Take a step outside!

Do you ever feel 'stuck in the office'? We spoke to five men with outdoor jobs and asked them about the reality of working outside.

A
Name: John Hughes
Occupation: Academic Leader for Adventure Recreation
I've been working in the outdoor sports and activities industry since I was 22, but whereas I used to go climbing myself, I've got more of an academic position now I'm at the polytechnic. I work with students and focus my skills on demonstrating how mountaineering groups should be run and organised. The best aspect is the quality of the students but this is the course's first year and we still have to see how it works out. But so far, so good. I've always got a lot out of my work but a day that jumps to mind was when I was working with the Wild South film crew in Antarctica. We had to climb down into the crater of Erebus and the volcano was semi¬active that day, but it was the only day the cameras could go down. The volcano was throwing bits and pieces at us, so it was pretty amazing being inside while it was partly erupting. That kind of thing appeals to me. I can't think of anything that is particularly frustrating, other than that sometimes on a lovely day you have to work inside and on a horrible day you're outside. Unfortunately, there isn't currently a way around having enough flexibility in the programme to accommodate that. What does bother me are the endless meetings and things to do within the polytechnic system, which don't always seem relevant to how you might actually improve the programme for students.

B
Name: Mick Beasley
Occupation: Mountain Guide
For years I was going back and forth between the USA and New Zealand teaching skiing - 25 winters in a row. Eventually, I just wanted to settle down and find a base. That meant I needed a summer job so I started learning about summer mountain guiding. Now I have a great affection for this season and the advantage of working in a small company is that I'm hardly ever indoors. I prefer trips which aren't technical, but difficult, and where without a guide it would be beyond most people's ability, and it's rewarding to know they appreciate that fact. I only deal with groups of 4-5 people as it's hard to find wilderness when you travel in large numbers. I'm at an age when I resent doing things that I don't enjoy
so I offer places to the clients that I want to go to anyway. Dealing with some of the older dilapidated shelters is not always pleasant, especially having to clean up after irresponsible previous occupants.
Working with people is not difficult in the mountains; they are so far out of their element that they tend to have faith in you implicitly and are easy to get along with. To do a job like mine I think it's essential that you attend the best courses, although it's not a legal requirement. To go through this training and have other people look at your work and get their input is invaluable.

C
Name: Johnny Kitts
Occupation: Jet-boat driver
I've been driving commercially for 18 years on various rivers and every day is a highlight. Probably on a day-to-day basis, it's just the varying nature of the area we operate in. What isn't so pleasant is picking hikers up on dangerous parts of the river. We do get a lot of hikers wanting to cross the river and we try our best to get people in and out of those areas no matter what the conditions are like. There are cut-off points that we believe are not safe to operate above, but mostly we try our hardest to get the trekkers out by boat. There's probably not a dull part with any jet-boat job, especially on commercial trips. You've got to be aware of what is happening all the time, you can't switch off about anything on the trip. That's when the boat ends up stuck in the shallows. I am now more involved in scheduling other drivers, so I don't spend as much time on the river as I did, which is a bit of a downpoint at times. For commercial driving it's learning as you go - time on the river with checks done by the local harbour master. You get a good idea of a driver's ability after about 25 hours. Some people have trouble reading shallow water and if you're colour blind this is a major problem as you can't pick out colouration in the water. It's experience of the river and conditions that counts and that continues for as long as you jet-boat.


D
Name: Chris Macrae
Occupation: Snow photographer
All my training for this career has been completely hands-on. I've been skiing since I was a kid and was lucky enough to get sponsorship which allowed me to get up to serious competition level. But I'd also been into photography since I was twelve and my camera always went with me to the slopes. This year I was invited to take part in the biggest ski photography competition in the world. There were twelve of the world's best skiers who teamed up with their selected photographer and we had to create the world's most startling ski shots. It was overwhelming just to be asked along to the competition and then I was over the moon to actually win something! I've been skiing in Alaska for seven years now and every time it's unique. Basically my whole life is just waiting for that period to come around. In the meantime, waiting on payment from people you work with is a frustration you have to put up with. It's difficult because sometimes you might spend $400 or $500 on film and then there's the travel costs, and you might not get paid for months while you wait for magazines to run the shots. And filing photos is not my strong point. It's the most tedious and most important part of the job.


E
Name: Jarrod Scott
Occupation: Black-water rafting guide
The village where we operate is pretty small but it's got great atmosphere and the caves we raft through really are astonishing - a totally different world. One of the best things is meeting people from different backgrounds and you get to see them at their highs and lows. Occasionally some people get scared stiff and I get a lot out of helping someone overcome that. I could do without the freezing cold in the middle of winter when getting into a wetsuit can be a bit of a torture, and I've had a few incidents where clients have completely ignored me because I'm still quite young. I used to get really offended, but now I'm resigned to it. When I started out I had no caving experience so I was 'tagged' for 10 trips. That means
you join in like a normal client on a guided trip. During that time the other guides assess you: the idea is that they train you in the technical skills but you won't make a guide if you don't have what it takes regarding personality. Once you're accepted, it's full on into training, like water safety and risk management. It's a good place to work; while the guides are really safety-focused, the atmosphere is pretty laid-back. Having said all this, I love caving but I wouldn't class myself as a caver. In my spare time I prefer aboveground activities like training in different martial arts.