Andrea is the Co-Owner of Petra Cliffs Climbing Center & Mountaineering School in Burlington, and has been guiding rock climbing since the early 2000’s. Andrea enjoys every season as a rock and ice climbing and backcountry ski guide, and especially enjoys leading women’s programs that aim to empower women through climbing or skiing. When she’s not guiding or working in the gym… she is chasing after her pre-schooler, tending a small but wily garden, working with CRAG-VT as a Board Member and Mammut as an Athlete Ambassador, or climbing or skiing!

Guide courses/exams: AMGA Single Pitch Instructor, Advanced Rock Guide Course & Aspirant Exam, Ice Instructor Course, Alpine Guide Course

AMGA Certified Single Pitch Instructor, Apprentice Rock Guide

Whether it’s rock, ice, glacier, or a big burly boulder, David absolutely loves to climb. The only thing David enjoys more than climbing himself is teaching others how to climb. Whether it’s helping others climb confidently and efficiently or teaching the principles of anchor building, David finds special joy in helping his clients experience those “a-ha” moments when everything suddenly clicks.

David’s passion for climbing and education has its roots in the Great Smokey Mountains of his home state, North Carolina, where his family nurtured a lifelong passion for education and exploring the beauty of nature, and he first cut his climbing teeth in the late 90s. Since then, David has worked as a professional sports photographer, a research analyst for the North Carolina State Senate, and earned advanced degrees and years of teaching experience from The University of Chicago.

David has climbed extensively throughout New England. He is especially familiar with the crags of Vermont and New Hampshire, where he spends every moment he can find pulling hard on crimps and honing his professional and technical skills to better serve his clients. In addition to New England and North Carolina, David has climbed across the country: in Nevada, California, Washington, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia. He especially loves the golden sandstone of Eldorado Canyon, the glaciated peaks of the North Cascades, and the morning mists that rise from the valleys around Linville Gorge.

Dylan lives in Burlington and works as a guide for Petra Cliffs Mountaineering School. He has been an AMGA Certified Single Pitch Instructor for 3 years and is currently taking the AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide Course, which will open up his scope of practice to multipitch terrain. Hard friction slab, thin face, and crack are Dylan’s favorite climbing styles, and he also loves to climb long moderate multipitch/alpine routes in venues like Cannon Cliff, Red Rocks, and the Adirondacks.

Dylan is openly gay and has a strong awareness of societal dynamics that impact people of marginalized identities, and makes an active effort to foster a caring, mutual, and welcoming learning environment when he guides and teaches. He is often described as “very chill.” Ultimately Dylan thinks of himself as a teacher more than a guide, and he wants his guests develop the skills they need to move freely through the mountains on their own.

Outside of climbing Dylan likes cats, trailrunning, music composition, reading, and scrolling on his phone on the couch for hours on end. His climbing goals are to send harder friction slabs, climb El Cap, and not break his foot in a slab fall again.

Jack is a 2020 graduate from the University of Vermont with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science. He is pursuing the AMGA rock guide track and enjoys nothing more than getting outside to go climbing with people. Whether that be introducing someone to a new aspect of the sport or romping up a multi-pitch with a friend. The love he has for introducing someone to climbing comes from his love of outdoor education. His favorite part of outdoor education through climbing is how much it empowers people and puts them more in tune with their natural surroundings. 

He has experience climbing in places like the canyons of Colorado, Vedauwoo, Joshua Tree National Park, a little bit of bouldering in Yosemite (he’ll be back), New Hampshire, and of course Vermont. When Jack isn’t rock climbing he enjoys mountaineering, snowboarding, ice climbing, mountain biking, backpacking, and finding summer swimming holes. If you are ever looking for someone to climb with outdoors, don’t hesitate to ask him because he will most likely say yes. 

Janel Rieger-Chavez is a rock, ice, and alpine climber and has been guiding for 4 years. She is from the Otimi tribe of the Nahua nation and has ancestral line of women guiding and navigating the mountains in Mexico. She has been climbing for 8 years and her favorite style is ice climbing and crack climbing. She runs BIPOC clinics in locally and mentors aspiring alpinists to take their goals to big mountains. Her favorite area to climb is in the Cascades and Nevada. When she isn’t climbing or guiding, she teaches Engineering and Programming and enjoys hanging out with her 2 cats, Loki and Rocket.

Kristen is a trans nonbinary climber and guide, Wilderness EMT, president of CRAG-VT, and has been an activist and educator LGBTQ+ circles for nearly 20 years. They believe that cliffs, boulders, and the outdoors are incredible spaces for belonging. Simultaneously, it’s the work of all in a community to proactively challenge the barriers that stand in the way of people feeling included and celebrated in outdoor spaces. She is a climbing coach at Petra Cliffs Mountaineering Center, and a full-time summer camp operator who is based in Burlington, VT.

Mischa (he/him) found his love for climbing 20 years ago when the Burlington Rock Gym opened in Essex and his father took him to climb Thin Air on Cathedral Ledge. Since then, Mischa has pursued a career in outdoor education and continued to climb in Vermont, out West and around the world. Mischa is certified as a AMGA Single Pitch Instructor and the founder of Sterling Mountain Guides. He is a Wilderness First Responder and a NOLS Outdoor Educator. When he’s not climbing, Mischa is a teacher. Mischa’s favorite climbing memories include learning trad in Red Rock Canyon, traversing granite alpine ridges in the Wind River Range, hand jamming in Indian Creek, projecting routes in Catalunya, Spain, and exploring alongside the wonderful community of climbers in Vermont.

Paul has been climbing for 40 years, and guiding / instructing for the past 30 years in New England and the Adirondacks. During his extended time in negotiating the vertical environment, Paul has had the good fortune to climb rock and ice in many corners of the U.S. including such places as the Tetons, Yosemite, and the granite cracks and sandstone spires of Utah, Arizona, and Colorado, amongst many others. Most of his climbing time has been spent thoroughly exploring the endless number of cliffs and mountains found all over New England and the Northeast. 

He is an AMGA Certified Single Pitch Instructor, and Wilderness First Responder.  

Paul spends much of his time when he is not climbing and guiding as a high school science teacher and outdoor educator. Some of his other interests include hiking, biking, skiing, paddling, gardening, fishing, and the endless tasks of working on a century-old farmhouse in northern Vermont.

Steve is Petra Cliffs’ co-owner, and Head Guide. He has been professionally guiding rock, ice, mountaineering, and ski mountaineering programs since 2001. Steve has a degree in Outdoor Education from Northern Vermont University and completed a NOLS Outdoor Educators Course for Mountaineering & Rock Climbing to kickstart his career as a mountain guide and educator.  

Steve is involved with the following organizations:

IFMGA Aspirant (International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations)

AMGA (American Mountain Guides Association)

• Certified Rock Guide
• Certified Ski Guide
• Certified Guides Co-Op Member
• Climbing Wall Instructor Provider
• Certified Single Pitch Instructor
• Rock Guide Course
• Advanced Rock Guide Course & Aspirant Exam
• Alpine Guide Course
• Ice Instructor Course
• Advance Alpine Guide Course & Aspirant Exam
• Ski Guide Course
• Ski Mountaineering Guide Course & Aspirant Exam

AIARE (American Institute for Avalanche Research & Education)

• Level II Pro Avalanche Practitioner
• Level I & II Lead Course Instructor

American Avalanche Association Pro Member

Steve has climbed extensively throughout the US & Canada, including Red Rocks, Yosemite, Mt Baker, Mt Shuksan, Grand Teton, Devil’s Tower, Indian Creek, Rocky Mountain National Park, Joshua Tree, Squamish B.C., Acadia Nat’l Park, Pemberton and locally in the Green Mts., White Mts., and Adirondacks. His favorite backcountry ski descents include the Super C Couloir (Portillo, Chile), Girls Mountain & the Worthington Glacier, (Valdez AK), Shoot the Moon Couloir (Teton Nat’l Park, WY), The Duchess (Tuckerman Ravine, NH), Katahdin, ME, Big Jay (Jay, VT), and a first descent of The Honeymoon Suite (Portillo, Chile).