To say anything or not?

Where’s does one begin.

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Originally Posted by Name Redacted

A lot of things happen in the SJ's, but one incident in particular last season killed three upstanding members of the Eagle community and they were being led by a guide. I can name a few other instances in CO where a guided group had a bad day due to the poor decision making by the guide.

If you are being compensated to lead a group and calling yourself a guide(and teacher), you should be prepared to receive criticism and take it seriously. You should be constantly trying to up your game to attempt to provide a safe trip for your guests, who have less experience, knowledge, and skill than you do.

This isn't about two private groups criticizing each other to boost egos, this is about a guide taking unnecessary risks with clients while in the roll of teacher and guide.

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Originally Posted by snoqpass

All you need is a pair of Dynafits and a Trust Fund

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So true.

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Originally Posted by Name Redacted

A lot of things happen in the SJ's, but one incident in particular last season killed three upstanding members of the Eagle community and they were being led by a guide. I can name a few other instances in CO where a guided group had a bad day due to the poor decision making by the guide.

If you are being compensated to lead a group and calling yourself a guide(and teacher), you should be prepared to receive criticism and take it seriously. You should be constantly trying to up your game to attempt to provide a safe trip for your guests, who have less experience, knowledge, and skill than you do.

This isn't about two private groups criticizing each other to boost egos, this is about a guide taking unnecessary risks with clients while in the roll of teacher and guide.

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This may not be the place to get into this but was there a reason this wasn't mentioned in the CAIC report?

I also was unaware that the Nose accident was a guided group. Please expound

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Originally Posted by Name Redacted

A lot of things happen in the SJ's, but one incident in particular last season killed three upstanding members of the Eagle community and they were being led by a guide.

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I presume you’re talking about the nose? I am not aware that they were being guided.

Maybe you’re getting the Sen. Beck Basin incident from 2019 confused?

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Originally Posted by Tech Tonics

I presume you’re talking about the nose? I am not aware that they were being guided.

Maybe you’re getting the Sen. Beck Basin incident from 2019 confused?

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My apologies guys, I somehow had it in my head that they were being guided. Maybe I heard that and wasn't public knowledge, or I just got it mixed up with another accident. I have edited my comment to delete that claim.

I do however stand by the rest of the comment, and there have been other high profile accidents where the group was being guided.

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Originally Posted by raisingarizona13

What's happened in the San Juans?

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X2. Let's hear it.

Most of the guides I know are pretty talented at what they do, but they're certainly not perfect.

When I worked for the CAIC and took courses/classes out into the field, I knew I was "the guide" that had to be as close to perfect as I could be. I always asked my students to question what I was doing (i.e., leading them this or that way, where I stopped, etc..). A lot of times students/clients are afraid/intimidated by their instructor/guide to say anything. In this case I think that was what was happening. The clients should have spoken up.....

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Originally Posted by Name Redacted

I do however stand by the rest of the comment, and there have been other high profile accidents where the group was being guided.

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As a professional in the biz I appreciate this dialogue. Can you briefly mention the events you know of?

There is a habit of keeping people in an information drought when it comes to involvements with professional organizations. When a fatality is involved the truth typically comes, but what of the near misses?
A close Canadian friend and veteran guide speaks of severe withholding of information among services. To the point that INFOEX reports are not complete or accurate. So what slips through the cracks?
Do we want all of this information to hold professionals accountable or are we interested in learning from the mistakes?

Communication.

We were skiing in a guided group from the Grands Montets towards the Argentiere Glacier. One of the group mentioned that he had fallen into a crevasse in the area with a different guide the day before. Our guide spent quite of time questioning the guy about exactly where it happened. (This was a low snow year with a lot of crevasse incidents, including an Italian guide killed on the regular VB from the Italian side.)

On the opposite end of the spectrum--skiing in a guided group in AK I triggered and was mostly buried in a small slide. There was no mention of the incident to any of the other guides or clients at the lodge. Maybe the slide was felt to be too small to mention? I was surprised that by the end of the week no one I mentioned it to was aware it had happened.