Marko Yurachek

Marco is an explorer and adventurer, with extensive guiding experience worldwide. His work has taken him from the lush rainforests of the tropics to the delicate arctic tundra and through most of the environments in between. Marko has studied extensively the many varied aspects of the natural world, as well as the many intricate relationships and interactions that occur within those environments.

Marco has extensive climbing experience, including Denali and many other peaks in Alaska and throughout the Americas. He has worked as a helicopter backcountry guide, and has river guided throughout the U.S. and internationally. Through guiding, Marko has often split his time between northern climates in the summer and either tropical jungles or southern deserts in the winter.

Marco brings a broad range of both teaching and guiding experience to Blackwater. He has worked for several Outward Bound Schools at various locations around the world.
Having designed and implemented programs for diverse student populations, running the gamut form inner city youth to Wall Street professionals, Marko has extensive exposure to a wide variety of learning needs and teaching techniques. He has helped design special needs and youth at risk programs for several organizations, and the State of Alaska.
His safety record is also outstanding. Even while amassing well over 12,000 client field days, there has never been a serious injury on any of Marko’s programs.

 Some of Marko’s academic and practical teaching experience includes programs and classes in Creative Problem Solving, Wilderness Medicine, and Professional Development, at many schools and universities, including Columbia, Yale,  N.Y.U.,
V.C.U., and the Medical Collage of Virginia. He has also instructed Backcountry Emergency Care programs for National Park Service rangers, E.M.S. providers, the U.S. Military and research biologists throughout Alaska. Marco’s other programs include: rock and ice climbing, glacier travel and crevasse rescue, wilderness survival skills and tracking and animal behavior. In addition to working with Blackwater Outdoor Experience, Marco has owned and operated Dragonfly Wilderness Adventures, an Alaskan guiding company, since 2001.

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