. Backcountry ranger. Smokejumper. Every backpacker dreams of a glory job in the outdoors. Senior Editor Shannon Davis heads to Mt. Rainier—and a grueling tryout with premier guide operation RMI—to find out what it takes to make the . Plus: Rate your skills and fitness with the tests for eight more hard-duty professions.

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Win BACKPACKER’s Tough-Guy Challenge! p. 82 Illustration+ by Jacob Thomas

68 BACKPACKER 05.2011 00.2005 BACKPACKER 69 Job description Simply Entrance exam A back- put, get paid to be a country ranger carries backpacker. OK, that’s a 65-pound pack full of too simple. Rangers do heavy tools, such as an explore sprawling wilder- axe, shovel, pulaski, saw, ness areas on foot, but it’s and wrench. The follow- not all peakbagging and ing test is designed to meadow naps. On patrol, gauge your ability to carry you’ll check on visitors’ that pack and perform safety and lawfulness, routine tasks. You can perform trail maintenance, take a one-minute rest join search-and-rescue between exercises, but to efforts, and more. (Get an pass, you must finish it all insider’s take on the job at within three hours. backpacker.com/ranger.) Backcountry According to Patti Schwind, + Walk 5 miles at a 5% who worked six seasons incline on a treadmill with ranger as a wilderness ranger in a 50-pound pack, in 90 Idaho, “You need superior minutes or less. strength and stamina + Dig a 10-foot-long for all hiking conditions. trench that is 2 feet wide Rangers typically go on a and 2 feet deep. 10-day hitch, alone, and + Push/roll a 30-pound hike up to 15 miles daily.” boulder for 50 feet.

I’m worried that I’ve already been pulled me aside and said, “Hey, if that ice-axe arrest, client care, rest-stepping, relegated to the latter. BACKPACKER gig of yours ever stops glacier travel, setting a pace, step- But consider the former: mountain doing it for you, you could easily come kicking, transceiver searches, fixed-line guide! What backpacker worth his out here and guide.” It was a siren. A use, and navigation and routefinding. weight in ice axes hasn’t fantasized top RMI guide was telling me that I In other words: This is a tryout, not a about one of the toughest, most could be an RMI guide. I could climb class; you better show up as a capable, dangerous, and most glory-drenched this beast every day and lead countless well-rounded mountaineer. paychecks in the outdoors?1 Jobs people on a trip that could very well be I have a pretty solid foundation in like this—think backcountry ranger, the high point of their lives. I could do alpine skills, thanks to five years of travels Outward Bound instructor, wildlife that. Totally. as a BACKPACKER staffer (including biologist, and other Gore-Tex-collar If I can pick up the damn pace. summits of Mt. McKinley, Rainier, and careers—give you unfettered access to ice-capped peaks in Switzerland and an exclusive brand of adventure that’s New Zealand)—plus previous lives as off-limits to the general public. But it’s a Wind Rivers-obsessed climber with an not a simple VIP pass: You have to earn address that matched my license plate In It’s mid-morning on a 45°F March the keys to the kingdom by proving number and as an outdoor-pursuits day in perpetually misty Ashford, fitness, technical know-how, charisma, Each spring, RMI staffs up for the coming program coordinator at a private school (population 293), just and those intangibles that separate the season, filling holes in the 74-guide in Arizona. (To be clear, I’m not quitting

outside the southwest entrance of leaders from the rest. Maybe my peers staff. Out of hundreds of applicants,Ã my day job for the chance at a part-time, Mt. Rainier National Park. I’m here and I will never be tested like the 40 are invited to one of four daylong seasonal slot on Rainier, but my boss to go toe to crampon-compatible toe Greatest Generation, but that doesn’t tryouts. Out of those, 10 will make gave me the thumbs-up to moonlight as with nine other aspiring mountain mean we can’t reach the highest level the final cut. Our instructions: Pack an RMI guide, if I qualify.) who have been invited to a of competency, confidence, and self- sunglasses, gloves, boots, , I arrive in the Summit Haus at RMI’s tryout with Rainier , reliance. Make the cut, and you see an , food, a pack, compound two minutes early, and the theory, Inc. (RMI), one of the country’s largest, more, go farther, get deeper, and do it and -rescue equipment, and room is already packed with nervous, double-plastic mountaineering boots make crappy running shoes. In practice, I best-known, and most-respected guide all the freakin’ time. be ready to demonstrate proficiency milling recruits. At 32, I’m one of the can certify that they’re actually much worse. The hard outer shells come up to companies. We’ve all paid our own For some of us, the desire to join in the following skills: avalanche oldest. It’s as quiet and tense as a near mid-calf and are as rigid as barn siding. The thick inner linings are rated way to this one-shot trial, but only a that exclusive club is so strong we forecasting, crampon use, and ice finals week library, and I immediately to -30°F. These qualities make them perfect for snowy, steep, frigid terrain—but couple of us will get hired as guides. start wondering: Do I have what it anchors, pressure breathing, wilderness make it a point to break the ice and get FFRUNTI for running up a muddy fire road while carrying a 30-pound pack? Only if you The rest will have to find alternative A takes? That fire was lit in my belly medicine, knots/slings/ropes, cold- people talking.2 Supervisors Paul Maier RETT desire the gait of Frankenstein and the precision footwork of a cow. My shins summer work—something notably B after summiting Mt. Rainier a couple weather injuries, , (more than 300 Rainier summits) and bang against the stiffened tongues. My heels slip. Other runners—the guys less badass, to be sure. The way of years ago on a climb with JanSport mountain weather, Leave No Trace Alex Van Steen (who has summited I’m competing against, who were smart enough to pack something besides this three-mile run—a key component employees. Casey Grom (a senior RMI ethics, outdoor equipment selection Rainier by 20 different routes, including

doubles—pass me with antelope ease. of our fitness assessment—is going, BY ILLUSTRATION guide and two-time Everest summiter) and use, high-altitude illness, , a solo of one of the hardest, Liberty

70 BACKPACKER 05.2011 GUIDE TIPS 1 It all starts by dreaming big. 2 A guide should be able to sense fear and anxiety and put people at ease—clients 05.2011 BACKPACKER 71 often arrive apprehensive about the climb and don’t know anyone else on the team. Smokejumper à Job description Risk your life to fight wildfires in the most extreme conditions and loca- Wildland firefighter tions imaginable. Smokejumpers up the danger by parachuting into remote backcoun- Job description Wage war at the front lines try hotspots. After leaping from the plane, you retrieve your gear (up to 110 pounds of of wilderness fire patrol. Hand crews, supplies per person), dig fire lines or fell trees from dawn to dusk, and often hike out helitack (chopper) crews, airtankers, rap- 10 miles after the job is done. Tip: Don’t get your chute caught in a 150-foot-tall pon- pellers, and smokejumpers all contribute. derosa on the way down. Expect to take the following test on the first day of training. And don’t be deceived by the relatively painless formal test. According to Murry Entrance exam Taylor, who fought fires for 27 seasons and + 1.5-mile run in 10:35 or less once worked 14-hour days for 56 days + Minimum of 7 pull-ups straight, “It is a very physically demanding + 45 sit-ups in 1 minute job where you learn how to live with pain.” + 25 push-ups in 1 minute + Dig 99 feet of 3-foot-wide fire line in light grass within an hour. Entrance exam + Pack 110 pounds on level terrain for 3 miles in 90 minutes or less. + Pack test: Hike 3 miles over level ter- + Prerequisite: To qualify for smokejumper school, you need at least one year of rain carrying a 45-pound pack. It must be employment with an established wildland firefighting unit (see right). completed within 45 minutes.

Ridge) enter a minute later, and we best quality, and say why we should made me think a little bit harder, which gather around a foot-thick table hewn hire you. You each have two minutes.” is good,” I say. “My best quality is that from a huge western red cedar. So much for putting us at ease. I’m laid-back. That may seem like an “Welcome. This is a day where we Answers range from the brown-nosey odd one to pick, since it doesn’t take will get to know you,” says Van Steen. (“I’m a natural leader—and I’m all about much practice—or even any energy. “We use a small-group setting because safety, too”) to the obvious (“I’m a strong But it lends a comfortable leadership it allows us to assess intangibles that climber”) to the downright puzzling (“I style, which is valuable when things get we can’t glean from your climbing can tell what people are thinking before intense. I’m the calm in a storm—and resumés. How confident are you? How they even say anything”). that’s why you should hire me.”3 do you work within a group? Can you I go last, which I worry will be a It goes over well. Maier (bad cop speak in front of a crowd?” disadvantage as other candidates, one to Van Steen’s good) even repeats it Maier issues our first task: “Introduce after the other, claim potential answers. later in the day. But my momentum yourselves, and remember that this is But at the last minute, I see how to is cut short by our next task: a your first chance to sell yourself. Tell make it an advantage. “I usually try three-mile trail run with a loaded us about your strengths, identify your to go first in these situations, but this pack, designed to immediately—and publicly—reveal who is fit and who isn’t. And I only brought double-plastic mountaineering boots that weigh more Job description Scare the revolution in the than two pounds apiece. the bejesus out of Indian town of Simla your enemies. The sent enemy soldiers On my second lap, my goal becomes original Gurkha regi- fleeing. In September simply not to be the worst. And I’m not, ment was established of last year, a single clomping in ahead of three people.4 in 1815 by the British, Gurkha on leave in The rest of the day consists of five PER) after they’d declared India took on a band M U war on but of 40 train robbers— more tests (see “So You Wanna Be a J OKE couldn’t defeat a band and won. ,” page 78). Making M of fierce holdouts in Gorkha. Lesson: If you Entrance exam the RMI roster wasn’t always the result can’t beat ’em, recruit + Half-mile run in 2:45 of such a formatted approach, though. ’em. The Nepalese or less and a 1.5-mile When RMI hired Ed Viesturs in 1981, he soldiers quickly devel- run in less than 9:40 oped a reputation for + 12 pull-ups (palms- was one of two or three who got picked Gurkha unmatched bravery toward-you grasp) out of a group of five candidates that and ruthlessness, + As many sit-ups as showed up. Essentially, good climbers soldier fighting by the motto you can do in 2 min- “Better to die than utes (70 minimum) were trained to be good guides. be a coward” while + Hike a 3-mile “But as our tryout became popular, wielding an 18-inch course gaining 1,500

we needed to refine it,” RMI co-owner FFRUNTI (GHURKA SOLDIER); JOHN MACCONNEL (S curved blade, called a feet, while carrying A Peter Whittaker tells me later. “We came

kukri, that “once drawn 55 pounds of stone in RETT must taste blood.” a doko (a woven bas- up with a weekend tryout that all 40 B During the Great ket with a strap, or candidates would attend. On the first Indian Mutiny of 1857, tump line, that rests a mere rumor that the on the forehead) in day, I’d start by asking two questions.

Gurkhas had joined 48 minutes or less. First, ‘Do you like climbing?’ Everyone BY ILLUSTRATIONS

72 BACKPACKER 05.2011 GUIDE TIPS 3 Always be ready to highlight the positive side of any situation. Come up with a few sound-bite-ready sayings. And be bold. 05.2011 BACKPACKER 73 4 Finishing first doesn’t matter. What counts: going hard no matter what. Wildlife biologist Job description Spend quality time with life-list animals. Yes, you better know your way around a lab, but you also have to get around the backcountry. And sometimes you have to do it fast. Like when you’re in , chas- ing down a caribou fawn to radio-collar it. Or how’s this for a rush: Tranquilize a brown bear, drag it out of the brush, collect a tissue sample, and release it (always making sure the grizzly is pointed the right way when it wakes up, one bear researcher notes). Kim Titus, chief wildlife scientist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, says, “You have to be comfortable in remote locations, be fit, and have good judgment in high-stress situations.”

Entrance exam + General fitness: Hike 2 miles over rolling terrain with a 30-pound pack in 40 minutes. + Brown-bear dragging drill: The average male brown bear weighs 500 to 900 pounds. Drag 300 pounds (use friends as ballast) on a common snow sled for 20 feet across dirt or grass. + Fawn-collaring drill: A caribou’s top speed is 48 mph, but fawns run quite a bit slower. Have a friend boot a football (so it bounces along the ground, onside-kick style), then sprint to retrieve it. You should cover roughly 50 yards in 10 seconds. + Flora and fauna quiz: Identify by sight, smell, sound, scat. Quickly now: grizzly or black bear? says, ‘Heck yeah, I live for it.’ But when Point (a popular dayhike for mere ice hammers and avalanche probes I ask the second question, ‘Do you mortals, gaining 800 feet in 1.5 miles). at our feet. There is a moment of like people?’ there would be a pause. “This wasn’t a way to rank the top hesitation from the group, and I see Mountain guiding is a job in which runners,” says Whittaker, “but rather a an opportunity to gain some positive you really need to like people—you way to see who struggled.” attention.5 I grab the rope and start are tied to folks who are not as fit or The broad themes of today’s trial setting it up for a four-person rope experienced as you. So it’s paramount are similar, though some portions team, talking through the process. AS to find guides who genuinely like are more technical. The glacier-travel “I’m going to place knots for us to tie M people.” They’d also have candidates scenario, for example, is a do-or-die into at about 25- to 30-foot intervals. ACOB THO speak in front of the entire group opportunity to demonstrate rope skills, Let’s divvy the pickets and probes J to gauge their presentation skills. On crevasse-rescue technique, leadership, evenly amongst ourselves.” Once the second day, applicants ran from and teamwork. Van Steen tosses we’re all tied in, we head out onto

Paradise Visitor Center to Panorama a rope, several pickets, and a few the “glacier” (otherwise known as BY ILLUSTRATION

74 BACKPACKER 05.2011 GUIDE TIPS 5 Be decisive. River raft guide

Job description Safely captain rafts on half-day, full-day, or multiday trips on rivers throughout the country—while looking debonair, dispensing natural history factoids, and spinning entertaining stories that keep clients tipping well. Rookies usually run class I to III water, moving up to class IV and V after a few years. Some commercial guide companies offer instructional schools where prospective guides learn knots, how to read rapids, and how to handle complex rescue scenarios. Eric Young, owner of Sawatch Rescue in Buena Vista, Colorado, says, “Most guides need at least three to four weeks of formal training before their first run. But more importantly, a good raft guide needs to develop people skills.” + Hit a target from 20 feet with a throw bag. One try. + Practice your delivery until this joke is funny: “A raft guide walks Entrance exam into a bar and says, ‘Give me a beer a whiskey.’ The bartender + Grab a 5-foot length of cord and tie a bowline, alpine gets a beer and a whiskey, and the guide says, ‘No, I said a beer butterfly, fisherman’s (single and double), water, figure a whiskey.’ The bartender looks confused, and the guide explains, eight, and finally a square knot all within one minute. ‘My raft flipped, and I lost all my oars.’”

the staff parking lot). I’m in the lead, “Look up here,” he says, raising a “Shannon,” he says. “If you were and Van Steen calls out terrain cues. pen above his head. “Keeping your leading this training scenario, what “Approaching a crevasse.” I probe to eyes up here, tell me how many of your would you say to everyone right now?” see where the edge is. “Weak snow partners have their harnesses doubled “Well, I’d say that even though we bridge.” I turn our team uphill. Van back.” None of us had checked. It each might feel pretty bummed with Steen makes notes on his clipboard. was the first of many mistakes, and how things went, this is probably one Then he shouts: “Shannon takes a he generously harshes on just enough of the most valuable days of training crevasse fall!” The team self-arrests details to make his point: The goal we’ll have, because we have a lot to and starts to stage a rescue. “James here isn’t to make us feel incompetent, analyze and learn from. I’d pick one takes a crevasse fall!” Our efforts but rather to open our eyes to how thing that I could have done better and become chaotic. Van Steen stops the thorough a guide needs to be, and to say how I’d change it next time. Then scenario, and we debrief. see how we act under stress. I’d ask each of us to do the same.”6 After another round of rope work and public speaking, plus a private interview, we’re done at 5 p.m. Maier and Van Job description guide, the teacher, Steen thank us for making the trip to Outward Bound the mediator, the courses emphasize chef, and sometimes Ashford (one candidate came all the wilderness skills, char- the doctor.” way from North Carolina), and say they’ll acter development, make their decisions soon. “If you don’t UIDE)

social and environ- Entrance exam G mental responsibil- + Hike 5 miles with hear from us, you didn’t get the job.” ity, and leadership. a 50-pound pack, A few of us exchange numbers, AS (RAFT Instructors need then drop your pack and a parade of 4x4s, Subarus, and M a blend of techni- and run 3 miles cal know-how and within 35 minutes. economy rentals rips out of the gravel sophisticated people + Construct a lot. I meet an old friend, a seasonal skills. Suellen Sack, bandage and splint park ranger, to fly-fish the Yakima Outward Bound’s from a T-shirt, a Minnesota director, bandana, socks, and a River (I catch an auspiciously vibrant Outward says, “Your fitness RidgeRest—within 14-inch rainbow). must be above and 2 minutes. Three days later, I receive an beyond your students. + Grab three friends Bound email: “Welcome aboard! We feel you You can be tired at the who have never been BOUND); JACOB THO FFRUNTI (OUTWARD A instructor end of the day, but hiking and plan a 5- to would be an excellent addition to RETT you can never be at 10-mile dayhike with our team at Rainier Mountaineering, B the edge of your own them. Teach them limits.” Instructor John how to lead sections Inc. Congratulations! We are excited to Vonk adds: “You’re the of the trek. work with you.” ILLUSTRATION BY ILLUSTRATION

76 BACKPACKER 05.2011 GUIDE TIPS 6 Turn mistakes into “teachable moments.” Ã So You Wanna Be a Sherpa Mountain Guide... Tryout tips from an RMI veteran Job description Scamper up and down Mt. Everest like Introduction “We look for natural a squirrel on its home oak. and confident communicators Sherpas come from Nepal’s to work with our customers,” Khumbu region, and their says guide supervisor Paul name has become syn- Maier. “This ability is usually onymous with Everest fixers. revealed—or not—when can- Western climbing teams hire didates are asked to introduce them to build basecamp and describe themselves to the (some have stone-hut group, the same group they’re kitchens and latrines) and competing against for a job.” organize the schlepping of nearly 8,000 pounds of gear. Run “A check of base fitness– Then they accompany clients and willingness to suffer. Don’t to the summit while carrying finish last; Ashford is only at extra oxygen bottles. Sherpas 2,778 feet.” routinely cover 10 times the distance (while ferrying Glacier travel scenario “This is a loads) as their clients. The test of fundamental skills. Is pay? $7 per day plus bonuses your knowledge theoretical or for gear ferries, summiting, practical? Who takes the lead?

and retrieving oxygen bottles. We also look at who follows and whether that person speaks up if Entrance exam something isn’t done right.” + Live at 13,000 feet year-round. Multipitch climbing scenario “If you + Fix ladders and ropes while get tangled up when switching

employer “acclimatizes.” leads or setting up your rap line, + Run dozens of loads you might need to spend a bit to high camps. more time on the rock and ice.” + Summit K2, the world’s most dangerous peak, Public speaking “We analyze your descend, then climb it again people skills—and how well you to rescue two climbers, as à listen to others. RMI’s greatest Pemba Sherpa did in 2008. asset is our guide staff—and our guide staff’s greatest asset is its ability to communicate effectively with customers. We listen to how applicants present I’m quick-stepping up the Muir Snowfield are burning. My stomach twists with the themselves; how is their physi- cal presence, are they articulate, with a 55-pound guide load on my desire for a Clif Bar—or anything—so sociable, and can they get their back—and the extreme effort is making long as it’s chased with a full Nalgene message across? All of the me dizzy. The freakish fitness required of cold water. And—oh God!—do I technical ability in the world is worth little to guides if they lack of this profession has become painfully need to poop, too? I have to ask for a the ability to connect with their apparent. It’s three months later, and break. Dude! You. Cannot. Ask.7 customers. We can teach hard I’m back for a week of intensive new- Our forced march at Maier’s pace is skills, but soft skills are much slower to develop.” guide training with four other first-year tough, to be sure (later, I overhear him newbies. We’re within eyesight of Anvil say to another veteran guide, “I’m trying Written test “A chance to shine Rock at 9,584 feet, three-quarters of the to break these guys”), but I should be on a range of topics: avalanche awareness, navigation, guid- way from Paradise to Camp Muir. I do doing way better. What’s wrong with ing scenarios. You may have the math: We covered the 4,184 feet in me? Had I become complacent after finished mid-pack on the run, only two hours and 10 minutes. Not a acing the tryout? To train, I’d focused but you can still impress with your knowledge of snow crystal human pace. I could use a break. on running, which has always given metamorphism.” Just five minutes. I have to ask Maier me the best rate of return when I to take five. I can’t. I need to—my need to get in shape, pronto. So I ran Private interview “We ask focused questions to determine thigh is cramping. I can’t ask! Can I about 35 miles a week in Colorado’s if the applicant looks like a get tossed for getting tired? My mind heavenly spring conditions. To take good fit. There is not one ‘type’ runs in circles as sweat pours off my my mind off the fact that I now may of person we are looking for, but the RMI guides who have stood face. It’s a cloudless, breeze-free day be noticeably limping, I list my training the test of time, like Ed Viesturs, in June, and the UV rays reflect off the plan’s shortcomings: No varied terrain! , and Brent Okita, snow like microwaves. My sunscreen is Nothing but bluebird weather! No snow! do have one thing in common: They are the nicest badasses long gone, and my neck and forearms No heavy pack! No pack! (I repeat you will ever meet.” ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN MACCONNEL ILLUSTRATION

78 BACKPACKER 05.2011 GUIDE TIPS 7 Pushing through pain while training ensures that you’ll do the same on game day. that one for emphasis—how many an energy bar. I knock back water. The And so on. I stall until we’ve times have we printed, in this very thigh cramp recedes. I re-up sunscreen discussed the Tatoosh Range, distant magazine, how important it is to train and realize an opportunity. and hazy Mt. Hood, some immediate with a loaded pack?) “Hey Paul, I imagine clients are landmarks like Moon Rocks, and Just when I’m sure my limp has pretty curious about all the peaks we even the gray-crowned rosy finch, the become painfully visible, Maier makes can see from up here. What’s that one?” songbird plying us for crumbs. a 90-degree turn off our nose-to-butt “Mt. Adams. 12,276 feet.” We make it to Camp Muir in another slog and throws his pack down for “Ah, right. Second highest in the 20 mostly pain-free minutes and break a breather. Hallelujah. (The other state. How about that one?” for lunch. newbies and I later joke about how we “St. Helens. Was 9,677 feet. Now This humbling hike occurs on day were all gassed at the same moment, 8,365 feet.” four of orientation week for new but none of us would say a word.) I “I hear there are 30-inch trout in guides. We’ve already completed a two- take a seat on my pack and bite into Spirit Lake, but you can’t fish there.” day class to become Leave No Trace trainers (a certification mandated by the park service). And we’ve received a crash course on how RMI’s various climbing programs work and the hard and soft skills expected of an associate guide (my official job title). “The top three areas we’ll focus on this week are navigating the Muir Snowfield, client interaction, and rescue techniques,” Maier announced at the beginning of the week, as we gathered in the Guide Lounge, where instructors meet every morning to discuss forecasts and route conditions around a pot of bitter coffee. “Don’t think you have to master everything instantly. The tryout process is over, and you’ve been hired. We know that you all come with different skills and will progress at various speeds.” But from the new guide’s perspective, everything is a test. And on day three of training, weather served up the perfect challenge. First graupel, then spitting rain, make the ideal conditions for demonstrating an ability to remain cheery8 while mucking about in slush as we study single-rescuer crevasse ADER M extrication and how to pass a knot M Navy SEAL through a haul system. Both skills are benchmarks all new guides need Job description Kill and capture bad Entrance exam to pass in a timed test before they’re guys—while surviving the loneliest, To be a candidate, you must first pass remotest, most dangerous environ- SEAL Prep School. And to be consid- allowed to “spin” a client—that is, to ments on the planet. The SEALs ered for prep school, you must pass accompany someone back to Camp (Sea, Air, and Land Forces) were this screening test. Just meeting the

Muir or Paradise, generally due to OBS) BY LAURA BINKS AND ADA established in 1962 to deliver “highly minimum isn’t a good sign. J specialized warfare capabilities” in a altitude or cold or fatigue. range of conditions—from oceans to + Swim 500 yards in less than 12:30 In addition to mastering key skills, we to jungles. These soldiers + Rest 10 minutes get a primer on the job’s backbreaking AS. RESEARCH (

depend on legendary navigation, + 42 push-ups within 2 minutes M wilderness, and hunting skills—honed + Rest 2 minutes dirty work: digging tent platforms on in training regimens so fierce that his- + 50 sit-ups within 2 minutes the Cowlitz Glacier, shoveling out ACOB THO torically only 25 percent of applicants + Rest 2 minutes buried latrines, cooking, snow melting, J graduate—to carry out reconnais- + 6 pull-ups (no time limit) sance, counterterrorism, and foreign + Rest 10 minutes internal defense missions. + 1.5-mile run within 11 minutes Continued on page 84 ILLUSTRATION BY ILLUSTRATION

80 BACKPACKER 05.2011 GUIDE TIPS 8 Unless dangerous conditions require snapping orders, do everything with a smile, no matter how miserable you might feel. (go to backpacker.com/guidetrainingto(go to sincemeltingMuirmarchthedownon training drastically my improved had I requirecanlonghours ridingdesk. the issue.eachitoutThat’s Andputus. to 84 beer Rainier of sixer a you send I’llbackcountry, and the in year a days 75-plus outside get magazineworld—show othersmewho editorseasilyaremosttheactive the in BACKPACKER screen. computer a at staring weekdays my I of that most spend is truth hard The in Antarctica. ascents first notched and Everest patrolfull-time.Waterfall summitedhas ski or guide colleagues all Mybelong? I’m Sure, faith.wearing the RMI uniform, of but do crisisI really a suffering the20s—then three days ofcrap. skies,light winds, and summit temps in blue of days three for is forecast The 62. to 29 from age in rangeclients 14 pursuebigger peaks theiron own.Our and learn climb advanced mountaineering summit skills to a attempt clients ExpeditionSkills Seminar, during which GarrettStevens. We’re leading six-daya guides Geoff Schellens, Andy Bond, and associateWaterfallandBerenJake and seniorguideswithSethteamed up I’m know. the in look me makes that information noteworthy provide adroitlyI avoid directa answer but still many 52].” how [page has Dunn Georgesummits is “Which wink. a with say pilot I 500,” than “FewerArizona. from commercial the Mt. asks climbed Rainier?” you have how times “So, many least. at guide, new a for question—tough tough a me throws meetWhenmyIfirst client, instantlyhe tomorrow.” out comes schedule “The Maier. says work,” to get to ready are“You congratulatory beer. and pizza to descend we Then chores. other and dishwashing, 80 page from Continued ts ny a oe bt ’ already I’m but one, day only It’s trip first my for September, and It’s BACKPACKER 10 05.2011 —butsomeone still has

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PHOTO BY KALEY KURCHINSKI o anan i t chat. to air have maintain to they burnout—since first-day participants avoiding pace—thus easy an maintain helps also This family. We and travel, climbing, gear, hometowns. about talk and professions, names, clients’ learn I Muir, Camp to 2004.We chatfavorites. in BACKPACKER for did I something or highpointing, state,each in peaktallest is theclimbing hobby his and ready Olympus Everest- Mons boots, of pair brand-new a wearing balding,chubby client fromOhio. He’s on the shuttle bus, I grab a seat next to a care.” client on is make can first season, the biggest contribution you our training week: “During much of your think about something Maier said during livingthe alpine life like this crew. So, I seesix-weekmy regimen), wasn’tbutI a bone in his hand. He’s able to hike to able He’s hand. his in bone a breaks and the trips Highpointer On return, Glacier. Cowlitz the across hike training a for go and up rope we travel on a rope team. In the afternoon, to how and use, ice-axe cramponing, Otherwise,wewon’t have chance.”a tomorrow. after day the summit to try standard theschedule: “With this to forecast, we change should a discuss up to huddle guides the has Waterfall organized. gear getting and water hot bailout discuss stuff. harder The to options. office the and it, radio make to going they’re think don’t who stragglers counsel senior guides the while lead I we again, move When stuff. easier The bottles.” two have I and Muir, to way our on breaks four have we’ll since Nalgene my of half about with down it wash I’ll stop—and every for goal a is so or I’m going to Then get a 200 bite—about calories legs. my break save to pack my good model on seat a take to going “I’m behavior: I breathing. pressure and rest-stepping on people teach tricks like this pace-controlling maneuver, but senior guides are full of them. Learn from the vets. vets. the from Learn them. of full are rulessometimes.bend guides senior but maneuver, pace-controlling this like tricks teach tallboysRainierSuver’s sixerfromof StoreGeneral Ashford,sub-$5 in a buying byafterclimb.money a precioustip TIPS GUIDE As we start our trek from Paradise Paradise from trek our start we As guidesthe withsitting ofinstead So h floig onn, e teach we morning, following The At Muir, I busy myself bringing clients

9 Don’t lie, but be prepared to answer this inevitable question without undermining your client’s confidence. 13 Almost literally. In the RMI training manual, it says: “RMI guides rise first and go to bed last.” 11

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I need to go boil water.boil go to need I 05.2011 05.2011 12 Guides are brash and BACKPACKER 11 Booksdon’t 10 12 ) Save 85