Adrian Ballinger has a list of alpine climbing accomplishments any professional alpinist would be happy to call their own. The renown and respect his peers in those places on the ceiling of the earth have for him also stems from his two decades of guiding experience. He’s successfully led more than 100 clients to the over 8,000-meter summits of Everest, Lhotse, Manaslu, and Cho Oyu. In 2004, Ballinger founded Alpenglow Expeditions, leading three trips on one continent. Now thriving, and a leader in the guiding industry for safety, ethics and education, Alpenglow annually runs over 30 trips on six continents, and each year introduces thousands of newer climbers and skiers to the backcountry through their local guiding in Lake Tahoe, CA.

Ballinger estimates he’s racked up over two years of time on Mt. Everest as a guide and climber over the course of his career, which includes eight Everest summits. In 2016 and 2017, along with teammate Cory Richards, he set a new goal of summiting without supplemental oxygen and sharing the entire experience on Snapchat at the handle “EverestNoFilter”. In 2016 Ballinger was forced to make a decision—lauded as both courageous and astute by the alpine climbing community—to turn back just 250 meters shy of the summit, enabling his partner to summit and him to survive. He returned the next season after a year of focused training, and summited without supplemental oxygen on May 23, 2017.

Ballinger and his guide company also focus on speed ascents of the world’s tallest peaks, most recently shattering the speed record for a summit expedition of an 8,000-meter peak. Along with his girlfriend, professional climber Emily Harrington, Ballinger went from his front door in Lake Tahoe, California, to the summit of 8,188-meter Cho Oyu in Tibet/Nepal, and back again in two weeks—an expedition that normally takes almost two months. Ballinger used his decades of expedition logistics experience, advanced weather prediction technology, and hypoxic training methods to condense the time needed to summit—an approach he has incorporated into all of Alpenglow Expeditions’ trips.

Also an accomplished skier and backcountry guide, in winter months Ballinger can be found skiing worldwide. His favorite day - leading clients into the powder paradise found just beyond the resort boundaries of Squaw Valley Resort in Lake Tahoe with Alpenglow Expeditions.