Becoming a mountain guide?

Paco Rodriguez

Hey guys,

I know Ireland doesnt have any mountain guide courses. I mean the professional types. I was considering looking into it, to get out of my current job as it is beginning to get me down.

I found one company that has a course in Patagonia. But it costs 19,000 euro! which is money i will never have.

Does anyone know of any alternatives or companies that do it, or any experiences of it?

Thanks,

Alun

The closest you'll get here are the ML (Mountain Leader) and the WGL (Walking Group Leader) courses.

See http://www.mountaineering.ie/trainingandsafety/viewdetails.asp?ID=9 for details.

Evil Phil

Have a read of this, although it's geared towards the North rather than the Republic. However it does give a good path through to being a mountaineering instructor, the courses Alun mentioned are in there. That path will bring you upto instructing anywhere in Ireland or Britian.

It's still going to cost you money but remaining in Ireland you can work on this while holding down another job. I guess at the end of that path you could apply to become an Alpine guide which takes a minimum of 7 years if you succeed IIRC.

steve McQueen

can you post a link to that Patagonia course Out of intrest

Paco Rodriguez

steve McQueen wrote: »

can you post a link to that Patagonia course Out of intrest

http://www.mountaineeringtrainingschool.com/mountaineeringschool.html?gclid=CJiIha2fraMCFREslAod8jLh2g