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.

With the 2026 Everest season just around the corner, Sam and Adrian sit down to preview what's shaping up to be one of the most consequential years in the mountain's modern climbing history.

While Alpenglow Expeditions has made the decision not to pivot its north side operation to the south side following the closure of the Tibetan route, Adrian's deep familiarity with both sides of the mountain gives him a uniquely informed perspective on what the season ahead holds. Between insider knowledge from the guiding community and the ever-reliable Sherpa grapevine, Adrian and Sam have plenty to say that hasn't yet made it into the mainstream conversation.

Sam and Adrian talk about the following storylines heading into the 2026 Everest Season:

• North Side Closure: The Tibet side of Everest has been closed to international teams this season, sending a wave of expeditions scrambling to pivot to the Nepal side — and setting up what could be the busiest south side season in history.

• Alpenglow's Decision: After a 90-minute internal meeting, Alpenglow chose not to redirect their north side operation southward, citing concerns about Khumbu Icefall dangers and the growing number of inexperienced climbers and operators on the south side route.

• Notable Expeditions: FKT attempts, no-oxygen ascents, and sea-to-summit adventures are among the compelling storylines worth watching as the season gets underway.

• Guiding & Regulation: Adrian and Sam make the case that the industry's focus on client experience requirements misses the bigger issue — the need for stronger regulation of guide companies themselves.

• The Everest Experience: Whatever your style or approach, the guys take a moment to reflect on what makes climbing the world's highest mountain so enduringly extraordinary.

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 connect for Episode 39 of the Duffel Shuffle Podcast to discuss the fall season in the Himalaya and, in particular, two athletes with specific objectives on Everest. 

With a break in guests for the show, Sam and Adrian used this week’s episode to catch up on a few items.

- Adrian is tuning in while attending the Black Diamond Athlete Summit, so we took the opportunity to learn more. Athlete Summit’s are a popular event among brands, but there’s not much info about them for the average consumer, so we use this opportunity to deep dive and learn more. 

- With the Autumn season on Everest wrapping up, Sam and Adrian discuss the two special projects that took place this season; Tyler Andrews was unfortunately unsuccessful in two attempts to set the FKT on Everest while Andrzej Bargeil successfully submitted and skied off Everest, without supplemental oxygen, in his third attempt. 

- Despite a tricky season with short weather window's other fall 8,000ers in the Himalaya, many commercial operators had success on Manaslu, with fewer successful on Cho Oyu due to fewer climbers for political reasons. 

Upcoming, we’ll be launching a 7 episode series to deep-dive into all aspects of each of the seven summits. We’ll be following the format of Episode 36 “K2: The Savage Mountain” and unpacking all the important information about the tallest peaks on every continent. Stay tuned!

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.

After full team success on Mt. Everest for the Alpenglow Expeditions crew, Adrian and Sam connect in person to recap the season.

The news section covers the New York Times article, For Female Climbers, Dangers Go Beyond Avalanches and Storms.

After a bit of background on season news on the South Side, the two dive into the Alpenglow team's experience on the North Side, including the great fortune they had with crowds, as well as challenges created by weather and their delayed timeline due to permitting.

Episode 4 comes to you straight from Everest Base Camp! Sam and Adrian catch up and discuss what has been 4-years in the making: Alpenglow Expeditions' return to the north side of Mt. Everest since the closure as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic. After hearing about changes on the mountain, and the current state of the Everest season, the two dive into Adrian's history on the mountain, his thoughts about the state of guiding it, and how he has made the tallest mountain in the world such a big part of his career.