For Klättermusen CEO Gonz Ferrero and Upguides founder Fred Buttard, the seeds of Klättermusen Experiences were planted on the E6 highway in Norway’s far north. The pair had met just weeks earlier on a ski touring trip in Tarfala, Sweden, bonding in a mountain hut during a snowstorm over their shared reverence for wild places, meaningful travel, and connection.
Their conversations continued during a road trip to a splitboard festival in Finnmark, where they began imagining a different kind of adventure business — one that didn’t just sell gear or trips, but captured the spirit of that original experience. They wanted to create something immersive, slow, and soul-filling.
“Finnmark and the deep north offers this amazing opportunity to step into a time machine,” Gonz said. “It’s a completely different era, where you have to challenge yourself in different ways. It’s equally about the inner journey as the outer one.”
Gonz joined Fred’s final Upguides trip, a ski and sail adventure in Greenland, where the two formally joined forces. Fred brought 20 years of experience as an IFMGA-certified guide, deeply rooted in the Nordic region (with 18 years experience in Finnmark). Gonz brought the legacy of a 50-year-old brand making tools for those very environments.