After 48 years running rivers, including 36 years as head of operations for Southern Utah’s Holiday River Expeditions, Tim Gaylord has a pretty strong sense of who belongs at the oars. Ask him about lead guide Jacqueline Pollard, and he does not hesitate. “Her enthusiasm, zest for life, and curiosity were apparent from the start,” Gaylord says. “And she’s also not afraid to do the dirty work. It’s been very fulfilling to watch her develop into the competent leader she is today.”
Pollard signed on with Holiday when she was 19. Instead of jumping straight into a boat, however, she spent her inaugural season in the Green River warehouse, packing boats and cleaning gear, a rite of passage for all under-20 guides at Holiday. “Now, I’m really grateful for that time,” she says. “It teaches you the whole picture of what it takes to get a trip out on the river and how important support people are to a successful trip. Plus, when you come in from a trip and you’re exhausted, seeing the warehouse staff being so psyched to see you really gives you the boost to get through to the very end.”
A decade later, Pollard rows every river Holiday runs: the Green, Yampa, San Juan, and Colorado, as well as Cataract Canyon, a remote, 14-mile gauntlet of Class III to Class V whitewater slicing through Canyonlands National Park. “Each river is unique and demands respect,” she says. “But being a competent guide isn’t all about strength. It’s more about learning how to read the river and finesse your way through rapids rather than fighting against them.”
The guiding skill set, Pollard says, extends well beyond the oars. “River guiding involves doing many things well,” she explains. “You need to be confident speaking to a group, planning and organizing, staying calm in potentially dangerous or just plain dangerous situations. You’re also the cook and the cleaner.”
Gaylord has observed that the best guides are those who mature over time and take the leadership skills they garner on the river into other areas of their lives. For Pollard, that’s translated into her wintertime gig: traveling around the world to judge Freeride World Tour’s big mountain ski competitions and coaching kids on the Alta-Bird Freeride Team.
When asked what she loves about guiding, Pollard explains that the river quickly uncovers a vulnerability in people that takes much longer to reveal itself in the “real” world. Floating through canyon walls millions of years old puts life into perspective. There are also moments when things don’t go as planned. “The stories don’t come from when everything went perfectly,” she says. “The memories are made when there’s Type 2 fun mixed in with the actual fun.”
Get the latest on Adventures in and around Utah. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.
