Inside Pagosa Outside

“We are proud to have been voted Pagosa’s best rafting company.”

Meet the Owners:

Owners Tobi and Alison Rohwer fell in love on a river trip in 2004, got married in 2008, and took over Pagosa Outside in 2009. They bring years of experience, a wealth of knowledge, and a young family’s enthusiasm to what has become the fastest growing company in the area.

Tobi worked as a whitewater guide for 15 years, amassing over 25,000 miles on rivers all over the West and Alaska. He has worked with many industry leading whitewater outfitters on some of the most difficult commercially rafted sections of river in the US.

After finishing her studies in wildlife biology at the University of Georgia, Alison moved to Colorado to pursue her degree and was swept off her feet by the enthusiastic river guide who would soon be her husband. She supports Tobi’s rafting dreams by working as a professional consultant for Ecosphere Environmental by day and the behind-the-scenes wizard for Pagosa Outside by night.  Without her “real job” to support them, none of this would be possible.

The newest addition to the Pagosa Outside team showed up on April 8th, 2011 at 5:51 am, weighing 7lbs 4oz.  Grace has already shown great upper management potential in her first season!

Our goal as owners is to share our love of Pagosa and show you why we have decided to call this place home for our family.

Why Pagosa Outside?

We didn’t set out to be the biggest outfitter in the area, just everyones favorite outfitter.  Our efforts to share a professional but friendly, small town, family owned and operated experience has been overwhelmingly embraced by our guests and employees.  Our primary goal is for each and every one of our guests to have a safe, comfortable, fun and memorable time.  One of the biggest things that makes us stand out from other outfitters is our attention to all of the tiny details that add up to make the biggest difference in our guests experience.  It is a point of pride that we run the newest coolest boats, have clean, nice, quality gear for our guests, and operate smooth trips by being time efficient in all the little places that most folks don’t even notice.  We take pride in working in a fun, professional and rewarding workplace, so we do everything we can to maintain that.  Everyone that works at Pagosa Outside is part of a fun summertime family that cares about the company and takes pride in being the best around.

A Note From the Owner: I worked for 15 years as a whitewater guide before becoming an owner.  I have taken all the things I really liked from every other company I worked at as either a guide or manager, and applied them to Pagosa Outside.  One of the most important things I’ve learned is that the quality and attitude of your guide makes the biggest difference in the quality of your trip.  I have strived to create the workplace I always wished I had when I was working for other companies.  With a professional and motivating workplace where we do everything we can to support our staff, we draw and keep the best employees because they can take pride in the place where they work.

Gear: You’ll notice that our vans and buses are cleaned daily, our raft fleet is always state of the art and constantly being updated so that we have the best craft for each different section of river that we run, and our rental gear is always clean, comfortable and the nicest around.  We take on the extra expense of having the finest gear available and pride ourselves on taking the extra effort to maintain it.  We know you’ll appreciate the difference it makes in the quality of your trip.

Convenience: We have the shortest shuttles in town. Our downtown location means that you will spend more time on the river and less time driving to get there. Three of our put-ins and take-outs are just minutes from the shop.  Our store serves as a meeting point for all of our trips.  Here we offer changing rooms, bathrooms, a great selection of whitewater gear, clothing, souvenirs, and all of those often forgotten accessories.

Photos: We offer photos of all our San Juan trips available to purchase at our store immediately after your trip.  We take lots of shots of each raft and keep our photo prices well below the industry standard so that you can take your memories home with you on CD.

Value: We feel that our trips are the finest in the area and the locals agree.  Pagosa Outside was voted as the best raft company by readers of the Pagosa Sun.  We aren’t paying commissions to booking agents or a concierge which means we pass the savings on to you. We rely on the locals to send folks to Pagosa Outside because we’re where they take their friends and family rafting, not because we are paying them a commission or booking fee.

Please take the time to shop around …. we are positive that our trips are the best value in town!

Guides: Our guides and staff are what makes the biggest difference.  They are local characters, lovers of the outdoors, professional fun hogs, and just friendly people who love what they do, where they work, and take great pride in being a vital part of the Pagosa Outside team.  They are all trained, licensed, certified, and experienced in sharing the magic of the Pagosa area.  When you pick up the phone, it won’t be answered by a call center at a booking agency, you will be chatting with local folks who know the ins and outs of the Pagosa scene.  These folks have all chosen Pagosa Outside as their place of employment, so rest assured that you will be travelling with the finest guide staff around.

Meet Our Guides:

Dan Witting

Head Boatman, Guide Instructor, Trip Leader

Director of Company Culture

Dan’s mischevious sense of humor and ability to wring adventure out of the mundane and ordinary has been found to be quite infectious.  His fondness of fun and expectations of excellence have been a vital part of creating the lively and professional workplace that keeps everyone on their toes at Pagosa Outside.

Matt Schwarz

Operations Manager, Guide Instructor, Trip Leader

Hydrological Gear Repair Specialist

Matt found Pagosa Outside after his previous career as an assault climber with the United States Marine Corp.  His passion for all thing gear related means that our state of the art fleet of whitewater assault equipment is always the finest available and ready for rapid deployment.

Kyle Frye

Senior Guide, Trip Leader
Migrant Wave Farmer

Kyle’s love of sharing the commrodary and compassion to be found on the river brought him back to Pagosa after a career of migratory raft guiding and ski bumming.  His hobby of building wooden whitewater dories and running them down the rivers of the West keeps him in high demand.

Adam Price

Senior Guide, Trip Leader

Professinal Fun Hog

Adam is epecially fond of running the free flowing rivers of the Pagosa area after spending two years in the concrete sluices at the National Whitewater Center.  His impromptu paddle air guitar lessions and selective dumptruck skills have made him a returning guest favorite on West Fork trips.

Jay Lally

Trip Leader, Guide

After running his own business for many years, Jay escaped to Pagosa to live the simple life.  He found the love of the river later in life, but has been quickly making up for lost time.  He has a great appreciation for deep powder days at Wolf Creek and sunny high water days on the river that only someone who has lived in the ”real world” can.

Erin Laine
Trip Leader, Guide

Erin trained with us in 2009, took a summer off to work with a fashion designer, but drifted her way back in 2011.  When she isn’t busy breaking hearts, crushing egos, and administering first aid on hotshot skiers for the Wolf Creek Ski Patrol, Erin loves showing new friends the joys of the San Juan River.

Jesse Rader

Guide

Jesse is a man of many hats, a fedora being one of them.  Any given day he can be found guiding raft trips, tuning skis, or working as an electrician, but his most notable passion is for paragliding off of mountain tops.  If you see someone buzzing over Pagosa in a parachute with a big fan strapped to his back, wave and say “Hi Jesse.”

Aaron Dominguez

Guide

Like most local folks in Pagosa, Aaron’s smiling face can be spotted behing the counter at many of our favorite establishments.  After guiding your raft trip, he will be slinging your tacos and drinks at Kips Grill or getting you set up with skis at Pagosa Ski Rentals.

Ben Qualls
Head Driver

Don’t let Ben’s gruff and surly front fool you, he’s really just a big teddy bear.  He has recently had to cut back his amount of time spent baking cookies, writing poetry, and collecting butterflies to focus on his latest project.  We hope to see his hovercraft in operation by the summer of 2012!

Our Favorites / Links:

Where we go out to eat:

Where our friends stay if our couch is full:

What to do for fun:

Local News, Weather and info:

Pagosa Outside Loves attention:

Friends in the Industry:

F.A.Q.’s

What do I need to bring?