Dave grew up in Toronto before migrating west to the Canadian Rockies, where he spent his twenties mountaineering, climbing, and paddling the region’s many peaks and river systems. Winters were spent skiing in the backcountry and summers dedicated to planting over half a million trees in the rugged northern landscapes.
Switching
gears to a career in conservation, Dave completed a Master’s degree in wildlife
ecology and now works for Parks Canada in Banff National Park as a
human-wildlife conflict specialist, managing the complex interface between
visitor experience and wildlife populations. Dave also works as a polar bear
interpretive guide each fall in Churchill, Manitoba and as an avalanche
forecaster in the Canadian Rockies during the winters.
When not working or guiding, Dave has a visceral draw to Canada’s wild northern spaces and has completed more than twenty multi-week, self-propelled ski touring, mountaineering, and paddling expeditions throughout the world. He is a Royal Canadian Geographic Society grantee for a recent expedition to Ellesmere Island.
Dave is a member of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides and a Canadian Avalanche Association professional forecaster. He lives in Banff, Alberta with his artist wife Mindy, their daughter Charly, and an ever-loyal retriever named Happy.
Above all else, Dave revels in watching guests’ knowledge grow, smiles widen, and connection to place deepen while out on the Arctic landscape.