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Big Red Cats, like most mechanized ski operations in B.C., operates on Crown Land and therefore is obligated to carry liability insurance. As part of this, you can be assured that Big Red Cats always has qualified guides, as determined by WorkSafeBC, the CAA, and their guiding organisation. Supervisors have either ACMG ski guide, CSGA3, or foreign equivalent. Guides leading cats are either CSGA2 or ACMG assistant guides, and tail guides typically have their CSGA1 designation, or at minimum, their CAA1, 80-hour first aid, and are training for their CSGA1. All guides have current first aid qualifications and many are also ski instructors.
While there are more team members than this, this is the core group who return every year:
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Kieren Gaul - Owner - Lead Guide
Kieren created this job so that he could powder ski every day with people like you. He truly has a passion for sharing some of the best skiing in the world with our guests. During the off-season, he walks the BRC with a chainsaw, sculpting the ski terrain, and he's been doing that for over 5 years now, so he is familiar with every nook and cranny in the BRC terrain.
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Paula Gaul - Owner & Administrator
Paula is the person who does all of the administration for Big Red Cats - as co-owner of Big Red Cats, she'll answer the phone 24 hours a day.
Paula was an army logistics captain and has an MBA from the University of Western Ontario. She was working as a consultant for BCG in Sydney when she thought it would be nice to have her own business - Kieren dreamed up the cat skiing idea and she couldn't punch any holes in the idea, so Big Red Cats was born. Paula is also a realtor with Century 21, so if you decide to buy any condos at Red, make sure to talk to her about it, because her real estate clients get a free day of cat skiing!
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Robert Elliot - Lead Guide
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Canadian Ski Guide Level 3 (Lead Guide)
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Canadian Avalanche Association Level 2
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CSIA Ski Instructor Level 3
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CSCF Ski Coach Level 1
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Wilderness Emergency Responder (90 hr.)
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PEP Search and Rescue Certified/Volunteer
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HETS Certified (Heli-long line rescuer)
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WCB BC Blasters Certification
Rob lives in Revelstoke BC, and will be doing his third season with Big Red Cats, so he knows his way around. After a previous life getting a B.A. in Economics from UVic and owning and operating restaurants, Rob followed the dream and is now a qualified supervising guide.
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Lee Boland - Lead Guide
This is a photo of Lee skiing with us - you should see him in action, I'm sure that you'll agree that he is one of the best skiers you have ever seen. If you're looking for some pointers on your technique, Lee used to be a national team ski racing coach in Holland. Lee speaks several languages, including Dutch, German, and 'Stralian.
Originally from Australia, Lee lives in Rossland with his wife Jill and their children, aged 4 to teens, and is a carpenter in the off-season.
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Julian Anfossi - Lead Guide
This will be Julian's second year with Big Red Cats. Julian lives in Rossland with family, and alternates his guiding at BRC with heliski guiding up north.
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Kauri Howell, Guide & Driver
Kauri's been with us from the beginning in 2005, and we've seen him go from apprentice snowcat driver and mechanic's helper, to seriously mustachioed single guide (photo), to the settled and clean-shaven Rossland father of two that he is today. I have more recent and more professional photos, but I like this one best, so he's stuck with it. Kauri might be your guide, your tail guide, or maybe even your driver (though he doesn't do that so much anymore), and he's also created quite a few runs with his chainsaw in the summer months, so he is intimately familiar with our terrain.
You can just tell by looking at him that he has a sense of humour...
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Matt Edwards - Tail Guide & Driver
Matt joined our team in 2008. He holds a Level 2 in Avalanche Safety and is currently working towards the ACMG ski guide certification, having graduated from the Thompson Rivers University Adventure Guide program. His love for the outdoors sees him taking part in as many ski touring trips as possible and spending his summers sea kayak guiding.
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Ari Gore - Tail Guide
Ari is another local guide who has been working with the ski patrol for years, and is spending more and more time guiding with Big Red Cats. This will be Ari's 3rd season with BRC, and we hope to have him around for many more.
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Richard Streadwick, VP (Mechanical) Operations
Richard works 12 months a year, keeping the cats purring at Big Red Cats, and managing the drive team in winter. The photo shows Richard the very first time he got a snowcat up Mt Pluto. Besides being a master mechanic, Richard was previously a member of the Canadian national cycling team, and he races his yacht on Arrow Lake. Richard lives in Rossland with his massage therapist wife Kathy (you have to book that in advance!) and their huge collection of children.
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Dana Luck, Snowcat Driver
Dana lives in Rossland and this will be his 3rd season with Big Red Cats. An excellent cat driver, Dana is also a certified educator dog trainer, and has his own business, Pawsitive Pack Dog Training.
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Keith Robine - Guide and CAA Avalanche Course specialist
Keith is a counsellor, and a really good guy to talk to...he is also a climbing teacher, and has built his own climbing wall in his straw-bale home in Rossland, where he lives with his wife Anne and his two school-age daughters.
He has been an avalanche educator for 20 years, and is usually the guide who teaches the CAA AST courses at Big Red Cats.
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