ERIC HERTZ

"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.

Jacob Scher, Senior attornery Natural Resources Defense Council

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.

THE BACKBONE OF EARTH RIVER

"Earth River Expeditions is the premier river runner in the world. Their staff includes the finest guides to be found. They have guided descents down some of the toughest whitewater on Earth."

– ESPN Television

Not only have Earth River guides safely taken care of our guests for the last 3 plus decades but their contribution to our exploratory and conservation work has been immeasurable. It takes a special kind of person to deal with the unforeseen challenges associated with first descents, exploratories, conservation trips and commercial trips. It is imperative that the seasoned guests we take on exploratories, non paying media and policy makers that come on conservation expeditions and neophyte beginners on rivers like the Futaleufu and Magpie all feel secure. Our guides are hand picked, motivated and extremely accomplished beyond their guiding skills. As marvelous as the destinations we visit are, they will tell you that the highlight of their work is sharing those amazing places with our guests. They completely understand that trip safety is not predicated upon what they can safely run or even "swim" but what the particular guests in their raft can safely run or swim. 

Cade Hertz

Director of Operations

Cade has been guiding for 14 years (ten on the Futaleufu) and being part of expeditions since he was 6. He has worked as a guide on the Middle Fork of the Salmon, Tuolumne, Alsek, Rogue and a handful of other day trips across the US. Internationally he has guided expeditions in Patagonia, Peru, Tibet, and Quebec. At 9 he began paddling a kayak down the Magpie River in Quebec and recording videos to create advertising material as well as videos for 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 took 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 expedition 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 and has also appeared in National Geographic.. Cade is an avid kayaker and has first descents in the United States and Chile. When Cades not guiding you can find him hanging with his dog Osito, often mountain biking or gardening.

Personal Reflections

Teal Hertz

Guide, Sales Manager

Teal was fortunate enough to grow up in the outfitting industry having done expeditions throughout the U.S. and internationally; in Patagonia, Fiji, Costa Rica, Belize, Ecuador, Yukon Territory, British Colombia, Quebec and Jamaica. His first multi-day rafting trip was at 3 years old down California's, Tuolumne River. Subsequently, twenty-one years later he would follow in Eric's footsteps and spend three seasons working there. In the US he started guiding in 2013 and has since guided rafting trips in Oregon, California, Arizona, New York, and West Virginia as well as organizing and leading multiple hiking trips in Yosemite National Park. Internationally Teal has guided in Patagonia, Canada, Mexico, and Peru, he started working for Earthriver on the Magpie in 2013 and on the Futaleufu in 2016. It was his first season in Futa that solidified his love for the beautiful valley the river flows through and jump-started his desire to hike into the alpine there. Having spent hundreds of hours exploring new places in Futa he has discovered 9 alpine lakes and gathered 7 first ascents of mountains surrounding the river. As a professional photographer he has documented his journey along the way, his photos can be seen on the EarthRiver website and on his Instagram https://www.instagram.com/teal_hertz/

 

Tyler Smith (Ty)

Guide, Musician

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

Humberto Reyes

Guide

Humberto was born and raised in the central Valley of Chile and has been a guide and kayak instructor since 2009. He attended Araucania University in Pucon, Chile where his love for rivers began and graduated with a major in guiding and tourism. Guiding has taken him to Peru, Ecuador and Canada and he has acted as an assistant rescue instructor for different international organizations. Humberto loves sharing the beauty, natural history and cultural importance of the Futaleufu while always respecting the environment so future generations, can enjoying this magical place. Humberto fell in love with the Futaleufu valley; the mountains, people and culture and moved to the valley where he lives with his son, Rio. He has guided for Earth River on the Futaleufu and Magpie rivers since 2017.

Tomas Prior

Guide, Musician

Thomas, grew up in the Maipo Valley outside of Santiago, Chile and began rafting at 14 on the Miapo river. Thomas has spent 8 seasons guiding on the Futaleufu river and spends the other half of the year as the head guide in Italy on the Noce river. Thomas has also worked on the Colorado on the Arkansas river. Thomas is fluent in 3 languages, a fantastic musician and an exceptionally talented kayaker. He has a passion for kayaking and if you cant get ahold of him he's provably paddling, some of the disciplines he participates in are whitewater kayak racing,  exploratory paddling, and the art of running waterfalls.  Besides his love for adventure and the outdoors Thomas cares deeply about the protection of natural resources and has participated in protests against the Alto Maipo project, which is a hydro project that dewatering his home river and area that he grew up in. Thomas is very social and loves to meet people and learn about new cultures. Thomas aims to continue rafting, kayaking and exploring new rivers around the world.

Jose Castillo (Momo)

Guide, Photographer

Jose has guided internationally in Chile, the United States, Peru, Ecuador, Slovenia, Switzerland and Norway. He has been a guide and safety kayaker on the Futaleufu for 16 years. Jose is a professional chef, photographer, carpenter and sponsored world class kayaker. He lives on a gorgeous property along the Futaleufu in a house he hand built.

JIYUE ZHANG

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