ZenSeekers Team

From slopes to hiking trails, for over 20 years Jim Barr (aka Doc Pow) has been exploring the Pacific Northwest of North America, on both sides of the Canadian Rockies. Jim shared his adventures as a travel writer, TV producer and mobile developer in almost all forms of traditional and new media,becoming an expert on the slopes, resorts, cities and everything in between.

"I get to introduce the world to some of my favourite places in Western Canada. Even better, I get to do it with an outstanding team of correspondents who help educate and inspire snow and festival seekers to get out and explore. In 20 years of reporting and producing content about this region it continues to amaze me. The opportunities in this part of our world are endless."

Jeff Bartlett is an adventure travel photographer and writer, based in Jasper, AB. Bartlett has more than 120,000 followers on Instagram and has traveled the world.

Rebecca built her first website in 1997 and she has been blogging about life in BC since 2004 on Miss604.com, which has since become BC's most award-winning blog. In 2010, Rebecca literally wrote the book on Blogging to Drive Business, and she has been named one of BC's Top 100 Women of Influence by the Vancouver Sun. In 2016, she won Variety International's media award and she welcomes an audience of 80,000 to her blog and social media channels each day.

Crai is a media producer and hosts a weekly travel talk show on National Public Radio with Europe's Rick Steves. You will find his stories Forbes Magazine, MSN.com, National Geographic Traveller, and dozens of regional and daily newspapers and in-flight magazines.

Since the ripe old age of 6 weeks, Kieren has been camping, road-tripping and exploring. Some of her favorite things to do are hiking, cycling, climbing, snowboarding, sledding, canoeing, and paddle-boarding. 

Her speciality is any adventure that involves a challenge. Whether it's cycling across Canada at the age of 20 to raise funds for Prostate Cancer Canada, or converting a school bus into a mobile home (Skoolie) for a 6 month road trip around North America, Kieren likes to think up the ridiculous, and make it a reality. 

Elizabeth Chorney-Booth is a Calgary based-freelance writer. A former music journalist, Elizabeth now focuses on matters of food, arts, and travel and her work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, WestJet Magazine, Avenue, The Calgary Herald and many other print and online publications. When she's not writing about her various adventures Elizabeth is in the kitchen creating recipes as one of the faces behind the revamped Best of Bridge series of cookbooks. She lives with her husband and two children, who have gotten used to jumping in the car and setting off to discover new and exciting things in Western Canada and beyond.

Kenton de Jong is a 24-year-old travel blogger from Regina, Saskatchewan. A lover of history and culture, Kenton has traveled around the world only to discover his favorite place is right back home here in Canada. He now travels Western Canada discovering history, making memories and sharing his stories with the world.

Jeremy Derksen has hitchhiked across BC, hopped trains in Alberta, slept outdoors in a hammock at -5C, been attacked by an owl, caught hypothermia while ski-touring in Yoho and somehow managed to solo the Canadian Death Race. All that (good) suffering inspires his work as an editor, writer, photographer, adventurer, location manager and media consultant. He is also a father of three, so his sherpa skills are on point.

He has published in The Ski Journal, Canadian Geographic, The Globe & Mail, Avenue Magazine, Vue Weekly and more. His media clients have included the Canadian Tourism Commission (Mexico), Travel Alberta and Edmonton Tourism.

As a writer and producer at Seekers, he is proud to have worked on the award-winning Take It To The Lake campaign.

As assistant editor at Seekers and a freelance travel writer, Elves roams the world looking for the odd, the unusual, the inspiring and the great travel stories but admits when there is sun or snow - that's the best story of all. Recent writing credits include; The Globe and Mail Drive, The Calgary Herald travel section; Canadian Running, Canadian Cycling, and WestJet Magazines. Her "other job" is director of operations for a wind energy company. Her favourite stories can be found on her website Joanne Elves - on the go

Liz's travels have taken her from coast to coast to coast in Canada and to most parts around the world. Her adventures have included riding on the Orient Express and the Rocky Mountaineer, skiing with Olympians in Whistler and feeding wild sharks in Bora Bora. Liz's work appears regularly in major Canadian publications. She's published two Amazon ebooks: Since You're Here We Might As Well Shag and 207 Travel Tips Because 101 Just Wouldn't Have Been Enough. 

Liz makes regular contributions to Snow, Fest and ZenSeekers with the goal to ensure you’ll score the best adventures possible.

Ricky Forbes is the driver for one of North America’s top professional storm chasing teams and also an accomplished web designer, freestyle snowboard coach, dirt biker, snowmobiler, and overall an adventure seeking adrenaline junkie. With his roots in Saskatchewan Ricky grew up snowboarding, dirt biking, and playing hockey. After high school he went on to graduate from the University of Saskatchewan completing his Bachelor of Commerce degree with a major in Finance. Following University Ricky tried the suit and tie gig for a couple years and decided it wasn’t for him. His life is now dedicated to pushing the limits, pursuing adventures and living life to the fullest.

Award-winning writer and photographer Kristen Gill produces content for various publications, such as The Guardian, Seattle Times, Adventure Travel News, Travel Weekly, and more. Featured as a travel expert on MSN, CBS Travel, and BBC's: The World on NPR and PRI, she is a Board Member of Travel Massive Seattle (www.travelmassive.com) and a Founding Member of the Adventure Angels (www.adventureangels.org).

I am striving to inspire others, to live in a positive manner and act with intention and mindfulness. I don’t exclusively follow any certain path of religion or beliefs but rather to just let your positive energy be your guide. The key understanding that the only control you have in this world is your reaction to events that occur in your day to day life. I am passionate about getting outdoors, exploring the amazing country we live in and reconnecting with the simplicity nature rewards us. You will find posts on my adventures in our beautiful mountains from hiking and climbing to mountain biking Aside from the spiritual and outdoor aspect of my beliefs, a few key ingredients aid in this formula and currently I have been working hard to live simply.

Dax Justin is an explorer and landscape/adventure freelance photographer based in the Canadian Rockies. His photographic work focuses on outdoor adventure, landscapes, mountain lifestyle, and sports. Dax specialises in capturing the essence of landscapes and the soul of adventure through displaying moments rooted in passion, culture, and emotion.

He has worked with some of the world's top brands for over ten years and now partners with destination marketing organizations undertaking self-initiated expeditions. His work has been featured in national and international publications including Matador Network, the Travel Channel, Hootsuite, The Weather Network, Canadian Geographic, CBC, Shaw TV, HYPEBEAST and Instagram.

Lisa is a Calgary-based writer recently re-joining the freelance world after a seven-year stint as a lifestyles reporter at the Calgary Herald. Recent credits include WestJet's Up!, Powder, Western Living and Swerve Magazines. She also writes the Spirited Calgary cocktails column in the Calgary Herald. Kadane is excited to be once again writing about her passions of skiing, festivals and travel - now with two young kids in tow - and looks forward to helping Seekers expand its family-friendly content offerings.

Based in Edmonton, Alberta, Sheri is the owner of This Birds Day (thisbirdsday.com), an online magazine for Canadian women that shares tips, trends and inspiration for living life with style. Armed with a passion to explore every part of Canada, she shares her travel experiences through her freelance writing. Sheri is frequently sought out by media for her expertise and has appeared on a variety of television morning shows and newscasts.

Lisa Monforton was a confirmed winter-dreading flatlander living in Southern Ontario, before moving to Calgary nearly 20 years ago. Since the first time she experienced the Rockies in winter, clipping on skis at Nakiska, she wondered why she hadn't done this a lot sooner. She was quickly cured of her winter-weariness and has come to appreciate Alberta's longest season. Lisa is a long-time journalist, and was the travel editor at the Calgary Herald for more than10 years. She continues to write freelance for a number of publications. When she's not travelling, or skiing, she enjoys the peace of snow-shoeing, hiking, cycling and camping.

Powder Matt is a writer, author, adventurer, traveler, outdoor guide, catalyst for positive change, health crusader and sport coach. With 40 years of living and breathing mountain culture, Matt developed an industry leading initiative to get Western Canadian kids active and healthy in winter, inspiring 10 thousand avid lifelong skiers as the creator of the RCR Grade 2 Fun Pass- a complimentary season ski pass given to seven year olds to ski for free at all RCR resorts- a true catalyst!

Debbie Olsen is a writer, traveler, photographer, and adventurer. She writes a regular travel column for the Calgary Herald and has contributed to 9 Fodor's guidebooks about Alberta.

Jody Robbins is an award-winning travel writer and the voice behind Travels with Baggage, cited as one of Canada's best travel blogs. Her first book: 25 Places in Canada Every Family Should Visit will hit the shelves in spring 2017, to coincide with Canada's 150th Birthday celebrations. Follow her adventures on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

Jayden is passionate about telling stories that matter, inspired by innovation, and motivated through people.

He has worked in over a dozen industries and drawn knowledge from each experience. By having these different experiences he has a strong idea of how the different industries function and how he can help to create content for them. 

Nancy is a bit of a mixed bag. When she is not hitting the slopes or riding her bike, she gets creative. With an arsenal of marketing, photography and design, combined with an extensive background in photojournalism, print and web design. She is always on the lookout for new and exciting ventures to be a part of.

National Geographic Traveler, The Huffington Post, the Vancouver Sun and many other media outlets rely on Mark's first person content to help drive audience interest to destinations around the world.  Mark’s primary focus is to write about and document adventure travel, wildlife conservation and snow sports. 

He’s been featured Men's Journal, National Geographic Traveler,  SnowSeekers and other major North American publications.

Mark makes his life’s work to ensure you are stoked to explore.

An accomplished editorial and commercial photographer, Aaron Theisen has contributed to numerous regional and national sports and lifestyle publications, including Powder, Backpacker, British Columbia and Northwest Travel & Life. Aaron is co-author of Day Hiking Mount St. Helens (Mountaineers Books) and sole author of the forthcoming Day Hiking Western Montana's Glacier Country. 

Karen Ung is married to her backpacking sweetheart and is a mother and lover of maps, mountains, and mochas. With her Geography degree and experience leading hikes and backpacking trips in the Rockies, she is full of ideas on where to go and what to do. The mission of her blog, Play Outside Guide, is to provide “everything families need to know to get outside and have fun.”  

For 137 days, Chris travelled across Canada producing daily social media short-form videos on the progress of the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay, working with the Canadian Tourism Commission, Coca-Cola and The Royal Bank of Canada. Now Chris is one of Canada's leading video and social media producers. Chris joins Doc Pow, Dan Wilberg and Kris Wedgewood.

As one of Canada's leading video and social media producers, Wheeler works with Zen, Snow and FestivalSeekers to bring our audiences engaging videos that will leave you inspired for your next adventure.

Karl was born and raised in the Lower Mainland, and is passionate about outdoor sports. Trail running and hiking are his two favorite activities and he is the editor at OutdoorVancouver.ca.

Paula is based in Calgary and grew up skiing the ski resorts of Alberta and B.C. By day, she is vice-president of a Calgary-based public relations agency. Always up for an adventure, she further flexes her creativity through lifestyle and travel freelance writing. She has contributed to Swerve Magazine, Calgary Herald and Postmedia News Network, among others. No stranger to the ski and travel industry, Worthington previously managed media relations for various Western Canadian ski resorts and also worked on the marketing team at WestJet. She looks forward to covering "off the beaten path" stories. She is also the author of the blog, www.betterthansittingathome.com