Our Faculty

Sarah has worked in outdoor education since 2010, entering the field as a climbing instructor, and picking up whitewater canoeing and backpacking along the way. She’s passionate about teaching wilderness medicine within the context of broader decision-making frameworks and as a skillset that empowers any lover of outdoor adventure in whatever environment they may find themselves in. You’ll find her revisiting the AT, crafting the perfect trip for the southeast forests, or dreaming of snow and rocks out west.

Josh has been involved in search and rescue, technical rope rescue, and wilderness EMS in the backcountry of the Southern Appalachian Mountains since 2014. He took his first NOLS WFR course with Landmark Learning in 2010, which ultimately was a springboard for his career. Teaching wilderness medicine and outdoor leadership skills, spending time with his family, trail running, yoga, and good coffee are among his passions.

Recreational backcountry guiding and instruction since 2006 and Rescue and Emergency Medical Services since 2009. He likes trail or road running and whitewater kayaking, but dabbles in anything outdoors.

Having been a backcountry instructor since 1993, Seth is one of the most experienced members of the Landmark Learning team. He also happens to be the medical director and says that the reason he joined Landmark was because he believes in the mission and for the wickedly good-looking hats.

Eli Helbert has been an outdoor educator since 1987. A reformed raft guide and international competitor, he is currently an open canoe IT for the ACA, a lead instructor for NOLS Wilderness Medicine, and a swiftwater rescue instructor. He considers himself fortunate to be aligned with Landmark Learning.

Susan has been an outdoor instructor since 2000, and has been working at Landmark since 2017. She loves all things outdoors, but especially long backpack trips, biking, and trail maintenance. She is passionate about helping people feel knowledgeable and prepared for spending time outdoors.

Maury has been an outdoor educator since 2013, where she started as a wilderness therapy field instructor. She is a former A.T. thru-hiker and ATC Ridgerunner, and is passionate about Leave No Trace. Her personal and professional outdoor experience helps her be prepared for anything as the Program Coordinator at Landmark.

Priscilla loves long backpacking trips and during the summer and fall, she instructs backpacking and mountaineering courses in Colorado and Alaska. She plays the fiddle and enjoys playing the music of the Appalachians, the British Isles, and from the contra dance tradition.

Felipe has been a mountain guide since 2000 and a wilderness medicine instructor since 2006. After spending a lot of time in the outdoors, he decided to start sharing his knowledge and experience. He is also the founder of Mingai, providing training and care in remote settings of Ecuador.

Originally from the rolling mountains outside Pittsburgh, PA Steven now considers himself a Floridian, and calls Tampa Bay home. After starting to lead adventure trips at the University of South Florida, Steven took his first Landmark Learning course in 2013, becoming an instructor in 2020. Steven is an avid sea kayaker and paddle boarder, enjoys getting his hands greasy repairing his many road bikes, and would spend too much time playing board games if you let him.

Scott has been backcountry guiding and instructing since 2007 and enjoys rock climbing, whitewater canoeing, trail running, snowboarding, slack lining, and generally being better at things than Jason Carter. He loves empowering other outdoor leaders with medical skills and judgement. When he is not teaching he enjoys playing in the Mountains of WNC, PNW and the Rockies!

Brenda has spent 6 years as a guide and outdoor ed instructor for REI. As a WFA instructor, she loves to help students think outside the box, improvise, and feel more comfortable recreating outdoors. She grew up in West Virginia, but now you can find her walking her dogs in Raleigh, NC and escaping to the mountains to snowboard during the winter.

D’vorah has worked in wilderness therapy and volunteer firefighting before becoming an EMT and then Paramedic. She began teaching Wilderness Medicine to combine her medical knowledge with her passion for being outdoors. Along with Wilderness Medicine, she is also passionate about mental health and worked for multiple years with at-risk youth. She enjoys empowering others to build confidence in their decision-making process and patient assessment knowledge to respond to needs as they arise. In her free time, she enjoys mountain biking and learning how to whitewater kayak.

Graham keeps out of trouble by working as a Respiratory Therapist and a Paramedic. He fully blames his interest in the medical field on Landmark Learning, starting when he took his EMT course with us in 2012. Graham knows more about Star Wars than the rest of the Landmark staff combined. Aside from binge watching Star Wars, Graham also likes to go hiking and climbing, and recently got into mountaineering.

Fritz’s canoeing career began 50 plus years ago at a local summer camp his family owned and operated. Besides instructing at a young age at camp, Fritz has shaped several boats in Dagger’s and Perception’s R&D and competed internationally on the US Wildwater C-1 Team. Fritz is an ACA Level-5 IT Canoe Instructor and today focuses his time at Camp High Rocks, Landmark Learning, and multi-day wilderness river trips. During the winter months, Fritz is in his studio handcrafting wooden canoe paddles. “ Working for Landmark is a treasured experience, genuine leadership, inspired students and positive fun atmosphere!”

Mairi has been guiding and instructing since 1989 and founded Landmark Learning with her husband, Justin Padgett. It took a long time for her to realize there is NO wrong way to enjoy the outdoors, and she enjoys anything she can do with their two kids in the wilderness.

Dan is retired military and has been involved with lower mountaineering and backcountry instruction since 1985. He has been an EMT since 1983 and involved in rescue and Emergency Medical Services since 2011. He loves to boulder, backpack and ski deep powder!

Julia “Pieps” Pieper has worked as an outdoor educator since 2012, teaching Wilderness Medicine courses and working as a NOLS Expedition Instructor in the backpacking, canyoneering, canoeing, and winter programs. Pieps enjoys packrafting, backpacking, and playing ultimate frisbee when not in the classroom.

Mike is a native of Northern Maine and has worked professionally in the outdoors since 2001. He is an avid paddler, skier, and mountain biker, whose passion for teaching and exploring keeps him traveling across North and South America. In his full time capacity Mike serves as the director of the Outdoor Sport Institute, a 501c3 non-profit that seeks to strengthen communities through outdoor sport. Mike is also a registered Maine Guide, registered Maine Sea Kayak Guide, and BICP L1 Mountain Bike Ride Guide.

Ryan loves the outdoors and has a passion for program design. As a whitewater canoeist, he has experience with outdoor medicine and the unpredictability of the wilderness. Ryan also remodels houses while managing his growing family.

Eric’s three primary interests are teaching, watersports and farm living. Medicine comes in a
close fourth. Eric’s work resume includes teaching marine science on a sailboat, ecological
restoration in national parks, starting up two community paddling programs and working as an Outward Bound Instructor. Presently a student of nursing Eric still attempts to find time to
forage for ramps, trim apple trees, teach wilderness medicine courses and of course, paddle.

My full time gig is as a paramedic at the local service here in WNC. I teach the EMT Intensive at Landmark because we get students from all over the country and from all walks of life. The students are fired up and I have to work hard to be prepared… it makes me a better paramedic. When I’m not involved with EMS, I’m kayaking and getting out in the woods with my wife and dogs. Teaching the ACA Swiftwater Rescue curriculum is fun, and also hopefully giving something back to a sport that I love.

Thomas worked for Outward Bound for 15 years, leading canoe expeditions in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota, backpacking trips in Big Bend National Park in Texas, and sea kayaking expeditions in the Bahamas. He received a degree in Outdoor Experiential Education from Prescott College in Prescott, AZ. “Wags” currently lives in Asheville, NC and when he’s not teaching classes in wilderness medicine or outdoor leadership, he spends his summers as a commercial whitewater guide on the French Broad River.

Bart has a long career in EMS and Search and Rescue, including working as a firefighter, flight medic, K9 handler, and Medical Unit Leader for wildfire and natural disaster Incident Mangement. He has witnessed many situations where a first responder made significant contribution to successful patient outcomes, and he hopes to teach people to become that “significant contribution” in someone’s life. He enjoys getting outside to hike and whitewater raft with his three kids.

Kevin did his BS at Western Carolina University and enjoys playing in whitewater, downhill mountain biking, underground exploration (aka caving) and yard art.