Reed Thorne has been involved in the teaching of techniques relative to the 'vertical realm' since the early 1970's. In Southern California, his first activities dealing with rope were with the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter (Orange County Group) where Reed became a Hundred Peak, Rock Climbing and Mountaineering Section leader through training with the Sierra Club's Leadership Section. He eventually moved into rope rescue instruction under nationally-recognized US National Park SAR ranger, Butch Farabee, at the Grand Canyon in Arizona between the years of 1981 and 1986. Butch is credited with having shaped Reed's early years as a rope instructor.

In 1989, Reed was also instrumental in the preliminary testing of belay techniques alongside John Dill of Yosemite SAR and Arnör Larson of the British Columbia Council of Technical Rescue in BC, Canada. These tests still remain some of the most extensive ever attempted by a volunteer team of lay-researchers, the results of which were published in Response Magazine in the highly acclaimed 1990 article "Are You Really On Belay?" by John Dill. Many of Reed's hand-drawn illustrations accompanied this article.

Reed was an early participant in rope access before the term became well established. He practices rope access procedures often on his back yard training and testing tower. His services through Ropes That Rescue have been required on several dams and bridges throughout the Southwest including work on Salt River Project hydro dams and also Hoover Dam along with Jayne Thorne, Reed's wife. The Arizona Department of Transportation structural engineers were taught  by RTR during the construction of Navajo Bridge over Marble Canyon in 1995. His work with various construction companies such as Edward Kraemer and Sons, Kiewitt Western and Vastco Company have earned him a reputation as a knowledgeable technical rigger where understanding and safety are of paramount concern.

He formerly was the primary rope discipline instructor for the Arizona State Fire Marshal's Office for over five years before privately forming Ropes That Rescue Ltd. (RTR) in 1993. Since then, RTR has traveled and taught extensive programs to fire/EMS agencies around the world, including Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Canada and Japan. Mining and oil refineries from Arizona to northern Canada have contracted rescue programs within the challenging terrains of their own operations. Electric power utilities and others have also used Reed to teach their emergency response teams and difficult rope access on high voltage power transmission structures. His thorough knowledge of the electric power delivery industry has lead to many of the procedures and techniques he espouses in his rigging courses. In 2000, Reed's pioneering power line rescue techniques were featured in the History Channel special"High Voltage" (on 'Suicide Missions') delineating extra hazardous rescue procedures with Georgia Power transmission linemen on energized 500,000 volt power lines. 

During times that Reed is not teaching rope rescue programs, or consulting for industry, he still dabbles in brickwork as an accomplished mason. Brickwork had previously been his main living since the early '70's. Along with his wife, he designed and built his own three-level masonry English Tudor style home in Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona north of Sedona which is built from native river stone and old Phoenix sand mold brick. Reed still comes "out of hiding" to work on custom brick jobs and interesting Rumford fireplaces around the Southwest. Check the Rumford web site for Reed's masonry work rumford.com/Thorne.html. Reed also dabbles in cartooning for different publications. He is also an artist preferring oil on canvas along with his wife Jayne.  Some of his pen and ink, oil and acrylic paintings can be seen on the slider below.