Monte

My son Monte seeks adventure.  He is a civil engineer as well as a climbing and skiing guide with Black Sheep Adventure Sports. Check it out on Facebook. He comes by his talents honestly.  

His father owns a contracting company, and his mom, well...

I applied to work at the Fernie Ski Hill the minute all three of my boys were in school.  I was raised on that hill as my father was instrumental in creating the slopes, and my mother, the lodge.  Once I got married, I managed to get up there a few times with just one child, but once the third one arrived, it seemed an impossible dream.  Skip ahead five or six years and the boys  were off to school. I had a few hours free each day, and was eager to go skiing yet again.  I couldn't really afford a pass, but if you had a job up there, they gave you one.  I called called the ski school and asked how I would go about getting qualified as an instructor. 

"You can start Saturday," the fellow said.  

"Start what?" I asked. 

"Teaching," he replied.  

I tried to explain that I hadn't been on skies for maybe five years, wasn't certified or even confident that I could remembered how to ski, never mind teach someone else how to do it.  The last time I tried to 'help' someone learn how, it was a friend from school... and she broke her leg.

I asked how they could hire someone they didn't even know. 

"I know who you are" the guy said.

When Monte was still breast feeding, maybe a month old, I wanted to go for a ski.  A ticket was a lot of money, even back then, so when the babysitter, my brother, brought Monte back before I was ready to stop skiing, I put him in a Snuggly on my chest, and we finished the day together.  

Monte loved it- he slept, like a baby. 

I didn't know it was a big deal; I was a kid.. a stupid kid apparently.  

But, I was in the groove and as I had been on skies since I could walk, wasn't at all concerned about falling.  I was careful.  My confidence was not shared by the ski hill staff however.  Not only was the ski patrol called out to watch myself and my baby, but also half the ski school.  I had no idea.  More than five years later the head of the ski school recognized my name.   He knew exactly who I was. 

Monte Johnston is good at his job.  He should be - he has been at it, literally, his whole life!  

Check out Black Sheep Adventures on Face Book..

 



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