Zenith Expedition Support provides professional communication and forecasting services to independent teams undertaking remote expeditions: ski mountaineering, mountaineering, technical climbs, and backcountry basecamp trips. When you step into remote environments, it’s critical to have a robust plan for emergencies. Communication is a huge part of that plan and a well constructed ERP gives a step by step order for who to call and when so these decisions aren’t being made under stress. We also provide custom weather forecasts so you can make better decisions during your trip!

Tier 1 — Expedition Preparation

Tier 1 is built around one deliverable: a custom Emergency Response Plan for your expedition. The ERP is a functioning communication and emergency infrastructure plan built for your team and specific objective, verified before you leave the ground. Everything else in Tier 1 serves that document.

  • Custom Emergency Response Plan

  • Risk Assessment Consult

  • Weather Review

This service is designed for competent, experienced teams who choose to operate without a guide in the field but want the preparation, real-time information, and emergency coordination infrastructure that a professional guiding operation provides.

This is not a rescue service. It’s a professional support layer built and run by certified guides that meaningfully reduces risk and improves decision-making for self-sufficient teams. 

Full Details:

Tier 2 — Full Remote Support and forecasting

Tier 1 gives your team a complete ERP and hands it to a check-in person at home. That person cares about your team but maybe they've never been on a mountain. Tier 2 puts a certified guide in that role instead. Someone who understands what a missed check-in on Day 14 of a Denali expedition might actually mean. Someone who knows whether the storm system sitting on the Alaska Range is a one-day event or a week. Every evening, that guide sends your team a message with a terrain and situation-specific read of tomorrow's weather, drawn from every reliable model, filtered through the judgment of someone who's been there.

  • Daily Weather Forecast

  • Zenith acts as check-in and emergency contact

  • Zenith executes ERP protocols

  • Emergency Response Plan (ERP)

    • Communication Audit: Every device the team is carrying (sat phone, sat messenger, radios, cell phones) is reviewed, confirmed functioning, and assigned a role. Appropriate emergency radio channels for your objective and region are identified and documented.

    • Emergency Contacts: individual emergency contacts collected for every team member, with a designated check-in person identified and briefed on their responsibilities. We’ll figure out which spouses are expecting to hear from the team every day and which just want to know when you’re coming home.

    • Check-in Plan: agreed schedule, communication method, and a step-by-step escalation procedure the check-in person can execute under stress. For Tier 1 clients, this plan operates independently of Zenith. Tier 2 provides a primary contact in case of missed check-ins. 

    • Nearest Resources: the closest relevant emergency resources identified and mapped against specific emergency scenarios: NPS, Parks Canada, local SAR, commercial operations (heliski), military assets, and air services including fixed wing, helicopter, and your access operator.

    • Pre-departure Comms Test: all devices confirmed functioning; test exchange completed with the check-in person before departure. Nothing goes into the field untested.

    Pre-Expedition Consultation (2–3 hours)

    Structured interview covering team experience, technical skills, and previous objectives.

    • Logistics and Timeline Review: approach, acclimatization schedule, turnaround dates, exit planning.

    • Gear and Systems Review: equipment selection relative to objective-specific demands and expected conditions.

    Objective Risk Assessment

    • General Hazard Overview: a high-level picture of the primary hazards associated with your objective: avalanche terrain, serac and rockfall exposure, crevasse risk, altitude, weather, and remoteness. Not an exhaustive audit, but a starting point for your team's risk awareness.

    • Mitigation Strategies: for each identified hazard class, practical steps the team can take to reduce exposure.

    • Team Risk Tolerance: a facilitated discussion drawing on individual pre-consult questionnaire responses. Where are team members aligned? Where are there differences that need to be surfaced before the expedition? How might risk tolerance shift as the team acclimatizes, fatigues, or gets close to the summit?

    • Individual Skill Assessment: proficiency of each team member in key roles: crevasse rescue, wilderness medicine, navigation, technical climbing, avalanche response. Gaps identified and preparation recommended before departure.

    Weather Forecast Resources

    • Identification of the forecast models and sources most reliable for your specific objective and region: NWS, Environment Canada, mountain-specific products, and relevant mesoscale models.

    • Not all forecast tools are equally useful for all objectives. Go in with a plan for what you’ll be looking at rather than the shotgun approach to weather forecasting.

    Best for: Experienced teams who are well-prepared but want a professional review of their plan, a rigorous risk assessment, and a properly built ERP they can operate independently.

    Fee: From $600 CAD

  • Tier 2 is the difference between infrastructure that exists and infrastructure that assists.

    Includes everything in Tier 1, plus:

    1. Daily Weather Forecast & Interpretation

    You're in your tent at high camp. The storm has been sitting on you for two days. At 7pm, a message arrives on your Zoleo. A guide has looked at the models, checked the actuals you sent yesterday, and tells you there's a window opening tomorrow afternoon and what it means for your planned movements. It’s a guide’s interpretation of what the numbers mean for your specific situation.

    • Each evening, Zenith sends a terrain-specific weather forecast via satellite messenger synthesized from the most reliable models for your objective, with our interpretation of what conditions mean for your planned movements.

    • You respond with actuals: a brief report of observed conditions (snowfall totals, wind, visibility, temperature) that informs the next forecast and builds a ground-truth picture of how models are performing.

    • On-demand interpretation by sat messenger - if you need to talk through a forecast or an unexpected weather event, work through it with a guide directly.

    • Zenith provides our read of the conditions. The team makes their own decisions.

    2. On-Call Guide Support & ERP Integration

    In Tier 2, Zenith becomes the primary check-in contact, receiving daily check-ins and acting as the central communication point for family members and emergency contacts throughout the expedition.

    • If a check-in is missed, Zenith initiates the escalation protocol defined in the ERP. Contacting the team via all available channels, notifying family contacts, and engaging relevant agencies simultaneously if the situation warrants.

    • On-call guide available via satellite for real-time consultation on weather, route conditions, or any situation where a guide's perspective is valuable

    • This service does not include physical rescue or field response. Zenith operates remotely as a coordination and advisory resource. We become your first call and point of contact in case of emergency to coordinate with rescue teams.

    Best for: Teams on expeditions who want a guide embedded in their daily weather picture and their emergency infrastructure for the full duration.

    Fee: $1000 CAD (+ $500 per additional expedition week)