Store Information


The Staff

Steve Atocha

Owner

Steve is the owner of Middlebury Mountaineer and founder of Green Mountain Adventures. Steve is a father, an EMT, volunteer fire fighter, and a certified American Canoe Association Kayaking Instructor. He spends his free time hiking for fishing holes or backcountry skiing off of the Lincoln Gap.

Marion Atocha

Owner

Marion is the co-owner and clothing buyer for Middlebury Mountaineer. She divides her time between the shop and working part time as a nurse in Bristol. An avid hiker, swimmer and nordic skier, Marion’s real passion is raising her three boys and working on her family farm.

Jesse Haller

Manager/Guide

Jesse grew up camping and fishing in south central Wisconsin. He has completed the Colorado Trail and has climbed more then forty of the surrounding fourteeners. He worked as a fly fishing guide on several Colorado rivers. Jesse is currently the manager of Middlebury Mountaineer and Guide for Green Mountain Adventures.

Chrisandra Sylvestri

Shop Employee/Guide

Over a dozen years ago, after the birth of her fourth child Chris started kayaking. She would throw her boat on the car, head down to the Otter Creek or the flooded flats, and be back in less than two hours a rejuvenated person. She's been hooked ever since. Ratty in the Wind in the Willows summed it up best-"There is nothing worth doing half as much as simply messing around in boats."

Liza Allen

Guide/Shop Employee

Liza grew up in the shadow of Lincoln’s Mt. Abraham, but recently she has traded the green mountains for the high desert of Walla Walla, Washington, where she attends Whitman College. Liza recently retired from ski racing and took up backcountry skiing so as to take full advantage of all the powder in Washington. She is home for the summer, and when not working at the Mountaineer you may find her hiking, camping, or kayaking.

Aaron Mckay-Thorpe III

Shop Employee

Aaron McKay-Thorp III is a cool kid. He has been a retail professional for some time and is widely considered to be a life changing force of wisdom and general awesomeness. He enjoys the wiffle, being outside, skiing, snow, pop music from the 1960's and cougars.

Andrew Jones

Guide

Andrew has been instructing in the outdoors for over five years, from Alaska to Vermont. He spent three seasons leading extended wilderness mountaineering courses for Outward Bound in Alaska and most recently has been guiding rock and ice climbing trips in the Northeast. Andrew lives in Lincoln with his wife.
AMGA Certified Single Pitch Instructor
Wilderness First Aid Certified
AIARE Level I Avalanche Course Training
First Aid and CPR Certified

Wesley Butler

Guide

Wesley grew up hunting and fishing in New Haven, VT. He attended Paul Smiths College in the Adirondacks where he earned a degree in
Fisheries and Wildlife Science as well as an appreciation for
smallmouth bass and big brook trout. He has fished from Maine to
Oregon to Alaska and always looks forward to coming home and fishing Vermont, especially Otter Creek. Wesley has a one track mind and his free time is spent fishing, collecting local tying materials from
waterfowl, or tying flies.