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

READ MORE ABOUT ERIC

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 hot wife.
Roxy is Kent’s golden retriver who haunts the office on most days.

READ MORE ABOUT KENT

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

READ MORE ABOUT TODD

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

READ MORE ABOUT MIKE

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

READ MORE ABOUT REX

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

READ MORE ABOUT PETE

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

READ MORE ABOUT ROB

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

READ MORE ABOUT LUC

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

READ MORE ABOUT KYLE

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

READ MORE ABOUT BRITNI

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.

READ MORE ABOUT NICK

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

READ MORE ABOUT TITUS

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

READ MORE ABOUT KELLY

Thomas Lindsey

Backcountry Ski Guide

Started working at SPC in 2021. Graduated with a marketing degree (as all good ski guides should) from Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. Lived in Crested Butte for many years where Thomas cut his teeth and honed in his backcountry skills.
Originally from Amarillo, Texas.

READ MORE ABOUT THOMAS

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

READ MORE ABOUT HOUSE

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.

READ MORE ABOUT GREG

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. 

READ MORE ABOUT DAN

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.

READ MORE ABOUT FRENCHY

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.

READ MORE ABOUT OSCAR

TAYLOR KENNEDY

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.

READ MORE ABOUT TAYLOR

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.

READ MORE ABOUT MAX

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.