Our Tour Guides
Guiding You on the Adventure of a Lifetime
The Best Tour Guides in The Canadian Rockies
Alberta Blue Sky Tours is owned by Martin Flanagan, who has been guiding professionally since 1995. He’s been everywhere there is to go in our beautiful country and his exuberance when sharing Canadian experiences with guests only grows brighter with each year! 100% Canadian-owned and operated, we provide unforgettable Canadian vacations for our clients.
Whether you want to see the best of Banff and the Canadian Rockies, snowshoe in Kananaskis Country, or travel off the beaten path in Jasper, we have – or will customize – the tour package you are looking for.
What sets us apart is that we plan every tour individually – we don’t merely re-sell pre-existing tour packages. We are a small, family business that personally books every element of your tour. We take a little more time and pay close attention to detail to ensure that your tour package is exactly what you want.
Meet Our Guide Team
Jake Pawis
Originally from Toronto, Jake has been living in the Canadian Rockies for the past few years. Now calling Canmore home, just 20 minutes from Banff, he spends his time skiing, rafting, biking, and hiking in the outdoor playground that is the Rockies. Having always been an outdoor person, Jake left a career in the automotive business and jumped full-on into the guiding and tourism world. He hopes to share his passion and enjoyment of the outdoors with others.
Building on skills developed from years of leading personal trips, he attended a guiding and naturalist course near Ontario’s beautiful Algonquin Park and has been lucky enough to lead trips over land, water, and snow. After trading the endless lakes of Ontario for the lofty heights of Alberta he has had the opportunity to work closely with the Parks Services in the province and has become very familiar with the best highlights of the area for people from all different walks of life.
Duncan Rodway
Born and raised in North Vancouver, BC, on the west coast of Canada, Duncan has been living in Calgary on and off since 2014. He first arrived in the area for University, but due to the high quality of life and natural scenery, he decided to make the move full-time. One of his favourite aspects of guiding in the Rockies is meeting people from all over the world and getting to share the Rockies experience with them. In addition to guiding, I previously worked as a flight instructor, and regional airline pilot, and have been fortunate to live and travel around the world. He is looking forward to seeing you in the mountains!
Kaitlyn Cheeseman
Meet Kat, your friendly neighbourhood tour guide! Kaitlyn was born on Earth Day, which is super fitting because she loves travelling the world and enjoying Mother Earth’s beauty. She is a born and raised Alberta girl, a lover of the sea, a photographer at Owl Eye Photography, and a mountain explorer. She has always loved being a part of people’s experiences in life and sharing the places she explores with her family and friends, as well as her clients. Kaitlyn is excited to be a part of the team here at Canada Rail Vacations and Alberta Blue Sky Tours, and when she is not guiding you can find her enjoying time out golfing, canoeing, hiking, surfing, as well as backcountry camping and star gazing with her husband Cam and their mountain cat Mathiya. In the down days, she is chilling, reading, listening to music, and enjoying some yoga or writing.
Martin Flanagan
Martin is the founder of CanadaRail.ca. He has achieved the goal of turning a travel junkie’s passion into a reality of full-time travel. Martin has travelled to nearly every location in Canada and has stayed in every hotel we work with. He has been creating and guiding tours since 1995 and has personally guided over 10,000 guests in the past 26 years. Many of these guests have come back to Canada specifically to take a tour with Martin.
Martin speaks fluent English and German and was previously a competitor in the sport of luge. After realizing he couldn’t make a career out of travelling around the world sledding down icy chutes, he figured he would stop the sledding and just travel. In his spare time, Martin likes hiking, cycling, cross-country skiing, traveling, and visiting excellent restaurants worldwide.
Neil Zeller
Neil grew up in Saskatchewan but claims Western Canada as his own. Working in a corporate setting for 15 years, he had a mid-life creative and chose to build a photography business 10 years ago. Now a decade later and he is regarded as one of Alberta’s best photographers and guides. He enjoys showing people his backyard, with the Alberta Prairies, the Foothills, and the Rocky Mountains as his greatest inspirations.
Traveling all the backroads and main highways with his wife and son, Neil has honed his appreciation of this part of the world and counts ‘showing off’ this area as his absolute favorite thing to do professionally. Neil loves to help folks make the best of their time here by giving them positive memories for a lifetime!
Many of the pictures you will see on our site were taken by Neil. You can see Neil’s collection of work here: Neil Zeller Photography
Julian Perez De Camino
After travelling the world for years, Julian met his wife Jen and decided to settle near Banff National Park in the heart of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. There, he worked as lead guide and sales manager with a leading travel company showcasing Canada, to the Spanish market. Julián started his journey with Canada Rail Vacations as our guide in 2013. He is one of the most knowledgeable guides in Canada and his “on-the-ground” experience helps make our clients’ trips even smoother.
Originally from Spain, Julian is fluent in English and Spanish. He was raised between Madrid and the little ski town of Jaca in the Pyrenees. In his personal time, he is skiing every possible powder run he can find.
Jake Pawis
Originally from Toronto, Jake has been living in the Canadian Rockies for the past few years. Now calling Canmore home, just 20 minutes from Banff, he spends his time skiing, rafting, biking, and hiking in the outdoor playground that is the Rockies. Having always been an outdoor person, Jake left a career in the automotive business and jumped full-on into the guiding and tourism world. He hopes to share his passion and enjoyment of the outdoors with others.
Building on skills developed from years of leading personal trips, he attended a guiding and naturalist course near Ontario’s beautiful Algonquin Park and has been lucky enough to lead trips over land, water, and snow. After trading the endless lakes of Ontario for the lofty heights of Alberta he has had the opportunity to work closely with the Parks Services in the province and has become very familiar with the best highlights of the area for people from all different walks of life.
Duncan Rodway
Born and raised in North Vancouver, BC, on the west coast of Canada, Duncan has been living in Calgary on and off since 2014. He first arrived in the area for University, but due to the high quality of life and natural scenery, he decided to make the move full-time. One of his favourite aspects of guiding in the Rockies is meeting people from all over the world and getting to share the Rockies experience with them. In addition to guiding, I previously worked as a flight instructor, and regional airline pilot, and have been fortunate to live and travel around the world. He is looking forward to seeing you in the mountains!
Kaitlyn Cheeseman
Meet Kat, your friendly neighbourhood tour guide! Kaitlyn was born on Earth Day, which is super fitting because she loves travelling the world and enjoying Mother Earth’s beauty. She is a born and raised Alberta girl, a lover of the sea, a photographer at Owl Eye Photography, and a mountain explorer. She has always loved being a part of people’s experiences in life and sharing the places she explores with her family and friends, as well as her clients. Kaitlyn is excited to be a part of the team here at Canada Rail Vacations and Alberta Blue Sky Tours, and when she is not guiding you can find her enjoying time out golfing, canoeing, hiking, surfing, as well as backcountry camping and star gazing with her husband Cam and their mountain cat Mathiya. In the down days, she is chilling, reading, listening to music, and enjoying some yoga or writing.
Martin Flanagan
Martin is the founder of CanadaRail.ca. He has achieved the goal of turning a travel junkie’s passion into a reality of full-time travel. Martin has travelled to nearly every location in Canada and has stayed in every hotel we work with. He has been creating and guiding tours since 1995 and has personally guided over 10,000 guests in the past 26 years. Many of these guests have come back to Canada specifically to take a tour with Martin.
Martin speaks fluent English and German and was previously a competitor in the sport of luge. After realizing he couldn’t make a career out of travelling around the world sledding down icy chutes, he figured he would stop the sledding and just travel. In his spare time, Martin likes hiking, cycling, cross-country skiing, traveling, and visiting excellent restaurants worldwide.
Neil Zeller
Neil grew up in Saskatchewan but claims Western Canada as his own. Working in a corporate setting for 15 years, he had a mid-life creative and chose to build a photography business 10 years ago. Now a decade later and he is regarded as one of Alberta’s best photographers and guides. He enjoys showing people his backyard, with the Alberta Prairies, the Foothills, and the Rocky Mountains as his greatest inspirations.
Traveling all the backroads and main highways with his wife and son, Neil has honed his appreciation of this part of the world and counts ‘showing off’ this area as his absolute favorite thing to do professionally. Neil loves to help folks make the best of their time here by giving them positive memories for a lifetime!
Many of the pictures you will see on our site were taken by Neil. You can see Neil’s collection of work here: Neil Zeller Photography
Julian Perez De Camino
After travelling the world for years, Julian met his wife Jen and decided to settle near Banff National Park in the heart of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. There, he worked as lead guide and sales manager with a leading travel company showcasing Canada, to the Spanish market. Julián started his journey with Canada Rail Vacations as our guide in 2013. He is one of the most knowledgeable guides in Canada and his “on-the-ground” experience helps make our clients’ trips even smoother.
Originally from Spain, Julian is fluent in English and Spanish. He was raised between Madrid and the little ski town of Jaca in the Pyrenees. In his personal time, he is skiing every possible powder run he can find.