Aerie Backcountry Medicine - Wilderness Classes
Aerie Emergency Medicine - Urban Classes

Aerie Staff

Dave McEvoy, Director

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Critical Care Paramedic, BA, Bates College, MS, Biology, University of Montana, co-founder of Aerie.

He has worked for the past twenty years with the Student Conservation Association and numerous other outdoor organizations. David is a former member of Missoula County Sheriff's Search and Rescue, a fisheries biologist and the former training officer and paramedic education director for Missoula Emergency Services. David has lived extensively in Tibet, Israel and Central America. He taught anatomy and physiology at the University of Montana cadaver lab. David and his wife, Andrea, have found new meanings for the term Risk Management from their two young daughters.




Peter Anderson, Instructor, Training Officer

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Emergency Room RN, WEMT-B.

Peter is a professional mountain guide for Rainier Mountaineering Inc., Mt. Rainier Alpine Guides, International Mountain Guides, and the Northwest Mountain School. He is Avalanche Level II certified and a former member of the South Western Montana Avalanche Search and Rescue and Western Montana Mountain Rescue Teams. Peter worked as a hunting guide and tracker in South Africa and has traveled throughout the world climbing, skiing, hunting, and exploring.





Joe Blattner, Instructor, Medical Supplies Manager, IT Director

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WEMT-B

Joe brings order to Aerie's gear, managing our supplies and inventory. He lives in Missoula and volunteers as an EMT for Missoula Parks and Recreation. He has organized various environmental benefits such as river clean-ups. He teaches billiards classes at The University of Montana. Joe has climbed on many mountains, including Mt. Rainier as a guide for RMI, Denali, and has traveled and climbed in Mexico and Russia. In his free time, Joe enjoys photography and floating down Montana's rivers.






John Bleicher (left), Instructor

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Emergency Room RN, Paramedic. Co-Founder of Aerie.

Trauma Education and Injury Prevention Coordinator, St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula. In that role, John organizes and offers programs, courses and conferences designed to research and reduce preventable trauma mortality in Montana. John is the former Education Coordinator for Missoula Emergency Services and developed their paramedic education program. He has extensive winter expedition experience, everything from month long ski-trekking in the Arctic to telemark skiing in Yellowstone.




Tony Cate, Instructor

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Paramedic.

Coming Soon...





Darcy Chenoweth, Instructor

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BSN, R.N., WEMT-B

Darcy teaches all levels of courses and coordinates Aerie's outreach program, providing continuing education opportunities for our staff and students. Darcy lives in a yurt nestled at the base of the beautiful Mission Mountains and is currently working to establish her straw bale, off the grid home there. She has worked as a Professional Ski Patroller at Snow Bowl Ski Area and played in the winter backcountry for years. As avid rock climber, she is drawn to alpine territory to keep her sanity.





Adrienne Corti, Instructor

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MS, University of Montana. Faculty, University of Montana Health and Human Performance.

Adrienne teaches WFA and WFR courses and continues our strong ties at the University of Montana. She is a Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) certified Level III Nordic Downhill/Accredited Children's Educator. Adrienne is also a ski instructor at Montana Snowbowl. Her interests include alpine and telemark skiing, riding her horses, and mountain biking . She enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband Dan and supports her son's freestyle ski team competition by carefully evaluating the terrain at all his meets in the Northwest.





Loren Dill, Office Manager

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BS in Biology from Northland College in Northern Wisconsin.
The senior citizen of the group, Loren loves to spend her spare time out in the wilderness, be it skiing, hiking or boating.  She enjoys the sounds, smells, and feel of the outdoors.  Originally from the East Coast, Loren has been living in Montana for the past 25 years.  She has traveled extensively while bike touring in 12 countries.  Work related experience includes managing a mountaineering shop in Missoula for 11 years.





Jaime Dibrowa, Instructor

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R.N., WEMT- B, B.S. in Recreation Management and Spanish, University of Montana

Jaime teaches all levels of courses. She lives in Boulder, Colorado and works as an RN in Denver. She loves everything outdoors, but particularly climbing (rock and ice), cross-country skiing, snowboarding, triathlons, wilderness tracking and survival.





Laura Gardner, Instructor, Aerie Emergency Medicine Program Coordinator

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Paramedic.

Laura coordinates Aerie Emergency Medicine, which is the urban-medicine branch of Aerie. AEM's purposes are to support Aerie's Wilderness EMTs continue their medical training and to provide continuing education to rural EMTs in Montana. In this role, Laura organizes and teaches EMT-B Refresher courses, PHTLS courses, and Basic Endorsements. Laura also coordinates the Paramedic course at Missoula Emergency Servives and attended the University of Montana and Willamette College for sports medicine .





Fernando Giaccaglia, Instructor

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WEMT-B.

Fernando comes from the city of Mar del Plata in Argentina. He spent his earlier years as world-class competitive swimmer and triathelete. Toward the end of his professional athletic career, Fernando visited Costa Rica and joined Coast to Coast Adventures as a Lead Guide. Fernando now welcomes visitors to world-class rivers, mountain biking and hiking in remote areas. Fernando is an incredible naturalist and teacher. He instructs our wilderness medicine classes in Spanish and translated Aerie's Wilderness First Responder manual for those courses.






Chris Gibisch, Instructor

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WEMT-B, Respiratory Therapist, B.S.

Chris works as a respiratory therapist and teaches all levels of Aerie's courses. He is an incredible mountaineer and rock climber. When not working, Chris spends just about every moment outside, primarily climbing or biking.





Steve Glow, Instructor

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Nurse Practitioner, Flight & ER Nurse, Paramedic and Montana State University College of Nursing professor.
Steve teaches AWLS, EMT & WFR courses. He is the assistant Chief of the Dixon Volunteer Fire department and a ski patroller at Blacktail Mountain and Snowbowl. Steve is a Swiftwater Rescue Technician who has been running western rivers for the last 30 years and is a member of Grand Canyon River Guides association and River Runners for Wilderness.






Trenton Harper, Instructor

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WEMT-B, paramedic student.

Trenton is a full time EMT, Crew Chief, and Backcountry Emergency Response Team member with Missoula Emergency Services, as well as a volunteer with Missoula County Sheriff's Search and Rescue. A proud native of Appalachia , Trenton grew up wandering the mixed mesophytic forest of West Virginia . A lifelong student of nature and traditional survival skills; he has shared his experiences for over 10 years as an outdoor educator, mentor, and care provider. He has traveled from the cities to the backwoods of North America providing medical support to social and environmental justice campaigns . Although he still dreams of pawpaws, possums, and jack in the pulpits, Trenton is learning to feel at home in the wilds of the West.





Cody Harris, Instructor

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EMT-B, Resuce III International Swiftwater Rescue Instructor.
Cody is a past member of the U.S. Canoe and Kayak Development Team. Cody teaches WFR and WFA courses and the swiftwater component of our WEMT classes. He has spent the better portion of his life exploring the rivers of North and South America. Cody has been a kayak slalom coach and an American Canoe Association whitewater instructor since 1994. Currently, he is pursuing a seasonal lifestyle as a ski patroller at Montana Snowbowl and river guide at Montana River Guides . Cody is an avid follower of water--either frozen or flowing.






Wendy Holsapple, Financial Manager

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WFR. Lost Trail Snowboard Patroller.

Wendy manages Aerie's finances and advises on program development. She is a NOLS Instructor and has also worked for Outward Bound and DARE Youth-at-Risk Backcountry Programs. She is Avalanche Level 2 Certified and a former member of the Fremont County Search and Rescue Group in Western WY. Wendy has taught High Angle Rescue Seminars to rescue groups from around the country. She has also been a bow hunting guide and was the NOLS Ranch Operations Supervisor, coordinating their re-rations and evacs. Currently Wendy is focusing on LNT horse packing, volunteering at the Bitterroot Humane Association and spending time hiking in the mountains with her dogs.






Haven Holsapple, Chief Financial Officer

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WFR.

As our CFO, Haven oversees our finances. With over thirty-five years of business management experience, Haven has held positions from CEO of a national manufacturing company to Director and Secretary of a publicly held corporation. He has also served on the Board of Directors for numerous corporations. In 1990, he founded Holsapple Financial Strategies, Inc. Haven is a senior instructor at the National Outdoor Leadership School and a member of the Lost Trail Ski Patrol.





Alex Kosseff, Instructor

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WFR, B.A. Macalester College, Environmental Studies & Political Science

Author of the AMC Guide to Outdoor Leadership, over the past sixteen years Alex has led outdoor adventures in thirty-four U.S. states and foreign countries. As a partner in Adventure Safety International LLC he provides risk management consulting and leadership training for the outdoor industry; he also serves as a senior instructor for Outward Bound and a professional climbing and skiing instructor for the Montana Mountaineering Association. Alex is the former Leadership Director for the Appalachian Mountain Club where he handled risk management and leader training for nine thousand annual outdoor programs.







Sam Kulla , Instructor

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Wilderness EMT.

Born on a small ranch in Mineral County, Sam holds a B.A. in Geography and Spanish Literature from the University of Montana, and has been a WEMT-B since 2003. For five years before coming to work for Aerie, he spent his summers guiding class IV and V wilderness raft trips in the Cascades and Southern Sierra Nevada, and his winters backpacking throughout Latin America. He is an avid artist, writer, telemark skier, and guitarist. His future plans include learning more about off shore marine navigation and saltwater fishing.




Mike Johnston, Adjunct Instructor

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River Guide, EMT-B, Swiftwater Rescue Instructor for Rescue 3 International.

Mike has been teaching River Rescue since 1995. Mike is an incredibly skilled instructor and one of the funnier people you will ever meet. He is a former ski patroller & backcountry ranger in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. In 1994 he founded Montana River Guides , a whitewater rafting company that guides raft, canoe, kayak and riverboard trips on the Alberton Gorge, Blackfoot and Bitterroot Rivers. Mike teaches the swiftwater rescue component of Aerie's Wilderness EMT and combination courses.





   



Brett Mollenhouer , Instructor

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EMT Basic, WFR

Brett has been a senior riverboarding & rafting guide for Montana River Guides for the past 3 years.
Currently he is working as a volunteer firefighter for Missoula Rural Fire Department. As a 3rd generation native of New Jersey, Brett was born with an innate understanding of the natural world He was raised by a passionate outdoors family whose trips lead him from the NorthWest Territories of Canada to the Shuya River in Russia. In his free time Brett enjoys almost anything that involves being on water. It is commonly noted that Brett is both more talented, and has a greater love of water (both flowing & frozen) than Cody Harris.






Greg Moore, Medical Director

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MD.

Greg Moore is a leader in Montana's Emergency Medical field, working as an Emergency Room Physician, serving as Community Medical Center 's Chief of Staff and Director of their Emergency Department, acting Chairman of the Regional Trauma Advisory Committee (RTAC) and Medical Director for Missoula Emergency Services Ambulance, Missoula's City Fire Department, Rural Fire Department, County Airport Authority, Powell County QRU and Florence Fire Department. Greg is an avid outdoorsman who loves to hunt, ski, fish, and travel.






Ted Morrison , Instructor

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EMT-B, BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana.

Along with working for Aerie, Ted is a lead alpine mountaineering instructor for Outward Bound Wilderness in Colorado. He is Avalanche level I certified and was a former member of the Western Montana Mountain Rescue team. He has also led crews for youth conservation corps in Vermont and worked as a field biologist. Ted has been a world traveler from birth and enjoys rock climbing, mountaineering, backcountry skiing, and exploring.





Josh Olsen, Instructor

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EMT-B, WFR, BA St. Olaf College.

Josh is a native Montanan who has been an educator in many capacities from instructing kayaking and climbing to teaching English in Tanzania. During the winter season, Josh is a Pro Patroller at Silver Mountain Ski Area and the rest of the year he works with at-risk youth in the backcountry. Josh has worked for a rural ambulance company servicing a wilderness area and has also worked as a professional sea kayak/climbing guide. In his spare time, he enjoys back country skiing and bocce ball.





Amy Olwell, Instructor

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Paramedic, MSW-University of Michigan. .

Amy previously worked as a Park Ranger/Crew Leader for the Yellowstone Youth Conservation Corps, and volunteered for the Lake County Search and Rescue. She currently works as a paramedic for Marcus Daly Hospital in Hamilton, Montana, and for the Lost Trail Ski Patrol. Every summer she patiently waits for the snow to fly once again. While she is waiting for the snow, you can usually find Amy hiking and backpacking in the Montana wilderness.





Eddie Olwell , Instructor

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WEMT-B, B.S. Economics, LeMoyne College.

Eddie is on the National Ski Patrol with Lost Trail Powder Mountain, a Swiftwater First Responder, and trained in Level I Avalanche. He is a Montana licensed Outfitter and owner of Fishs Eddy O Flyfishing Outfitter and Guide Service . He is the V.P. of the Bitterroot chapter of Trout Unlimited. Eddie is an avid skier and fly fisherman and when not on the slopes he can usually be found stalking risers on one of Montana's great trout rivers.




Dan Otter, Instructor

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Wilderness EMT

Avalanche II, BA in German Studies and Political Science from Lewis and Clark College. Dan moved to the PNW from Vermont to go to college and has stayed there since. Residing in Washington, Dan is a ski patroller at Crystal Mountain in the winters and works as a guide on Mt. Rainier for International Mountain Guides in the summers. Dan previously worked as a crew leader for the Northwest Youth Corps in Oregon. He grew up in Germany, speaks fluent German and conversational Spanish. When he's not playing in the mountains climbing or skiing, Dan enjoys reading and spending time with friends.




Jamie Porter, Instructor

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Wilderness EMT

Coming Soon...






Katie Reimer , Instructor

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WEMT-B, RN student, Swiftwater First Responder, Level I Avalanche.

Katie grew up in Whitefish, MT, was a lifeguard and water safety instructor, and now works as both a professional whitewater rafting guide and as a front-country EMT for Missoula Emergency Services. She used "studying" abroad as an excuse to backpack around and explore Europe and China and also formerly worked in South Africa on a healthcare team. Katie is currently pursuing a career working with international disaster relief and third world healthcare.





Roman Sanchez , Instructor

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WEMT-B.

Roman works for the Indian Peaks rural fire district as a firefighter and EMT/search and rescue member. He is also an outstanding educator, with teaching experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras, a Master's in Teaching English as a 2nd Language, and years teaching in a bilingual elementary education program. Roman volunteers with the Buffalo Field Campaign in the Yellowstone area. His hobbies include camping, x-country skiing and snowboarding. Roman lives with his wife Justine and son Japhy at 9200ft in an off-grid strawbale home in the mountains of Colorado.





Steve Shepro , Instructor

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WEMT- B, RN Student.

Steve is a guide with Mt. Rainier Alpine Guides , a former President and Training Coordinator of the Western Montana Mountain Rescue Team, EMT-B with Missoula Emergency Services, National Ski Patrol, a former member of Missoula County SAR, and an Eagle Scout. Steve is an avid backcountry telemark skier, rock and ice climber.





Kurt Schallock , Instructor

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WEMT-B, paramedic student.

Kurt is head guide for Flathead Raft Co . in Polson, MT, and a Whitewater Rescue Technician. He works as a professional EMT for Missoula Emergency Services. Kurt has worked for various federal, state, and private organizations in timber, rangeland, fire and recreation management. He enjoys the outdoors spending his free time rafting, kayaking, mountaineering, snowboarding, bird hunting and fly fishing.





Joan Scheffer , Instructor

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R.N. WEMT- B.

Joan is a 4th generation Montanan who loves the outdoors and has a particular interest in all horse related activity. She has competed in endurance riding and competitive trail riding. She is a certified registered nurse first assistant (CRNFA) who specializes in orthopedic surgical procedures and care at Missoula Bone and Joint Surgery Center . Joan also likes to mountain bike, hike, and cross country ski whenever she isn't out riding. Joan is currently developing Aerie's First Aid for Horse and Rider to meet the needs of our horse-loving students!




Becca Wallace , Instructor

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Paramedic, Associate of Applied Science Degree from University of Montana.

Becca is a native Montanan; growing up she spent most of her time exploring Montana's wilderness. Becca's hobbies include backcountry skiing, snowboarding, backpacking, white water rafting, fishing, and skydiving. She especially enjoys recreating outdoors in the winter. Becca was an Anatomy and Physiology Teaching Assistant at the University of Montana cadaver lab. She is the former education director for Missoula Emergency Services and works as a full time Paramedic.





Justin Woods, Instructor

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Paramedic and full-time professional firefighter in Whitefish, Montana.

Justin also works as a raft guide in the summers. He spends as much of his spare time as possible in the backcountry skiing, ice & rock climbing, or kayaking in Montana and Alaska. Justin coordinates Aerie's courses in the Flathead Valley - Glacier National Park area.