jrace2

Trip: Zermatt, Switzerland - Spaghetti Traverse ~ Italian Haute Route Date: 7/21/2011 Trip Report: I just finished an attempt to do the Spaghetti Traverse, which is also known as the Italian Haute Route. The weather in the alps has been a bit wet this summer and we were unable to connect it all, but we did get in some great climbing. I am coming back in two weeks to try again and will post details if we make it. This is a super amazing route with a ton of moderate climbing and the potential to climb 10-12 4000 meter peaks in 4 or 5 days. Link to trip report is: http://mountainschool.blogspot.com/2011/07/zermatt-climbing-trip-report-july-15-20.html All best- John Race

I run a small guide service and have been guiding since 1989, full-time since 1992. I love my job. We get 3 or 4 e-mails most weeks from people wanting to break into guiding. I think the biggest challenge is that the supply of people that want to guide greatly exceeds the number of guiding jobs. After 13 years of guiding and doing OK, I took the plunge and became AMGA certified and eventually IFMGA. I work with many fantastic guides that have never taken an AMGA course and are the best at what they do. That said, it is so wildly competitive that guide services do look more and more for AMGA training and a trajectory leading toward certification. It is not exactly a fair request as the training is expensive, but it is one very practical way that those hiring guides can gauge the commitment level of those applying. When I completed my AMGA training I was surprised to find myself wondering how I managed to guide without incident for the first 13 years of my career, and once the bills were paid I was happy I had put myself through the ego crushing routine of being examined. Without a doubt my certification increased my income drastically and made it easier to sell my services. Choosing to guide is above all a lifestyle decision. Most of the money is in doing very routine trips, being desperately patient, and having an almost saintlike partner if you are planning to be in a relationship. As someone mentioned above, guiding is a good "job", an outside job, but it is usually not climbing per se. The pay is rarely huge, and it took me a good 15 years to feel "established." Those that succeed seem to be able to shrug off difficult clients, challenging employers and move forward. From my perspective being a great climber can make it more difficult to be patient with those that are not, but early on I realized that I was not great, only good enough and very enthusiastic. Good luck! Guiding has provided me with the opportunity to see many places and do many things I never would have had the funds to do otherwise, but it has had plenty of bad days.

Thanks Andrew. As much as anything this is a reminder to make the long drive to Mt. Baker this winter!. I will check it out.

Thanks for this. I am wondering if it is not worth the hassle to lug along the Canon Rebel T1i on expeditions and for closer to home use. I certainly use my Rebel without video capability on enough trips to justify owning it. The goPro has many downsides, but does provide relatively inexpensive action type photos. The G12 looked really cool and I know folks who used these in Tibet for climbing with good results. The flip screen is a downside, so I looked for a G10, and they seem to retail for more than they originally sold for as they are not available. Hmmmmm....

I am looking for a video camera for climbing. I would like something that shoots high quality (i.e. for a web site) video, is durable, somewhat waterproof, and lightweight. This leads me to something like a GoPro, although I don't see myself using the head cam, other than for the occasional good ski line. Here is where things get more difficult. I would also like to do some simple video or people talking, likely with a tripod and the GoPro appears to not have a jack for a microphone. It would be nice to have the option to have some decent sound quality from time to time. This will be used on extended expeditions so it needs to be something where I can charge the battery off a solar system with a USD port. I don't think the flip system will work as I need to be able to pull out the card and add cards as they fill. So he is what I need: Lightweight Battery chargeable from a solar panel (or AA's) Waterproof enough to use in the winter Good sound quality Durable Anybody have the perfect system? Let me know if this is the wring forum for this? John

That was us. You guys looked to be making good progress. What did you guys do that day?

It was hard to pass up. Another friend guided an 80 year old on the North Ridge of Forbidden 2 days before and mentioned that he left things pretty set up on the snow pitches.

Trip: Mt. Buckner - North Face Date: 7/26/2010 Trip Report: If any are interested in current conditions on the north side of Mt. Buckner I posted a trip report here: Mt. Buckner North Face - Trip Report - July 25-27, 2010 http://mountainschool.blogspot.com/2010/07/mt-buckner-north-face-trip-report-july.html This was a guided trip with 2 customers and 1 guide. The route was in really good shape for late July. Gear Notes: Pickets are all that are needed right now. It is nice to have a very small (5-6 pieces) rock rack if you are roping up. You could get away with no rock gear, but there are placements if you are so inclined. Approach Notes: We approached via Boston Basin, crossed over Boston-Sahale Col, traversed onto upper Boston Glacier, and then exited via Horseshoe Basin, and Sahale Arm.

I did this a few years back from Icicle to Cascade Meadows and concluded that it might be "easier" going from North to South. This allows you to go up the any path we have been calling the Swauth which is really quick and straightforward. We are planning to guide this Feb 25-28 and do some exploring along the way. I am hoping more folks will do it so that we can sort out the best possible route. My thought on trying it N to S this time is that you can ski down all the slogging terrain going down Chatter Creek. We are hoping for a tow out. There is a slim chance that a cell phone would work from up high, otherwise the timing is the crux. Any other beta would be great. There are still some really big lines to be had in the right conditions back in there.

We came out Tuesday afternoon. We also parked about 6 miles out from the Cold Springs trailhead. Made it to 9350, but did not summit due to the high winds and new snow of Monday night. From the parking point the road was completely snow covered minus a few spots early on where we needed to walk several hundred of dry road between snow patches. Skiing was excellent from about 7400 to 5600.

Thanks. I called today as well and it sounds like 5 or 6 miles of road are still snow covered. We are going regardless on Sunday as we have 3 days to get up, down, and enjoy some skiing. Details to follow.

Marc- Were you on a sled, or in your vehicle at this point? Thanks

On a minor note: One of my customers had his ski poles taken last weekend from the public shelter at Muir. Overall things seem very, very safe, but on occasion things go missing. I would just cache your gear and trust folks. -John

Thank you Marc, -John

Has anyone made an effort to get into the South side of Mt. Adams yet? I am curious about how far out from the usual parking spot the road is still impassable. Any current info would be appreciated.

Randonee. I have no idea who you are, but my name is John Race and it was not my intent to piss you off. I don't receive any discounts from LMS and any business relationship is purely the result of the fact that I teach people how to climb and ski and they sell the gear my clients use. Although folks would assume that guides work every angle, I in fact spend much of my hard earned income locally and pay full price because I have had really bad experiences in places like REI in the past and deeply value a local shop. You are correct that I have no idea what went on. Your response to me is also pretty strong just as the posts I read sounded unusually strong. My comment was basically an attempt to say once these sorts of things end up in a public forum, they can only get negative for both sides. As you put it on a public site, you should expect folks to jump in a debate the whole sordid event. Why else would you post it? I am sure there are two sides to this story and you have very clearly and fully articulated yours. It sounds like they screwed up and you sound absolutely furious. I regretted commenting because I was afraid that it would be misinterpreted in all the ways you managed to misinterpret it. My appologies for that. I have nothing to gain from this entire absurd situation, which I heard about from another local climbing friend. I am also one of the legions who are put off by the often negative interactions that these types of forums somehow accidently produce. Good luck. It sounds like this whole episode has deeply hurt you. I will ignore the part where you call me cowardly, it might be misinterpreted as having a temper - we wouldn't want that. "Mr. Guide" - John Race

Sorry to hear all of this has blown up. I live in Leavenworth and think that Leavenworth Mountain Sports and a few other businesses such as A Book For All Seasons are huge assets to a community that is pretty focused on selling less critical items than skis and books. There is a huge learning curve that goes with any new business and I would have hoped that the skiing and climbing community would not have been so fast to pile up on some folks that are in a desperate business. Prior to Brian and Sarah Behle buying LMS it was almost impossible to find decent gear here in town. Adam and Cheryl stepped into big shoes, but shoes that were being vacated because the old owners wanted out of a stressful job. I recently finished the entire process of becoming IFMGA certified and am always pleasantly surprised to see that LMS has the huevos to carry a lot of high end gear that they can't possibly ever make a profit on. Randonee skis and lightweight climbing gear is a lot harder to sell 130 miles from Seattle. If they did not exist I would need to drive a long way to buy basic gear. In many cases I buy stuff at their shop for wholesale during seasonal sales because they can't move the more expensive gear. I don't know exactly what happened, but was surprised to see that a failure to exchange an item on the spot led to a fraud report with the Sheriff. This seems to be a pretty rapid escalation that would have likely been solved by taking a deep breath, waiting a few hours and speaking with someone in a position to solve your situation. In regards to other shops being better, I would point out that they are also have been in business for a lot longer. I am close friends with the owner of Pro Ski and even he has mis-mounted a pair of skis for me, his friend. Accidents happen. He bought me a beer, it took 48 hours to fix, and the skis worked great until I retired them These guys do give a rats A**. If they did not, they would not be in such a desperate business. My wife an I, also a guide, would be really bummed if LMS packed up and left town. I am in a position to get great deals on gear and I routinely buy items at LMS because I want to see them stay around. I too have a temper and have on occasion overreacted and then gone nuclear when all that was required for a solution was to offer the same level of understanding that I would expect from the other party. The folks at LMS are good people and have almost certainly heard your complaint. It would be great if folks could now tone down a notch and do some skiing. It should be pretty dang good these next couple of days. You actually called the Sheriff? That is the one part of the story I can't quite fit into the story.

Bummer. Is this Mark and Lisa? How long are you guys in Moab? We are here for a week. John and Olivia