"If you even think of quitting high school, I'll take away your bicycle!"
Imagine this scenario. Four women playing bridge.
VALERIE: “One, No Trump ....So Mary what is your son doing?”
MARY: “He’s a doctor.....3 Spades...So Cindy, what is your son doing?”
CINDY, “He’s a nuclear scientist...Two, no Trump....So Shirley, what’s your son doing, “
SHIRLEY: “He’s an Avalanche Bomber................
DEAD SILENCE
What do you do as parents, when you run a successful business and you’ve given birth to a son who doesn’t want to be a doctor or a dentist, or a nuclear scientist ?
In fact you have to threaten him with taking away his bicycle if he even thought of dropping out of high school?
When Nicolas was 7, his parents sent him to canoeing camp.
Nick Morantz’ passion for the outdoors was ignited at the age of 7.
At camp he discovered the joys of canoeing - and never looked back.
A surprise to both mother and father. Because when it came to a passion for canoeing and the outdoors, Nick was not to the manner born.
The outdoors, the physical life, nature, was not a family tradition. What was the family tradition was working hard in their Montreal deli, the well known Snowdon Deli. And serving the public with warmth, and with an energy that never lets up. It was this family tradition that Nick was to carry with him throughout his 33 years of age.
Year after year Nick spent the summers canoeing , starting at 12 to go on long canoe trips.
And then at the age of 16 leading them. And throughout the canoe tripping, his education was ongoing. What he learnt was not in school but through his mentors,
“Danny Peled and Tim Van Dam were the two people I really wanted to be like. They taught me so much about being in nature, how to be a better paddler, and how to be a good leader!”
Age 17 was a crossroads. School was over. “I hated high school and felt like my time could have been better spent . But I am very thankful to my parents that I graduated! “
And so were the years working part time at the deli since the age of 9
"I loved the hustle bustle, the banter back and forth with the customers”
In his early teens Nick could even see himself one day taking over the ownership.
But reality pulled him back.
”I quickly realized that while i liked the service aspect of the business,
I felt there was something missing in my life when I was there.
"The indoors was not my natural habitat."
So at 17 Nick moved to Ontario where the paddling company had their headquarters.
And continued paddling his way through life, loving every moment of it, mentoring the kids on 35-day long canoe trips,
Nick was a star.
The bosses loved him. The kids loved him. And the mentoring he was receiving enhanced his awareness of nature and kept bringing his skills of leadership to higher and higher levels until....
At age 20 a “new” reality moved in. It was time to leave.
And his mother's nudge came just at the right time.
“Go West, Young Man!”
He immediately took off and landed into....NIRVANA!
His second life had begun.
***
The moment Nick set foot in the Rockies, he did two things.
He got a job at the Castle Mountain Resort.
And he applied for a job bombing avalanches.
What did he know from bombing avalanches?
Nothing!
But Nick had talents that prepared him for success.
He was brash, daring, not afraid of anything new,
and completely confident that he could master anything he set his mind to.
The guy running the avalanche hiring was big, gruff, with a handlebar mustache,
and hands worn out from years of shooing horses feet.
Not your typical Montrealer!
"Have you taken the avalanche bombing courses?"
"NO, but I'm ready to take them immediately!"
The man looked down at Nick's shoes with disdain. They were snowboarding shoes.
"Do you ski?"
"No, but I can learn. I'm a real fast learner."
"OK, go take the bombing avalanche course, learn how to ski, and you have a job."
Nick immediately ran out. bought a pair of skis, signed up for the course..... and in two years was ready for a job bombing avalanches!
It took a touch longer for reaching the top in Avalanche Bombing*…
And a great deal of perseverance and dedication.
But Nick did it!
Nine years later he became Mountain Safety Manager at Castle Mountain Resort.
“I had worked really hard to get the job and it was a long road of courses and training.”
Even now “I am constantly taking courses and improving my avalanche forecasting skills”
What a difference to learning when you have a passion for the subject you are learning.
Only your own voice has the power to push you through the rough spots.
The next question to hit Nick was an obvious one.
"What do I do in the summer in the Rockies?"
The answer was ‘self-obvious’.
Fighting Forest Fires! **
He quickly rose to Helitech Leader.
And that was the end of the job climb.
Despite the best credentials and recommendations, Nick was blocked from rising to the top management position.
"I didn't have a secondary degree!"
Because the jobs of fighting forest fires were in the domain of the provincial government,
the jobs were union jobs. "You have to have a secondary degree!"
Nick has continued with forest fires as Helitech Leader.
And continued expanding his expertise in bombing avalanches.
Now mentoring the young people who have completed their course.
His next challenge: Learning how to fly a helicopter!
In the meantime? A slight detour. He has fallen love! And soon to be married with a young woman – Jacinthe, who comes from, would you believe, a dairy farm in a little town in Quebec!
Who uses a chainsaw like she was to the manner born!
Who was born to be Nick’s wife!
If everyone lived their life with passion, no one would be dreaming of retirement
A note of thanks from Nick:
“To my parents, who have always supported me,
even when they weren’t sure I was making the best decisions.
And to my sisters who helped raise me when my mom was in school when I was really young. "
https://www.tolifewithlove.com/single-post/2018/10/11/The-School-of-Life-Reflecting-on-Nick-Morantz-success
POSTCRIPT:
*Just what does an Avalanche Bomber do?
All of us have seen pictures or videos of terrifying avalanches
What causes avalanches?
Nick is our tour guide.
"Avalanches build gradually: soft snow on top of hard snow on top of soft snow.
When the hard snow expands to the danger point it pushes through the soft snow with such horrific force
that it pummels down the mountain at tremendous speeds swallowing any person in the way
Controlling the timing of avalanches is a way to remove the unpredictability of avalanches
In this way, ski resorts can control the timing of an avalanche, usually in the early morning before the lifts open to the public, to keep their guests safe"
The avalanche bomber recognizes when the time has come for the avalanche-to-be to burst
And just before that, explodes the bomb from within so that the timing of the avalanche is controlled.
That in turn controls when one of two signs goes up: "Safe to Ski" or "Stay Away Avalanche About to Burst"
**How Big are the Forest Fires Nick fights
Lest your mind gets overtaken by videos of the brutal reality of forest fires which last for days and months.....
Nick describes fighting forest fires in the Rockies:
"The powerful ones you stay away from. They take their course.
.But the smaller ones, the burgeoning ones, those are the ones you can control..
Sometimes the fires have been started by campers who have forgotten to put out their camp fire.
Most likely, the fire has been started by lightning."
These smaller ones, are all accessed via helicopter
The helicopter drops off the fire fighters at a certain point. and then they remove the wood or fuel from around the fire.
if they are unable to get a pump and hose set up - if a water source is too far away - they generally use the helicopter to drop water on the fire.
...
No one would be planning for retirement!
