By Dani Huff – Bike Guide Training Program student at Whistler Adventure School

If you’ve been following recent blog posts about the Bike Guiding Program at WAS, you’ve probably heard about my experience with Wilderness First Responder , PMBI and most recently, Trail Mechanics . All of these individual courses were precursors to the final course in the program, Guiding Clients. A course with which all the information learned over the past few months is applied to guiding clients on singletrack trails.

This final course consisted of two 8 hour days on the bike learning how to guide concluding with a final exam guiding our instructor through Whistler Singletrack. The first day of the course was spent on 40km’s of Whistler trails, showing us how to progress clients from beginner to intermediate trails based off their skill set. One of the most important aspects of being a successful guide is being able to properly assess the capabilities of your client and take them on trails appropriate for them. Being able to do this well ensures safety but also fun! Taking clients on trails suited to their level means potential crashes are reduced and the stoke level stays high. On the second day of our course, we did the same in Squamish but focused on how to assess and progress with advanced riders. We learned a lot during these two long days on trail, but we also had an incredible time riding everything from flow to advanced technical trails.

Even though our classroom actually felt like a playground, we had to show our retention and application of everything we learned in our final exam. The structure of this final exam was focused on my classmates and I rotating in guiding our instructor and peers through a full day tour of Whistler. Our skill assessment included bike safety, rider assessment, route finding, safety while guiding, nutrition, and group management. This is where we were able to put everything together, and it was such a successful day. All of the diligent studying, practical application, and course instruction came together seamlessly. It’s hard to think of a better classroom!

Photo and text credit: Dani Huff – Bike Guide Training Program student at Whistler Adventure School