Your Team

Nick Farr
Nick Farr is one of Australia’s most accomplished high-altitude athletes. His adventures have taken him to the top of the world’s highest mountains and have paved the way for some incredible life experiences.

A life spent in the mountains, Nick has over 20 years experience trekking, climbing and skiing across North America, Nepal, India, Europe, New Zealand and Australia. In 1995, Nick commenced leading guided and instructional ski tours throughout Canada & Colorado (USA) ... and Trek Climb Ski was born.

His passion for adventure soon landed him in Nepal and over the next 10 years Nick quickly amassed an impressive list of Himalayan summits including Mt. Everest. Strong friendships were formed along the way with his Sherpa team and in 2006, Trek Climb Ski commenced operating fully guided and supported trekking & climbing adventures in the Nepal Himalaya. A year later saw this operation expand to include ski adventures in Gulmarg, Kashmir (India).

Read more about Nick

Tika Bahadur Tamang
Tika Bahadur Tamang is quite simply the most outstanding Himalayan guide and high-altitude ‘climbing Sherpa’ we know. Tika has over 20 years experience trekking and climbing throughout Nepal, Tibet and India. He has climbed a number of 8000m mountains including Everest, Cho Oyu & Makalu. He almost summited Everest twice in six days but was forced to descend with his client who had become ill very high on the mountain.

Tika has over 30 summits of 6000m & 7000m mountains to his credit and is qualified in all facets of high-altitude mountaineering and guiding under the Nepalese Mountaineering Association. In addition to these skills, Tika is fluent in English and can also hold conversations in German, Spanish & Tibetan. He possesses sound computer and business skills, which he utilises in the daily running and operation of our Trek Climb Ski offices in Kathmandu. Tika also travels regularly to Australia where he spends time working with Nick, planning and preparing upcoming Trek Climb Ski adventures. When he’s around, Tika also hosts information nights and is able to provide our guests with a unique insight into the people and culture of Nepal before they’ve even left Australia. We don’t know of any other Australian based trekking or climbing agency offering this type of experience.

A devoted father of two young children, Tika now employs a small team of highly motivated and talented guides, kitchen staff and porters under the Trek Climb Ski banner. Tike’s devotion and commitment to our business, our trips and our guests is easy to explain. Trek Climb Ski commenced life as our passion. In reality, we’ve just expanded a little so that we can include and expose others to these remarkable life experiences. Tika and Nick are equal partners in all our Nepal based operations. Their friendship alone is responsible for the creation of our Nepal adventures and we know this gives us an edge you won’t find with any of our competitors.

Gyan Bahadur Tamang
Gyan Bahadur Tamang is Tika’s younger brother. He is an experienced Himalayan trekking and climbing guide in his own right and he works in a variety of roles on our trips to ensure their smooth operation and running.

To his credit, Gyan possesses an impressive resume of climbs and treks in the Nepal & Tibetan Himalaya and his commitment to ongoing learning and education sees him performing a wide range of duties across all our adventures. It’s not unusual to see Gyan leading our groups while trekking, assisting with the preparation & service of expedition meals and regularly supervising our many porters and essential supplies. Consistently one of the strongest and most talented climbers on our team, Gyan is also a valuable leader on many of our climbing expeditions.

Like his older brother, Gyan is also fluent in English and a number of other languages. He routinely applies his many skills to the daily running of our offices in Kathmandu and also finds plenty of time to be a devoted husband and father to his young daughter. When out and about on our adventures, Gyan is often the first up each morning greeting guests with a cheery ‘Namaste’ and a hot cup of tea.

Simon Brand
Simon Brand has been a key member of the Trek Climb Ski team since joining us initially as a ski guide in 2004. A telemark & alpine skier with extensive backcountry skiing experience, Simon is a qualified Avalanche Technician with the Canadian Avalanche Association.

In his other life, Simon works as an operational supervisor with Victoria Police Search & Rescue. In this capacity, he regularly instructs a range of Search & Rescue courses including roping, climbing, steep snow and ice rescue techniques (mountaineering) and alpine skills (survival training). When it comes to expertise and survival in the mountains, there aren’t actually any relevant courses we can think of that Simon hasn’t completed or doesn’t now instruct. Simon has worked full-time with Search & Rescue since 1997 and has also spent many years working as a volunteer ski patroller at Mt. Hotham.

An experienced mountaineer, Simon is quickly building an impressive list of Himalayan summits and he joins Nick and Tika in Nepal whenever he can find the time. In 2006, Simon and Nick completed a climb and ski descent of 6419m Chulu West in the Annapurna region – one of only a handful of ski descents from this altitude by an Australian. Everest is now on Simon’s agenda and he’ll be teaming up with Nick to attempt a climb & ski descent of this mountain in 2012.

Simon manages and directs the many safety considerations crucial to the safe operation of all our adventures.

Brian Nielsen
When it comes to alpine skiing and ski instructing, there isn’t much that Brian Nielsen hasn’t achieved. With 27 seasons experience instructing skiing across North America, Europe and Australia, Brian is a fully certified instructor with Australian and Austrian qualifications.

In 1995, he commenced ski instructing at Mt. Hotham (Victoria, Australia) and received the "Rookie of the Year" award that season. It was to be the first of many awards Brian would receive during a 13-year tenure with the Mt. Hotham Ski School. Brian went on to win "Ski Instructor of the Year" twice (1998 & 2004) and "Most Requested Ski Instructor" for five consecutive years (2001 - 2005 inclusive). When Brian wasn't winning awards, he was training other ski instructors and coaching the Mt. Hotham Race Squad. With Trek Climb Ski since 2002, Brian is the technical director of our on-snow program and supervises all aspects of our Aspen Tour's ski improvement syllabus.

In addition to his skiing exploits, Brian keeps busy looking after his young son and flying small planes. He is currently completing an advanced diploma in aviation with the Swinburne Institute of Technology and is on target to obtain his commercial pilots licence in 2010.

Cherie Horne
Cherie Horne is one of Australia's premier female sporting talents. A former elite triple Australian junior track and cross country champion, turned mountaineer, Cherie brings a unique background and valuable skill base to Trek Climb Ski.

Cherie's passion for the mountains evolved after spending 8 weeks at Everest Base Camp as support crew for Nick Farr's expedition team in 2005. This life-changing experience and love for the mountains ignited a desire to start her own climbing career and since then she has climbed mountains in New Zealand, Africa, Europe, South America and Alaska. Cherie directs and advises on all facets of Fitness & Training relevant to our trips and also leads selected treks and climbs in Nepal. She also fulfills a number of important roles within our High-Altitude Elite Development Programs. When not in the mountains, Cherie run's her own personal training and health & fitness consultancy business in Melbourne.

Learn more about Cherie by visiting her website: www.cheriehorne.com

Dion Taylor
Dion Taylor is a qualified and accredited Sports Personal Development Trainer with over 13 years experience in the health & fitness industry. He owns and operates two Melbourne based health & fitness studios which specialise in adventure travel and lifestyle training. Dion has led numerous treks through Kokoda, Africa and Borneo and has participated in a variety of ‘extreme’ races and marathons.

These achievements aside, Dion has an extensive background in eastern philosophies and meditation and he also works closely with a wide range of schools and under-privileged children through his licensed “Active Art” program. His commitment to helping others achieve their own health and fitness goals has seen some incredible results with documented client weight loss transformations in excess of 70 kgs.

Dion possesses an infectious passion for adventure and a special interest in developing quality-training programs for people embarking on physically and mentally challenging experiences.  He brings a wide range of skills and valuable expertise to our High-Altitude Elite Development Programs.

Shaukat (Shauky) Putto
A Kashmiri local, Shauky has been a ski mountaineer and guide in and around Gulmarg for the past 25 years. He has also spent more than 20 years leading trekking, climbing and skiing expeditions throughout greater India and Nepal. Shauky also works as an Adventure Sports Coach for the University of Kashmir (since 1998) in the areas of aquatic, mountain and aero sports. Joining the Trek Climb Ski team in 2007, Shauky has worked tirelessly in researching and preparing all aspects of our Gulmarg program and the result is a tour product that only local knowledge and contacts can provide.