A former nuclear physicist, Gottlieb came to New Zealand in 1978 as an IFMGA qualified mountain and ski guide. With 46 years of mountaineering and 36 years of professional guiding experience, his most notable climbing achievements include: First ascent of entire Peuterey Ridge of Mont Blanc (1973), all New Zealand 3000m peaks during a single winter (1989), winter ascent of Cerro Fitz Roy (Supercanaleta 1993), three winter crossings of the Patagonian Ice Cap (1994, 1995, 1996), Cerro Aconcagua (2001), 27 ascents of Aoraki Mount Cook and 8 ascents of Mount Tasman. In May 2002 he traversed Denali (Mount McKinley). Gottlieb pioneered many ski touring routes in Europe and in New Zealand. Gottlieb was a member of the Canterbury - Aoraki Conservation Board from 2003-2008 and has been very active in campaigning for conservation issues.
Gottlieb died suddenly on 14 August 2008 from a ruptured aorta while guiding a group including then Prime Minister Helen Clark. Read articles, tributes and share photo memories here.
Anne supported Gottlieb in setting up Alpine Recreation in 1981 and was co-Director with Gottlieb until his untimely passing in 2008. She now continues to run the company, supported by a loyal team of guides and her family, drawing on the creative and technical talents of daughters Carla and Elke and son-in-law Keith. Anne considers herself a tramper rather than a climber, but climbed Aoraki Mount Cook in winter and joined Gottlieb on many ski tours and on two Patagonian Ice ski traverses. After their climb of Mt Blanc via the Brenva Spur in 1978 they decided to marry! She has a BA in English and was formerly a secondary school teacher.
Wolfgang is coming back for his sixth consecutive summer season with us. He will again take the position of Chief Guide for the 2012-13 season and has reponsibility for supervision of trainee and assistant guides. Wolfgang has guided extensively throughout the European Alps where he has guided full time over some 20 years. He is a passionate rock climber and ski tourer.
As a senior guide Gary takes an active role in mentoring our younger guides and developing our staff training programmes. Gary joined Gottlieb on the Denali traverse in 2002. He is a member of the American Mountain Guides Association, has Physics and Engineering degrees, and has many years experience as a field leader and training officer for the Australian Antarctic Programme. Gary has extensive expedition experience, climbing and ski touring globally from the New Zealand and European Alps to the Patagonian Icecap and Alaska.
Marty is assisting with our high guiding programme. Marty's climbing record is second to none: 26 ascents of Aoraki/Mount Cook, Mt Tasman 7x and Mt Aspiring 16x: 34 ascents of Aconcagua via 6 various routes: 28 ascents of Denali 6 routes, including the Cassin and 2 new routes, Mt Foraker 5x (63 hours BC, summit BC Soltana ridge), Mt Hunter 3x; 6 ascents of Cho Oyu, world speed record 10:45 hours and a 13 hour one day climb with a ski descent from the summit to the end of the snow at camp 1. Ascents of Kanchanjunga, second Kiwi ascent, first without 02, Everest and K2 to 8350m, North and South sides on both: Seven Summits, Trekking Peaks, Ama Dablam, Big Walls of Yosemite, etc. In May 2010 Marty summited Makalu, the fifth highest mountain in the world at 8,485m. In traditional 'Marty style' he didn’t use any porters or any supplementary oxygen to get to the summit, becoming the first New Zealander to do so! Just before his summit, on summit day he rescued 3 climbers, one being above 8,200 meters. After climbing Makalu, Marty also successfully climbed Gasherbrum 2 (8,034m) guiding it and then a 2 day ascent of Gasherbrum 1 (8,080m) again without the aid of porters or bottled oxygen on the mountains. We are proud to be able to share Marty's vast experience of the world's mountains.
Life began for Gavin in the Potato fields of Ireland. Once he'd made enough hearty Stews, he discovered Cabbage, and so the delicate culinary melting pot so unique to his homeland gave him the strength and courage to venture further afield. It was whilst working for United Airlines in Dublin that he made a long journey in 2000 in search of new terrain and first discovered New Zealand. His caving background became secondary as he explored the over ground delights of climbing in the Southern Alps. He has worked as a Glacier and ice climbing guide in Franz Josef. Gavin is happy to converse in Dutch or even Flemish for those from Belgium, having spent some time based in the city of Ghent.
When he's not in the mountains, rock climbing or multi-sporting he can be found at our base in Tekapo where he now works as our operations manager. Whether Gavin is guiding you or handling your next trip into the hills his steady style will be sure to inspire confidence. He is a very experienced and popular Climbing Guide.
Penny Goddard is an avalanche forecaster and educator, ski patroller and mountaineer. She has spent several winters in the avalanche industry in Canada and the USA. After working in ski patrol and search and rescue for many years, Penny has developed a passion for educating Kiwis about avalanche hazards - and hopefully helping to make their mountain experiences safer.
Penny is the author of Avalanche Awareness in the New Zealand Backcountry.
Elke is an Assistant Ski Guide and Assistant Climbing Guide under the NZMGA training scheme. When not guiding, Elke assists with marketing and advertising. Elke has an international ski instructors qualification, and a Masters degree in Computational Biomechanics. At the age of 14 she became the youngest person to have climbed Aoraki Mount Cook. She works as a nordic and alpine ski touring guide during the winter and climbing guide on our Ball Pass trips, as well as running our German Alpine Club hilking tours during the summer.
Ewan holds the NZMGA Alpine Trekking qualification and acts as an alpine trekking guide on Ball Pass Crossings, the Aoraki Mount Cook Trek and the Tekapo Trek. He also provides support with gear and vehicle maintenance. He has broad experience as a New Zealand Mountain Safety Council instructor, a member of the Mount Cook Search and Rescue Team, a Field Officer for Antarctica New Zealand, Outdoor Instructor for Otago University School of Physical Education, Mountaincraft Instructor for the New Zealand Alpine Club and Otago Tramping Clubs. He is well trained in search and rescue work for the Department of Conservation, the police and Antarctica New Zealand. Ewan also has experience as an ambulance officer and is a qualified fitter and turner. We are very pleased to have Ewan on our team again, after his having spent several seasons in Antarctica.
Andy is an Assistant Climbing Guide and Trainee Ski Guide under the NZMGA training scheme and will be helping us with our Ball Pass operation and Introductory and Intermediate Climbing Courses this season.
Andy started mountaineering while in the Air Force and has worked as Training Officer of SAR in the Air Force. He has worked for the Army Adventure Training Centre running skiing, rock climbing and mountaineering courses in NZ and Survival and Avalanche instruction for Afghanistan deployment training. He has been a Field Trainer for Antartica NZ, a member of the joint US and NZ Antartica SAR team and has assisted with science events in Antartica, one trip as a seal and penguin wrangler!
Dave is contracted for high guiding mainly. He was a lead ice climbing guide with responsibility for the training and development of guides on the Franz Josef Glacier before gaining NZMGA assistant mountain and ski guide status. He has climbed extensively in the European Alps, the United Kingdom and throughout New Zealand.
Keith is an excellent photographer and has taken over Gottlieb's role of providing high quality images to promote all our activities. Keith has a Masters of Science and is currently completing his PhD thesis at Otago University.
Keith often joins his wife (Elke) on climbing trips, but also enjoys mountain biking and building electric bikes in his spare time.
Carla, who completed a Masters in Science Communication and Natural History Film-making in 2009, produced the promotional movies for Ball Pass and our Introductory Climbing Course. She is currently in Germany working for Nautilus, a nature documentary film-maker. She continues to assist Alpine Recreation with producing promotional videos. Aside from film-making she is a professional ski instructor. At the age of 14 she in turn became the youngest person to have climbed Aoraki Mount Cook.
The New Zealand Mountain Guides Association, NZMGA, has international accreditation with the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations, IFMGA / UIAGM.
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Photography © Gottlieb Braun-Elwert & Keith Payne