8 Days

1 Welcome Evening 7 Full River Days including a 4 Day Yampa, 1 De-rig and De-brief half day.

Adrift Adventures is excited to team up with its sister company Stand Up Paddle Colorado to offer a guide school /river intensive that covers the disciplines of whitewater paddle rafting and rowing. Whether you are looking at guiding professionally or acquiring the skills, knowledge and comfort to be able to outfit your own private river excursions, this represents the right opportunity for you.

There are guide schools all over the USA offered by outfitters and obviously some are better than others. Other than trying to cover the minimum, we believe a full immersion is needed to get the repetitions, hours, river miles, paddle time and proper guidance so that the correct foundational skills can be nurtured and engrained in the participant.

River Training Goals

Expose trainees (all levels of experience) to the fundamentals of whitewater rowing and paddle guiding, river navigation, river safety and self- rescue.

Assist in choosing the necessary equipment for maximum safety and the creation of a proper fluid mindset that assists in preparing for the unexpected when recreating and guiding on rivers.

Leadership and confidence training, learning to recreate in the outdoors as a group that functions with respect to the elements and the ultimate well being of everyone on the trip.

Fitness and conditioning

Packing, Preparing and Cooking Meals in the outdoors.

BLM/Park and Rec’s Requirements for River Trainees (Greatly exceeded by course offered at Adrift)

A guide shall have a minimum of fifty hours of on river training utilizing paddles and/or oars, and any other equipment that the guide will be using on regulated trips. Of this fifty hours, thirty hours shall be with a qualified guide instructor aboard the same vessel with the trainee. The remaining twenty hours shall be with a qualified guide instructor on the same training trip. Twenty hours of training shall occur on the river on which the guide will be guiding regulated trips or on a river section of comparable difficulty.

Minimum guide training shall include the following areas of instruction:

(1) Rigging and maneuvering the vessel

(2) River currents, eddies, and waves

(3) River hazards

(4) Types and causes of river rapids

(5) Scouting and running rapids

(6) River rescue and emergency procedures

(7) Minimizing outdoor recreation resource impacts and

(8) Proper fit, wearing and use of personal flotation devices.

Completing the training does not immediately qualify one for employment. After training a guide has to be certified on a commercial trip with an experienced guide instructor. Training logs and certifications are completely transmissible. Minimum first aid cpr is needed to work commercially. Applicants with Wilderness First Aid or Wilderness First Responders will be prioritized.

A first year guide at Adrift can look very differently for everyone. All trainees come to the course with different backgrounds and capabilities. It is not uncommon for guides to find alternative forms of work while they get the miles and confidence to take commercial guests down the river. Some guides supplement their river time with other jobs like driving guests, doing boathouse hours, office work and also working at our multiple locations. If you prove that you are flexible, determined and loyal to what we are doing, we understand the need to bring in income and will make sure you have opportunities for work. If you want more details, we are happy to discuss it in an interview.