RYDER-WALKER ALPINE ADVENTURES - Key Persons


Ace Kvale

Job Titles:
  • Head Guide

Alley Rubadeau

Job Titles:
  • Digital Marketing

Barbara ‘Babsi' Glanznig

Job Titles:
  • Yoga & Trek Specialist

Branford Walker

Job Titles:
  • Customer Service Specialist / Writer / Guide

Brittney Clarke - Managing Director

Job Titles:
  • Managing Director

Conan Tundra Bliss

Job Titles:
  • Head Guide

Dave Chew

Job Titles:
  • Head Guide

Dave Gruss

Job Titles:
  • Senior Head Guide

Dave Nesis

Job Titles:
  • Senior Head Guide

Deanna Cyran

Job Titles:
  • Guide

Eileen Burns

Job Titles:
  • Vice President, Marketing & Operations
Eileen has lived in Telluride for 23 years and is in her 9th year with Ryder-Walker as Vice President of Marketing and Operations. She previously co-founded CEM, producers of the Chicago Marathon. Before working at RW she owned Burns Publications and was Managing Editor for several magazines. She also taught and supervised for Telluride's Ski & Snowboard School where she first met Peter Walker. Her free time is spent traveling, hiking, biking, skiing, singing and writing. At work and play her beloved companion Delilah dog is always by her side.

Elizabeth Guest

Job Titles:
  • Writer

Elsa Giumelli

Job Titles:
  • Head Guide

Emily Brendler Shoff

Job Titles:
  • Writer

Erik Larsen

Job Titles:
  • Head Guide

Fischer Hazen

Job Titles:
  • Head Guide

Gesine Köster

Job Titles:
  • Guide

Heidi Lauterbach

Job Titles:
  • Digital Marketing

High Peaks

High Peaks of the Bavarian Tyrol is a new Ryder Walker trek which circumnavigates the highest peak in Germany, the Zugspitze. Our hike in the Bavarian Tyrol weaves its way between Germany and Austria, traveling through quaint villages decorated with painted stucco reliefs. In the Bavarian Tyrol, locals still don their traditional lederhosen, the villages are luxurious but peaceful, and the mountains rise above you with impressively jagged ridgelines.

Julie Hodson

Job Titles:
  • Guide

Juliet Whitfield

Job Titles:
  • Operations Specialist

Karen James

Job Titles:
  • Production Specialist / Writer

Katie Pumayalli

Job Titles:
  • Production Ninja

Ken Fuhrer

Job Titles:
  • Senior Head Guide

Kristal Franklin

Job Titles:
  • Graphic Artist

Lyn Gruss

Job Titles:
  • Guide

Maddie Crowell

Job Titles:
  • Head Guide

Melanie Eggers

Job Titles:
  • Customer Service Specialist
Guided by a former career in resort property marketing, Melanie freelances for various businesses including Ryder-Walker Alpine Adventures. She co-founded an heirloom orchard restoration project on the Western Slope of Colorado called the Apple Core Project. Currently, she manages this project and works for Ryder-Walker part-time. She lived in Telluride for more than 20 years and moved just outside of Telluride nine years ago to plant a forest garden, cook and eat local, seasonal organic food, and spend a quieter farm life with her husband Erik, and children, Mato and Chayton. She loves to ski, mountain bike and climb in her spare time.

Melanie Kranz

Job Titles:
  • Finance

Nicole Lawton

Job Titles:
  • Guide

Nikola Marković

Job Titles:
  • Senior Head Guide

Olivia Pedersen - COO

Job Titles:
  • Director of Operations

Peter Walker - Founder

Job Titles:
  • Founder

Rogan O'Herlihy

Job Titles:
  • Head Guide
Rogan O'Herlihy led our Scotland hiking tour from May 18-26. Rogan is a UK native, so when he guides tours for us in Scotland and England his enthusiasm is almost impossible to... read more →

Sarah Lavender Smith

Job Titles:
  • Writer

Staffan Björklund

Job Titles:
  • Head Guide

Suzanne Friedman

Job Titles:
  • Operations Specialist

Terese Broderick

Job Titles:
  • Customer Service Specialist

Willi Glanznig

Job Titles:
  • Head Guide