ECHO Guide School Featured in Paddler Magazine
The March/April issue of Paddler Magazine features an article about ECHO's 2005 guide school. Written by Laura Stavoe, the article is from the point of view of a forty-something mother of twin boys who joins the school in part to overcome her fears of white water. Laura tells a good story of having to deal with the cold, the rain, the hard work and the anxiety of spending eight days learning the basics of guiding on the Rogue and Tuolumne in March. The learning curve is steep, and the hands-on experience is rewarding if exhausting. Laura does a nice job of weaving a blow-by-blow account of what happened with her thoughts of home, children, and the question of what in the world she is doing with these crazy people.
The article features some gonzo photographs of that weren't taken during training, but some realistic photographs that were. A trainee wrapped a raft at Blossom Bar on the Rogue, the the shot of the wrap is one that we debated about. But it did happen, and it was an excellent lesson for the trainees, so we thought it belonged in the article. If you get the magazine, that's ECHO Idaho guide Colleen Winters and trainee Martin Waters on the raft, anchoring the Z rig.
In other news, ECHO Idaho guide Rob Marin, who spent much of the winter guiding on the White Nile in Africa, just boarded a trimaran in Cape Town, South Africa, to sail to Miami. We wish him luck.
