Leo Luminati’s workplace is in a class of its own: magnificent views, surrounded by dramatic 3,000-metre peaks. His job? “Enabling our guests to have unforgettable experiences in these beautiful mountains,” says the young mountain guide from the St. Moritz Ski School with pride. Discover his tour recommendations and expert tips in our interview.
The training to become a mountain guide is no walk in the park, as we all know. What conditions does an applicant have to meet?
It certainly isn’t a piece of cake, that’s for sure. The training lasts 3 years, and even the beginning is pretty intense. The admission test alone takes several days, including a climb of 3,000 vertical metres in one go. Every two weeks you work intensively on specific themes such as avalanche awareness, ski technique, ice climbing, rock climbing, meteorology, medicine, ski touring and so on, in theory and practice. Providing you pass the exams for each of the modules as well as the end-of-year exam, in the second year you accompany an experienced mountain guide as an aspirant, during which you have to do 40 excursions. In the third year, you do further winter and summer modules, to a deeper level, before finally taking the federal examinations.