River Guide

Guiding: River guides are the most important part of any experience with Orange Torpedo Trips. Clients often sign up for their FIRST river experience so they can challenge themselves in the whitewater and to see the incredible places we go. Clients often return for additional trips because of the relationships they build with their guides. Guides are the face of the company and the personal connection with it.

Hosting: The river experience alone can be an experience we believe is life changing. The wild places we go are such a contrast to the everyday life of our client that they can drastically impact people, but proper guiding builds on the experience in these wild places to ensure that every customer makes positive life-long memories on our trips. With hospitable guiding we make sure every experience, not just the whitewater but also the side hikes, the time around the campfire, and every meal we provide, are filled with moments designed to make people feel special and engrain that positive association with rivers, wilderness, and OTT which will keep them coming back for years and working to protect the places we love.

Guide Tasks:

As a guide on the river you:

• At a base level the guide takes clients safely down the river and brings them home. A guide is entrusted with the safety of the clients on their trip.
• Operate within all of OTTs systems and standards to ensure trips are run safely in a consistent fashion.
• Are the holder of the keys opening a door for people to some of the worlds greatest places and what will become many of their most cherished memories.
• You will help people transition from a place of fear and concern above rapids to joy and celebration when they are successfully below them.
• Are a history teacher, sharing the powerful stories of previous explorers and indigenous people who have come before to the areas we travel.
• Are teaching people the skills to take themselves through the rapids, transferring your knowledge and experiencing into their success.
• Are an encourager providing moral support and confidence when clients are scared and need someone to tell them they can do it or that everything is going to be ok.

As a guide on the whole trip experience you:

• Ensure all clients have confidence in what is expected from them and what the trip has in store for them.
• Are the creator of memory moments throughout the trip, on and off the river. Intentionally doing things and creating moments that leave lasting memories for clients.
• Ensure all aspects of the trip, from the meeting at the shop to transportation, meals, camp, lodges, etc. meet OTT stated goal of creating the memory of a lifetime.
• Making every customer believe their trip is your favorite trip of the year and they are your favorite clients.
• Prepare meals in a safe fashion utilizing menus and directions.

Guide Skills We work with you to learn these.

Boating

• Have the boating and kayaking skills required to safely take people down our rivers.
• Have the guiding techniques and rescue skills to deal with the adverse circumstances guides can come across on the river.
• Strong swimmer with comfort in moving water.
• Trailer driving and backing skills required.

Leadership

• Lead and inspire confidence in your clients and fellow guides.
• Instill confidence in your clients by intimately knowing characteristics of the river you are guiding.
• Have the humility to learn from older/more experienced guides and gain the wisdom to teach the younger/newer.
• Gain the skills to successfully lead river trips from the planning phase through the customer return.

Communication

• Participate in a team environment clearly communicate with those on your team in both day-to-day and high stress circumstances.
• Participate in meaningful conversations with all of our clients. Be prepared to discuss topics which would be of interest with our clients.

Serving clients

• Be a storyteller sharing the history of the canyons we explore.
• Be great at interacting with kids.
• Demonstrate emotional awareness being able to read clients emotions in challenging circumstances, meet them at their level, and guide them up or down appropriately.

Problem Solving

• Creative problem solving required with the knowledge of circumstances which come up on river trips and the knowledge of all the tools at the disposal of a guide to work through any adverse circumstances.
• Maintain an attitude that all problems can be solved.