Marcin Kacperek

I was born in Zakopane and, inspired by the mountain books I devoured as a kid, started exploring the small limestone crags above town with friends while I was still in elementary school. From then on, the mountains shaped my life and led me from one climb to the next.

Over the years I’ve climbed throughout the Alps and Dolomites, spent five years living and working as a guide in the United States, and put up numerous new routes and made many solo ascents in the Tatra Mountains. A few that mean especially much to me are the second ascent of the legendary Via Slovakia on the south face of Marmolada, a solo ascent of the North Pillar of Monte Agner, and a new route on Niuxim Shan in eastern Tibet climbed with Przemek Wójcik and my late friend Andrzej Sokołowski. Skiing has always been just as important to me, from pioneering descents in the Tatras to steep ski lines in the Alps and Colorado.

I spent a lot of time climbing alone because developing self-reliance and mental control mattered to me. But in the end it was the hard climbs shared with close friends that showed me what guiding is really about: a love of the mountains and of the people with whom we experience them.

Living this kind of life, becoming a mountain guide never really felt like a choice. I’m one of the founders of PSPW, served three terms as President of the Association, previously chaired its Technical Commission, and still work as an instructor in our guide training program.

Technical climbing on both rock and ice as well as freeride skiing remain my greatest passions, and they are at the heart of my guiding as well. Climbing on the beautiful limestone of Sardinia or in the Dolomites still makes me smile. A route doesn’t have to be hard for every move to feel worthwhile, and I love sharing that feeling. Seeing someone discover that joy for the first time is one of the most rewarding parts of my work. In winter I regularly guide heli-skiing in northern Sweden and Turkey, as well as freeride trips to Japan, Scandinavia, and many other mountain ranges from the Pyrenees to Kazakhstan. Sharing deep powder with people who are discovering it for the first time—or with those who simply can’t get enough of it—is a joy in itself.

What has always drawn me to the mountains is the rhythm of the seasons: rock giving way to ice, and ice to snow. That rhythm, at once familiar and always leading to something new, is one of the reasons the mountains still fascinate me. The same is true of people. We’re all different, and that diversity is one of the great pleasures of this work.

If you have a mountain dream of your own, or simply want to discover what the mountains have to offer, I’d be delighted to share the journey with you.