IWLS anyone tried them?

Hello All,

I am new here and I just recently found out about the Guide industry .
I always had a passion for the outdoors and did not even know there were schools out there like NOLS, IWLS , etc and I did not even know there was a thing as a guide or that you could make a living this way. I am kicking myself in the butt for not knowing about this sooner. Feel like I wasted a lot of time because I would have loved doing some of these schools when I graduated high school.

I am 28 now and I still have a strong passion and desire to learn the technical skill sets to become a guide and to have some amazing adventures doing some guide training. I have been looking at IWLS and it looks amazing I was wondering if anyone has tried it and can offer some feedback.

I am am not sure yet what area I want to focus on when it comes to being a guide. So I thought I would try a course out and see what I like and then go from there and focus on getting all the certification and training and technical skills sets in whatever area I have a passion for like say mountaineering.

If there is anyone out there who has take IWLS courses I would love to hear about your experiences .

thanks

Patrick

bump anyone

Becoming a technical climbing guide requires (among other things) a substantial base of experience in the discipline. If you're not a committed rock (or ice, or alpine) climber, taking a course in that discipline will not suffice to make you a guide. Or at least it shouldn't. To put it another way, if all you know about rock climbing is what you did in the course, you're not skilled/experienced enough to be guiding.

But don't let that dissuade you. Guiding courses are great ways to raise your game and you get to do some fantastic things with super enthusiastic people.

I used to work for IWLS/AMG and would highly recommend any of their courses and as a place of employment. Like NOLS, IWLS primarily hires new guides that have taken their courses and this is a great foot in the door to the guiding industry. As a new guide you would probably be a top rope belay slave in Skagway to the hordes of cruise ship folks(watch out for Norwalk;) Skagway is awesome, there's some nice crags, granite, the ocean, the White Pass, big mountain and glaciers. Go do it while your still young!

Gunkiemike wrote:Becoming a technical climbing guide requires (among other things) a substantial base of experience in the discipline. If you're not a committed rock (or ice, or alpine) climber, taking a course in that discipline will not suffice to make you a guide. Or at least it shouldn't. To put it another way, if all you know about rock climbing is what you did in the course, you're not skilled/experienced enough to be guiding. But don't let that dissuade you. Guiding courses are great ways to raise your game and you get to do some fantastic things with super enthusiastic people.

Thanks I was just thinking of taking a course to see if I like it and to get started in this industry and wondering if the IWLS was the best to accomplish this. Maybe someday down the road I could become a guide. Thanks for your input. I guess what I was also trying to say or ask is what would be the best school to do if you are just starting out?