First Trip of the Summer

Well the first trip of the year went off without a hitch. We had eight clients from all over the country. From the time we stepped in the van to go up the mountain to the time we arrived back at headquarters we were laughing. It seemed that the group bonded from the start. We slogged up the Muir snow-field under the beating sun. By dinner time the first night everyone was laughing and quoting movies such as Dumb and Dumber and Talladega Nights. It was so much fun getting to know each one of the clients through different experiences on the trip. One of the most interesting things about guiding is watching the way circumstances effect people in different ways. Some people were open and eccentric from the beginning. Others needed a bit more extreme environment to open up, such as getting lowered over a two hundred foot deep crevasse.

After a full dinner of burritos we all went to bed. The next morning started just like any other. Clients came over to our cook tent around 8am. The other guides and I were making breakfast and having coffee with some of the climbing rangers. Morning training began with a few lessons on glacier travel and crampon use. As I was walking over to the bunk house one of the climbing rangers called me over to inform me that a guide from another company was injured on the summit. At that moment our entire day changed. After many radio conversations with the in town staff and the National Park Service a fellow guide, a climbing ranger, and myself started off for the summit with rescue gear in hand. It was a beautiful blue bird day with no wind. The best option for the patient was to get a helicopter lift off the summit. Unfortunately there are only a small number of helicopters powerful enough to land and take off at 14,000 feet. Our rescue team was the contingency plan to the helicopter lift. It would take us at least 3 hours to reach the summit. We had found out the the patient had fallen into a steam vent and was in stable condition with possible rib fractures. By the time we had climbed to 11,900 feet the helicopter had safely evacuated the patient and flown her to a nearby hospital.

After the rescue scenario the climb went back to normal. Our team reached the summit at 7am the next day. We were able to get 7 out of 8 clients to the summit. One decided to stay at camp due to personal reasons. As we all stood on the summit, I was instantly reminded why I love this job. Each one of the clients was overjoyed to have such a tremendous experience. And no one was injured in the process.