01/24/2026
It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of one of our own, longtime team member Jeff Paton.
Jeff passed away last week while ice climbing in Canada due to a sudden medical emergency. While it happened in the mountains, it was not a climbing related incident.
Jeff had been part of our team since the 1980s and served in just about every role over the years. To know Jeff was to love Jeff...he was always willing to do whatever the team needed, and he did it with a great attitude, and a genuine care for the people around him and a great story.
If you ever came to a training, chances are you ate well because of Jeff. He was famous for cooking incredible food for the team showing up early, feeding everyone, and turning a long day of learning into something that felt like community, for him it was all about the "esprit de corps".
In his later years, Jeff would still show up at trailheads with food for teams coming off a mission, greeting everyone with a smile and a story that often began with, “There I was…”. Those moments meant more than he probably ever knew and are something we will sorely miss.
Jeff was a good man, and an even better friend. We will miss him deeply, and we extend our love to his family and all who had the privilege of knowing him.
When details of a memorial service become available we will share them to our page.
If you would like to honor Jeff do so in the way that you knew him, for us we will get together as a team, eat some food, tell some stories and go climbing.
