Meet the team
The Collective Difference
Cascade Mountain Ascents is a values-driven, worker-owned mountain guiding collective based in Bellingham, WA. At our core, we’re friends who love the mountains and want to make a sustainable career of sharing them with others.
As a collective, we are a democratic workplace where decisions, responsibilities, and profits are shared equitably among members. Worker ownership makes for resilient and competitive companies that center worker, community, and customer benefit.
Our strength is in our members. Many of the lessons we’ve learned in the mountains—collaboration, being adaptable, and managing uncertainty—are foundational to how we operate. We know that businesses and communities thrive when each member’s voice, skills, and talents are respected and supported, so we implement a business structure that does just that. This means that we prioritize high-quality training, building institutional knowledge through worker retention, and professional development opportunities for our members, so that we can provide stellar mountain experiences for you.
Come see what the Collective Difference is all about!
Mike Elges
Mike grew up in a small Colorado town at 9500ft surrounded by mountains. At 18, a passion for snowboarding and desire to stay away from a “real job” landed him at Colorado Mountain College pursuing a degree in Outdoor Recreation Leadership. During this time, he discovered climbing and joined a community of people pursuing mountain craft as a profession and way of life.
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Zack McGill
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Alyssa Young
Alyssa grew up in Northern California and now calls the North Cascades her home. She is a dedicated backcountry skier and has worked throughout the West as an avalanche educator, outdoor educator, and naturalist. As the Operations Manager at CMA, she works closely with guides and guests to support stellar experiences in the mountains.
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Phil Straub
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Matt Lubar
Whether in mountain boots, rock shoes, or on skis, Matt is a deep believer in the ability of movement through mountain landscapes to enrich our lives, and thoroughly enjoys sharing the mountains with all his guests. Besides mountain travel, Matt’s passions include soul music, ice cream, and street tacos, preferably all at once.
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Joseph Hobby
For over a decade, Joseph’s dedication to the mountains has awarded him a proficiency in many different styles of climbing including traditional, alpine, ice, and mixed. Joseph’s fondness and contagious devotion to ski mountaineering does not go unnoticed amongst his partners and guests. These passions have led him to the Alps, Canadian Rockies, Alaska, the Himalayas, and many domestic ranges in pursuit of shared climbing and ski objectives.
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Jodi Redfield
Jodi was born and raised in rural Montana where the mountains were her backyard. She grew up going on horse pack trips in the wilderness and going skiing with her dad wherever it fit in around ranch chores. She has a background in Horticulture, a love for education and spent the last 10 winters in the snowiest places of Montana teaching and skiing before migrating further west to explore the glaciers and wild corners of the Cascades. Jodi loves sharing the mountains with people eager to explore, and is always scheming up the next best adventure snack to take on a summer running trip.
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Matt Sellick
Matt is a well-rounded climber and guide. He works year-round in the rock, alpine, and ski disciplines and has guided in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Mexico, and Canada. He has also climbed in just about every state that has rocks to climb. Matt is as passionate about nutrition as he is about mountains. He cares deeply about the indigenous knowledge of the plants in the areas in which we recreate and is working towards a Masters’s degree in Dietetics. When Matt isn’t guiding, you can find him foraging, cooking, fly fishing, or developing climbing routes.
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Chris Martin
Chris Martin has been exploring since the day skis landed on his feet. As an inlet to adventure, skiing grew the seed. Chris is inspired by sharing and teaching the skills necessary to achieve your dreams of a lifetime in the mountains. Chris has pursued his personal passions as well as guided climbing and skiing from South America to Alaska. Chris Martin is an Internationally Certified Mountain Guide who achieved IFMGA Mountain Guide Licensure in 2022. Chris has gained experience in rescue, working with the National Park Service through Search and Rescue on Denali.
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Nick Vincent
After a short stint in corporate America, Nick “Vince” Vincent moved to Vail, Colorado, and embraced the life of a ski bum. Seeking quality time in the mountains, he soon found himself as an intern at the Colorado Outward Bound School. After 7 seasons as an instructor, staff trainer, and semester proctor at COBS, Vince transitioned into guiding, with backcountry skiing and avalanche education being his passion and focus. Moving to Washington in 2018, Vince now calls Bellingham home and is excited to share the Cascades with his guests.
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Lindsey Fritz
Lindsey grew up in Philadelphia where she found her love for the outdoors in a tight knit climbing community. While attending the Pennsylvania State University she was able to explore her love of rock climbing, skiing and mountaineering across the US. After school she found herself working for the Colorado Outward Bound School before moving to Washington in 2020. The Cascades instantly felt like home as she climbed and skied throughout them and began guiding Tahoma (Rainier) and Koma Kulshan (Baker). She now guides throughout Washington and Alaska.
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Ryan Pedersen
Ryan has climbed extensively all over the United States in places such as Yosemite Valley, the Colorado Rockies, the North Cascades, the desert sandstone in Utah, and all over the Northeast. He has also been fortunate enough to travel abroad to experience new places and cultures that offer a variety of climbing opportunities. Most recently, Ryan traveled to climb in the Peruvian Andes, the jungles of Cambodia, and the tall granite walls in Canada. When Ryan is not climbing for work or pleasure, he loves growing veggies in his garden and hanging out with his awesome border collie Lula!