RTR Staff & Instructors

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.

Jayne Thorne is the president of Ropes That Rescue Limited in Northern Arizona. She has a number of administrative duties at the company and is still involved with a long career in nursing. After several years working in critical care and radiology, she finally "retired" to a job at the hospital which she just loves: Cardiac Rehabilitation or Cardiac Rehab which is only a part time job for Jayne who must juggle responsibilities with RTR. 

Jayne has accompanied Reed on several of his training excursions around the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. Jayne loves to travel to France and is currently learning the language. 

Mike Green is a Captain with the Montgomery County (Maryland) Fire and Rescue Department where he is currently the Station Commander of Fire Station 29. This station is one of two technical rescue stations, and houses the heavy rescue unit he rides and helped his department design.  He is also a member of Maryland Task Force 1, a FEMA US&R Team, where he serves as the Assistant Rescue Team Manager.  Although involved with many disciplines of technical rescue, Mike enjoys technical rope rescue very much.  He has taught thousands of hours of technical rescue courses for his own department and technical rescue team, the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute, FEMA’s US&R program, and at other venues.  Prior to becoming an official instructor for RTR, he acted as an assistant in a number of courses.  He credits much of his success in rope rescue to Reed Thorne, owner of RTR, and also Kirk Mauthner (of British Columbia), both of whom he has studied extensively with over the past 25+ years.

Steve Crandall, captain and team coordinator, Salt Lake City Fire Department

Steve Crandall took his first climbing course at age 14 in the summer of 1978 and has been on rope ever since. Three years later, he was suddenly and unceremoniously introduced into the world of rope rescue as he performed his first pickoff rescue of an entangled rappeller while climbing at the local crag in Utah where he lives. While working on his degree in Outdoor Leadership, he volunteered for the local backcountry SAR team, eventually becoming training officer and team leader of the mountain rescue group. He also discovered his love for teaching during this time as he moonlighted as an ice climbing instructor and guide, and worked part-time then eventually full-time after graduation as an adjunct faculty member in the university’s Outdoor Program teaching rock climbing, winter camping, backpacking, wilderness survival, and leading groups into Utah’s backcountry.

Dave Van Holstyn began his formal technical rescue training in 1993 as a charter member of the GRFD confined space rescue team, but his exposure to working at heights started in high school while doing work on communications towers. Dave is a team leader for the West Michigan Regional Collapse Rescue Team and as a state certified instructor is active in teaching structural collapse rescue, however rope rescue remains his specialty. He has conducted countless classes, not only for fire departments in Michigan, but also for industrial rescuers in a dozen states and Canada. Dave has made several presentations at the Fire Department Instructors Conference in Indianapolis and is also one of their Hands-On Instructors. Dave was involved in the development of programs on firefighter survival, rapid intervention teams, and most recently industrial extrication.

"I think what attracted me to the fire service was the challenge of being called to the worst of situations with the expectation that we will solve the problem. And we do. We have to. There isn't anyone else".

Technical rescue incidents present some of the most challenging of those incidents.

Michael DeCraene is a Firefighter with the City of St. Clair Shores, a Rescue Squad Officer for both Michigan Task Force 1 and Macomb County Technical Rescue Team. Mike is certified as a fire instructor by the State of Michigan and the Michigan Urban Search And Rescue Training Foundation, holds his SPRAT ticket, and has conducted numerous trainings in multiple fire and rescue disciplines in various states and Canada.

Mike's interest in rope, knotcraft, and rigging began at a young age as an angler with his father & brother, who are both career firefighters, on Michigan's Great Lakes. Before entering the fire service with the City of Ann Arbor, Mike worked in the outdoor industry at a gear shop outfitting climbers, mountaineers, backpackers, kayakers, and the occasional arborist with tools and equipment. Initially assigned to a Rescue Company with AAFD, he diligently sought out instruction from those with knowledge, skills, and abilities in the technical rescue fields, always enjoying 'on rope' endeavors the most.

In 2013, then with SCSFD, Mike began to study with RTR under Chief Reed Thorne when he came to Michigan to teach an AHD workshop. This experience opened his eyes to advanced rigging practices and he began to make regular trips to Arizona for classes. It was in 2016 when RTR asked Mike to come on as an Assistant Instructor.

When asked about the RTR paradigm, Mike replied: "The courses are packed with volumes of information intended to take the rope practitioner to a whole new level of skill and understanding. Through advanced knotcraft, thorough critical analysis training, and loads of practical application, students leave the immersive experience being able to problem solve effectively and engineer systems as team leaders in environments they would have never thought possible."

Del Miller lives in Mississippi with his wife Mary, son Ryan and daughter Morgan. He is a shift foreman for an industrial plant near Mobile, Alabama. He also serves as the facility's Emergency Response Coordinator. He is a certified Industrial Emergency Response Specialist and has been a part of emergency response teams for industry since 1997, working as an industrial firefighter, Hazmat Technician, Emergency Medical Responder and Rope Rescue Technician. He holds National Board on Fire Service Professional Qualifications for Confined Space Rescue, Rope Rescue, Trench Rescue, Hazmat Technician, Hazmat Incident Command and Vehicle Extrication, but rescue has always been his real passion.

He has worked as an instructor for several rope rescue programs prior to working for RTR, most notably Texas A&M University's Fire school where he worked full time as a rescue instructor for 3 years. It was there where he reached out to Ropes that Rescue for Professional development training in 2010 on the Arizona Vortex and that has brought him back to RTR for class after class ever year since.

Del is a SPRAT certified rope access technician who's love for anything having to do with rope and rigging spills over from his career to his personal life. He is an outdoor enthusiast that loves hiking, biking, rock climbing, SCUBA diving, hammock camping, running and triathlons. He loves to teach and says, "there is always more to learn and more people to learn from!"