At WHOA it’s our mission to celebrate, support, and partner with women guides who are breaking down barriers and leading the charge in changing the face of adventure.
Meet our fearless Peruvian female mountain guide, Elizabeth, who we lovingly dubbed Mama Sherpa. She’s an entrepreneur, an endless source of Peruvian history and cultural knowledge, and exactly the type of amazing human you want to experience the majesty of the Andes Mountains with.
Elizabeth grew up 30 km outside of Cusco in a village called Pucamarca. Her native Quechuan culture values Mother Nature and her relationship with the Andean Mountain spirits runs deep.
“The gem of the entire trip is Mama Sherpa. She is an incredible woman with a deeply inspiring story. I will hold her in my heart forever!”
As a high school student in Chinchero, her curiosity about new cultures and life outside Peru inspired her to want to work with people from around the world. Serving as a Quechuan to Spanish translator for local tour companies sparked her to move to Cusco and dedicate herself to studying tourism. In 2014, she and her boyfriend Ronnie founded Mountain Gods Peru, and she discovered her true calling as a guide, sharing her love of Peru’s natural beauty with travelers from around the world!
“I really appreciated and enjoyed how supportive, knowledgeable, and personable the local guides were. They made the trip really special and it felt like I was seeing Peru from an insider’s perspective.”
When she’s not trekking you’ll find her in the mountains exploring new routes and treks, spending time with family and findings ways in which she can directly help, inspire and empower the women in her community of Pucamarca.
We're so fortunate and happy to have Mama Sherpa in the WHOA family!
Ihave been thinking a lot about something that I believe doesn't get nearly enough airtime in outdoor adventure circles: the nitty gritty behind physical performance at high altitude. Which really covers everything from trekking to Machu Picchu and up Kilimanjaro to climbing on Aconcagua to learning how to swing ice tools on Mount Baker! After years of guiding and personal high-altitude pursuits, I'll say this much: there are 3 things I wish every climber and trekker knew before stepping above 14,000 ft.