SnowSeekers Team

From slopes to hiking trails, for over 20 years Jim Barr (aka Doc Pow) has been exploring the Pacific Northwest of North America, on both sides of the Canadian Rockies. Jim shared his adventures as a travel writer, TV producer and mobile developer in almost all forms of traditional and new media,becoming an expert on the slopes, resorts, cities and everything in between.

"I get to introduce the world to some of my favourite places in Western Canada. Even better, I get to do it with an outstanding team of correspondents who help educate and inspire snow and festival seekers to get out and explore. In 20 years of reporting and producing content about this region it continues to amaze me. The opportunities in this part of our world are endless."

Michael Bednar is an award-winning travel and documentary photographer recognized internationally for his work, which explores humanity's relationship with our environment, and how that relationship in turn shapes our culture. He has been bestowed with numerous awards, including Best Photojournalism of the Decade by Asian Geographic, the Lucie Award for International People Photographer of the Year and the Northern Lights Award for Best Canadian Travel Photography. Michael studied and worked in forestry, fisheries and wildlife prior to becoming a professional photographer.  His photographic work combines his love of travel, appetite for adventure and knowledge of the natural world with the joy he derives from connecting with people of diverse cultures and walks of life. Michael revels in sharing his experiences and his passion with others.

Outside, in the snow - that's where you'll find Stevie in the winter when she's not creating behind a computer, camera, or canvas.

Her experience as a news anchor, writer, producer and photographer in Vancouver and Calgary shapes her love for digital media and the immersive opportunity it gives to connect people.

Stevie is a firm believer in using social media as inspiration to get outside, a way to connect to your community, and a tool to learn about the world around you. You can find her at @NovemberSeven on Instagram.

Rebecca built her first website in 1997 and she has been blogging about life in BC since 2004 on Miss604.com, which has since become BC's most award-winning blog. In 2010, Rebecca literally wrote the book on Blogging to Drive Business, and she has been named one of BC's Top 100 Women of Influence by the Vancouver Sun. In 2016, she won Variety International's media award and she welcomes an audience of 80,000 to her blog and social media channels each day.

Lisa is a Calgary-based writer recently re-joining the freelance world after a seven-year stint as a lifestyles reporter at the Calgary Herald. Recent credits include WestJet's Up!, Powder, Western Living and Swerve Magazines. She also writes the Spirited Calgary cocktails column in the Calgary Herald. Kadane is excited to be once again writing about her passions of skiing, festivals and travel - now with two young kids in tow - and looks forward to helping Seekers expand its family-friendly content offerings.

Crai is a media producer and hosts a weekly travel talk show on National Public Radio with Europe's Rick Steves. You will find his stories Forbes Magazine, MSN.com, National Geographic Traveller, and dozens of regional and daily newspapers and in-flight magazines.

Steve MacNaull lives in the Okanagan, the land of champagne powder snow, mild winter temperatures and sensational downhill skiing at Big White, Silver Star, Apex and Mount Baldy resorts.
He waterskis on Okanagan Lake in the summer and downhill skis in the winter.
He's the business and wine reporter and columnist at the Kelowna Daily Courier and also traverses the world to produce travel features for syndication in Canadian newspapers such as the Toronto Sun, 24 Hours Vancouver, Winnipeg Free Press and 24 Hours Toronto.

Since the ripe old age of 6 weeks, Kieren has been camping, road-tripping and exploring. Some of her favorite things to do are hiking, cycling, climbing, snowboarding, sledding, canoeing, and paddle-boarding. 

Her speciality is any adventure that involves a challenge. Whether it's cycling across Canada at the age of 20 to raise funds for Prostate Cancer Canada, or converting a school bus into a mobile home (Skoolie) for a 6 month road trip around North America, Kieren likes to think up the ridiculous, and make it a reality. 

Lisa Monforton was a confirmed winter-dreading flatlander living in Southern Ontario, before moving to Calgary just more than a decade ago. Since the first time she experienced the Rockies in winter, clipping on skis at Nakiska, she wondered why she hadn't done this a lot sooner. She was quickly cured of her winter-weariness and has come to appreciate Alberta’s longest season. Lisa is a long-time journalist, and most recently was the travel editor at the Calgary Herald for the past 10 years. She continues to write freelance for a number of publications. When she’s not travelling, or skiing, she enjoys the peace of snow-shoeing, hiking, cycling and camping.

Elizabeth Chorney-Booth is a Calgary based-freelance writer. A former music journalist, Elizabeth now focuses on matters of food, arts, and travel and her work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, WestJet Magazine, Avenue, The Calgary Herald and many other print and online publications. When she's not writing about her various adventures Elizabeth is in the kitchen creating recipes as one of the faces behind the revamped Best of Bridge series of cookbooks. She lives with her husband and two children, who have gotten used to jumping in the car and setting off to discover new and exciting things in Western Canada and beyond.

Powder Matt is a writer, author, adventurer, traveler, outdoor guide, catalyst for positive change, health crusader and sport coach. With 40 years of living and breathing mountain culture, Matt developed an industry leading initiative to get Western Canadian kids active and healthy in winter, inspiring 10 thousand avid lifelong skiers as the creator of the RCR Grade 2 Fun Pass- a complimentary season ski pass given to seven year olds to ski for free at all RCR resorts- a true catalyst!

A lover of all things outdoors, Abby is a splitboarder, hiker, adventurer, photographer, writer and year-round snow seeker. She’s living life one adventure to the next with her dog by her side. When she ventures in front of the camera Abby is sponsored by Arc'teryx, Smith Optics, G3gear and Karakoram. 

Debbie Olsen is a writer, traveler, photographer, and adventurer. She writes a regular travel column for the Calgary Herald and has contributed to 9 Fodor's guidebooks about Alberta.

Kenton de Jong is a 24-year-old travel blogger from Regina, Saskatchewan. A lover of history and culture, Kenton has traveled around the world only to discover his favorite place is right back home here in Canada. He now travels Western Canada discovering history, making memories and sharing his stories with the world.

Jeremy Derksen has hitchhiked through BC, hopped a train in Alberta, slept outdoors in a hammock at -5C, been attacked by an owl, caught hypothermia in Yoho and somehow managed to solo the Canadian Death Race. All that (good) suffering inspires his work as a writer, photographer, adventurer, location manager and media consultant. Winters you can find him proudly sporting Canadian Ski Patrol red at Marmot Basin, or shredding just about anywhere else he can, whenever he can. He is also a father of three, so his sherpa skills are on point.

He has published in Canadian Geographic, The Globe & Mail, The Ski Journal, Avenue Magazine and more. His media clients have included the Canadian Tourism Commission (Mexico), Travel Alberta and Edmonton Tourism.

As editor and producer at Seekers, he is proud to have worked on the award-winning Take It To The Lake campaign.

Dave Quinn is a Kimberley, BC-based freelancer who divides his time between skiing, outdoor education, teaching avalanche courses, and slogging it out in the office.

As assistant editor at Seekers and a freelance travel writer, Elves roams the world looking for the odd, the unusual, the inspiring and the great travel stories but admits when there is sun or snow - that's the best story of all. Recent writing credits include; The Globe and Mail Drive, The Calgary Herald travel section; Canadian Running, Canadian Cycling, and WestJet Magazines. Her "other job" is director of operations for a wind energy company. Her favourite stories can be found on her website Joanne Elves - on the go

National Geographic Traveler, The Huffington Post, the Vancouver Sun and many other media outlets rely on Mark's first person content to help drive audience interest to destinations around the world.

Liz's travels have taken her from coast to coast to coast in Canada and taken her abroad to Iceland, Botswana, Thailand, Argentina, Singapore, Uruguay, Hong Kong, Tahiti and beyond. Her adventures have included riding on the Orient Express and the Rocky Mountaineer, skiing with Olympians in Whistler and feeding wild sharks in Bora Bora. She's always ready for the next adventure. Liz's work appears regularly in major Canadian publications. In 2011, she published two Amazon ebooks: Since You're Here We Might As Well Shag and 207 Travel Tips Because 101 Just Wouldn't Have Been Enough. She's written a travel gear column for the Toronto Star and is thrilled to bring that expertise to SnowSeekers' readers.

An accomplished editorial and commercial photographer, Aaron Theisen has contributed to numerous regional and national sports and lifestyle publications, including Powder, Backpacker, British Columbia and Northwest Travel & Life. Aaron is co-author of Day Hiking Mount St. Helens (Mountaineers Books) and sole author of the forthcoming Day Hiking Western Montana's Glacier Country. 

For 137 days, Chris travelled across Canada producing daily social media short-form videos on the progress of the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay, working with the Canadian Tourism Commission, Coca-Cola and The Royal Bank of Canada. Now Chris is one of Canada's leading video and social media producers. Chris joins Doc Pow, Dan Wilberg and Kris Wedgewood.

Ricky Forbes is the driver for one of North America’s top professional storm chasing teams and also an accomplished web designer, freestyle snowboard coach, dirt biker, snowmobiler, and overall an adventure seeking adrenaline junkie. With his roots in Saskatchewan Ricky grew up snowboarding, dirt biking, and playing hockey. After high school he went on to graduate from the University of Saskatchewan completing his Bachelor of Commerce degree with a major in Finance. Following University Ricky tried the suit and tie gig for a couple years and decided it wasn’t for him. His life is now dedicated to pushing the limits, pursuing adventures and living life to the fullest.

Paula is based in Calgary and grew up skiing the ski resorts of Alberta and B.C. She's a leading PR consultant, freelance writer and photographer. She regularly contributes to the Calgary Herald, Vancouver Sun and other Postmedia News Networks. No stranger to the ski and travel industry, Worthington previously managed media relations for various Western Canadian ski resorts and also worked on the marketing team at WestJet. She covers "off the beaten path" stories and runs a travel story website, www.wanderswild.com.