FAMILY
Many of our guides have been with us for 10+ years. Come meet our family!
PASSION
We love our jobs, and want to show you how great our mountains are
SAFETY
Your safety and enjoyment are at the heart of our guiding culture
Our backcountry guides love their jobs, who wouldn’t? Not only do we ski and ride powder for a living, but on a daily basis we get to see the smile on your faces while helping to satisfy a passion for getting deep in the fresh powder of the Steamboat backcountry.
You will find that we are skilled, professional and friendly leaders. Our goals are to provide the safest tour while allowing for a fun filled experience. Our guides have a minimum of Wilderness First Responder and Level I snow safety training. Several of our staff are advanced snow safety professionals and instructors with AIARE – The American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education.
Your guides are also: parents, loyal Steamboat Springs residents, carpenters, comedians, fisherman, raft guides, EMT’s, politicians, real estate agents, mountain bike racers, landscapers, excavators, long distance hikers, entrepreneurs, writers, dedicated ski bums, surfers, film makers, small business owners, surveyors, vagabonding travelers, professors, photo journalists and farmers.
Most of our guides have been with Steamboat Powdercats for many years and we have become close friends united in what is Steamboat Powdercats.
Have fun browsing through our current guide list and feel free to request a guide during your next Steamboat Powdercat trip.
Eric Deering
Director of Operations
Started working at SPC in 2001
From California, loves all things snow
Raising his daughter and son with Caroline, his gorgeous wife
Favorite snowcat run is Skeeters
Kent Vertrees
Master of Chaos
Started working at SPC in 2000
From Ohio, loves rivers more than snow believe it or not.
Raising two amazing daughters with Jules, his amazing wife.
Stevie is Kent’s golden retriever who haunts the office on most days.
Todd Dills
Administrator/Guide
Started working at SPC in 2003
From Missoui, loves turning the ski slopes and mountains into his playground
Enjoys spending quality time with his wife Sarah and dogs
He studied Resort Management at Fort Lewis College in Durango
Mike Rakowski
The Godfather of Snowcat Skiing Guides
Started working at SPC in 1989
Moved to Steamboat Springs in 1979
Married to Sarah and owns a sailboat in the Keys
Knows every inch of Buffalo Pass
Rex Schiesser
Snowcat Road Builder Extraordinaire
Started working at SPC in 1998
Grew up in Glenwood Springs, CO
Works at Precision Sharpening & Repair in Steamboat Springs
Is a wizard with a snowcat
Pete Scully
Backcountry Ski Guide
Started working at SPC in 2000
Been a river guide longer than a ski guide
Loves his Green Bay Packers
Leads our Level III trips and heads up our guide team
Rob Bannister
Backcountry Ski Guide
Started working at SPC in 2003
Loves being able to guide guests into Buffalo Pass
Married to Candice the director of the Tread of Pioneers Museum
Has 2 daughters and works as a land surveyor when not ripping powder
Luc Strickland
Backcountry Ski Guide
Started working at SPC in 2009
Is one of our Head of Guides
Originally from Alpharetta, Georgia
Works in the summer as a Colorado River Ranger
Kyle Pietras
Backcountry Ski Guide
Started working at SPC in 2010
Owns KP Landscaping with his wife Christine
Is the best mountain biker in Steamboat Springs
Has two ripping skier daughters, Ella and Norah
Britni Johnson
Backcountry Ski Guide
Started working at SPC in 2013
Native of Chicago
Went to college at Michigan State University
a certified holistic nutritionist, entrepreneur, and soon-to-be certified personal trainer
Nick Kuchulis
Backcountry Ski Guide
Started working at SPC in the 2011/12 season.
Nick is the most handsome guide at Steamboat Powdercats and juggles working here at SPC and with a full-time gig at the Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue as a fire fighter and EMT.
Jameson Midgett
Backcountry Ski Guide
Started working at SPC in 2018 as our photographer and has transitioned to a full time guide in 2025. Recently Jamo took a hiatus from SPC as he took a real job with our friends at Mythology Distillery here in Steamboat Springs. We are fired up to have Jamo back with again full time.
Matt House
Backcountry Ski Guide
Started working at SPC in 2020
Works as a whitewater guide for the past decade
Guided snowmobile tours for years before finding us
Is married to Sally who works at Big Agnes Products here in Steamboat Springs
Chris Titus
Backcountry Ski Guide
Started working at SPC in 2020
Worked as a Steamboat Ski Patroller for 10+years
Grew up in upstate New York and moved to Steamboat in 2003
Is a foreman for a local landscaping company in the summers
Dan Hohl
Backcountry Ski Guide
Started working at SPC in 2020.
Dan grew up in Southern California and started skiing pow when he was 3 years old.
After a short stint away from Powdercats, Dan is now back with us again in the 2022/23 season and is guiding our snowcats and running our avalanche courses here at Powdercats.
Kelly Mahoney
Backcountry Ski Guide
Started working at SPC in 2020
Taught ski school at Steamboat for a couple years prior to joining us
River guides on the Arkansas River during off season
Originally from Reno, Nevada
OSCAR GILBERT
Photographer and videographer
Started working at SPC in 2021. Born and raised in Steamboat Springs and grew up ranching with his family along the Yampa River.
Went to school in Montana and received a degree in film.
Greg Creamer
Backcountry Ski Guide
Started working at SPC in 2021. Lives full time in Steamboat Springs raising his family on the Elk River. Greg is a fishing guide in the summer and is happy to have landed a new career with Steamboat.
BRAIN "FRENCHY" GARDEL
Backcountry Ski Guide
Started working at SPC in 2021. Born in France and lives full-time in Steamboat Springs and comes to Steamboat Powdercats with a keen eye toward snow safety. Frenchy loves rivers almost as much as snow.
TAYLOR HARTMAN
Backcountry Ski Guide
Started working at SPC in 2022. Born in Arizona and studied geology at Northern Arizona University.
Worked as a National Park Ranger in the past.
Taylor loves teaching AIARE avalanche courses when not guiding with SPC.
MAX STROTBECK
Backcountry Ski Touring Guide
Started working with SPC in 2022 and leads the backcountry ski touring program here at Steamboat Powdercats.
During the off-season, Max is a mountain guide in Washington and Alaska and teaches wilderness medicine across the West.
Our 3 heated cats allow us to group our guests by skiing ability so everyone is at their comfortable level. Our terrain, located on Buffalo Pass Colorado, is conveniently located just 25-min from downtown Steamboat Springs, so we are typically on snow by 9:15 am. We look to match terrain to your ability level and that of the group so it’s very important to figure out what snowcat you should be on.
Buffalo Pass, our point of operations, annually records some of the deepest snow depths in Colorado. In May of 2011, Buffalo Pass actually had the deepest snowpack levels ever recorded in Colorado’s history. The cold, dry and stormy weather in Steamboat Springs makes for localized orographic uplifting conditions that provide us with, at time, extraordinary snow quantity and quality.