Guides and Partners

Tom began Sawback in 1995. He spends his winters ski guiding across Western Canada, and running ski and sail trips in Norway’s arctic. Summers are a split between guiding climbing trips in the mountains of British Columbia and guiding paddling trips on rivers in Canada’s western shield country including northern Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nunavut.

Conrad started climbing and skiing in 1994 on a Yamnuska Mountain Adventures Semester in Canmore, Alberta.  Following this he attended the University of Calgary, graduating with a Degree in Kinesiology and a Minor in Outdoor Pursuits in 1999. Conrad has been guiding climbing, skiing and paddling trips since 1997 throughout the mountain regions of Alberta and British Columbia, into the Yukon and Northwest Territories, and occasionally guiding international trips as well. He is also part of the Parks Canada Visitor Safety team in who create daily avalanche hazard bulletins, carry out highway avalanche control, and provide the mountain rescue services in Banff, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks.

Christian has dual Canadian and Swiss citizenship. In his former life he completed a degree in Engineering Physics and worked for an engineering firm in Switzerland. It was there that he decided to change courses dramatically and become a mountain guide. He returned to Canada 10 years ago to pursue this dream and hasn’t looked back. Today, Christian is a fully certified Mountain Guide (ACMG/IFMGA) and one of Sawback’s Lead Ski Guides in 2024/25. This winter Christian will be in Japan, our Canadian Rockies Traverse trips (Wapta and Bow Yoho), Sunrise Lodge, and again in Svalbard.

Heather is a long time ski bum and recently-minted ACMG Ski Guide.  Heather enjoys long glacier walks, summits in the sun and steep and deep pow turns.  Heather has worked in the ski industry, mainly as ski patrol and snow safety, since 2007. In the offseason she is a journeyman Millwright and backcountry lodge cook.

Konrad was born and raised in Obergurgl, Austria where he trained to be a IFMGA/UIAGM Mountain Guide. He has been guiding since 1996. Most of his career has been spent in the winter in Canada heliskiing, including many years at CMH as the Lodge Manager at the Adamants as well as Selkirk Tangiers. Summers are spent guiding in the Alps, Nepal, Africa, and South America. Konrad lives in Revelstoke with his wife Kristen and two young children Eve and Rio.

I specialize in adventure ski touring, nothing beats the slow, social, human powdered and mountain appreciation that only ski touring can provide. I’m also a passionate rock climber and Rock climbing guide, I started my climbing guiding career on the limestone cliffs of the Canadian Rockies. Besides all the ACMG certification I also have a Bachelor of applied science in Adventure Eco Tourism, and an Adventure Guides diploma from Thompsons Rivers University.

Syl is an ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide, living in Parsons, BC. She worked in Visitor Safety for Parks Canada for 23 years. She guides for the Alpine Club of Canada, teaches for the CAA, and works as a heli ski guide for Great Canadian Heli Skiing, as well as private guiding. Syl is currently the President of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides.

Emelie is a skier at heart and has followed her passion into the mountains all around the world. She has skied and worked extensively in the Canadian Rockies, the Columbia and Coast Mountains of British Columbia, the European Alps, the Caucasus in Russia, the Pamir Mountains in Central Asia, the high arctic of Iceland, Svalbard and beyond. She was born and raised in Sweden and came to Canada in 2004 to experience BC powder skiing, and was immediately hooked. Emelie is an ACMG Ski and Hiking Guide and lives in Revelstoke, BC.

I’ve been mountaineering since I was a child and I have scaled many peaks in the Alps, with a preference for winter, especially for skiing. I’ve been a Mountain Guide since 2003 and, from the beginning, I have devoted myself to traditional guide work, teaching and sharing, seeking to transmit my passion for mountaineering to others. My love of snow and ice now takes me to the polar regions, in the never-ending search for the perfect excursion!

Mike’s been a fully certified ski guide since 2008 and has worked all over British Columbia as well as guiding trips in Alaska, Japan and Chile. Mike cut his teeth skiing Marmot Basin in Jasper. While there he trained for competitive Mogul skiing. Mike is also trained as a ski instructor and is always happy to pass on helpful tips to improve his guests’ skiing experience. Revelstoke is his home base, and his winter work is a mix of heliskiing, ski tour guiding, and guiding ski traverses in the spring.

Based in Barcelona, Christian is a versatile entrepreneur. From founding a digital food platform to leading polar expeditions, he’s driven by exploration and a passion for solving complex challenges. Christian has a degree in digital management as well as Arctic Nature Guide certification from Svalbard’s UiTs Norges Arktiske Universitet. Fluent in English and Dutch, Christian is moving into a management role with Sawback and is currently heading up our website reconstruction project in addition to overseeing the operation of new international trips, such as our partnership with Qilak in Svalbard.

Jörg runs OnTop Mountaineering out of Canmore, AB. Originally from Heidelberg, Germany Jörg settled in Canada many years ago attracted by the incredible heli-skiing. He still heli-skis winters in western Canada and operates his guiding business world-wide.

Residing in Nelson, BC with his wife and two boys, Joel spends the winter as a Lead Guide for Baldface Lodge in addition to Big Country Guiding trips. With over thirty years of backcountry experience, including two decades of guiding, he never tires of grabbing his skis or splitboard and heading out of a day in the mountains.

Born and raised in Tokyo, Jun was an avid skier from childhood.  In search of wilderness, Jun eventually immigrated to Whistler, British Columbia where he has worked for close to 30 years in the ski and tourism industry, moving between his native Japan and western Canada’s heli- and ski-touring world.

Brad is passionate about showing guests the joy and freedom of backcountry skiing. Whether you’re new to the ski touring or looking for assistance on a remote multi-day ski traverse, Brad is a confident and supportive guide whose goal is for you to have safe and memorable experience. He’s skied throughout the world, including in France and Argentina but is happy to call Revelstoke home.

Stephen loves deep powder runs in the quiet corners of the Selkirk Mountains. He has a passion for long spring ski traverses, the more arduous the better. When the snow melts he likes to explore long alpine rock climbs in the world’s most beautiful places. He has been guiding for the past 8 years and the mountains around Nelson, BC hold a special place in his heart. He lives with his partner Kristen and their petite ginger tabby, Kitty.

Daniele was born in 1981 in Friuli Venezia Giulia, an Italian region of the North East, on the border with Austria and Slovenia. Passionate about mountains, nature and wildlife from an early age, he began to frequent his home mountains at the age of 8. Curiosity immediately becomes passion, long treks turn into peaks, climbs, ski tours, thus embracing the numerous disciplines related to the mountains, in the severe context of the Julian Alps.

After graduating in Computer Science, he begins the path to become a Mountain Guide, which ends in 2016 with the title of UIAGMA / IFMGA / IVBV Mountain Guide. The high peaks of the Alps such as Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa, Matterhorn and Dolomites are now the playground for his work.

At the moment he is President of the mountain guides of Friuli Venezia Giulia. “I am lucky enough to live my dream every day, attending the places I love most and teaching people to go to the mountains in every season and every mountaineering and ski mountaineering discipline. A possibility for which I am very grateful.”

Daniele will join us at Seiland House in Northern Norway this March.

Larry has worked as a guide since 1986 and in the avalanche industry since 1981. He still loves the work and sharing the mountains with guests. His favorite trips are exploring new places with enjoyable people. South Georgia Island, Soviet Georgia, Iceland, Kashmir, Kamchatka and Japan are on the list for the next couple of years.

Mel is an ACMG Ski Guide from Fernie BC. She has worked with Sawback previously, guiding the Bow-Yoho and Selkirk Lodge trips. Mel operates her own guiding business, Mountain Addicts, which also provides avalanche education and is a heliski guide with Last Frontier Heliskiing in northern British Columbia.

Ken Bélanger was born and raised at the foot of the Rockies in Calgary. He has attained Association of Canadian Mountain Guides Ski & Hiking Guide certifications and has spent a significant portion of the previous three winters guiding ski touring, heli-skiing, cat-skiing, and off-piste in Hokkaido. He is also the Partnership Coordinator for the ACMG. He lives in Canmore with his wife Julie and young child.

Mike is an ACMG Certified Apprentice Ski Guide living in Canmore with his wife Alicja and two cats. He has been in Canada for 28 years and started ski touring 20 years ago.

When he is not guiding, he is designing websites and helping companies with digital marketing.

“I have always considered the mountains as my real home, as a place without borders, having to be 100% yourself. In fact, I don’t have a precise memory of when I really started going to the mountains, certainly from a very young age thanks to my parents and grandparents: first on foot, then on skis, to then get to rock climbing and finally to the ice of the falls. winter and high mountains. I have been a Mountain Guide since 2014.”

“I have been going to the mountains since I was a boy and I practiced many sports, until I dedicated myself body and soul to the mountains, my great passion. I have been an Alpine Guide since 2009 and I immediately began to devote myself to this noble profession: the intention of being able to communicate my enthusiasm for mountaineering together with the necessary technical knowledge to others. I am lucky enough to visit so many beautiful places, which every time become a great discovery and adventure.”

Pawel is an international certified IFMGA mountain guide and alpine ski instructor. For over 20 years he has worked as a professional in the mountains, first as a ski instructor, then also as a guide. Pawel lives in Chamonix and where he offers his guiding services all year round. In winter he skis off piste, guiding classic multiple day ski tours such as Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt or Spaghetti Tour around Monte Rosa massif. During summer Pawel guides Mont Blanc, Matterhorn and Eiger and other classic alpine routes.

Pawel’s favourite mountain adventure memories are skiing off Denali peak in Alaska, Mustagh Ata in China (7546 m), a ski traverse in Svalbard, heliskiing in Verbier in Switzerland, climbing in Peru, India, Yosemite National Park and in Chamonix, as well as taking part in UTMB ultra marathon. Pawel will join us on our Ski and Sail trips in Svalbard this May!

Chris left a comfy university position for the vagaries of guiding a number of years ago. Research expeditions, tour guide engagements or private adventures have lured him to the Arctic and Antarctic at least for some time of each year ever since 1985. His engagements with Oceanwide Expeditions date back to 2003. He holds degrees in Geography, Geology and Cultural Anthropology. Research engagements for a Master’s degree investigated the impacts of industrial development on permafrost dynamics. His Ph.D. and later research emphasis, however, focused on Recreation Ecology of Polar Ecosystems – investigations on the environmental consequences of recreational activities at both ends of our planet.

Phil studied biology at Imperial College in London, England. After completing his PhD in plant pathology, he worked for two winters and three summers as a field guide for the British Antarctic Survey, combining his passion for natural science with that of mountain exploration and photography. He has led numerous climbing and skiing expeditions to Antarctica, Tibet, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Peru, East Greenland, the Caucasus and Canada, and was Vice President of the Alpine Club in 2006-7. Phil works as a freelance photographer, polar guide, expedition leader, naturalist and lecturer in expeditions, polar geology and history. When not working or playing in far-flung places he lives in England on the edge of Peak District National Park.

Nate hails from Vancouver Island. He grew up volunteer ski patrolling at Mt. Cain and made the move out to Revelstoke in 12/13. He values sharing time in wild spaces with great people. Nate spends his summers coaching mountain biking.