Howie is an international UIAGM & AMGA ski and mountain guide. He was fortunate to learn to ski as a toddler and he owned the first p-tex snowboard by Burton in 1987, which he hiked up the groomed runs of East Coast ski resorts. He discovered rock and alpine climbing in 1988 on a trip to the Tetons. The highlight was climbing the Grand Teton via the upper Exum Route with legendary climber and guide Chuck Pratt. Since then, climbing, skiing, and mountain guiding has taken him to many spectacular places, primarily to the Sierra Nevada, Alaska, and throughout the Alps – but also to places like Canada, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Antarctica, and Thailand.

He has logged numerous first ascents and ski descents in his personal and professional tenure. Howie has been guiding since 1993, and became one of the first 20 American guides to achieve the IFMGA professional credential in 2001. He was also the first and only American IFMGA guide to pass ski guiding exams on telemark equipment (though he shortly afterward went back to his fixed heel roots).

Lately, when not overseeing SMG’s operations, Howie has been getting back to what he loves most – climbing, skiing, guiding, & family. Howie also enjoys flatpicking guitar and can be seen jamming with string musicians throughout the Eastern Sierra. Howie’s wife, Karen, manages their unique mountain shop on Main Street in Bishop, California called Sage to Summit. They own a geodesic dome in Big Pine, but recently moved back to Bishop where they currently live with their amazing son Cosmo and dog Wheeler.