Andrew Skurka's Blog, page 7

Help wanted: Prepping breakfast & dinner rations

To readers who live in or near Boulder, Colo:

I need help in preparing breakfasts and dinners for our upcoming guided trips. Would you be interested in making some extra cash?

For the 2023 season I’ll need several thousand meals. The work is easy but detail-oriented: you’ll need to proportionally mix the bulk ingredients, then bag them into 4.5- or 5.5-oz rations. I appreciate this work being done, and we’ll keep it fun and relaxed.

Help is needed over the next four weekends (March 18-19 through April 8-9), ideally just two. You need not make all weekends or both weekend days — I’ll take the hours you want to give me, so long as it can be managed efficiently. Once you’re trained on a particular meal, we can send you home with supplies to make more on your own time and in your own residence.

The prep will take place at my home in the Frasier Meadows neighborhood in south Boulder.

You will be paid $22.50 per hour, with a $50 bonus if you work 24+ hours. You will be paid with a check and be classified as an independent contractor. I am required to report compensation greater than $600.

If interested in helping, please complete this form. I’ll follow up after assessing worker count and availability.

Thank you for your consideration.

The post Help wanted: Prepping breakfast & dinner rations appeared first on Andrew Skurka.

Meet Katie Gerber, new Co-Director

I’m delighted to publicly announce that Katie Gerber has been hired as Co-Director and my first full-time employee. To start, she’ll be helping me run the guided trip program; as time and interest permits, I hope that her role will expand.

Katie has been involved in the program since 2020, as a guide and online instructor. She and I have guided multiple trips together and have also shared significant windshield time while driving the van to trip locations.

This job post solicited significant interest, with nearly 150 applications. I considered outside candidates, who I thought might bring fresh ideas and institutional expertise. But Katie was the most compelling candidate — in addition to her program familiarity and our personal rapport, she’s hard-working, entrepreneurial, communicative, level-headed, and attentive to details. Plus, she’s a really strong and knowledgeable backpacker.

It’d be more convenient if Katie were based on Boulder. But I understand why she selected Salida instead — it’s a favorite mountain town for my wife Amanda and me, and we considered moving there too.

Previously, Katie created Backpacker Academy, a series of online courses, and authored Adventure Ready: A Hiker’s Guide to Planning, Training, and Resiliency. She served as a holistic health coach, focusing mostly on nutrition. Her most notable trips have been:

End-to-end thru-hike of the Grand Canyon, mostly off-trail on the north side;Pacific Crest, Continental Divide, Oregon Desert, and Colorado Trails;All fifty-eight of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks;Wind River High Route; andA 900-mile route in the Great Basin.

Katie has been serving in the Co-Director capacity since last month. So far, so good, and I’m very optimistic about the contribution that she will make.

The post Meet Katie Gerber, new Co-Director appeared first on Andrew Skurka.

Escalante Canyons: Join us for a 5- or 7-day trip

In just eight weeks our 2023 guided trip season gets underway in southern Utah!

We’re running 12 trips, and I have a few spots still available that I’d like to fill. For current availability refer to the online schedule; as of today, these spots are on:

Adventure 1C (5 days/4 nights): Monday, April 17 through Friday, April 21Adventure 2A (7 days/6 nights): Sunday, April 23 through Saturday, April 29Adventure 2B + WFA (7 days/6 nights): Sunday, April 23 through Saturday, April 29

In all cases, it’s 2-3 vacancies per trip. So if you’re a couple or threesome, today there would be room for you (and a 10% discount for groups of 2+).

The fitness level for all three open trips is Median, which is generally appropriate for younger applicants who are physically active and for older applicants who are fitter than most of their peers.

Adventure 2B has an integrated Wilderness First Aid module. Emily Wheelis, MD, will be one of your guides, and you will receive a WFA certificate from the University of New Mexico.

These trips are run specifically in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Expect lots of sandstone (red, pink, and white; some sloping, some vertical), deep canyons, and endless views.

Why Utah?

Many of the guides on the team like our Utah location more than any other — yes, including better known locations like Alaska’s Brooks Range or California’s High Sierra. Here’s why:

1. Time of year. For most of the country, it’s a long, cold, and dark winter. Then we descend on Escalante, where by late-April the temperatures are mild, the trees are leafing out, and the sun has lovely warmth. It’s like a seasonal rebirth for us.

2. Off-trail travel. There is only one established trail in the area, the Boulder Mail Trail, which is a primitive trail by most standards. Otherwise it’s 100 percent off-trail travel over sandy benches, across petrified sand dunes, atop slickrock ledges, down vertical-walled canyons, and occasionally along use trails that have no signage or assured destination.

3. Wilderness. This area was among the last to be mapped by the USGS, and Highway 12 was not fully paved until the 1980’s. Escalante is a well established recreation destination, but it thankfully has not (yet?) attracted the crowds associates with nearby National Parks like Zion or Arches or other destinations like Moab. Our groups only occasionally see other parties, and I’ve never heard of a group needing to share a campsite.

Interested

Go here to read more about our guided trips.

And if you like what you see, go here to apply.

The post Escalante Canyons: Join us for a 5- or 7-day trip appeared first on Andrew Skurka.

Now open: Wilderness First Aid in Escalante, UT, April 22

In partnership with the University of New Mexico International Mountain Medicine Center and Department of Emergency Medicine, I am offering a Wilderness First Aid (WFA) course in southern Utah in April. t’s primarily an add-on for guided trip clients, but I have a few extra spots that I’m making available to the public.

Go here for all course information, including the objectives, curriculum, instructor bios, and logistical details. Below I will include just enough information for you to make an initial determination of your interest and availability.

Course details:

Saturday, April 22, 20238 am to 5pm, with an hour for lunchEscalante, Utah$295 per person

The instructors will be:

Steve McLaughlin, MD, a four-time alumnus of our program who is the Chief Medical Officer at the University of New Mexico Hospital and the former Chair of its Emergency Medicine Department. And,Emily Wheelis, MD, who is a faculty member in Emergency Medicine at UNM.

Prior to the day of in-person instruction, students must complete eight hours of online material.

Why should you take this particular course?

Many organizations offer WFA courses, and many of them are good. Here are some selling points for this one:

Late-April is primetime in Escalante, which is the gateway to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Enjoy the sunshine, mild temperatures, and a few slot canyons while you’re there.In education, instructor quality is perhaps the largest factor in your learning and satisfaction. Steve and Emily are top-notch, and probably rare as MD’s to be teaching WFA courses.We’re not yet sold out. For current availability, refer to the online trip schedule.How to registerIf you haven’t already, read this page.Then go here where you can register and pay.

The post Now open: Wilderness First Aid in Escalante, UT, April 22 appeared first on Andrew Skurka.

Podcast interviews: Suggested entertainment

In recent months I’ve been a guest on several podcasts. You may have already heard or watched them. If not, and if you’re looking for some backpacking-themed content, these programs may be of interest.

Inside Sports Nutrition

Listen here

Eight years ago Dina Griffin conducted my metabolic efficiency test, and decades ago Bob Seebohar was advocating for lower-carbohydrate diets for endurance athletes. To understand more about fueling and nutrition for athletes, follow these two.

Backpacker Radio

Listen here

Most winters I get invited by The Trek founder Zach Davis to join him and Juliana Chauncy for an interview. This was number four. The conversation comes easy and typically runs very long, because that’s what happens when three people passionate about backpacking sit around a table in January.

By Land

It’s not yet live, but will be posted here

Emory Wanger and I had a wide-ranging conversation about high routes, hunting, guiding (of course), and backcountry education.

The Backpacking Podcast

Watch here, or find on your podcast player

Jeremiah and John last hosted me in February 2020, weeks before the pandemic arrived in the US. Like the first show, this was a fun — these two are a hoot, and they have very loyal listeners. Even our new tabby Luxor wanted to participate (starting at 16:45).

The post Podcast interviews: Suggested entertainment appeared first on Andrew Skurka.

Today’s deadline: End of open application

If you’d like to join us on a trip in 2023 but have been procrastinating on the application, today is your last best opportunity for many trips.

During the open application period, which ends today for the second half of our schedule — California, Washington, and West Virginia — all applications received are considered equally. Starting tomorrow, it’s first-come first-served for remaining spots.

The deadline for the first half of the schedule — Utah, Colorado, and Alaska — was last Tuesday. Spots on those trips will be offered starting later this week.

Outlook

My best recommendation to all prospective applicants is to apply for the trip(s) that interest you most. We try to find spots for everyone, and we’ve developed a good process to accomplish this.

But to set your expectations, below I’ve stated explained where the numbers currently stand. Usually on last day of open application, I see a flood of submissions, so it could end up tighter than expected.

In California:

Fundamentals: ample spaceAdventure 5-day and 7-day, and Expedition 11-day: These trips will be nearly full or full.

Washington

All trips are approaching capacity, and will probably be full or nearly full after we transfer some applicants from over-subscribed locations like Utah.

West Virginia

Ample space on the 3-day and 5-day trip

The post Today’s deadline: End of open application appeared first on Andrew Skurka.

Deadlines: Open application period closing today + next Tuesday

If you’d like to join a 2023 guided trip and if you’ve not yet applied, for some trips this post is effectively a last call. The open application period ends:

Today (Tue, Dec 27, 2022) for our Utah, Alaska, and Colorado trips; and,Next week (Tue, Jan 3, 2023) for California, Washington, and West Virginia.

All applications received by the deadlines will be considered equally.

All applications received after the deadlines will be eligible for remaining spots on a first-come first-served basis.

If you’re looking for a specific time for the deadline, you can use midnight at Mountain Time.

Outlook

Based on applications received so far, here’s how things look:

In Utah we can run about as many trips as there is demand.

Applications for 5- and 7-day backpacking trips are strong, but I don’t expect that we will be over-capacity. The 5- and 7-day backpacking+canyoneering trips will be full, or very close to it. Interest in the 11-day trip is so-so. If there is critical mass I will run it.

The Fundamentals trips in Colorado still have ample space, which is normally the case at this time of year. We see demand for these beginner-level trips pick up as we start emerging from winter.

Applications for our Alaska trip are very strong. All sessions will be full.

The deadline for California, Washington, and West Virginia is still a week away, so I will withhold commentary. My best suggestion to prospective applicants is to apply for the trip(s) that interests you most, and see how it shakes out. We try hard to find spots for all applicants.

The post Deadlines: Open application period closing today + next Tuesday appeared first on Andrew Skurka.

Ask us anything: Sign up for “office hours” (free)

Next week we are hosting free “office hours,” starting Wednesday, December 14 and concluding on Friday, December 16. Schedule a chat to discuss anything related to backpacking:

Locations,Permitting,Likely conditions,Fitness,Gear selection,Holiday gift-giving,Meal planning,Skills,Women-specific considerations,And, of course, our 2023 guided trips and Plan Like A Pro courses.

If you’re a guided trip alumnus, you can schedule a session to just relive great times, too.

Each one-on-one session is 15 minutes, enough to go deep on one topic or to ask rapid-fire questions. Come prepared! If fifteen minutes isn’t long enough, we can schedule another meeting (depending on availability) or we can run long (if there’s not another meeting immediately afterwards).

Who is available?

We hosted office hours last year, too, and it was really popular. So this year I’ve roped in more of our team to help out. This is an extraordinary group, so take advantage of this opportunity!

Bec Bastian is a K-12 educator based in Bend, OR. She is a Triple Crown thru-hiker (Appalachian, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide Trails), among others, and knows the Pacific Northwest well.

Christy Rosander, a retired teacher from Tehachapi, CA, has hiked the Pacific Crest, Continental Divide, Great Divide, John Muir, Arizona and Tahoe Rim Trails as well as the Kings Canyon High Basin Route, Yosemite High Route, Sierra High Route, Lowest to Highest, Scotland’s Great Outdoor Challenge, Wind River High Route, and Southern Sierra High Route.

Hunter Hall lives in Los Angeles and is a consultant, government contractor, and lobbyist. He has backpacked extensively in the Sierra, Southern California, and Utah, and is an experienced winter backpacker.

Jessica Winters is a full time yoga instructor based in Seattle, WA. She’s a triple crowner and has thru-hiked across Iceland, the Arizona Trail, and has logged thousands of miles in the Cascades and Olympics.

Joe McConaughy (“Stringbean”) has set FKT’s for the Appalachian, Pacific Crest, Long, and Arizona Trails. He’s a talented ultrarunner and runs his own business coaching runners.

Katie Gerber is a nutrition coach in Salida, CO. She’s hiked the Pacific Crest and Continental Divide Trails, and most of the Appalachian; plus the Oregon Desert Trail, Colorado Trail, Great Basin Trail, and Wind River High Route. She’s completed all of CO’s 14ers and last month she hiked the length of the Grand Canyon.

Melodie Kao is an astrophysicist in Santa Cruz, CA. She’s has biked the Pacific Coast Highway and thru-hiked the JMT, YHR, KCHBR, and WRHR.

Scott Christy, who divides his time between St. George, Utah, and Lander, WY, became the fifteenth person to hike the length of the Grand Canyon in January. He has spent over 200 weeks in the field as a guide.

How to sign up

This is a free service. To take advantage of it:

Check our current availability in the table below, and identify a few dates and times that work for you.Complete this form, which asks for your name, email, phone and availability.When you receive a calendar invitation by email from myself or one of the guides select “Confirm.”If you need to reschedule, respond back to the email invitation and we’ll get it worked out.Our availability

This table should be generally accurate. It refreshes about every five minutes, but we need to manually update our appointments.

How to join the meeting

In the sign-up form you selected a preference: an online meeting or a phone call.

If you selected a phone call, we will call you.

If you selected an online meeting, use the Google Meet button in the email invitation.

Then, one of will send you an email invite for an appointment. To join the meeting, click on the Google Meet button or call in to the provided number.

The post Ask us anything: Sign up for “office hours” (free) appeared first on Andrew Skurka.

First look: Our 2023 trip schedule

The first iteration of our 2023 trip schedule is now live.

View it below, or open the full sheet in a new tab for easier viewing.

In this first iteration, I’ve settled on trip locations, trip dates, and trip types. And I’ve estimated the number of groups in each session, based on historical demand and our organizational limits.

Based on the interests and abilities of the applicant pool, which I will have a good handle on by the end of December, I will finalize the number of groups, trip intensities, and guide teams. A few details may remain up in the air until I can reserve backcountry permits in mid-January for the High Sierra trips and mid-March for the Washington trips.

This two-step scheduling process contains some uncertainty in its earliest phase, but its flexibility yields a better overall result, since I can adjust the schedule to better fit applicants, rather than trying to fit applicants to it.

Changes and updates for 2023

As of Friday, December 2, the website has not been updated with information about next season. It’ll be a top priority for next week.

If it works, don’t fix it. So changes to the program in 2023 will generally be small or expected, most notably:

Prices will increase, to accommodate increases in guide wages, and in travel and food expenses;11-day trips will be offered again in the High Sierra, but also in Utah, Alaska, and Washington;A 7-day or 5-day technical canyoneering course may be offered in Utah;Wilderness First Aid (WFA) courses, as a standalone 1-day course and as an integrated 7-day course, will be offered again in Utah, but also in Washington;In addition to being assigned a Fitness Level, each trip will be assigned a Technical Level, because we have found that aerobic fitness is not reliably correlated with comfort on technical surfaces (e.g. slickrock, talus, scrambling);The application window for the scholarship program will coincide with the application window for the trips, both starting on December 13.The cancellation policy will be simplified, to achieve the same outcome but with more predictability to clients who must unfortunately cancel.When to apply

We will accept applications starting on:

Tuesday, December 13

For the first two to three weeks, it’s an open application period, and applications received will be considered mostly equally.

The open application period will end at 11:59 AM MST (-7:00 UTC) on:

Utah (April): Tuesday, December 27, 2022;Colorado (May): Tuesday, December 27, 2022;Alaska (June): Tuesday, December 27, 2022;California (July): Tuesday, January 3, 2023;Washington (September): Tuesday, January 3, 2023; and,West Virginia (October): Tuesday, January 3, 2023.

After the open application period ends, applications will be considered on a first-come first-served basis for remaining spots. If you missed the deadline, don’t despair — submit your application ASAP and I can almost assure you that we’ll find a spot eventually.

The post First look: Our 2023 trip schedule appeared first on Andrew Skurka.

I’m hiring: Assistant Program Director

The 2023 guiding season is almost underway: a trip schedule will be released later this month, and the application period will open in mid-December.

To help me run the program next year, I plan to hire an Assistant Director. This is a full-time and year-round position, and I hope that the candidate steps up as a Co-Director or Director after one or two seasons.

Responsibilities

The Assistant Director (AD) will:

1. Run the Planning Curriculum and Plan Like A Pro courses, which entails creating, updating, and distributing instructional content, and managing a four- to six-person instructor team that reviews assignments and works more one-on-one with clients and students.

2. Assist me with critical operational functions for the guided trip program, such as:

Reviewing applications and forming groups;Applying for, keeping track of, and submitting monthly and year-end reports for commercial permits and wilderness permits;Setting and coordinating travel plans for guides and clients;Creating trip itineraries and topographic maps;Reviewing and acting on feedback submitted by clients and students in post-trip and post-course surveys;Preparing for the upcoming season, like by drafting a calendar, updating website content, and creating the application system.

Eventually I’d like to involve the AD in other internal operations (accounting, payroll, insurance), guide team training, marketing, and related initiatives like the scholarship program, wilderness medicine courses, and content development.

If the AD resides in or near Boulder, Colo., they could also help manage a local two- to three-person team that (a) plans and prepares the group meals and (b) packs the program van with food, supplies, and loaner gear before each trip, and unpacks it when it returns.

Guiding trips is not an essential responsibility of the AD — it’s helpful to have someone in the office who can serve as an emergency contact for groups in the field, finish preparations for upcoming trips, and communicate with clients and new applicants. However, it’s better overall if the AD can guide some trips, because they’ll better understand the guide and client experience and because they could manage some locations without me being on-site.

Qualifications

Applicants must be:

Independently productive, with regular but not extensive oversight;Entrepreneurial, by continually identifying opportunities to improve and grow the program;Attentive to detail, because small mistakes can have huge ramifications in this business; and,Professional, with good communication skills, high emotional intelligence, willingness to give and receive feedback, and a client-first mindset.

Applicants must have prior experience as an:

Outdoor guide, instructor, or educator; and/or,Operations staff for a guiding or outdoor education program.

Strong content development skills — such as writing, or audio or video production — are a major plus, since content on this website generates interest in the guided trips, online course, and guidebooks.

Existing familiarity with my guiding program and/or me is helpful. Such candidates will have more realistic expectations of the position and will be more plug-and-play from the start.

Google Sheets is the program’s software cornerstone. If you’re comfortable with spreadsheets that have a dozen tabs, hundreds of rows of data, and column names that start with C, keep reading. Google Classroom, CalTopo, Gaia GPS, and MailChimp are also commonly used.

Location

Ideally, the AD will live in or near Boulder, so that we can regularly meet and work together in-person and so that they can (help) manage local preparation of food, gear, and supplies.

More realistically, I hope that the AD lives within a few hours of Boulder, so that they can get here easily when it’s really needed.

I will consider remote applicants who are very compelling candidates. Residency in a state where I already have nexus (Colorado, Utah, California, Washington, Alaska, and West Virginia) would be preferred, all things being equal.

Time commitment

This is a full-time position with an expected workload of 32 to 40 hours per week. The work flow is seasonal, with the first six months of the year being predictably busier than the second six months.

Side work (e.g. your own small business, freelance contracts) is acceptable, so long as it does not and will not compete with or take priority over the AD position.

Compensation and benefits

Total compensation and benefits will total $65,000 to $70,000, depending on experience and assuming 40 hours per week. The package consists of:

$45,000 to $50,000: base salary;$4,500 to $5,000: profit-sharing bonus equal to about 10 percent of base salary in FY2023, with the share of profits increasing in subsequent years;$11,250 to $12,500: 401(k) contribution of up to 25 percent of base salary; plus,Monthly subsidy for health insurance and technology (internet, phone).

Vacation time is unlimited. It’s ideally used mid-summer through fall, after we’re through most of the season but before we start ramping up for the next one.

How to apply

To view and complete the Application Form, click here.

Applicants must upload a resume and/or a letter of interest that demonstrates relevant experience. The Application Form will accept PDF’s and other document file types like .txt and .docx.

To upload files you must be logged into your Google account, if you are not already.

Apply now!Application deadline

I will accept applications through at least Monday, November 21, or until the position is filled. When the position is filled, I will disable the Application Form and update this page.

Notes

Andrew Skurka Adventures LLC is an equal opportunity employer.

If you have general questions about this position, leave a comment below. I will answer it there, to avoid multiple private answers to the same questions.

If you have a question that pertains specifically to your application, please contact me directly.

The post I’m hiring: Assistant Program Director appeared first on Andrew Skurka.