New Hampshire Climbing Guide -- Mountaineering Instructor -- Member of The North Face Climbing Team

“The Work of the guide implies abnegation. The guide does not go where he wants to go, but must go to the summit of which his client has dreamed. The guide does not climb for himself but primarily for the pleasure of the companion he is leading.”

Gaston Rebuffat 1965



How far back can we trace the roots of mountaineering? That’s a good question to ask this summer when Switzerland is celebrating the 150th anniversary of Alpinism. That event is pegged to the start of the Alpine Club in 1857 when an influx of British climbers launched the golden age of Alpinism. Nevertheless, in 1991, in the Otzal Alps near the border of Austria and Italy, the perfectly preserved body of a man who lived 5,300 years ago was found embalmed in the ice of a retreating glacier. What exactly was this fellow doing on a glacier, nearly 10,000 feet above sea level? Mountaineering, perhaps?

There’s no doubt that man’s earliest attempts to climb mountains were inspired by more practical motivations than we see in today’s mountaineers. The earliest recorded modern forays onto the high Alps were primarily undertaken for scientific and artistic reasons.

Some trace the birth of mountaineering to a young Swiss scientist named Horace Bénédict de Saussure. On a visit to Chamonix in 1760, Saussure was spellbound by the unclimbed Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the French Alps. He determined right then that he would either climb it himself or inspire someone else to do so. He offered a handsome cash reward, but it wasn’t until 1786 that a French crystal hunter and a physician found a way to the snowy summit— and the prize. Over the next half-century, mountaineering developed as the British leisure class—ladies and gentlemen decked out in tweed jackets and skirts, woolen stockings, bow ties, and trilby hats—began venturing into the Alps for nothing more than pure recreation. One British pioneer climber, Leslie Stephen, declared the high Alps “the Playground of Europe,” and the Swiss Alpine Club was formed in 1863.

Perhaps no climber better exemplified this era than Edward Whymper, born in 1840 and trained as a wood engraver. At age 20, he was sent by his father to the Alps to create a series of mountain sketches. Whymper proved to be a masterly climber, and although his early ascents were undertaken to reach vantage points for his art, he soon began throwing himself at peaks for the pure adventure of it. His list of first ascents is legendary, most notably that of the Matterhorn in 1865. That adventure ended in tragedy. One of his guides slipped on the descent, pulling three of his team members to their deaths. Whymper and his two remaining Swiss guides also would have fallen if the rope had not fortuitously snapped.

Whymper was one of the first to employ Swiss guides. Before this golden age of Alpinism, many of these men had earned their livelihoods as farmers, herders, and tradesmen. But as mountain climbing developed into a thriving tourist activity, these enterprising folk saw an opportunity. It soon became common for these men to lead British tourists up the Matterhorn and other peaks, just as they do today, 150 years later.

Being Swiss, the guides took their role as experts more than a little seriously, and as time went on, a certification process was started. Aspiring guides had to follow a rigorous apprenticeship program, and only the very best and most highly trained were offered certification. Today, this guides’ training and certification process, which has been standardized across Europe, is known as the Union Internationale des Associations de Guides de Montagnes or UIAGM (in english it is International Federation of Mountain guides or IFMGA), and a modern guide can expect to spend five full years and at least $25,000 to complete it. The certification process, which can be traced to Grindelwald, Switzerland, and the golden age of Alpinism, has now been carried all over the world.

The American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) is the American version, founded in 1979 by a handful of guides. Today it has grown to contain more than 1000 members nationwide. Most importantly, the AMGA was accepted into the UIAGM/IFMGA in the mid 1990s.. The AMGA now follows a curriculum developed by the UIAGM, and AMGA certifications are recognized in Europe, Canada and throughout the world. To date, though, only 35 guides in the United States have completed the full certification process.

You might be surprised to hear then, that in the US, climbing guides are not required to have any certifications whatsoever. Basic first aid is not even required. Those guides that seek certification from the AMGA do so voluntarily, not because they have to. This makes a certified guide in the US an extremely valuable commodity; especially considering that they usually don’t cost any more than a non-certified guide.

So what exactly is involved in becoming certified? The curriculum is broken into three categories – rock, alpine and ski – each of which has two levels. In the rock, for example, you start by taking a Rock Instructor course. First, though, you have to fulfill the prerequisites, the main components of which are:

• You’ve been climbing for five years • You have completed 50 different traditional routes up to 5.10, including five grade IIIs and four grade IVs. • A valid Wilderness First Responder (WFR) and CPR. Once accepted into the course, highly trained certified guides will spend approximately nine intense days teaching you everything you there is to know about being a safe and competent guide. Course topics include:

• Client orientation and preparation • Equipment and protection selection • Time and pace management • Anchor construction • Choosing appropriate belays methods and stances • Rope and station management • Rappelling and lowering with clients • Short rope and short pitch techniques • Belay escapes • Performing improvised ascending methods • Raising systems for guiding • Evaluating risk management in your own guiding • Leave No Trace environmental ethics

After the course you have to document 40 days of work as a guide, and only then can you apply to get into an exam. During the exam, which can be taken at a variety of different areas throughout the US, you will take turns guiding examiners on various routes, most of which are chosen specifically for their unique and tricky challenges. The exam also involves a movement skills test, during which you have to onsight a 5.10 traditional climb. Another important component is the 45 minutes self-rescue drill, during which you will be asked to execute a variety of raises, lowers, and load transfers, with a mock-unconscious climber hanging on the other end of the rope. And if at any time during the exam you do anything that puts the clients in serious danger, you fail. Your only option at this point is to train even harder and then try again in six to twelve months.

If you pass, you are now an AMGA certified Rock Instructor, a proud achievement. But to attain the UIAGM level, you must now go after the Rock Guide certification, which involves taking another course and exam, both of which are significantly harder. Essentially, the Rock Instructor trains you to guide routes up to grade III in length, and the Rock Guide trains you to guide routes up to grade V, which is basically a bigwall.

The alpine and ski certifications both involve approximately the same amount of time and effort, if not more so. Most reports indicate that these certifications are even more difficult than the rock. Of the three dozen UIAGM/IFMGA in the United States, the fastest worked his way through in a little over three years. The longest it has taken anyone so far is around ten years.

Any guide in the US who willfully chooses to undertake this expensive, long and difficult process towards UIAGM certification shows that they are deeply committed to the mountain guiding profession. Which is not to say, though, that there aren’t many excellent guides in this country who aren’t certified. For many older guides, who were already well established by the time the AMGA showed up on the scene, it didn’t make sense to have someone else certify them. After all, they were the ones with the most guiding experience. Some of these people were grandfathered in and became the very first AMGA examiners. But many others were not. It’s not surprising that some have since decided, based on the time, cost, etc, not to pursue it.

But times have changed, and it has now become the norm for a young aspiring climbing guide to begin the certification process directly out of school. The good news is that because the AMGA is an integral part of UIAGM, the process for becoming a climbing guide in the US has been laid out in a flow chart that basically anyone can follow. You still need the skills, time, etc to work your way up, but at least the path is there. Once you have that first certification, you can be sure that your application will stand out when you apply for that summer job at RMI or AAI. These days, a lot of the big guide schools help their guides along with the certification process by underwriting course and exam costs. It’s a win-win situation.

Now that you have the knowledge, perhaps you should ask about certification the next time you hire a guide. No, it’s not required, but it certainly seems to say something about the person to whom you’re going to trust your life. And in so doing, you’ll also be giving your nod to the Swiss, the ones who started it all 150 years ago. And who still, to this day, continue to set the standard for what it means to be a professional mountain guide.