Michael Silitch is an American internationally certified UIAGM/IFMGA mountain and ski guide. Although focusing the last 9 years on guiding in the Alps, he has 20 years of guiding experience, including numerous ascents of Denali in Alaska and big walls in Yosemite. Michael has climbed extensively in the Alps from the Matterhorn and Eiger in Switzerland throughout the Mont Blanc range, all the way down to limestone crags in southern France, Italy and Spain.

Certified by The American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) in alpine, rock and ski disciplines, Michael sits on the technical committee as well as being a guide's trainer and examiner for the AMGA. He is also the only American guide to be a member of both the French and the Swiss Mountain Guide's Associations.

Michael is an avalanche and snow safety educator for the American Institute of Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE) and is Level 3 certified.

He has been trained as a wilderness EMT and is currently certified as a Wilderness First Responder (WFR) and in CPR and is one of only a handful of Americans with this level of guide's training and certification.

He is a former Outward Bound instructor and instructor trainer of 15 years, and an American Alpine Institute guide and guide's trainer for 7 years.

Michael's sponsors include Backcountry Access, La Sportiva, Mountain Gear, Petzl/Charlet Moser, Marmot, PowerBar and more.

Having raced bicycles during and after college up to UCSF Category 2 and participating in Olympic Training Center training camps, Michael has gained a strong foundation in cycling techniques and training principles. He is a meticulous bike mechanic having worked and managed shops in Boulder, CO and Santa Fe, NM. Living in the Alps has rekindled his love for cycling where he rides many of the mountain passes in his spare time.

I currently live in Chamonix, France.

Cross country skiing is another of Michael's past times and he loves sharing it with others. He is currently a cross country and alpine ski instructor of the Swiss Ski School of Villars, Switzerland. He first cross country ski raced in New Hampshire for Holderness School, then went on to race out west for University of Colorado, Boulder participating in the NCAA races and receiving tremendous coaching from Norwegian and US coaches alike.

Educated at St. John's College, in Santa Fe, New Mexico and University of Colorado, Boulder, Michael currently lives in Chamonix, France.

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