About The New Hampshire Outdoor Council
The New Hampshire Outdoor Council is registered with the NH Secretary of State as a nonprofit corporation, and is fully qualifed by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt organization under the provisions of section 501c(3). The NHOC was recognized and endorsed by the NH Legislature under chapter 178:2 Provisions of the statute permit coordination with the Department of Fish and Game and with the Department of Resrouces and Economic Development.
The NHOC is an all-volunteer organization, with consequently low overhead expenses. The NHOC provides funding support to agencies (especially volunteer agencies), which are involved in search and rescue activities in the Granite State. Funds are obtained from the efforts of volunteer search and rescue groups. The funds are distributed through specific grants to search and rescue grouops throughout the state.
The Directors of the NHOC represent a cross section of wilderness outdoor intersts in New Hampshire, and are people who are conversant with the many complex issues involved in backcountry user education and in related search and rescue. NHOC bylaws provide for a board of trustees that is formed of respresentatives of agencies and organizations involved in dispersed outdoor recreation management, natural resource stewardship, and public safety.
NHOC Board of Directors
Chris Thayer
is the White Mountain Facilities Director for the Appalachian Mountain Club, and oversees its programs and operations in the region including relations with local communities and government agencies. In his eighteen years with AMC, he's served in a variety of capacities related to backcountry resource management, search and rescue coordination, public information dissemination, and educational programming.
A year-round skier and hiker certified in Wilderness First Aid and as a Leave No Trace Master, Chris volunteers for the AMC's search and rescue team as well as several local boards in his town and region.
Peter Crane
is the Director of Programs for the Mount Washington Observatory, and oversees its educational efforts. He has lived in the White Mountains for nearly thirty years, and served the U.S. Forest Service and the Appalachian Mountain Club in resource management, public information, and educational roles before coming to work for the
Observatory.
An avid year-round hiker, he is also a volunteer trail maintainer for the Appalachian Mountain Club, a Wilderness EMT and a member of Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue (AVSAR), and a Leave No Trace trainer.
Michelle Cormier
is a native of Montana, and has lived in New Hampshire since about 1990, first in "centrally isolated" Twin Mountain, and now in Randolph. Her love affair with hiking dates back to my youth in Montana, but she really fell in love with hiking in the White Mountains. She has climbed all the 4,000 footers, most many times, and is currently working on hiking trails she has never been on before, a kind of casual red-lining. She became involved with Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue, and has been an active member of that team for most of her NH years. She is a strong believer in volunteerism and gives freely of her time to rescue and a host of other non-profit organizations.
Professionally she is a CPA practicing with a firm in Berlin. She has practiced accounting for 20 years and believes even accountants can have interesting lives. She is married to a mountain guide/carpenter and they both enjoy international climbing trips. They have a grown son living in Colorado who is a fledging architect with his own love affair with snowboarding.
Jeff Leich
is Executive Director of New England Ski Museum in Franconia, NH. A White Mountain hiker and skier since the early 1960s, his career has included stints as an AMC hutman, park ranger on Mt. Washington, and ski patrol director at Wildcat. He was a member of the Mt. Washington Volunteer Ski Patrol and Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue, and currently serves on the board of Friends of Tuckerman Ravine. He is a member of Eastern Ski Writers Association and author of two books, Over the Headwall: A Short History of Tuckerman Ravine and Tales of the 10th: The Mountain Troops and American Skiing.
Lieutenant Todd Bogardus
is a Conservation Officer Supervisor for the Law Enforcement Division of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. He has been with the NH Fish and Game Department for 20 years during which time he has been involved in as well as directed search and rescue responses and management throughout the state. As the District Three Chief, Lt. Bogardus supervises an area, which includes much of the northwestern and central White Mountains as well as the Connecticut River Valley. Lt. Bogardus also currently serves as the State Search and Rescue Coordinator, hikeSafe program Coordinator, and is the NH Fish and Game Departments Specialized Search and Rescue Team Leader.
Mike Dickerman
is an award-winning outdoors columnist for The Courier newspaper of Littleton, N.H. and has been writing about hiking and the history of the White Mountains for the past two decades. During his many years as a working journalist, he has reported on and written about numerous search and rescue incidents in the Granite State.
He is the author, co-author and editor of nine local interest books, including The 4000-Footers of the White Mountains and Mount Washington: A Short Guide and History. In 1996, he founded his own book publishing company, Littleton-based Bondcliff Books.
Mike has been on NHOC's board of directors since 2001 and served as the organization's president from 2004-2007.
Rebecca Oreskes
is the Public Services Staff Officer for the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire and western Maine. In addition to her work in recreation and wilderness, Rebecca has worked in numerous positions for the Forest Service, including as a Public Affairs Specialist and in short term assignments as an Assistant Forest Supervisor
in West Virginia and Deputy Forest Supervisor in Michigan.
An EMT for over 20 years, Rebecca has been directly involved in search and rescue response and management for the Forest Service in the White Mountains, as well as for the St John's Search and Rescue team in New Mexico. Rebecca is also part of the Forest Service International Disaster Assistance Support Program, through which she has done assignments in Washington, DC and the eastern Caribbean. In January 2005 she was part of the Asia Tsunami Response Management Team in Washington, DC.
Bill Kane
is Director of Education at SOLO in Conway, NH. He is the founder, former president, and now a director of the NHOC. He is a founding member and former president of the Climbing Sports Group and a former director of Outdoor Industries Association. He has been a member of Mountain Rescue Service since 1976, and was a team leader and director of that organization for 17 years. He is former Chief of Fryeburg (ME) Rescue, a member of the Fryeburg Disaster Planning Team, and a member of the New Hampshire EMS Advisory Cabinet.
Bill Aughton
Bill is a wilderness medicine instructor, former expedition leader, certified mountain guide and military paramedic. His experience spans 40 years of mountain guiding on three continents, medical projects and care giving in many countries including; Borneo, Brazil, East Africa, El Salvador and Saudi Arabia.
He is one of the founders of International Mountain Equipment and Climbing school in North Conway.
Bill is a wilderness EMT a member of the Wilderness Medical Society and a former proffessional member of the American Mountain Guides Association. He is the former SAR coordinator for the AMC at Pinkham Notch, and a member of Mountain Rescue Service and AVSAR.
He resides in the mountains of New Hampshire where he teaches wilderness pre hospital medicine for Solo with his wife Jeanne and hikes, bikes and climbs with her and their daughter Sage.