Our Approach
Our Approach
- Does it work?
- Is it safe?
- Know why you do what you do.
- Know why you rig how you rig.
Our Story
Our cadre has years of real-world operational experience in several industries. We don't just talk about it - we do it. Learn from technicians who actually perform these skills in real-life situations.
- Learn single rope technique and small party self rescue in extreme environments from real cave rescue operators.
- Our tactical courses are taught by professionals with decades of experience in law enforcement and military special operations, with the unique emphasis on rope applications.
- Our tree operations instructors are ISA certified and have years of professional experience.
- Most instructors are mountain rescue leaders serving on MRA accredited teams.
- We provide specialty niche courses because our instructors can integrate many or all of these disciplines to train operators with needs that span many extreme rope venues.
- Just tell us what you need, and we'll make it happen. For example: If you need to combine rope access skills with SCBA apparatus, we'll help you... our team has experience working in volcanic glacier cave fumarole pits that require rope skills and hazardous gas interventions.
Meet the Team
Eddy Cartaya
Eddy Cartaya is an expert in rope rigging, rescue, tree work, and military-tactical operations. He's an experienced mountain rescue leader, cave rescue instructor, and an arborist who is fluid on rope. After graduating from West Point, he's had careers in the military and law enforcement, and led and taught tactical teams in backcountry ops and tactical tracking. In 1991, he ran his first multi-day cave mapping expedition in South Korea, and now coordinates and leads science-oriented glacier cave expeditions. Eddy is uniquely qualified, and has an uncanny ability to develop and deliver cutting edge training.
Rick Speaect
Rick Speaect is a caver, rope technician, and instructor who enjoys sharing his love of rigging with others. He started caving in 1999, and has experienced different types of cave environments and challenges, from recreational trips, TAG pits, and alpine caves, to survey expeditions in Wind Cave and Lechuguilla. Rick served on the National Speleological Society (NSS) Board of Governors, is the past Chair of the Colorado Grotto and the Williams Canyon Project (NSS project in Colorado), and was on the Certification Committee of the NCRC. He co-authored the recent SPAR manual, and is helping rewrite the new edition of On Rope. Current NCRC instructor, NCRC SPAR instructor and ITRA Level 3 Rope Instructor.
Hadley Hawkins
Six Six Solutions
B. Hadley Hawkins recently retired as a Special Agent with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Department of Agriculture. Prior to being a special agent, he was a uniformed patrol officer for the U.S. Forest Service and a wildland firefighter. Hadley was a Firearms Instructor for 10 years certified by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia and traveled around Oregon and Washington conducting training for the USFS and Bureau of Land Management. He is a current NRA Chief Range Safety Officer and NRA Pistol and Rifle instructor. He served as an instructor at the Law Enforcement Mountain Operations School (LEMOS) in northern Idaho which trains law enforcement agencies on winter survival and tactics.
Currently, Hadley operates Six Six Solutions and has trained federal, state, city and county law enforcement agencies in Oregon and North Carolina, trained the Marines in combat tracking, and federal police in Colombia, South America.
Cornelius Peeples MD
(Woody)
Dr. 'Woody' Peeples is an expert in wilderness, field, and emergency medicine.
Undergraduate BA Zoology University of Wisconsin, Madison –
1984-1988
University of Wisconsin Medical School -1988-1992
Alpha-Omega-Alpha Honor Society
Internship at Harbor UCLA Medical Center – 1992-1993
Residency training in Emergency Medicine at UCLA -1993-1996
Chief Resident, UCLA Emergency Medicine 1995 -1996
Board Certified in Emergency Medicine1996-present
Passed American Board of Emergency Medicine Recertification
Gaylene Speaect
Gaylene Speaect is our logistics and financials expert – she's the person who makes things happen for the team and gets things done.
Plus, she gets it. She’s two steps ahead because she’s an NCRC Cave rescue level 3 and has been teaching single rope technique to new cavers for years.
Next Steps...
Contact us for training pricing and scheduling.