Welcome to Kling Mountain Guides!
Kling Mountain Guides is a small entirely locally owned and operated outdoor education and mountain guide service. We are based in beautiful Durango, Colorado. Read on to learn why you should come into the hills with us!
Why should you come explore the mountains and desert with Kling Mountain Guides?
- Locally owned: KMG is owned and operated by Josh Kling, a Durango local for over a decade. When you come on a trip or course with KMG, all the money is staying in the Durango and La Plata County area. We are not owned by some holding company or business person from across the country! Travel globally but shop locally with Kling Mountain Guides!
- Community: Involvement in the community is critical to Kling Mountain Guides. We realize that without a strong community to stand behind us, we would not exist! That’s why we work so closely with other organizations and small businesses in the Durango area. These include but are not limited to San Juan College, Fort Lewis College, the Silverton Avalanche School, La Plata County Search and Rescue.
- Our own guides: Our trips are run around the globe with our own guides and staff. If you come on a trip with us, that's who you'll get. We do use local support staff in different areas for logistical help, but you will always be with a KMG guide!
- Training and Certification: Rest assured that the guide or instructor you get has gone through extensive training with the best organizations in the industry. All KMG guides have mecal training which includes wilderness medical training and CPR. Some are EMT's and RN's. All of our guides have completed training or certification from the the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) specific to their discipline (rock, alpine, ski). The (AMGA) is dedicated to supporting the guiding community through excellence in education, standards and certification to enhance the quality of services provided to the public, while serving as a resource for accessing and protecting the natural environment. This means that if you are rock climbing with KMG you will have a trained or certified rock guide. If you are ice climbing with us your guide will have training in alpine and/or ice climbing. If you are skiing or taking an avalanche course your guide will have ski and avalanche training. You will not get stuck with a ski guide dragging you up a rock climb or a rock guide trying to teach you about avalanches. In addition to the AMGA KMG guides also train with American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE), the American Avalanche Association (AAA), Wilderness Medical Associates(WMA), Leave-No-Trace(LNT), and the Professional Ski Instructors of America(PSIA).
- Creativity: Don't go with the ordinary, go with the extraordinary! When other companies run out of ideas, they copy ours! Our trips and courses are not the typical ones found in guide books. Adventure is not in the guide book and beauty is not on the map! Don’t choose to go to mountains and deserts and just follow the standard routes. Come exploring with us! The routes we choose are not the typical ones with our own variations not found in guide books. This makes for a more remote experience and a guaranteed adventure!
- Leave-No-Trace: At Kling Mountain Guides, our office is the mountains and desert. Both for work and for play we spend an immense amount of time there. Taking care of these places is extremely important to us. KMG is a Partner Guide Service with the Leave-No-Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics. Two of our guides are LNT Master Educators, the highest level of LNT training. Climbing and skiing are both great, but if there is nowhere beautiful to do those activities, than what's the point!
- Experience: At KMG we pride ourselves that our guides work for a variety of different companies and outfitters. None of our guides only work for KMG! This means that you will be getting a wealth experience from a multitude of companies and outfitters from around the globe!
- Education Heavy: At Kling Mountain Guides, we value education as well as guiding. If you want to hire somebody to just drag you up a hill, look elsewhere. If you want to go into the mountains, achieve your goals, have an amazing time and come back with more knowledge then when you left, you have come to the right place! At KMG we take education very seriously. Our guides and instructors don’t only work for KMG. Everybody on the KMG staff has a heavy involvement in other education institutions as well. Check out our College Course page for a list of the educational institutions we work with!
