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Mount Shasta Climbing Rangers

Nick Meyers, Climbing Ranger

A Northern California native who grew up in Graeagle, CA, Nick Meyers was appointed Lead Climbing Ranger and Avalanche Forecaster in 2010.  His career on Mount Shasta began as a summer internship back in 2002 while attending Feather River and Western State College for a degree in Recreation Leadership and Business.  Nick’s mountain sense and technical skills have developed and evolved much from his own personal climbing and ski missions.  Nick has scaled the Dolomites, skied Colorado’s 14ers and motorcycled the deserts and mountains of the Western United States on his dirt bike.  His adventurous spirit and fearless leadership commands our team of rangers in the high stress and high risk operations of Search and Rescue on Mount Shasta. Nick is also the Director of the Mt. Shasta Avalanche Center, issuing avalanche advisories and teaching awareness and companion rescue courses for the winter months.  

Recently, Nick somehow landed the front cover Popular Mechanics! From that a couple articles ensued. Click on the links below to check them out and learn more about Nick!

http://www.fs.fed.us/faces-of-the-forest-service/meet-nick-meyers

http://blogs.usda.gov/2015/05/07/lead-climbing-ranger-thrives-on-his-job/#more-58299

Forrest Coots, Climbing Ranger

Forrest was raised in Mount Shasta and while his ski travels have led him around the globe, he has returned home every summer since 2006 to work as a climbing ranger for the US Forest Service.  While earning a degree in Political Science from University of Nevada Reno, Forrest joined the Forest Service fighting fires as a helicopter crew member and hotshot.   Forrest was also a competitive ski racer and a big mountain athlete thereafter.  He now spends his winters as a professional ski mountaineer for Arcteryx and Dynastar, splitting time between trips in Mount Shasta, CA and Chamonix, France.  Featured in several publications and industry films, Forrest has ski descents from local stashes in the Trinity Alps and as far as the exotic mountains of Kashmir.            

Paul E Moore IV, Climbing Ranger

Paul E Moore IV, a native of Danville, CA graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Physical Science in the Department of Physics in 2004. His love for hiking and climbing started on the gentle slopes of Mt. Diablo in the East Bay.  After living and guiding wilderness and climbing trips in Wyoming for 3 years, Paul embarked on a through hike of the Pacific Crest Trail in 2013. This ultimately led Paul to move to Mt. Shasta in January 2014. Paul is a nationally certified EMT and has completed a Level 1 Avalanche course. Paul has summited many peaks in the Cascades, Sierra, and Tetons as well as summits on 22, 841’ Aconcagua in Argentina and 18,491’ Pico de Orizaba in Mexico. Paul’s Mt. Shasta fun fact is that his great, great grandfather Albert E. Doney summited Mt. Shasta in 1877. 

Ryan Sorenson, Climbing Ranger

Ryan grew up in northern Wyoming learning from an early age to snowboard, ski, and climb in the Big Horn Mountains, the Tetons, and the Beartooth Range of Montana. Ryan followed his passion for the outdoors and moved west in 2008. He graduated from Southern Oregon University with a degree in environmental science where he also was a successful collegiate runner.

Beyond college, his aspirations focused on leading and studing in an alpine environment. His desire for mountaineering, climbing, and back country snowboarding and skiing led him to Mt. Shasta where he was able to hone his guiding skills and share his passion and expertise of traveling in the mountains. Ryan guided for Shasta Mountain Guides for three summers and worked a short stint as a professional ski patroller in Tahoe. In 2015, Ryan was drawn to the Sierra Nevadas, moved to Mammoth Lakes, California, and guided full time for International Alpine Guides.

Ryan has since moved back to Mt. Shasta to forecast for the Mt. Shasta Avalanche Center, issuing avalanche advisories and teaching awareness and companion rescue courses for the winter months. Ryan has a quiet, yet humble and professional demeanor with an excellent mountain sense and an adventurous spirit. When not working, he can be found running the trails, fly fishing and even learning to surf.