Wade M

Instructor

Wade grew up exploring the mountains of California and the expansive ocean all readily accessible at his fingertips. After two directionless years at Cuesta College, he and his brother took a year off to study kung fu in Dengfeng, China. Upon coming back to the States, he enrolled at Santa Barbara City College, where he studied Biology and began sailing, dancing, playing bagpipes, cycling, and climbing, which would all become lifelong passions. That summer, he, along with his brother and a friend, bicycled 3,000 miles across Europe. After returning from this cathartic trip, he resumed his education with renewed fervor, studying at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo while racing on the school’s triathlon team and holding down jobs as a personal trainer, physical therapy aide, and trip leader for the university’s outdoors program. After three years, he graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2015 with a B.S. in Kinesiology and minors in Spanish and Dance.

He sought to decompress after these hectic years with a seasonal job in Yosemite National Park, where every spare second was spent climbing on the world-famous granite walls of the valley. As fun as this lifestyle was, he craved something more meaningful. His desire to use his love of the outdoors to leave a positive impression in the world led him to wilderness therapy and Elements.