Alpenglow Adventures Sitka
Meet Your Guides
Laura Tirman, She/Her
Hiking Guide & Owner of Alpenglow Adventures Sitka
Laura is an avid hiker and outdoor enthusiast who fell in love with the outdoors at a young age. After completing her Master's in Public Health in 2016, she decided to make her passion for travel and being active into her career. Laura has since worked as a hiking and biking guide in countries such as Iceland, Scotland, Norway, Slovenia and France. She moved to Sitka in 2020 to work as a wilderness therapy guide taking teenagers on backpacking and kayaking trips in this beautiful area. Laura strongly believes in the power of the outdoors in fostering a healthier, happier life.
Feeling most at home in the mountains of northern latitudes, Laura can't wait to take you on her favorite hikes in Sitka while sharing her passion for Alaska! Laura is a trained Wilderness First Responder and completed a course in Alpine Mountaineering and Technical Leadership with American Alpine Institute in April 2023.
Graci Pittman, She/Her
Hiking Guide
Originally from Western North Carolina, Graci grew up hiking and snowboarding in the Appalachian mountains. After finishing her trade in Health and Wellness, she continued her studies completing her Wilderness First Responder (WFR), Swift Water Rescue, and becoming CPR/First Aid certified. Using her qualifications, she has guided caving tours and white water rafting on the Nolichucky and Watauga rivers in Eastern Tennessee. Graci travels to Sitka in the summers to photograph wildlife for local tour companies, volunteer with our trail team at Sitka Trail Works, and guide hikes with Alpenglow! Returning for her second season, Graci is excited to hike, fish, and photograph the Tongass National Forest.
Emily Pound, She/They
Hiking Guide
From hiking and snowboarding on the traditional lands of the Abenaki in the green mountains of Vermont to trail running and split boarding in the Southeast Alaskan alpine with her two huskies, Emily has learned to cultivate joy and community through outdoor recreation. While studying prelaw and sociology at American University in Washington, D.C., Emily would scamper home northeast during the summers to work as a guide at Stowe Mountain Resort. In 2018, she moved to Sitka through JVC NW Americorps to volunteer as a children’s advocate at the local domestic violence shelter: Sitkans Against Family Violence. After finishing her service year, she transitioned to Sitka Conservation Society where she worked as a catalyst connecting youth with their environment and community while finishing her masters in Environmental Justice and Policy from Vermont Law School.
She has since moved on to be a hiking guide with Alpenglow Adventures Sitka, and Program Manager at Sitka Trail Works, learning from the lands and waters of the Tongass National Forest on Lingít Aani. You can find her fishing and foraging during this season of bounty!
Emily has a Wilderness First Responder certification.
Lilli Garza, She/Her
Hiking Guide
Lilli has been taking people outside for years! In college she led her school's mountaineering club, was a leader for the outing club, and trained leaders for her school's outdoor orientation trips! She took her peers on hiking, backpacking, and climbing trips all over Maine and on spring break trips to Joshua Tree National Park. In Sitka she spent three years as the Programs Director at Sitka Trail Works, helping get youth outside in place-based educational programming, and designing the nationally recognized volunteer trail work program. She has been guiding for Alpenglow since 2024. When not leading hikes, Lilli can be found on the softball field, trail running, fishing, or coaching the middle school soccer team. She loves Sitka and the vibrant community we call home. Lilli is CPR/AED certified.
Chase Colman, He/Him
Hiking Guide
Lucia has been prancing around the mountains since she developed a love of hiking peaks through a friend in 2021: see her progress here. She has had the privilege of exploring the outdoors in all five of the states she’s lived in to date, and throughout the country (though Southeast Alaska is by far the wettest place she’s explored!). Lucia carries her love of the outdoors alongside a passion for writing, editing, and learning. She has benefitted from and worked at several alternative education institutions, including a two year undergraduate program here in Sitka, where she provides academic advising and transfer application support to college students. Ask her about her fixation on diction, her particular favorite colors, or her thoughts on the intersection between physical and intellectual movement. She wants to make the outdoors feel accessible, and likes giving people local insights into Sitka’s epic trail system. When she’s not outside, she’s usually cooking, talking loudly inside, or writing long letters.
Originally from Wisconsin, Chase has always had an affinity for the outdoors—from hiking and waterskiing to pulling weeds in his community garden plot. After finishing his degree in marketing and years of exploring all the Midwest had to offer, he moved to Sitka with his partner in search of new adventures. Chase now spends his free time in the Tongass National Rainforest. You can typically find him foraging for berries and mushrooms, fishing for trout, or with his camera capturing photos of birds. (Ask him anything about birds and you’ll be his best friend). Chase is CPR/AED/First Aid certified.
Lucia Pizarro
Hiking Guide
Why Alpenglow?
The name Alpenglow Adventures was inspired by the magic of the pink and orange glow on the mountains at sunrise and sunset - my favorite times of the day! These moments are best when shared with others. We hope you're lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the glow with us!
Alpenglow Adventures Sitka acknowledges that tourism as an industry has a large carbon footprint. We are committed to operating as sustainably and regeneratively as possible. We encourage you to leave your single use plastics at home, as we provide reusable water bottles for your hike. We purchase as much as we can locally, and support other small local businesses whenever possible.
Commitment to Sustainability
Supporting Sitka Trails
We are so grateful to have such an incredible network of trails here in Sitka. Thanks to the hard work of residents and local organizations, we are able to recreate on and learn from this land. Alpenglow Adventures Sitka encourages you to support the maintenance of our trails.
_edited.png)
We love our logo and we hope you do too! Check out our Alpenglow Apparel store where you can purchase t-shirts, hoodies and goodies to ensure you're hiking in style.
