Mountain Guiding

For over twenty years I have been guiding people in the mountains. When I moved to Zakopane I decided to take a Guide course (Przewodnik Tatrzanski III klasy). This was not easy at all! We had demanding instructors such as: Włodek Cywiński, Piotr Konopka, Paweł Skawiński, Poldek Rajwa and others. They injected in their trainees a strive for perfection including topographic and botanic know-how. A sharp intellect, good endurance, a strong head, and the ability to always find your way home regardless of the conditions were of high value to them. We usually ended our course trips in a pub somewhere in the Slovakian Tatra Mountains. At the end, only 16 out of 80 students passed the final exam at the first attempt.

The lack of understanding for underdogs which was something taken out of my training bothered me greatly during my first years as a guide.
However, after leading many school and trekking groups I got rid of this flaw. Life in the mountain teaches you humility and care for those who are for example out of shape. After all, some sort of distress can happen to all of us unexpectedly.

Dolomity Brenta
Trekking wokół Mont Blanc

After moving to Courmayeur, Italy, near Mont Bland I successfully completed the UIMLA international course (2005) allowing me to work in the Alps. A year later, I started working with a Polish travel agency Apter which specializes in organizing alpine trekking all over Europe. Together with Apter I have led the first trekking around Mont Blanc and in the following years around the Monte Rosa massif, Gran Paradiso, in the Bernese, Rhaetian, Bavarian Alps, Vanoise and Ecrin massifs, in the Dolomites (Eastern, Central and Brenta), Corsica, Sardinia, Tuscany and Provence. The cooperation with Apter continues to this day.

Click  link to connect with webste www.apter.pl

I also run individuals trekking tours in the Alps, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, in the mountains of Turkey and in the Seychelles.

Iza Gronowska Gajda

If you not fond of crowds, or walking in a group, if you are a “loner”, you love mountains and would like to see hard-to-reach places that are only known by the “locals” give me a call!
What I can offer is breadth of knowledge, experience, language skills (Italian, French, English, German and Polish), and belaying techniques in case the conditions in the mountains worsen. I will be happy to write an individual program which is tailored to your interest and current physical conditions. I happily invite you!