What Our Clients Say

My daughter Whitney (27) and I recently spent a week backpacking with a group from Sierra Mountain Center (SMC) out of Bishop, CA. For several years we had been thinking about Mt. Whitney. In 2017 we tried the Mountaineer's Route, (with another guiding company), and made it to Upper Boy Scout Lake. Coming from Michigan and lacking the time to properly acclimate, we were not feeling well. We decided not to overpush and go for the summit. I said to Whit, we should try this again, but give ourselves more time. Fast forward to 2020, I booked our trip with SMC and it ended up being one of the best [...]

My wife Chris and I want to tell you what a fabulous experience the Whitney Cottonwood trip was. Much better than we hoped it would be. It was one, if not the best, vacation experiences we have ever participated in. Our leaders, Aaron and Jessica were marvelous--patient, caring, helpful, knowledgeable, and good-humoured. In addition, they are terrific cooks. We never expected to eat so well! We can't say enough good things about them. And Max Kozak the packer was a delight as well. In addition, we want to thank you for all the terrific advice and help that you provided to us before departure. We had a feeling that SMC was a very competent organization from [...]

OUTSTANDING, AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, any variation of adjectives. On a scale of to 10, an 11.

I want to thank your Team for a great Climb on Mt. Whitney this past week.  Aaron and Luke did a fantastic job for us.  These two young men were friendly, knowledgeable and very helpful.  It was a pleasure having these two guide us on the mountaineers route.  At every step along the way, Aaron and Luke made us feel as if our success, safety and enjoyment was their top priority. Connie has been extremely helpful and responsive in setting up details of this climb. I would recommend these guides and your company to anyone wanting a first rate experience.  This was an outstanding adventure I will always remember. Thank [...]

The summit to Mt. Whitney via the Mountaineer's Route was amazing. Sam is a great guide and we were fortunate to have him lead our group.  Daniel and I will have this special memory forever and I want to thank you for your patience with all of my calls and answering all of my questions. I hope to do another tour with SMC. Todd

Dear Connie: My recent trips with SMC (Boundary Peak & Mount Whitney) were incredible! I want to thank my guides (Ryan, Jim, Andrew, & Sam) for two awesome mountaineering adventures. Their knowledge, professionalism, and preparedness made both trips a rewarding and unforgettable experience. Please share this email with them and thank them for me. I also want to thank you for your professionalism and for just being so nice in preparing and scheduling these two trips for me. I would certainly recommend SMC to anyone looking for a great outdoor experience, and I will also put a post in the Highpointers Club's Newsletter recommending your guide service for Boundary and [...]

I just wanted to thank you both for making our climb up Mt. Whitney an absolutely fantastic experience.  You guys were terrific and the trip couldn’t have gone any better.   I have been talking about it nonstop since getting back and have recommended it and you guys to several friends at home and at work.

Joe and I are just a couple days removed from an awesome trip up the East Face of Mount Whitney.  Aaron was our guide and did a fantastic job from start to finish and made the experience really fun.  We would use SMC again in a heartbeat and recommend your service to anybody looking to do a trip.  Thanks again,

We just returned home from our trip to Whitney via Cottonwood and I wanted to express my sincere thank you for putting together such a fantastic trip.  Honestly, it will be one to remember forever.  Above all, Marie and Luke were outstanding.  Their expertise, encouraging words, ability to pace us and sure friendship was the ticket for success!!  They both did a wonderful job supporting my 14 year old son through the peaks, teaching him about the backcountry and making the entire trip fun.  We are putting together pictures and will be sure to add SMC to the email. Still flying, Rhonda

Connie, Andrew, and SP, I'm just now back in touch with e-mail, so it's the first opportunity to say thanks for the Bear Creek Spire trip and for the flexibility in rescheduling.  It was perfect.  Andrew is an excellent guide; I can't imagine better.  I've done four trips with SMC, all of them A+.

Hi Connie, Just wanted to say thanks for everything.  The climbs were great and so was the service.  You handled the scheduling (and changes) quickly, kindly and professionally.  Aaron was also great -- he is a very skilled guide and also very professional with people and logistics.  Thanks again for a great experience.

I'd like to thanks you for my successful summit. Nate did a great job of guiding; he's definitely a professional and I highly recommend him for anyone looking to attempt this route. As a former employer I know how hard it is to find good help. My compliments to you!. I found the climb quite challenging. There was a little bit of everything; stream crossings, crampon use and rock climbing. Getting to the summit was as much fun as actually arriving there. I'll be climbing with you again sometime.

Just got back from CA on Sunday and I wanted to drop you a quick note to let you and everyone at SMC know what a great trip we all had (Mt. Whitney - Mountaineer's Route - June 17-19). For me and my boys it was a first rate experience that we will never forget. I can't say enough about Nate and Aaron and the job that they did guiding us, and the others on our journey. Those guys are true professionals. From my perspective, there's no greater compliment. Sunday night, in Mammoth Lakes, the whole family went out for pizza and it was fantastic listening to Teddy, Aaron, and [...]

I wanted to thank Sierra Mountain Center for a great trip up the Mountaineers Route of Mt. Whitney. It was everything I expected and then more. Our guide Andrew was superb in every aspect of his job. He was a complete professional and we felt we were well taken care of at all times. I look forward to climbing again with your company and with Andrew.

Eric was outstanding. I’d trust him with my life—and did. His knowledge/experience is wide, but doesn’t let his student feel this gap in knowledge and skill, which is considerable! I appreciated his patience, flexibility in tailoring the trip to our needs/desires, and his generosity in offering to drive up to Mammoth Lakes that last day in lieu of my exhaustion at Palisade Glacier, and my fellow traveler’s malfunctioning crampon/boot situation. SMC is lucky to have someone like him. I found out that I really like rock climbing, despite previous doubts about my ability to actually do it. I’d certainly like to do more. The last day at Crystal Crag, doing [...]

Overall how would you rate the trip with us. It was awesome. My first trip and I couldn't have hoped for more. Did the pre-trip information and the office adequately help you prepare for the trip? Yes. Especially considering the last minute circumstances I think the office did a terrific job of scrambling resources to make it as safe and convenient experience as possible. How would you assess your guide(s)? Chris was awesome. I felt the pace was well suited to the group and he was extremely knowledgable about all aspects of the trip, and mountaineering in general. He was friendly but necessarily firm when safety was a stake. Couldn't be happier [...]

Challenging but not overly so.  Eric was terrific!  The weather was fantastic, with lots of snow to practice on and the location is as good as it gets.  Eric picked a great peak for day three - Petit Griffon.  One of the most beautiful and not just a marathon summit or a fitness test - it required using the skills we had worked on.

I would rate our feb. attempt of mt. Whitney a 10 .I met all my primary goals for the trip even though we were not able to summit.I used the gear list you provided to guide me in my purchases and all my stuff worked well.You did a great job of supplying me with the info. needed to make the trip a success. Our guides,what can I say, Braden and Aaron were outstanding.Their knowledge and style of guiding made them both a pleasure to work with.I feel they made the right decision to turn back based on their experience and common sense.I learned a lot from them and it seemed [...]

 just wanted to take the time to Thank You very much for having put the basic snow travel class together for us; although, the class was not commonly scheduled for Mondays. I will tell you that Tim Villanueva was a great instructor to have. He did not pull punches when it came to conveying the seriousness of snow travel risks.  Tim was fun, yet, stern about getting us to learn the proper technique. The day went by fast and I was left eager to learn more. I am now more convinced than ever in that, had my wife and I continued to snow travel without the basic skills, we would [...]

My personal speed was quite slow - much slower than last time! What a difference two years and a new spine makes! BUT that being said, I did it - and Andrew was was wonderful. He stuck right by me in all the right spots and I never felt unsafe. He inspired absolute confidence. Thank you so much. This was really a little dream come true for me and I have you guys to thank. It was very very hard but worth the work and I'm so glad I decided to try again. You guys are great!

Hi Sierra Mountain Center, On behalf of my brother and I, I wanted to email you and tell you how amazing of a time we had climbing Whitney this past weekend! It was one of the most exciting things I have ever done, and I am so glad we had the opportunity to experience such an adventure! Both our guides (Chris and Gonzalo) we outstanding! They really knew what they were doing, I learned so much about climbing and the mountain itself, and I really trusted and felt safe climbing with them. Their leadership really made the trip so fun and do-able! I can't emphasize enough what an AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, [...]