Ryder Walker Interview – Founder Peter Walker

Gabrielle Lamprou

RPTM 101 – Professor Jen E.

17 November 2023
Introduction

Ryder Walker is an alpine adventures company based out of Telluride Colorado, leading

domestic and international hiking trips. For my interview I chose to speak with the founder of

Ryder-Walker, Peter Walker. Peter’s journey to owning his current business was not always

linear; he started his outdoor career when working for a friend of his father’s leading hiking tours

in Switzerland while he was also in high school. He studied at a university in Vermont majoring

in geomythology and arctic alpine, focusing on snow and ice, for all four years. After graduation,

he and his friend were given funds to start on their own and relocate to Switzerland to continue

studying and being mountain guides. Although their passions were more focused in snow

touring, it was more limiting for a sustainable job. With this they transitioned to leading hiking

and trekking trips, allowing for increased group sizes and participation. Once getting on his feet

and founding Ryder-Walker, Peter envisioned much success for years to come. In fact, the

company just celebrated its 40th year anniversary.

Mission/Purpose of the Agency/Department

Ryder-Walker meets the desires of all types of explorers. When speaking to Peter, he

talked about how he doesn’t feel like the company technically has a mission statement: “I believe

wholeheartedly in focusing on the benefit’s pure mountain experience” (Peter Walker, Founder,

2023). His intentions of leading trips were to meet new people and encourage exercise, allowing

clients to focus on their own personal development, whatever the definition may be to them.

Upon further observation, the Ryder-Walker webpage also does not have a mission statement,

rather they reference many previous clients reviews about the company (Ryder-Walker, 2023).

From an external perspective they are confident enough in their reviews from clients that the

reviews can be the sole form of advocacy for the company. The growth of their company came
from word of mouth, ink advertising, and Outside Magazine (Peter Walker, Founder, 2023). Peter

ultimately believes that life in the mountains should just be wilderness and would rather go

without any technology just to be with nature.

A lot of the purpose of the agency comes from behind the scenes in their recreation

department. Peter envisioned a workspace where all friends gathered to do their office work and

then depart to go on their adventures relaying their positive energy on clientele. A difficult

adjustment he faced was the invention of the internet and how to incorporate that into the playful

workspace they’ve developed. Transitioning from sending handwritten letters to make

reservations at hotels to having your logistics coordinator work remote while travelling in her

van is a big jump. Growing technology will forever continue to influence their business; an

example of this influence is offline GPS and their business needing to upgrade their programs

because others can find similar information just on their own.

Clientele Served

When I personally think of adventurous clientele, I imagine a younger demographic,

however Peter had a different side of the story to tell. He stated, “the demographic is obvious,” it

is clients 55-70 years of age with little to no family commitments because children are likely

independent, and their bank accounts have enough money to afford a higher end trip that Ryder-

Walker offers (Peter Walker, Founder, 2023). I found these details to be awfully ironic due to the

fact that my parents fit this exact demographic when we made our way through the Ryder-Walker

Tour Du Mont Blanc hike. With most participants being retired professionals, it is hard to get the

younger generations to attend the trips. Limitations such as cost, time commitment, and age are

all factors the company has to consider when targeting the proper audience for their trips. Gender

to Peter was not a strong consideration regarding their demographic as it is pretty evenly
distributed amongst attendees. There is no membership fee for trips, rather a one stop shop on

what package you want. Ryder-Walker is unique because it provides fully planned international

opportunities for all types of travelers which opens the doors from just avid adventurers to

people with a desire to begin exploring.

Services and Programs Provided

As noted, before, Ryder-Walker offers domestic and international trips; the main focus of

the companies’ trips are international, reaching countries in Europe, Asia, the Americas, and

Africa (Ryder-Walker, 2023). Their program types offered are guided tours, self-guides tours,

private hikes, mini-treks, and even build your own. With all of these various options for trips, it

provides a more accessible activity for people who want to design their own or have restrictions.

International trips and more avid adventures can be challenging to create accessibility. Since

Ryder-Walker is an older company (40yrs old), they are pretty concrete in their current ways of

doing things, making them reliable for what they advertise but possibly not the most malleable

compared to newer companies. This is not to say the company is exclusive to a certain

demographic, rather they have a target audience, and some may not fall into that audience. From

my personal experience, my family and I went on a self-guided tour in France, Switzerland, and

Italy. The descriptions of the treks offered are very transparent with all aspects of the trip such as

comfort ratings and difficulty levels (Ryder-Walker, 2023). This company has a lot of structure

which can be beneficial for the clientele and execution of trips.

Staffing

Ryder-Walker is a larger company but remains to keep a very close-knit bond, following

Peters dreams for what kind of company he wanted to develop. According to the website, there at

37 employees, 20 of which are guides and the rest on the back end of managing the company
(Ryder-Walker, 2023). Employees consist of domestic and international guides to allow for more

diversity in the company as well as assisting in short notice trips across the country. A lot of the

work for the employees varies from seasonal to full time; Peter discussed how he recruited a lot

of his employees from a local ski resort in Telluride and they were looking for their next seasonal

job after the winter. Their typical season is from May to October and then guides go back to their

own adventures, families, and lives whatever that may be for a period of downtime.

Funding Source(s)

Larger companies such as Ryder-Walker have more financial stability, especially with

their self-guided tours that provide more of a passive income since the trip planning was done a

long time ago. However, after the past couple of years, it’s been a hard transition for Peter and

his team. The pandemic was a time of total unknown and he had to shut his company down,

sending all employees home to their families not knowing if they will ever come back again. As

their work is focused more internationally and borders were shut down, there was little to not

work for anyone to focus on until those regulations changed. Peter quoted his emotions during

the pandemic as “absolutely terrified” and the “saddest moment of my life was the office

shutdown and everybody is furloughed” (Peter Walker, Founder, 2023). Since the pandemic,

their office space has changed, and work dynamic is very different as everyone works all around

the world rather than a central location. It was sad for Peter to lose this community energy within

his business. Regardless of these times, their income is a result of all the different styles of trips

they run and collaborations with inns and communities across the world.

Professional Issues

Hearing from Peter about professional issue was difficult for me to take in as an excited

RPTM student. When posed with a question about challenges and excitements in the field of
RPTM, he did not have many positive excitements to share. His immediate response to the

question was “oh gosh,” with the implication that we could have a whole conversation outside of

the immediate interview. His adventures started with a natural mountain connection and now

with overpopulation of places, tour boats and load speakers, that essence is dwindling to him.

With the increase in content creation, he advocated for getting people in the outdoors and using it

to benefit their health but did not appreciate how it reflects on to previous ways of recreation.

Peter was unable to say enormous amounts of good things about the trends of outdoor recreation

industry but if it brings the company business, he is ultimately content.

Conclusion

Overall, my interview with the Founder of Ryder-Walker Alpine Adventures, Peter

Walker, was eye opening and provided with me a new perspective on their company. Somewhere

I once dreamed of working for, quickly became a place that was not all sunshine and rainbows.

Hearing the back end of Peters reflection on the outdoor industry reduced some of my hope for

my own personal career but also motivated me to take where the industry is going and grow from

it. He noted that he would be doing the exact same adventures if he wasn’t working and the

actual trips do not feel like work, rather just the “nuts and bolts like financials” do (Peter Walker,

Founder, 2023). Hearing this was assuring to my outlook on outdoor recreation and what I want

my career and time distribution to look like. I believe one day I want to be an entrepreneur like

Peter, and I heavily valued the opportunity I was given to speak with him and learn many

insightful things.
 References

Lamprou, G. (2023, September 29). Founder Peter Walker Interview. personal.

Ryder-Walker. Ryder-Walker Alpine Adventures. (2023, October 17). https://ryderwalker.com/