Freelance Mountain Guide

[CSHendo]

Hi

I’m currently looking at a career change, as I’m sick of the office IT lifestyle of working indoors from 9 to 5 in a field that I have no interest in.  I’m currently weighing up my options and I’ve always fancied working in the outdoors guiding.  I currently have my level 2 kayaking instructor qualification and will soon be doing my level 3 (not much use for a mountain guide but good for some general freelancing.)

So my question is who on here is a Freelance Mountain Guide and how do you find it, can it be a reliable source of income and what sort of cash does it bring in?  How long did it take you to become established?

How did you find your ML, WML, SPA etc and who did you do them with?

I’ve been doing a bit of searching and http://www.climbmts.co.uk seem to be cheaper by about £200 in some cases and seem to have a pretty good reputation.

Regards
Craig

[Al Downie]

Don't do it. Keep your work and your recreation separate. In other words, don't let the thing you love become a job. Don't turn the mountains into a place of work. And whatever you do, don't get a freakin' SPA because they're a pile of meaningless shite sought after by short people who love badges and being surrounded by novices. Same goes for all mountain 'qualifications'. Bunch of arse.

[whispering nic]

Becoming a UIAGM Mountain Guide needs candidates to have various prerequisites including four alpine seasons inclusding several classic north faces, fifty multi pitch routes of E1 and above, leads of UK 5c and above, fifty winter routes above grade 3 of which twenty at grade five. from there about three  to five years training and probably sufficient cash to keep yourself going during the process. http://www.bmg.org.uk/training.html#require


Starting with an SPA and working up thru ML, MIA winter ML and MIC will take just as long but you could work at the same time.
http://www.mltuk.org/

Pay tends to range from average to poor! Don't do it for the cash.
Stuart Johnston is a good provider for SPA and ML courses
( http://www.climbmts.co.uk )

What's the difference between a twelve inch pizza and a mountain guide? - The pizza can feed a family of four...

[pure ned brilliant]

Don't do it. Keep your work and your recreation separate.

Al is absolutely right.  After much deliberation, I started a job shagging supermodels at a thousand quid a day, and it put me right off gloriously abandoned heterosexual lovemaking.  So much so, that apparently I am now one of Al's increasingly recurring homosexual fantasies.

pnb

[Dave]

Having the same dilema here Craig.
Was toying with the idea of becoming a driving instructor .
You get a car, good pay, and its a good way to *&* off climbing when the weathers good  :wink:

Any climbing driving instructors out there ?

[sir]

I agree with Downie. If you love the outdoors then don't work there. Unless you are making VG money that will cloud the fact that you are babysitting red sock wearing arses then stick to 9 to 5 and just enjoy your freetime

[Chris F]

Craig, I think it's not just important just to love the activity, you have to love to TEACH the activity. I know I could never instruct, as I haven't got the patience to go through the basics again and again. I used to see ski and board instructor mates getting on lifts with a bunch of total novices and get frustrated just watching.

[Al Downie]

So much so, that apparently I am now one of Al's increasingly recurring homosexual fantasies.

Naw ye urny.

[CSHendo]

Cheers for the good replies.

Very informative Nic, the SPA, ML, WML, route was the one I was thinking about and I'm quite happy to work for the next few years.  I'm not looking to make a fortune and not looking to do it full time, so the cash thing is not a problem.

I here what your saying about the SPA Al and in some ways I agree with you but it is part of another world domination plan I'm working on for the future and is very much required.  I also agree that it could be dangerous combining your recreation and work but I'm sure for every person that says its crap there'll be another that says its great.

PNB that could be one of the funniest posts I've read  :lol:

The teaching thing does appeal to me Chris, I had toyed with the idea of becoming a teacher a few years back but didn't want to go back to being a student.

Would that not make you the most qualified driving instructor on the planet Dave?  

[Erik Brunskill]

Dave,i would say being a driving instructor is a horrific job, imagine being stuck in a car all day with half wits who cant drive, also you only get paid when you work, so every day off is lost money,  even if you work 7 days a week every week youll be lucky if you hit 25k a year, no sick pay, no holiday pay, no pension.

dont let me put you off though!

[Dave]

Anythings better than the current workload wage ...

I came to similar conclusions on mountain guiding in the 90's. Too poorly paid and distracts from the recreational aspect of going climbing.  :wink:

[Al Downie]

AND... you'd become just another cog in the machine that's slowly and steadily turning climbing into a pre-packaged commodity. Nip into Tiso's and buy some clothes, then look up a geezer in the back of Climber and buy a climb. No need for any decision-making, personal responsibility or adventure. Easy.

Don't do it.

[Davy]

. Don't turn the mountains into a place of work..

I'd much rather have a job like yours Al, which would allow me to sit in front of a computer and post on scottishclimbs.com all day.
Fantastic.

[Davy]

Cheers for the good replies.

 I also agree that it could be dangerous combining your recreation and work but I'm sure for every person that says its crap there'll be another that says its great.

I think you need to be under no illusions about what a job as guide or instrcutor will be: variety does not come with what you do but from who you work with. I only instruct part-time, and maybe becasue of this every time I teach I get so much from the clients I work with - they make the session/day fun and interesting. Plus I get to pass on to people something I know well and have a great deal of passion for.

Even on a bad day's instructing, I'm in the hills rather than stuck in an office in front of a computer - and that beats the pants off even a good day in the office stuck in front of a computer!

As for qualifications, I got an awful lot out of my SPA, ML and WML - not just new skills, but learning how to apply skills I already had in different ways. It was also good meeting up with like-minded people and I found it a good way to make contacts too.
Bunch or arse? Not for me.

[CSHendo]

I think you need to be under no illusions about what a job as guide or instructor will be: variety does not come with what you do but from who you work with. I only instruct part-time, and maybe becasue of this every time I teach I get so much from the clients I work with - they make the session/day fun and interesting. Plus I get to pass on to people something I know well and have a great deal of passion for.

Even on a bad day's instructing, I'm in the hills rather than stuck in an office in front of a computer - and that beats the pants off even a good day in the office stuck in front of a computer!

This is the response that makes me think this is for me, every morning I struggle to get out of bed, unless I know I'll be in the outdoors doing something I love.

My time in the Mountain Rescue has given me an insight into teaching in the outdoors and leading groups and I have taken a great deal of pleasure from that.

Al you are very sceptical about this but how many of the so-called "buy a climb" punters will ever do it again and ruin climbing forever?