Karen Bockel

Karen grew up in Schwaikheim, Germany. She moved to the States in 1995 to study physics and race as a track & field athlete. Soon she began to call Colorado home, spending her time skiing and climbing in the San Juan Mountains.  In search of adventure, she skied many of the Colorado Fourteeners, the Grand Teton, and Denali, along with trips to the Canadian Rockies, the European Alps, and the high Andes in Chile. She has climbed in places like the Black Canyon, Indian Creek, Red Rocks, Yosemite, the Tetons, Cirque of the Towers, Hyalite Canyon, and the Mooses Tooth in Alaska’s Ruth Gorge.

In 2009, Karen turned her love for the outdoors into a passionate profession and began guiding on the West Buttress of Denali. She currently guides in the San Juans, the Alaska Range, and the Tetons. In the winter, she also ski patrols in Telluride.  If you don’t see her smiling face out in the mountains, you might find her at home baking banana bread and knitting wool headbands.