Noah's story
Noah Johnson founded Vertical Connection Guiding.
Noah was born in far northern Maine, and Mount Katahdin has been part of his life ever since. His family camped there in the summers. He first hiked it with his parents as a teenager. It was the hardest mountain he had ever climbed, and he knew he wanted to go back.
He grew up in upstate New York, just south of Saratoga. Most days he was out in the backyard climbing trees, or halfway up a boulder he probably wasn't supposed to be on. In high school he worked at a small ski and bike shop that specialized in backcountry skiing. The owner became his first mentor. He took Noah skiing on snow days and made sure he learned avalanche safety before anything else.
Noah studied business and emergency medical services at the University of Vermont, already planning to start his own guiding company. In college he met Steve, who pointed him toward the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA). That is where his guiding education started. Since then he has climbed rock, ice and alpine routes from the Gunks and the White Mountains to the Cascades, and spent several summer seasons guiding in Washington. Today Noah lives in Vermont and guides in Vermont, New Hampshire and northern New York.
Katahdin keeps calling him back. He has skied it in winter after a sixteen-mile sled haul, and climbed the Armadillo and Wind in the Willows above Chimney Pond. It is still one of his favorite places to climb.
Mentorship got Noah here, and passing it on is at the center of his guiding. Whether it's your first day on a rope or you're working toward your first lead, the day meets you where you are and builds skills you can use on your own. Summits are awesome, but the day is about what you take home.
Off the rock, Noah is usually working on his backcountry kitchen. On pre-dawn summit days you'll find him making cheesy bagels and drinking maté!
