Ian Ritchey

Ian Ritchey is a junior pursuing a B.S. in Business Administration. Born and raised in Portola Valley, California, he grew up hiking and mountain biking throughout northern California in the summers and skiing in the Sierra’s during the winters. Ian was a spring admit at USC and chose to study at Franklin College in Lugano, Switzerland his first semester, where he first picked up climbing.

During his time in Switzerland, he was able to hike and backpack throughout Europe as well as learn to climb in Italy and Switzerland. Two summer’s ago, Ian and a friend started a summer camp for boys ages 10-13 called Bay Area Adventure Camp. Ian found hiking, kayaking, and climbing with kids to be an incredibly rewarding experience. He likes to spend  his free weekends traveling to the Sierras or wherever else he has the chance to do some backpacking, climbing, or fishing. In the next couple of years, he hopes to improve his climbing and mountaineering, and pick up ski touring.

In becoming a guide, he hopes to spread his his excitement for the outdoors with the USC community and explore more of the surrounding nature in Southern California. In the words of Ian’s favorite country singer, Jason Aldean, “Life is short so let’s go live it.”