What do you want to be when you grow up? A mountain guide! Or at least that's what I thought when my biggest "expedition" had been two weeks of camping with my family in the luscious Olympic National Forest in Washington State! Fast forward a handful of years to my mid teens and again, my answer to this very question was the same...to be a mountain guide of some capacity. This had been my answer anytime anyone asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up without the limitations of skill or finances. Fast forward again, and again, and again (I'm getting older even as I write!) My dreams of becoming a mountain guide drifted but never left. I would spend countless hours searching around the internet feverishly trying to find a "quick fix", or a "fast track" to the glory that I thought was being a mountain guide. Many, many, MANY times lack of finances and sub par skills blew me off the mountain and I had to retreat back down from that elusive peak in the clouds, defeated.
One day I saw the peak, the clouds had parted and I got a glimpse of what could be! This was the first time I came across the Mountain Training School. I was in my late 20's. I saw the peak I had dreamed of summiting for most of my life and I started running towards it only to get knocked flat on my ass when I discovered I didn't qualify even to apply...the clouds quickly rolled in and it seemed that my dreams of reaching the summit would never be.
At this point in my life I had had many trials and tribulations and even knew what it felt like to succeed, to be good at something, to advance. But I didn't want to advance as a personal trainer or wildland firefighter. I wanted to be a mountain guide! Always had and always will! But, at this point my dreams of such grandeur were only a picture on my wall, an idea in my head, a dream of a young boy in love with the mountains, rivers, the wild...
3 years passed and I hadn't given guiding another thought other than, oh if only I had had the foresight to do this when I was younger. I began to gain more skills, I began to get in arguably in some of the best shape my body has come to know! And then one day in early 2012 I came stumbling, crawling, and skeptically back to the Mountain Training School website to see what I was missing out on, to see what I could have had, to see what I would have done had I only been a decade or more younger, more of a badass climber and skier...That day I read through the requirements for admission probably a dozen times, quite the feat for someone who doesn't read much! I called, emailed, called, and emailed with Ben and Jaya for the next several months to get a grasp on their program, their philosophy, and vision. I applied to the Mountain Guide School in May of 2012 and got accepted! My dreams were finally going to come true!
Find out more about the Mountain Training School and their offerings by clicking here:
- Seth
