Pisgah Adventures strives to bring you rewarding, challenging fun for your next escape.

Pisgah Adventures is the culmination of years of dreaming and intentionality. Co-owner and head guide Derek Turno, MS has been programming and providing instruction for ten years and has over 150 weeks in the back country. He has climbed in Yosemite and summited the Grand Teton, runs class IV-V rivers and is trained in wilderness medicine. In 1992, he began working for Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission as a Climbing Wall Technician for James Island County Park. Taking the program from its meager beginnings to providing trips, climbing competitions and a teen adventure camp. Returning to college at Warren Wilson, he earned his undergraduate degree in Outdoor Leadership Studies and began to work for The North Carolina Outward Bound School as an Instructor and Climbing Guide. After three years of hiking, climbing and canoeing in North Carolina he moved to Colorado. Living in Ouray, CO and working for Alternative Youth Adventure, Derek started one of two stints as a Wilderness Instructor for a Therapeutic Youth Program.

In 2004, returning to school to earn his Masters degree in Recreation and Sports Sciences from Ohio University he taught skills classes and studied experiential education and theory. Staying on after graduation to facilitate the Universities' Outdoor Programs  as Coordinator, he helped to develop students on their way to becoming outdoor professional themselves. Taking a break from the "office" and wanting to get back into the "field" he moved to Confluence, Pa to work as a Whitewater Kayak Instructor for Riversport School of Paddling. Then Seven Springs Ski Resort as a Safety Ranger assisting the Ski Patrol. February 2007, Derek returned to Asheville and until recently, worked for Phoenix Outdoor-the second of his two experiences with Therapeutic Youth Programming. 

For over a decade, Derek has intentionally worked for various outdoor programs with varying populations to maximize his opportunism to develop leadership skills and an adventure skill set culminating in Pisgah Adventures being founded in April of 2007.

Pisgah Adventures providing accredited instruction, professional guides or tricky logistical support such as shuttles, equipment and map rental, menu planning and more.

Focusing on theory based experiential education methodology,Pisgah Adventures, will make your adventure with us successful, educational, and customized to meet your groups specific outcomes.  

Pisgah Adventures offers services out of Asheville, Charlotte, and Dillsboro, North Carolina. Services include hotel accommodations with pick-up and airport connections, nutricious meals and snacks during the adventure, and the highest quality instruction and reliable equipment. Programs run on the rivers and in the wood of Pisgah National Forest.