Adventure guides – B2 English Reading Test

Which person

1   says that a guide must be able to react to unexpected events?

2   takes clients to a location which is starting to disappear?

3   had a sudden realisation that he wanted to be a guide?

4   says he can look back on his experiences with pleasure?

5   fulfilled a long-held ambition?

6   admits to taking tourists on the wrong trip?

7   lived close to where history was made?

8   enjoys seeing his clients’ sense of achievement?

9   criticises some of the people he guides?

10   mentions that his work changed someone’s life for the better?

Adventure guides

Four guides describe the benefits and drawbacks of taking tourists to some of the world’s most scenic, beautiful but different terrain.

A   Torfi from Iceland

The worst thing about being a guide in Iceland is when people haven’t bothered to bring the right clothes for the weather. We like to say that there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad equipment. I haven’t had any disasters but funny moments and blunders are endless: locking myself out of the car in a mind-numbing blizzard, taking folks hiking over a mountain when the schedule clearly said we should have been going rafting, being stranded on a glacier in a blizzard with a broken-down car for 16 hours. This is a job that provides a stream of good memories and friendship. The river Hvitá is my favourite place for white-water rafting. I’d also recommend a visit to the glacier to hike across the ice – you won’t be able to do that for much longer as the ice is melting at an alarming rate.

B   Tulga from Mongolia

When I became a guide I had virtually no training at all, just a two-hour lecture about what not to do. I had to learn from my mistakes. There were four Swiss people on my first trip. When I met them, I said: ‘Hi guys.’ They gave me a strange look. I asked if there was anything wrong but they said: ‘No, no problem.’ After two days, one of them explained, ‘Guys means “goats” in our language.’ I felt terrible. On a later trip, clients were upset because they were meant to see an ice gorge in the Gobi desert but our vehicle broke down and we didn’t get there so they demanded half their money back. On a happier note, I once guided a family whose son had behavioural problems, and the child improved so much during the trip that a documentary was made about him called The Horse Boy.

C   Ngima from Nepal

I used to watch the trekkers going through my village to the mountain peak situated just above it and that made me want to become a guide. The house where I grew up was on the old trekking path to Everest base camp. This is the route Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay took to become the first people to climb Everest. We saw an inspiring video about them at school. On my first job as a lead guide, as we crossed the difficult Tashi Lapsa pass we had very heavy snowfall and one of our porters had to be rescued by helicopter because he got frostbite and snow-blindness. We have many beautiful places in Nepal but my favourite trek is up Mera Peak – from the summit you can see five mountains above 8,000m, including Everest.

D   José from Peru

I was working in a factory when a school friend who was a river guide took me on an expedition. The moment our boat set off down the river I knew I had found the job for me. After two months of training, I guided my first group. Ten years later, one of my hands was badly damaged in an accident so it was impossible for me to continue. My boss suggested I use my legs rather than my arms, and this was the start of my life as a trek leader. You have to deal with lots of situations you hadn’t anticipated would occur. There was the time when it snowed on the Inca Trail and the combination of snow and sun made for blinding conditions. So we had to improvise sunglasses out of the silver lining of our drinks boxes! I still love watching people’s reactions on arriving at the summit of a high pass – it’s so much better to get there after a few hours’ walk than after a comfortable car journey.