Our guides work in Antarctica, but their experience extends well beyond it. Aleš Česen has spent five seasons guiding White Desert guests across the ice. He has also climbed K2 and Latok I, and in August 2024 he completed the first ascent of the West Ridge of Gasherbrum III — a 7,985-metre line that had defeated every team who had previously attempted it. Alongside British climber Tom Livingstone, Aleš pushed through without supplemental oxygen, fixed ropes, or Sherpa support, battling altitude sickness and exhaustion on a route that had never been finished. "An inquisitive mind and a silent, crashing body," was how Aleš described it afterwards. The best guides are not simply experienced. They are formed by the places they have been. Aleš is one of those people, and Antarctica, he says, is the place that keeps calling him back. #IFMGA #WhiteDesert #MountainGuide #RemoteDestinations #LuxuryTravel