Our History

In 1984, Moun­tain Mad­ness founders Scott Fis­ch­er and Wes Krause became the world’s sec­ond team to stand atop Kilimanjaro’s famed Breach Ici­cle. Hav­ing suc­cess­ful­ly com­plet­ed the first Amer­i­can ascent of this sheer, detached pil­lar of ice, they took pause — they had made it and they were hooked. Over the years, they con­tin­ued seek­ing out wild expe­ri­ences that sat­is­fied their quest for some­thing dif­fer­ent. Moun­tain Mad­ness emerged from this enthu­si­as­tic part­ner­ship built on one com­mon pas­sion: to share the spir­it of adventure.

Though it start­ed in Africa, our roots are in Asia, where Scott scaled the world’s high­est and most chal­leng­ing peaks, includ­ing K2 and Mount Ever­est (both with­out oxy­gen) and Lhotse, where he was the first Amer­i­can to sum­mit. In May of 1996, as described in Jon Krakauer’s well-known book Into Thin Air, Scott lost his life dur­ing a bru­tal storm on Mt. Ever­est. He left behind a pow­er­ful lega­cy that still inspires oth­ers today, and a com­pa­ny, poised to share the joy of climb­ing, trekking, rock climb­ing, and ski­ing with those ready to join the adven­ture. Scott firm­ly believed that the dis­cov­ery and chal­lenge of the moun­tains could trans­form people’s lives.

Elite Climber Christine Boskoff Takes Over

In 1997, Chris­tine Boskoff became the own­er of Moun­tain Mad­ness. Like Scott, she was among the world’s elite high-alti­tude climbers — being a female in an oth­er­wise male-dom­i­nat­ed sport made her all the more note­wor­thy. For many though, Chris’ deci­sion to fol­low her dreams was every bit as inspir­ing as her climb­ing accom­plish­ments. Chris left a promis­ing career as an aero­nau­ti­cal engi­neer to pur­sue her pas­sions in life: climb­ing and help­ing Moun­tain Mad­ness clients con­nect with the joy and chal­lenge of moun­taineer­ing. Her life is depict­ed in the book Edge of the Map.

With Chris at the helm, and Seat­tle native Mark Gun­log­son involved with oper­a­tions, the com­pa­ny renewed its com­mit­ment to instruc­tion, offer­ing class­es ded­i­cat­ed to dif­fer­ent areas of moun­taineer­ing, rock climb­ing, and back­coun­try ski­ing. As the com­pa­ny grew, so did Chris’ climb­ing resume, with addi­tion­al ascents of 8000-meter peaks and a first ascent in the moun­tains of China’s Sichuan Province. Sad­ly, in the fall of 2006, Chris and well-known Amer­i­can climber Char­lie Fowler died in an avalanche as they attempt­ed to sum­mit Mount Genyan in China.

Mark Gunlogson Carries On the Mountain Madness Legacy

In the wake of Christine’s death, Mark pro­vid­ed Moun­tain Mad­ness with stead­fast lead­er­ship, becom­ing its own­er in 2008. Mark had orig­i­nal­ly joined the com­pa­ny in 1994, bring­ing with him an impres­sive climb­ing and guid­ing back­ground, a degree in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence, and a knack for sim­pli­fy­ing com­plex logis­tics and help­ing make great trips hap­pen for clients and guides worldwide. 

Like his pre­de­ces­sors, Mark is deeply pas­sion­ate about climb­ing and intro­duc­ing oth­ers to the trans­for­ma­tive pow­er of moun­taineer­ing and trekking. For Mark, the jour­ney is the des­ti­na­tion. He is engaged in the process of grow­ing Moun­tain Mad­ness and see­ing the busi­ness emerge as one of the most expe­ri­enced moun­taineer­ing com­pa­nies in the world, with top notch teams in the field and behind the scenes. More than 35 years lat­er, Moun­tain Mad­ness has remained true to the mis­sion Scott envi­sioned. The com­pa­ny has achieved world­wide acclaim for excel­lence in moun­taineer­ing and con­tin­ues to offer a wide range of adven­tures — from trips for begin­ner trekkers to expe­di­tions for those striv­ing to ascend Mount Ever­est. The spir­it of adven­ture lives on!