Our Instructors

Eric Riley

Eric Riley is the Founder and CEO of the Swiftwater Safety Institute (SSI), established in 2011. Born and raised in Idaho, he began his career on the Payette River and is now in his 25th season on the water with over two decades of instructional experience in swiftwater, floodwater, and technical rescue. As a Master Instructor, Eric leads SSI’s tactical military division, federal, and FEMA-aligned training programs, specializing in high-risk, operational environments and NFPA-compliant curriculum development. Based in Jackson, Wyoming, he balances the rigors of technical instruction with a passion for travel, yearly surf trips to Baja, and returning home to deep winter snow.

Tara Studiale

Born and raised in rural Pennsylvania, Tara developed an early love for wild places that led her West to study geology and hydrology – and eventually to a life and career centered around outdoor adventure. Over the past two decades, her career has spanned leadership positions in guiding, training, operations, and program development across the U.S., fueling her passion for helping others connect deeply with the outdoors.

A lifelong adventurer, Tara has explored some of America’s most iconic rivers and is passionate about empowering others to develop confidence and competence on the water. She is inspired by SSI’s mission to provide world-class swiftwater rescue training and is dedicated to supporting the community of river professionals, emergency responders, and outdoor enthusiasts who make this work so meaningful. 

Scott Solle

Scott has been a professional river runner since 1995 and instructing since 1999. He operates his company Solgear manufacturing river equipment and is a member of Grand County Search and Rescue. When he isn’t guiding, instructing or actually performing rescues you can probably find him braaappin’ on the Colorado River. Scott instructs many of the military and FEMA trainings offered through SSI, and is a master trainer as well.

Alex Nelson

Hailing from Maine, Alex began paddling and guiding the rivers of the Northeast before heading out to his current base of Jackson, WY. His passion for rivers and guiding have given him the opportunity to work in South and Central America, as well as New Zealand during the cold winter months in North America. Alex loves to share his passion for rivers with both other professionals and recreational boaters during courses with SSI. He has been teaching with SSI for the past five years and looks forward to inspiring more boaters to love and respect the wonderful rivers we all get to explore.

Bram Role

Bram grew up in Idaho at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers and began floating rivers with his family and friends around age 7. His passion for the outdoors and wild rivers led him to professional whitewater river guiding where he has been rowing and guiding rivers throughout the west for 25 years. His dedication to whitewater safety education and instruction grew from these whitewater roots and from experiences teaching geology to undergraduate students while obtaining a M.S. in Geology from the University of Wyoming. He says: “SSI has developed a curriculum for swiftwater safety instruction that combines simple, basic skills and hands-on techniques with in-and-on-the-water practice that is both fun to teach and effective in developing important up-to-date tools and skills for whitewater rescue.

Brian Chaffin

Brian’s professional passion is water–specifically moving water. Although he has guided commercial river trips on the Middle Fork of the Salmon and other Western rivers for 20 years, these days he spends most of his time on the University of Montana campus as an Assistant Professor of Water Policy. Brian leverages teaching strategies forged in both the classroom and the field to create enjoyable challenge that facilitates sustained learning of key skills and concepts. Brian is still passionate about river safety, and is able to teach a few courses each year for SSI. Brian also helped found and sits on the Board of Directors for the Redside Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the health and strength of Idaho’s commercial guides through education, training, and the provision of mental and substance abuse healthcare for guides in need.

Corry Jones

Corry is originally from the concrete jungle of Long Beach California but he quickly found himself in Jackson, WY at just 18 years old pursuing a guide job on the Snake River. Nine years later, Corry is still guiding on the Snake and has spent his winters abroad rafting, climbing, and guiding sea kayaking trips from Maui to Central America and even as far as Tasmania. As an instructor with SSI, Corry enjoys sharing the excitement of swimming whitewater with our recreationalists and river guides in class. This spring, catch him on USA Network’s Race to Survive New Zealand.

Dan Thurber

Dan has been a river professional since 2003 and has taught swiftwater rescue for over a decade. His experience has included guiding, safety kayaking, instructing, and expedition kayaking throughout the western US and South America. His attention has shifted to packrafting where he and his team have been pushing the limits of what can be done in inflatable crafts. His teaching style emphasizes understanding the river, your teammates, and yourself to effectively manage challenges on the river. He specializes in packraft and expedition training. Dan holds a master’s degree in river mechanics and modeling.

Elizabeth Tobey

Libby began her river career as a guide on Montana’s Flathead River in 2010, branching into whitewater kayak instruction starting in 2012. Since then, she has guided and taught widely around the western U.S. and abroad, including seasons in Nepal, Ecuador, and New Zealand. These days, when she’s not teaching for SSI, she spends most of her guiding time on Idaho’s Middle Fork Salmon River.

Libby believes that recreation and conservation are two sides of the same coin. In addition to guiding and teaching for SSI, Libby works with various conservation nonprofits, most recently the Idaho Conservation League. She plans to begin law school at the University of Montana in 2024, ultimately aiming to combine teaching and guiding with advocacy and environmental law to protect the rivers and wild landscapes we all love.

Gabby Nicholson

With a deep passion for rivers and the opportunities they provide, Gabby’s pull toward whitewater started early. Growing up in Boise, Idaho, she has been rafting since childhood and began her guiding career on the Payette and Salmon rivers in 2019. Since then, Gabby has gained valuable experience both domestically and abroad, working as a day guide, multi-day guide, and kayaking instructor. Her involvement in swiftwater rescue courses has been particularly meaningful, and she is honored to support the education and training of boater and emergency response communities.

Gabby is always excited to dive in, whether it’s calm or swift water ahead! She’s ready to help others meet the challenge!

Gerry Moffatt

A Scottish native, Gerry Moffatt is an internationally-acclaimed expedition kayaker and has spent 35 years guiding in the Himalayas and around the world. National Geographic considers Gerry to be the “most experienced river guide in the Himalayas”. He is the first person to descend all the major rivers in Nepal and Bhutan. As a professional athlete, Gerry’s been featured by Men’s Journal, National Geographic, Red Bull Media, Discovery Channel and Outside. Gerry was recently appointed Nepal’s first International Goodwill Ambassador for Adventure Travel & Tourism.

Jake Miczulski

A native Idahoan, Jake is passionate about the people and places that make the Rockies such a unique place to live. Ever since his younger days of bad haircuts and high-mileage minivans, Jake has been roaming the west, appreciating the many faces of the region. His favorite place to share with people is the Middle Fork Salmon River, where he has worked as a guide for nearly a decade. Jake currently serves as the Assistant Patrol Director at Brundage Mountain Resort. When not in the office and the slopes you may find Jake out exploring the West appreciating water in all of its forms. Jake has been practicing swiftwater rescue for over a decade.

Jeff Creamer

Jeff is based in southwest Colorado and has been packrafting since 2013. He has worked to push the limits of expedition class IV and V packrafting in the American west and has also worked on development of combination ski & packraft routes in the West and in Alaska. Jeff has worked as an assistant instructor with SSI since 2019 on packraft-specific courses.

Email: jeffreycreamer@gmail.com

Jesse Hood

Jesse was born and raised in western Colorado. He has been a professional firefighter and paramedic for 20 years and is currently a Battalion Chief with Glenwood Springs Fire Department. Jesse loves the Grand Canyon and manages to get a couple of trips there every year working for OARS, which led him to working at SSI. He has instructed many disciplines (fire, EMS, rope rescue, and hazardous materials) but is most passionate about swiftwater rescue. He enjoys teaching students from multiple agencies and helping responders from different backgrounds form an efficient and effective team during a course. Jesse lives on his family’s ranch outside of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and enjoys hanging out with family and dogs, reading good books, skiing and traveling to Montana.

Email: jesse.hood68@gmail.com

Joe Bailey

Jon Wiedie

Jonathan Wilson

Jonathan is a professional river guide, paramedic, and rescue technician with extensive experience working in whitewater and mountain environments throughout the United States. He has guided on Cataract Canyon, Gates of Lodore, the Upper Animas, and has logged numerous expeditions through the Grand Canyon. His river experience also includes guiding and boating on some of North America’s most renowned whitewater rivers, including Idaho’s Middle Fork Salmon, Selway, and Lochsa Rivers, as well as the Gauley, New, and Nantahala Rivers in the eastern United States.

His rescue background includes service with Durango Fire Protection District, Silverton Medical Rescue, and La Plata County Search and Rescue. In addition to emergency response, Jonathan has worked as a ski patroller, and technical rescue specialist. He has presenting at ITRS, Mountain Medicine Symposium, and Colorado’s SATCON, bringing a broad operational perspective to swiftwater rescue instruction.

Jonathan’s instruction emphasizes practical skills, sound judgment, and effective risk management in high risk environments. His teaching focuses on simple, effective techniques that work under pressure and translate directly to real-world incidents.

Josh Larsen

Josh Larsen is a third-generation whitewater enthusiast. His journey began on the rivers of West Virginia when he was in middle school, where his dad began teaching him whitewater kayaking. He would spend the summers at a local rafting company. Eventually Josh made the move to Utah where he began exploring the desert rivers of the West. In 2010 Josh graduated from World Class Kayak Academy where he spent a semester honing his river skills in Chile, Argentina, and all over the West Coast. This experience led him to Bellingham, WA where he attended Western Washington University and graduated with a B.S. in Environmental Science and GIS. For the last 9 years he has helped build and manage Triad River Tours. Josh is a Wilderness First Responder, has assisted in search and rescue alongside Skagit County Sheriff’s Department, and is passionate about raising awareness about river safety through instructing with SSI. Josh spends his winters skiing at Mt. Baker and exploring the backcountry of the surrounding Cascade Mountains.

Karen Morse

Karen began her career in whitewater in 2011, working as a field staff for Outward Bound on the Deschutes river in Oregon.  Since then she has worked as an instructor, guide, and trainer for a variety of rafting programs and outfitters across Oregon, Idaho, and Utah.  When she isn’t playing with gearboats, packrafts, or rope systems, Karen teaches Wilderness Medicine, Avalanche Rescue Courses, and leads expeditionary courses backpacking and mountaineering.

Email: karenemorse@gmail.com

Kelly Mahoney

Kelly is originally from Reno, NV and found her passion for whitewater on the American River in Northern California in 2015. Since then, Kelly has been working as a professional river guide in Colorado, California, Mexico, Argentina and West Virginia, as well as spending the majority of her freetime exploring new whitewater with her two dogs. When she is not on the water, Kelly spends her winter shredding on all that frozen cfs as a CAT-ski guide in Steamboat Springs, CO.
Kelly loves teaching with SSI and sharing her passion and knowledge of whitewater with everyone who is intrigued by the river.

Lars Haarr

Born and raised in Montana, Lars began guiding and kayaking in 1995. In 1999, an opportunity to work for OARS brought him to Moab where he lived, worked and recreated for two decades. He began instructing for SSI in 2014, in between raft trips. He and his wife now call Flagstaff, AZ home.

Luke Baugh

Luke grew up on the Clearwater River, and has been guiding professionally since 2000. He believes that people’s access to wild places utilizing leave no trace ethics and appropriate safety measures is vital to the overall health and well-being of our communities. He is passionate about accessing the river in a way that causes less harm to people and the environment.

Email: lukebaugh@gmail.com

Matt Jost

Matt’s passion for rivers runs deep through the family blood line. A second generation guide in Idaho, Matt spent 10 years guiding professionally on various rivers in Idaho including, including the Middle Fork of the Salmon, Owyhee, Bruno, South Fork of the Payette and more. He’s been fortunate to have traveled the world rafting and kayaking rivers in countries such as Nepal, Thailand and Chile. Matt was a member of team Aqua Vitae in 2011 during a trip to Nepal where the team rafted a number of first descent’s. A passionate outdoor educators, Matt began teaching for SSI in 2010 and now works for Colorado Mountain College in Steamboat Springs where he oversees the Outdoor Education Program among others and gets to teach his favorite subject, swift water rescue, his his favorite subject!

Matt Paulding

Matt heads up Swiftwater Safety Institute Australia. He has been commercially guiding in the outdoor education sector for 15 years, focusing mainly on Victorian rivers with the occasional stint out of state. Matt has been an SSI instructor for 7 years and has recently become a professional firefighter. He enjoys spending as much time on the water kayaking and rafting as his wife and family will allow.

Email: matt_paulding@hotmail.com

Nate Moody

Nate (Moody) has been a part of the professional river world for over 20 years in the capacity of guide, outfitter, and educator. He has taught for SSI since 2014 and is a strong believer in the personal/professional values of SSI courses. As an instructor, Moody works with varying methods of experiential education to help others learn from phenomena in wild environments to build comprehension and retention. He is faculty in University of Idaho’s Natural Resources and Society department and is a sitting board member for River Newe. His outfitting company, Great Rift Outdoors (GRO) teaches swiftwater rescue and packraft education focused on intention/expression/reflection as a means to promote safe and reverent outdoor recreation.

Neil Cheesewright

Neil grew up in Durango, Colorado, where he began guiding as a summer gig in 2006. After graduating from college in 2008, he decided to take a few years to see the world and more rivers before continuing his pursuit of a quiet academic life. 20 years later, he is still guiding. Having worked and boated across the U.S. as well as in Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, and New Zealand, he has most recently been spending summers guiding Sixmile creek in Alaska.

Nicholas Gallo

Nicky discovered his love of rivers as a student at Colorado Mountain College in 2015, when he took a rafting course that included a five-day river trip down the Colorado River.  Ever since, Nicky has quenched his thirst for running whitewater by working on and exploring rivers around the world. Nicky has worked as a raft guide, safety kayaker, and guide instructor on the Yampa and Arkansas Rivers in Colorado, the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, the Río Tampaón in La Huasteca, Mexico, the Río Futaleufú River in Patagonia, Chile, and the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park.  He is also an Adjunct Instructor of Outdoor Education at his alma mater, where he teaches future river guides and kayakers the art of making Dutch oven pineapple upside-down cake, playing cheesy folk songs on the guitar, and brewing extremely strong coffee.

He has been an instructor for SSI since 2017, and absolutely loves teaching his fellow river folk the skills required to stay safe and have fun on the river.

Peter Lefebvre

Peter was born and raised in NH and made his way out west in 2001. There he discovered and fell in love with rivers while attending Prescott College. After graduating he moved to Jackson, WY and started guiding in 2004. Since then he has been guiding and boating all over the west, as well as in Alaska and Canada. After settling with his wife in Moab, UT, Peter is still guiding full seasons, working in Canyonlands, Grand Canyon, the Upper Basin and sometimes Alaska. Winters are spent chasing storms in the Wasatch, and springs are spent teaching swiftwater around Moab.

Email: pleflave@hotmail.com

Olivia Agostinelli

Olivia comes from the Northeast where she spent her college years as a Division I ice hockey player. She fell in love with guiding as a kayak instructor on Cape Cod and knew her next step was to work in whitewater. After moving to Colorado, she began guiding on the Poudre River. She explored rivers around the state, and soon, all around the country. She now calls Clear Creek her home, but heads out east every fall to work on the New and the Gauley Rivers. As a recent addition to the SSI instructor team, Olivia has a passion for sharing her knowledge and love for the river with others. In the wintertime, you can find her deep in the woods, backcountry snowmobiling in Winter Park, CO.

Email: choagostinelli@gmail.com

Ryan Binzley

Binzley’s passion for the dynamics of moving water began in childhood, exploring the creeks and swimming holes of Sedona, Arizona. At San Diego State University, he led climbing, sea kayaking, backpacking and canoeing trips. Graduating with a degree in Recreation & Tourism Management, he has been professionally guiding rivers since 2008. Motivated to deepen his understanding of river hazards and emergency procedures, Binzley enrolled in his first formal swiftwater course in 2015. Since then he has remained eager to learn, practice and teach in river environments. Binzley now calls Bend, Oregon home and spends his winters as a ski boot fitter at the Mt. Bachelor Ski Shop.

Sarah Kilbourne

Meet Sarah! She’s a Virginia native who spent her twenties living and working in various locations such as France, Australia, and Antarctica, where she volunteered on the SAR team. Her love for whitewater adventures sparked while guiding in Alaska in 2019. Since then, she’s been knee-deep in the packrafting scene, and now serves as the first-ever Executive Director of the American Packrafting Association. Based in Missoula, Sarah’s always out and about, making the most of what the area has to offer. In addition to serving as Operations Manager, Sarah instructs packrafting (and the occasional swiftwater) courses for SSI, sharing her expertise and love for the sport with others.

Zak Sears

Zak’s first river trip was on the lower Selway in northern Idaho at the age of six months old. Since then rivers have been the focal point of his life. Having completed over 22 international kayaking trips throughout 16 countries in remote places such as southern Chile, northeastern India, and northwestern China, he feels at home on the water anywhere in the world. He has guided commercial river trips for over 22 years on 5 different continents as well as New Zealand. He has been an instructor for SSI for nearly a decade and is passionate about creating a collaborative learning environment that draws on everyone’s experience.