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Join Our Team

ARO is now hiring whitewater guides for the 2023 season!

What’s better than being a whitewater rafting guest? Being a whitewater guide!

Looking for something new?

Start the most exciting summer of your life today!

Train to be a rafting guide with ARO, New Yorks rafting leaders since 1980. Work, Play, and LIVE the Adirondack dream!

What are the requirements? 

  • Communication, Customer service and People skills.
  • Ability to work with a wide array of demographics including varieties in age, race, culture, etc.
  • Passion for working in the outdoors
  • An ability to be calm and collected

Some of what ARO has to offer :

  • Extensive training and assistance with licensing on the Hudson (class III) and Black (IV) Rivers.
  • The only company offering training and commercial Moose River trips (V)
  • Fun and healthy social environment.
  • Opportunity to work and live in the heart of the of the Adirondack park’s 6.5 million acres.
  • Free or affordable lodging and camping options.
  • Numerous other employment opportunities such as:
    • Ropes course guide*
    • Canoe, paddle board, kayak, hiking, and camping trip leader
    • Construction, renovation and management of vacation rental and glamping properties
    • Bus and shuttle drivers
  • Basecamp for a year round outdoor lifestyle, only 5 miles from Gore mountain and right on the Hudson River

A Typical Hudson River Workday:

  • Wake up with ample time for coffee and breakfast. You’ll need some energy to get everything ready for a full day on the river.
  • A little before 8am you’ll walk the path to the main base of operations or pull into the guide parking lot.
  • For the next 2 hours it’s all hands on deck. We’ll need to make scores of river treats and adjust the raft stack before sending up the inflation shuttle.
  • The guests usually begin to arrive a bit before 9am. They’ll need to be welcomed and “checked in” before being outfitted with equipment.
  • Once everyone is ready it’s time for the safety talk, after that we load up on to the buses and drive directly to the put-in.
  • After meeting your crew and strapping in your gear you’re officially on river time.
  • As you guide your crew of 4-8 family and friends through dozens of rapids along 18 miles of pristine wilderness shoreline, it becomes difficult to tell whether the guests or guides are having the most fun.
  • The end point of the river trip is conveniently located just a 2 minute walk back to homebase.
  • Once the equipment is put away it’s time to relax.
  • Maybe fire up the outdoor woodfire pizza oven, or head into town for “music by the river” on Saturday nights in the summer.
  • There’s free single track mountain biking trails right in town at the “ski bowl” and tons of off the beaten trail hiking and camping all over the area.

We pride ourselves off of 40+ years of safe and fun whitewater experiences.

Questions? Interested in applying? Contact us to find out why our guides love working, living, and playing at ARO: