Keith Thorne is Reed and Jayne Thorne's middle son (born 1990). He is a regular assistant co-instructor with his father, Reed, and travels extensively around the United States, Canada, Australia, England/Scotland, Japan and anyplace else were he can assist in rope rescue or rigging classes for Ropes That Rescue. Known as a true critical thinker, he prides his ability to think outside the box with the students. Keith is a regular co-instructor along with his brother, Luke. The two boys love teaching rigging at RTR programs and regularly accompany each other in climbing, mountain biking, camping, hiking and anything to do with the backcountry. Keith has taken up the guitar and loves reading as a pastime. He and sister, Arianna Rose (born 1993), also enjoy acro yoga (acrobatic yoga) whenever they are together. He also loves working out with weights, resistance bands and in a devotee to the P90X regimen.
Professional Accomplishments:
Keith has also certified as a rope access technician supervisor Level 3 with the Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians (SPRAT) and has supervised rope access jobs on wind turbines, bridges and hydroelectric dams throughout the USA for Abseilon in Phoenix. Keith has also worked both in Saudi Arabia for Arabian Rope Services and in Queensland, Australia with Rob Stringer and his rope access company, Highpoint Access and Rescue.
In 2020, Keith competed with two friends (Both RTR alumni) in the North American Petzl North American ROPE TRIP in Salt Lake City, Utah where they took first place honors for Abseilon. They were slated to then compete in the 2021 Petzl Rope Trip World Championships in Singapore but that was unfortunately cancelled due to the worldwide pandemic.
Tree Rescue Workshop - Firefighter testimonial:
To say that my colleagues and I completed the RTR Tree Rescue Workshop with a sense of awe and respect for technical tree rescues is an understatement. Our fire department identified tree rescues as a high-risk, low frequency event, however we were not aware of any fire department specific rescue training until RTR offered such a program.
Keith and Reed have obviously spent a lot of time utilizing their combined, unique experiences and expertise to develop a comprehensive bottom-up tree rescue curriculum. Furthermore, the professionalism of both instructors was on full display as they broke down complex principles to a firefighter’s level, promoted safety and provided patient assistance to students.
The Tree Rescue Workshop exceeded our expectations, humbled our rescue skills and left us with a sense of needing to motivate ourselves, and our team, to get better. We also appreciated the emphasis on teamwork and cooperation with other Workshop attendees, which made our experience very enjoyable despite some long, physically demanding and mentally challenging days. The equipment required to attend the workshop was an eye opener to us, as we saw firsthand how having the correct equipment made operations much less complicated and less physically demanding. The scope of rescue options presented in the course was amazing, and really forced us to work outside of our normal comfort zone and paradigms. This was especially true when we used the “Sheppard’s Hook” to gain access to elevated positions within the tree, techniques in spur climbing and limb walking tested our fortitude, thinking and physical abilities.
It was a joy to be in Nevada City for a week and we were grateful that our kind hosts Arianna, Shaun and Nakomi shared their beautiful property with us. My colleagues and I want to offer our sincerest thanks to Keith and Reed for developing such a worthy course and maintaining the highest standards in professionalism and rescue knotcraft.
Philip Stelle
City of Chico Fire Department