About Us

Cirrus Alpine Guides is a family run business located in the picturesque mountain town of Canmore, Alberta, Canada. We operate throughout the Canadian Rockies and the BC Interior mountains. We are licensed and insured and hold land access permits for National Parks and Provincial Parks across western Canada.

Cirrus Alpine Guides is owned and operated by Mark Stewart and Lisa Kinman. We have specialized in guided mountain adventures since 1996, offering Alpine, Rock and Ice climbing trips, Back Country Ski trips, Avalanche Safety and Skills programs.

As an independent guiding company we have the freedom to provide exceptional and distinct climbing experiences for our clients. We appreciate the personal relationships we gain with our clientele. A majority of our guiding is return guests who climb with us on a regular basis.

As an experienced independent operator, Cirrus brings you the best guiding venues and skills programs available. I invite guests old and new to join us.

We keep the size of our groups and climber-to-guide ratios small, as large groups and ratios jeopardize the safety, enjoyment and success of individual participants. Safety first!

Cirrus provides safe, fun and creative mountain adventures designed just for you. Whether it’s your first step into the world of mountains or whether you are experienced and looking for new challenges – come and check us out, our mountain adventures will not disappoint you.

We want you to have an exceptionally unique experience with us achieving your goals! Nothing else compares to the intensity of standing on the top of a peak overlooking the vastness of the Rockies, the sheer beauty and awe will literally blow your mind! This can be achieved, and a personal trip with Cirrus Alpine Guides will make sure of it.

If you have a particular mountain peak you wish to climb and it is not listed on our website, we customize many trips that are requested by our clients. Just let us know your request and we'll go from there!

For the summer 2010 we will be offering a larger variety of Rock and Alpine climbing adventures as well as some alpine climbing in Switzerland and France for the month of June. This spring we have upgraded our web site and have introduced a hiking page offering peak scrambles and glacier walks in order to bridge the gap between hiking and climbing.

See you in the Cirrus,

Mark Stewart, IFMGA Guide

Cirrus Team

Mark Stewart
Lead Guide, Mark Stewart, IFMGA/ACMG Mountain Guide

Mark is owner and the director of Cirrus Alpine Guides, he lives in Canmore Alberta with his wife Lisa. Mark is a Member of the International Federation of Mountain Guides Association (IFMGA) and the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG). Also a professional member of the Canadian Avalanche Association and a certified Avalanche Forecaster.

Mark has lived, skied and climbed around the Canadian Rockies for the past 30 years. Guiding professionally since 1992, his on-going guiding career includes Helicopter, Snow Cat ski and snow board guiding; Alpine, rock and ice climbing; ski touring and avalanche safety.

Guiding adventures have taken him throughout the Canadian Rockies and interior range's, the West Coast Range, Alaska, Switzerland, France, Italy, Nepal and New Zealand.
Lisa Kinman

Lisa helps take care of the Cirrus Alpine Guides website, multi day trip logistics, food catering, and cooking for hut based trips. She has hiked and lived in Banff National Park over the course of 25 years. Originally from Vancouver Island, she has made the mountains home, raising a daughter, Niccela now 19 years old.

Lisa is a massage therapist by trade and offers massage to Cirrus guests after a long day skiing or climbing. We can book you in for a Therapeutic massage to release tension in those hard worked muscles incorporating stretching to the massage to really help loosen tightness. Or if preferred a deep relaxing massage to simply help you unwind and send you into a deep state of peaceful relaxation. In our home we are set up with a private massage room with a warm, comfy duvet, music and aromatherapy of your choice that will help you drift off to that zen-like state.
A perfect way to end a perfect day in the mountains!