we have Experience and Passion For
Climbing In Glacier National Park
Meet The Team
Lead Writer – Blake Passmore
Blake is the lead writer for the Climb Glacier National Park guidebooks series. His work has been recognized by local residents by voting him as the “2023 Best Author of the Flathead.” An award he has been given for the fourth consecutive year. He had a blast traveling around the park taking photos and reaching all of these summits.
Blake lives and works in northwestern Montana. He has three adult children, two great kid-in-laws and five spectacular granddaughters.
Blake fell in love with the outdoors while climbing and hiking in the valleys of northwestern Montana when he was a kid. Once he moved back home from eastern Montana he discovered peak bagging in Glacier National Park. His first summit was Pollock Mountain.
Blake ran his first ultramarathon (33 miles) at age 56 and also enjoys photography, writing, fly fishing, and many other outdoor pursuits. In the spring and fall he really likes catching big trout in Montana and Canada.
Blake does not want to summit every peak in Glacier, but there are a number of them on his bucket list. In the off-season he keep busy photographing, training for races and climbing, and doing his other full-time job.
Blake really likes to hear when readers reach the summit of their first peak in Glacier National Park. Drop him a line in Contact Us and tell us about your experience climbing in Glacier National Park.
Contributing Authors – The Doctors
Dr. John VanArendonk lives in the Flathead Valley. He is a native Montanan, who was able to move home again after completing his training as a physician. John has a passion for climbing and fell in love with the mountains while attending youth camps in the Rocky Mountains. He and his wife have three children and six grandchildren. John is the former medical director for the ALERT helicopter program at Kalispell Regional Medical Center. John also enjoys hunting, fishing, camping, and spending time with his family and friends. In 2008, John and his wife visited India on a medical mission and continue to have a heart for helping others.
Dr. Scott Burry was born in Indiana but has had his heart in the mountains since childhood. Scott and his wife have two children. After completing medical school and other residency programs, Scott currently lives near Spearfish, SD. One of Scott’s interests is Wilderness Medicine. He has traveled to Peru as a team leader on multiple occasions for medical missions along the Ucayali River.
Dr. Brad Roy is the executive director for the Summit Medical Fitness Center in Kalispell, MT. He has is married and has two grown and married children and two grandsons. Brad is a runner who achieved a personal best time of 2:21 for a marathon in 1982. He and his family enjoy frequent day hikes and backpack trips to remote places. He holds a Ph. D. in clinical exercise physiology and is a fellow in the American College of Sports Medicine.
Other Contributors for volume 5
Chris Rost brings experience in climbing and mountaineering our team. He recently summited Montana’s highest peak, Granite Peak, on his third attempt. He also travels and climbs with recent trips to Mount Rainier and Red Rocks in Las Vegas. Chris also enjoys ice climbing and photography. Chris lives in Kalispell and is a Physician’s Assistant and dad and grandpa to some great kids.
Chris loves backcountry camping and exploring Glacier’s high places. He is a valuable member of the writing team and wrote routes for a few of the peaks in Volume 5. He has also been along on numerous peaks in earlier volumes.
Mike VanArendonk is the youngest member of the writing team. Like his father, John, Mike loves Glacier and the backcountry. As part of his pursuit for his degree in Physical Therapy Mike did an internship with the Fisio Med S.A. in Quito, Ecuador. While there he summited, Cayambe, the third highest peak in Ecuador at 18,996 feet. Mike played basketball and football locally and is a great guy. Mike researched, climbed and wrote the routes to Kupunkamint, White Calf and Amphitheater Mountains for Volume 5.
Many Others
We would never forget the many others who climbed one or more peaks with us in the 9 seasons it took to complete this series. Without their help and willingness to come on an adventure this series literally would never have been completed. In all, we had over 60 people involved in summiting the peaks featured in this guidebook series. Thank you to each and everyone of you that answered the call and shared time in the mountains.