By the time 8 a.m. rolls around, Justin Bowers, general operations manager and a senior guide with Front Range Climbing Company, is already checking weather reports, rock conditions, and helping prepare everything else that goes into a rock climbing adventure in Colorado.

That said, before even setting out for the day, Bowers (and other guides at Front Range Climbing Company) have spoken with their clients to gauge their experience level and goals for the trip. This information helps climbing guides curate the perfect trip for each client. Once the plans are made, Bowers will head to the office and collect all the gear needed for the trip that lies ahead, which can last anywhere from around four hours to all day, depending on what the clients want.

Prior to starting any route, guides have already checked out the location to ensure it’s safe to climb that day. In an interview with OutThere Colorado, Bowers emphasized the importance of focusing on safe climbing for the clients and guides – even being responsible when it comes to protecting the rock. After all, Bowers and other guides want to avoid breaking holds and climbing on wet rock to ensure routes are preserved for future climbers. Once everything is deemed safe and ready, the climb begins.

Although the guides might look (and seem) like the absolute best climbers there are, Bowers says there’s something even more important to guiding.

“You really have to be personable and kind of let go of your climbing ego,” Bowers said. “You know, the trip is about the clients and elevating their experience, and not really about you climbing and what you can do. It’s about what you can let them do.”

Bowers continued to explain how being a climbing guide is not a typical job, and not a static job or career. Guides are required to travel around doing lots of different things and must cater to their clients first.

With scaling red rocks and making it to the summit of massive mountains, being a climbing guide may seem endlessly exciting and as if there are no dull moments. Of course, Bowers did say that at the end of the day, everything does sometimes feel like just a job at some point. Starting off in the Appalachian Mountains, Bowers has been guiding for about 16 to 17 years. He says that the best way to get through the burnout is to bring it back to the clients.

“When you’re hot and tired and maybe you’re having the same trips back to back to back, it does become a job… the big thing to remember when all that happens is that you have to still bring the stoke for the next group, because for them, it’s the biggest trip of maybe their life or the biggest trip of their vacation,” Bowers said. “It’s still a huge, huge day. For you, it’s a normal day. You get up and you have coffee and you’re doing the normal things. But for them, it’s this very, very exciting thing and you gotta bring that with you and bring that hype with you, even when you kind of don’t want to.”

In fact, when asked about his most memorable day on the job, Bowers spoke about helping his brother make it to the top of Mount Rainier on his third attempt to summit the mountain. He said that the most rewarding part of his job is being with people for incredible experiences and helping them achieve their goals.

“You have to love taking others out over yourself at the end of the day,” Bowers said.

Front Range Climbing Company offers climbing and canyoneering guide service for the Garden of the Gods, Red Rock Canyon, North Cheyenne Canyon, and Moab, Utah. As far as Bowers’ favorite local spot to climb goes, he says Garden of the Gods is hard to beat, with it being a fun and beautiful place to climb with the history of the activity there.

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