Oregon And Northern California Rafting Blog
            Momentum River Expeditions: World-Class River Trips

Born and raised in the state of Maine, Derek now calls Oregon home and has lived in Ashland, Bend, Jackson Hole, Wyoming and now Ashland again (not too bad eh?) He attended Southern Oregon University and started working for river companies in the valley several years ago.

He is one of our extraordinary “road guides” as well as an excellent singer songwriter, though you might never know it (he’s quite humble) When not making sure we get to and from the river comfortably, Derek can’t be found but is usually playing music, rock hounding, and/or fly fishing.

He is excited to be returning for a second season with Momentum and we are even more so!

Chad’s various interests have taken him throughout the country in pursuit of both pleasure and education. Originally from Vermont, his interest in politics led to a political science degree, which it turns out wasn’t a real job magnet. With an interest in alternative energy developing, Chad moved to Colorado to learn more. His passion for whitewater rafting began in Colorado and this passion created a gateway for new friends and allowed for adventures and guiding opportunities throughout the country on some of the nation’s best runs. All of these interests culminated in a decision that a law degree specializing in environmental and natural resources was the best career path. While Chad ponders his future law degree he continues to explore rivers with us and work a WIDE range of other jobs (most of which are way more professional then guiding).

Adam hails from the beautiful state of Utah where his love for the outdoors was instilled in him as a young boy.  After his freshman year at the University of Utah, he spent a summer guiding on the Green and Colorado Rivers and was immediately hooked.  With a Bachelors in Science in Environmental Economics, he continued pursuing his boating career on other southwestern rivers, including the Colorado River through Grand Canyon.  A “yes man” when it comes to exploring new rivers and their terrain, Adam is fulfilling his life’s mission to see as many rivers as possible.  Adam is another one who is “helpful to have around” - a trained EMT and Wilderness EMT.  He has worked for ski patrol in Utah for the last four years balancing his summer guiding schedule quite nicely.  When not river guiding or ski patrolling Adam enjoys biking, frisbee, climbing, hopskotch, canyoneering, skydiving, roller-skating, hiking, tiddlywinks, and cat juggling. He’s really quite good and has the scars to show it.

Native Southern Oregonian, Robyn has been running rivers since she was 8 years old. She discovered her passion for guiding at the age of 18 and has been one of the few female river guides in the area since. Her love for the river has taken her to such premier river destinations as the Middle Fork of the Salmon in Idaho and the Colorado River through Grand Canyon. She is currently pursuing a life of academia studying art and geology at Southern Oregon University. During her spare time you can usually find her on the mountains or in the rivers. Robyn is a Sagittarius, she enjoys a good gin and tonic, her favorite food is Italian and she is an advanced butt darts competitor.

Yet another one of our native guides, Alan has been with us since the beginning.  As a boy growing up in the Rogue Valley, Alan developed a love of nature due to outings with his father and grandfather Scuba diving, fishing, camping, hiking and inner tubing on the Rogue River.  He eventually became interested in automobiles and drag racing and worked as an ATRA certified automatic transmission builder for 20+ years.  His entire life changed when he attended his first river guide training in 1997.  He trained and worked with a raft company for 9 years before coming to Momentum.  He now works graveyard shift at Boise Cascade plywood plant to pay the mortgage and continues working as a river guide on the weekends. As evidence of Alan’s love of the river, his marriage to his wife Debbie took place on the Klamath River and the guest book was a wooden oar. Alan gets a ton off requests from guests, in fact some of Pete’s favorite guests have decided that they would rather go with Alan.

After a career as a supermodel was tragically cut short by genetics, Anthony resigned himself to the simple life of a river guide. His addiction to guiding began in 1991, but his real love of rivers began when family friends invited him on his first trip when he was eleven. His life as a professional guide has taken him throughout the western United States as well as Nepal and Chile. Anthony grew up in the Sierra Nevada foothills. It was there that his love of nature and knowledge of flora and fauna was encouraged by his father. He supports his whitewater habit by working as a carpenter. He, his wife Sasha , their dog Milhaus, and new puppy Phoebe currently reside in Northern California.

Neil has been one of Momentum’s trusted “road guides” since the beginning.  He enjoys many roles while working such as driver, camp cook, and fishing guru.  Neil loves learning about animals, birds, trees, berries, plants, and wild edible mushrooms (he won’t tell you where the good stashes are so don’t bother asking!)

In his spare time Neil can be found guiding fly-fishing trips and out fishing for himself.  He is excellent at tying flies and has even had images of his flies published.  You can follow his blog at www.rogueriversalmonsteelheadboard.wordpress.com for the latest fly-fishing action on the Rogue.  Neil lives with his wife Terry in Medford and makes killer venison and wild boar chili!!!

Swirl comes from San Francisco, where she worked at various Montgomery Street financial institutions, doing Information Technology (IT) work. Eleven years ago, she retired her “dressed for success” shoes, briefcase, and Muni Fast Pass, and left the corporate world forever. She has no regrets. Swirl has worked seasonally for Momentum since 2005. She takes care of Momentum’s payroll, Accounts Receivable & Payable, and works in the office 3.5 days a week booking trips. In the off season, Swirl can be found working in Lake Tahoe at ski resorts.

A guide for 19 years, Laynne grew up in California and has spent much of his time rafting the states manyrivers. Including runs class V runs like the Forks of the Kern, Cherry Creek, and Giant Gap. He also has spent time guiding in Chile and managing various operations of one of California’s largest rafting companies. Layne also enjoys sailing, mountain biking, traveling, and losing to Pete in one-on-one basketball. He is a Swift Water Rescue Technician, an EMT, and now works full time as a fireman in the Bay Area. Layne is also infamous for his on river entertainment including his alter ego the “Minister of Whitewater”.

A native Wisconsinite, Erik grew up and was comfortable with the water long before he became a river guide. He has spent the last 17 years exploring and guiding on rivers throughout the western United States, India, Nepal, Tibet, and New Zealand. He now lives here in Ashland with his wife and son where he runs the SOU Outdoor Program, leads mountaineering and climbing trips, and teaches part time for Southern Oregon University. He is also a climber, a snowboarder, and a First Aid and CPR instructor. Erik loves sharing his knowledge of river environments and whether he is floating scenic canyons or running class V steeps he is always happy and at home. A few years ago Eric ran a first river descent in Tibet and has some great stories!

Pete is originally from Vermont but has spent time living in Colorado, Wyoming, and now on the West Coast. Pete has been a guide for over 18 years and has run rivers all over the United States - including the upper Tuolumne (Cherry Creek) in California, considered the toughest regularly-run commercial trip in North America - as well as rivers in Nepal, India, Costa Rica, Argentina, and Chile. He has a degree and professional experience in landscape architecture and has further education in civil engineering and ecology, but guiding, traveling, and his love of wild places lead him to start Momentum River Expeditions. In addition to his river-running skills, Pete is also a great cook (he grew up in a restaurant), and it turns out that he is also just a mildly annoying boss.