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Matt Fioretti- Guide/Owner- has led 24 expeditions and has 44 seasons of experience at altitude.

Matt Fioretti- Guide/Owner- has led 24 expeditions and has 44 seasons of experience at altitude.
Matt Fioretti - Guide/Owner has led 24 expeditions and has 44 seasons of experience at altitude.




About Four Winds


HISTORY

Four Winds Himalayan Guide Service has been guiding trips in the Himalaya since 1994. We have 25 years and 44 seasons of experience at altitude, including 24 successful climbing expeditions (meaning everyone came home). With an emphasis on uncrowded treks and remote climbs, clients leave Nepal/Tibet having experienced the rich culture, ancient trails, and the intense climbing available in the Himalaya. Founder Matt Fioretti has been Alpine climbing since 1984 and brings 38 years of experience to the high altitude arena. Gombu Sherpa and Singa Lama joined Matt early on and bring with them more than 30 years combined experience on the trails and steep faces of the high peaks. The accumulation of years and passion for the mountains between the 3 individuals insures a safe, rare adventure.


GROUP SIZE

Our trips are intimate. We allow only 6 to 9 trekkers and 2 to 6 climbers on a journey. You can call the owner Matt Fioretti at home or office anytime prior to the trek or climb. Weather your on a climb or trek, individual attention is one of our top priorities. You can expect prompt, courteous responses to your questions. Pre-trip orientations allow for everyone to receive a comfortable knowledge about the journey. While on the trek our adherence to small group size helps members become brother and sister, a camaraderie that often lasts for years afterwards. The intimacy is extended to our Sherpa and Nepali friends. We have created lasting relationships with the locals. Our group is greeted with a warmth that suggests we are part of the family. You feel at home and get a “backstage” view into the culture.


ABILITY

Almost anyone can do a trek in the Himalaya. You can be a beginner and feel comfortable with our experienced staff. Our age group has spanned 11 to 79 years old. The pace is slow and comfortable, each day hiking village to village and traversing the highest mountain range in the world. Everyone has acclimatized on our treks because of the calm pace and expertise of the guides. For the more advanced we offer guided and commercial climbs. Climbers with experience but daunted by the idea of high altitude, are taught expedition skills and the logistics of climbing a big mountain in a safe environment. For those who don’t need a guide we offer commercial trips. This means we handle all the logistics and red tape that are inherent in the Nepal Permit system, but you go as a climbing team member proficient at climbing.


SAFETY

Safety is our number one priority. Each group is registered with the American Embassy in Kathmandu and is equipped with a satalite phone. In 22 years of leading trips on the trails and mountains of Nepal our safety record is flawless.


Join us. We are personable, professional, fun, and have years of experience at altitude.

We specialize in the Himalaya of Nepal so you will have a transformational, adventure. One cannot walk through the Himalaya with out being changed or experiencing some shift in the soul.




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Trekking and Climbing Shedule

Please call for possible openings for 2018. Now taking deposits for September, 2018, and March 2019 trips

2018 September Expedition- We depart from Kathmandu to attempt an unclimbed peak. Climbers must show a climbing resume to be considered. 2 spaces available for a team of 6. The peak is in the far west, the journey remote.

March 2019- Hike around the Manasulu, the 8th highest peak in the world. 23 days.

April 2019- Trek the 5 holy lakes in the Gokyo area. Hike to the summit of a 17700 foot peak. Cross a 17660 foot pass, visit 2 monasteries while trekking village to village. 20 days door to door. All abilities. 3 spaces left

September 2019 - Pilgrimage Mt. Kailash - Tibet's holy mountain. A true extreme hike and adventure. Hiking over the crest of the Himalaya in Nepal to Tibet. Then circumambulating Tibet's holy mountain on pilgrimage with Tibetans. Must be in excellent physical condition. 7 to 9 hour hiking days at altitude. 4 spaces left.


For more information and pricing please email or call.

Phone: 206-282-0472

Email: fourwindsexpedtions@gmail.com


Website: fourwindsexpeditions.com


Greg Valentine and Matt Fioretti did the first ascent of Nireka in a 2 day alpine style push.

Greg Valentine and Matt Fioretti did the first ascent of Nireka in a 2 day alpine style push.
Nearing the summit on the first ascent of Nireka. Four Winds strives to do peaks that are uncrowded, remote, and rarely done. On many of our expeditions we are the only team on the mountain.

Matt Fioretti eyeing the South Ridge of Cholatse

Matt Fioretti eyeing the South Ridge of Cholatse



What clients have to say....


True to his word, Matt was committed to safety on our trek to Nepal.He is knowledgeable, organized and has a positive attitude which is infectious. Matt is well loved in the communities we visited. The respect and admiration he has developed with the Nepali people created a unique, enhanced and truly exceptional experience for our group. Thanks, Matt! October 2013 Trek.

K. Baker


Going to Nepal was like stepping into the pages of National Geographic with the color, chaos and crowds of Kathmandu to the breathtakingly beautiful snow capped Himalayas. Matt had said we would stay with friends (I read business associates; I was wrong). These people were Matt's second family and they treated us as family. I didn't have as much vacation time as the rest of my group, so I returned early. It snowed one night and the inn keeper, Urken wouldn't let me leave until the trail was broken. A little while later I looked out the window and Urken was up on the mountain checking the trail for me. He came back in and said it was safe to go now. Later as I was crossing one of many suspension bridges, my porter, Prem, ran ahead of me to stop the yak train from starting across the bridge until I had finished crossing. With Matt's group you're not a tourist, you're part of Nepal, you're family.


Namaste,

Kathy


“It has been years since I went with Matt and his crew to Ama Dablam and crazy as it sounds, it still feels like yesterday. The experience was one that is hard to put into words, when you are there amongst the people and grandeur of the Himalayas you feel all at once small and insignificant, yet more real and present than ever. I carry the essence and spirit of that journey with me everyday. Just go… more than that, go with Matt.”


I was just shy of 60 when I did the Everest Trail Trek with Matt. It was one of the most memorable events in my life! I loved it! And I learned some trekking lessons that apply to the rest of life, as well---like "Pace yourself." Those of us who did pace ourselves made it to the magnificent Everest Base Camp area at 17,000'. Throughout the entire trek we always felt secure with wonderfully kind Sherpas always there to lend a hand and encourage us onward. It was a grand initial experience into trekking that held so very many gifts from beginning to end.

Port Townsend



"My trips to Nepal with Four Winds were life-changing experiences, in the best possible way. Being halfway around the world, in an unfamiliar place, thousands of miles away from everything you know, can be a scary situation, but when you're with Matt, there's a comfort level. It feels like all of Nepal is your family."

M. Mahoney



Yes, the trek stands out as one of my life's most amazing experiences, certainly because of the Himalayas magnificence, but also due to our group's lighthearted, playful camaraderie, the welcoming arms of the locals at the teahouses where you had been before, evening card games, and the way you kept us always under your protective eye ... checking every day for our oxygen saturation levels, making sure we drank enough water, stopping for rest when needed, and also encouraging us along, like on Gokyo Ri, for those last panting steps, so that I might not miss the view of one of the world's most spectacular, breath-taking sights ... and yet, I never felt pampered or stifled, as you simultaneously offered ample space for us to move in our own rhythms, moods and pace.

If I never properly said thanks to you before for all that Matt ... Thanks!!! ... the experience will continue to resonate within me for my lifetime!


Some things that are extraordinary about Nepal and going with Four Winds. Kids smiling faces, fluffy clouds, the aroma of incense, village life, and the journey in the mountains. I especially liked the pace of the trek. I could go at my own pace and felt comfortable. Tim S.


With Matt I have successfully climbed a 6000 meter peak and a 8000 meter peak in the Himalaya even though I suffer from a liver disease. The first was Naya Kanga, 6000M, post -monsoon , in the Langtang region near Ganga La. The friends I made have become lifelong best friends, not only the fellow trekkers but the sherpas as well, like Singi and Sangi who brought me milk tea (Dudh Chai)and cheese on the descent. The Four Winds staff, assistants and Sherpas, make the journey possible. When climbing Cho Oyu from Tibet we spent 7 weeks in the Dingri Region and 4 weeks above 20K feet, climbing to 27,500 feet without oxygen. Matt, being the consummate guide escorted a sick teammate back to BC. Two of the five members made the summit. When I go back it will be with Four Winds and fortunately with Matt who also had a serious illness sidetrack him, but who has already made his recovery and found his way back to the Himalayas. This is the true meaning of meeting life's challenges, and this is what you can achieve with Four Winds. Hope to see you on the high mountains. Namaste!

Glen Anders


Matt and Four Winds Himalayan Guide Service kindled in me a deep love of alpine climbing on my first trip to Nepal in 1999. This first trip taught me a lot and I have returned to Nepal with Matt four times since. Matt has a deep love and respect for the indigenous culture of the Sherpa people of the Khumbu, and in his 20 year dealings with the people in that region, he has established many deep friendships; it is especially remarkable to share in these connections with him. I have always felt safe when climbing with Matt. He has developed good mountain sense over the years, and his motto "may the four winds blow you safely home" is a propos of his climbing philosophy which holds safety in high regard. Matt is also a fountainhead of ideas, and has always provided a source of inspiration for those seekers who take to the mountains. I have learned a lot from Matt's personal struggles with aplastic anemia, and his return to active climbing continues to inspire many people to see mountains as metaphors for the challenges we all face in life. I have Matt to thank for what has developed into a life-long passion for me. It all started with one trip to the Himalaya.




My journey to Nepal with Matt and Four Winds was inspirational and life-transforming. Matt's expertise in guiding allowed us to safely explore the exquisite beauty of the Himalayas and experience Nepal's fascinating culture. We always felt welcome wherever we went, as Matt has formed incredible connections with the people of Kathmandu, the sherpas who gently encouraged us, and the families who brought us into their homes and fed us delicious meals. Nepal is a hiker and climber's paradise and an adventurer's dream. It's beauty is truly divine. The journey has made a permanent impact on the way I live my life, appreciate nature and take risks. I highly recommend traveling with Four Winds! Aileen P.



The smell was of burning lantern oils and incense. The colors were the bluest of blues for the sky and the whitest of whites for the clouds. The sounds were of another language, and the ringing of yak bells were soothing to my ears late into the night. The touch of the air was bitter cold in a soothing way. The taste of the food was bland, yet sweet and interesting to my taste buds. When I close my eyes and think back on this journey , it was the most romantic thing I have aver experienced on my own. I have returned with Four Winds 3 times. David Frisk



“Thank you Matt for my wonderful trip to Nepal. It really changed my life forever” Jeanne


Matt, I wanted to officially thank you for a seamless trip to Nepal which you made fun and easy. The trip and all its details were extremely well thought out. With all your planning, I never had to worry about any of the details one would normally have to deal with when traveling half way around the world. I also felt priviledged and protected to be under the many watchful eyes of all the friends you have made over the years (Gombu, Qayoom, Dawafuti & family, Tsedem, etc). Even when I branched off on my own your friends were there to make sure I was safe and happy (Hira, Ramesh, etc). If it wasnt for you and your flexible, can-do attitude, I would never have made this trip to the wonderful and amazing Nepal. D. Oxford


My trip to Nepal was life alterning and I owe so much of that to Matt and his team. He has such a passion for the country and the people that my trip was anything but ordinary. While we were taken to many of the main tourist attraction sites, we were also shown sites of Nepal that few tourists rarely see. My trek back to the 5th holy lake at Goyko will forever be in my heart as one of the greatest experiences of my life. Matt was in constant communication about changes to the intinerary (a common fact when traveling in the third world) and always worked diligently to ensure that things went as smoothly as possible, and that we were getting the best experiences everyday. His easy going personality allows for lots of laughs with quick and lasting bonds being formed. I am grateful to have found Matt and his team. I didn't have one bad expereince on this trip and I look forward to when I will be able to go again!


Everest at sunset from 20,000 ft.Everest Sunset from Pumori.

Everest at sunset from 20,000 ft.Everest Sunset from Pumori.

Nuptse

Nuptse
Taken from Camp I -Pumori

Pumori

Pumori
S. W. Ridge. Pumori

We are insignificant

We are insignificant
Trekkers at 16,000 feet dwarfed by some of the smaller peaks in Nepal. Have trouble acclimatizing? Our treks are designed so everyone acclimatizes.

Nirekha- 5th pitch

Nirekha- 5th pitch
Join us in October 2015 on this beautiful climb

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

A great read!


 Matt Fioretti has been a high altitude mountain guide and climber in the Himalaya for 25 years. He has spent 44 seasons in altitude. At age forty, when he was at the peak of his climbing career, he suffered with life threatening Aplastic Anemia for 4 years before ultimately receiving a bone marrow transplant. Matt's unique perspective on survival, and the power of the mind body connection, grew from his epic medical journey and his high and wild journeys into the remote Himalaya of Nepal and Tibet. Ironically his hardest climb was not in the high, cold, thin air of the Himalaya.  


REVIEWS:  

"I highly recommend this book as a gift for someone you love (including yourself). It’s highly inspirational and will take you through the full range of emotions. The writing and photography are fantastic. This book is a testament to the strength of the human spirit! Matthew Fioretti you are a hero, and this book will undoubtedly lend strength to anyone going through a challenging time!" Melissa Walker

"I just finished this book written by my friend Matthew Fioretti. It arrived a few days ago and I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommended! Nice work Matt, thank you for sharing your journey!" "Tracy Mcfadden

"Where to begin...I just finished Between the Summit and the Grave.  

Your story, your writing, the conveyance of your experience and feelings is nothing short of literary perfection. Yes, while I know this is a final draft w/edits coming, my point is - the story and how you chose to write it, is PERFECT

I was BLOWN away - gutted -  beyond my imagination of the extent of your physical suffering.  And, you made me laugh out loud!!!

Your day-after-day-after-day (x years) endurance is daunting and wildiy inspiring. 
Your proximity to death and crossing over into it - repeatedly - PROFOUND. 
The intensity of your suffering and your tenacity to always extinguish your fears - no matter how dark and in the depths of despair you were, to access the light (gratitude - love - joy) is inspirational on steroids. 

Your survival story is heroic - epically poignant.

Between the Summit and the Grave is my #1 favorite memoir! I want to buy many, many, many copies and give them as gifts of Healing to everyone I love, or even like. 

You are a miracle. Your writing is loaded with vivid extremes of joy and suffering. I love that mindfulness (Faith, The Great Spirit, Guides, Angels, You-G-d!) is the name of your journey's game, whether your ADVENTURE is in the Himalaya or the Hospital. 

I am in AWE"

Andrea Wennet 


Friday, March 18, 2022

Logistics


 "It is way physically harder than climbing Mt Everest". This was what I was told by a colleague who finished most of the upper crossing and had summited Everest. This is my 44th season in the Himalaya and the first time I felt a tinge of doubt on a project. Can I and my team do this? What Im finding as I sit in my hotel room looking over my gear and food for the next 120 days, is that the logistics are outlandishly challenging. There is gear strewn from one side of the 30 foot room the the other. If I look at just one aspect of logistics, such as resupplies my mind whirls with questions. We will have 9 food drops for 5 people. It is looking like we will have 45, 90 liter duffle bags flown to trail heads. 45!!! My mind moves to stress, I jot things on my list adding to the 43 reminders of things to do. This is just one logistic of hundreds we have been working through. The physical aspect seem trifle compared to the logistical web I seem to be tangled in. Now it is 5am in Kathmandu and the smell of incense wafts through my open window. A monkey screeches in the distance, and pigeons coo. I can imagine that the monastery is bustling with saffron robed monks beginning their morning meditation and prayer. This thought settles my mind, Doubt fades with the truth that everything is going to be OK. Although I'm challenged now, at some point we all arrive at grace. 



Thursday, March 17, 2022

Crossing the Himlaya

 "It is way physically harder than climbing Mt Everest". This was what I was told by a colleague who finished most of the upper crossing.  This is my 44th season in the Himalaya and the first time I felt a tinge of doubt on a project.  Can I and my team do this?  What Im finding as I sit in my hotel room looking over my gear and food for the next 120 days, is that the logistics are outlandishly challenging.  There is gear strewn from one side of the 30 foot room the the other.  If I look at just one aspect of logistics such as resupplies my mind whirls with questions.  We will have 9 food drops for 5 people.  It is looking like we will have 45,  90 liter duffle bags flown to trail heads.  45!!!  This is just one logistic of hundreds we have been working through.  The physical aspect seem trifle compared to the logistical web I seem to be tangled in.  Now it is  5am in Kathmandu and the smell of incense wafts through my open window.  A monkey screeches in the distance, and pigeons coo. I can imagine that the monastery is bustling with saffron robed monks beginning their morning meditation and prayer.  Doubt fades with the truth that everything is going to be OK.  At some point we all arrive at grace.


Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Crossing the Himalaya

 Hello Everyone,

It has been awhile since I have posted. I have not posted simply because I did not want to travel during covid.  I hope you all have stayed healthy over the last 2 years and have been able to continue your adventures.   Now the time has come.  Im heading back to Nepal with a team of 5 to traverse the Himalaya.  We have planned for 125 days and will start on the Great Himalayan Trail hopefully completing the upper trail.  The word "Trail"  is a misnomer here.  Some parts of it have no trail, some parts are on glaciers, some parts climb 20 over 20,000 feet.  We go with heavy hearts for Ukraine and for the citizens of Russia.  Our prayers go out to them.  


If you want to follow us live on a map you can go to:

share.garmin.com/fourwindsexpeditions

Ill be posting hear once a week or so.  Have a great summer.  

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Survival is Not Passive

After having a bone marrow transplant and fighting for 4 years with only a 30 % chance to live a few things became clear. 

First and foremost we have a choice on how we react to our situation. Take for instance the famous Math genius John Nash. Even though he was mentally ill with schizophrenia and depression he worked with his mind and went on to live a fairly normal life. He was not passive on his diagnosis or his minds situation.

After my diagnosis I could see early on that my mind was more of an illness than the actual diagnosis. What I mean by this is early on I was poor me, why me? a normal thought process. However there is a whole other world in the process of thought. Where ever your mind is at is where you are at.  You have a choice on how you react to your situation. If I think in my mind poor me, then I can be nothing else but poor me. If I think this sucks then nothing else can happen but a life that sucks. 

My doctor told me years later (an esteemed oncologist) that "only 20% of what we do here is healing, we have patients that have a 90% survival rate and when they feel sorry for themselves or have the poor me's, they die.” The key here is understanding survival and its relationship to the mind. 

Survival is not a passive undertaking. A good metaphor is the castaway.  Each day adrift and lost at sea if we do not wake and start our work of collecting water, food, and shelter we will die. While lost at sea part of the work is keeping the mind in a healthy space.  

Survival is work. The mind is the same. Each day we must partake and be active and be aware of it and choose how to navigate its direction. Choose on how we react to being lost at sea. The mind is not a passive pursuit. I know for sure if I would have stuck to my early thought pattern of poor me, I would have been dead years ago. Im sure John Nash would have said the same. We have to be engaged everyday in what I will call watching the mind, meditation.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Pilgrim of Light

I believeTibetans are the backbone of our collective spiritual consciense.

I witnessed a 24 year old girl prostrating around Mt Kailash.  It will take her roughly 40 days.  She had only the clothes on her back, no food no water. Full prostrations all at elevation above 15,600 feet and reaching as high as 18,000 feet.  The ground is icy rock and dust. The sun lacks heat.

The night before clients complained of cold in their down sleeping bags as they rested on cushy sleeping pads and spoke of investments and how they wanted a steak and a hot shower.  I could empathize with them as that night ice had formed on the tents as the temp dipped below 24 degrees F.  

As I passed the young girl I greeted her with the Tibetan "Tashdelek".   She rose up from her prostration with a smile born of purity and yelled out a jovial Tashidelek!  It was as if she was at a water park in mid summer.  Her smile impacted me.  She showed no pain although she must have been suffering,  complete devotion flowed.  I learned that she often travels throughout the night counting only on alms from other passing pilgrims.  She was the embodiment of omnipotence.  

I thought about the Chinese military check posts we had to cross.  With all their guns and gates. The advertisement of fear in their show of might.   I thought about our society with its foundation of fear and its pride in military prowess. The emphasis on material comfort.

Last I thought about this young Tibetan girl, cotton dress, no food, no water.  Crouching and extending her body on the icy slopes of Kailash. Offering and opening her soul to the great mystery.   Alone at night, I am sure cold to the bone. A simple spirit richer than all billionaires.  A simple spirit more powerful than all militaries. A prowess beyond matter, so secure that I believe a mighty gun put to her head would receive a smile and a soul absent of fear.

Tashidelek, 

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

The Importance of Mt Kailash

An elderly woman approached me in the alley way on the side of the hotel where I stay.  She had graying hair neatly combed with a red vail covering her head.  The vail was shredded in places and golden sequins hung loosely, many had already fallen off probably years ago.  The wrinkles on her face showed age and a life spent in the rice and potato fields.  Wisdom emanated.  She was a bit hunched and as she came close straighten the years out of her spine.  She extended her hand and grabbed mine looking at me through hazy eyes, the beginnings of cataracts.

She somehow had heard I was going to Mt Kailash.  I wondered how in this city of 1 million people she had found me.  The urgency in her gaze tore through me, I could feel she was about to share something very important.  She squeezed my hand and in broken english "You go Kailash?" A slow smile spreading across her face.  Yes I answered excitedly.  "Please.......Please put at Dolma La" The Dolma La is the 18,000 foot pass where every devout Hindu and Buddhist hope to cross in their life time. Offerings of money, clothing, pieces of hair, and photos are left here.  It is believed that stepping through the pass enables one to have a good journey in the next life.

She put a wrinkled 5 rupee (the equivalent of 5 cents) note in my hand and squeezed.  Holding on to my hand with both of hers now she repeated "Please............... Please"  The pause between please are long.  She gently began to squeeze harder and shake my hand up and down in a gesture of great peace and thankfulness, slowly lowers my hand, turns and walks into the fray.


Mt Everest March 2017

We possibly have 3 spaces for our Mt Everest expedition in March of 2017.  The cost will be $32,000 to join us on the amazing north side in Tibet.  Climb the uncrowded side.  Email me at fourwindsexpeditions@gmail.com     Matt Fioretti  fourwindsexpeditions.com



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