The Team

Our teachers

Meet the V7 Team

Andrew Humphreys

V7 Instructor
Andrew is a professional canyoneer from the USA. He is the co-founder of V7 Academy and in the past ran a canyoning company in Colorado. An IRATA professional, he leads the technical development of the V7 Academy curriculum, bringing his expertise in various rope disciplines to the table.
Andrew now spends most of his free time opening and exploring canyons in PNW, US.

Geroge Yates

V7 Instructor
George started canyoning in the UK when the sport was starting to gain momentum in 2006. He loved the mixture of technical rope work combined with overcoming white water problems, and watching techniques develop. George took his new skills to Italy and helped develop canyoning as new product for a UK based activity centre. He then worked in Australia and spent time exploring some of the canyons in the Blue Mountains. In 2010 based himself in Scotland managing a large outdoor adventure centre, and became a canyoning professional trainer delivering training, opening canyons and travelling to canyoning destinations around the world.
In 2016 George opened The Canyoning Company with Co-Founder Ben Case. From this point his whole professional career was focused in Canyoning, running daily guided tours, international trips and providing training for recreational and professional canyoneers. He now delivers training throughout the UK and works as a technical advisor canyoning.

Ben Case

V7 Instructor
Ben is a professional canyoneer from Scotland, UK. He is co-founder of V7 Academy and co-owner of The Canyoning Company and is a Senior Trainer from the UK Canyoing Association.
His background is mainly mountain activities, but he can’t stay out of the water, the ideal combination for canyoning.
In the past few years, Ben has been exploring the new river systems in Scotland and canyoning abroad in Italy, Switzerland, France, Greece, Madeira and Montenegro.
Ben is responsible for the accounts and marketing communication for V7.

Panos Papakostas

V7 Instructor
Panos first came in contact with canyoning in 2001 and immediately fell in love with the sport that combined his love for nature with action and fun! He soon started working part time as an assistant canyoning guide and after finishing his university studies and worked a few years in finance he decided that the call of the canyons was too hard to resist.
In 2010 he co founded Baseline Canyoning (today the biggest Canyoning company in Greece) which he managed for 7 years. During this time he spent winters teaching skiing in Greece and guiding and Canyoning in New Zealand. In 2017 he moved to Switzerland where he enjoys Canyoning in the summer and winters full of snow.
The international dimension of Canyoning has been important to Panos from the beginning. He took his first training with the Italian National Canyoning school and in 2013 joined ICOPro, where he got to be Trainer, in order to help develop the standards of the activity worldwide. He is also a Swiss Outdoor Association certified Canyoning guide..

Gus Schiavon

In loving memory

Gus was a professional canyoneer and photographer, but most importantly, a beloved friend. He is V7 Academy's co-founder and editor of Rebelay.com. Gus had 10 years experience working with canyoning as a professional trainer, instructor and photographer.

Gus discovered canyoning in 2011 after an opportunity to work as a canyoning photographer while living in New Zealand. After that, he developed a canyoning photography training course and worked actively to increase the visibility of canyoning and help support the growth of the activity through his images. A published author for multiple outdoor magazines worldwide, he also participated in numerous high-profile descents, including the 8-day descent of Malishan canyon in Taiwan.
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