2022 Year in Review, Professionally
Yes, I had a job in 2022. But mainly I was a father. When I remember 2022, I’ll remember becoming a dad. But I also had a job. Which is now a huge part of being a father. My labors for dollars support this little family.
What did that professional year look like, by the numbers?
144 days of work. Guiding plus guiding admin/travel and my side hustles (slum-lording, gear reviewing, gear consulting). Yes, that's right. I did not work for 221 days. So great. It is how I think “paternity leave” should look. Or, more accurately, how I prefer to have done my own paternity leave. The vast majority of those were in immersive family time. I didn't count it closely, but there were maybe 15 days in 2022 where I played "for fun", without family or work. Of course, many of those non-work days included bits of work-related matters. As all new parents seem to observe, time management gets better out of necessity. I can now get as much emailing done between 5 and 6:30 am, before the baby is up, as might have taken me a full day in the past.
105 days field guiding (11 year average is 113)
38 trips had a specific goal (peak or route) in mind. Of those, we made the summit and/or completed the route 31 times. That's a "sending percentage" of 82%. (11 year simple average is 71%)
20 days of Alpine guiding. (11 year average is 39)
1 day of Ice guiding. (11 year average is 7)
21 days of Rock guiding. (11 year average is 26)
63 days of ski guiding. (11 year average is 41)
91 days as an employee of another company. That's 87%. (11 year average is 89%)
14 days working for my own company. That's 13%. (7 year average is 17%)
97 days were with returning clients or clients that came directly to me in some fashion. That's 92% of my volume. (11 year average is 59%)
71 days I worked in the field largely or entirely without a co-guide. That's 68%. (6 year average is 77%)
34 days I worked directly with at least one other co guide.
32 nights in a tent in the wilderness. For work. Only a few more than that when you include rec time.
23 nights away from family in other accommodations, for work. For a total of 55 nights away from family for work. In past years I counted nights away from "home". This year, for a few gigs, I traveled with the family. Since, on those trips, I could come back to the family at the camper or borrowed guest room or whatever after working I didn't count them as being away from "home". 6 year average is 68. Omit 2020 (for Covid) and 2022 (for a new family balance) and average work travel was 76 nights away. I cut way back for 2022 and will hopefully settle into this new balanced reality throughout Charlie's life.