Nick's career trajectory, from growing up in a skiing family, through competing on his snowboard, and eventually following the footsteps of those before him into the world of human powered exploration.
- Mentors that have played a big role in many professional's lives, including the mentorship of Jeremy Jones, Jim Zellers, Hilaree Nelson, Jim Morrison and others that have shaped Nick's path.
- Nick's recent expedition to Papsura, where he completed the first snowboard descent of the iconic peak as a tribute line to the Hilaree Nelson.

You can learn more about Nick and his career on his Instagram, @nick_russelll and check out his new film 'Papsura: Peak of Evil' on Youtube here.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast where you can learn more about us and our guests. Visit our website at www.duffelshufflepodcast.com and join our mailing list. The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram to learn more.

Michelle Parker has been a professional skier since she was 15 years old. Now, more than 2 decades later, Michelle is so much more than your every day professional skier (or athlete for that matter). From mentoring younger athletes to excelling at other off-season sports, Michelle's impact on the sport and the people around her is admirable. 

You can check out more about Michelle and her career on her Instagram @myshellparker. From projects with her sponsors @arcteryx and @redbull, to her own Podcast 'Care Less, Do More.', there's a lot to see of Michelle through the years. 

Follow our podcast on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast where you can learn more about us and our guests. The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram to learn more.