OUR GUIDES

By joining a tour with Fuji Mountain Guides, you're climbing with some of the most qualified guides on the mountain. Each group tour is led by native English speaking and bilingual mountain guides.

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. Similar to the majority of our 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
  • Wilderness First Aid
  • WEA certified outdoor leader
  • Leave No Trace environmental training
  • Formal training: CCO Leadership Discipleship in the Wilderness (LDW) 

Brent Potter, Head 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
  • Wilderness First Aid
  • CAA Operations Level 1 Avalanche Certification
  • Search and Rescue Rope Rescue Team Member
  • 2 years Guiding and Operating Skills certified
  • Technical Training - High Altitude Crevasse, Rope and Rescue Training
  • Leave No Trace environmental training 

Soren Rasmussen, Head 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
  • Wilderness First Responder
  • CAA Avalanche Operations level 1
  • Leave No Trace environmental training​

​Mattias Åsenlund, Head 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
  • JAN/CAA Avalanche Operations Level 1
  • Wilderness First Aid

Miles Peterson, Head 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
  • Professional first aid and rescue

​Paolo Pennati, Interpreter 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. ​
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Certifications
  • Wilderness First Aid
  • AST1

​Masato Ogata, Summer Guide

Masato was born and raised in Japan. He spent the summer of 2017 as staff at a mountain hut on Mount Fuji, introducing many of our guests and other international travelers to Japanese culture. Through this 2 month experience, Masato has gained valuable knowledge of both Mt. Fuji's culture and terrain, holding an "insider" view of Mt. Fuji. Masato enjoys traveling and climbing mountains both in his home country and overseas.
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He looks forward to guiding foreign tourists to Japan, paying it forward to all the locals that have assisted him in his travels abroad. Masato enjoys music, traveling, nature and meeting new people from all over the world.

Certifications
  • Wilderness First Aid

David Benitez, Bilingual Guide

David was born and raised in the tropical island of Puerto Rico. Where he spent countless days camping by the beach with his family as a kid, and hiking the mountains of "El Yunque" rainforest as a young adult. He later moved to Florida to watch over the safety of Disney's Blizzard Beach guests as a lifeguard and lake patrol. All while dreaming of one day exploring the land of the rising sun. And when that day finally arrived, puff! Just like that, it turned into 12 years. Having lived in both Puerto Rico and Florida, and now in Japan, David can speak fluent English, Spanish and Japanese.

​Nowadays he spends his summer days bikepacking across the coastal areas of Niigata, Atami and the Izu peninsula. His winter days are well spent hiking and riding the best powder snow in the world, in Niseko, in Japan's northernmost island Hokkaido. He really loves being out in the mountain, be it in summer or winter and he can't wait to share his experiences with you at Mt. Fuji. David's also a passionate outdoor photographer. 

Certifications
  • ​Advanced Wilderness First Aid
  • AST1 
  • CSIA Level 1 (snowboard instructor)   

Andrew Quirk, Bilingual Guide

What Andy lacks in karaoke talent, he makes up for in the sporting field! After playing rugby for 20 years, Andy took up snowboarding in Fukui, Japan first, then the famed Furano, which was akin to surfing on snow and an addiction soon surfaced. After over eight snow seasons, Andy decided to run eight marathons. His most recent was in Berlin, training in the outback of Australia. He's worked as a Japanese speaking guide at Vald'isere, Whistler and Australia. Andy has a keen interest in travel, languages, Japanese food and culture as well as the sake.

Certifications
  • Wilderness First Aid
  • New Zealand Snowboard instruction certificate
  • AST 1

Victor Eby, Bilingual Guide

Victor was born and raised in Japan. After studying Elementary Education & Theology in Dubuque, Iowa he returned to Japan with a passion to teach and coach international school students. He has a deep appreciation for the outdoors and has been an American Red Cross Lifeguarding Instructor at a lake near the Japan Alps for more than 10 years. Victor enjoys running, reading, photography and hot cups of tea. He looks forward to traveling the trail with you!​

Certifications
  • Wilderness First Aid
  • CPR/AED for Professional Rescuers Instructor

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
  • Wilderness First Aid
  • AST1
  • CSIA Level 1

Anna Janzen, Bilingual Guide

Anna was born and raised in British Columbia, Canada. She loves to be surrounded by mountains to do her favourite activities such as rock climbing, skiing, and hiking. Having Canadian and Japanese parents, she is fluent in English and has a good understanding of Japanese. She is currently studying Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Management, in hopes to educate and entertain more people in the outdoors. Anna hopes to share her love of the great outdoors with you while spreading lots of smiles and high fives. She is very excited to talk to people from all around the world and climb Mt. Fuji with you!

Certifications:
  • Wilderness First Aid
  • Avalanche Skills Training level 2

Motohiro Hayashi, Bilingual Guide

Phil Welch, Bilingual Guide
Moto was born and raised in Saitama, Japan. In his early 20's, Moto traveled to Nepal, exposing him to mountainous activities through the Himalayan mountains. This experience led Moto to seek a future in guiding and other outdoor pursuits. He is just back from spending a few years working in and exploring Australia and New Zealand. His time in New Zealand was spent guiding multinational guests on one of greatest walks in New Zealand, the Milford Trek. During the winter Moto works for the ski patrol team at Hakuba and enjoys backcountry skiing. His favorite past time these days is trail running. His love for trail running will take him on distance runs which sometimes span 100 miles! 

Certifications
  • NZ Recreational Avalanche
  • Red Cross CPR/First Aid
  • Wilderness First Aid
Originally from London, Phil served for 8 years in the British Army before leaving to travel the world. He now lives year round in Hokkaido. Working as a backcountry ski guide in the winter, raft guide in the spring and hiking guide/ farmworker in the summer, he is lucky enough to spend all year round in the beautiful Japanese outdoors.

Certifications
  • Wilderness First Responder
  • JAN/CAA Avalanche Operations 1
  • SBINZ 2

Isaiah Bresnihan, Bilingual Guide
Isaiah was born in Japan but now lives in the U.S. Growing up with an American dad and Japanese mom and frequently moving between the two countries, he is fluent in both English and Japanese and feels at home in both countries. He found his love for hiking in the beautiful mountains of Washington and since then has explored many trails in Washington, Oregon, and California. He is currently studying Computer Science at Harvey Mudd College in Southern California and spends his free time dancing, making and listening to music, and being in the outdoors. Isaiah loves meeting new people and is excited to share his love of the outdoors with everyone on Mt. Fuji!

Certifications​​
  • Wilderness First Aid