Instructors
Peak Rescue’s mission is to provide each client or organization with cutting edge skills and education to prevent catastrophe. We also respond to difficult rescue scenarios with the safest and most effective techniques available to rescuers.
Every Peak Rescue instructor is certified and required to continue working in the field to maintain a practical approach to rope rescue. They have each spent thousands of hours performing work around the globe in challenging conditions using rope rescue techniques, ingenuity, and common sense. Our instructors bring a high level of patience, sense of humor, and clarity in communication throughout the course to put you in the best position possible for your next technical rescue should it occur.
Micah Rush
Lead Instructor
Micah’s knowledge and expertise is both varied and strong. With over 20 years experience as a rope rescue technician, a seasoned fire fighter/ first responder, and mountain guide, Micah brings a wide variety of rescue skills and knowledge to share. Micah is one of the only rescue techs in the country with Rope Access, Rope Rescue, Mountain Rescue, ITRA Registered Assessor, ITRA Instructor Confined Space & Rope Level 3, and the full International Federation of Mountain Guides Association (IFMGA) certifications. This unique blend of knowledge ranging from backcountry rescue to industrial rescue, allowed Micah to become a leader in these areas within the Fire Department and the Regional Rescue Teams. He has helped to inform OSHA as they create new guidelines surrounding rock climbing and guiding as well as testing both recreational and industrial rescue equipment for leading companies.
As a professional mountain guide and rescue team coordinator, Micah has real world advice and experience as well as knowledge and theory from some of the highest standards in the business to pass on to each student he comes into contact with
Eric Christensen
Lead Instructor
Eric Christensen graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelors Degree in Chemistry. In addition to his chemistry degree, he also holds an Associates from Casper College in Biology and many technical certifications in industrial and fire based rescue services. Eric started his career in chemistry but made a career change in Jan 2006 when he pursued a career involving firefighting, hazmat, confined space and high angle rescue with the Los Alamos County Fire Department in New Mexico. After obtaining a Department of Defense Federal Q Security Clearance, Eric was able to provide ALS ambulance services, confined space, high angle rescue, and other firefighter services for the city of Los Alamos and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Eric later relocated back to his home town of Casper, WY and currently serves as a Firefighter/EMT-I for the Casper Fire Department. He is now the department’s lead trainer in high angle and confined space rescue and serves as an instructor here at Peak Rescue.
Tye Herron
Lead Instructor
Tye is a Casper native and has grown up exploring the Wyoming mountains and wilderness. He enjoys camping, skiing, hiking, climbing, and mountaineering in his spare time. Tye has two sons and a daughter with whom he loves to teach and share his passion for outdoor sports and nature.
Tye is a 17 year veteran on the Casper Fire-EMS department in Casper, WY. He is an Engineer EMT-I on Rescue 1 where his experience responding to various rescue emergencies, including High Angle, Structure and Trench incidents, brings “real world” know how to Peak Rescue.
Shortly after finding his calling as a Firefighter, Tye began teaching Technical Rescue to aspiring Firefighters at Casper College. His expertise led him to positions of leadership on the rescue teams with the fire department and eventually he teamed up with Micah and Peak Rescue around 2010. Tye holds several certifications in the field of technical and wilderness rescue, and he still loves learning about new techniques and equipment.
Toph Steinhoff
Lead Instructor
Toph spent most of his childhood in the Wyoming outdoors enjoying hunting, fishing, camping and exploring. While going to college he worked as a wildland firefighter for the BLM and graduated from the University of Wyoming with a bachelor’s in resource management. Many years later he transitioned into the structure firefighting world and found his passion for technical rescue. He holds many certifications and has obtained invaluable knowledge through training and real-world experience. In addition, he serves on an extrication module specializing in removing injured firefighters and civilians from remote areas of the backcountry.
Toph has been to countless 80s rock concerts and brings an upbeat positive attitude to every situation he encounters. He lives by two credos in life; you can't have no in your heart and life is a garden...dig it! He enjoys anything outdoors and spending time with his family. He is the newest addition to the Peak Rescue team but has proved to be an invaluable asset in and out of the classroom.
Cody Carroll
Lead Instructor - Military Program Manager
Cody spent over 23 years in the military, most of it as a Force Recon Marine. After he retired, he spent a year on the Loveland Fire Department in Colorado as a Firefighter/EMT-W, before transitioning back to work as a military training provider. During his time in the military, he deployed to lovely places like Iraq, Afghanistan and PACOM. He has held billets from team member to platoon commander and has in-depth knowledge of team tactics and the application of mountaineering skills to the military mountaineering team. He holds the military qualifications of Mountain Leader, Free-Fall Parachutist, Combat Diver, Dive Supervisor and currently moonlights as a SOF Level 1 Sniper Instructor. He is a current TS/SCI clearance holder and a deployable advisor. For the last several years he has worked extensively in jungle terrain, developing mobility and jungle warfare programs for the Tactical Tracking Operations School, where he currently holds the title of VP and delivers jungle specific training to special operations teams.
Cody is passionate about transferring the technical mountaineering and rope related skills to our military clients. He believes that these skills give commanders access to terrain that would be considered “denied” by most and that these skills open the playbook for operational access.
Jon Bertsch
Lead Instructor
With nearly two decades in the rescue industry, Jon has trained, instructed, competed and responded in nearly every terrain type available. He began his rescue career in 2006 when he entered the fire service and spent most of his time away from work in the Rocky Mountains or the canyons of the southwest. During that time, he has served on local and regional response teams participating as a team member, trainer, lead and manager.
Jon’s instructional focus is rooted in helping align an organizations profile with it’s mission profile while emphasizing personal competencies melding skillsets from all types of technical rescue.
Throughout his time in technical rescue Jon has committed to staying up to date with robust continuing education, field work and regularly responding to all types of technical emergencies.
Jon holds certifications in rope rescue, confined space rescue, trench and collapse rescue as well as rope access.
Joe Thompson
Lead Instructor / Guide
Joe has a lifetime of guided climbing and ski mountaineering objectives, including committing alpine lines and ski descents around the world, desert rock climbs in the American South West, and traversing the high peaks locally in Colorado, the US, and beyond.
Joe became the 92nd guide to become fully certified by American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA), and is licensed by the International Federation of Mountain Guide Association (IFMGA), the highest level of professional guiding in the world. To this day there are only 178 IFMGA certified guides in the United States. Achieving IFMGA certification was the culmination of many years of work and commitment to the mountain guiding profession.
Joe is a senior instructor for the AMGA. He trains and examines in the alpine, rock, ice and ski disciplines for the AMGA. He brings his enthusiasm and passion to the next generation of American guides.
He holds 2 of the highest Avalanche Forecasting certifications in the US with the American Institute of Avalanche Research and Education and the American Avalanche Institute. Joey is an AIARE course leader of the recreation program for AIARE and Professional Avalanche Instructor with AAI. In addition to Joe's extensive experience and certifications, in 2013 he was recognised by the AMGA as Outstanding Guide of the Year for his exceptional dedication to the mountain craft and his clients.
Joe guides full time in all of the mountain disciplines alpine climbing, ice climbing, ski mountaineering, and rock climbing. He currently leads guided rock, ice, alpine climbing, and ski mountaineering trips in Alaska, Canada, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Washington, Colorado, Switzerland, France, and Asia.
Joe professionally represents Rab Equipment, Backcountry Access in the snow safety/ ski mountaineering environment and he is a guide athlete at C.A.M.P.