Jeff Friesen

Instructor/Facilitator

Jeff Friesen is a climbing and canyoning guide, team building facilitator, and web developer based out of Chiang Mai, Thailand. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder with a master's degree in physics and did sustainable energy research for almost a decade. Jeff has worked as a climate research scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO. Wanting a more direct experience with these issues, he started working on media literacy projects that educated the public on environmental and social justice issues. He became a producer for a nationally syndicated radio show (Alternative Radio) and then a producer at Free Speech TV on the DISH network in the United States. During that time, he founded a non-profit organization that provided multimedia training and support for active, engaged youth and produced live multimedia, issue-based events with DJs, VJs and other performers to engage folks in important issues in their communities.

He honed his group management skills while driving a school bus for a year for spanish speaking elementary school children (He doesn't speak spanish). Over the past 17 years Jeff has climbed big mountains, sunny sport crags, frozen waterfalls, sandstone towers, swam through pitch black caves and stemmed across bottomless slot canyons. He has climbed and traveled in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. He has been teaching and guiding kids and adults in outdoor adventures for the past 10 years.

His reply when asked about why he guides is, "I love the moment when I am with a friend or client at the top of a big rappel or bottom of a climb - fear is there, we examine it, turn it over like a rock in our hand, listen to its usefulness, but not let it overtake us. That's our moment of growth together."