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Adventure Tourism Training Chilcotin Holidays

Wilderness Guide Training Programs

Why train with Us

Chilcotin Holidays is one of the most diverse 4-season wilderness tourism businesses in Canada. We offer both non-consumptive (ie. horse pack trips, Grizzly viewing) and consumptive (ie. fishing trips, horse logging) wilderness adventures. All our students benefit from exposure to this diversity.

The owners have combined their knowledge and skills since 1990, and have developed a unique variety of “once in a lifetime adventures”. Sylvia Waterer has a graduate degree in tourism and resource management. Kevan Bracewell comes from a Cariboo-Chilcotin pioneer ranching family, and is a third generation Guide Outfitter with a lifetime of experience in guide outfitting, trapping, ranching, rodeos and horse logging.

Who can better teach you about a business than the business that is already doing it year round? We are literally “in the business” of providing the adventure products for which we train our students. Wilderness horse pack trips, fishing adventures, Grizzly Viewing and Licensed Guide Outfitting adventures, are just a few examples.

Chilcotin Holidays holds and renews an extensive and diverse number of licenses, leases and permits. We have diverse forms of tenures and licenses, and we pass on this extensive knowledge of the operating systems and government regulations to our graduates. Tenures are fundamental to our Guide Training Modules (ie. our Guide Outfitter License, Angling Guide License, Range License and Woodlot License)

Chilcotin Holidays licenses our instructors, our guides and those graduates that we hire with Assistant Guide Licenses. Only a licensed operator can do this, and we are both a Licensed Guide Outfitter and a Licensed Angling Guide

Our Licensed Guide Training Instructors set top standards for the industry. They are quality mentors whose character, personal standards and knowledge you’ll want to emulate

We first developed our Guide Training Programs in British Columbia in 1991. Since that time we have graduated over 700 students that have gone on to work in the adventure tourism industry. Our Guide Training Curriculum has been refined over our 16 years. Our training methods ensure that students will learn and retain their new knowledge and skill in the most effective and efficient manner.

Chilcotin Holidays Apprenticeship Program, Log Book, Certificate and A/B/C/D Guide Levels are well recognized within the industry, and set the standards for our instructors, staff and graduates of our Training Programs. Graduates use our Log Book to register all related training, experience, licenses and tickets as graduates work towards becoming professional guides.

Chilcotin Holidays Scholarships are awarded to those that wish to pursue a career as guides in wilderness tourism or guide outfitting. The program is funded by Chilcotin Holidays. The intent is twofold: to promote career opportunities in adventure tourism and to contribute to professionalism within the guiding industry.

We give priority for employment to the graduates of our training program, and are able to offer them employment opportunities in a diverse range of guiding professions. We employ over 30 staff.

If you don’t end up working with us, our referral program is well recognized and includes over 450 outfitters, ranches, fishing lodges and stables. This “Job Opportunity Listing” is provided to our graduates upon completion of their Training. If it is work that you are wanting, we provide you with information to secure employment.

We are heavily involved with industry associations, both at the local and regional levels, that are setting policy and trends for wilderness tourism (i.e. Guide Outfitters Association of BC, Fishing Resort and Outfitters Association of BC, Guest Ranch Association of BC, Wilderness Tourism Association of BC, Council of Tourism Association of BC, Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association, and the Vancouver Cost Mountains Tourism Association to name a few). Our students benefit from this knowledge and exposure.

Our written Policy, Procedures and Systems are the backbone of Chilcotin Holidays operation. These standards are found only in progressive businesses, and they are the foundation of our Guide Training Programs. Red chaps

We are registered with the Private Career Training Institutions Agency of British Columbia, and this provides protection for tuition refunds. We also have liability insurance, and provide coverage for WCB.

Every legitimate business needs liability insurance, but the deciding factor of liability is due diligence and competence of the guides. These very important factors are covered in our Training Programs.

Our Cayuse horses are tough mountain horses with a mixture of draft or wild horse. Our horses will give you insight to what to expect from a good trail horse, and what you want in your horses.

Chilcotin Holidays Training Programs are taken by male or female, young and old. Participants are of all levels, but most important they want new skills for personal use or for working in the industry. Chilcotin Holidays Training philosophy is this: “it’s best to get trained by the best in the business so that you won’t pick up bad habits, or take shortcuts, or learn the wrong approach that will forever limit your opportunities”

We teach our Programs from a “guides perspective”, and it is all hands-on. You will be shoeing your horse, not just watching your instructor. You will learn how to handle a horse by learning how to teach your guest to handle a horse. Our instructor-to-student ratio is high, and you are not paying to be part of a work crew!