“The Ultimate Active Experience in the Dolomites”
Dolomite Mountains Guide Biographies
At Dolomite Mountains, our guides are passionate, experienced mountain enthusiasts who work year round in the outdoor industry, hold the highest guide certifications, and are dedicated to providing our guests an exceptional experience.
Our guides are incredibly knowledgeable about the local terrain, culture, food and customs, and passionate about sharing them with you – you’re in their back yard after all! They live here, work here, play here, grew up here, trained here, and have a passion for the mountains – more specifically, a passion for these mountains.
Most importantly, they are fun to be with, and dedicated to making sure you have an outstanding experience and enjoy your trip in the Dolomites!
Hiking, Via Ferrata, Climbing, and Skiing Guide
It seems Luca was always destined to be a guide. Born in 1965, he has been skiing since he was seven, rock climbing since he was 18, and ice climbing since he was 19. While he is an electrical engineer by training, he is a mountaineer at heart, and his passion for the outdoors has driven him to travel the world – Luca has skied and/or climbed on almost every continent!
A native of Italy and a current resident of Val di Fassa in the Dolomites, Luca is bilngual, fluent in both English and Italian. Not only is he an exceptional and enthusiastic guide, he has also been able to combine his engineering background with his passion for sport, with projects ranging from installing rock climbing walls to teaching rope work and tree climbing safety systems.
Luca earned his UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Guide certification in 2006, and works as a trekking, mountaineering, rock climbing, canyoning, heli ski, ski touring, off-track-skiing, ski safari, ice climbing, and snow shoeing guide. Somehow he also finds time to compete in mountain biking, ciclocross, and ice climbing events! “The curiosity to know new places, have different experiences, and to share sports activities with other people, is the spark that lights me. ONE LIFE, LIVE IT!"
Hiking, Via Ferrata, Climbing, and Skiing Guide
The Dolomites and guiding run in Marica’s blood. With a father who was a ski instructor and mountain guide, and mother who runs a B&B in Val di Fassa where she grew up, how could it not? Born in 1973, Marica began skiing at age 3 and ski racing at 6, and raced for the Italian National Alpine Ski Team in her teens and 20s, travelling extensively in the mountains throughout Europe. “Mountains and snow are my passion,” says Marica, “I was born in the Fassa Valley and still live there because of that!”
Marica has also lived in California, where she worked in Incline Village in the Lake Tahoe area. She attended Sierra Nevada College on a sports scholarship, and won the women’s U.S. Collegiate Skiing Championships in 1998 and 1999. Competitive skiing also provided her the opportunity to travel around much of the United States, where she developed an excellent command of the English language and knowledge of American culture. In addition to English and her native Ladin tongue (a minority language recognized in parts of the Dolomites), Marica also speaks German and Spanish.
In 1999, Marica returned to Italy to resume work as a member of the “forest police.” Working with the government, she was also able to do some ski patrolling and snow study. In addition to being a mountain guide (Marica earned her UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Guide certification in 2009), she is also a ski instructor, federal ski coach, and was a top ranked ice climber in the mid-2000s. Marica recently became a mother, and now we’re just waiting to see her baby begin skiing and climbing along side her!
Hiking Guide
Karin was born and raised in the Dolomites, and currently resides in Corvara in Alta Badia. This has given her plentiful opportunities to pursue outdoor activities year round: she telemark skis, ski tours, hikes, rock climbs, climbs glaciers, and has cross country skied and cycled competitively.
In 2007, Karin began guiding. Her personal mission is to transmit knowledge, and guiding, being able to share her enthusiasm with her groups, is one of her favorite ways to do this. But she doesn’t stop there. In addition to being a hiking guide in her beloved Dolomites, Karin has been a science and chemistry teacher at the high school in Alta Badia since 1995, and has guided her teenage students on countless local and international excursions. In the fall of 2011 she became a yoga teacher, which allows her to share her message of peace and global understanding. And she also works as an art director, making documentaries about Ladin arts and culture.
Her other passions? Travel and photography. She is fluent in six languages: her native Italian, German, and Ladin, in addition to English, French, and Spanish, and can be spotted around the globe anywhere from Japan to Washington state during the off-season!
Hiking, Via Ferrata, Climbing, and Skiing Guide
Alberto, or “Albi” as he is called by his friends, was born in Northern Italy’s Padova and began visiting the Dolomites when he was a child. He climbed his first via ferrata at age 14, but it was when he took a climbing course with a guide at age 21 that everything else became secondary. From this experience, the desire to become a mountain guide began to burn in him, with the realization that it was possible to make a living while pursuing his passion.
While he studied economics and earned his degree from the University in Venice, upon completion in 2008 he moved to Arabba in the Dolomites and began guiding full time. Shortly thereafter he began his mountain guide coursework, and in 2011 he earned his UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Guide certification, becoming a professional mountain guide.
GIULIA MONEGO
Hiking Guide
Since childhood Giulia has dedicated herself to her passion for the mountains and snow. This passion took her first from the Venetian waters of her birth to the Dolomites, and then to Verbier in the Swiss Alps which she currently calls home. Between the ages of 13 and 20 Guilia found success in a competitive alpine racing career; more recently she has moved into the world of freeriding and achieved great competitive and personal success
As a professional skier and a passionate mountaineer, Guilia lives to share her love for riding free. She has been teaching skiing since 2002, and guiding since 2006. She loves to meet new people and experience new cultures, so when she is not teaching, guiding, skiing, or competing you can find her traveling the world, exploring new countries and making new friends. Leveraging her well-earned recognition and respect, in 2010 she co-founded the NGO Summits4kids.org with 2 other world-class female skiers, dedicated to helping disadvantaged children.
Guilia joins us each summer as a hiking and trekking guide (when is not skiing or circling the globe!), and resides in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Hiking, Via Ferrata, Climbing, and Skiing Guide
Marcello was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1961. He lived in a number of places when he was a child, as his father moved frequently for his work with major oil companies. Marcello began to visit the mountains early on, and had his first experience of mountaineering when he just sixteen. Immediately fascinated by this world, he began to make friends older climbers who had more experience in the mountains, so that he could learn as much as possible as quickly as possible. At eighteen, he was already able to climb a grade 7 mountain (at the top of the difficulty scale), and since then he has dedicated his life to climbing and skiing.
In 1984, Marcello moved to the Dolomites, and at twenty-three, he became a professional UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Guide and started to make a living from his newfound profession straight away. He has also been an instructor of mountain-guide courses for ten years.
Today, in addition to guiding, he divides his time between his children, climbing, skiing, traveling, and exploring remote areas. He loves photography, and also shoots and edits films. He works with a range of specialist and non-specialist magazines, in particular writing reportages, which he considers to be the best way to portray the mountains.
Hiking, Trail Running, and Mountain Biking Guide
Andreas began guiding hiking and mountain biking in 1998. An avid cyclist himself, according to his friends he has clocked millions of kilometers on his bike. During the winter, when the trails are covered in snow, he is an inexhaustible skier and ski instructor, and skis in every discipline – alpine, backcountry, telemark, cross country, as well as snowboarding (he has been an AMSI and ISIA certified ski and snowboard instructor since 1995). When he is not on a bike or skis, he is also a runner, climber, and paraglider, and has raced in almost every sport imaginable. And, as if that weren’t enough, in addition to his athletic pursuits, Andreas is a furniture maker! Andreas a native of La Villa, in the Alta Badia valley of the Dolomites. He currently lives there with his family, including his brother Ivan who also guides in the Dolomites.
Hiking, Via Ferrata, and Climbing Guide
Passion for high altitude began for Filippo as a child, when he spent summers in the mountains with his grandparents. Born in 1979, he is originally from Bologna, where he earned a degree in Physical Education from I.S.E.F. In 2004, he earned his UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Guide certification, and today he lives in Livinallongo del Col di Lana in the Dolomites.
Filippo’sgreatest dedication in life is competing in mountain races – ski mountaineering, cycling, and running – all at high altitude. He has raced in the Maratona dles Dolomites – a road bicycling race that crosses seven spectacular mountain passes, the SkyRace – a high altitude endurance race in the mountains, the Mezzalama – an Italian high altitude ski mountaineering competition, and the Sellaronda Ski Marathon – a marathon distance (42km / 26 mile) nighttime ski race with a 2,700-meter (8,858') elevation change. This dedication takes him all over the Alps to compete in different races and take on new challenges.
An eager traveler, Filippo has climbed in Yosemite National Park, and traversed the Patagonian Ice Cap in South America. He is fluent in Italian and English.
MARCO SPAZZINI
Hiking, Via Ferrata, and Climbing Guide
Marco began hiking and climbing in the mountains with his dad as a child (he was born in 1979), and was delighted by the “mythical gymnasium” of the via ferrata. As he grew older, he continued to explore and climb with his friends, improving his skills by taking courses in the mountains near his home town of Padova. He completed his mandatory military service as a young adult – and was fortunate to be assigned to the Alpini, an elite division of mountain soldiers, where he became a climbing instructor and ski rescuer. The impetus of his desire to transform his passion into a profession is clearly written in the rock walls of Italy!
After years of preparation and training, Marco earned his UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Guide certification in 2009, fulfilling one of his life’s greatest dreams. Today, in addition to guiding, he is a volunteer with an association of ex-Alpini that carry out social welfare projects, and in the past has served as a Boy Scout troop leader in his home town. When Marco is not in the Dolomites, he resides in his native Padova with his wife and child, where he manages two indoor climbing gyms. And to this day, he still goes out on excursions with his father!
RICHARD FEICHTER
Hiking, Mountain Biking, and Road Biking guide
A native of the Dolomites, Richard hails from La Villa in the Alta Badia valley. After working for the forest service for numerous years, he began guiding in 2010. A passionate mountain biker, he is always looking for new trails to explore, and pushing the limits of what hiking trails can actually be cycled! He met his wife in his home town of La Villa, in Alta Badia, where they currently reside with their two daughters.