Luke Smithwick is the owner and founder of Himalaya Alpine Guides. He works for the majority of the year in China’s Tibet, India, Nepal and Pakistan on his pursuits as a professional ski mountaineer and alpinist and the other part guiding skiing and climbing expeditions for Himalaya Alpine Guides. Since the age of 18, his chief profession has been guiding. His expedition experience includes Everest from Tibet (North – Northeast ridge), Dhaulagiri (Northeast ridge), Gasherbrum Two (southwest ridge), Shishapangma (Northwest buttress, ski descent), Denali (west buttress, ski traverse), Himlung, and too many Himalayan 6000 and 7000 meter peaks to mention (and many with ski descents). As a guide he prides himself on providing high quality trips at international guiding standards with an emphasis on each members personal goals and levels of risk tolerance.
During the 2014-2017 winter seasons, Luke was the snow safety director, ski patrol director and the backcountry avalanche forecaster (gulmarg-avalanche-advisory.com) for the region as well. Now, he is best when working in the Himalayan backcountry and is equally comfortable leading on skis or in climbing boots. Luke has logged more than 1500 days backcountry skiing (mostly in Alaska), has first ski descents on 6 different continents and has skied from 8000 meters (Shishapangma).
2023 will see him on nine Himalayan expeditions in Tibet, Nepal, Pakistan, Kashmir and India.
