Meet Our Guides
We have a number of guides that work for us who are selected for not only their ability to navigate and keep folk safe but importantly their endless enthusiasm for the outdoors, passion for people and an overwhelming desire to ensure that every participant has an amazing experience. You can meet some of our guiding team below!
Lee Lewis
Lee is a Qualified Mountain Leader and qualified “cheeky chappy” of the North who has been in the outdoor industry for more than 20 years, leading groups in the mountains both in the UK & overseas. As an accomplished traveller, Lee found his love for the Mountains Trekking in Australia, Africa & Asia and climbing in the Alps.
Throughout Lee’s career he has accompanied likeminded people on cycle challenges & walking challenges all over the world, including Costa Rica’s coast, Spain and Nepal to name but a few. Lee has extensive knowledge of the UK mountain areas, having led on the National 3 Peaks and Yorkshire 3 Peaks.
Favourite destination
This is a really tough one there are so many to choose from. I would have to say Nepal with the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu and the contrasting quiet and tranquil valleys of the Himalaya.
Top Tip
I would have to say the 4 H’s of any challenge or overseas expedition; Hydration, Hygiene, Health and Happiness.
Chris Brook
Chris, originally from Yorkshire, has been a keen traveller, expedition leader and outdoor instructor for over 15 years. He is photography obsessed and regularly races across the globe covering distances of 10km to 350km. You could say he is a running and climbing fanatic!
A holder of the Mountain Instructor Award and with a breadth of experience leading trips in the UK and Overseas from National 3 Peaks to Everest Base Camp, Chris is a top guide to have around.
Favourite travel story?
Whilst hitchhiking around Oman we got a lift just south of Muscat. Turns out the person we got a lift from was a turtle conservationist who took us to watch thousands of turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs and help count the numbers. We spent a week there.
Top travel tip?
It’s easy to be snap happy on your travels. Sometimes, just take that moment for you. Take that mental picture knowing that’s your special time, just for you.
Ken Storer
Ken’s passion has always been for the outdoors, with his leisure time spent wandering the hills and mountains of the UK and the European Alps. During his previous career in the public sector, he was fortunate to be in a role which focussed on training, personal development, leadership and risk management. For the last 15 years he has been able to combine the skills developed in his former role with his personal mountaineering experience, and use these skills to support others achieving their goals on the hills and mountains of the UK and on overseas expeditions.
Qualifying firstly as a UK Mountain Leader and then an International Mountain Leader, Ken has managed many walking events ranging from 4 to 800 participants and single to multi day trekking events in the UK, the desert, jungle and on high altitude mountains.
What do you love about your job?
Seeing people succeed. We can all achieve much more than we think we can, both physically and mentally. Having the opportunity to offer advice, guidance and support which in some way contributes to an individual’s achievement is very rewarding.
Mountains or ocean?
An easy choice, mountains all day long, especially if accompanied by a multi day trek. There is something about the journey before the summit that adds to the achievement.
Johnny Hyde
Johnny is avid adventurer and seasoned expedition guide. Inspired by the fire safety and rescue service and mountain rescue teams, Johnny always knew that he wanted to help people discover their practical skills in the great outdoors.
Johnny always has a smile on his face – just the type of person you want by your side on a mountain adventure! He is known for being positive and passionate, with a bubbly can do attitude, he’s also known to be partial to a flapjack or two!
Beyond Johnny’s personal credentials he is a competent mountain leader with extensive experience leading in the UK and overseas, and knows his stuff when it comes to UK walking in particular.
What’s important to you?
I feel it’s important to ensure that adventures are delivered in a sustainable way. It is important to me to encourage resilience and self-confidence in any adventures I provide to others and provide a leadership style that empowers participants to have the courage and confidence to tackle their own adventures wherever and however they present themselves.
Favourite UK Mountain?
My favourite range is the Glyderau range, North Wales.
Jonathan Murtagh
When Jonny was a kid, he was lucky enough to live in an area where hills, moorlands, and mountains were his playground. He’d be kicked out of the house in the morning and would return at the end of the day often starving and exhausted but fully content. From these early days through to Scouts, Army Cadets, and latterly Mountain Rescue he’s still fortunate enough to experience the joy of playground, although it’s now an international playground and he calls it “work”.
Alongside mountaineering, he also enjoys snowboarding, surfing, and mountain biking. Over the last 30+ years since, Jonny has developed a real passion for sharing these outdoor spaces and the benefits, they can bring both mentally and physically. Enabling people with the skills and confidence to safely get out there and experience their own adventures is just one of the rewards of working in this area.
Mountains or ocean?
Mountains. No wait, oceans if the surf looks good, unless there’s snow on the hills then mountains; definitely.
What do you love about your job?
Meeting people from all walks of life, sharing with them the joy of the mountains, and seeing the look of absolute euphoria and relief in their faces as challenge ambitions are achieved.
Amanda Korchel
After 22 years serving in the British Military where her zest for all things outdoors was born from being an Adventure Training & PT Instructor, alongside her operational deployments across the world only encouraged her sense of adventure!
Once Amanda retired from the Military she knew that her passion would continue & added more qualifications as a Cycling Instructor & Swimming Teacher to work alongside these adventures and her two children ! She has been fortunate enough during her 10 years with GAC to lead on many overseas challenges – her favourite cycle one being Vietnam to Cambodia & favourite overall Lapland Husky Dog Trek, alongside working on the UK challenges including N3P, L2P & many others.
What cause are you passionate about?
Beside my passion for the outdoors I also believe strongly in the bias for action in helping others where it is needed the most. As a volunteer with the disaster & emergency response charity RE:ACT, we deliver rapid humanitarian help in UK & overseas, from helping rebuild shelters after the earth quake in Morocco to the floods in UK.
What is your favourite quote?
“Comparison is the thief of all joy… BE YOU”