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Adventure Travel > Back Country Skiing > ChileMontana > Meet Us

CHILEMONTANA Santiago, RM Chile www.chilemontana.com
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Vivianne Cuq - Mountain Guide, Everest Summiteer

“I started guiding in mountains like Aconcagua when I was 20. At first I considered it very hard work. But after 21 years of organizing expeditions and climbing mountains everywhere around the world, I know this is what I want to do. The real adventure is sharing my experience with the people who choose me as a guide and trust me to take them up to a summit or just in a successful trip, as well as they trust me to take them back down safely.”

Viviane is a Veterinary Doctor who fell in love with mountains, and decided to dedicate her life to that passion. Since then she has been climbing, skiing and paragliding all over the world. Her vast experience includes over a decade of guiding high altitude peaks, climbs and all kind of treks and cultural trips. Vivianne lived in Switzerland and Italy for over seven years, and among other achievements, she was the first Latin American woman to participate in the UIAA Sports Climb World Cup. She also organized and led the “1st South American Female Expedition to Himalayas (Cho Oyu 8201m)” in 1999 and the “1st Latin-American Female Expedition to Mount Everest” in 2001, on both occasions successfully. She has climbed with clients most of the 6,000-meter peak of South America: Aconcagua (6959m), Ojos del Salado (6893m) Parinacota (6340m), Sajama (6520m), Illimany and many more mountains. Vivianne is also an experienced horseback rider. She speaks Spanish, English, Italian and French.

Francisco “Pancho” Medina - UIAGM - Guide Certified, CAA Member, NOLS Instructor

“I like to be out there, guiding and teaching as well. I am happy when I can share my knowledge of a technique, of a culture, of a place. I like to learn from other people and realize how big and amazing, and at the same time so small, the world is. I like to discover new places, new routes or new perspectives as much as I enjoy climbing, skiing, paragliding or going high up in the mountains.”

Francisco has been climbing since 1979, when he was only 16 years old. In 1983 he started working in the mountains and in 1984 he acquired his first guiding experiences in mountaineering trips to Aconcagua (6959m) and San José Volcano (5821m), and trekking in Patagonia. Since then Francisco has been working, organizing, leading and teaching in mountaineering, climbing, mountain ski, trekking and outdoor education trips and courses, in South America, Europe and USA. He was also the cameraman for “Chilean Women in Everest” and has published photographs and articles in different magazines.

Francisco got his UIAGM certification from the Ecole National de Ski et d’Alpinisme, in France. He is also an active member of The Canadian Avalanche Association, instructor of the National Outdoor Leadership School (USA) and a Leave No Trace trainer. He is currently working in an official national process to set up standards, certifications and rules for the adventure tourism industry in Chile. He was the founder and now Vice President of the Chilean Mountain Guide Association AGAM. Pancho speaks Spanish, English, Italian and French.

Christian Cuq - UIAGM Aspirant Guide, Everest Summiteer

“Mountains are my passion and in my work as a mountain guide I put all my energy and my knowledge into achieving the goals of every expedition. Reaching the summit is important, but I also want all my people healthy and safe. This is the reason why my expeditions always have enough time to get a good acclimatization, a good guide to client ratio and extremely precise planning. It’s true that I usually get a good amount of clients to the summit, but it’s not a miracle, we could call it good team work.”

Christian is one of the most professional guides in Chile, with more than 15 years of mountaineering experience, four of them in Europe and the last ten guiding extensively the highest peak in South America, Aconcagua (6959m): 27 expeditions, reaching the summit with his clients 20 times; Ojos del Salado (6893m), 7 expeditions, reaching the summit with his clients 6 times; Sajama (6520m), 7 expeditions, reaching the summit with his clients 6 times; Parinacota (6340m), 7 expeditions, reaching the summit with his clients 7 times; Pissis (6780m), Illimani (6438m), Huascaran Sur (6746m) and Norte (6655m), Artesanraju (6180m), Piramide Garcilaso (5885m), Marmolejo (6100m), Guallatire (6020m) and a long list of many more ascents. In South America there are 13 peaks above 6500m and Christian has successfully led commercial expeditions to the summit of all of them.

Christian was the Cameraman for the films “Chilenas al Himalaya” (“Chilean Women in Himalaya”) and “Chilenas al Everest” (“Chilean Women to Everest”), reaching the top of the Everest while filming and taking pictures. Since 1996 Christian represents in Chile mountain gear companies such as La Sportiva, Deuter and Fixe and promotes and manages their sales in Chile. He speaks Spanish, German and Italian.