Ayla Loper

Growing up in Talkeetna, Ayla has been a part of the AMS community her entire life. Before heading to Colorado and Oregon for college, she spent her childhood exploring the Alaska Range and Southcentral Alaska, and working at the local plane company that brings us into the mountains. Now a practicing Physical Therapist in Anchorage, she returns to AMS each summer to instruct mountaineering courses and spend time in her childhood backyard. Along with fun times on peaks in the Western United States, Ayla worked as a guide in Antarctica for two seasons. When not working or guiding, she can often be found exploring remote areas of Alaska on multi-day backpacking/packrafting trips or backcountry skiing trips. Her students appreciate her clear, thorough teaching style and her ability to make the most of each day in the mountains.