About us

Our passion is the cultivation and care of trees.

Since 2004 Alpen Tree Experts has nurtured a deep expertise in tree cultivation and care. Experience in the field matched by use of the latest techniques and commitment to customer experience delivers sustainable results and enduring client satisfaction.

Serving Truckee and surrounding areas, Alpen Tree Experts offers a full range of services including tree removal, spikeless tree pruning, and stump grinding. Our standards are impeccable. Quality, professionalism, and superior customer services are the core values we believe in.

our mission

Meeting our expectations while exceeding yours is our mission. It guides our interactions with customers, fuels our passion and inspires us to do excellent work.

Our story

Ryan Kramer, Owner

Owner and founder of Alpen Tree Experts Ryan Kramer is a certified arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA.) This ensures Alpen Tree Experts is continuously investing in technical competencies of our staff, innovative techniques, and fostering growth of an incredible team committed to excellence.

Back in 1993, Ryan was an environmental science student at University of Maine at Farmington and moonlighting as a ski instructor at Sugarloaf USA. He continued working for the ski area as a member of the summer trail crew. It was his first introduction to felling trees (to cut new ski trails), operating heavy equipment and doing erosion control. “Although I moved on to do various other things after Sugarloaf, I took away a real passion for working with trees from that experience,” Ryan recalls.

Like so many other skiers, Ryan was lured westward to the Lake Tahoe / Truckee area in the fall of 1999. Shortly after his arrival, Ryan connected with a friend who had an extremely successful landscaping business in the area. “He suggested I start a defensible space business,” Ryan explains. “I had helped him with some tree cutting projects and he was impressed with my knowledge of trees and felling techniques.”

“I take being a certified arborist very seriously and look forward to putting my knowledge to work for you.”

— Ryan Kramer, Owner

Following his friend’s wise advice, Ryan launched Crystal Clear in 2004. The business focused on Best Management Practices (BMPs) in the Tahoe Basin, as well as landscaping and defensible space. “After four years in the landscaping business, I had an eye for aesthetics that helped make Crystal Clear successful,” Ryan says. “But it was the defensible space aspect of this business that really took off. I was getting lots of repeat customers and referrals.” In 2007, Ryan put his business on pause as he returned to the East Coast to pursue his home buying dream. But like many, he returned to Tahoe. “Being away from Tahoe made me realize how much I love it here,” Ryan says.

Unable to shake his Tahoe love, Ryan moved back to Truckee in June of 2008 and started Cease Fire with a partner. And with a plenty of hard work and determination, Cease Fire became a highly successful tree business. “In 2010 I was able to purchase my partner’s share of the business,” Ryan recalls. In turn, Ryan transformed Cease Fire into a full-service tree company with a passion for the highest quality work at competitive prices.

“In 2012, I changed the business name from Cease Fire to Alpen Tree Experts to better reflect the full-scale nature of what the company has become,” Ryan notes. “To this day, I remain obsessed with continuously educating myself to be the best in the business.” Ryan says that being a certified arborist opens the door for a myriad of learning opportunities. Also, continuing education units (CEU’s) are mandatory for him to remain a certified arborist.