An Adventure Living: Job Orientation

Conversations topics rarely travel past skiing, climbing or snowpack. Its easier to count the days that I don't put on my snowboard boots than the days that I do.

Our team in the Sawtooth Mountains. L to R, Everett, Chris, Alex and Jess
Photo: Ryan McKinley

I arrived here just about 5 weeks ago with the other three interns of Sun Valley Trekking. (Apprentice guides when we want to sound official) A guiding company here in the Wood River Valley that owns and operates six different backcountry huts in the area. We wasted no time getting down to business and after a brief meeting at the SVT office, began prepping for our 4 day hut trip leaving the next morning.

The smokies were our first destination and after a brisk 3 mile snowmobile tow in, we began our trek up the side of little round top to Coyote Yurt. We immediately get to work, clearing paths, chopping wood and going through basic hut maintenance. The next day we go out for a tour to get some terrain familiarization, skiing some popular shots around the hut and obtaining baseline data on the snowpack. We return to the hut as the daylight dwindles with big appetites and smiles on our faces. As the sun sets behind the Boulder Mountains in the distance we sit around the wood stove drinking whiskey hot chocolates and taking in the fresh mountain air.

The next day was much of the same, as was the day after that.

Jess, Chris and Kiefer chopping wood at Pio yurt

Trips ensued throughout the month of December, with a typical 1 day turnaround in the front country. Time has been spent hauling in loads on sleds, chopping wood, telling stories, doing beacon drills, digging snow pits, going through chainsaw usage, cooking, shoveling out endless snow and of course; skiing.

We've seen maybe three days of sun throughout the whole month as we got hammered with storm after storm. Breaking trail through knee deep snow was routine as we set the tracks to each of our 6 backcountry huts.

As the year comes to an end, the sun has started poking its head through the clouds and we began to settle into a routine. Minutes blend into hours blend into days and the day of the week no longer matters. We're now on mountain time. Business has picked up for the guides and our team of 4 is full steam ahead - or rather as fast as we can walk with sleds full of propane tanks.

Its not your typical job (we get paid in powder) but it sure beats sitting in an office!