Instructors

The opportunity to work for the COLT program attracts some of the best guides and instructors in North America.

COLT instructors are not only chosen for their technical skills but also on their ability to effectively educate and pass on their knowledge in a fun, safe and supportive way. Some are COLT alumni.

All courses are taught at a guide-to-student ratio that ensures safety and maximum learning at all times. In the mountains and on rock guides are ACMG certified or equivalent. On the water they are certified by provincial or national standards. All possess high levels of wilderness first aid.

Instructors Bios

Jim Miller

Jim wears three hats at COLT. He’s the COLT director, coordinating and running the program; he’s COLT’s chief rock climbing and mountaineering instructor joining almost all land based trips; and he’s constantly wearing a hat to cover his bald head. Jim’s a constant presence during COLT and students will get to know his easy going personality well. His passion for wild country is contagious and his love of teaching as a chosen profession is a natural. As a dual citizen of the US and Canada, Jim has travelled all over western North American seeking mountains, rock walls and snow covered ski slopes for play and work. Jim has been with the COLT program for seven years. Before COLT, he worked with Prescott College in Arizona, Outward Bound in the U.S. and B.C., and ran his own ski touring business out of Park City, Utah. Although he loves to explore the ocean coastline by kayak and has been known to jump on a river wave or two, mountains and the people that travel in them are his main interest.

Jamie Boulding

Don’t let Jamie’s size intimidate you. At 6’5” he’s a gentle sort of giant and impressively agile. He’s friendly and supportive and always willing to answer questions and pass on wisdom. There is no one that knows more about Strathcona Park Lodge than Jamie. He grew up here and with his wife, Christine Clarke, is the co-Executive Director of the resort. Running a remote, wilderness lodge is a full time job but Jamie is passionate about the COLT program and will be involved in many aspects of the program, especially on the water. Jamie is one of the most respected outdoor educators and paddlers in Canada. He’s a master canoe instructor, a senior whitewater kayak instructor and a sea kayak full guide examiner. He is a volunteer committee member for Water Use Planning for our local watershed, and has also spent many volunteer hours developing standards and best practices in outdoor leadership and education. Previous to the Lodge Jamie went to the University of British Columbia where he was the Thunderbirds Varsity Basketball Team Captain and a Canadian national team rower.

Laurel Archer

Few people spend as much time in a canoe as Laurel does. And not just one type of canoe. This prodigious paddler does it all from long distance races, to six person outrigger ocean canoes, to exploratory expedition whitewater trips. Ironically, Laurel grew up in arid southern Saskatchewan but by the time she was in university she was disappearing into the Canadian wilderness on long canoe trips. She’s paddled rivers, lakes and coasts from Central America to Asia over the past 20 years, and has been a wilderness canoe guide since 1988. She’s a master canoe instructor and full sea kayak guide, as well as the proud owner of a Masters degree in Education. She penned two guidebooks, with a third out in 2010, based on her extensive experiences canoeing rivers in northern Saskatchewan and British Columbia. In 2007 she was inducted into The Explorers Club. Today, when she’s not training competitively for a canoe race, she works as a canoe and sea kayak guide and instructor. She’s a regular COLT instructor for canoeing and sea kayaking. She almost never misses the Nimpkish River trips.

Erica Roles

Erica makes the long trek from her home in Canmore, Alberta, to teach the Squamish rock climbing trip for the COLT program. She’s a classic B.C. full-time mountain guide, working with the best of each season: an  ACMG certified Assistant Ski and Assistant Rock Guide. In the summer she guides multi-pitch rock climbing routes in the Bow Valley near Canmore, and in Squamish. She also teaches instructional climbing courses. In the winter she leads ski touring trips and teaches avalanche courses when she’s not guiding heli-skiing. She says her love for the mountains and for sharing that passion safely with others led her to her chosen career. In addition she’s a keen photographer, hauling her camera and lenses to the beautiful places she calls her office and playground. Check out Erica’s website at www.upthewall.ca

Bill Phipps

Bill is a true Vancouver Island local, born and raised in Campbell River. He is our main mountain and rock climbing instructor. He teaches the snow and glacier course as well as all introductory climbing courses. He started his climbing career many years ago and has developed a complete resume that includes steep rock routes to high mountain travel, alpine ski touring to ice climbing. In the off season Bill works as a ski patroller at Mt. Washington Alpine Resort where he combines his interest in first aid, search and rescue and helping people enjoy the great outdoors. It doesn’t hurt that he gets to ski most of the day too. Bill’s genuine interest in helping people learn as well as his generous personality rewards our COLT program with expertise. His attention to detail and organized teaching progression provides students with a lot of incentives to learn the finer points of climbing and mountain travel.

Richard Dugas

In his quiet, yet incredibly knowledgeable way Richard is one of the most respected instructors in the COLT program. Originally from Nova Scotia, with a mysterious past that may or may not include some time as a professional wrestler, Richard took the COLT program in 1992. He’s lived at Stathcona Park Lodge ever since. He has a passion for sea kayaking that he has quenched on long trips around the Maritimes of Canada, Baja, Mexico and the Pacific Northwest, including a solo circumnavigation of Vancouver Island and a trip around Newfoundland. Richard is a full sea kayak guide with a unique ability to make wilderness trips even more unforgettable. He will likely be on all COLT sea kayak trips. Richard is also a journeyman carpenter, helping to build and repair many of the buildings at the Lodge in the off season, and no slouch in the mountains.