Pisgah Climbing School (PCS) was founded in 2020 by IFMGA Mountain Guide Karsten DeLap and his wife Maggie — built on a foundation of decades of climbing experience in the mountains of western North Carolina and beyond.

Karsten came to PCS with an unusually deep resume. As the former co-owner of Fox Mountain Guides, one of the most established guide services in the Southeast, he had spent years developing the operational, instructional, and safety standards that define professional guiding at the highest level. Before launching PCS, Karsten completed his IFMGA certification — the highest credential in the guiding profession worldwide, requiring full certification in rock, alpine, and ski disciplines through the American Mountain Guides Association. Fewer than 200 Americans hold it.

PCS launched with a clear mission: provide access to the mountains through the highest quality climbing education, and build a company that sustains the guides' life — socially, financially, and in the places that matter to them. Karsten and Anna Marie Alewine, PCS Lead Guide and AMGA Multi-pitch Instructor, have guided together from the beginning, building the school's programs across the crags of Pisgah National Forest and far beyond.

Western North Carolina is home. Karsten is a first ascentionist on several routes in the region — someone who has not just climbed this rock, but helped define how it gets climbed. The Delap family has called Brevard home for decades, and that rootedness shows in how PCS operates: with genuine investment in the place, the people, and the climbing community that makes it worth building something here.

Today, PCS is the leading guide service in the Southeast, with an AMGA-certified team offering beginner and family climbing, advanced rock climbing, AMGA professional programs, military training, and expedition guiding — all grounded in the same two goals Karsten started with.