The Arête “Not All Girls Are Made of Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice
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TheVolume 47, ArêteSummer 2017 Supervision of Apprentice Guides Page 10 High Sierras Trip Report Page 36 Airbag Pack Reviews Near Miss at the Page 42 Hilda Hut Page 40 Contents Editorial New Kids on the Bloc 30 President’s Perspective 4 The Pain of Perseverance 32 Tucker Talk 4 Give What You Do 34 The Himalayan Alpine Canine 35 News High Sierras Gamble - Trip Report 36 Canadian Mountain & Ski Guide Program Update 6 Near Miss Technical Director’s Report 8 Supervision of Apprentice Guides 10 Avalanche - Near Hilda Hut, South Selkirks 40 Reviewing Conduct Review - part 2 14 Technical ACMG Permit Update 15 ACMG Scholarship News 16 BCA Float 32 Airbag Review 42 MCR/Informalex Committee Report 17 Arc'teryx Voltair 30 Airbag Review 44 Professional Practices Committee Report 17 Black Diamond Halo 28 JetForce Airbag Review 46 Member Services Committee Report 18 DMM Pivot Belay Device Review 48 BORA AR PACK Adidas Tycane Pro Sunglasses Review 50 The classic Bora Pack is back. A Spotlight on ACMG Members revolutionary new suspension Member Updates system saves energy by gliding ACMG Member Profile - Scott McKay 20 Diapers and Vows 51 vertically and horizontally to Oral History Report - Profile on Bernie Scheisser 22 stabilize over uneven terrain. Remembering Dean Flick 52 Thierry Cardon Memorial 25 Changes in ACMG Membership 53 Features ACMG Officers, Directors, Advisors, Staff and Committees 54 How to Climb V10 28 The Arête “Not all girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice... Some girls are made of adventure and wine and all things fine...” - adventurouswomen.com.au Editor-in-Chief: Shaun King Editorial Consultants: Mary Clayton, Peter Tucker, Marc Piché Editorial Policy The Arêteattempts to print every submission believed to be of interest to the ACMG membership including items that challenge the Association to examine its actions or direction. Ar- ticles containing insulting or defamatory sections will be edited or Proud Partner The lens that changes everything. not published at all. Technical articles are subject to review by the NXT + antiFOG + Photochromic + Colour Boost Technical Committee. Previous issues of The Arêtemay be found online at: acmg.ca/02member/communication/newsletter.asp Article submissions and advertising information Submission guidelines outlined on the ACMG members website. Submit articles and ads to [email protected] Cover photo: A heli-hiker's unique view of Bugaboo Spire and the Howsers Towers in the Purcell Mountains. Photo: Lyle Grisedale The Arête 2 Summer 2017 Summer 2017 3 The Arête Editorial President’s Perspective By Marc Ledwidge Our job as guides is to safeguard clients as best lowing a serious incident. These include the mental stress, loss of we can, while providing rewarding experiences sleep, and lifelong memories following the aftermath of a serious in sometimes dangerous environments. That incident. The internal turmoil of second guessing, what ifs, and is a pretty tall order. To make this happen feeling judged by one’s peers, has implications that are not easily we need to have a good understanding of the dealt with. Lastly, something that has recently come up, is the potential consequences associated with the potential for criminal investigation following a serious incident. hazards inherent in mountain travel. We deal In some European countries, this has happened on several oc- with this reality daily when guiding, but if a casions, but here in Canada, it is relatively new. This is vastly serious incident happens, a different reality can really hit home. different from a civil case where a plaintiff is seeking compensa- We have liability insurance available to our members through tion following an incident. A criminal investigation in Canada a group policy to partially mitigate the aftermath if something is where the Crown looks to see if criminal negligence has taken goes badly, but it is worth considering the limits of that insurance. place. Penalties can vary between fines and jail time. I asked It should cover the defence of a claim, and eventually a payout to for a legal opinion on this and was told that, to prosecute suc- a plaintiff. For the insurance company, there are costs associated cessfully, the Crown would need to demonstrate willful intent to with investigating an incident. If a claim arises, and requires a le- cause harm. On the surface, this may seem absurd. However, gal defense, there will be significant costs incurred for that defense. the argument could be made that the wrong decision was made Even a claim that is successfully defended can get very expensive when there was overwhelming evidence that harm was likely. for the insurance company. If a payout is required, the costs can Should such an investigation take place, our liability insur- get into the millions of dollars. For the guide implicated, there ance will not cover that defence. There is no insurance available would undoubtedly be considerable personal time spent on the to defend against being charged under the Criminal Code. This defense. The “cost” of that time would not be covered by the means the guide would be paying directly for that legal defence. ACMG three year strategic plan for 2017 - 2019 insurance and the time required to deal with the aftermath of an Criminal lawyers don’t come cheap. In addition, depending on incident could mean a significant loss of income which could last the wording of an insurance policy, a successful criminal prosecu- The ACMG has worked through three 3-year strategic plans of your own! for weeks, months and possibly years. tion could void the coverage provided for a civil case. since I took on the role of Executive Director. These have largely Peter Tucker is the ACMG Executive Director living in Bragg At the recent IFMGA meetings, our colleagues from France The goal of course for all of us, is to minimize all incidents guided our direction over the past decade moving us from a Creek, AB. informed us that following several successful claims against French and especially serious ones. There is ample evidence showing that relatively unknown and primarily inwardly focussed group to guides, they are experiencing significant increases in insurance if we can reduce the number of minor incidents and near-misses, a technically sound, well-respected professional association that costs. This of course is expected and anyone who had made a the number of serious incidents will also go down. The ACMG is is sought out for advice, counsel and partnership by the public, claim on their vehicle insurance knows all too well of the implica- working to establish an incident reporting and learning system to government agencies, industry and other collegial organizations. tions on premiums. Our liability insurance costs are currently foster learning from all incidents. We hope that this will achieve This bodes well for you as members as you will be sought out for MOUNTAIN low. When they inevitably go up in the future, premium increases that goal. work more, based on the value of your certification. could impact the financial bottom line for guides. PERFORMANCE In the autumn of 2016, your Board of Directors, with in- There are unforeseen “costs” that insurance does not cover fol- Marc Ledwidge is the ACMG President and lives in Banff, AB. put from my admin team and the able facilitation of Isabelle EYEWEAR Daigneault of IDee Marketing, created the next strategic plan set to run from 2017 – 2019. Tucker Talk As you can see, the focus will be on continuing to increase By Peter Tucker the profile of the association with key stakeholders, developing a clearer process for working with and learning from incidents and When I managed Mountain Equipment Co- night before if he was to come in for work. When he told me that building greater capacity in all aspects of our training. op in Calgary, there was a long-time staff this wasn’t fair because it didn’t let him plan his time out, I told My admin team has prepared a series of supporting actions member who was much loved and respected him that I’d heard that planning was a myth. We shared a good to get us to our goals. These will be vetted by the Board in June, by other staff. One of his credos was, “Plan- laugh, had a good conversation and he agreed that he needed to and later shared with you via an e-Bulletin – which I KNOW ning is a myth” – something he believed be- provide a bit more context when sharing his motto with other you all read thoroughly. cause things always seem to change before staff. any plan gets implemented. Because of his In many ways, my colleague was right – circumstances are This plan will largely drive our actions for the next three stature among the rest of the staff, several of always changing, necessitating revamping plans, sometimes in a years. Will it change? Hard to say. Twice a year the Board exam- them parroted this phrase whenever I tried to instill some forward wholesale way. That said, it’s critical to prepare a plan so that you ines the results to date and reassesses the priorities. In this way, thinking among the crew. After a few months of this, I decided and those who share an interest in what you do have a sense of the plan remains flexible to the ever-changing working, training to remove the fellow’s name from the schedule for the following your roadmap, all the while remaining flexible enough to change and legislative landscape of your profession. month. When he came to see me to ask what happened, I assured it as necessary. Want a piece of the action? Contact myself or President him that he was still on staff, but that we’d just let him know the Marc Ledwidge to get involved in one of our dozen or so com- mittees.