Meet the Guides
By joining a tour with Fuji Mountain Guides, you're climbing with some of the most qualified guides on the mountain. All summer guides speak English as their native language but are also bilingual and have spent many years in Japan.
Luke Cummings--Head Guide
Luke grew up in Japan as the son of Christian missionaries. Having lived more than half of his life in Japan, and married to a fine Japanese lady, Luke has a deep understanding of Japanese culture/people and considers Japan his home. Just like all of our other guides, Luke speaks fluent Japanese and is well known on Mt. Fuji as the American guide with a Japanese heart. Having grown up in a large family, Luke enjoys meeting new people and takes pleasure in being able to share the beauty of Japan with foreigners and at the same time acquire an understanding of many other cultures, while climbing Mt. Fuji.
Certifications
Soren Rasmussen--Bilingual Guide
Soren is the third generation in his family to have been raised in Japan. He grew up going to Japanese public school and frequently joined his friends' families on hiking and skiing trips around Japan. While attending Haverford College in the US, Soren spent his summers working as a Wilderness Ranger for the US Forest Service, a waterfront lifeguard at a lake near the Japan Alps, and as a volunteer at an organic farming and leadership training school near the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant. He loves ramen, dogs, mountains, and hot springs.
Certifications
Angelo Squires -- Summer Guide
Angelo was born and raised in Norfolk, England. He has always had a deep passion for the outdoors and his earliest memories are of family camping and hiking trips on the British Isles. Angelo continued exploring the mountains and rivers of the UK throughout his early teens and his experience naturaly translated to guiding and instructing. After exploring the Alps bigger more technical peaks throughout his teens, Angelo decided to move to Alaska and pursue a Career as a Mountain Guide; working as a split-board guide in the winter and a High Altitude Mountain Guide in the summer. He has instructed course on; Rock Climbing, Ice Climbing, Mountaineering, Glacier Travel Crevasse Rescue, Avalanche awareness, Canoeing, Kayaking, mountain biking and multi-week expeditions. When not guiding Angelo likes to ski big remote peaks, rock climb and surf. He’s excited to see you on Fuji-san.
Certifications
Matthew Rascone -- Summer Guide
Matteo was raised in both Canada and the US. After studying English at St. Joseph's University he decided to pursue his interests in climbing, hiking, and skiing in Northern California, Wyoming, and Canada. While rock climbing, Matteo met his wife Mika who is Japanese. They moved back to Japan in the autumn of 2016. He enjoys hiking with his wife, running, and is an avid reader.
Certifications
Rei Yabe -- Bilingual Guide
Rei is half Japanese and half American from New York. Being born into a multicultural family, he is natively bilingual. Rei loves being outdoors and cannot get enough of high altitudes. He is especially passionate about skydiving, for which he holds a USPA coach rating and acts as interpretor for the Tokyo Skydiving Club.
Certifications
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Brent --Bilingual Guide
Brent is the founder of Fuji Mountain Guides. Having climbed Mt. Fuji many times as a youngster, Brent started FMG with a vision to help foreigners to Japan, in not only summiting Mt. Fuji, but also in coming away with a deeper understanding of Japanese culture and its people. Brent has been the catalyst for FMG and his guidance, humorous stories and epic mountain poses, have led to many foreigners leaving Japan with great memories of Mt. Fuji and the Japanese people.
Certifications
Miles Peterson--Bilingual guide
Miles was born and raised in Japan. He grew up climbing and skiing in the Japan Alps and gained a great appreciation for the mountains of Japan. After attending University in Colorado and studying Biology, he returned to Japan to spend more time in his favorite mountains. He is fluent in Japanese and loves all aspects of mountain climbing and guiding.
Certifications
Mattias Takehiro Hosogai--Bilingual Guide
Mattias was born to Japanese and Swedish parents. Growing up in a few different countries and educated in English, he is as multicultural as one can be. Mattias' days outdoors began before he could even walk. He has been skiing, hiking and camping for as long as he can remember and has spent the last couple winters guiding people to the driest and deepest snow on Japan's northernmost prefecture, Hokkaido. Mattias considers Japan's mountains to be its greatest treasure and he cannot wait to share good times with you on Mt. Fuji!
Certifications
Ayako Kuroda -- Bilingual Guide
Ayako was born and raised in Japan. Being very passionate about the outdoors, especially skiing, she decided to spend her teenage years in Canada. Having been educated in Japan, Canada, US, and Belgium makes Ayako very multicultural as well as bilingual in English and Japanese. After spending a couple of years in graduate school in Belgium and Japan, she couldn’t give up her dream to become a professional skier. Taking a year off from school this winter, Ayako went back to Canada and successfully started her career as a big mountain skier. She now spends her winters in Canada skiing and summers in Japan. She loves to meet new people from all over the world and can’t wait to spend time together on Mt. Fuji with you.
Certifications
Paolo Pennati -- Summer Guide
Born in Italy, Paolo started traveling across Europe and hiking with his father in the Italian Alps at the age of 6. He is fluent in Italian, Spanish, English and French. While studying for his Master in International Cooperation at Bologna University, he started his career as a humanitarian worker, continuing hiking solo or with local guides in the Equatorial Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Bolivian Uplands. He lived and hiked also in Kenya, before becoming Country Director for a child relief Swiss foundation, working in conflict and post conflict settings in the Gaza Strip (3 years) and Mali (2 years). After a career break spent traveling and hiking across Asia, he settled down in Tokyo.
An expert backcountry snowboarder and a voracious reader, he likes to be up to date on international affairs topics, running, playing basketball and motorbikes. Certifications
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