Guides & Staff
Your bear-viewing guides are trained, experienced and qualified in wilderness first aid, working around bears, off-road driving, radio communications and other core backcountry skills.
From backing up fully-laden trailers, to operating off-road vehicles, to being entertaining and informative hosts around the dinner table, guides need a whole array of different skills.
Bree is our lodge manager and Kim is our cook. We also have two regular housekeepers – Mel and Cheryl – the unsung heroes of the lodge who make sure that the cabins are always clean and sparkling.
They also ensure you have an ample supply of freshly-cut firewood. Others who help out are Steve, our main mechanic, and Spring who helps with just about everything.
Julius – Owner/Manager/Guide
Julius is one of British Columbia’s most experienced bear guides with nearly two decades working in the field, much of it around grizzly bears.
Julius is a certified rafting guide, a Swiftwater Rescue Technician, a Level 3 animal tracker, a Level 3 bear-viewing guide and guide instructor and has trained in driving ATVs, UTVs, and off-road vehicles.
He is also an advocate for bear conservation, an active journalist who works in eastern Europe, and a public speaker and visiting professor at various universities. He pilots his own Piper Super Cub. Julius speaks fluent Hungarian and moderately good Russian.
Karla – Guide
Karla has 20 years of experience in the Canadian Rockies and British Columbia’s rugged mountain ranges. In her spare time she is an avid mountaineer.
Of Croatian descent, Karla was born in Canada and, as well as working at the lodge, is a qualified ship’s captain and a polar bear guide in the sub-arctic. She used to run her own hiking company.
Karla is a certified Hiking and Snowshoeing Guide with the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides, the highest standard in the industry.
She is a qualified bear guide (with the Commercial Bear Viewing Association), a Swiftwater Rescue Technician, Wilderness First Responder, member of the Interpretive Guides Association, and is trained in driving ATVs, UTVs, and off-road vehicles.
Sage – Biologist/Tracker/Guide
Sage is an enthusiastic naturalist. She joined the Wild Bear Lodge team in 2017, and is passionate about animals.
Sage has a diploma in Recreation, Fish and Wildlife and a degree in Biology. She is currently working on her PhD and has published widely in academia. She is a highly-experienced bear guide. She speaks French and some Spanish.
Sage is a certified Swiftwater Rescue Technician, a wilderness first responder, a Level 3 bear-viewing guide and is trained in driving ATVs, UTVs, and off-road vehicles. She is the most highly-qualified animal tracker in Canada.
Bryn – Guide
Bryn has spent most of his life in the mountains of western Canada. Skiing, camping and hiking have always been a major part of his life.
Bryn has worked as a grizzly bear viewing guide on the west coast for five years. He has spent a lot of time in close proximity to bears and has a passion for conservation.
In the winter months Bryn works as a ski guide at a backcountry snow-cat skiing lodge in the Monashee mountains.
Bree – Lodge Manager
Bree is a longtime resident of the valley, well-known locally for her immense energy and role in many different social and other projects.
She used to be the cook at Wild Bear Lodge, before taking time off to have a child and start her own businesses, and has now returned to run the lodge side of the operation.
She loves living rurally and her house is about an hour down the road where she lives with her husband and daughter.
Kim – Cook
Kim, and her partner Todd, live half a mile away from the lodge in their own small house. Kim is a Red Seal chef and has a long history in catering.
Mel – Head Housekeeper
Mel was born in the Philippines but has lived in the area for more than 20 years. She says that the mountains, lake and wildlife mean it is a place she never wants to leave. One of the hardest-working people we know, Mel has worked with us for many years and is our head housekeeper.
Cheryl – Housekeeper
Cheryl grew up in the local community and has lived here all her life. She is a true local with a sparkling smile and salty sense of humour. She works with Mel to make sure the cabins and the lodge are always clean and tidy for our guests. Cheryl is also passionate about green energy and is the local dealer for a renewable energy company. She has supplied many in the community with their solar panels.