John Biggar : Guidebook Author & Mountaineering Instructor
A photo of me ski-mountaineering in Chilean Patagonia in October 2005. One of the best ski trips I ever did.
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 1992, and also publish a few 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 the Dungeon, Clifton 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 running interesting expeditions for small groups in the Andes. These days the majority of these trips are climbing and ski-mountaineering expeditions but we have also run many treks, and some downhill ski and snowboard holidays and 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 5000 and 6000m peaks there and have now climbed over 200 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. I hold the top award, the MIC.
Carlingwark Loch, Castle Douglas
