Meet your Instructors

Katie Thorne, EDSAR 195 has been a member of El Dorado County Search and Rescue for over 23 years. She is currently Team Lead for the Mounted team and Animal Technical Rescue Team. She is a Type 1 Ground Team member and Technical Rope Rescue Technician. Katie has led the development of the first SAR ATR team in the foothills of California and her team has participated in the world renown Tevis Cup 100 Endurance Race from Tahoe to Auburn through the canyons and mountainous terrain of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Foothills. Supported by a strong team, she has worked extensively with UC Davis, Sac Metro Fire and many other agencies to develop skills on the cutting edge of Large Animal Rescue.

Gary Johnson has over 24 years of experience in combination career fire departments in Northern California. He holds an Associates Degree in Fire Science, California State Fire Training Fire Officer, Chief Officer, Fire Investigator and registered State instructor qualifications. He has served as a Firefighter, Engineer and Emergency Command Center dispatcher for CalFire. He has been a Paramedic for over 15 years and currently holds the position of Fire Captain at a career fire department in Northern California. He is also the founder of the first career fire based Animal Technical Rescue Teams in Northern California.

Jared Chaney is a Detective with the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office. He developed theSheriff’s Office Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) program and is the Lead UAV Pilot. He is also a Certified Tower and Rescue Climber, and has worked on Radio Towers throughout the state. Jared has been Unit Leader or Commander of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team since 2016.
Jared has run more than 300 SAR missions and has learned many best practices along the way. He assisted in the development of the curriculum of the Advanced Search Management class for which he is one of the Instructors for CalOES. Due to the remoteness of Mendocino County, Jared also co-developed the Annual SAR Helicopter Awareness Training which is hosted annually in Mendocino County. Being a member of SAR as well as a Sworn Deputy, Jared has also played a major role in development of SAR’s response to large scale disasters.

Wayne started in search and rescue with the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in 1972 and joined the Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit (BAMRU) in 1986 where he is a field member. Wayne became a member of the California Rescue Dog Association (CARDA) in 1991. He has certified 4 dogs through CARDA with certifications in wilderness, human remains detection 1, 2 & 3, avalanche and basic urban disaster dog (BUDD). Currently a member of CARDA, BAMRU, and Yosemite's K-9 SAR team YODOGs. Wayne resides in San Mateo County with his wife, Kim and his dog, Scout.

Chris has been with K9 Search & Rescue since 2004, working with his 9-year-old Labrador Makalu (certified in multiple disciplines) and training his new partner Ziggy. He has participated in over 400 missions throughout Washington State and British Columbia, including several high-profile searches, achieving multiple live and deceased finds. Since 2010, Chris has been teaching and mentoring other K9 SAR handlers with a focus on improving search dog effectiveness through engagement and foundational work. He serves as an instructor and evaluator for multiple national search dog organizations, providing training and certification to ensure communities have access to superior canine resources. Chris is a board member with Cascadia Search Dogs and consults as a subject matter expert in K9 search strategy, communications, resource management, mapping, and data collection.

Sandra has been an active team member in all disciplines since 2007 and has certified and handled 3 different canines in area search, human remains, and water. She has been a dog handler for LCSAR for 17 years and has certified 3 dogs in AS, HRD, and water.

Michael St. John joined the Marin County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team in 1979 and has served as the Unit Leader since 1989. The Marin County Sheriff’s SAR Unit has 120 members and responded to over 50 missions last year throughout California. Michael played an integral role in leading the team to become a certified Mountain Rescue Team. Michael has extensive professional experience in emergency management services and fields, including: major fire incidents, Hazardous Materials Operations and large-scale search and rescue missions.
Michael has played an integral role in the development of the abduction search strategy curriculum, which has been published in “Managing Missing Persons in the Urban Environment”. Michael teaches courses in abduction search operations and Advanced Search Management for the California State OES Law Enforcement Branch.

Scott Zettelmeyer is a career Paramedic with almost 15 years of experience working in a busy 911 system as a paramedic, flight medic, field training officer, EMS instructor, field supervisor, and special operations team leader. Additionally, for the last 10 years he has been a member of a the Washoe County Sheriff's Hasty Team, a busy multi-disciplinary MRA team, where he serves as the team’s training coordinator, as well as being an instructor and team leader for mountain rescue, technical rope rescue, swiftwater rescue, helicopter hoist rescue, public safety diving, and ALS-level wilderness medicine.

Eric Stendell, MD, is a board-certified Emergency Physician at Renown Regional Medical Center and is a Clinical Assistant Professor at University of Nevada School of Medicine (UNSOM). Dr. Stendell has completed the UIAA-ICAR Diploma in Mountain Medicine (DIMM), advanced wilderness life support (AWLS) course, and the AIARE level 1 and level 2 courses. He is an avid mountaineer, backcountry skier, rock climber and mountain biker. He has had the pleasure of combining these passions while working in local ski clinics, working as a physician on the Alpine Meadows Ski patrol, and as a member of Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue. He provides medical direction and training for ski patrol, SAR teams, and wilderness EMS organizations including Lassen National Park, Tahoe National Forest and Nevada BLM EMS.

Meghan Smith is the Grand Canyon National Park Team Leader and Supervisor, and Preventive Search and Rescue (SAR) Program Supervisor. She is also a paramedic and SAR technician and is on the Family Liaison Officer team. Meghan is from western New York state and has lived in Colorado, Idaho, Alaska and New Mexico and has called Grand Canyon "home" since 2011. Prior to working for the National Park Service Meghan gained experience providing outdoor medical care by working in ski patrol. She has since adapted to the heat and loves the desert environment and all of the challenges that come with it.

Roger Mortimer is a physician with UCSF in Fresno. Caving since 1985 he picked up an interest in cave rescue, eventually becoming an instructor the National Cave Rescue Commission. He serves as the NCRC delegate to ICAR. Roger enjoys the study of the intersection of rope work and medicine and recently co-wrote the ICAR guidelines on Suspension Syndrome. Beside rope work, Roger is interested in how trauma can affect SAR professionals and volunteers. He is the assistant training officer for Fresno SAR.

Bill Campbell has been an EM physician since 1988. EMS Med director 4 different NPS units, Medical director MRA team, MRA MedCom Chair, DiMM, FAWM, instructor and medical lead for both NPS Basic Technical Rescue Training East (and West) and NPS Swiftwater Incident Management course, Medical Lead for Fall Barkley Classic Adventure race, father, husband, brother, son.

Dr. Van Tilburg is a wilderness and emergency physician, 25-year veteran of Hood River Crag Rats (Oregon), and author of Crisis on Mount Hood: Stories from 100 Years of Mountain REscue, published by Mountaineers Books in May.

Dr. Kris Kordana is an internal medicine physician who lives and practices in Davis, CA. He served in the USAF for > 14 years where he was a critical care air transport physician. He's a member of the Yolo County Search and Rescue Team where he serves as the medical advisor in addition to being a Type 1 team member. He's a Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine and he anticipates completing his Diploma in Mountain Medicine through the Wilderness Medical Society in the summer of 2025.

Dale is an Emergency Physician who has practiced in Boulder, Colorado for the past 20 years, and serves as the Medical Advisor for AIARE. He is involved in search and rescue as a mission leader for the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group, and is the MRA Delegate to the Air Rescue Commission in the International Commission on Alpine Rescue. He previously was a medical advisor to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, and served as an NPS rescue patrol volunteer on Denali. Since the 1980’s Dale has been climbing and ski mountaineering in Alaska, the Nepal Himalaya, Europe, and all over North America.

Ron Christensen is a North Dakota native who moved to Idaho in 2005 and joined Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue in 2013. He is a SAR manager who served on the board of directors for 5 years as Vice-President and currently serves on the board as Coordinator. In the Coordinator role he oversees the unit’s mission deployments and serves as liaison between Law Enforcement and the unit. Ron is retired after 44 years in the manufactured/modular
housing industry serving in sales and management positions at multiple locations around the country.

Sal Muñoz first discovered tracking 6 years ago and has since taken multiple classes and has 100's of hours of practice under his belt in addition to over 3,000 hours of SAR experience. He's trained in all types of terrain and vegetation. From hard packed dirt to marshland.

Chris Brookman was born and raised in Idaho and joined Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue in 2013. He is currently the unit President and a SAR Manager with the team. Chris also served as the Training Director from 2018-2023, overseeing a training program that delivers entry level and advanced SAR training to about 150 volunteers. Outside of SAR, Chris is an AEMT for Ada County Paramedics, where he is also in a mentor role assisting in the training of newly hired EMTs. In his free time Chris enjoys exploring Idaho's caves and canyons.

JohnRey has in-depth experience as an attorney handling all matters of risk management and legal challenges relating to medical care and EMS agencies. He has 20+ years of EMS, SAR, and legal experience.

Dr. Alison Sheets is the MRA Delegate and Vice President of the ICAR Medical
Commission. She previously served as MRA President from 2022 to 2024 and is
the Medical Director and a Mission Leader for Rocky Mountain Rescue Group. Dr.
Sheets is faculty and technical director for the Wilderness and Environmental
Medicine Fellowship at the University of Colorado. She is the current
physician advisor for Colorado Avalanche Information Center and was the first
chair of the Wilderness Medical Society Search and Rescue Committee. She
recently retired from Emergency Medicine at Boulder Community Health in
Boulder, CO.

Mark McClernan is a licensed professional geologist and geodesist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Over the past two years, Mark has been part of the Artemis Geospatial Data Team, contributing to astronaut navigation by engineering of new coordinate systems. Prior to joining the USGS, he worked with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, supporting defense mapping efforts.
In addition to his professional work, Mark is an active volunteer with the Coconino County Search and Rescue (SAR) team in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he has served as a rock rescue technician for over two years. His seven years of rescue experience include time with ski patrol in Alaska and on Western Colorado University's Mountain Rescue Team, the only collegiate based MRA team, located in Gunnison, Colorado. In his free time, he enjoys biking, hiking, and exploring the geology of the Grand Canyon.

Charley Shimanski is a 35-year veteran of Alpine Rescue Team, President of the ICAR Air Rescue Commission, Mountain Rescue Program Coordinator for Flight for Life Colorado and former Director of Training for Air Rescue Systems. A recognized helicopter rescue educator, Charley is the author of all of the MRA Helicopter rescue training guidebooks.

Jesse McGahey serves as the Emergency Services Program Manager for Yosemite National Park, overseeing both search and rescue operations (YOSAR) and emergency medical services with over a decade of climbing ranger experience. As a trained parkmedic, Jesse brings critical care to one of America's most visited wilderness areas, while his wife Megan works as an ER nurse. When not coordinating rescue efforts in Yosemite's vertical terrain, Jesse can be found coaching soccer or pursuing his passions for climbing, skiing, and surfing. He and Megan are raising their two children, Ellie and Everett, with a deep appreciation for the outdoors and service to others.

Robert J. Koester FRGS FInSTR has participated in search and rescue for 43 years both as a field responder with over a hundred searches while Incident Commander and as a researcher. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Portsmouth in search theory. His contributions to search and rescue include seminal research on lost person behavior along with creating the International Search and Rescue Incident Database (ISRID). He is CEO of dbS, which provides research, publications, and SAR software. Robert has authored numerous books and research articles on SAR, including Lost Person Behavior, taught on all seven continents.

Cianna is the Training Director of the Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue Unit and is additionally a Search Specialist, member of the MTB Team Committee, and member of the Technical Rescue Team. She tries to spend most of her free time skiing, mountain biking, bikepacking, fly fishing, and rafting. To fund all these activities, Cianna works for a federal agency, primarily managing salmon habitat improvement projects. Previously, Cianna was a member of the Box Elder County Sheriff Search and Rescue team and has lived in and traveled to multiple places globally to study and research geology and landscape evolution.

Matt started in SAR 15 years ago and with a trajectory increasingly focused on incident management. He has helped run some of the largest and most complex searches in California and has published research through the Mountain Rescue Association examining the impact of terrain on lost person behavior. He has worked to evolve existing search planning techniques to incorporate those findings. A software engineer by trade, after noticing shortcomings with existing mapping platforms used in support of SAR, he began working on new mapping tools. This led him to develop the CalTopo/SARTopo platform, which is now widely used throughout the country in both SAR and public safety. Matt is a Wilderness EMT and has a BSc from MIT in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Moose has nearly four decades of traditional and alternative education experience across the globe. He has course directed 58-day Outward Bound instructor trainings in Appalachia, been a deputy headmaster in the Kalahari Desert, managed a beach concession on the Mediterranean, slogged through Australian rain forests with middle school students and has juggled as a street performer in too many cities to mention.
Since 2002 Moose has been a member and senior trainer of Yosemite Search and Rescue, working as a technician and within Incident Command, at one of the busiest SAR operations in the world. He is also a Rescue 3 Agency Instructor and a Lead Family Liaison Officer trainer for NPS.

Heiko Stopsack is a Rescue Specialist/ Senior Flight Paramedic With the King County Medic One Air Support Unit. Heiko also volunteers as a member of the Hood River Crag Rats Mountain Rescue team, is an MRA Delegate to the ICAR Avalanche Commission, and is a regular speaker at national and international conferences.

Benjamin was the acting director of training for the US Public Health Service, 17+ years in EMS and SAR, founded two privately held mobile health companies addressing acute episodes of care, with legal mentors to identify and mitigate risk hold and MPH, MBA and presently a doctoral candidate

Dean Knapp has volunteered with Alaska Mountain Rescue Group for 26 years, and with Responder Alliance for 6 years. He was trained by Jeffrey Mitchell in Critical Incident Stress Management and used that model extensively for years with hospital, LE, fire, and SAR teams. Then when Laura McGladrey presented a new model to MRA in 2019 he switched to the Responder Alliance model for first responder stress and resilience. He is the incident commander who has led the most avalanche responses in the last twenty years in Alaska, and the leader of his group's stress and resilience team. He has instructed for MRA, NASAR, and Alaska State Trooper academy. He is not a psychologist, but is badly in need of one.

Jim Freed has volunteered with Marin SAR for 41 years since joining the team as a youth member in 1983. During his long tenure he’s served as the team’s Training Manager, Boot Camp Manager and Search Manager. He currently serves as the Equity and Inclusion Manager. Jim was instrumental in re-designing and implementing the 65 hour long new member training sequence that Marin calls Boot Camp. He has decades of experience as both a field searcher and overhead team member.
Jim enjoys his professional work as an educational exhibit designer, as well as a part time associate professor of design at Santa Rosa Jr. College. He has a BFA in Illustration and Design, and an MA in Education.

Riley Ericksen is a youth member and the current Youth President of Marin Search and Rescue, having joined the team in April 2023. A junior at the Branson School, she is passionate about the outdoors and enjoys hiking, mountain biking and is a competitive freeride snowboarder.

Steve is a member of Davis County SAR in Utah, and works as a Business Development Manager and technical contributor at Petzl. He has been involved with training SAR members for over 20 years, and has competed on a world stage in adventure racing.

Griffin is Community Director for Responder Alliance, an instructor for NOLS Wilderness Medicine, and leader of Lander Search and Rescue’s Resilience Team. His background includes EMS, safety work for climbing festivals, guiding, outdoor education, and work in public health. He is an avid climber and skier who loves adventuring in the wilderness areas of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and good conversations over coffee.

Todd Vogel is a ten year member of Inyo County Search and Rescue, and a career mountain guide.

Matt Shargel has 18 years of search and rescue experience, with a specialization in mountain rescue operations, field team leadership, technical rescue, and incident management. While often called on to be search manager on missions, he still relishes any chance to be a ground pounder in the field or to utilize his WEMT and SAR drone pilot skills when the opportunities arise. He is the current unit leader for his team's Mountain Rescue Unit. He also serves as an outdoor guide and international trip leader for middle school students, helping them build resilience and leadership skills through hands-on, real-world experience.

Karsten Delap is originally from the flat lands of Indiana, Karsten has found his obsession in the mountains. He has climbed extensively throughout the United States including Grade V big walls in The Black Canyon, Long's Peak, and Zion National Park to the snow and ice climbs of the North Cascades and New England. Karsten's experience outside of the U.S. includes many high altitude peaks in South America as well as major alpine objectives in Africa and Argentina and the Indian Himalaya. Karsten spends his winters chasing good snow and ice and the rest of the year traveling the world working as a mountain guide.
Karsten helped heads up mountain rescue for two different counties in Western North Carolina and helped start the first MRA team in the Southeast. He teaches mountain rescue for a local college and industrial rope rescue for a non-profit out of Michigan.

Tom Wood has been a member of the Alpine Rescue Team in Colorado for 27 years, serving as their Field Director for 4 years. He is the Mountain Rescue Association’s current Terrestrial Rescue Commission Delegate to the International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR). A rope access technician since 2008, he is the Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians (SPRAT) former president, a current Evaluator and a Level 3 technician. He is also an Instructor for the National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC). Tom served in the USMCR as a Combat Photographer and also works an author and freelance photographer.

Justin is a member of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Cave and Technical Rescue Team in Southern California, as well as the Chairperson for the California Region of the MRA. Justin has served the SBCO Sheriff as a volunteer with Search and Rescue for twenty years, both on the mountain and in the classroom, teaching the county’s Basic Mountaineering Course, as well as several Rope Rescue courses. Professionally, Justin works as a board-certified construction Health and Safety Professional, crane rigger, signalman, and rope access technician, providing fall protection, trench excavation, confined space, and rope access training and work planning to several heavy civil bridge, tunnel, and road projects in California.

Michael Graf, an Austrian mountaineer and via ferrata enthusiast, grew up in the Central Alps, where he cultivated a lifelong dedication to climbing and alpine safety. An active member of the Austrian Mountain Rescue Service for many years, he combines field expertise with technical innovation. For over a decade, he has served as Development Manager and Rescue Techniques Trainer at K&B, a leading Austrian manufacturer of mountain rescue equipment. His work bridges product development, hands-on training, and global collaboration with rescue organizations to address operational challenges and refine safety solutions.

Micah Rush brings over 20 years of experience in mountain and technical rescue to the field. A licensed IFMGA/UIAGM Mountain Guide, Micah is a key member of Natrona County Search and Rescue and the Wyoming Hoist Team, where he performs critical aerial rescue operations in challenging environments. His expertise also extends to swift water rescue and avalanche education.
An accomplished Level 3 SPRAT-certified technician, Micah has run remote rigging and safety for television productions and is known for his precision in high-stakes settings. He has earned top honors in three international rescue competitions, showcasing his skills on a global stage. Additionally, Micah has instructed military special operations units worldwide, sharing his advanced rescue techniques and safety protocols.

Rick Wonneberger is a Fire Captain with Marin County Fire Department. He is also a Search Team Manager with Marin County Urban Search and Rescue Team, CA-RTF-1 and a Water Rescue Technician with CA-OES Water Team 11, CA-OES-SF-S&R-11 MRN. He has been in the fire service for 27 years. Rick strives to make rescues much more efficient and user friendly. He uses the most current techniques and hybridizes skills/techniques from other rope rescue professionals, Rope Access, Mountain Rescue, Arborists. Rick is also the lead instructor with 360 Rescue where he regularly travels around CA to teach technical rescue skills to all public safety members, SAR Team Members, NPS Rangers, State Park Rangers, and Firefighters.

Following a distinguished 1990 graduation from West Point with a B.S. in aerospace engineering, Eddy Cartaya has dedicated over three decades to rescue operations as an instructor, leader, and innovator in technical rope systems. His expertise spans multiple prestigious organizations including the International Technical Rescue Association, National Park Service, Portland Mountain Rescue, and the National Cave Rescue Commission, where he's served in various leadership capacities. As owner of Direct Action Vertical Inc. and co-author of the comprehensive SPAR manual on lightweight rescue techniques, Cartaya continues to advance the field while maintaining certifications as a Wilderness EMT and certified arborist. After retiring from 33 years in military, state, and federal law enforcement/backcountry rescue, he remains active in scientific exploration, serving as incident commander for NASA/JPL robotics studies and presenting at numerous international rescue and scientific conferences.

Douglas Samp, who assumed the role of US Coast Guard Pacific Area Search and Rescue Program Manager in October 2022, advises the Area Commander on SAR operations and policy development while supervising Pacific Area Rescue Coordination Centers. He represents the Coast Guard in national and international forums, conducting exercises with global maritime authorities to improve coordination and share best practices. His expertise includes coordinating with the Department of Defense for combat search and rescue operations, building on his 26 years of active-duty service and continued civilian work since 2016. Mr. Samp, recognized as the 2023 US Coast Guard SAR Professional of the Year, has extensive experience in various SAR roles dating back to 1999.

Tim is an Avalanche Forecaster and Rescue Technician with experience in ski area operations, highway avalanche control, and public avalanche forecasting. He has trained individuals in avalanche response and recovery throughout the U.S., New Zealand, and Alaska. Tim's breadth of experience in risk management, avalanche mitigation, and rescue fundamentals has helped structure a complete understanding of avalanche safety. He specializes in training professionals in basic and advanced avalanche rescue with an emphasis on the understanding and use of RECCO rescue technology.

Dr. Christopher (Chris) S. Young, PhD, has been active in search and rescue (SAR) since 1981, managing searches since 1986. He serves as chair of the Bay Area Search and Rescue Council, Inc. (BASARC). He is an instructor trainer for the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR) and is also an instructor on other specialized topics in SAR. Chris has written, published, and presented search management papers at national and international conferences. He co-authored “Urban Search – Managing Missing Person Searches in the Urban Environment” (dbS Productions, 2007), author of “Intelligent Search – Managing the Intelligence Process in the Search for Missing Persons” (dbS Productions, 2022) and is a contributing author on several other books on search and rescue. Additionally, he is a reserve sheriff deputy. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Portsmouth, UK in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Centre for Missing Persons.

Drawing from extensive experience in architecture, rope rescue and mountain sports, Rich Siemer is an industrial designer committed to aggressively pushing the design of hardware and soft goods for use in technical ropework. Rich is currently the Product Director at Harken Safety and Rescue and a board member and mission coordinator for Bellingham Mountain Rescue Council in Washington.

Stan Searing and Nat Bowditch have been members of Santa Clara County Sheriff's Search and Rescue for over a dozen years. They were both on a search where some minimal contact was established with the subject by sound and the subject could then make his way to the searchers. After more research (which was published), they lead the establishment of a parabolic mic search team under Santa Clara County Sheriff's Search and Rescue.

Howie ski patrolled and worked as an Avalanche and Rescue Specialist for 40 years at Alta, Utah. For the last 30 of those years, he was the Assistant Director of the Avalanche Program in the Alta Ski Area. Working with the RECCO Rescue System since the mid 1980's, he has been instrumental in establishing the rescue network of avalanche professionals and SAR organizations that use RECCO in North & South America. Howie introduced the first RECCO SAR Helicopter Detector in North America in 2018. There are now 9 rescue helicopter bases equipped and trained in the USA and 5 bases in Canada. He currently works for RECCO AB as the Director of Training and Technical Support in North America.