Everything You Need to Arrive Prepared — Not Just Hopeful
Every engagement is one-on-one, built around your specific objective, timeline, and life. No packages. No templates. The coaching Alan wishes he’d had when he started climbing at 38.
What Makes Summit Coach Different
Truly Independent Advice
Zero commissions from any guide service, gear company, or training organization. Alan’s only interest is your success — never a referral fee.
Experience You Can’t Find Elsewhere
38 major expeditions. 8 eight-thousanders. Everest at 54, K2 at 58. Alan has made every mistake — and learned from all of them.
Personal, Not Templated
Every plan is built from scratch around your goals, fitness, budget, and the life you’re actually living — not a generic framework applied to every client.
Available When It Matters
Unlimited calls, texts, and emails throughout your engagement. Reachable while you’re on the mountain — not just during business hours.
Coaching
The most valuable thing Alan provides isn’t a document — it’s the ability to think through every decision with someone who has been there. These are the coaching touchpoints throughout your engagement.
Initial Qualification Call
A free 30-minute call to understand your goal, experience, and timeline. You’ll both know by the end whether Summit Coach is the right fit.
Confidential Intake Process
Detailed questions about fitness, health, altitude history, and objectives before engagement begins — so the first working call is already informed. No time wasted on basics.
Regular Live Coaching Calls
Weekly early in the engagement, then milestone-based as your climb nears — six months out, three months, one month, the week before departure. Phone, Zoom, or WhatsApp.
Unlimited Email and Text
Fast responses to every question throughout your engagement. Gear decisions, training questions, guide concerns, logistics — anything, any time.
On-Mountain Support
Reachable by phone or email while you’re climbing. Real-time guidance at the moments that matter most.
Post-Climb Debrief
A structured conversation once you’re home — what worked, what didn’t, and what your next objective should be. Every climb makes the next one better.
Preparation Documents
Written plans you’ll actually use — on the mountain and at home.
Strategic Climbing Plan
Your personalized roadmap: which peaks, in what order, with which skills, across your full planning horizon. This is the document that turns a dream into a schedule.
Mountain TiPS Document
Camp-by-camp guidance written from firsthand experience on Everest, K2, Denali, Aconcagua, and the Seven Summits. Covers Kathmandu to summit day to the flight home. Clients bring these to Base Camp and read them repeatedly.
Physical Training Plan
Built around your current fitness, your objective, and realistic weekly training time. Includes mental and emotional preparation, not just conditioning. Alan partners with Uphill Athlete — clients receive a 15% discount on their coaching while enrolled.
Climbing Skills Assessment
An honest evaluation of where your skills are now versus where they need to be — with specific recommendations for closing the gap before your climb.
Pre-Climb & Post-Climb Review
Structured checklists before each climb to confirm you’re ready, and after each climb to capture lessons for the next one. Builds a cumulative record of your development as a climber.
Gear & Guides
The two decisions most climbers get wrong. Hundreds of guide companies, thousands of gear options — most climbers choose based on price or reviews alone. Alan has climbed with or evaluated most major operators since 1997.
Guide Selection Consultation
A vetted recommendation of guide services that match your goals, budget, experience, and style — with honest assessments of safety records, summit rates, and what each company actually delivers.
Gear Selection Consultation
A custom gear list refined over 25 years and 38 expeditions, with current links and prices. Buy the right gear at the lowest price — and avoid spending thousands on things you don’t need.
Expeditions cost $8,000–$80,000. Summit Coach starts at $2,000.
The question isn’t whether you can afford a coach — it’s whether you can afford to show up without one.
Answer No to Any of These and Summit Coach Can Help
Are you confident in your physical training plan for this climb?
Do you know you have the right gear for the conditions you’ll face?
Do you have the skills your objective requires — and a plan to build them?
Have you chosen a guide service that genuinely matches your experience and budget?
Do you have a realistic progression of climbs before your big objective?
Are you mentally and emotionally prepared for what’s ahead?
Talk to Alan, Free, 30 Minutes
Tell Alan your goal and where you’re starting from. No preparation needed — just an honest 30 minutes about what it will take to get you there.
Alan typically responds within one business day.