On Becoming a Mountain Guide
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So if four years ago when I started college you asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up, I would of told you, "An engineer? I think?"
Well that ship sailed long ago and I now know what I want to do when I 'grow up'.
I want to be a mountain guide.
I have been rock and ice climbing for about five years, snowboarding for twice that, and just got my first taste of alpine climbing this summer in the North Cascades and on Mt. Washington.
My involvement with the University of Vermont's Outing Club has paved this road towards a future in the outdoor education profession. I started as an ice climbing leader in training my first winter at UVM and eventually co-coordinated the same leadership development program for my last two years at school. I also recieved an Adventure Scholarship from the Flyin Ryan Hawks Foundation in Feburary of this past year to go on a two week long backcountry snowboarding expedition in the Chic-Choc mountain range of Quebec.
I got to work personally with Kel Rossiter, a local Burlington guide who owns Adventure Spirit Guides, for the past four years and got to culminate what I had learned in a five day alpine climbing trip to the Boston Basin area of the North Cascades. You can check out some pictures and stories about the trip here.
The road to becoming a fully certified guide is not easy by any means. It will probably be about ten years until I will have accrued all the necessary experience, classes, and certifications. The American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA) has made leaps and bounds in mapping out just how to be a guide. Be sure to check out their website if your interested in learning from a guide or becoming a guide.
My first step in becoming a guide is to take the Single Pitch Instructor course, several which are being offered in the upcoming fall in the North Conway, New Hampshire area as well in New Paltz, New York.
The cost of this course is $500 and as a extremely recent undergrad, this is a mighty sum of money.
I spent this past summer working for the Petra Cliffs Climbing Gym and Mountaineering Center as an adventure camp counselor. I can truly say that I have never had a more fun and fulfilling job in my life. I really enjoy working with kids and I forsee my next step in on the guide path to be with a type of outdoor adventure school such as NOLS or Outward Bound.
I recently finished an autobiography by Norman Vaughan called, "My Life of Adventure". Vaughan led an amzing life, including being part of Admiral Byrd's 1928 expedition to the North Pole, where Byrd was the first to fly over the North Pole. Byrd ending up naming a mountain after him, which Vaughan didn't summit until he was 89 years old. His words of encouragement are scrawled on the title page of the book,
'Dream big and dare to fail'
Well that ship sailed long ago and I now know what I want to do when I 'grow up'.
I want to be a mountain guide.
I have been rock and ice climbing for about five years, snowboarding for twice that, and just got my first taste of alpine climbing this summer in the North Cascades and on Mt. Washington.
My involvement with the University of Vermont's Outing Club has paved this road towards a future in the outdoor education profession. I started as an ice climbing leader in training my first winter at UVM and eventually co-coordinated the same leadership development program for my last two years at school. I also recieved an Adventure Scholarship from the Flyin Ryan Hawks Foundation in Feburary of this past year to go on a two week long backcountry snowboarding expedition in the Chic-Choc mountain range of Quebec.
I got to work personally with Kel Rossiter, a local Burlington guide who owns Adventure Spirit Guides, for the past four years and got to culminate what I had learned in a five day alpine climbing trip to the Boston Basin area of the North Cascades. You can check out some pictures and stories about the trip here.
The road to becoming a fully certified guide is not easy by any means. It will probably be about ten years until I will have accrued all the necessary experience, classes, and certifications. The American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA) has made leaps and bounds in mapping out just how to be a guide. Be sure to check out their website if your interested in learning from a guide or becoming a guide.
My first step in becoming a guide is to take the Single Pitch Instructor course, several which are being offered in the upcoming fall in the North Conway, New Hampshire area as well in New Paltz, New York.
The cost of this course is $500 and as a extremely recent undergrad, this is a mighty sum of money.
I spent this past summer working for the Petra Cliffs Climbing Gym and Mountaineering Center as an adventure camp counselor. I can truly say that I have never had a more fun and fulfilling job in my life. I really enjoy working with kids and I forsee my next step in on the guide path to be with a type of outdoor adventure school such as NOLS or Outward Bound.
I recently finished an autobiography by Norman Vaughan called, "My Life of Adventure". Vaughan led an amzing life, including being part of Admiral Byrd's 1928 expedition to the North Pole, where Byrd was the first to fly over the North Pole. Byrd ending up naming a mountain after him, which Vaughan didn't summit until he was 89 years old. His words of encouragement are scrawled on the title page of the book,
'Dream big and dare to fail'
Organizer
Chris Cullaz
Organizer
Burlington, VT