Indoor/Outdoor Guides & Instructors
Our highly experienced instructors are committed to providing programs that meet and exceed the goals of our participants. These expert climbers have undergone extensive trainings with various organizations.
All of Petra Cliffs' Outdoor Guides have current Wilderness First Responder and CPR certifications. They are tested & evaluated annually in the field for competency.
Steve Charest, Program Director/ Lead Instructor
Indoor Instructor, Outdoor Rock & Ice Climbing, Ski Mountaineering, Avalanche Education, Mountaineering
Steve is Petra Cliffs' Program Director and Head Ski Guide. He has been professionally guiding rock, ice, mountaineering, and ski mountaineering programs since 2001. Steve has a degree in Outdoor Education from Johnson State College and has completed a NOLS Outdoor Educators Course for Mountaineering & Rock Climbing, the AMGA Top Rope Site Manager Course, the AMGA Rock Instructor Course, the AMGA Ski Guide Course, and the AMGA Ski Mountaineering Guides Course and Aspirant Exam. He is a certified AMGA Top Rope Site Manager and Climbing Wall Instructor, AIARE level III Avalanche Practitioner and a Level I AIARE Instructor.
Steve has climbed extensively throughout the US & Canada, including Devil's Tower, Joshua Tree, Squamish B.C., Acadia Nat'l Park, and locally in the Green Mts., White Mts., and Adirondacks. His favorite backcountry ski descents include the Super C Couloir (Portillo, Chile), Girls Mountain & the Worthington Glacier, (Valdez AK), Shoot the Moon Couloir (Teton Nat'l Park, WY), The Duchess (Tuckerman Ravine, NH), Katahdin, ME, Big Jay (Jay, VT), and a first descent of The Honeymoon Suite (Portillo, Chile).
Nick Yardley, Head Guide/Guide Trainer
Nick began his climbing career as a young boy on the gritstone edges surrounding his home in Yorkshire, England. After completing his degree in outdoor education, Nick came "across the pond" and moved to North Conway, NH to serve as the Head Guide and eventually co-owner of IMCS, Inc. (International Mountain Climbing School). He has guided major expeditions to Alaska, Peru and the Himalaya, and extensively on the cliffs, ice flows and mountains of New England. He also served as a director and team leader for the Mountain Rescue Service in the Mount Washington region, is a past director of the American Mountain Guides Association and is a certified AMGA Rock Guide. His photographs and writing have been published in journals, magazines and newspapers. Nick was the National Sales Manager for Climb High, and is currently the CEO of Julbo, Inc., a mountaineering and general sunglass distributor in Williston.
Mike Bauman
Indoor Instructor, Outdoor Rock & Ice Climbing Guide
Mike is a rock, ice, and mountaineering guide for Petra Cliffs. He is employed full-time as a mechanical engineer in Burlington. Mike has been climbing rock & ice extensively throughout the northeast along with regular trips the western USA and Canada for 8 years. He has experience with sport, traditional, aid, and alpine climbing including big walls and glaciated terrain. Mike has completed his AMGA Top Rope Site Manager Course in the fall of 2006 and the Rock Instructor Course in summer of 2007. Other hobbies include flying, motorcycle riding, cycling, running, and snowboarding.
Andrea Charest
Manager, Indoor Instructor, Outdoor Rock & Ice Climbing Guide, Ski Mountaineering
Andrea is Petra Cliffs' Climbing Center Manager, SumMAT Camp Director, and is an AMGA Certified Climbing Wall Instructor. She has been with Petra Cliffs since 2002, and has been guiding since 2003. Andrea teaches a UVM climbing class and women's clinics, coached the USA Climbing affiliated Junior Climbing Team for 3 years, led SumMAT Day Camp for 3 years, and continues to lead overnight wilderness expeditions. Andrea has a B.A. in Psychology from University of Vermont and plans to pursue Adventure-based and Wilderness Therapy.
Andrea's climbing life was sparked in the 90's at Beam's Rocks in Western PA, a small limestone crag. Andrea now enjoys climbing in the Greens, Whites, Adirondacks, Acadia Nat'l Park, Joshua Tree Nat'l Park... She has skied and snowboarded extensively throughout the Western Hemisphere, from laid back Portillo (Chile) to glacier skiing in Thompson Pass (AK), Katahdin (ME) to Mt. Washington (NH), and the fabulous local backcountry. In August 2006, Andrea had a first snowboard descent of "The Honeymoon Suite" (Portillo, Chile).
Paul Brown
Outdoor Rock & Ice Climbing Guide
Paul has been climbing for 25 years, and guiding for the past 15 years in New England and the Adirondacks. During his extended apprenticeship in negotiating the vertical environment, Paul has had the good fortune to climb rock and ice in many corners of the U.S., including such places as the Tetons, Yosemite, the granite cracks and sandstone spires of Utah and Arizona, and the icy flows of Ouray and Boulder, Colorado, amongst others. Most of his climbing time has been spent thoroughly exploring the multitude of cliffs all over the Northeast. Paul has completed the AMGA Rock Guides Course, as well as numerous other technical skills courses.
Paul spends much of his time outside of guiding as a mild mannered high school science teacher. His other interests include hiking, skiing, gardening, fishing, writing, and the endless tasks of working on a century-old farmhouse in northern Vermont.
Nadine Paffet-Lugassy
Indoor Instructor, SumMAT Camp Leader
Nadine is an AMGA Certified Climbing Wall Instructor. She teaches indoor and outdoor climbing clinics and has been a core leader of Petra Cliffs' SumMAT Camp since the beginning. Full-time, Nadine works at Williston Central School as a special educator. She recently earned her teaching license in physical education. Nadine enjoys rugby, snowboarding, climbing, and playing with her dog Bear in her limited spare time!
Ara Finlayson
Indoor Instructor
Ara has been climbing for over 12 years, and her love of the sport has taken her all over the US, Canada, and most recently to Spain and Thailand to sample some exotic rock. Ara is an AMGA Certified Climbing Wall Instructor and has been teaching for 9 years, give or take, and focuses primarily on teaching women's clinics. In her day job, Ara works for a marketing firm as the cool police, helping big corporations avoid missteps and guiding them in their campaigns towards young adults. While Ara trail runs, having completed the Jay Peak half-marathon twice, it would be hard to say she enjoys it, although under all the suffering, she admits it is not really that bad. (She also has similar feelings towards ice climbing.) Snowboarding, motorcycling and yoga also vie for time and attention. Ara lives at a ski resort with her husband Liam and two felines.
Matt Bresler
Outdoor Rock & Ice Climbing
Matt has been a winter climbing guide for Petra Cliffs since 2008. Originally from Boston, he has been climbing ice and rock for 15 years and backcountry skiing for 10 years. Matt moved away from Vermont for a couple of years, but quickly realized the error of his ways and returned. His interests include climbing (obviously) and other outdoor pursuits. He has climbed extensively in Vermont and in 15 other US states, including ascents in Yosemite, Grand Teton and Rocky Mountain National Parks. He is certified as a Single-Pitch instructor by the AMGA and has completed level II AIARE avalanche training. He is also an Emergency Medical Technician and Wilderness First Responder. He holds a B.S. in Recreation Management from UVM. In addition to climbing, Matt enjoys guitar music, fine wine and gourmet cuisine. He is employed as a ski patroller in Stowe, Vermont.
Eli Worley
Outdoor Rock Climbing
Eli has been working at Petra Cliffs since the fall of 2003, as a front desk manager, SumMAT camp staff, route setter, 2008 SumMAT camp kayak specialist, and coach of our jr climbing team since 2006. Eli started climbing twelve years ago in Vermont and the Adirondack mountains of NY. He has since climbed in NH, ME, TN, NC, WV, MT, UT, CO, NM, WY, and CA. Eli is an AMGA Certified Climbing Wall Instructor and has spent years developing new boulder problems and routes around northern Vermont.
Andrew Blessing
Ski Guide
Andrew’s passion for backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering has taken him to amazing places including lines all over the Green and White mountains of New England, Katahdin, the Chic Chocs, throughout the Western US, British Columbia, Alaska, and Chile. He has completed Level II AIARE Avalanche Training. When not thinking about snow, Andrew also enjoys long mellow traditional rock climbing routes, and has led climbs in the Adirondacks and Vermont, on New Hampshire’s Cannon cliff and Cathedral Ledge, as well as in Joshua Tree and Squamish. Andrew owns and operates an Information Technology Consulting company, but escapes as much as he can to fulfill his desire for helping people have amazing new experiences in the mountains.
