The owner and chief instructor of Rescue Dynamics is Cyril Shokoples. Cyril is an Internationally certified mountain guide (ACMG & IFMGA) with a long history of climbing and skiing in Western Canada. He has been a member of the Alpine Club of Canada for over 30 years and a certified member of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides for 25 years. His is a Past - President of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides. He recently received Distinguished Service Awards from the Alpine Club of Canada and the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides. In 2005 he became only the second recipient of the George Stefanick Legacy Award from the Edmonton Section of the Alpine Club of Canada.
Cyril has taught rescue, first aid, emergency response, leadership and mountaineering courses and seminars across Canada and has delivered programs in Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nunavut, the Yukon and the North West Territories. He also instructs the ACC TNF National Summer Mountain Leadership course, TNF National Winter Mountain Leadership Course and inaugurated the Central Canada Rock Leadership course in 2005 and Rock Solid Leadership in 2008.
He spent a large part of the last twenty winters instructing and heli ski guiding in the Rockies and Columbia Mountains of Alberta and B.C. as well as spending several years at Marmot Basin Ski area with the avalanche control program. He is a professional member of the Canadian Avalanche Association and created the original advanced avalanche glossary on the CAA website. He is also a member of the Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance.
His background includes eight years at the Alberta Vocational College as coordinator of PreHospital Care Programs. He was an EMT instructor for many years and was one of the founders of Portage College's nationally accredited EMT program. While at AVC, he was also responsible for the creation of the Parks Emergency Responder program for national park wardens in Canada. While at the college he was also on the provincial committee that created the Emergency Medical Responder program for entry level ambulance attendants. He has been the chief instructor of the Canadian Forces Search and Rescue Technicians (SARTECHs) Basic and Advanced Mountaineering and Mountain Rescue Courses for the last fifteen years. He is the creator of the HARD Rescue One series of courses.
Cyril has other serious interests including electronics and scuba diving. Cyril is a licenced Advanced Amateur Radio Operator. He also holds PADI scuba certification as an Open Water Scuba Instructor and Divemaster.
His mountain guiding, ski patrol, ambulance, rescue, avalanche control and diving experience assure you of a quality educational experience.
During the week, the voice behind the telephone at Rescue Dynamics often belongs to Rick Melanson. Rick has been with Rescue Dynamics a few seasons now and maintains our books and registration database. Rick is often the person who processes course applications and general inquiries.
You may also get a chance to chat with Sandra Shokoples. Although she is often loathe to admit it, Sandra has also been climbing for thirty years and has a pile of classic climbs and first ascents under her belt. In her real life she works doing research at the University of Alberta Hospital, playing with scary bugs and viruses. She has a Masters Degree in Epidemiology from the University of Alberta. She also holds PADI scuba certification as a Divemaster and is a DAN Dive Emergency Specialist and certified assistant.
Additional instructors on Rescue courses are hand picked and must have served an apprenticeship with Rescue Dynamics. Our instructors include professional guides and educators with strong, diverse backgrounds in EMS, rescue and the outdoors. For our climbing courses we employ IFMGA (International) or ACMG (Canadian) certified guides.
Some of our regular instructors include Peter Amann, a local Jasper mountain guide (ACMG / IFMGA) in the summer and Lead Guide for Robson HeliMagic during the winter. He is the current president of the Jasper / Hinton section of the Alpine Club of Canada. He is also a professional member the Canadian Avalanche Association. Peter regularly joins us to team teach the military SARTECHs and some of our other leadership and rescue courses. He guides and climbs across Western Canada in both summer and winter, but is a local expert on the Jasper area. Whenever we cannot accommodate a group Peter is the person we tell you to try next.
Jeremy Mackenzie of Invermere, BC has been working with us on the SARTECHs and other courses and will be back regularly for many of our programs. In 2005 we chose Jeremy Mackenzie to join us in Quebec to instruct a special rock climbing leadership course for the ACC. We have had him back for selected courses ever since. He is now a full mountain guide (ACMG / IFMGA) and we look forward to having his role continue to increase with our many programs. Jeremy is a heli-ski guide during the winter at RK Heli-ski.
Recently we have had a number of assistant guides and aspiring guides joining us for many of our courses as part of the ACMG Guide Mentoring Program. In the past, Darek Glowacki of Golden, BC and Deryl Kelly of Canmore, AB, Terry Palechuk of Kamloops, BC and Jeremy McKenzie of Canmore, AB have assisted and observed many programs as part of their preparation for guides courses and examinations. Each of these folks are already members of the ACMG as well and have now passed some or all of their examinations. They are working toward higher levels of certification. Deryl is also the youngest Canadian to summit Mt. Everest. Other aspiring guides may be chosen to assist us as part of practicum placements to aid them in their quest to become guides.
For our Wilderness Emergency Care and OWLs courses, one of our regular Senior Instructors is Kathy Elliot, who has a background as a certified whitewater instructor, licenced river guide and ACMG certified hiking guide. Kathy spends much of her time guiding on the remote rivers of the Yukon and North West Territories during the summer. She is quite at home on moving water, having spent over twenty five years guiding trips and leading wilderness river expeditions. She is also a seasoned heli-hiking guide and completed her Masters Degree in Distance Education. Kathy's background also includes a number of years as Senior Instructor of the EMT-A program at the Alberta Vocational College. Although Kathy presently lives in a semi-wilderness setting in the Yukon, she commutes to the "Deep South" of Alberta, British Columbia and elsewhere to work and teach.
For our medical programs we have been using Peter Symons, EMT-P. Peter lives in Edmonton but works in Banff as a Paramedic. Peter has a long history of training in PreHospital Care and teaches advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) as well as BTLS. Peter recently received the medal for distinguished service to EMS from Alberta Lt. Gov. Norman Kwong. He is considered to be one of the most senior ACLS instructors in the field. Peter worked with Cyril training EMTs at AVC and is a welcome addition to our list of specialized contract instructors. He has taught on a number of our courses and has been working with Cyril teaching WEC and PER courses in Alberta, BC and the North West Territories. Peter is a cyclist, runner and ocean kayaking enthusiast.
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