Over the years, Phil Powers, 38, has made numerous ascents around the world: in 1987, he climbed Gasherbrum II (26,390 feet) with Rob Hess and in 1991 he made the first ascent of the Washburn Face on Mt. McKinley with Greg Collins. In 1993, he climbed K2 with no supplemental oxygen. He has climbed the Grand too many times to count, most often in winter. MountainZone.com asks Phil a few questions.

You know, probably the hardest one was an attempt on K2 I made in 1990 which was unsuccessful. The day I climbed K2 successfully in 1993 was sort of a magical day for me in that I was in good form, the mountain was in good shape, and the weather was nice. So it was a much easier day than my turn around in 1990. And, sort of along the same theme, two of the most memorable climbs for me were climbs that were also unsuccessful in terms of the summit but very successful in terms of the climbing and the enjoyment and the comaraderie. One was an attempt on the West Face of Latok III in Pakistan in 1992 with my partner Greg Collins and another was an attempt on Mt. Bareal, which was an unclimbed east face in the Alaska Range at that time with a longtime friend, Tom Walter.

Most of my most notable climbs: a new route on Mt. McKinley, hard climbs in the Himalaya, a grade VI in Pakistan on a mountain called Lukpilla Brakk, which is a beautiful granite rock spire have been with a climbing partner named Greg Collins, who is my neighbor in Lander, we were coworkers at the National Outdoor Leadership School, we're basketball partners and we're great friends.

I don't have another big peak on my list. After climbing K2 in 1993 and making the first American ascent of Gasherbrum II in 1987 and doing new routes on Denali, I find that the mountains I love the most are here in Wyoming — the Wind River range, the Grand Teton range — so I'm going to spend my time, and in the foreseeable future, climbing routes in my own backyard. They'll be shorter routes, probably not as noteworthy as the things I've done in the past. I've got plenty going on here at work, so it's kind of a new phase in my life.

I've been a mountain guide and instructor for about 20 years now. And first of all, I don't find any interest or inclination for myself to guide at high elevation. Mt. Everest — Scott Fischer wanted to me guide Mt. Everest one year and it just wasn't interesting to me. Even though there was money there and fascination, I don't feel capable of giving the kind of service my clients expect, at those elevations. And with regard to my sort of life as a mountain guide, I'm far more in an ownership and management role now. After instructing and guiding on and off for 20 years, my interests really have moved more into 'how can I build a business that makes life good for the mountain guides I employ?' So I'm only out guiding a couple of days a week, maybe one day a week, maybe no days a week, at this point in time. And that's fine for me and it's probably fine for my clients, because my interests are elsewhere. And since my interests have moved on into ownership, I'm probably not as patient and high-quality a mountain guide as I was when I was younger and that was really a new and exciting role for me.