Best Jobs for Climbers

Ben Beckerich wrote: Airborne Ranger. Hooah

Can you still smoke weed and sleep in until 2 in the afternoon?

Ray Pinpillage wrote: Can you still smoke weed and sleep in until 2 in the afternoon?

No, you're thinking power ranger

I would say, that this can be any job which gives enough money and free time to enjoy exploring new places and new hikes! Of course, nurse is also a good option, due to flexible schedule and adequate number of days off and PTOs, a good option, to my mind. But family (if you have it) will take way more time than the job, so it is important to consider this factor as well.

Professor! I get ~ 4 months off per year, the pay is reasonable, the job is mentally stimulating and fun.

Seasonal construction. Dude I know does bridge maintenance, works enough to support his dirtbag lifestyle, then just hits the road for 6-7 months out of the year. Pretty amazing.

I freelance. So I can basically do whatever I want. My best friend and his wife are both freelance designers. And they sold their place a few years ago and bought a Vanagon. Now they do the van life thing, driving around the country. They'll put up camp for a few weeks or a few months somewhere (Austin, Nashville, Colorado, SF, NYC, etc.) and work a job or two. Then drive off somewhere else when they've had enough of that spot.

Gotta be good at what you do though.

The combination of working second shift (4:00pm - 12:00am) and living in a rock-filled area is working out pretty well here.

Specifically, I work tech support for a credit card processor, which happens to be located in Durango, CO. Short drives and approaches make pre-work cragging easy. Longer climbing objectives take place on Monday-Tuesday, which is my designated weekend.

On a workday, I'll go to bed just after 1:00am, get up at 9:00, crag until 2:30, then chill for an hour before biking to work.

My wife works days, but we've established a good schedule. I climb Mon-Thurs (two full days, two half days), and spend Fri-Sun daytimes with her, plus M-T evenings. We're both pretty independent and introverted, so it works out well.

Sometimes we'll get out and climb together on one of our date days (but only crack, she doesn't like sport).

Hands down airline pilot. I fly for free to any rock. I'm off for long stretches and climb on my overnights all around the country.

cinematography is a great gig— you don't really have to know anything and there's plenty of time for climbing when you're not making insane money (working insane hours).

Just stay away from features. I just worked on music videos and commercials— non-union, short gigs, not at all incestuous like the factory-like daily-grind of feature-film production.

I had two concurrent careers for over 20 years: alpine guiding and cine-gigs. I stopped working on shows in 2007 and I don't miss it at all.

I never had anything that I wanted to express in motion-picture photography— it was purely mercenary. My deal was always still photography, anyway.

What's hard to do is have the unbending intent to limit your involvement and not get seduced (side-tracked) by the whole multifarious scene, the money and further compartmentalized skill-sets.

If union-mentality feature-creatures sense a lack of focus on your part, or a way to manipulate your ambitions (or lack thereof), you will get eaten alive and/or be dispensed with altogether. If they know they can't have you, they will be forced to begrudge your existence (until they can do otherwise).

My heart has always been in the mountain for its own sake independent of any specific or current alpine endeavor. That's probably the most important consideration in the long run. The hard part is to find a real way of practicing its expression in a way that sustains and grows a subtle passion that cannot be waylaid by misguided ambition and liquid assets that eventually diverge or dilute one's raison d'etre.

It comes down to observing a subtle, continuous intent beyond words. If you have that, nothing will touch you— not even the possibility of burning out your fidelity to that passion in your heart.

aad453 wrote:Ski lift maintenence. You spend most of your time outside, especially in summer. You are working in the mountains, surrounded by good views. There's lots of tower work, so you get to climb things. And we get a 10 hour 4 day work schedule, so you get 3 day weekends to go climb! Not to mention it pays pretty well compared to alot of other jobs in the high country, and you get to ski for free. Forgot to mention you get lots of pro-deals including climbing stuff.

This worked well for me for 16 years so I must agree. Taking extra time off late april though october was usually not a problem either.

Are there any digital nomads on here?

I've been fantasizing about this lifestyle for awhile. Work about 40 hours every week programming (which I enjoy anyway), but be able to spend 2-3 months at a time climbing in a new exotic location.

I just want to know if this has worked out for anyone long term. I'm sure there are some serious caveats to my fantasy lifestyle.

Fritz N. wrote:(but only crack, she doesn't like sport).

That's a keeper right there!

The issue most of you are missing with the seasonal jobs is that one day you will be old. At which point if you have not done well putting aside money you will be broke, and have a hard time finding a job that pays. I sail as well as climb, and often run into people in their mid 60's who dropped out of work in their 20's to sail the world. They cannot afford decent heath care, are stuck in port, on boats that are questionable, and almost to a person are working jobs they absolutely hate. My advice is find a job you enjoy, and then climb when you can. Life is about choices, everyone makes their own just keep it in the back of your mind that the money you make when your are 30, goes towards not living in a box when you are 70.

Hnryclay wrote:The issue most of you are missing with the seasonal jobs is that one day you will be old. At which point if you have not done well putting aside money you will be broke, and have a hard time finding a job that pays. I sail as well as climb, and often run into people in their mid 60's who dropped out of work in their 20's to sail the world. They cannot afford decent heath care, are stuck in port, on boats that are questionable, and almost to a person are working jobs they absolutely hate. My advice is find a job you enjoy, and then climb when you can. Life is about choices, everyone makes their own just keep it in the back of your mind that the money you make when your are 30, goes towards not living in a box when you are 70.

Wholeheartedly agree. I see a lot of old guys who've been guides and/or in construction in their younger years. Now they're broken, broke, but all they can do is manual labor so they could pay high premiums for Medicare supplements.

Hnryclay wrote:The issue most of you are missing with the seasonal jobs is that one day you will be old. At which point if you have not done well putting aside money you will be broke, and have a hard time finding a job that pays. I sail as well as climb, and often run into people in their mid 60's who dropped out of work in their 20's to sail the world. They cannot afford decent heath care, are stuck in port, on boats that are questionable, and almost to a person are working jobs they absolutely hate. My advice is find a job you enjoy, and then climb when you can. Life is about choices, everyone makes their own just keep it in the back of your mind that the money you make when your are 30, goes towards not living in a box when you are 70.

You forgot the part where a lifetime of play has corrupted their work ethic so even if they had a skill they can't hold a job longer than a couple of months.

Ray Pinpillage wrote: You forgot the part where a lifetime of play has corrupted their work ethic so even if they had a skill they can't hold a job longer than a couple of months.

The younger millennials are already expecting a much more laid back work environment than previous generations. Their work ethic is hard to swallow for the old timers. Right, wrong, or indifferent, the workforce seems to be changing to a feel good ethic.

Ray Pinpillage wrote: You forgot the part where a lifetime of play has corrupted their work ethic so even if they had a skill they can't hold a job longer than a couple of months.

Plus many older guys in construction don't wanna take orders from the 25 year old Forman. They think they should be in charge just based on age. I have however worked with more than one 50+ year old laborer that worked just as hard if not harder than everybody else.

Hnryclay wrote:The issue most of you are missing with the seasonal jobs is that one day you will be old. At which point if you have not done well putting aside money you will be broke, and have a hard time finding a job that pays. I sail as well as climb, and often run into people in their mid 60's who dropped out of work in their 20's to sail the world. They cannot afford decent heath care, are stuck in port, on boats that are questionable, and almost to a person are working jobs they absolutely hate. My advice is find a job you enjoy, and then climb when you can. Life is about choices, everyone makes their own just keep it in the back of your mind that the money you make when your are 30, goes towards not living in a box when you are 70.

Except that goes both ways. While there are people who are 75 and still working, there are probably far more who worked their ass off from 20 - 50, and now they can retire but they wasted away nearly all of their good years working long hours. What's really the ultimate f**k is when you work your ass off from 20 - 50, and then die when you're 51... It's not uncommon. You're better off betting on the now than the future. Find a job that lets you do what you want while also allowing for steady income so you can work, climb and still retire.

climbing friend,

the best job for climbing, yea, is a fish-head crusher.

you must develop your balance dexterity and footwork while sneaking stalking the salmon in icy river, and then you are plucking it violently from the waters like the deadly falcon clasping rodent in talons, mmmmm yesssss myahhhhh.

Then, you crush the fish head with your bare hands, squeezing out all the oil into dirty bucket, for later sales to the many white people who enjoy shopping at whole foods. This crushing action would develop your maximum grip strength, quite nice, you see.

If you are hungry and perhaps enjoy a tasty snack during your workings, you may simply rip the head off fish off biting down as the blood most delicious it runs down your face and neck.

You may make your hours your own with flexible schedule, and be your own boss of your own self, spending time out of door.

You may have plenty of time for hero flash on climbing rocks if you can crush enough fish heads weeks passing to save up for weeks or weekends coming.

You also spend the large quantity of time near the cold mountain streams, you may take off your shirt and bench press the massive boulders while lying in said stream, sculpting your guns and thick, meaty neck meat thusly and impressing everyone around who would look on yes.

If you spy a fine boulder near the river, you will feel free to try your hand at the glory of the flash short break from your fish crushing

20 kN wrote: Except that goes both ways. While there are people who are 75 and still working, there are probably far more who worked their ass off from 20 - 50, and now they can retire but they wasted away nearly all of their good years working long hours. What's really the ultimate f**k is when you work your ass off from 20 - 50, and then die when you're 51... It's not uncommon. You're better off betting on the now than the future. Find a job that lets you do what you want while also allowing for steady income so you can work, climb and still retire.

The average lifespan of an American Male is 76. More than likely you'll spend more than 1/4 of your life retired...less if you're a dirtbag climber without a skill, trade, or work ethic.