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a510poser
Dec 11, 2003, 4:49 PM
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Registered: Jun 7, 2002
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A Call To Arms
Walking back to the car has always been one of my favorite moments while guiding. Not because I’m done or nearly so, but because this is the moment that my client(‘s) really start to realize what they have just done. With their feet back in the “oh so” familiar horizontal, their moment of peril and challenge behind them they are brimming with accomplishment and future plans. If the sun is setting and the trees are silhouette against a pastel sky and my client stops talking, looks, smells and appreciates then I know that they have become lovers of the arena. When this happens I am content for this is my ultimate goal as a guide and why I have chosen the arduous path of certification.
On my worst days, rain excluded, I will sit on a belay ledge gazing at the rewards that even a modest bit of exposure can provide. Vista’s of green and blue, open space that draws the eyes to far places and of course the rocks and cliffs that I love so much. All of which is nourishment for the most vulnerable component of our happiness, our spirit or soul. I often wonder what it would be like had I chosen a different path, an office, a building, a home, a commute. A thought that always makes even the most unbearable days at the crag feel a blessing.
This is of course only one side of the coin and there are many factors (politics) that sometimes make my struggle to become a certified guide seem futile. If you crunch the numbers, insurance costs, permit costs (per area or park), equipment, advertising, transportation and the fact that you have little or no chance of gaining personal professional access to any of the good rocks it really paints a gloomy picture for your business. Truly, the permit system and guiding restrictions in America are really messing things up for us and working for a concession holder, read as blatant monopoly, is the only way we as guides can share most of our countries best cliffs with clients. It is not my dream to work for a large corporation or big expensive climbing school. I don’t want to be part of a climber factory that tirelessly pumps out new and hyper enthusiastic park users. It is however my dream to share our Countries most wild and beautiful places with clients whom at the end of a great day are particularly susceptible to nature’s indescribable beauties and perhaps with just the right nudge will learn to love and protect the arena.
By the time I finish my certification I estimate that I will have invested close to $7000 and 1000 hours into the program. I have ridden the roller coaster, relentlessly, over how I feel about this. It is after all a pretty big deal, a life long certification at a very high standard, but does it really mean anything? I could, you know, go all the way and become internationally certified, guide in exotic lands, see and do more of what I love. Unfortunately, due to the fact that European guides cannot get access to our lands, a stipulation that was key to our program being accepted internationally, our international access is precarious at best. The good news, for me at least, is that I have found another reason to continue my professional training and eventual certification. It is so simple and foundational that it just eluded my broad sweeping questions as to why I am doing this.
I want guiding to become a viable career in America. I want our standards to equal if not exceed the highest in the world. I want access to all the public lands. I want American families to be so confident in our skills that buying a climbing trip would be as stressful as buying a new TV. Is this going to happen in my lifetime? It is very doubtful, but I can still contribute to the dream. I can still help pave the way for the next generation of guides who will pave the way for the next and so on. We will have the fruition of our dreams, eventually, but not without the help from within the guiding and climbing community itself.
I have realized that unless we are united we have no voice; with out a voice we are nothing in the political matrix. Remember the old adage “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” well it’s time for us to start squeaking and getting some of the grease. We do have an organization dedicated to our dreams, there is a voice for us, it’s very small, young, perhaps a little confused as most of us are while growing up, but it is ours and we can help it grow. We can if we choose to become intimately involved even help direct its progress. That is why I am continuing my support of and training with The American Mountain Guide Association and why I am imploring you as a guide, or even if you are just thinking about being a guide, or even just want to help bring guiding standards up, to join the AMGA. If you are a client use AMGA accredited services, your rewards will be in the quality of experience and knowing that you are helping to raise and maintain American guiding standards. Together we can do this!
Sometimes we need to sacrifice a little of ourselves for the good of our community. Sometimes our investments are not for our welfare. Sometimes our investments are for the welfare of future generations and sometimes, for the visionary, that’s enough of a reward. Support American guiding, become part of the voice, join the association or use AMGA affiliated guide services. Help us catch up with the rest of the world. To those guide service owners, operaters and employees who eschew the AMGA and there are quite a few of you out there, please give us another chance we are dynamic and growing. We do stand for your dreams as well. We are just trying to organize a voice that will speak for the whole community. It is not an easy task and we need your help!
As I finish pecking this out, I realize that I am preaching. I also realize that I am frustrated with our situation and that the “soap box” I am standing on is part of the American dream. It is also how we communicated our ideas before the Networks took over our thoughts. Before the minds of the many were controlled by the few with promise of domestic terror and taboo thoughts of not being normal. I stand on this “Soap Box” in hopes that, perhaps, one day, one of us, we who love and want to protect the arena, whether shown that path by guide or whether we found it on our own will be the one that can save our Country from its present destructive course. We will start small by contributing to the voice of the mountains. Then when we have gained the freedom we need to teach our love of the mountains to all, everywhere, we will make our call to arms and as a single strong voice take back our rights, our heritage, our lands.
Until then I’ll see ya at the crags. BTW, I’ll be the one struggling up that 5.9, guiding is also hell on your performance!
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a510poser
Dec 11, 2003, 5:12 PM
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Registered: Jun 7, 2002
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Someone PMed me and asked me how to get started. Eventually, if people are interested, I will write an essay explaining how to get started. Until then here's how I responded to the PM.
Check out www.amga.com and start compiling your resume which is big and a drag if you have to do it from memory. Join as a associate member and definately go to the yearly meetings where you can get tons of free training. You will also make a lot of connections, I think it's called networking. The Top rope site manager course is a great place to start and should net you some work. Courses are EXPENSIVE, but totally worth it if you get the right instructor. You'd be suprised how much you don't know. Contact me again if you need advice
Stevi
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hellbent
Dec 11, 2003, 6:30 PM
Post #3 of 8
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Registered: Nov 6, 2002
Posts: 132
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Boy oh Boy.......you have a lot to say
but with legitimate cause..
I wanna be a guide too......someday........get paid for what i love to do.....
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hello_heino
Dec 11, 2003, 6:35 PM
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Registered: Oct 23, 2003
Posts: 231
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I've been a guide for over ten years.
I would never, and will never, associate with the AMGA, a bunch of pyschophants, wallowing in heirarcy, deciding who gets to kiss the Pope's ring. The majority of AMGA guides I know are locked into the DOGMA the AMGA has indoctrinated unto them.
Guiding is pimping.
Nothing more or less. A whore of the rocks. No reason to pretend it is something more than that.
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gblauer
Moderator
Dec 11, 2003, 7:23 PM
Post #5 of 8
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Registered: Oct 4, 2002
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In reply to: Guiding is pimping. Nothing more or less. A whore of the rocks. No reason to pretend it is something more than that.
too harsh. Without a guide, I would not have experienced my more memorable climbing experiences. People like me need you.
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hello_heino
Dec 11, 2003, 7:42 PM
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Registered: Oct 23, 2003
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In reply to: In reply to: Guiding is pimping. Nothing more or less. A whore of the rocks. No reason to pretend it is something more than that. too harsh. Without a guide, I would not experienced my more memorable climbing experiences. People like me need you.
Sorry to see you limit yourself. Maybe you could forge relationships in which people could mentor you without having to charge $$$?
I actually stopped guiding a number of years ago, and here is why:
I realized I liked the poeple I was climbing with and realized I would gladly climb and teach them without charging them. Climbing is too important to me to use it as means of making a living, anymore.
I still take a lot of people climbing, expose to lots of new experiences, and in that fashion it is still guiding, but now it is for the ego and the pleasure, and not the money.
It's not the money.....it's the money.
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imnotclever
Dec 11, 2003, 7:43 PM
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Registered: Sep 8, 2003
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I know nothing about the AGMA, but I have to say if the traning required to get the certification produces a noticable difference then the consumer will gravitate to it.
Beware of certification for the sake of saying that somebody is certified. America is becoming a certification society. Everybody has a certification of some type, hell I have a few. Do they mean anything? Does your mechanic need to be ASE certified? What does this mean anyway? My non-certified friend can fix the car just as well.
It seems as though everybody has a certification of some type. How many of you with college degrees are doing something that requires the degree? How many of you go to Jiffy Lube and leave if the guy is not certified? How many of you, when you need computer help, require a MSCE certified person and know what that does for you? (I don't have a clue about MSCE.)
Uselessly requiring a certification that is not needed serves to stifle some industries and increase the profits of the schools. I have a friend who graduated with an Industrial Engineering degree and went to work for a computer IT company, nothing to do with IE; the programming he learned on the job and didn't require a certification. I work as a Structural Engineer and let me tell you, you can't do much without the proper certifications. Compair the salaries of IT people and Structural Engineers and you'll see a robust IT indusrty, one with fewer certifications, and a stagnating SE industry. (Of course demand plays a big role too.)
Unless you can see a noticable difference as a result of the certification, people should realize that certifications just mean that you jumped through the hoops enought to get the piece of paper.
Sorry about the rant.
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gblauer
Moderator
Dec 11, 2003, 7:49 PM
Post #8 of 8
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Registered: Oct 4, 2002
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[quote="hello_heino"][quote="gblauer"]In reply to: Sorry to see you limit yourself. Maybe you could forge relationships in which people could mentor you without having to charge $$$? I actually stopped guiding a number of years ago, and here is why: I realized I liked the poeple I was climbing with and realized I would gladly climb and teach them without charging them. Climbing is too important to me to use it as means of making a living, anymore. I still take a lot of people climbing, expose to lots of new experiences, and in that fashion it is still guiding, but now it is for the ego and the pleasure, and not the money. It's not the money.....it's the money.
I mix it up. I climb with very experienced climbers that have the same giving attitude as you. It/you are wonderful to be so willing to work with people. In the future, as I travel to different climbing areas I will leverage RC.com to find others like you who are willing to climb with visitors. I, however, have paid for guiding services when I was on a business trip with only 2 days of climbing (didn't want to spend the entire time trying to figure out where to climb), or when I was learning to trad lead (spent many hours placing/critiquing gear placements) and when I climbed Devil's Tower with my 12 year old son. I love to climb.
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