About our adventure travel company…
Alpine Adventure LLC offers guided and self guided hiking, trekking and climbing trips to Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, Poland, Slovakia, and Scotland (Isle of Skye). We also offer private group guided trips to all the above locations (no minimum number of guests for private trips). Guided tours have two or three guides and a maximum of 12 guests.
Alpine Adventure LLC owned and operated by Shannon Harris (lead guide since 1998) is committed to providing the ideal active trip for you, one tailored around your individual preferences. Our guide to guest ratio of 1:6 or 1:4 with an owner/guide leading trips allows us to structure hikes where everyone gets exactly what they want from the trip. The ability to make changes and adjustments during the hike and the ability to sequence hikes around weather conditions are some of our biggest strengths. We always remember after all hiking is the star of the show.
Alpine Adventure was founded in 1977 leading hiking trips exclusively in Switzerland. Family relationships between the Alpine Adventure family and the families that own and operate hotels we use go back for generations. We work as a team to make sure you have a fabulous time. This formula of a small group in family run hotels with attentive experienced and fun guides and staff has worked now for 47 years.
Shannon Harris
President
Alpine Adventure LLC
Shannon Harris
For twenty-seven years I’ve guided small groups of hikers in the Alps on hundreds of trails through alpine meadows and glacier carved valleys and high up where there is almost no vegetation. Through the years there has been one constant with the groups something that must happen for me to consider it a successful trip – our guests have a fun time! I enjoy hiking with those who are just getting into hiking and enjoy doing 15 mile hikes with 4000 feet up and down. I enjoy helping people get to places that takes effort but is amazingly rewarding. I enjoy seeing the friendships made during the trip and the look on faces when they see the views. Each group is unique as is each hiker something that keeps us having fun year after year. I’m also thankful for all the people i’ve met over two decades. Hiking and traveling are what I enjoy and sharing it with others makes it even better!
Carrie Carlquist
Carrie is an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys hiking, backpacking, mountaineering, rock climbing, and skiing both inbounds and backcountry. She expresses her love for the mountains by: supporting conservation and preservation of natural lands for future generations, volunteering as a leader and/or instructor for organizations such as the Spokane Mountaineers, and engaging in friendships with others who share her enthusiasm. Carrie continually seeks to broaden her outdoor experience and knowledge base for the safety of her students, peers, hiking guests and friends. She is Wilderness First Aid-certified and has graduated from the Spokane Mountaineers backpacking, mountaineering, lead climbing, and high angle rescue courses.
John Wigington
Hiking and camping as a boy in the North Georgia mountains triggered his love of the out of doors and mountains. So much so, that decades later, he did a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. John has hiked in Alaska, the Northwest, the White Mountains and the Rockies, including a thru-hike of the Colorado Trail. He has led hikes with his local hiking club in Tennessee and has hiked over 545 miles of the 900+ miles of trail in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Abroad John has hiked in Patagonia and, with Alpine Adventure Trails Tours, in Switzerland, Italy, and Austria. Each spring, he volunteers several weeks to help build the Cumberland Trail through Eastern Tennessee. So, he has appreciation for what it takes to build trails and has great admiration for those who built the trails he has and will hike, particularly those in Europe. He loves the challenge of hiking, the stunning scenery, and the comradery of hiking with like-minded folks.
Navita Shyam
Navita Shyam, is a seasoned Mountaineer and Outdoor Educator.
She brings with her a career spanning over two decades guiding and walking the valleys of the Greater Himalayas including the regions of Gharwal, Kumaon, Himachal, Ladakh & Kashmir Himalayan ranges, the Khumbu & Annapurna regions in Nepal, and across all of the Alps.
She has also spent an equal amount of time in the field of Experiential Education globally, designing and deliverable learning based adventure programs for children aged between 8-18yrs. She is a certified Wilderness First Responder (WFR) from the Wilderness Medicine Institute, USA.
Her journeys since she says, have brought her in touch with some of the most giving, intelligent, and hearty people in some stark and awe-inspiring landscapes that have taught her many a valuable lesson, the foremost being the ability to embrace whatever the moment presents, with a smile!
Cristiano Berta
Cristiano grew up in a family of mountain guides with a long tradition of mountaineering. He comes from a little mountain town nestled somewhere in the Italian Alps close to the French border. The Alps are his natural environment, having hiked, mountaineered, skied and climbed since a tender age, and whenever he spends a few weeks away from the familiarity of his peaks, he begins to long for them. He is convinced that mountains are more than just elevations of the earth’s surface, and that hiking is more than a sport. He firmly believes that the combination of majestic mountain scenery and the act of hiking bring a sense of uplifting and self-awareness, contributing to personal growth.
He is very knowledgeable about the Western Alps, particularly about the lesser known regions of Piedmont and the Aosta Valley. In recent years he has started exploring new mountain ranges across Europe, namely the High Tatras in Poland and the Transylvanian Alps in Romania, where he went through some memorable experiences, such as encountering brown bears or being caught in a snowstorm in the middle of the summer.
He enjoys the company of others, and is always happy to share some of his personal stories and knowledge of the Alps.
Lynne Laflamme
Lynne is an outdoor enthusiast and adventurist. She leads an active lifestyle embracing all seasons. In addition to day hiking and backpacking trips, she enjoys sailing, multi day sea kayak trips, road and mountain biking, Nordic, alpine and back country skiing. Having spent time in various mountain chains including the Atlas, the Alps, the Pyrenees & the Canadian Rockies, she has acquired a deep appreciation for the humbling nature of the mountains, and their inspiring energy. She enjoys organizing excursions and sharing with others the privilege of the uphill experience. She is bilingual, and has a healthcare background which includes Wilderness Advanced First Aid. She also has Avalanche skills (AST) and Crevasse Rescue training, and puts safety at the forefront of every adventure. Another skill she has is a sunny personality that brings brightness to all her hikes.
