About us
Founded in 2001 by Russell Brice, the Chamonix Experience team has expanded to include Anne and Victoria in the office, as well as over 25 fully qualified IFMGA mountain guides who work for us regularly. All mountain lovers, we have skied, climbed and hiked many of the routes around the area and spend our lunch hours and days off exploring more in the Mont Blanc range and the rest of the world.
You will find our office at the ‘Alpcenter’ in Argentière. During the winter and summer seasons we are open seven days a week to help you with any last minute bookings or changes. In between seasons we are open Monday - Friday during normal office hours.
SARL Chamonix Experience
Chamonix Experience is a fully registered French business, a member of the Chamonix Tourist Office and a partner with the Compagnie du Mont Blanc.
141 rue Charlet Straton
74400 Chamonix Mont-Blanc
SIRET: 44059232700017
Etablissement habilité Tourisme par arrêté préfectoral H.A.074.04.0013
RC Professionelle: AXA no. 3736598704
Russell Brice
Russell has been located in the Chamonix Valley since 1991, ski guiding during the winter months, alpine guiding during the summer months and on expedition during the spring and autumn. With over 85 ascents of Mont Blanc, and more than 300 Vallée Blanche descents, Russell has extensive experience of the Mont Blanc region.
Russell has also been leading expeditions to the Himalayas since 1974. He has led clients to the summit of Everest and Manaslu, and also Cho Oyo (8,201m)Himal Chuli (7,540m), Shishapangma (8,046m) and Ama Dablam (6,856m).
Individually, he has the world record for the fastest single solo ascent without oxygen of both Cho Oyo and of Ama Dablam. In 1988 he was the first climber to cross the infamous Pinnacles of the NE ridge of Everest. As head of sister company Himalayan Experience, he is widely reputed as one of the most professional leaders of all guided expeditions to the Himalayas.
His superior organisational skills have been used by several film and television crews including the Discovery Channel, the BBC and National Geographic.
Russell is a member of New Zealand Mountain Guides Association, British Mountain Guides Association and Syndicat National des Guides de Montagne and Founder President of IGO-8000 (International Guiding Operators Association), as well as co-founding Director of Friends of Humanity, a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping disadvantaged peoples in various parts of the world.
The Office Team
Anne Galdeano
Anne has been with the Chamonix Experience team for 3 years and now manages the office. Although she has called Chamonix home for the past 10 years she is originally from Tours in the north-western part of France. Anne has many years of experience working with mountain-related activities with the Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix. On her days off you will probably find her skiing down one of the Vallée Blanche routes. She loves climbing, mountaineering, skiing and travelling and knows the mountains around Chamonix very well.
Claire Michael
Claire works in the Chamex office part time, and having lived in the Chamonix Valley for 8 years is a very valuable member of the team due to her extensive knowledge of the valley.
Claire has climbed Mt Blanc from both sides, and has independently done many of the trips that we offer, she has also worked for guiding companies in the Chamonix area for over 3 years. This makes her a very knowledgeable team member for clients to chat to about their itineraries. Claire loves skiing, ski touring and climbing, and knows the valley inside out. Claire has done lots of ski touring, has completed the Haute Route and has done trips to Norway and the Bernese Oberland. In the summer Claire loves all types of climbing and has alpine climbed extensively throughout the Alps and Europe.
Chamonix Experience Guides
All Chamonix Experience guides are UIAGM/IFMGA qualified. This is the only internationally recognized guide certification that is required in order to legally work as a High Mountain Guide in France.
We have a nice mixture of mostly British and French guides but also some Scandinavian, Canadian, American, Swiss, Austrian and New Zealand guides. Whatever the origin, they all have extensive experience of guiding in the Alps.
English is our main working language, and both office staff and guides speak it very well. Besides French and English, we also have guides that speak Spanish, German, Swedish, Danish and Italian.
What is a Mountain Guide? Watch Sébastien Montaz-Rosset’s film
Simon Abrahams
Simon has been climbing and mountaineering in the UK and around the world for the last 25 years and has worked full time in the mountains since 1987. He lives in Chamonix with his wife, Dee and 2 daughters Issie and Maddie.
As an International Mountain Guide, he holds the IFMGA carnet, but also holds the Mountain Instructors Certificate (MIC), which is the UK’s highest qualification for Mountain Professionals. He is a member of the British Association of Mountain Guides (BMG).
Simon has worked and climbed extensively all over the UK, the European Alps and in the greater ranges of North America, South America and the polar regions, particularly Iceland, Greenland and Antarctica, many of which have been first ascents and always in an alpine style.
Another part of Simon’s role as a Mountain Guide has seen him working and advising on many film projects around the world, including, Batman – ‘Batman Begins’, James Bond – ‘Die Another Day’, IMAX – ‘Shackleton’s Antarctic Adventure’ and BBC/KEO Productions – ‘Blizzard, Race to the Pole’.
Miles Bright
Miles has been a UIAGM qualified guide since 1998. Of British origin, he has been based in Chamonix for many years. Miles has climbed the North face of the Eiger, North face of the Matterhorn solo and skied the Haute route in 24 hours.
Yves Lagesse
Yves was born in Normandy, grew up in Paris, and has lived in the Chamonix valley for over 20 years. He has been a UIAGM-qualified guide for over 12 years. Like all guides, he has done many north face ascents and climbing expeditions, and love skiing steep lines.
Yves is also an experienced sailor, and in 2004 successfully completed a solo Atlantic traverse.
Nico Lochu
From the young age of 13, Nico spent his weekends climbing and remembers experiencing his first love of Alpinism. Since then, he has been skiing and climbing and doing all of the things that he loves in the mountains – traveling and discovering new things, dreaming up new ideas and sharing experiences and new ideas with companions. Nico devotes all of his time and energy to mountain guiding and his passion for Alpinism.
Pete Mason
Pete is an American UIAGM qualified mountain guide who grew up in rural central New York state. He started hiking, backpacking and skiing at the age of 14, and fell in love with rock climbing and mountaineering when he was in university. After graduation he moved to Boulder, Colorado, and continued to climb and ski as much as possible.
Pete moved to France in 2003 and became the second American to attain guide certification in the French system.
Sébastien Montaz-Rosset
Sébastien is a French UIAGM qualified mountain guide and a certified ski instructor. At the young age of 34, he already has 12 years experience guiding in the Mont Blanc massif and the surrounding region. Growing up in the mountain resort of Les Arcs provided him endless opportunities to further his love and curiosity for the outdoors.
A talented all-rounder with an infectious enthusiasm for everything he does, Sébastien is a highly skilled alpinist, skier, telemark skier, snowboarder and filmmaker.
Miles Smart
Miles Smart is an American UIAGM qualified mountain guide. He spent his first winter in Chamonix in 1999 and has spent part of the year in the Alps ever since. He is the 2004 recipient of the AMGA Guide of the Year award and is an instructor and examiner for the American guide scheme. Miles is an AIARE avalanche course instructor and he leads these courses for Chamex.
Miles has spent many springs heli ski guiding in Alaska. He works equally with skiing, climbing and mountaineering. Some of his guiding highlights include a guided ski descent of the Grand Teton in Wyoming and a guided ascent of the Bonatti Route on the Grand Capucin above Chamonix. He has climbed El Capitan in Yosemite more than twenty times and has made many speed climbing records on the cliff. He has skied lines such as the Gervasutti Couloir on Mont Blanc du Tacul. Miles lives in Chamonix with his wife Liz.
Octavio Defazio
Octavio, born in Argentina, moved to Toulouse in France to study and promptly fell in love with the Alps. In 1995 he settled in the Chamonix valley, devoting himself to mountain life.
Subsequently Octavio gained the internationally recognised French High Mountain Guide qualification. Octavio has over 20 years of experience traveling around the worlds mountains, either as an amateur or a professional, in skiing, climbing or biking expeditions, and has always focused on discovering the remotest and wildest corners of the globe. Octavio has been working as a full time mountain guide since 2003.
Greg Sauget
Greg was born in Alsace, and is a specialist on the Verdon Gorges area in the south of France where he lives. Greg climbed his first 4000m peak at the age of nine in the Ecrins, later became a ski patrol guide and has worked as a mountain guide since 1998. Greg has worked in Canada, New Zealand, Russia, Africa, the Himalaya and Japan, and has been working with Chamonix Experience for over 10 years. Greg’s passion for mountains is fuelled by rock climbing, skiing, caving and Base-jumping, and he loves being in quiet mountainous environments.
Paul Farmer
Paul started tarted working in the outdoors in the English Lake District in 1983, and has guided worldwide since 1988. He has guided trips in Nepal, Pakistan, India, Argentina, the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Antarctica, and qualified as a UIAGM guide in 1997. Paul is now based in Servoz near Chamonix, working consistently throughout the Western Alps.
Sebastian Corret
Sebastian was brought up in the Pyrenees, where he discovered climbing and mountaineering. After passing his ski instructor exams in 2000, Sebastian became qualified as a UIAGM mountain guide in 2007.
Sebastian spends all of his time climbing and being in the mountains with his friends, and loves discovering new places worldwide. Sebastian has climbed and guided in Spain, Morocco, Kenya, Kirghizstan, Nepal, California, the USA and Argentina.
Isabelle Santoire
Originally from Montreal, Isabelle is one of the very few women to have completed the International Mountain Guide qualifications (IFMGA). Married to a British guide, Rick Marchant, Isabelle has been based in the Chamonix Valley for over 15 years.
Isabelle never sets out with set itineraries – her experience as a guide has led her to adapt and adjust to all clients varying levels and expectations. Whether she is skiing, climbing or mountaineering, a great day out for her is when she has succeeded to provide what she called a real “mountain wow”. Isabelle is now a proud Mum of 2 wonderful children, Alex and Mia.
Steve Hartland
Steve is a British IFMGA Mountain Guide based in Chamonix, France, and has been guiding and instructing for over 20 years.
Starting out in Sheffield, Steve moved to North Wales where he worked for over a decade as a senior instructor at Plas y Brenin, the renowned National Mountain Centre. Steve has been based in the French Alps since 2000 and guides year round. Steve’s love of the mountains has taken him worldwide and he has guided all but a couple of the 4000m Alpine peaks.
Raphael Thiot
Raphael has been climbing for 17 years, and has always dreamed of working and living in the mountains. With this passion he has now been working as a mountain guide for over 7 years, loves ice climbing and skiing, and enjoys the descent as much as the climbing of a peak. Raphael loves sharing his passion for the mountans with others, and is also a keen surfer.
