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Gmburns2000
Aug 13, 2009, 9:10 PM
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This is a new series on the blog. The hope is to give light to the lives of guides and not just focus on the climbing. The focus of this series is less about the "how to" of climbing / guiding and more about the personal side instead. This first post, An Unpleasant Start, is a new series on the ups and downs of being a guide: from networking trips gone wrong, to personal sacrifices (money, relationships, travel, climbing for work's sake vs. having fun), and how a hired trip can start off bad and end up good. It's about being young and learning. BTW - if there are any guides out there who would like to contribute, please let me know. We're looking for different perspectives.
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jt512
Aug 13, 2009, 9:54 PM
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Gmburns2000 wrote: This is a new series on the blog. The hope is to give light to the lives of guides and not just focus on the climbing. The focus of this series is less about the "how to" of climbing / guiding and more about the personal side instead. This first post, An Unpleasant Start, is a new series on the ups and downs of being a guide: from networking trips gone wrong, to personal sacrifices (money, relationships, travel, climbing for work's sake vs. having fun), and how a hired trip can start off bad and end up good. It's about being young and learning. Oh my god. Jay
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gmggg
Aug 13, 2009, 10:06 PM
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jt512 wrote: Gmburns2000 wrote: This is a new series on the blog. The hope is to give light to the lives of guides and not just focus on the climbing. The focus of this series is less about the "how to" of climbing / guiding and more about the personal side instead. This first post, An Unpleasant Start, is a new series on the ups and downs of being a guide: from networking trips gone wrong, to personal sacrifices (money, relationships, travel, climbing for work's sake vs. having fun), and how a hired trip can start off bad and end up good. It's about being young and learning. Oh my god. Jay I'm continuously impressed with how you can sum up the correct response to posts in so few words.
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epoch
Moderator
Aug 13, 2009, 10:10 PM
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gmggg wrote: jt512 wrote: Gmburns2000 wrote: This is a new series on the blog. The hope is to give light to the lives of guides and not just focus on the climbing. The focus of this series is less about the "how to" of climbing / guiding and more about the personal side instead. This first post, An Unpleasant Start, is a new series on the ups and downs of being a guide: from networking trips gone wrong, to personal sacrifices (money, relationships, travel, climbing for work's sake vs. having fun), and how a hired trip can start off bad and end up good. It's about being young and learning. Oh my god. Jay I'm continuously impressed with how you can sum up the correct response to posts in so few words. I second that.
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tready
Aug 13, 2009, 10:21 PM
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Woohoo! Now lemme go get some popcorn...
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blkela
Aug 13, 2009, 10:29 PM
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If you would like to know how a guide feels and looks at a group and/or trip that he takes with him to wherever it might be, try looking up some well known guides and climbers and find books that they have wrote like "Thin Air" by Greg Child.
(This post was edited by blkela on Aug 14, 2009, 1:02 AM)
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jmeizis
Aug 14, 2009, 1:47 AM
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Yeah, I've read a few different books but not that one. I've been reading some of David Robert's books, Moment's of Doubt, Mountain of My Fear. It's got some of that sort of stuff. I've noticed a lot of people feel a lot of different ways so I kept with my perspective. I'll have a look at the library and see if I can find it.
(This post was edited by jmeizis on Aug 14, 2009, 1:48 AM)
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climbsomething
Aug 14, 2009, 2:15 AM
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That about sums it up. You need not say more.
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jakedatc
Aug 14, 2009, 2:43 AM
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I'm not reading all of that....
In reply to: My life as a guide and just as a climber has been in (*AN) epic failure fixed that for you....
In reply to: nice 5.10a called Life on the Run. The first half was easy, the total climb being only a little over 50 feet tall. Despite the easy first half I crammed the second half with more gear than necessary. I onsighted the climb but I couldn't bring myself to crawl more than a foot above my gear. where exactly are you certified to guide through? EMS's standards would kick you out like immediately. you weren't Nolan14 in a previous life were you?
(This post was edited by jakedatc on Aug 14, 2009, 2:48 AM)
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jmeizis
Aug 14, 2009, 2:58 AM
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Have you never had a bad head day? Hence the comment about mileage. I think for most people their lead head improves over the course of a season. It's hard to do that when you climb the same hundred or so things all season long. Perhaps you should read the whole thing.
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jt512
Aug 14, 2009, 3:02 AM
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jmeizis wrote: Have you never had a bad head day? Guide, eh? Jay
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jakedatc
Aug 14, 2009, 3:10 AM
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jmeizis wrote: Have you never had a bad head day? Hence the comment about mileage. I think for most people their lead head improves over the course of a season. It's hard to do that when you climb the same hundred or so things all season long. Perhaps you should read the whole thing. the guides i know walk up the routes they are guiding in their sneakers, wet, blind folded and then solo them in the dark. i'd be fucking pissed off if i hired a guide and he was shitting his pants on a 5.8.. screw that. show some credentials eh?
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angry
Aug 14, 2009, 3:12 AM
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What do you do if a guide shows up at your front door? Pay for your pizza.
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uni_jim
Aug 14, 2009, 3:54 AM
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nice one, angry.
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jt512
Aug 14, 2009, 4:14 AM
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The following material from the blog pretty much says it all. And keep in mind that this is a direct quote.
The World's Most Melodramatic 'Guide' wrote: I had a series of setbacks that started to destroy me mentally to the point where I wondered if I would ever go climbing again. I would end up going climbing but it would come at great cost. And what was this "great cost"? Had to amputate a limb due to frostbite? Lost his climbing partner in an avalanche? Unable to be at his wife's deathbed because he was stranded in an ice cave in the Antarctic? No. It was three traffic tickets: two for speeding, one for not wearing his seatbelt. Jay
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jmeizis
Aug 14, 2009, 4:29 AM
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Since the tickets in addition to my regular bills exceeded my income by almost double then yeah it was a pretty great cost to me since it made it exceedingly hard to live.
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jt512
Aug 14, 2009, 4:31 AM
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jmeizis wrote: Since the tickets in addition to my regular bills exceeded my income by almost double then yeah it was a pretty great cost to me since it made it exceedingly hard to live. *face palm*
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climbsomething
Aug 14, 2009, 4:34 AM
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'Burns, The community gave plenty of valid criticisms of your blog the first time you started a thread. It's not "hate" or piling on. This isn't a coordinated attack, yet so many people agree. And nobody owes you a compliment sandwich when criticizing your blog.
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macherry
Aug 14, 2009, 4:34 AM
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angry wrote: What do you do if a guide shows up at your front door? Pay for your pizza. what's the difference between a pizza and a guide........the pizza feeds a family of four
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macherry
Aug 14, 2009, 4:35 AM
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jt512 wrote: jmeizis wrote: Since the tickets in addition to my regular bills exceeded my income by almost double then yeah it was a pretty great cost to me since it made it exceedingly hard to live. *face palm* what no *plonk*
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kriso9tails
Aug 14, 2009, 4:35 AM
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Wait, don't be so quick to judge. Perhaps 'bad head day' was a reference to how he got the cash to pay down the tickets. When guiding isn't raking in the big money and there's no prospects on the writing, sometimes you have to turn to the streets.
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jt512
Aug 14, 2009, 4:39 AM
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macherry wrote: jt512 wrote: jmeizis wrote: Since the tickets in addition to my regular bills exceeded my income by almost double then yeah it was a pretty great cost to me since it made it exceedingly hard to live. *face palm* what no *plonk* Are you kidding? Why? Jay
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jt512
Aug 14, 2009, 4:42 AM
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Jeremiah, grow up. The star ratings really don't count for anything. Jay
(This post was edited by jt512 on Aug 14, 2009, 4:42 AM)
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macherry
Aug 14, 2009, 4:44 AM
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jakedatc wrote: jmeizis wrote: Have you never had a bad head day? Hence the comment about mileage. I think for most people their lead head improves over the course of a season. It's hard to do that when you climb the same hundred or so things all season long. Perhaps you should read the whole thing. the guides i know walk up the routes they are guiding in their sneakers, wet, blind folded and then solo them in the dark. i'd be fucking pissed off if i hired a guide and he was shitting his pants on a 5.8.. screw that. show some credentials eh? he's already stated he doesn't need credentials...see previous thread.
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jakedatc
Aug 14, 2009, 4:45 AM
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Here's our fearful leader only 2 years ago.. being guided up 5.8 with a 20 fucking pound pack? wtf do you need that weighs 20lbs exactly...
In reply to: Jeremiah Meizis with a 20lb pack on the Whitney-Gilman Ridge (II 5.7) in October of 2007 on Cannon Cliff, Franconia Notch State Park, New Hampshire.
In reply to: We headed up the classic Whitney-Gilman Ridge with relative ease (well, at one point, on the last pitch, Jeremiah had difficulty pulling the final crux with the 20lb pack on his back exactly what weighs 20 lbs.. while being guided up a 5.7 5 pitch route? i mean it's Cannon not Denali
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