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The Guide’s Guide to Guide School

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Veteran raft guide Susan Hollingsworth loves teaching would-be guides her craft. Find out why, plus what she could help you learn.

 

Most guests just want to get splashed. They come to me for an afternoon whitewater adventure, seeking a few thrills and a taste of the Northwest’s legendary scenery. But once a year, a batch of our rafting clients at Wet Planet Whitewater ask for something more.

The intrigue of the river and rush of whitewater has struck these individuals differently than the typical first-time rafter. The mention of rafting lights up their faces. Their smiles exude eagerness. These are the guests that want to be the guide. These are my new guide school students.

As an instructor, I consider guide school an opportunity to mold eager river enthusiasts into the kind of boating partners I want with me on the water.

Unlike many guide schools throughout the country, our course is not designed to breed the upcoming season’s new crop of professional raft guides. Traveling from all over the Northwest, these students come to us to gain the confidence, technique and experience they need to lead their own trips. Some wish to incorporate whitewater into an existing outdoor education program. Some want to impress buddies with exclusive whitewater-accessed fishing holes. Others simply seek the knowledge and skills to safely take friends out on the water.

In the Columbia River Gorge, we use an array of rivers – like the White Salmon, Hood River, Wind River and Klickitat – to deliver lessons for the first half of the course. We focus on day-trip skills like rescue basics and captaining a paddle boat. Next, we teach students how to organize multi-day logistics and row a gear boat. To put these skills into action, we head to one of Oregon’s quintessentially beautiful multi-day sections of river, like the Owyhee or the Grande Ronde, for a four-day trip. The curriculum enables instructors to play to their strengths while also working on students’ weaknesses, all amidst a paradise-like setting.

As instructors, we aim to pass along knowledge, techniques and values. Those weekends at guide school, students soak it up. From paddling techniques to flip drills, rope tossing and knot tying, we practice. Then comes the mistake, the poor line, the reality of whitewater – a swim, a pin, or even a flip.

Our students may not know it, but this is what they signed up for. Over the course of eight days, they experience highs and lows, constantly extracting little revelations and ultimate truths that help them to become leaders. Occasionally, I can see students experience these “ah-ha moments,” making my job as an instructor even more rewarding.

Here are a few such moments that I caught during our latest guide school.

Trusting Others and Taking a Risk

It’s the first morning of guide school, and we immediately go rafting. No icebreakers or introductions. No paperwork or formalities. Just straight to the river.

The morning proceeds as any other customer might experience it. However, these clients are not your average customers. Instead of following the crowd, these rafters watch our every move. They listen keenly to the trip talk. They inspect the gear we give them. They note the flow of trip preparation.

Out on the water, we lead the way down the Middle White Salmon’s bigger rapids. We call out normal commands, but include extra insights into our techniques and methods. Just when the students have gotten comfortable being a normal rafting guest, I ask if anyone wants to hop in the back to be the guide.

Without hesitation, one student jumps at the opportunity. Seated in the stern, smiling broadly, he begins to navigate. We bump a few rocks, but progress smoothly downstream.

Later,the student confesses that he hadn’t thought he could do it. Yet, when I had asked if anyone wanted to try, he felt a wave of trust. He thought, “If this woman thinks we can do this, then I might as well try.”

We take risks out on the river; having proper support and education allows new river runners to exit their comfort zone with confidence. The student in my raft would not have jumped into the guide seat without a little encouragement. He stepped out of his comfort zone, first trusting in my judgment, then trusting in himself.

Choosing Composure Over Panic

The upper branches of the Hood River can seem as white and steep as the glaciers flanking Mt. Hood, where the river begins. The narrow basalt canyon encloses the view, directing all attention at the rushing river. Some spots are easier to navigate, while others are technically challenging. It’s a rafter’s Class IV delight.

Our rafts charge through a rapid that grows steadily steeper. Just as one raft crests the final drop, it comes to a sudden halt. The crew quickly shifts body mass, finding that precarious balance point of not-sinking, not-flipping, but also not-getting-unstuck. The students look dramatically toward the guide, ready to react immediately to the inevitable barrage of commands that will remedy the situation.

“Well, let’s just take this moment to stop and take a break,” suggests the instructor. The students stare in shock. They expected that the river’s velocity and speed would dictate the pace of the rescue; they did not expect a moment of reflection. At first, they hesitated to relax. Soon, however, they saw that the situation was stable. They realized they could proceed calmly.

Experiencing calm amidst chaos can be the first step toward developing a healthy sense of fear on the river. On every river trip, a rescue scenario could manifest at any moment. This particular day at guide school, students learned that maintaining composure not only leads to smarter and safer decision making, but it also helps the entire team to think clearly and work together.

Suffering for Safety

While we aim for lots of time in the guide seat for each student, we also know that guiding a raft involves a lot more than navigating whitewater. Guide school includes an entire day covering basic swiftwater rescue skills, including how to swim in whitewater.

In the Northwest, however, time spent in the river is rarely comfortable. Especially in April.

I watched students get in the icy water. They practiced ferry angles and barrel rolls in calm, Class I water. We tried crossing different eddy lines and moving through stronger currents. We swam through a bigger Class II rapid, learning how to get to the side of the river as quickly as possible.

Exiting the cold river, group expressions clearly lacked enthusiasm. Those wearing just a wetsuit opted to head in early while others took a few more rounds through the rapid. During the debriefing session, students assumed that the swimming fell into the “harden-up” portion of the class. That’s the prerequisite point in the course where instructors present an activity that determines whether students are “cut out for it.” We smiled, knowing that they would one day be thankful for the experience.

Later last summer, I ran into a student who now spoke differently about the tortuous swimming session. During one of his first river trips after guide school, he and his raft partners had taken an unplanned dip. He realized then how much swimming practice at guide school had helped him to get back to the raft quicker. “It’s a big deal to be in moving water and not be able to stop,” he commented.

Despite suffering in the short term, the skill ended up being vital to a later experience. The student helped his crew get to safety quicker because he knew how to swim through whitewater. Leading rafting trips comes with extra responsibility. Even the seemingly easier or intuitive skills deserve attention. While practicing certain skills might sometimes seem superfluous, they might save valuable time later.

Crafting My Ideal Boating Partner

Guide school reminds me that not all of us begin our whitewater endeavors with opportunities to calmly unpin a raft, build our confidence through trust, or practice basic skills. Some people learn by trial and error, barely avoiding catastrophe. Others know that as a guide, you might be responsible for the safety and comfort of other people, and so choose to avoid potential catastrophe at all costs. Learning basic techniques from professionals establishes higher standards in beginners.

© Lance Reif

As an instructor, I consider guide school an opportunity to mold eager river enthusiasts into the kind of boating partners I want with me on the water. I explain the importance of group awareness, the necessity of certain equipment, the value in letting go and absorbing the moment. I revel in watching students call out commands for the first time and step into a leadership role. I see guide school as my opportunity to help students become the type of boater that everyone enjoys having along for the ride – someone who understands the risks, takes precautions, but most of all enjoys every minute of the journey.

Still, our time with the students is short. We point them in a direction, hand them equal measures of confidence and respect, and hope that they make good decisions. We smile when we hear that they’ve invested in their own drysuits or even purchased their own NRS Otter raft.  Mostly, we hope they pass along a culture of knowledge, safety and enjoyment to the rafters they will lead down the river. And, of course, we hope to join them out on the river one day too.