Who We Are
Meet our team
Peter Mayfield - Founding Director/Guide
Peter has been a successful leader, pioneer and innovator in mountain sports programs for the last 27 years. He has started three innovative businesses: CityRock, Yosemite Guides, and the Gateway Mountain Center, through which he has designed and delivered creative and successful outdoor educational programs for thousands of California youth. Peter has served as Chief Guide for the Yosemite Mountaineering School, and as Chief Examiner for the Professional Ski Instructors Association (Far West). As the founder and General Partner of CityRock Gym, the first large urban climbing gym, Peter was a catalyst for the growth of indoor climbing in North America. As a consultant Peter has designed and developed adventure programs for Disney, Discovery Communications, and Posades Resorts. As a creative mountaineer Peter has succeeded on first ascents on Yosemite's El Captain and Half Dome, climbed new routes in Peru, Patagonia, and the Alaska Range, and pioneered difficult snow board descents. In addition, Peter has competed in sport climbing World Cups, Cross Country Skiing US Nationals, and performed for ten years with the aerial dance/climbing troupe, Project Bandaloop.
Megan Seifert Ph.D. - Program Coordinator/Guide
Megan Seifert is a graduate of Davidson College; she obtained her Ph.D. in Zoology at Washington State University, where she studied the effects of hormones on Barn Owls. In between, she worked for the U.S. Forest Service, conducting research on cavity nesting birds in the Payette National Forest (ID). More recently, she worked for the Desert Research Institute (NV) as a researcher investigating ecosystem health on the Truckee and Carson Rivers. Megan has always had a passion for working with children of all ages. As a child, she attended Camp Nokomis (NH) for nine years, then became a counselor three more. She has extensive experience in childcare and a commitment to education. Since she’s moved to the Lake Tahoe region, she’s also worked as a recreational youth ski team coach. In her free time, Megan enjoys hiking, backpacking, cycling (mountain and road), running, skiing (cross country and Alpine), and kayaking in and around her backyard (Soda Springs). She has worked at the Gateway Mountain Center for two years.
Marc Chaney - Program Coordinator/Guide
Marc was born and raised in Carmel Valley, California. He graduated from California State University, Chico with a Bachelors of Science degree in Environmental Education/Interpretation. Currently Marc is getting his Teaching Credential at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, Nevada. In 2007 he served for the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center and Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP). He enjoys hiking, camping, backpacking, surfing, kayaking, and swimming.
Anna Toso - Education Director/Guide
Anna started her career in environmental education in 1983 as a farm and wilderness teaching intern at Slide Ranch, eventually becoming the program director for a number of years. Anna has been involved as a naturalist guide, teacher trainer, consultant, and director for a variety of other programs on the coast of California and in the Sierra Nevada, including Yosemite National Institute's Headlands Campus, Sierra Institute's South Lake Tahoe E.E. Program, Elderhostel (coastal programs and in the Sierra Nevada), Trips and Trails, and Gateway Mountain Center. Anna enjoys a hand-on approach to sharing the natural world with people of all ages and abilities.
Mary Ellen Benier - Guide
Mary Ellen received her B.A. from UC Santa Cruz in Environmental Studies/ Marine Studies. During college she began ski patrolling at Alpine Meadows and stayed in that job for another 20 years. She's enjoyed a myriad of jobs from life guarding, Alaska cannery work, waitressing, ski instructing, owning a picture frame business, landscaping, to her current ensemble of substitute teaching in the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District, coaching the local middle school nordic team, coordinator of the winter Survival program based at Donner Trail School, guiding for Gateway Mountain Center, and oh yes, brewing lattes at Truckee Book and Bean. The constant thread in her work life has been her love of the environment and hoping to 'turn on' that feeling in upcoming generations.
Kelly Boire - Guide
Kelly Boire received her degree in horticulture and botany while working abroad at an organic farm in Sussex, England. After relocating back to the US, she settled in Truckee, CA and has worked as a naturalist/guide in the Lake Tahoe area, Yosemite, Mendocino, Point Reyes and Moab, Utah for the past 7 years. Through hiking, mountain biking, kayaking and lecturing she shares her knowledge and love of the outdoors by teaching others to explore and enjoy the natural world with enthusiasm and a sense of fun!
Lydia Griffen - Guide
Lydia was born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains of Western Maryland. She received her degree in Elementary/Middle Education specializing in Science at Frostburg State University. During college she worked exclusively with the community youth through after school programs, youth hikes, story telling, tutoring, and camp counseling. After college she decided to explore what the Sierra Nevada's had to offer; through hiking, bike riding, canoeing, camping, kayaking, and skiing Lydia has found a new passion for connecting to nature. Lydia has spent her last year as a 7th grade Science teacher in Reno, NV where she served as a basketball coach and track & field coach. She enjoys engaging students in the natural world by teaching through discovery and application.
Aaron Hagen - Education Director/Guide
After getting my Forestry degree at Berkeley, I joined Americorps to do habitat restoration work in the Davis and Woodland area. I then got my teaching credential at Davis and moved to the Tahoe area, where I have continued to work on habitat restoration projects. I've been teaching Science, all the sciences, at my small school in Truckee for the past 9 years.
Chris Kelly - Guide
In 2000, I started teaching with Naturalist at Large 5th -12th graders. Natural History and science were taught as well as fun group games and ropes courses/team building programs. I taught throughout California including: Joshua Tree, Catalina Island, Point Reyes, Malibu State Park and Sequia National Park. In 2001, I settled in Lake Tahoe where my outdoor adventures brought me to Squaw Valley as a board patroller and in summers I started guiding local trips with Tahoe Trips and Trails, working with Elderhostel and Corporate groups. I now work with Tahoe Adventure company as well leading mountain bike/kayaking/hiking tours. When not working I enjoy cross country skiing, mtn. biking, hiking, and snowboarding!
Nancy Minges, M.A., CMP - Guide
Nancy is both a student and teacher of embodied awareness. In the field of consciousness studies for over 25 years, she holds a Master of Arts in Holistic Health Education, with an emphasis in transpersonal counseling psychology, as well as multiple certifications in mind/body fitness disciplines and the healing arts. Former director/founder of the mind/body fitness program for the Claremont Resort and Spa, in Berkeley Ca., she has also taught at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Esalen Institute, Rancho La Puerta, The Claremont Country Club, The College Preparatory School , in sports medicine centers in the U.S. and India, in corporate settings, and on retreat in the U.S. and Indonesia. Nancy has coached Olympians, elite, professional, and high school athletes in recovery, flexibility, and peak performance. Her work has been featured or quoted in over 30 media sources including print, television, radio, and the internet in the U.S. and India. For Gateway Mountain Center, Nancy enjoys supporting young people in discovering and valuing the self-care tools they need to be fully themselves: real, open, empowered, and in celebration of life.
Annie Overlin - Guide
With a BS in Botany from Colorado State, Annie has had a life long interest in botany and specializes in the floras of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range and the Great Basin, and currently works as a botanist on a variety of different projects. Annie has a broad understanding of how plant distributions relate to geomorphology, hydrology, and surficial geology. She has been a naturalist guide for Yosemite Guides and the Gateway Mountain Center since 2002. Annie has also been a sponsored athlete for rock climbing and has traveled all over the world to climb. In her spare time, she likes to ride her bike, paint, and spend time with her family and one year old daughter.
Kori Richards - Guide
Kori attended CSU Chico where she studied Education, also earning Minors in Outdoor Education and French. Since university she has taught Outdoor Ed to International School students in France, Switzerland, Austria, and Hong Kong. As a fully certified ski instructor, her skiing has allowed her to do seasons in Australia, New Zealand, as well as locally in Tahoe. Her favorite sports are mountain biking, rock climbing, whitewater canoeing, horseback riding, and skiing. She is just getting into Triathlons this summer. She is passionate about sharing her love for playing in the outdoors with children.
Matt Sole - Guide
Matt originally hails from upstate New York where he was raised on snow days, baseball cards, and large quantities of chocolate milk. After graduating from Cornell University, Matt pursued a career in Biotechnology, which was cut short during the infamous Biotech crash of 2002. Rising from the ashes, Matt packed his newly purchased second hand car to the brim and drove to the mountains of southern California where he found work as an Environmental Educator. Since then, Matt has had the pleasure of traveling around the country while working with a wide variety of Environmental Education Programs, most recently with the Gateway Mountain Center. Matt is currently getting his Teaching Credential at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, Nevada.