Best Jobs for Climbers

Hunter McPherson wrote: Bill, relax, I'm not calling you a liar.

I'm sure you're a good dude Bill but you simply do not speak the truth

I've got no dog in the construction argument, but I thought this was cute.

Whatever occupation you come across do it with pride and a sense of accomplishment. If we go out into the workforce with a bad attitude and bad work ethics then expect to not be respected. I guess i have been spoiled working union jobs. We're taught to work together, work out issues, do good quality work in a safe manner and finish in a timely fashion.

Why do we work? Is it to eat healthy or buy gas to drive across the country to play on rocks.etc
When you get old what are your plans? Will you be able to help out your family if they get sick or something? Balancing work, play and priorities is definetly a challenge. I hope that everyone finds a good job or career that helps them balance everything out.

Alan Moles wrote:Whatever occupation you come across do it with pride and a sense of accomplishment. If we go out into the workforce with a bad attitude and bad work ethics then expect to not be respected. I guess i have been spoiled working union jobs. We're taught to work together, work out issues, do good quality work in a safe manner and finish in a timely fashion. Why do we work? Is it to eat healthy or buy gas to drive across the country to play on rocks.etc When you get old what are your plans? Will you be able to help out your family if they get sick or something? Balancing work, play and priorities is definetly a challenge. I hope that everyone finds a good job or career that helps them balance everything out.

Word

And whoa. This discussion got heated. And for the record he is not the only company that lets people out at 2. Here in NY almost all trades get out at 2-230. I'm an electrician and a 7 hour workday is standard. Unfortunately for the carpenters, they have an 8 hour day.

And someone forgot to read the little memo at the top.

ClimbLikeAGirl wrote:It's not necessarily about the best job, it's about the location. If you want to climb a lot, live where there's climbing.

Winner!
You could work 40+ hours a week and still have plenty of time to climb if you live right next to it

Bill Kirby wrote: First I have to commend you not devolving this into a bunch of name calling. That said, it's not bullshit that you can find a job in construction working 40-50 hours/week. I'm not the only one that wrote this. Sure there's plenty of jobs in which you would have no free time and no one values the work you do. That can happen no matter what career path you decide. That's also many construction jobs from residential home improvement to union elevator journeyman that work 40 hours/week in my area. A lot of the trades in DC start at 6am and knock off at 2:30 to beat traffic. Yes there's many who work 60 hours a week but it's up to the person looking to take a job that leaves time for their personal lives. If it's not like that in CO I get it. Just don't tell me that I don't know plenty blue collar guys working til between 2-4pm every weekday that hit the trails or the gym after work. Fair enough?

Fair enough. This actually brings up a really great point. There should be a section in Mountain Project for business owners who are climbers to connect with job-seeking climbers.

Mediocre, way to make a lousy joke out of semantics. One can speak partial or biased truths but not be considered a liar, as it's not intentionally deceptive

Btw no one seems to have acknowledged the fact that many construction companies also work weekends, regardless of union or non-union labor being used

I acknowledged it in the paragraph you quoted above.

It started with "Sure there's jobs that..."

s.price wrote:Hunter, the HORSE is dead. Your experience in construction sucks. We get it. Just read that Wal Mart is hiring greeters again. Maybe that's more up your alley.

Ha! Spoken like a typical construction douchebag...trolls, smh

Agree with a lot of the people here who have mentioned to " Do something you REALLY enjoy".

I've literally spent the last 15 years jumping from one "COOL" job to the next, in pursuit in outdoor adventure and happiness.
There were certainly a lot of outdoor adventures...but the happiness seemed fleeting.

Here were a few:

• Sea Kayak guide on Kauai's Napali Coast--- Epic. Amazing. Fun to tell stories about Hawaii legends .

BUT, pay was horrible. Most of the clients clueless. Back to back tours left me with little energy to do anything else.
Then, when I had a group of 10 elderly folks capsize simultaneously in a rogue storm 6 miles from the nearest beach landing.....I knew that being responsible for a clients life was not for me.

• BC Ranger & Trail Crew for the NPS for 7 seasons----Life changing. Challenging. Rewarding.

BUT, it was only Seasonal. Permanent positions are extremely hard to get (even after working 7 seasons). And the seasonal thing was fine for awhile ( I spent the offseason traveling), but once age and fatherhood set in...it was no longer viable. Also, the bureaucracy and bullshit was just too much for me. The inefficiency was stifling. Hypocrisys appalling.

• Cell Tower Climber for 3 years. I thought "Hell, I can't be a Pro Climber, but I CAN climb professionally !!" ~palm to forehead~

One thing I will say is that it payed Bank!! Made and saved a lot of $$$
BUT!--while having its moments of excitement; climbing STEEL rungs, I beams, booms, gates, & pegs covered in thick layers of crusty (tho sometimes slimy) birdshit, & often times rusted thru, wasn't exactly my idea of a happy climbing life.
In fact, I had NO life!!!
80 hour weeks (commonly up to 100 hrs) will leave you pretty exhausted on your, potential, One day off....think about that.

• Climbing gym/wall builder. Another pretty interesting job...BUT- being on the road living out of hotels for months on end can suck the souls out of you. Sometimes we were lucky and were building in a good climbing area...but 95% of the time we never even actually GET to climb at those crags due to the amount of time we work. Sometimes working for a few weeks straight with no days off.

Exhaustion is the real danger.

Some jobs seem great, but unless you really love doing it (and it allows you the time and energy to actually rock climb) then to me it's not the right fit.

SendaGorilla wrote:Agree with a lot of the people here who have mentioned to " Do something you REALLY enjoy". I've literally spent the last 15 years jumping from one "COOL" job to the next, in pursuit in outdoor adventure and happiness. There were certainly a lot of outdoor adventures...but the happiness seemed fleeting. Here were a few: * Sea Kayak guide on Kauai's Napali Coast--- Epic. Amazing. Fun to tell stories about Hawaii legends . BUT, pay was horrible. Most of the clients clueless. Back to back tours left me with little energy to do anything else. Then, when I had a group of 10 elderly folks capsize simultaneously in a rogue storm 6 miles from the nearest beach landing.....I knew that being responsible for a clients life was not for me. * BC Ranger & Trail Crew for the NPS for 7 seasons----Life changing. Challenging. Rewarding. BUT, it was only Seasonal. Permanent positions are extremely hard to get (even after working 7 seasons). And the seasonal thing was fine for awhile ( I spent the offseason traveling), but once age and fatherhood set in...it was no longer viable. Also, the bureaucracy and bullshit was just too much for me. The inefficiency was stifling. Hypocrisys appalling. * Cell Tower Climber for 3 years. I thought "Hell, I can't be a Pro Climber, but I CAN climb professionally !!" ~palm to forehead~ One thing I will say is that it payed Bank!! Made and saved a lot of $$$ BUT!--while having its moments of excitement; climbing STEEL rungs, I beams, booms, gates, & pegs covered in thick layers of crusty (tho sometimes slimy) birdshit, & often times rusted thru, wasn't exactly my idea of a happy climbing life. In fact, I had NO life!!! 80 hour weeks (commonly up to 100 hrs) will leave you pretty exhausted on your, potential, One day off....think about that. * Climbing gym/wall builder. Another pretty interesting job...BUT- being on the road living out of hotels for months on end can suck the souls out of you. Sometimes we were lucky and were building in a good climbing area...but 95% of the time we never even actually GET to climb at those crags due to the amount of time we work. Sometimes working for a few weeks straight with no days off. Exhaustion is the real danger. Some jobs seem great, but unless you really love doing it (and it allows you the time and energy to actually rock climb) then to me it's not the right fit.

Why do you keep accepting low paying, undesirable jobs?

Hunter McPherson wrote: Ha! Spoken like a typical construction douchebag...trolls, smh

Hunter, maybe your first generation Durango just made everybody on the sites jealous so they treated you like shit?

I'm interested in reading about climbers in their late 50s and older on how they balanced out climbing and work. I wanna know if you have a retirement or do you have to continually find a new job. I'm only 30 but I think about the future in my life. I would like to not work at all past 55 which is when I will be able to draw my pension. I know most companies offer some sort of 401k or annuity of some sort and a lot of government, law enforcement, union labors, military and others get to draw a set pension after so many years of service or hours. With your retirement are you able to do what you want or do you still have to work sometimes. I know a lot of younger climbers who would say that they would rather climb hard now and not worry about the future. I have met some climbers in their 60s and 70s who still crush stone like a 20 yr old that had a career and get to receive a retirement.

Alan Moles wrote: I'm not sure why you'd have to stay in nyc as a union journeyman electrician. The one thing I love about being a journeyman boilermaker is that I have the option to work anywhere in the country that has work available thru different locals.I work around a lot of electricians who also travel.

to make 54 an hour. but i guess you could go to frisco or portland, they make comparable money. or just put in a transfer to a lower paying local. I'm going to school for nursing #1: it's more rewarding, #2: less red tape if i want to pick up and go. with the union it's a pain in the ass to travel. for us anyhow (local 3). every union and local is different and it's kind of pointless to compare apples to oranges.

unless i'm missing something....

Field geologist. You can scout out new crags while doing your fieldwork. Sometimes you can even disguise this as doing field work. You may rationalize climbing them to: look for fossils, check lithology, check out the contact zone between formations, take samples and look for mineralization. If you can think of any other lame excuse for climbing them again, ie "I didn't check for ....." you can return and climb another route.

Brooklyn Lisa wrote: to make 54 an hour. but i guess you could go to frisco or portland, they make comparable money. or just put in a transfer to a lower paying local. I'm going to school for nursing #1: it's more rewarding, #2: less red tape if i want to pick up and go. with the union it's a pain in the ass to travel. for us anyhow (local 3). every union and local is different and it's kind of pointless to compare apples to oranges.

True every union and craft have there own set rules. I'm not talking about transferring a local just temporarily working thru there local if they have a man power shortage. I wouldn't travel to make less money either. I live in Tennessee and the price of living is lower so the wages are also lower but it's home and I love our sandstone. If I travel to nyc and work out of local 5 then I get paid about 25$ more on the hr.

If nursing is going to be more rewarding for you then awesome. Truthfully I saw this forum and was hoping to get someone else interested in boiler making with me so that I could maybe have a welding partner that had similar interests. Most people that I work with are your typical hunting, fishing types with beer guts.

I realize a few people have said this already, but being a traveling nurse is definitely great for climbing. I started traveling last August and moved close to Denver for a few months for my first contract. I was able to climb all over Colorado during that contract since I only work 3 days a week as a nurse. I took a few weeks off when that contract ended and went on a scuba trip to Belize and then learned to ice climb in Ouray. Then I spent the rest of the winter climbing at Cochise Stronghold and Mount Lemmon while on a contract in Tucson, Arizona enjoying 80 degree weather. I just moved from Tucson to Bend, Oregon for my current contract, so now I get to spend the summer climbing at Smith Rock! Also, was able to make stops at Joshua Tree and Yosemite on my road trip from Tucson to Bend.

Working 3 12 hour shifts a week is great, and you can write your own schedule usually too. I like to schedule myself Sun, Mon, Tues one week and the following Thurs Fri Sat the next week and have Wed to Wed off for 8 days, and that's still considered full time work. Pretty epic lifestyle if you ask me! Of course, I went to school for 4 years to get my BSN and then worked as a staff nurse for 5 years before I started traveling (though most agencies only require 2 years experience to travel). I also doubled my salary when I left staff nursing to work for a travel nurse agency. You get travel reimbursement and also a housing stipend on top of your base salary. Can't imagine a better career with as great pay as travel nursing that fits so well into the climbing lifestyle!

All I need now is to find myself a fellow climber/travel nurse to come adventure with me! haha

Alan Moles wrote:I'm interested in reading about climbers in their late 50s and older on how they balanced out climbing and work. I wanna know if you have a retirement... I'm only 30 but I think about the future in my life. I would like to not work at all past 55 which is when I will be able to draw my pension.

For most people retirement at 55 isn't a realistic goal. It's somewhat easier if you're lucky enough to have an old-fashioned defined-benefit pension plan but it's a lot harder with a 401k. No idea what your personal financial situation is like but here are some numbers I made up using Vanguard's retirement income calculator ( retirementplans.vanguard.co… ). It's pretty sobering unless you don't mind living close to the poverty line.

Martin le Roux wrote: For most people retirement at 55 isn't a realistic goal. It's somewhat easier if you're lucky enough to have an old-fashioned defined-benefit pension plan but it's a lot harder with a 401k. No idea what your personal financial situation is like but here are some numbers I made up using Vanguard's retirement income calculator ( retirementplans.vanguard.co… ). It's pretty sobering unless you don't mind living close to the poverty line.

That is a pretty neat calculator. Geez 401k sucks.

Most of the guys I have worked with and have now retired earn at least 5-7k a month from their pension including their annuity also.Now they put in at least 42,000 hours to get that much. Other guys that are from the northeast locals get a lot more than that. So I have been doing this trade since I was 22 so I have to average like 1300 hrs per year to get the full amount by the one I'm 55.

Greg E wrote: Your expected rate of return is a bit low at 5%. Historically, the market has returned 8-9% per year on average. Find a decent advisor and he/she should be able to match that for you.

All depends on on your entry and exit points... Some folks get lucky others, not so much.