Sabbatical - Hiking Interlude; Guides
Before I continue the travelogue from Italy, I thought I'd take a moment to talk about the guides. We had two guides and one driver on the tour. All three were experienced certified guides who'd been hired as contractors by REI. They arranged all the hotels, rides, lunches and everything else that happened between being picked up and dropped off at the Geneva airport.
All three of our guides were French citizens in their late 50s or early 60s with 30+ years experience in the mountains. Each was multilingual, with French, English, some Spanish and Italian and a smattering of other languages. I had no problem understanding any of them. As you'd expect from people who climb mountains for their day job, each was in superb physical shape; even our driver, who was older and quasi retired still had no trouble careening up mountains with a pack.
Christine was our head guide. She originally was a modern dancer in several professional troupes, then she transitioned to being a mountain guide in her late 20s. She had a son who works a ski guide in the winter and on construction gigs in the summer.
Claire was the second guide. She was a native Chamonix resident who had been a guide her entire life. While everyone else was using two trek poles, she preferred to use a single trek pole while holding an umbrella. She said it made her more visible on the mountain, and that for an "easy" hike like this she didn't need two poles. When the umbrella was open she looked sort of like Mary Poppins, if Mary Poppins was a total bad ass. She and her husband had a cabin overlooking the Chamonix valley, and had two daughters in university.
Claire & Christine alternated spots. One would lead the way, and the other would take the tail spot to make sure any stragglers weren't left behind. Both had been hiking the Alps for years, and I never saw each of them take out a map or look even slightly confused about where they were. They seemed to be well known among the other guides we encountered. They also never got frustrated with how slow we were going.
Manu was our driver. He was a bit older and said his knees weren't up to climbing every day, not that you could tell it from the stretches of trail that he hiked. As our driver, he shuttled our luggage from hotel to hotel and bought the fixings for our sumptuous lunch buffets. Since we had some people on the casualty list most days he also escorted them on easier day hikes and generally babysat. He was also available for emergency pickup on the few days that this was an option.
Christine, Claire and Manu were members of the mountain guides union, Chamonix chapter. Joining the union meant first that they had passed the French guide certification. They didn't explain exactly what this entailed, but apparently it started with hiking a very long distance in a very short amount of time, and then while still exhausted from the hike having to do all sorts of challenging activities. Then to join the union they had to be recommended by another member. As guides they had spent years guiding skiers, technical climbers, hikers and other people who wanted to roam the Alps. Claire told me that the usual pattern was for younger guides to do the really challenging stuff, and then as they got older they'd move gradually to guiding less strenuous activities like hiking and trekking. All three had also done guiding in other places besides the Alps, and had trekked around the world, including the Himalayas.
In short, these were some very competent individuals. At the start of the trip I was half afraid that members of the group would do the usual "I know what I'm doing quit bossing me around" crap, but nobody said boo, probably because Christine and Claire were both super nice and obviously not going to take any bullshit from amateurs.
One of the perks of being a guide was that all three got free mountain gear from various companies who wanted someone to try out prototypes or new designs. Apparently some guides even do endorsements, although that's more for the people doing the technical climbs. They might as well have hired them as models too, but that might just be my bias for very fit people. Let's just say that you most likely would not have guessed that they were all in their late 50s and early 60s.
By a remarkable coincidence, as I was writing this I got an email from one of my cousins asking for my feedback on REI trips in general. I will tell her that if REI always hires guides of this caliber, you'll be in good hands if you opt for one of their trips.
All three of our guides were French citizens in their late 50s or early 60s with 30+ years experience in the mountains. Each was multilingual, with French, English, some Spanish and Italian and a smattering of other languages. I had no problem understanding any of them. As you'd expect from people who climb mountains for their day job, each was in superb physical shape; even our driver, who was older and quasi retired still had no trouble careening up mountains with a pack.
Christine was our head guide. She originally was a modern dancer in several professional troupes, then she transitioned to being a mountain guide in her late 20s. She had a son who works a ski guide in the winter and on construction gigs in the summer.
Claire was the second guide. She was a native Chamonix resident who had been a guide her entire life. While everyone else was using two trek poles, she preferred to use a single trek pole while holding an umbrella. She said it made her more visible on the mountain, and that for an "easy" hike like this she didn't need two poles. When the umbrella was open she looked sort of like Mary Poppins, if Mary Poppins was a total bad ass. She and her husband had a cabin overlooking the Chamonix valley, and had two daughters in university.
Claire & Christine alternated spots. One would lead the way, and the other would take the tail spot to make sure any stragglers weren't left behind. Both had been hiking the Alps for years, and I never saw each of them take out a map or look even slightly confused about where they were. They seemed to be well known among the other guides we encountered. They also never got frustrated with how slow we were going.
Manu was our driver. He was a bit older and said his knees weren't up to climbing every day, not that you could tell it from the stretches of trail that he hiked. As our driver, he shuttled our luggage from hotel to hotel and bought the fixings for our sumptuous lunch buffets. Since we had some people on the casualty list most days he also escorted them on easier day hikes and generally babysat. He was also available for emergency pickup on the few days that this was an option.
Christine, Claire and Manu were members of the mountain guides union, Chamonix chapter. Joining the union meant first that they had passed the French guide certification. They didn't explain exactly what this entailed, but apparently it started with hiking a very long distance in a very short amount of time, and then while still exhausted from the hike having to do all sorts of challenging activities. Then to join the union they had to be recommended by another member. As guides they had spent years guiding skiers, technical climbers, hikers and other people who wanted to roam the Alps. Claire told me that the usual pattern was for younger guides to do the really challenging stuff, and then as they got older they'd move gradually to guiding less strenuous activities like hiking and trekking. All three had also done guiding in other places besides the Alps, and had trekked around the world, including the Himalayas.
In short, these were some very competent individuals. At the start of the trip I was half afraid that members of the group would do the usual "I know what I'm doing quit bossing me around" crap, but nobody said boo, probably because Christine and Claire were both super nice and obviously not going to take any bullshit from amateurs.
One of the perks of being a guide was that all three got free mountain gear from various companies who wanted someone to try out prototypes or new designs. Apparently some guides even do endorsements, although that's more for the people doing the technical climbs. They might as well have hired them as models too, but that might just be my bias for very fit people. Let's just say that you most likely would not have guessed that they were all in their late 50s and early 60s.
By a remarkable coincidence, as I was writing this I got an email from one of my cousins asking for my feedback on REI trips in general. I will tell her that if REI always hires guides of this caliber, you'll be in good hands if you opt for one of their trips.