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Get to know one of our guides, Trevor Kostanich.
How long have you been a mountain guide? Eight years…I started guiding in February 2010 after taking my AMGA Ski Guides Course.
What drew you into this career? My most rewarding way to spend my time is ski touring and as I grew my skills I naturally started leading others in the backcountry. My wife and I spent the 2006 season skiing in Northern India and had some friends visit where it was clear I loved taking responsibility to safely show others a fantastic experience in wild snowy places. This was the season I concluded I wanted to become a ski guide.
What is your favorite discipline? There is something else to do in the mountains beside ski?
Do you have a role model you look up to? I’ve been lucky to learn from many mentors, and will continue to learn from many more, with various backgrounds. For example, my two biggest ski guide mentors are probably Martin Volken and Matt Kinney. Martin gained professional training early in his life through the IFMGA while Matt Kinney is self-taught in the Chugach. Both have guided over a thousand days on skis and both are still smiling today.
Where did you grow up? I grew up in the Factoria area in Bellevue WA, where my friends finally talked me into taking ski school lessons on Snoqualmie Pass at the age of 13. I immediately fell in love with it and ever since skiing has influenced my life decisions from ski instructing at Alpental through high school and college to taking a quarter off university to ski bum in Jackson to leaving my engineering job to move to Thompson Pass Alaska to landing a career on Snoqualmie Pass. I have spent seasons in other mountain ranges but the Cascades are home…both because I grew up here with many family and friend connections still in the region and because the Cascades have so much ski adventures remaining.
What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Coffee flavor especially in the form of a milkshake with real espresso shots!
What is your favorite trip that we (PGS) runs? My favorite outings are multi-day ski traverses in the Cascades (sometimes 34 days long) and it is especially rewarding leading guests through less visited parts of the range. For example, in April 2016 I guided a loyal PGS guest along the Dakobed Traverse with a ski off the summit of Glacier Peak down the Cool Glacier Headwall. We saw a bear but no people for the entire five day trip and sure enough the guest was blown away with the wildness of the Cascades. This guest skied with us in Valdez (in great conditions) the year before, a couple different Alps trips, and still claimed the Dakobed Traverse was his #1 adventure of a lifetime. I also really enjoy teaching the ski mountaineering course on Mt. Baker.
How long have you been working with/for PGS? All 8 seasons I’ve been guiding.
What is your favorite ski line/ rock route/ alpine climb/ etc. in the North Cascades? So many to choose from but I am going to stay consistent with my remote wild desires and go with the Banded Glacier on the north side of Logan.
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