Our guides will lead you to great adventuring. Our staff is trained under the most extensive program of any company we know. They are specialists in Alaska’s natural history, great people to travel with and will inspire you with their enthusiasm. They love what they do and many return to lead our outdoor nature trips year after year.
Though not all of our guide staff is listed here, these individuals are representative of the friendly and knowledgeable staff you’ll find on our tours.
Lantz Hartley
Lantz joined Alaska Wildland Adventures in 2016 as a member of our Hospitality team. Since then, he has held several roles, including Hospitality Manager, Driver, and Multi-Day Trip Leader. Lantz now resides in Alaska full time and is a member of our year-round team as Hiring Manager. He has approximately 2,500 miles of dog mushing experience in the lower 48 and subarctic of Alaska, but has traded his dogsled for skis, spending his winters skijoring with his rescue Alaskan Husky, Puck. Other notable adventures include working for the United States Antarctic Program in McMurdo Station and various vintages at Oregon wineries. Lantz enjoys all things backcountry, whether it be skiing, mushing or backpacking and is a trained Wilderness First Responder.
Durango Averill
Durango grew up hiking and skiing with his family in Western Wyoming, discovering a passion for nature early on. After several years of traveling the western US, Durango returned to the Grand Tetons, where his guiding career began, and his love for the outdoors continued to flourish. Durango is now a full time Alaskan resident, proudly entering his third year with Alaska Wildland Adventures. His summers are spent sharing contagious enthusiasm with guests from all over the world and his winters working as a ski tech in Anchorage. In his downtime, you’ll likely find Durango exploring the backcountry, bikepacking, fishing and occasionally frolicking through wildflowers.
Lisa Culpepper
After obtaining a B.S. in Business at Miami University of Ohio, Lisa’s compass pointed west. She landed in Yellowstone National Park, discovering a strong passion for the great outdoors and captivating natural world. Quickly shifting gears, Lisa built her own nature photography business, developing her naturalist skills and working year-round as an interpretive/photographer guide. Her work can be viewed at her website. Longing to see more of Mother Nature’s fine handiwork, Lisa chased her dreams north to Alaska. For the past 14 years, Lisa has spent her summers as a naturalist trip leader in southeast, southcentral and northern Alaska. She has developed a deep admiration for this state and continues to expand her knowledge base in both natural and cultural history.
Chennery Fife
Chennery grew up in Littleton, CO, where her love of the outdoors was cultivated. She received her Master’s in Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Though city life was great, the mountains were calling. She moved to Alaska for the first time in 2013 to guide in Juneau. Since then, she has guided most summers in Alaska on hiking trails, kayaks, and whale watching boats. Through her Alaska experiences, Chennery has gained certification as an Alaska Tour Guide Naturalist Interpreter and Coastal Kayak Day Trip Leader. In the winters, Chennery has lived in and explored Antarctica, New Zealand, Colorado, South America and Alaska. She now has made Anchorage her full-time home and cannot wait to share her passion for this stunning place with our guests!
Laura Geissinger
Laura was born in Alaska, with childhood memories of beach cookouts, boating and berry picking with her family. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Environmental Education and has held a multitude of jobs since then – including working as a camp director, guiding through Alaska and developing an outdoor education program in India. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Environmental Science and is researching sea otters in the Cook Inlet for her thesis. Laura is proud to call Alaska home, and loves sharing her intimate knowledge of its plants, animals and history. When she is not working, you may find her on an adventure of her own – hiking, backpacking, camping, biking, or canoeing. In the winter, she enjoys skiing and snowshoeing, but on the coldest of nights, you’ll find her sewing, knitting, crocheting, playing an instrument or working on her photography.
Julie Hinkle
For as long as she can remember, Julie has dreamt of a life in Alaska. Inspired by her uncle on a fishing trip at age three, Julie wasted no time living out her dreams, making an introductory 480-mile paddle of the Inside Passage at age 25. It was then she noted for the first time in her life, her head and heart were finally in the same place. Julie began her career in her home state of Arizona, where she spent five years teaching environmental education and outdoor leadership programs throughout the lower 48. Since moving to Alaska nearly 20 years ago, she has obtained her teaching credentials and shifted her focus to Special Education. When she is not teaching or leading trips around the state, she works in partnership with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to raise and study silver salmon through the Salmon in the Schools program. Julie currently resides in Eagle River, Alaska, and loves all that this great state has to offer. From fishing and clamming in the summer, to hunting, snowshoeing, snow machining and ice fishing in the winter – she feels she is where she was destined to be. This is Julie’s 16th summer with Alaska Wildland Adventures, and she claims to have the best job in the world: “I get to show people the magic that brought me to Alaska. Every day I live the dream.”
Brett Johnson
Brett grew up in Calgary, Alberta, spending his childhood backpacking with his dad in the Rocky Mountains. This ignited his passion for travel, taking him to far reaching corners of the globe including the Cayman Islands, where he worked as a SCUBA instructor; South Africa, where he became certified as a FGASA Safari Guide; and New Zealand, where he has led cycling tours for the past two winters. In 2021, Brett came up to Alaska to pursue his explorations of the final frontier. Now in his 4th season with Alaska Wildland Adventures, he greatly looks forward to showing you around the Great North and all this beautiful state has to offer!
Clarissa Sprague
While deeply rooted to her Oregon farm home, Clarissa is nonetheless the wandering sheep of her family. After earning her B.S. in Environmental Studies from University of Vermont, she has fully embraced the seasonal lifestyle which has brought her to new states, countries and even continents. Although her entire childhood was spent outside, her outdoor career began as a backpacking instructor in college. This inspired her to test her skills in New Zealand, and eventually brought her to Antarctica, where she worked as scientific support at McMurdo Station. This would be just the beginning for Clarissa, as she continues to diversify her resume with experiences such as commercial beekeeping in Oregon, working as a horse wrangler in Wyoming, and leading two separate month-long excursions, camping and rafting through the rapids of the Grand Canyon. After a “winter” in Maui, Clarissa is returning for another season with Alaska Wildland Adventures. When she’s not leading trips, you will likely find her planning her next adventure – whether that be backpacking, white water rafting, or mountain biking. In her rest time, you may find her knitting, or on rare occasions, juggling with fire!
Wayde Carroll
After receiving a B.A. in Art with an emphasis in photography from San Jose State University in 1993, Wayde moved to Alaska to hone his photographic skills. He spent a year documenting the lives of the Yup’ik people in the village of Eek, then two years assisting some of Anchorage’s top photographers such as Clark James Mishler and Tom Bol. He returned to California in 1998 to assist award-winning photographer Keith Sutter in Auburn, CA. He also worked for The Union newspaper in Grass Valley, CA for two years shooting assignments and advertising images. In 2004, he started a full time career in photography and returned to Alaska in 2006. Wayde has been regularly published in numerous regional and national magazines, books, calendars, and maps including: National Geographic Maps, Alaska Magazine, New Mexico Magazine, Sierra Heritage, The Sacramento Bee, The Milepost, and others. In 2006, he was fortunate enough to spend much of the year photographing for Placer Grown, a non-profit organization formed to assist farmers and ranchers in Placer County, California; his photography assisted with their marketing produce and farm product efforts. One image ended up hanging in the State Capitol Building in Sacramento. Wayde has guided many of our AWA Photo Adventures throughout the years, and we’re grateful for his incredible photos of our lodges and experiences, found throughout this website. You can view even more of Wayde’s photography on his website.