Melisa Stefaniw and Alex Man are both lifelong outdoor enthusiasts. Each have had unique experiences, with the common thread of outdoor athletics weaving throughout their individual life lines. 

Alex Man
Alex has combined his passion for outdoor recreation and background in engineering into a career of designing and building sustainable mountain biking and hiking trails.  His outdoor experience includes 30 years of mountain bike racing at the expert level, international adventure races at the professional level (most recently Amazon Prime's Eco Challenge Fiji), and coaching youth mountain biking including the Manitoba Provincial Cycling Team.  He holds a PhD in soil mechanics and an MSc in environmental engineering.  This unique combination of skills brings significant insight to current trail building issues and their solutions.  Alex has one the national "Trail Builder of the Year" award for his work on Winnipeg's Bison Butte, and was the key designer for Dauphin's Northgate Trail System.

Melisa Stefaniw
Melisa brings a wealth of knowledge to Decipher Wilderness Experiences from nearly two decades working in the tourism sector in British Columbia, Alberta, and now Dauphin. Melisa began snowboarding competitively at a young age and moved into instruction, always keeping in mind access to non-traditional sports to women and girls. She is the founder of F-Cycle, a women - centered cycling group for all ages and abilities and was a founding member of the Dauphin Derailleurs Cycling Club, the organization responsible for the Northgate Trails development. Her approach to Decipher's hosted experiences combines a love of hospitality and passion for connectedness to both people and nature. Both Melisa and Alex hold their Level One Mountain Bike certification with the Professional Mountain Bike Instructor's Association.