"Eric is one of the best in the business - Obsessed with safety."

National Geographic (yellow) Magazine

I met Eric in 1980, when he almost single-handedly stopped the James Bay II Hydro-electric Project, which would have destroyed eleven major rivers in northern Quebec. I worked with him to save Headwall Canyon in British Columbia and Quebec's Magpie.

Robert Kennedy Jr.

Eric’s guiding began at 16 on a cross country bicycle trip where he met a guide who invited him to row a baggage boat on Oregon's Rogue River. Throughout his high school and college summers he guided on the Tuolumne River in California where he was one of the first to run a commercial paddle boat. After college, he spent his summers guiding on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon and was a playwright the rest of the year. His plays won a number of awards including a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. His play “Between Rails” was produced off-broadway. (New York Times review). During this time he also co-founded the Rondout-Esopus Land Conservancy in the Catskill and Sharwangunk ("gunks") Mountains of the Hudson Valley in New York which has protected over 3,500 acres.

In the late nineteen eighties, Eric gave up playwriting to start Earth River. The company was founded on a number of core principles; exploring and finding the most amazing trips, running the finest, safest trips possible and fighting to preserve important river resources. Over the past 23 years, Eric has organized and led dozens of conservation awareness trips taking policy makers and media down threatened rivers. His efforts focussed on stopping the James Bay Hydro-electric Project in Quebec and dams on Chile’s Bio Bio and Futaleufu rivers and Quebec’s Magpie. Eric's other conservation efforts helped bring awareness to the preservation of watersheds like British Columbia’s, Yosemite like, Headwall Canyon and New Foundland’s Main River, which were both threatened by clear cut logging. Using his land trust experience, he co-founded the Earth River Land Trust on the Futaleufu which to date has protected many kilometers of the river’s most dramatic shoreline.

Eric has been a pioneer in river rafting safety. He introduced the industry to foot cups to keep paddlers in the rafts and was among the first to teach clients active "self rescue" swimming techniques rather than passively floating on their backs. He was the first outfitter to offer a raft training day before running class 5 and introduced the industry to the use of caterafts "safety cats" as a rescue craft on large volume rivers like the futaleufu. He was the among the first to introduce oar-paddle hybrid rafts and double guided boats on challenging rivers.

Eric has organized and led first descents around the world and has been featured in American Airlines Magazine, Outside, National Geographic (yellow), National Geographic Adventure, The New York Times, Conde Naste Traveler and Men's Journal and on National Geographic Television, P.B.S., ESPN, TBS and Nicolodian. He pioneered and opened commercial rafting and multi-sport trips on a number of spectacular destinations including; Patagonia Chile's Futaleufu, China's Great Bend of the Yangtze, Quebec's Magpie, Peru's Colca Canyon, Tibet's Upper Yangtze, British Columbia's Headwall Canyon and the Yukon Territory's Primrose. Eric was the trip leader and captained the lead boat on a number of notable first raft descents including; the Futaleufu, Magpie, Headwall Canyon and Tibet's Schulo Ho which was featured in National Geograpic (yellow) Magazine. He was inducted into the New York Explorers Club in 2015.  His two sons, Cade and Teal, guide for Earth River.

Guide/Trip Leader
Guide
Videographer

Cade has been guiding for 18 years (ten on the Futalkeufu) and running expeditions since he was 6. He has worked as a guide on the Middle Fork of the Salmon, Tuolumne, Alsek and Rogue. Internationally he has done expeditions in Patagonia, Peru, Tibet  and Quebec. At 9 he began paddling an inflatable kayak down the class 4 Magpie River in Quebec and shot video to sell to the guests. The following year he was on the first exploration of the Lakes of Patagonia in Chile, featured in National Geographic Adventure Magazine. In 2003 he became active in the fight to stop multiple dams slated for the lower Magpie River in Quebec, testifying at government hearings and showing a video he shot that contradicted the developers claims that the River’s most impressive and soon to be flooded rapid was not runnable. His Magpie footage of a conservation expediton with Robert Kennedy Jr. was shown across Canada on CBC Television. In 2010 he shot video on the first raft and commercial descent of Peru’s Yavero River. In 2014, he coordinated the safety for a first descent on the Rio Ventana. His video work can be seen on the Earth River site. Cade is an avid kayaker and has run multiple rivers throughout the U.S. and Chile.

Personal Reflections

Guide/Trip Leader

Tyler grew up in Wisconsin but now calls the Pacific Northwest home. He has been guiding for 14 years on the following rivers; the Gauley in West Virginia, the Colorado through the Grand Canyon, the Salmon in Idaho, the Magpie in Quebec and dozens of rivers in California and Oregon, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia. His favorite river is the Futaleufu where he has been guiding and trip leading for Earth River for 5 seasons.  Tyler is a certified Wilderness Emergency medical Technician (E.M.T.)  When not guiding for Earth River he manages a rafting company in the Pacific Northwest. An avid kayaker,  Tyler can often be found exploring creeks and rivers throughout California, Oregon and Chile. 

Guide
Photographer

Teal has grown up in the outfitting industry having done expeditions throughout the U.S. and internationally in Fiji, Costa Rica, Belize, Patagonia, Yukon Territory, British Columbia and Quebec. In the U.S. he has worked on Oregon's Rogue River and California's Kern and Tuolumne. Internationally he has guided for Earth River for 8 years on Quebec’s Magpie and on the Futaleufu for seven seasons. Teal is a professional photographer and his work can be found on the Earth River web site and on his Instagram site: https://www.instagram.com/toasted_teal/?hl=en 

Guide/Trip leader

Ty is from Ontario, Canada and has been guiding for 14 years. He has managed a large rafting company on the Ottawa River and is been a guide instructor on the W.I.L.D guide school; where participants run rivers from Canada to Costa Rica over a three month period. For four years Ty has guided for Earth River on the Magpie and for three on the Futaleufu. Ty has a masters degree in Environmental Science and did his thesis on the disastrous impact a breach in a British Columbia mine's tailing pond would have on the down stream watershed.  Ironically, the following year, in Canada's worst environmental mining disaster, that very same British Columbian mine had a dam failure sending millions of metric tons of poisonous waste water into the downstream waterway. Ty has led a number of Inui First Nation trips down the Magpie River in Quebec, in order to build an awareness within the native community to what is at stake with the proposed dams. This awareness within the native community is paramount if the river is to be protected. Ty plays the mandolin and guitar and often sings around the campfire.

Personal Reflections

Guide/Trip leader

Juan is from Columbia and resides in British Columbia. He has been guiding for 23 years and had guided in; Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Italy, Canada, U.S. and Chile. He has guided the Futaleufu with Earth River for 8 seasons.  When not guiding, Juan is a volunteer fire fighter in Vancouver and coordinates safety for movie productions.  He also managed a rafting company in Columbia for 4 seasons. Beside rafting, Juan has extensive guiding experience in caving, rappelling, climbing and mountain biking.

Guide

Diego is from Argentina and has been guiding expeditions around the world for 15 years.  He has guided 12 season on the Zambezi in Africa and 8 seasons on the Futaleufu. He is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian and has guided in Norway, Italy, Chile, Africa, Argentina, Canada and the U.S. . Diego has been guiding on the Futaleufu for 8 years and has worked as a safety kayaker, a video boater. He has managed a rafting company in Argentina for many years.  He is a top level whitewater kayaker. When he’s not guiding around the world, he resides in Futaleufu. 

Chinese Partner/Guide

Jiyue is one of the grandfathers of adventure travel in China. Upon graduation from Sichuan Sports Institute in 1982, where he was a highly ranked 400 meter runner, Jiyue began working for China Mountaineering Association as a climbing guide and liaison working with international climbers. In 1985 the Chinese government sent him to the U.S. for whitewater training where he ran eight different rivers. The following year, he participated in the joint Sino-USA, first descent of the Yangtze River which completed 2000 kilometers of the previously unrun river. ABC's American Sportsman,featured the expedition in a two-part, 90-minute special titled, "Challenging China's Yangtze".

In 1993, under China's Open Door policy, Jiyue founded, Sichuan Earth Expeditions, one of the first private adventure companies in China. The company organized and led numerous first ascents throughout China and Tibet including the North Face of Gonga Mountain with one America's of America's most distinguished mountain climbers, Fred Becky. Sichuan Earth Expeditions also participated in the 2005 Chinese climb of the Mt. Everest and the 2008 World Olympic torch relay to the top of Everest.

As Earth River's China partner, Jiyue helped organize and run the first descent of the Shangri-la's Shuilo and Po Tsangpo Rivers in Tibet, as well as early commercial descents trips down the Great Bend and Upper Yangtze, He has been featured in Outside, National Geographic (yellow), National Geographic Adventure, Men's Journal and on National Geographic Television, China's Outdoor Exploration and Japanese Outdoor Magazine.

Personal Reflections

Expedition leader
River & Mountain Guide

In his twenties Shaohong was China's premier decathlete and honored with the prestigious "Chinese National Sportsman Award". When he retired from track, he forged a new career in adventure travel becoming an expert mountaineering, trekking and river guide.

Shaohong has taken part in numerous mountaineering first ascents in eastern Tibet. He participated in the 2002 joint China-Japan expedition that reached the summit of ChoOyu, the world's fifth highest mountain. In 2005 he summited Everest as part of a Chinese team organized to formally measure the height of the mountain. He was awarded China's highest sporting honour, the Sport's Medal of Honour, for his contribution to the expedition's success.

Shaohong has participated in many Earth River rafting tours on the Great Bend of the Yangtze in Yunnan and the Upper Yangtze river in Qinghai provinces. He has gained a great reputation for his Chinese cooking on the rafting expeditions.

Shaohong is also a professional photographer, and photographs have been published in China National Geographic and Japanese and Hong Kong outdoor adventure and travel magazines. In 2008 he was the official photographer for the Chinese Mountaineering Team's ascent of Mount Everest with the Olympic Torch. His photographs were used in the official commemorative album, "Olympic Shining Flame on Mount Everest."

Personal Reflections