Few guides know the terrain of Idaho’s Sawtooth Range better than Erik Leidecker. Raised in the Ketchum/Sun Valley area Leidecker earned his guiding stripes in one of the most remote and jagged ranges in the lower 48, the Sawtooths. An IFMGA Mountain Guide with two decades of experience, this Idaho resident is extremely proficient on long ski traverses and high alpine and rock routes. He co-owns and operates Sawtooth Mountain Guides and their famous Williams Peak Yurt.  Erik also works as an instructor and examiner for the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) and American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE).

Beyond his home state, Leidecker has climbed and guided extensively throughout the American West, the European Alps, and South America. He has logged ski-plane mountaineering expeditions in the Chilkat Range of Alaska with Kent McBride, ticked first descents in the Sawtooths, and tackled the towering spires of BC’s Bugaboos with climber Mason Earle, an experience he profiled for the Live Your Adventure blog.  Erik has also participated in other Eddie Bauer expeditions and adventures in City of Rocks, Mt. Hood, Joshua Tree, the Canary Islands, Swiss Alps, Sardinia, and Iceland. A Dartmouth alumnus, Leidecker lives in Hailey, Idaho, with his wife and two daughters. He will never shy away from an expedition jam session.