Hi Dave,
I read your commentary with some interest re: the evils of
guided groups
and your implicit criticism of guides. I like many parts
of your
website
and can tell that basically you're a nice guy that likes to
climb volcanoes,
so I am responding since you had an open request for my
thoughts.
As a mountaineering instructor and guide of six years (I run my
own
operation -- http://www.basecampwa.com -- out of
Bellingham,
Washington),
all I can say is that you don't have a very relativistic
perception
of the
responsibilities and strains that guides face for their measly
salaries.
You have also encountered some of the most cut-rate, least
qualified
guide
Operations out there. Never evaluate the success of a guided
organization
by their summit success rate--remember the Everest debacle?
One of the most famous (and successful) alpine guides in
history, Gaston
Rebuffat, is famous for saying essentially 'the client's chief
purpose
is
to kill the guide, and should they fail in this, to kill
themselves.'
While this comment was spoken at least part in jest, there is a
little
truth in every joke.
While you were climbing Mt. Rainier, you commented that "During
the
summit climb, the RMI guides kept the group on a tight schedule
that
allowed for 10 minute breaks every hour and a half or so.
As
far as I
was concerned, the breaks were not only too short, but too
infrequent
as
well." This is a telling comment on your conditioning and
understanding
of the dangers of glacier travel--frankly, you don't have much
of either.
(Tim is absolutely correct in his uncanny
assessment
of my abilities. I am
an overweight, was a smoker, who has no
reason to climb
up to 18,300 feet. Except
that I LOVE IT! Because I choose not
to
march at a guides pace –- can’t keep up,
I risk climbing solo or with friends so
that
I can get up and down the mountain
at my own comfortable pace.)
It
was precisely dawdling around taking too much
time with clients that were too slow to get up and down the
mountain
before it
got hot that led to the avalanche death on the Disappointment
Cleaver
a few
years ago.
Also, a guide might have remembered the tent poles and sunscreen
(for
everyone) on Orizaba...those are rookie mistakes, not those of
somebody
well-qualified to lead their own trips. Whatever the guide
fee
might
have been, it would have saved some third-degree burns and you
might
have summited.
I take pride in the safety of my clients, not in the success of
their
summits. I am selling the education of responsible
self-sufficiency
and
the experience of being in an amazing, remote place. If we
happen
to
get to the top, that's a bonus, but only so long as we haven't
compromised our safety. Your dependence on measuring
success
by summits
is typical of many East-coast climbers--"let's conquer that
mountain!"
When you soloed Mt. Baker, did you do any research at all? Did
you
have
a map? I very much doubt you were on the Deming
glacier--it is
an
icefall from 8,000 feet down. Did you know that
there are
at least two
other routes that, if you HAD to solo, were much safer than the
Easton?
There are also innumerable peaks in the Cascades that are as
challenging
as Baker with out the objective risk of solo glacier
travel.
What would
you have done if the clouds had obscured the entire mountain
instead
of
just the top few hundred feet? What if it had started
snowing
enough to
cover your tracks? This happened to a couple of climbers who
came up
from San Francisco a few months ago...they were trying to go up
the
North Ridge, which they had no business on in the first place,
but
then
got stuck in a whiteout bad enough that they were out for FOUR
DAYS
without a tent, stove, or any bivouac equipment and only a day's
food.
They ended up stumbling off of the SOUTH side of the mountain,
frostbitten and hypothermic. Lucky to be alive indeed.
I agree with you about asking questions of your guide
service.
The
first question should be, "what do you do with somebody who is
obviously
unqualified, physically or mentally, to be on the
mountain?"
The answer
should be, "we don't take them up." Unfortunately too many
guide
services compromise their need for safety with their greed.
You might be thinking "but what can those people who aren't the
strongest do to get into the mountains?" I don't have an
elitist
attitude about this at all...I offer customized instruction and
longer
climbs for people who need the instruction and/or the extra
days.
But
there is a point that everyone reaches where they can't be an
armchair
mountaineer.
You also have a good point about the guides being genuinely
interested
in their clients instead of being on a big ego trip. I
basically
look
at it as my time spent guiding is time at work, instead of many
guide's
perception seeming to be "I get paid to climb and I have to put
up
with
these darn clients."
To put the boot on the other foot, I have occasionally had
clients
who
seemed to think that the simple fact that they had hired me
meant:
1)
they were in no danger whatsoever, and thus had no
responsibility for
their own safety; 2) the summit was guaranteed; 3)their ability
and
pace
had no bearing on the success or failure of the climb.
It's frustrating
dealing with people who want to summit but haven't put in the
time
preparing for it, and I'm not talking about getting into "guide
shape":
I'm easily twice as strong as many of my clients, but that's
fine;
it's
the clients that are 1/10 as strong as I am and think that
should be
enough to get them up the mountain who frustrate me.
I hope I've shed some light on the other side of the coin--and
most
of
all, I would encourage you to spend the money on a
mountaineering CLASS,
not a guided trip. Some outfits are making a killing by
essentially
keeping their clients undereducated; without self-sufficiency,
they'll
keep coming back for more guiding, which will be repeat dollars
for
years to come.
One of the best examples I can give you of a class instead of a
guided
summit is by American Alpine Institute, also here in
Bellingham.
They
have a 6-day Alpine Travel seminar that teaches you the skills
to travel
safely on a glacier...do you know how to get somebody out of a
crevasse? Have you practiced it? There are many
other outfits
on the
West coast that teach similar skills. I recommend giving
up the
"next
summit" in favor of learning some more skills that will help you
make
educated decisions about your next climb and the relative risks
you
are
assuming.
Best wishes in your climbing to come, I'll probably run into
your
website again in my surfing. I found it looking for info
on Orizaba,
where I'm going this Christmas.
Sincerely,
Tim Schultz
Lead Guide
Base Camp, Inc.
http://www.basecampwa.com
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