Who We Are
Peter
Primary Decision Maker / Mountain Guide
Born into the First Family of American mountaineering, mountain climbing is in Peter Whittaker’s bloodline. His uncle Jim Whittaker was the first American to reach the summit of Mt. Everest in 1963. His father Lou (Jim’s identical twin) founded RMI in 1969 and led the First American Ascent of the North Face of Everest in 1984.
Peter has been guiding and climbing for more than 40 years. He first climbed Mt. Rainier at the young age of 12, began guiding professionally at 16, and has logged 250+ ascents of Rainier since then. He has completed the Seven Summits and led more than 4,000 clients on hundreds of expeditions around the globe, from Rainier to Everest. Read Peter’s full bio.
Kerry
Marketing & Operations / Customer Service
Kerry Samudio is Peter’s right hand and the glue that holds us together. Kerry’s role covers a variety of areas from operations to marketing, accounting, admin and customer service.
With more than 25 years in marketing and business management, she is no stranger to teamwork and making things happen. Kerry is most at home in the mountains, whether snowboarding, hiking, or just playing in the backcountry.
Kristian
Head of Marketing
A recent University of Washington graduate, Kristian has been doing marketing for Bight Gear for the last two years. When he’s not working, you can find him deep in a mountain range (either the Austrian Alps or Idahoan Sawtooths) with a snowboard on his feet or a week’s worth of gear on his back, depending on the season.
Jess
Social Media & Operations / Mountain Guide
In addition to being an RMI guide, Jess Matthews is our in-house MBA who tackles everything and anything thrown at her, from copy writing to inventory management and then some. She has a great passion for the outdoors, helping and coaching others, and working in the mountains. Jess spends most of the year mountain guiding in the Northwest or Alaska and enjoys skiing in the winter.
The Guide Team
Many of our guides are also our designers, many of them spending more than 200 days per year at or above treeline. It’s just where they are. Their mountain knowledge and experience is the secret sauce behind our process. They work shoulder to shoulder with us on every design element, often in passionate workshops where we debate features and fabrics for hours based on real-world experience. Ultimately, we kill any design that doesn’t earn the full support and alignment of the team. Which means that every Bight product – from sun hoody to summit parka – has been through the mountaineering world’s toughest validation process.
