Peregrine Expeditions

I really appreciate the extra effort made by the Peregrine Expeditions staff to make me feel both safe and confident on our successful summit attempt of Mt. Baker. I look forward to climbing Mt. Shuksan and other Cascade peaks.

I bought an ice climbing deal from Zozi. Joseph seemed like a nice guy but he kept changing the dates on me to the point that I asked for a refund. He was not very good about answering emails timely.

Excellent guide service! Have used Joseph’s company three times (Baker, Skuksan, and Forbidden). All were excellent trips and top notch service. I will definitely be using Peregrine again (possibly four Winter touring).
Highly recommended.

Peregrine Expeditions is a great company, with knowledgeable, experienced guides. As anyone who has spent time outdoors knows, going on an expedition comes with no guarantees. So the most important thing is going with a leader that you trust to put your life in their hands. Joseph is that kind of leader. His leadership is strong, but he is flexible and inclusive, making everyone feel comfortable. His technical skills and knowledge are solid, and best of all he is fun to be around. I’d recommend Peregrine to anyone who wants to get out skiing or climbing but wants to do it safely.

My daughter loves Pika rock climbing camp with Peregrine Expeditions. Pika camps have been first on her list of things to do once school is out for the summer, since her first time three years ago.
A couple of years ago, I was able to take a day off and join the camp, and I was amazed at Joseph’s patience and easy nature he had with the kids. They were learning a ton and I was motivated to take a top roping class from Peregrine Expeditions, so my daughter and I could safely enjoy the sport together. Joseph not only taught me safe anchoring, belay, and rope management skills, he also helped me get set up with a lean set of gear.
With climbing season ending and backcountry skiing starting up, I’m looking forward to taking an avalanche safety/​rescue course from Peregrine soon.

Peregine Expeditions is awesome. Joseph is an amazing guide. I’ve been on two rock climbing trips with Joseph through Peregrine, both have been outstanding. I’m looking forward to my next trip! I don’t normally write reviews, and even rarer still is a positive review — but this company is special. You will not be disappointed with Peregrine Expeditions.

I’ve gone on several mountaineering expeditions with Peregrine, including Shuksan, Forbidden Peak, and Mt. Baker. The guides were incredible, the customer service was fantastic, and, most importantly, their attention to safety protocol was impeccable. I would highly recommend Peregrine to anyone thinking about taking a guided trip into the mountains and plan on traveling with them again in the future. The owner, Joseph Anderson, is incredible and really customizes and creates trips that are conducive to his clients’ needs. It’s this attention to detail that can make all the difference. Thanks Peregrine Expeditions!

I am absolutely apalled at the lack of professionalism from the ‘business’. A friend of mine and I purchased a Living Social for a canyoneering trip in Arizona. We immediately booked our dates, filled out the forms and were told that we were confirmed for our booking on Dec 1. My friend was contacted less than two weeks before stating there wasn’t enough people to go on the trip and that we could go that Saturday (with a few days notice). I was never once contacted.
My friend left a message with Joseph but did not hear anything. I then attempted to call and after 3 days did speak with him. I was told that 6 people were needed to make the trip for LIving Social purchasers. Nowhere does this information appear on the LIving Social. I was essentially told that while we can make future reservations, they could not guarantee that we would actually go when scheduled as it depends on the number of people. While this is completely understandable, this was in no way mentioned in the communication process. Regardless, when people book a day excursion, their schedules are also altered as well and not knowing if you are to go or not is quite an inconvenience.
I received my money back from Living Social who confirmed that this was unfair and not in the fine print. To me this was a very benign situation. I bought something, it wasn’t going to work out and I got my money back. end of story. However, the story continues. Instead of this being done, my friend received a rude voice mail disparaging her and I and our ‘bad attitudes’. Very unprofessional.
We THEN received an email where I was put down for calling the ‘Saturday after Thanksgiving’ and that we both have very little ‘life experience’. The funny thing is, he mentions our «extreme reaction». ??? Our reaction was to call and expect a) contact back, which we did not receive and b) logical assistance as to how we can actually go on this excursion, which we were told «you may go on your scheudled trip or you may not». These are not ‘extreme requests”, these are expected business practices. Lastly, the minimum participants needed is in no way listed, hence the reason I received a refund. The email is condescending and unprofessional. I have attached it:
Erin and Reese — I am not sure what happened here but the extreme reaction I’ve received from you both is unprecedented and un called for. Peregrine Expeditions is proud of our excellent track record of successfully taking hundreds of people every year on technical mountain adventures in extreme climates and conditions. I’ve personally won awards for excellence in mountain stewardship on Mt McKinley in Alaska and won scholarships from Mt Hardware to complete AMGA guide certification.
The canyoneering program in Phoenix is a huge success. People have a blast and you won’t find a safer outfitter. Whether I personally run the trip or not all guides are certified professionals required to have more than five years experience working with other companies.
The trip on the 1^st is cancelled due to under attendance. I hate having to cancel the trips but we need at least 4 or 5 participants for it to run. It should state this on your Living Social voucher. If it doesn’t that is unfortunate because it should. When to make the decision to cancel is not easy especially since we have people sign up sometimes a day or 2 before. The good news is that you are both able to get a refund for Living Social.
In order to clarify. Getting a refund for your canceled trip is 100% fair and I support that. Calling up on the Saturday after Thanksgiving with a rude condescending tone and leaving messages on questionable safety based on??? is out of hand. It’s also rude and shows very little life experience.
Good luck
–
Joseph Anderson
Peregrine Expeditions
phone: (360)393−8098

Bottom line:
* Joseph may be a good instructor (he was not our instructor) but he is not for sure a business or administrative person. If he’s not capable or is too busy to organize streamlined course and execute them smoothly, then he needs to hire someone who can.
* The only reason I’m giving two stars and not ONE STAR is that we had a good instructor who was very patient and personable.
* I would love to support small businesses, but I really cannot recommend this company to my friends and family.
If you care to know what I’m unhappy about, read on.
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We went on one day beginner’s rock climbing course in AZ through Peregrine Expeditions. The course was very unorganized and in disarray.
Days up to rock climbing:
(1) We did not have any detailed information about the course. No itinerary, no skill sets required. One page PDF information sheet (it also appeared to be outdated) basically just said to bring water and food.
(2) Location and time of meeting was different from what was printed on the information sheet, and we were informed of the change 2 days prior to the course.
(3) I did not hear anything from Joseph after I made a payment on Friday until Monday. I almost began to think I gave complete credit card information (security code and everything!!) to someone I should not have trusted.
On rock climbing day:
(1) We met at a drug store parking lot, we were expecting to get «caravaned» away to the rock like it said in the information sheet. The instructor, who was not Joseph, seemed to have contracted this particular course from Joseph. He drove a truck with equipments in the truck bed and had space for only one person. He explained that we would drive dirt road (DIRT road?! Nobody told us anything about driving our own car to the location, let alone OFF ROADING!!) for 15 – 20 min to the climbing location, and our INFINITI G35 COUPE (In case you don’t know, it’s a luxury sports car with very low clearance and unforgiving high performance tires) should be fine to drive. We were skeptical but did we have a choice??? NOT REALLY!!! (others in our group drove Nissan Altima Coupe, which has a similar clearance with G, and Porsche which has even lower clearance, each car-​pooled with the instructor and us), Once we were off the paved road (i) it was more than 15– 20 min drive, (ii) poor G’s bottom was drugging on the rough ground, (iii) shrubs and trees were scratching G’s body (iv) G could not go over a big hump covered with loose dirt and finally got stuck. I really wanted to turn around and cancel the whole thing. This dirt road was not for non-​SUV, let alone luxury sports car. But I didn’t wanna ruin everyone else’s Saturday. Peregrine Expeditions were lucky that our car wasn’t damaged. We’d have gone after them if that had had happened.
(2) Once we were at the parking area of this hiking trail, the instructor pulled out all the equipments and told us that all he had were 5 – 6 different sizes of climbing shoes and we had to make the best out of what were available. But all of us informed Joseph what sizes we wore. I wear 5.5. Closest size he had was 6.5. I’m not a climbing expert but how shoes fit might be important when climbing (one group member kept having issues with falling shoes)?? All the equipments appeared to belong to the instructor and not to Peregrine Expeditions.
Actual climbing:
Joseph really should have provided us with an itinerary for the course. We had no idea what to expect. We brought picnic food thinking we’d take a lunch break. There was no break for lunch, hence no food, just snacks. We would have brought more appropreate snacks if we had known. The rock we climbed I felt was not exactly for a beginner like me (first time climber). But I had no idea, since we were given no detailed information on what was involved in this beginner’s course.
I would have been even more furious if we paid full price of $ 155 per person, but it was $ 80 with discount. Oh and, my friend mentioned she only paid $ 69 per person, so I sent Joseph an email inquiring about it four days (and counting) ago. Did I hear from him? NO. At this point I don’t care if I pay $ 80 pp just to avoid dealing with any more amateurish and unprofessional business conduct.
If I decide to try rock climbing again, I’d try REI which I believe is a more reputable organization.

I can’t even write this review on the basis of the ice climbing experience, as I didn’t actually get an ice climbing experience. We scheduled our 1-​day Alpine Ice Climbing Course for Sunday, 1÷22÷12. After a few cryptic emails from the guide, we finally found out the location to meet him the night before we had to leave (at 5am!!!) to arrive at Mount Baker… in the parking lot of an obscure place called Wake and Bake down a sketchy drive (thank God for 4wd) that was pretty well hidden in the woods, only to be accessed by locals who come there on a regular basis, and extremely difficult for anyone else to find due to their lack of signage. There was another gal in the parking lot waiting for him as well, and she was just as in the dark about the entire expedition as we were. We had no idea what he would be driving, what he looked like, etc, due to his lack of communication and inability to answer a phone.
Finally, said guide shows up (at 9am!!!) in small Rav 4 (which obviously couldn’t fit everyone and their gear… apparently we were following him up the mountain, good thing I didn’t bring my tiny Rabbit!) and wanders around the parking lot looking confused. Obviously he was looking for someone, and the only reason we knew it was him is because as flakiness went so far, this guy completely fit the bill. We get out of the car, as does the girl beside us, and he approaches us, now looking completely surprised, as though he didn’t know he was going to run into PEOPLE in the parking lot. He looks at the other girl, speaks to her by name, looks at us, and asks who we are and why we are there. Mind you, we talked to him the NIGHT BEFORE about where to meet, and verified our climb date three weeks ago (I still have the confirmation email!)…we explain this to him and he says, channeling his inner Garth without the comedy, «well, I guess that will be ok, we’re just going to have extra people on the trip». Extra? And, wait, YOU’RE the only guide with a bunch of people whom have never ice climbed, only two of whom have ever top-​roped or lead-​belayed and only one who is an experienced lead climber??? We then explain that we had been emailing just the night before. He says he must have been sleep-​typing. And I’m about to put my life into the hands of someone who can’t even remember what he was doing the night before???
It gets better. Two more people show up, who have had their excursion verified prior to Christmas, and, lo and behold, find out that he’s even more surprised that they were there also. That makes 9 people, one extremely incompetent guide, 12 feet of snow and technical ice tools. We ask him if he has an itinerary, he says no. We ask him if we need ice axes (this is ice climbing) and he says no. We ask him if snowshoes are a good idea, since we just found out we were going to hike in a 140″ base 1 – 2 miles to our destination, he says, «that sounds like a good idea, who has snowshoes?» The two of us raise our hands. Meaning that apparently everyone else will have to slog through waist deep snow for miles, holding their packs and crampons above their heads???
We again ask the safety of the excursion due to the «extra» people and make an executive decision to not risk our lives and go snowshoeing on our own instead. I am extremely disappointed as I was really excited to take this trip, but don’t regret not taking it due to the confusion, lack of competence, trustworthiness and inability to coordinate… the combination of the above would have made me feel extremely unsafe in any situation… including grocery shopping.
I hope we get our money back and really hope that everyone was safe on the mountain today, and I will never, ever recommend Peregrine Expeditions.

My teenage son just took the adult beginning rock climbing class with Peregrine Expeditions, and he had a blast! The instructor was nice and my son learned a lot and had a great time. The class size was small, which was also nice. The price was reasonable for an all day program. I would recommend it highly, and we hope to do another class soon! (The class takes place in Anacortes, so it’s a bit of a drive, but beautiful scenery and lots of fun)