Our Instructors
All of our wilderness medicine and rescue educators are active medical professionals with years of experience working as ski patrollers, firefighter/paramedics, and SAR medical team leaders.
Our instructors are experienced, dynamic, and passionate about the material they teach.
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Chelsea (She/Her) began her paramedic career in the small mountain town of Silverton, Colorado in 2011. Within her first year, she became the Assistant Director of Silverton Ambulance and an officer on San Juan County Search and Rescue. Over the next five years, Chelsea was tasked with managing critical patients in a mountainous environment, far from definitive medical care. In this setting, her WFR skills became more valuable than she ever could have imagined. Her current focus is on avalanche rescue and technical rope rescue. She practices with multiple agencies in Silverton and is a firefighter/paramedic in Durango, CO. On any typical day, you can find Chelsea and her four-legged friend adventuring in the San Juan Mountains or soaking up the sun while fishing the Animas River.
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Annie (She/Her) took her first WFR course while studying Adventure Education at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. After graduating, she began instructing for the Colorado Outward Bound School where she combined her passions for experiential education, backcountry travel, and wilderness medicine. Later, Annie obtained her Paramedic certification and has been ski patrolling at Purgatory Resort and working as a full-time Firefighter/Paramedic in Durango. She especially enjoys working on the technical rope rescue team with the fire department.
In her free time, you will find Annie playing in the mountains and the desert, preferably embarking on some type of multi-sport adventure. Annie is passionate about outdoor recreation and exploring new places outside and respects that there is an inherent risk associated with many of these activities. She believes it is each person’s responsibility to be a prepared, trustworthy, and educated partner by having the proper training to appropriately assess and mitigate risk, and to manage the “oh-crap” moments.
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Josh (He/him) is an American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) Certified Ski, Alpine, and Rock guide as well as an IFMGA Licensed Mountain Guide. He has been a Pro ski patroller for over ten years and was on the local search and rescue team for over 20 years. He is the Coordinator of Permitting and Programming for the Outdoor Pursuits program at Fort Lewis College, where he tries to do one major human-powered ski trip with college students a year. In 2019 it was a weeklong backcountry ski trip to Mt. Baker In WA, in January 2020 it was Hokkaido, Japan. In October 2023 he is ski guiding in Antarctica with Ice Axe Expeditions. In January 2024 he’s returning to Japan with Fort Lewis for more ski programming. Josh is the founder of Kling Mountain Guides (now San Juan Expeditions), and author of Backcountry Skiing Silverton. Josh has been working and playing in the San Juan Mountains around Silverton, CO for over 20 years.
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Brad (He/Him) has been a lead instructor for Wilderness Medical Associates International since 2008. In that time he has traveled extensively in North America and internationally delivering WMAI classes. Brad was a Paramedic/Firefighter with Durango Fire for close to 15 years and has been a ski patroller for over 20 years. Brad’s background includes time as a canoe trip leader in Northern Canada, a camp director, working in therapeutic wilderness programs, membership on multiple mountain rescue teams, and as a private pilot.
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Ownes (She/They) has worked in the outdoor industry for over a decade a variety of roles. Most prominently as a commercial sea kayaking guide from Maine to Chilean Patagonia, and an instructor for Outward Bound in Washington teaching mountaineering, rock climbing, alpine backpacking, and sea kayaking. She has a background working in a clinical setting as a nursing assistant but has gained much of her experience through hundreds of days in the field caring for others in a variety of conditions. Owens has worked in all types of conditions and environments – from the sandy beaches of Baja to the icy crevasses of Tahoma (Mount Rainier).
Learn more about our wilderness medicine courses: