Our Guides:

Mountain Skills Climbing Guides are true Gunkies: we live locally and climb daily in our beloved Shawangunk's and Catskill Mountains.

We respect the environment by following and teaching the Leave No Trace Trainers Courses, actively support efforts to open more climbing opportunities in Minnewaska State Park Preserve by participating in rare plant and animal studies, sponsor DOT Adopt-A-Highway projects, maintain trails in our area through the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, volunteer for the Hudson Valley Mountain Rescue Squad, and train yearly with NYS DEC and Mohonk Preserve rangers on High Angle Rescue.

In addition, we believe education for our guides is paramount and regard certification to be the best way to achieve our goals as a guide service.  We also hold regular training for our guides to keep us all up-to-date on new methods for efficiency, client management, and client care, all in order to ensure that we are providing you a memorable and enjoyable experience!

Doug Ferguson -

Head Guide

Doug is the owner and head guide for Mountain Skills Climbing Guides. His love for the mountains and outdoors was seeded while growing up in Michigan, skiing competitively in high school. After clocking in 5 years at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Doug discovered rock climbing while living in Boulder, Colorado. This lead him to the New River Gorge in West Virginia were he started guiding and climbing full time. Since moving to New Paltz,  Doug guides rock during the warmer months and ice during the winter. His climbing and mountaineering educational background consists of AMGA Rock Instructor Course graduate,  AMGA Ice Instructor Course, AMGA Single Pitch Instructor, AMGA Top Rope Site Manager, AMGA Climbing Wall Instructor Provider, in the AMGA SPI Provider training, Wilderness First Responder training, Leave No Trace Master Trainer,National Ski Patrol Level 1& 2 Avalanche Safety, New York State Licensed Rock, Ice, Hiking, Camping Guide, and also a Hudson Valley Mountain Rescue Volunteer. Doug is also on the Gunks Climbers Coalition Board of Directors. Doug has climbed extensively throughout the United States since he has started climbing in 1997. His focus was mainly on the southeast in the mountains of North Carolina, West Virginia, and Tennessee. Since moving to New England his new passion is climbing all the amazing spots in the Adirondack's, Gunks, White and Green Mountains. He has climbed well over 1,300 different climbing routes and has climbed or hiked close to 100 peaks around the U.S.

Wes Converse-Head Guide

Wes has been climbing for eleven years and is one of our head guides. He has climbed throughout much of the country, including the big walls of Yosemite in California, the long multi-pitch routes in Red Rocks near Las Vegas, and the splitter cracks of Moab, Utah. Climbing has also taken him to Jordan in the Middle East and Croatia in Europe. Here in the Gunks, he has taken to pushing himself to a level significantly above the norm by cranking the technically hard and minimally protected free routes. Wes is a AMGA Single Pitch Instructor, licensed New York State Rock and Ice Guide, a Leave No Trace Trainer, and is working on his AMGA Rock Instructor certifications.

John Mackey-Lead Guide

A native to the Gunks, John Mackey has been climbing locally for ten years now. First starting off ice climbing in the ravines of the Catskill's then promptly moving on to rock climbing in the Gunks, Adirondack's, and the White Mountains. While hard mixed routes are his favorite in the winter, John loves the back country routes that the Northeast has to offer. He is a powerhouse when it comes to ice climbing and is quickly becoming to go to guy for finding the best ice in the area.  John has also hiked countless peaks in the Catskill's and Adirondack's as well as climbing on Mt. Rainier in Washington. He is a certified PCGI Lead Guide, NSP Avalanche I, licensed New York State Rock, Ice, Hiking and Camping Guide with Wilderness First Aid/ CPR training.

Mark Folsom-Lead Guide

Mark has lived and climbed in the Gunks for 11 years. His training includes AMGA Rock Instructor Course graduate, AMGA Single Pitch Instructor, licensed New York State Rock Guide, Wilderness First Aid/ CPR, Hudson Valley Mountain Rescue member, Cave Rescue Certified and a Leave No Trace Trainer. While living in New Hampshire, he explored many  White Mountain crags and many other northeastern locales. Mark has also climbed in many areas in the southwest including Joshua Tree, CA and Red Rocks, Nevada. In the winter, he enjoys back-country skiing, snowshoeing and trips to warmer destinations. He is an avid caver who has explored and mapped caves throughout the US and several foreign countries. Mark is always looking for ways to explore, understand, and share with others our natural world.

  Kirk Aengenheyster-Lead Guide

Kirk began his climbing career in the Gunksover 20 years ago. From the beginning, Kirk has been teaching others to enjoy the vertical world as well as honing his own skills on rock walls here at home and across North America. His guiding style emphasizes both client comfort and also a wide range of climbing techniques to promote greater confidence and the skills to tackle more challenging climbs. Kirk is a certified NY State Rock and Ice Climbing Guide with 12 years of professional guiding experience in the Northeast, western U.S. and Mexico. In a addition to guiding, Kirk works as a theatrical rigger specializing in aerial dance. He has been involved in numerous productions in NYC and around the world, including Tarzan the Musical(Broadway), and the currently running show Fuerzabruta. When not clinging to a wall by his fingertips or swinging from the end of a rope, Kirk performs as a cellist in the Hudson Valley based chamber group Esopus Musicalia, and the New Paltz based band, The Thujones.

Jeremy Haas-Lead Guide

Although well traveled in the western climbing arenas, Jeremy is happiest when clinging to a cliff in New York State. A Gunks climber (and Catskill ice climber) since 1989, Jeremy grew up in the gorges of Ithaca and, recently co wrote and published Adirondack Rock: A Rock Climber's Guide.  Jeremy is an AMGA Single-Pitch Instructor, NYS licensed Rock and Ice Climbing Guide, former Emergency Medical Technician, and is Level II Avalanche certified. During the day he teaches science to high school students and has come to recognize the importance of personalize instruction. Jeremy finds guiding to be a great method of learning because the client gets immediate feedback under the watchful eye of an experienced guide. Patient out of practice, he has been guiding rock, ice, alpine ascents and back country skiing since 2002.

Brendan Mealia-Head Guide

Brendan has been climbing in the Gunks for fourteen years. He is a staunch advocate of the traditional style that the area's ethics adhere to, but is just as much into sport climbing and bouldering. He has climbed across the country in areas of New Hampshire, New York's Adirondack's, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Montana, and California. He also loves skiing and playing music. In winter he has lived the in Southern US and out in Big Sky Montana, and Brendan is always psyched to take people to new places. He is a licensed New York State Rock and Ice Guide, Leave No Trace Trainer, and is working on his AMGA certification.