OK, so you book a rafting trip with your friends on an amazing river such as the Noguera Pallaresa. You are super excited to experience this incredible whitewater adventure.
You show up at the RocRoi activity center, they give you a safety orientation and introduce you to your guide. Now comes what really makes the trip special.
Here’s a quick rundown on making sure the trip is truly memorable based on the type of guide you get.
Hopefully you’ve made your reservation with RocRoi, which really allows you to have fun in a personalized trip, instead of booking on a daily deals site. This is the first step to really enjoy the experience.
The leader
The Leader is generally the most experienced full-time rafting guide, but this is not always a good thing for you unless you choose to raft with kids or grandma. Since the Leader is responsible for almost all aspects of the trip, including all participants. There is very little chance that this person can relax enough for him to ‘play’ in the river.
While you have fun jumping off rocks and swimming fast, the Leader watches the flock like an overprotective shepherd. Leaders tend to choose their crews, since they are the ones who can assign them. Good Leaders collect tips for the other guides.
The professional guide
The professional guide is the core of the team of guides who work commercially sometimes 7 days a week throughout the summer and generally 3-5 days a week in the low season.
These guides usually do one of three things in the winter, too: travel, work at a ski resort, or work at another rafting company on the other side of the world. The good news is that this guide is generally very professional, has a high degree of skill and can carry out any movement, and is generally really entertaining.
The bad news is that this guide can be very tired or exhausted. They may lack passion for work or just be very sleepy working for the past 30 days in a row.
The weekend warrior
If you really want to have a lot of fun, request that an experienced weekend warrior be assigned to your crew. Chances are, this guide has a real job and only works the weekend for fun because they love to guide and want to share their passion for the river with you.
These guides will have the experience to carry out any of the descents that you propose while teaching you how to have a great time during the experience. As an added benefit, this guide has great social ability and is notoriously poor at doing activity center work, meaning she cannot sit still in the office.
Now, that does not mean that they are not a good guide, it is just that they no longer have anything to demonstrate to the other staff and prefer to talk to you.
The rookie
The rookie is the most exalted river guide you will ever meet! The rookie guide is so excited to be, he can’t help but show it to you. After months of training, learning, absorbing information, and listening to guide stories, this guide is put into test.
This is most likely their first rafting trip with customers, or they are lying and telling you “they’ve been in the river for a while.” In any case, you are going to have an exciting descent. Sure, he won’t be able to perform the same movements as the other guides, and his boat usually spins out of control in a fast, but hey, the rookies have a lot of fun and are so happy to be there that it doesn’t suit you. to import anything.
Yes, you will swim, yes, you will jump, and yes, you may turn around, but at least you will have fun doing it.
So, which is the best guide?
This depends entirely on the dynamics of your group, but you should always communicate with your guide and RocRoi about what you want and with whom you want to navigate.
Sometimes logistics dictates that you cannot get exactly the guide you want, but you will certainly get a guide who will make you spend an unforgettable time on the river.
In any case, you will leave with a great experience under your arm and good stories to tell.
