SKI
View All Ski
Pro Guiding Service
Domestic & International Trips & Courses with Professionally Trained Mountain Guides

About Us

We Love the Mountains
"In all my years working in this industry, I've learned that it is all about the people who work for you as much as the product you are selling."  —Martin Volken, Founder/owner

Our team are true mountain lovers, some work in the examiner pool, create course curriculums for AIARE, put up new routes, write guide books themselves, retail employees who build their own skis, understand retail and generally love being involved in the outdoor industry. The mountains are a big part of who we are.

Welcome To The Mountain Culture Of Pro Guiding Service & Pro Ski And Mountain Service

We provide our customers with the most diverse ski touring and ski mountaineering programs of any guiding service in the Northwest. We don't just do skiing, we offer all elements of mountaineering including rock and alpine climbing.

Our guiding office in North Bend gives us immediate access to one of the largest sport climbing areas in the state of Washington. We currently guide on four continents, 8 countries, employ 10 guides, and hold permits everywhere we offer courses and trips. 
Our Guides

We guarantee that our guides are involved in professional training and adhere to the AMGA Scope of Practice

Our guides are highly qualified and professionally trained. This means that they fully certified or are involved in an internationally accredited certification program. The UIAGM (Union Internationale des Associations de Guides de Montagnes) and the AMGA (American Mountain Guides Association) run internationally recognized certification programs for aspiring mountain guides. Pro Guiding Service abides by the AMGA Scope of Practice. This document creates terrain guidelines for aspiring guides. By following these guidelines, our guests will have an assurance that their guide will be operating in the proper terrain.
It requires three to four years of intense training, testing, and supervised guiding to become fully certified. For more information about UIAGM and AMGA qualifications, check the AMGA home page at amga.com

Meet Our Guides

Proud Pioneers in the Industry

Books We've Written

We love to share our passion for the mountains with more people around the world, we do so with guidebooks on ski tour, descents and traverses and instructional books on the sport. 
Explore Our Books

Route Pioneering

I feel lucky to have been able to have come to the North Cascades when there was still a bit of route pioneering on classic alpine and ski objectives to be done. It was simply a lot of fun and allowed me to profile the guiding service in a meaningful way without spending hard earned cash on expensive adds in magazines. Some of the routes that have come from this are the now classic ski traverses, “The Forbidden Tour”, the “Snoqualmie High Route”, first descents of the Mount Buckner, Spider Mountain and Mount Torment North Faces, alpine traverses of Bonanza and Formidable Peak and more. As of late some of our young guides; Forest McBrian, Trevor Kostanich and Aaron Mainer, have also completed some high caliber traverses of the Picket Range, the North Central Cascades and a new descent of the iconic Liberty Ridge on Mount Rainier. 
Explore Our Pioneered & Re-explored Routes

Product Development and Consulting for the Industry's Leading Brands

Our work has led to product consulting for K2 Sports, Outdoor Research and others.  Our design ideas have been used to build successful products such as the K2 Shuksan, the K2 rescue shovel, the OR Trailbreaker Pant and more.

These products have given us a glimpse into what will come on the market in the next couple years as well as the in-depth knowledge of materials and construction methods. This of course influences our buying decisions for the retail store.

How Pro Guiding Service Started 

When I immigrated to the United States in 1990, from Switzerland, skiing was what I knew and was my passion. I opened up the original Pro Ski Service store in a tiny location in Seattle in 1991, focused on ski sales and service. While continuing to grow the ski shop I earned my Swiss IFMGA mountain guides license in 1996. 

The combined knowledge acquired in the mountains and in the retail store left a mark on how we do business to this day. In 1999, I founded Pro Guiding Service and opened up another retail location closer to the mountains in North Bend, WA. In 2005, I sold the Seattle store to focus on the North Bend store in conjunction with the guiding office.

30 years later we are still going strong, helping adventurers tackle the next summit, learn invaluable mountaineering skills, and outfitting them to be ready for their next challenge. 

Martin Volken

Founder & Owner
Newsletter

Get The Latest Updates On Mountaineering News & Upcoming Trips

©2024 Pro Guiding Services