Meet the Team

Having traveled all over the U.S. as the son of a railroad employee, Mick is accustomed to movement and new views. Mexico, Canada, Thailand, Taiwan, Europe, South America, Tanzania are some of the places and cultures that have shaped and influenced Mick. Currently, Mick resides in Seattle, WA managing Kaf Adventures and continuing to hold the vision of this ever evolving company. He works tirelessly to continue to provide world-class experiences that provide knowledge and a greater perspective of the great outdoors.

Mick’s true passion is education. He has found a unique passion for educating aspiring instructors and guides in the U.S. You will find him outside helping new leaders gain confidence in their ability to make decisions in complex environments.

When he is not in the field (where he spends over 100 days a year) you can find him creating electronic music and making people dance. Mick has a habit of making those around him smile, and you might just wonder when he sleeps!

Mick is an AMGA certified Rock and Alpine Guide, SPI Program Provider, AMGA Instructor Team Member, LNT Master trainer, a Wilderness First Responder, a certified Level 3 Avalanche graduate, an instructor for the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education, and speaks Spanish and a little Swahili.

For four years, Woody lived in China most of the year, where he guided outdoor education trips and spent the rest of his time rock climbing, traveling, and studying Mandarin Chinese. However, he couldn’t resist summer in the Pacific Northwest, and he returned home every year for the beautiful weather and Cascadian adventures. Woody is based in Seattle these days, although he hits the road for climbing and skiing trips up and down the West Coast and returns to China every year to guide Kaf Adventures’ crack climbing trip in Liming.

Nature and adventure are two of Woody’s biggest passions, and guiding allows him to share these passions with other intrepid people. He can’t imagine a better office than the beautiful forests and mountains of the Pacific Northwest.

Woody is an AMGA Assistant Rock Guide and Single Pitch Instructor, Wilderness First Responder, and Leave No Trace Trainer.

My wife was accepted to the University of Washington for a prosthetics and orthotics program so we made the easy decision to move out West. At this point climbing and mountaineering was everything to me. While my wife was studying, I was climbing. After finishing my wilderness first responder training, I became a volunteer backpacking guide and instructor for 1-2 week trips with 11-17 year old students. I was hired on after our first trip and then I worked various outdoor education programs summitting Mt. Olympus, Mt Rainier, and rock climbing at Smith Rock.

After spending a few years in Seattle and Portland, we moved to a small mountain town in Colorado where I became a full-time special education teacher. I found myself enjoying the long winters because of the amazing snow. The snowboarding was great and we were surrounded by 14ers to climb and ride. After three years in Colorado, we moved back to Oregon where my wife took a position at Shriner’s Children’s Hospital and I became a snowmobile guide in the winter and a mountaineering guide in the spring and summer on Mt. Hood, thanks Kaf!  My favorite sport is whitewater kayaking so when I’m not climbing, I’m in a kayak chasing waterfalls and big rapids. I’ve recently picked up kite surfing and I would really like to paraglide off of Mt. Hood one day. I own and manage a real estate and vacation rental business on the side, and substitute teach in Sandy and Welches.

Cam’s a certified Wilderness First Responder, AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide, and a certified Single Pitch Instructor. While Cam loves technical climbing in the mountains, his favorite climb is likely the most recent climbing adventure he has experienced. Cam loves to climb, and share the joy of climbing with others.

As a child and teenager, Patrick spent time backpacking, trail running, mountain biking and nordic skiing. He studied marine biology in college where he learned to surf and SCUBA dive. After finishing school, Patrick spent six years in the US Navy as a diver, picking all sorts of things up that sank, and fixing submarines. The Navy brought Patrick to Washington as his last duty station where Patrick fell in love with rock and alpine climbing and backcountry skiing. Here, the mountains pulled him away from the ocean.   

After being honorably discharged Patrick spent the last five years teaching skiing during the winter and guiding full time during the summer. Patrick has worked in Moab Utah, the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, the Cascades, taught downhill skiing in China, and more recently worked in the Alaska Range. After bouncing around the mountain West for a few years, Patrick decided to permanently relocate to the Washington, where plenty of precipitation brings deep snow to ski during the winter and still somehow manages to keep the glaciers from receding too fast to play on during the summer. 

When Patrick isn’t guiding or teaching outside, you can find him trail running, backcountry skiing, mountain biking, cooking, reading, or traveling ridiculously long distances to catch a wave or SCUBA dive. He makes ends meet during the off season, doing part time remote work as a legal assistant for an immigration law practice. Patrick is an assistant rock guide, apprentice alpine and ski guide, single pitch instructor, and a PSIA certified ski instructor.

Denis’ passion for the outdoors is palpable. He loves sharing knowledge and experiences with others in the outdoor community, and has immense gratitude to the countless climbers who have taught and mentored him over the years. He has racked up his own long history of mentorship and volunteer climbing instruction, and has found guiding to be an incredibly rewarding way to create connection with and within the mountains. Denis is a certified Wilderness First Responder and AMGA Single Pitch Instructor, and is currently pursuing an aggressive agenda of AMGA certifications across the rock, alpine, ice and ski mountaineering disciplines.

When not climbing and guiding, Denis is part of a small team that develops search and rescue technology – predominantly for the ski industry. Denis has two sons, both of whom now out-ski him, and he looks forward to the day they’ll be able to invite him along on their own climbing adventures.

Brenda is an AIARE course leader and an AMGA certified single pitch instructor. She is an AMGA apprentice ski and alpine guide, and is pursuing AMGA ski certification. She has over 100 summits of Mt Rainier, three trips to Denali, and summited Mt Everest via the south side in 2006. She has a Masters in Sustainable Business (MBA) from Pinchot University, and a certificate in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell. She’s a parent, a small business owner, and, at best, a mediocre cook. She draws from all of these life experiences to design fulfilling experiences for her guests—except for the cooking.

Michael is actively pursuing his AMGA guide certifications and is most recently stoked on ice climbing. He currently resides in Wyoming and enjoys the Rockies however happily travels to both coasts whenever  to pursue adventure.

Besides outdoor pursuits & adventures, Michael enjoys cooking with friends, listening to records, gardening and road tripping in his Chevy Astro van. If he is not in the mountains, he is trying to get to the ocean to catch some waves. 

Michael is currently a Wilderness EMT, AMGA Apprentice Alpine Guide, LNT Master Educator, NOLS field instructor, PSIA certified ski instructor, volunteer Search and Rescue for Fremont County, and has avalanche level 1 and rescue course education.

Although Tara’s initial pull towards working in the outdoors was motivated by her love of the natural world, she has fallen even more deeply in love with the work because of the endless opportunities it affords us to build connections, gain a deeper sense of self, and cultivate compassion. Tara has worked both in instructional and supervisory roles in outdoor education, teaching backpacking, rock climbing and mountaineering to people of all ages. 

Tara is certified as a Wilderness First Responder, an AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide and Single Pitch Instructor and an AIARE 1. She is also a yoga instructor.

New to the team, Rob has been enjoying learning new routes and places to ski from his capable colleagues here at Kaf Adventures.

When I am not climbing and instructing, I volunteer with Climbers for Christ by organizing and serving meals, coffee etc at climbing festivals around the US.

I’m a sponsor and help organize events such as showing Reel Rock films and bringing guest speakers to the Tri-Cities – I co-launched this, we’ve had approximately 1600 attend the events over the past 11 years. The partnership / sponsors have grown to include our local REI, Inter-Mountain Alpine Club, Local climbing gyms and Subaru dealership.

When I am not guiding, I enjoy ice climbing, rock climbing for personal development and enjoyment. And making homemade pizzas in my wood-fired pizza oven to share with family and friends!

When Berndt isn’t working at the fire station or participating in Kaf experiences, he can be found skiing, climbing, or hiking throughout the Northwest. He also spends a lot of time walking his two black labs at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, WA.

Outdoor guiding and instruction allows Berndt to share the activities he is passionate about while having fun and meeting new people. His favorite Northwest climbing area is Washington Pass/Mazama. He also enjoys skiing wherever the snow is fluffy, or at least present.

His favorite trips have been hut-based Via Feratta tours in the Dolomites and week long ski hut tours in the Fairy Meadows of British Columbia. Some of Berndt’s future planned trips include rock climbing in Potrero Chico in Mexico and a ski hut tour in Silvretta Alps of Austria.

Berndt is an AMGA Single Pitch Instructor, Wilderness First Responder, and Leave No Trace Trainer.

She writes and presents on equity in the outdoors as it pertains to risk management, and was also the Lead Guide and a feature narrative in “Who’s On Top? LGBTQs Climb Mount Hood,” a documentary which premiered Spring 2021. Taylor is a wilderness medicine instructor, a Wilderness First Responder, Leave No Trace Master Educator, and Avalanche Level 1.

As a young adult, I joined one of the first rock gyms to open in China. Even though the city boasts a population in excess of 30 million people, there are less than 100 dedicated climbers there. Slowly I became a part of the climbing community, fell in love with climbing outdoors, then began as a part-time climbing instructor. I also started writing about my experiences, in magazines and online, to share what I’ve learned about climbing and help others get their start in climbing.

I have climbed in China, Thailand and at iconic crags in US like Washington Pass, Red Rocks, Red River Gorge, Rumney, Adirondacks, Joshua Tree, The Gunks, Yosemite, High Sierra, and Smith Rock. I always want to level-up, to climb higher grades and touch more remote gorgeous big walls, but also to more effectively share climbing and introduce others to this wonderful world.

Climbing and guiding has taken Zack to all areas of the world, including: the French and Austrian Alps, New Zealand, northern Canada, Mexico, and numerous regions in western Canada and the USA. Zack is in the process of completing his full IFMGA mountain guide certification through the AMGA, and ultimately aims to balance guiding with research in avalanche forecasting.

Zack’s favorite activity in the mountains is split-boarding big lines on big peaks and working to find the best conditions to do this in; though he enjoys any aspect of mountain travel and especially connecting others to the beauty and lessons that the mountains have to offer.

In the summer Ellie works for Breakwater Expeditions helping to guide backpacking trips in Yellowstone National Park, sea kayaking expeditions in Alaska, river trips on the Missouri, and various other locations. She also runs yoga & backpacking trips at Kaf Adventures.  In the winter she works as a Cat skiing guide for Selkirk Powder Guides.

Her passion and love for the outdoors allows her to continuously play outside for a living and to keep providing people with the opportunities to get into nature and explore. Outside of guiding Ellie resides in her hometown, where she enjoys spending time with her pup, mountain biking, hiking, backcountry snowboarding, and dabbling in herbal medicine. 

Ellie is a certified Wilderness First Responder, IOLGB Level 1 Ski Guide, AAIRE level 1 and 2, and swift water rescue. 

Wilfred received training from Kilimanjaro Tanzania National Park, (KINAPA), and is a certified KINAPA guide and Wilderness First Responder. As a highly committed, professional mountain trekker, in 2012 Wilfred was qualified to become part of a Mt. Everest expedition team. He was one of the few Africans at Everest basecamp and on May 19th he became the first Tanzanian to summit the world’s highest mountain, Mt. Everest (29,0028ft). On 26 August 2014, Wilfred continued his pursuit of climbing the worlds highest peaks and summited the highest mountain in Europe, Mt Elbrus. He plans to complete the 7 summits.

Wilfred and his family of two children are part of the Chagga tribe. They live in the town of Moshi where he grew up.

Despite being born a flatlander, Amber has managed to develop a deep passion for mountain adventure. She was introduced to the guide industry in her youth through trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota. Those formative experiences led her to pursue a degree in Outdoor Recreation, and begin what would become a nine year sea kayak guide career. Although she loves identifying echinoderms and eating seaweed, she left her work in the sea to pursue work in the mountains. An avid backcountry adventurer, Amber can often be found pulling hard on granite, tip-toeing up a skin track, or meandering along alpine routes. She deeply appreciates every moment spent in the mountains, but is most at home giggling her way up multi-pitch and big wall climbs. Some of her favorites include, The Grand Wall in Squamish BC, and Triple Direct on El Cap.

Amber aims to fill her life with moments of awe, gratitude, and whimsy. When Amber isn’t chasing mountain goals, you can find her pursuing creative ones at home in Bellingham, WA where she routesets at the local boulder gym. Amber also has a knack for costuming and thrives at themed dance parties. Her other hobbies include biking, yoga, practicing sustainable living, thrifting, and finding the perfect oat milk latte wherever she goes. Her keen eye for detail and love of organization keep her calm in the field and dialed on the phones (pun intended). She’s stoked to help you actualize and achieve your goals for your next mountain adventure!