John Biggar : Guidebook Author & Mountaineering Instructor
Myself at the top of the first steep pitch on Kyle Gully, February 2010.
I live in Castle Douglas, a small town in Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfries & Galloway, down in southern Scotland, with my wife Linda. For work my main business is running the guiding agency 'Andes' which has been trading since January 1992, and also since 1996 publishing unique guidebooks to the Andes. I'm a professional mountaineering instructor holding the Mountaineering Instructors Certificate and try to get out climbing at least once a week, most often in Glencoe, the Cairngorms, the Lakes or just locally in Galloway at Craignaw, the Dungeon Hill, Clifton, Merrick or Corwar. I spend the rest of my time travelling, reading, listening to music, snowboarding, ski-mountaineering and compiling useless lists like you'll find on the pages of the three websites I run.
I was brought up in the villages of Currie and Pencaitland, both near Edinburgh in Scotland. I also went to University in Edinburgh where I did a Physics degree and started a Ph.D. In Nuclear Physics, studying "Anisotropies in the Sequential Break-up of Lithium-6" if you really want to know. It wasn't really for me...........so I started the business 'Andes' in 1992 committed to interesting expeditions for small groups in the Andes. These days the majority of these trips are climbing and ski-mountaineering expeditions but we've also run many treks, and some downhill ski and snowboard holidays as well as mountain biking trips.
Snowboard mountaineering on Volcan Villarrica Chile, August 2007.
In twenty-odd years climbing I have now climbed on every continent except Antarctica, but the Andes remain my favourite place to travel to. I climbed my first 5000m and 6000m peaks there in July 1989 and July 1991, and I have now climbed over 220 of these peaks. I had to go to the Himalaya to get above 7000m.
Through the late 1990's I worked my way through the Mountaineering Instructors Scheme and gained the top-level qualification - the MIC. I'm also a trainee ski instructor with BASI (British Association of Snowsport Instructors).
For the benefit of Google and other search engines here are some wrong ways to spell my name -- Jon Biggar, John Bigger, Jon Bigar.
I am a member of the Association of Mountaineering Instructors, the professional body for UK climbing Instructors.
Carlingwark Loch, Castle Douglas.
Looking towards Sgurr nan Gillean from Clach Glas, Cuillin Hills, Isle of Skye.
