Outdoor Careers Are Worth More Than the Mighty Dollar

by Jedd Ferris

One of the funniest movies of all time has got to be Office Space-a comical ode to life in the American workplace. The main character, Peter, is a disgruntled small cog in an overstuffed corporation called Initech. He’s driven into therapy by the daily drones of an overbearing boss that is anal about his coversheets and a fellow employee named Milton who is obsessed with his stapler. When two of his I.T. friends are about to be fired due to downsizing, the trio exercises frustration by beating the crap out of a printer and engaging in a small embezzling scheme that goes awry.

Peter puts it best when he says,” I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day is the worst day of my life.”

The film is a cult classic, because it is really the first to document how pathetic the average office environment can be-filled with people that get caught up in looking forward to donuts in the lounge and “Dress Down Day.” But then again, most of us are raised to pursue the American dream. The goal that’s been ingrained into our heads is to find a high-paying job that will allow us to consume as much as possible. Leather seats and first-class flights are flashed on TV screens as the pinnacles of nirvana, even if the price to pay is getting a desk gut spending too much time under the draining hum of fluorescent lights. Forty-hour weeks have become light in the rat race climb to the top, and with that comes the angst along the way. According to The Conference Board business research, only 50 percent of Americans are satisfied with their jobs.

So what’s the remedy? Is it possible to do something you love-like climb, paddle, or hike-for a living? Sure it is. It might require a pay cut, but there are some people out there that think 30 years of cubicle fever isn’t worth a mediocre pension and an extra speed on the Cuisinart. These are people that live to work and not the majority that works to live. They may never see six figures but it’s a worthy price to pay to make everyday more enjoyable as a pursuit of passion.

Dave Gale

Job: Paddling guide

Office: New and Gauley Rivers

Salary: $60-120/trip, 8-9 months of the year

Dave Gale is a 25-year raft guide for Class VI River Runners on the New and Gauley Rivers in West Virginia. He spends most days from April through October pounding through the thrill of world-class whitewater. After suffering a skiing injury, somebody recommended he try whitewater rafting to get his outdoor fix. He headed to West Virginia for a summer and never left. At the time he was working as an electronics designer.

“I guess it’s been a 25-year summer,” says Gale. “ I didn’t even have a window in my office, so after my summer on the water I realized being indoors wasn’t for me.”

Now at 43 he’s married with three kids, and he’s quick to call the life he’s chosen a sacrifice. A lot of the younger guides go work on ski mountains or head for the temperate climates of South America to seek more river employment, but Gale has made a life for himself in the small town of Fayetteville, so he looks for ways to make ends meet from November through February, lately taking on a job as a land surveyor. For years during the off-season he stayed at home with his daughters, while his wife Lisa worked in marketing.

“I don’t know any river guide that I would consider even middle class,” says Gale. “But I think we’re upper class in the lifestyle we live on a daily basis.”

Guides make money based on experience. The pay starts at $60 a day and can reach as high as about $120 for the veterans, but guides are only paid on days that they actually work. Veterans are also given priority to take more of the river trips, so often Gale as a senior guide will try to work 25 days straight.

“Now I have the prettiest office I can ask for, and I get to spend quality time with people from all walks of life from all over the world. You have to be a people person. I deal with everyone from Hell’s Angels to CEOs to nuns, so I have to be able to blend in with all of them. That’s another great reward of it as well.”

Robb Macgregor

Job: Climbing guide

Office: Seneca Rocks, W.Va.

Salary: $100/eight-hour expedition

Robb Macgregor is in the same boat. Actually he prefers to spend his time on the rocks. That’s why two years ago he opened Nirvana Climbing Guides, based out of his home in Point of Rocks, Md. Burned out on the gym industry after six and a half years with Sportrock-at one time working as interim president-he weighed his options and decided to be a stay-at-home dad for four days a week. On the other three days, he takes people climbing, usually at Seneca Rocks in West Virginia. Although he is happier being outside, Macgregor is expecting it to take several years for his business to get off the ground.

“Climbing is my passion, and I’ve chosen it as my career path, but it’s really difficult making a living with a guide service,” he says. “I don’t do this job for the money. Next year I’ll probably do a lot better, but it really takes about five years to build a strong client base.”

Macgregor charges $100 for an eight-hour class. When he has to pay additional instructors, which he contracts on a freelance basis, it doesn’t leave much for him and his family. In Europe, where climbers have a much bigger constituency, guides can make a decent living, but only an estimated 1.5 million people climb in the United States. Overseas climbing is an established industry, where guides are required to be internationally certified. Here it is still a small, specialty trade without strict regulation.

Last month he dished out $1,600 for his American Mountain Guide Association certification exam. Only a handful of guides in the Blue Ridge are certified-basically because customers don’t know the difference-but Macgregor feels it is important to provide the right service, even if it isn’t in the budget. He requires all of his instructors to at least be AMGA certified top-rop site managers and graduates of wilderness first responder.

“Here anyone can hang a shingle and call themselves a guide,” Macgregor says. “Nobody knows about the AMGA, because it’s only been around for 20 years. Even summer camps hire college students home on vacation who don’t have the real skills. It devalues the whole industry.”

Another hurdle is insurance. In his first year of operation Macgregor had to pay $5,100 in basic company insurance, not counting additional expenses for workers’ comp. To supplement his income Macgregor does freelance instruction with other companies like Outdoor Wilderness Leadership School.

“Even if being a climbing guide doesn’t pay very well, it’s still very satisfying and rewarding when people have a wonderful experience, because I’ve introduced them to the coolest thing they’ve ever done,” he says. “That’s what this is all about.”

Paul Wolf

Job: Outdoor Instructor

Office: Western North Carolina

Salary: $40,000

A select group of outdoor professionals are getting their training in the halls of higher education. Paul Wolf molds the bright outdoor-oriented minds of the future as the program director of the Outdoor Leadership Studies Program at Southwestern Community College in Bryson City, N.C. Courses include Challenge Course Facilitation, Raft Guide Training, and Desert/Alpine Orientation.

“The ability to blend what you love with something that pays you an income has pretty strong appeal,” says Wolf.

Wolf’s students range in age from 17 to 52. He’s sent his students into positions as backcountry rangers, challenge course managers, and river outfitters. While he admits most outdoor careers won’t make anyone millions, people don’t necessarily have to live in the poorhouse to work in the outdoors. Wolf also works as a challenge course professional, where he can make $400 in an eight-hour day.

“Most people think of outdoor careers as minimum wage level raft guides, but there is money in outdoor professions,” says Wolf. “I’m in an outdoor career, and I have a mortgage, wife, and kids. Will I retire next year? Heck no. But I disagree that there is no money.”

Nick Pearl

Job: Wilderness therapy field counselor

Office: Southern Appalachians

Salary: $90-175/day

Nick Pearl had experience as a raft guide and rock climbing guide, but he was looking for a way to incorporate those challenges into something more meaningful to him. So he became a wilderness counselor with SUWS (formerly the School of Urban Wilderness Survival) in the mountains of Old Fort, N.C. The program works with troubled 11-17-year-olds that are suffering from everything from low self-esteem and family conflict to depression and drug and alcohol abuse. Field instructors at SUWS carry out the treatment plan of therapists while taking the teens on lengthy backpacking trips in surrounding Pisgah National Forest.

“My other jobs challenged me physically, but I wanted something that challenged me emotionally,” says Pearl. “This gives me a sense of mission with my life and my work.”

The pay is on par with that of most teacher salaries, but there are opportunities for advancement in management positions. Therapy field instructors are asked to make a one-year commitment, and if it turns into something more permanent, like it did for Pearl, one can make a comfortable living. Pearl says the job itself is just as much of a reward for the instructors as it is for the students.

“Just being in the wilderness is therapeutic-for students and teachers alike.” •

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WILD CALLINGS

Think you can’t incorporate your favorite outdoor activity into a day job? Think again. Here are some Blue Ridge adventurers that got creative:

Bike

Fat tire fiend Timm Muth had a hard time controlling his mountain biking habit. So to satisfy his cravings he started Dirt Addictions, a mountain biking guide service located just outside of Dillsboro in the mountains of western North Carolina.

In January, the former full-time engineer picked up his family and left a comfortable salary in Chapel Hill to pursue his two-wheel passion-now spending his days taking aspiring riders on trails like Tsali, Kitsuma, and Mo Heinous in Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests: www.ncbiking.com.

Hike

Randy and Janie Moore are Appalachian Trail thru-hikers that love nothing more than to be on the trail, so in July 2003 the couple from Black Mountain, N.C., started Foot Travel, LLC, a small company that provides supported hikes around the Blue Ridge region. For a daily fee the Moores-former Outdoor Educators with training from Outward Bound-will lead a guided hike or just provide a shuttle service and custom meals for hikers as they start and finish. Starting in 2007, Foot Travel will offer fully supported A.T. thru-hikes for $10,000: www.bighike.com.

Paddle

In an effort to paddle big water as much as possible Daniel Delavergne of Asheville, N.C., started Penstock Productions, LLC, which produces Lunch Video Magazine-the world’s first whitewater video magazine. Unlike a regular magazine, the quarterly outfit sends its subscribers both a print pub and a 60-minute DVD featuring wild whitewater video footage of the latest tricks, trips, river reports, and expeditions gfrom around the world: www.lvmvideo.com.

Run

Jonathan Poston has been running since he was five, so it’s only fitting that he would make it his life calling. He’s now an independent running coach through his own company Asheville Race Training. As USATF Level II Endurance Coach and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Poston runs group training programs year-round-coaching everyone from beginners to Boston Marathon qualifiers: mindlynxx@hotmail.com.