Raft Guide

EARNINGS:

First-year guides on average earn about $8k to $14k / season including tips

Trip Leaders will make $15-$20K on average earn including tips. 

Tips are very lucrative in this high-end resort area of Vail and Beaver Creek. 

2024 RAFT GUIDE TRAINING CLASS:

Cost: $275

(Includes Guide Certification, Basic First Aid / CPR Certification required by the state of CO for all guides)

WORK AFTER TRAINING:

The Season is from May 29th - September 15th. To be considered you must be able to commit through August 15th. 

RAFT TRAINING DESCRIPTION:

At Sage Outdoor Adventures most of our summer recruiting for river related activities is done through our commercial River Guide Training Program. If you want to guide Whitewater Rafts anywhere in the U.S., you must complete one of these courses. Sage’s River training class is cutting edge and EXTREMELY FUN!!!  Our instructors are true river experts and some of the friendliest professionals you will ever meet.

This year’s class will begin on May 20th and is 10 days long. This class is full-on everything river guiding. If you don’t already love the river, you will after this experience. This program not only prepares you for river guiding but develops your sphere of awareness along with skills crucial to most any guiding position.  Whether on snow, land, water, in life or business experienced guides look at things much differently and have command/control over any situation presented to them. Our river training program instills these attributes and perspectives and is a key foundation for starting your career as a professional guide.

In the river guide training program, we will teach you swift-water rescue techniques, rowing skills, paddle guiding, river features, hydrology, boat anatomy, rigging, rescue, customer service and much more. We begin on mellow water in boats with rowing frames and you will spend time learning to control the boat with oars. As you get the hang of rowing and reading the water in easy sections, we work into paddle boating (where the guide is in the back of the raft steering with a single paddle and calling paddle commands to the crew) in class III and class IV whitewater.

You will be challenged daily, meet amazing people and form friendships that will last a lifetime.  You will do things in rivers that most people can’t even comprehend.  You will swim through whitewater, practice real rescue scenarios, guide boats, control paddle crews, and have an ear to ear smile the whole time

We hire most of the participants that complete the program, though a job as a river guide is not guaranteed simply by completing the program. We only put people on the river commercially if they show an exceptional aptitude for the skills needed to guide.  If for some reason you do not get hired as a river guide we have many other positions available within the company and students of our class tend to be our first choice when filling these roles.

We interview all potential attendees prior to admitting you to the program, as we only admit those we think would fit well with our team. This is purely a hiring/training program and not a course offered to the general public.

During the program, we will provide you with any necessary river gear such as wetsuits, river booties, splash tops, P.F.D.’s (Life Vests) and helmets if you do not already own this equipment. Once you complete the program and if you are selected to work as a guide you will need to invest in some of your own personal gear such as a helmet, P.F.D. and guide paddle.  We have excellent Pro Deals set up with all the top manufacturers.