In the Andes
The Origins of Smile Mountain Guides.
Smile Mountian Guides is built on a vision of trust and caring for the team and a respect for what climbing in the mountains can do to transform someone’s life path.
On the beautiful volcanic peaks of the Ecuadorean mountains and jagged cliffs of the Peruvian Andes, Jeff Mascaro, founder of Smile Mountain Guides, found both love and appreciation for the mountains- in the mountains. Those trips taught him many lessons about what perseverance means in pursuit of “success” and how passion fuels those lofty goals.
Dizzying altitudes, numbing cold, suffering. “The mountains teach us lessons about ourselves”, Jeff says, and they pose real risks and hardships along the way. In these environments, finding a balance of practice, failure, reflection, and growth leads us deeper into ourselves. It’s what many alpinists seek- yet struggle to verbalize…
“Several journeys to South America, a home away from home, have brought teams and myself, at various points, into situations where life lessons could be learned. They are not always the easiest, in the moment, but they are often the times I will never forget.”, says Jeff. Fighting altitude sickness on Alpaymayo, turning back before reaching the summit, but pivoting as a team to get the three of us down. Earlier in life with theft on Cotopaxi. Stashing gear from the day before our midnight alpine start. Only realizing, as we start our summit bid that our axes and some crampons had been stolen in the evening. Or the ever-present stomach bacteria in the Quilcayhuanca encouraging teams to hike back out for miles with the ever-present need to lay down, vomit, or worse. Setbacks, maybe- but with the right partners, whose collective mission is seen as greater than themselves, these were more opportunities to find a sense of partnership within our small team and share in ways to support the other.
When we say, “shared experiences build unmatched bonds,” this is what we mean.
“We do not choose to play with opponents that are lesser than us, we choose ones that are greater”. A good team helps one find strength in hard times and hard times are bound to arise.”
Shared experiences
Build Unmatched Bonds
“These early trips into the greater ranges of the world sparked a trajectory of travel and mountain adventure that would soon define much of my goals, career, and dreams”, Jeff says.
Looking back, many years before these trips to South America, I seemed to stumble upon a sense of adventure in a dusty, nondescript warehouse that would soon be home for the next ten years. Earth Treks Climbing Centers would be my start in the outdoor world. A home of true mentors and leaders, a place for friends and family, and an avenue for adventure.
“Earth Treks, in my early days, was for me, the perfect moment of time and place. I am fortunate to have many beautiful friendships from this era and many memories of personal and professional growth ”.
Later into his guiding career, as Jeff stepped away from the Earth Treks gyms, he still yearned for the sense of community those places offered. A third space for the outdoor community to thrive. A space to grow, be inspired, and a way to share fundamental mountain experiences as he had.
To make Smile Mountain Guides a reality, Jeff needed to build a space that would give room for growth & creativity to a tight-knit team whose passion for the mountains would inspire and educate.
“Lessons from the Andes would come to serve me as Smile was getting started. Perseverance, when times were tough, knowing that the purpose of Smile was greater than the pain. I failed often, practiced more, learned from my mistakes, and kept pressing forward.” Smile, from inception, was grassroots. We didn’t have money, for website development, for the logo, or even for rentals. I relied on passion, the mission, friends, and longer-term planning to keep things moving forward. More importantly, I continued to learn.
I had a solid background from earlier in my career that would guide our product, an I knew I could ensure we were producing the best from our guest’s experience, to guide support. At Smile, I was passionate, and now, proudly WE still are, energized and motivated by our mission to “inspire growth and exploration in the mountains”.
Smile’ puts this founding view first in all that we do from traditional guiding to our other more creative pursuits. We’ve helped develop programs with our guests to build their dreams. We’ve connected deaf instructors to the ASL Community by starting an inclusive climbing festival centered around the deaf experience, and we’ve consistently provided monthly guide mentorship to any professional guide interested in attending for free, paying our experience forward.
We think differently. Our team is consistently working with high levels of collaboration and innovation to allow for these industry-expanding ideas. That’s because our team has the support it needs from truly industry-leading pay to continued personal and professional growth and development opportunities.
As we grow, Smile Mountain Guides, we still aim to find the sweet spot of challenge in the mountains, for both guests and our team, where each can experience the true spirit of climbing: Passion, Partnership, Inclusion, and Creativity.
Remember, summits are a great success and noteworthy, but here’s the underlying life lesson. “ Don’t hit the peak and miss the point”, or another way to put this, the journey is the reward.
