Our Approach
We specialize in offering one-of-a-kind personal development retreats that seamlessly blend coaching, self-leadership techniques, and unforgettable outdoor adventures amidst the stunning backdrop of the Swiss Alps. Our mission is clear: to ignite your growth and empower you to unlock the boundless potential within you. Our programs are meticulously crafted to include immersive alpine experiences such as glacier trekking in summer or snowshoeing in winter, woven together with learning activities and discussions in multi-day journeys designed to foster reflection and insights. Our aim is simple: to support you on your journey to a life that is rich with meaning and fulfillment.
We firmly believe that true transformation begins with self-awareness and the realization of our potential. By authentically connecting with yourself and your purpose, you can expand your capacity to lead a life that is truly extraordinary—one that resonates with your deepest desires and aspirations. It’s not just about existing; it’s about thriving and embracing the vibrant, purpose-driven life that you deserve.
Today, as we are challenged by constant change and increasing complexity, nature emerges as a sanctuary and guide. Immersing ourselves in nature offers a shift in perspective and a way to restore our inner connection. We believe that development, fueled by curiosity and driven by a yearning to be more alive, coupled with nature’s wisdom, will lead to greater success in all areas of your life.
Our Vision
Alpine Azure’s purpose is to invite and enable transformations that unlock potential.
Our vision is to be catalysts for people to embrace their one precious life and their responsibility to the whole, moving beyond fear towards growth, joy, curiosity and wonder.
To accomplish this we are led by the following mission: “to expand capacity, courage, and connection through transformational coaching experiences.”
We work with individuals, teams, and organizations to achieve their goals and thrive.
Our People
Alpine Azure was born from the collaborative vision of Chris Nassivera and Dr. Andrea Barrueto and inspired by the success of the inaugural pilot programs in 2019. As two women driven by a profound love for nature, the great outdoors, and personal growth, we not only hold certifications as professional coaches but also bring a wealth of diverse experience from the global business arena and academic realms. Backed by a dedicated team of licensed mountaineering guides, we prioritize your safety as you embark on the transformative journey of exploring the high alpine environment with us.
As an executive coach and organizational consultant, Chris is passionate about understanding people and helping professionals live their best lives and be the leaders that they aspire to be. Chris brings over 20 years of management experience at Procter & Gamble, living and working in the United States, Germany and Switzerland where a consistent thread was developing people and building high-performance teams. Through her own journey of growth, Chris redirected her career towards her passion: people development. Since 2017, her work has focused on using her skills to help clients build awareness, connect with their potential, and overcome obstacles to achieve their objectives. She is particularly passionate about supporting women to navigate and sustain the change that they want in their lives and work. Outside of work, she enjoys learning, hiking, and traveling and recently completed her first triathlon. Originally from the United States, Chris lives in Geneva and works internationally.
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Chris enjoys learning and exploring, embodying a spirit of personal and professional transformation. Growing up, she loved the outdoors, adventures and sports. But as it often happens, she lost touch with some of those early hobbies and joys. A career move to Switzerland in 2015 reignited her sense of adventure and connection with herself and shaped her next professional chapter.
Chris spent the first 22 years of her career at Procter & Gamble, working in management roles in the supply chain domain. She enjoyed the challenge and diversity of her corporate career, living and working around the world, and honing her leadership skills. The red thread was understanding and developing people. Leading teams, especially through transitions, sparked her passion for how individuals and teams navigate and thrive amidst transformative changes.
In her forties, Chris went through her own periods of doubt and pain that ultimately led her to re-orient her career to her area of passion: people development. Her decision to shift her career focus was partially inspired by a transformative experience in Chamonix, France, where she witnessed mountaineers navigating the glacial terrain. So in awe by what she saw, she set out to do the same. Despite being a novice in mountaineering, Chris confronted her fears and embarked on a journey of self-discovery and training while immersing herself in the beauty of the Alps. Only a year later, she took the same route that had her in awe, and in the process, she reconnected with herself. The mountaineering experience empowered and impacted her greatly. She felt the joy again of being outside and the strength of moving her body. Chris envisioned a mission to inspire others to rediscover their inner strength and potential and to pursue lives filled with meaning. She eventually started her business in Geneva as a coach and consultant for individuals and companies.
She also partnered with the organization “Girls on Ice”, a non-profit association focused on empowering young women through science, art, and wilderness exploration. The founder introduced her to Andrea, they hit it off, and they created a similar program for adult women in Switzerland. Those first few memorable trips were the prototype for Alpine Azure.
Today, Chris resides in Geneva and works internationally. The red thread in all her work is still the same – understanding and supporting people to expand into their full potential, ultimately living and leading with impact and purpose. In addition to her own business, and Alpine Azure, she is affiliated with consulting firms globally including Novus Actus and Performance Development Partners. Chris holds a BS in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University (USA) and a Master’s degree in Coaching and Consulting for Change (EMC) from INSEAD (France) where she specialized in the systems-psychodynamic approach to leadership and change. She has a diploma in executive coaching from the Institute of Coaching in Geneva and a professional accreditation with the International Coaching Federation (ICF). When she is not working, you can undoubtedly find her somewhere outside in nature.
Dr. Andrea Barrueto – Founder
Take the path less traveled — the path unique to you.
With a Masters degree in Glaciology, she is a seasoned mountaineer (who aside from exploring her backyard growing up in Switzerland, has also trekked through Peru, Nepal and New Zealand). She worked many years for an NGO in remote regions of Nepal and travelled for research to far away countries like Bhutan, Thailand, and Hawaii. She is fluent in four languages, and a long-time meditation and yoga practitioner.
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Andrea’s own path has taken a few unexpected turns. In 2015 she was pursuing her PhD in International Development while also working for an NGO in Nepal, applying her research in sustainable farming. One day while in Kathmandu meeting with Nepalese farmers in an old three-story building, an earthquake struck. She sprang to her feet as the floor and walls undulated, scrambling down the shaking stairs and out onto the street to safety. Andrea led her colleagues away from the falling wreckage of buildings towards the river, and there they waited out the aftershocks until dusk. That night, riding home on a colleague’s motorbike, she found Kathmandu unrecognizable with debris. People were gathered around makeshift fires, communing and singing to find comfort in the midst of disaster.
This 7.8 magnitude earthquake that later became known as Gorkha killed nearly 9,000 people, destroyed or damaged over 600,000 structures, and forever altered the direction of Andrea’s life.
The following 6 weeks, Andrea slept outside, suffering symptoms of PTSD from the deadly quake. With the help of friends and family she raised over $50,000 USD to help villages rebuild their homes, and lent a hand with every humanitarian task she could. The monsoon came and she returned home to Switzerland expecting that everything would go back to normal, but her body still tensed at every train or heavy vehicle that made the ground vibrate, and her sleep was disturbed by irrational fears of another earthquake hitting.
After the monsoon, she returned to Nepal to complete her research. When she met with her local co-workers, they delivered the required research interviews as promised from a district far away. Yet there was some inconsistent and missing information. As she trusted her co-workers deeply, she couldn’t understand why she was not approached or actively informed. They presented the reports as though they were complete. In the confrontation that followed, one co-worker finally said, “Andrea, we were scared. You sent us so far away from our homes. Yes, we agreed to do the research, but we feared for our families in case another earthquake came. We only partially filled the questionnaires so we could get back to our families sooner.”
With all her experience living and working in the global community, Andrea had thought of herself as an effective communicator, approachable even across deep cultural differences. But when her Nepali team struggled to approach her that day with information that might disappoint her, she saw how layered communication can be, including not only the cultural context, but also personal history, the somatic, the cognitive, and even the moral layers.
During this time, she discovered the power of Integral Coaching and knew the training would help her strengthen her interpersonal capacities. Alongside this she pursued training in The Non-Linear Movement Method® that effectively healed her traumatic imprints from the earthquake, while imparting lifelong somatic skills.
Andrea had started transitioning from her work in NGOs towards a career in coaching and the human side of organisational development when she met Chris, who pitched to her the idea of co-leading transformational glacier treks. All of Andrea’s qualifications, passions, and life experiences lent perfectly to this pursuit. Her love of her native Swiss Alps, her expertise in glaciology and sustainability, and her training in somatics, coaching, yoga, and meditation to this day inspire transformation, wonder, and joy to the people she leads up the mountain.
Today Andrea lives in Zurich with her husband Leonidas and their children. In the mornings she works with coaching clients, deeply immersing in their challenges, while in the afternoons she dives into “being a mum”, curiously exploring earthworms between the potatoes. She loves leading treks with Chris with Alpine Azure. Aside she is collaborating with Pfyffer&Partner for cultural development, lecturing at the HWZ, University of Applied Science in Business Administration the subjects “Leadership” and “Change Management” and has her own consultancy working with clients on how to develop a more human culture. Andrea is also a published author for the book “The design of human organisations”.
Angelina Huwiler – Mountain Guide
Safe and competent in the mountains – on rock, snow, ice and water – my passion, your adventure.
Angelina is a passionate mountain guide and turned her hobby into her profession in 2013. -Since childhood, being outside, on the move on mountains, rocks, water and snow has been continuously an inspiration and an essential part of her life. She loves passing on her enthusiasm for the outdoors to her clients.
For her, a respectful way of working towards nature and people is important. She aims to enable a positive and consistent mountain or water experience. Angelina professionally assesses the risks and responds to individual requests, so that an unforgettable experience is assured!
She lives with her husband and their daughter in Giswil and when she is not working she surely roams the nearby woods with her family.
Read more about Angelina here.
Elli Meyer – Mountain Guide
Fullfill dreams, find stillness, deepen knowledge and truly enjoy nature with all your senses.
Elli has an education in social work and care giving. Over 20 years ago, she decided to follow her dreams and make her passion of spending time outdoors to her profession.
Eversince she has travelled the world loving to climb both in Africa and in the Himalayas. Since 30 years she has been visiting Nepal often for trecking off the usual trecking routes. She has a lot of exprience in rock and ice climbing and continues to be awe when she spends time in nature.
Elli lives Hasliberg, in the breathtaking Bernese Region. In her time off, she continues to explore rocks or spends time streching and relaxing doing yoga.
Read more about Elli here.
Laura Bomio – Mountain Guide
The mountains are my home and where I feel most alive.
Laura has been growing up in the mountains. Since early childhood she has been exploring the Alpine terraine with the local group of young mountaineers or with her father who is a guide too. Her primary education was becoming a medical nurse. Since 2002 she has been worked during the winter as a ski instructor, while she enjoyed the summers in different working fields within Switzerland and abroad. Two years ago she became a certified mountain guide and is deeply passionate about sharing her love for the mountains with her clients.
Laura lives in Grindelwald. In her free time, you can meet her in the close by crags or enjoying the splenditure of the near by nature.
Our team is expanding. We are currently open to receiving applications by interested facilitators and mountain guides for the winter season in 2025.
Alpine Azure’s Story
Alpine Azure began under the name ‘Women on Ice’, an initiative launched within Girls on Ice Switzerland. This initiative, along with the broader Inspiring Girls Expeditions organization, is dedicated to empowering young women through the combination of science, art, and wilderness exploration. Founded in the United States in 1999, additional programs have developed around the world, including Girls on Ice Canada, Girls on Ice Switzerland. As interest grew in a comparable program tailored to adult women, Andrea and Chris partnered with the founders of Girls on Ice Switzerland to establish Women on Ice in 2018. This endeavor mirrors the overarching vision of Inspiring Girls Expeditions: utilizing mountain experiences to cultivate personal leadership, curiosity, confidence, and awareness. Alpine Azure remains aligned with these foundational values.
To learn more about Inspiring Girls Expeditions, click here. To support bringing expeditions to young girls all over the world, learn how you can get involved or donate.
Our name ALPINE AZURE
Inspired by the transformation of the azure butterfly, our name represents our vision to awaken change within our clients.
‘Azure’ represents not only the majestic blue butterfly but also the boundless freedom of the sky and the purity of mountain waters and glaciers.
‘Alpine’ stands for our home base in the Alps, where our expeditions originated.
The Azure transforms naturally, its evolution happens as it is written in the DNA of the butterfly. This is what we are here for, to allow a natural transformation within our clients.
Elisabeth (51, CH), Gynaecologist
“The 5 days with Women on Ice were a very special, very educational and unforgettable experience for me. I have tried and dared things that I would not have done otherwise and I am very happy for all the good conversations and discussions that have strengthened the experience. I can highly recommend Women on Ice to every woman who wants to push her limits and is ready to leave her comfort zone in a safe and friendly atmosphere.”
