Meet Roberto Guarino, Founder of Hikers of Iceland
International Mountain Leader, Wilderness First Responder, and the person who built this company because Iceland changed his life
Credentials First
Roberto Guarino is a certified International Mountain Leader (IML) — one of the highest qualifications for mountain guiding in the world, awarded by the Collegio Guide Alpine and recognised across Europe and internationally. He is also a Wilderness First Responder (WFR), trained by NOLS, which means he is qualified to manage medical emergencies, navigate rescue situations, and make risk decisions in remote environments far from help.
In addition to his core mountain guiding certifications, Roberto holds qualifications as a Glacier Guide (Hard Ice Course Jokla 1, AIMG), Biking Guide (ACSI), and Arctic Guide (AGFI): a breadth of training that reflects both his range as an outdoor professional and his commitment to operating safely across Iceland’s varied and demanding terrain.
These aren’t decorative credentials. They’re the foundation of every tour Hikers of Iceland runs.
The Story Behind the Company
Roberto was born in Italy in 1983. Before Iceland, his path looked nothing like guiding. He studied Law, worked in sales and human resources, and traveled widely, but something kept pulling him toward the outdoors and toward people. As he puts it, “life becomes overwhelming when you ask yourself the wrong questions.”
His guiding career began in 2016 in Costa Rica, leading hiking tours through lush tropical landscapes, where he discovered he had a natural talent for connecting with people in nature. Then came a vacation to Iceland in 2018, and everything changed. The country’s raw, volcanic beauty and the particular quality of its silence got under his skin in a way nowhere else had. He didn’t go home. He stayed, earned his certifications, and built Hikers of Iceland from the ground up in 2024.
Iceland is his home now, and that matters. He knows these trails not as a visitor who studied them, but as someone who has walked them in every season, in every weather condition, with every kind of group. That local knowledge, combined with world-class certification, is what makes the difference on a Hikers of Iceland tour.
What Roberto Believes About Guiding
Roberto’s philosophy is straightforward: the best guide doesn’t just lead, they teach. On every day trek, he introduces guests to real orienteering skills: how to navigate with a compass and altimeter, how to read terrain, how to find your way through Iceland’s wilderness without a path to follow. He believes that confidence in the outdoors is something that can be built in a single day, and that the most memorable experiences are the ones where you come home having genuinely learned something.
Safety and respect for Iceland’s nature are non-negotiable. Roberto instills Leave No Trace principles on every tour, not as a rule to follow but as a value to understand, because Iceland’s landscapes are extraordinary precisely because they’ve been protected; that protection requires active commitment from everyone who walks through them.
Beyond Hiking
Roberto’s outdoor experience extends well beyond mountain guiding. Over the years he has led glacier hikes, snowmobile adventures, biking tours, kayaking expeditions, and skiing trips across Iceland’s diverse terrain. This breadth means that when guests ask about Iceland beyond the trails, he can speak from genuine experience rather than from a brochure.
He speaks English, Italian, and Spanish, and enough Icelandic to share the meaning behind the place names that make Iceland’s landscapes come alive on the trail.
Certifications:
• International Mountain Leader (Collegio Guide Alpine)
• Wilderness First Responder (N.O.L.S.)
• Glacier Guide (Hard Ice Course Jokla 1)
• Biking Guide (ACSI)
• Arctic Guide (AGFI)
Want to hike with us? Browse our tours or get in touch: we’re always happy to talk about Iceland.