La Grave, France – The first thing you notice when you get off the 8 a.m. bus to La Grave is that everyone in sight is wearing an avalanche beacon, the transmitters used to locate buried bodies should a snow slide sweep them away. It is the French Alps in February, after all. Even on Main Street, the beacon is de rigueur.
The next thing you notice is they are also wearing rock climbing harnesses, right along with ski boots.
There are 10, maybe 12 in this group by the bus stop, loading backpacks and Randonee skis into a van while a stable of guides oversees. Between the gear and guides, I surmise they must have a big day planned.
I realize soon enough that I am conspicuous in my autonomy, and my apparent lack of appropriate equipment for this renowned extreme skiing destination. Everyone at the base area has a guide by his side, a beacon on his chest and a harness around his hips. Everyone has a big day planned.
It becomes quickly obvious there is no such thing as a small day in La Grave, France. Or, for that matter, an average day. Otherwise, a ski mountaineering legend such as Doug Coombs probably would not have bought a home here. And mountaineering master-in-the-making Joe Vallone would not be building his life here.
“Nothing’s easy here. It’s sick,” Vallone tells me after handing over his spare harness and testing to see if my avalanche beacon is broadcasting a signal. “You can’t just ski into things here. It’s the most wild place in all of France. There’s no ski patrol, no trail map, no control work. No one is going to do the homework for you. You have to have your nose in the snow every day if you want to know what’s going on. That’s why 85 percent of the people who ski here ski with guides.”
Vallone, a Colorado State graduate and former Copper Mountain Freeride Team skier, moved to La Grave on a mission, recently reaching the upper echelon of the mountain guide milieu as one of only 32 fully certified American members of the International Federation of Mountain Guide Associations (IFMGA or, in Europe, UIAGM). After several years of study and two seasons as an aspirant in La Grave, the 30-year-old Boulderite earned his coveted guide pin last fall and is now licensed to lead clients on rock climbs, alpine tours or ski descents on just about any mountain in the 21 member nations spanning North America, South America, Europe, Asia and New Zealand.
As evidenced by the small number of Yanks earning pins since the Boulder-based American Mountain Guide Association was accepted to the 40-year-old international federation in November 1997, Vallone’s achievement is no small feat. IFMGA-certified mountain guides are required to meet established standards in the three disciplines of rock, alpine and ski mountaineering, graduating from two levels of intensive training and field work in each before passing exams that qualify them as aspiring guides, working with licensed mentors until full certification. An ambitious guide might earn an IFMGA pin after four years, although most take longer.
“You can’t just be a ski guide here,” Vallone said. “Unless you are certified in all three disciplines, you can’t guide in any. But that’s the same standard the AMGA is trying to establish. Ski mountaineering is not just skiing anymore. You need to be a rock climber and an ice climber, a mountaineer with mountain sense, glacier travel skills, crevasse rescue skills, rescue skills in general, map and compass skills – everything.”
It’s for that reason that AMGA technical director Rob Hess has joined Vallone, Coombs and the handful of other IFMGA guides working in La Grave for several weeks this season. Hess, the owner of Jackson Hole Mountain Guides, is in charge of establishing the testing criteria for AMGA guide certification and is committed to maintaining – and potentially exceeding – the gold standard set by the IFMGA.
Even beyond his home near the Tetons of Jackson, Wyo., or the wilds of Alaska and British Columbia, where he conducts helicopter skiing tours, La Grave serves as the ideal venue for molding the next generation of American mountain guides, Hess said.
He and Vallone were wrapping up an all-American guide training session on the morning of my arrival, testing the group on the mountain’s most technically demanding route the day before. So far this season, they are the only mountaineers to tackle the snow, ice and stone of the glaciated route known as Les Enfetchores – loosely translating to “don’t miss your line.”
“I really wanted to step up the technical elements of our training, and this venue is just a great opportunity. It really ups the ante,” Hess said. “When we are training people, we want to be able to pull them out of their comfort zones a little bit. We step it up and do things you’d never take clients down as a guide. But then the bar is that much higher for them, and the normal guiding is not a problem. They can handle anything.”
Setting the standard
Hess’ presence in La Grave and the subsequent push toward an increased, uniform standard in AMGA certification marks an evolution in American mountain guiding. Historically, training of professional mountain guides in the United States has been very loosely organized, lacking much in the way of regulation or continuity beyond in-house instruction offered by some guide services. As a result, anyone with an insurance policy can apply for a permit and hang up a sign claiming to be a guide.
The notion behind AMGA/ IFMGA certification is ensuring that guides demonstrate an acceptable level of skills to separate them from recreational mountaineers.
“Anyone in America right now can call themselves a guide, and there are no laws or regulations saying that a guide needs a specific amount of education,” Vallone said. “It might be a stretch to compare our training to a physician’s, but at the same time we have a lot of responsibility when we take people into the backcountry.
“How do you know what your guide has been taught? The AMGA is trying to establish that standard.”
Going to the extremes
Vallone took the opportunity to demonstrate his skill level later that afternoon, when I purchase a $20 “one trip” ticket up La Grave’s lone lift – le telepherique – spanning about 6,000 vertical feet. We were joined at the top by aspirant guides Jeff and Steve Banks from Crested Butte before skiing across one of three nearby glaciers to a route known as “La Voute,” which begins with a pair of 100-foot rappels leading to a 40-degree snow chute extending for more than 3,500 vertical feet before opening up beneath the massive couloir.
It’s a fairly typical route in La Grave – guaranteed to leave a typical unguided recreational skier in traction, if not a coma. While earning my respect as an unpracticed ski mountaineer, it also serves as a catalyst for the American guides’ frustration over the state of their industry back home. In Europe, such endeavors guarantee a wage of about $350 a day. In the States, they might get half that, if anything at all.
“As more and more people are leaving the resorts in search of powder and steeper lines and skiing the stuff they see in the movies, there’s definitely becoming more of a market for us,” Jeff Banks said. “But the catch is that in Europe it’s very common to hire a guide. In the U.S., people are more apt to do it on their own or with someone they think knows what they are doing, which may or may not give them a good experience.”
“If there was an open boundary policy like this in the States, people would be getting killed everywhere,” adds his brother, Steve.
And that, Vallone and Hess say, is exactly what the AMGA is hoping to change – opening access to America’s own wild terrain by establishing a new level of guide professionalism and a culture akin to what they know as IFMGA guides abroad.
“We’re trying to give ourselves some validity in America with the AMGA and say, ‘OK, if people want to head out into the backcountry and do this kind of thing, there’s places to seek out professional education,”‘ Vallone said. “We have a degree in this stuff, more or less. Everyone thinks they can do everything on their own in America. But if they came over here, they’d be humbled really quick.”
How do you choose the right guide?
While certification and accreditation are voluntary (and some reputable guide services lack affiliation), a good first step is checking for affiliation with an established association such as the AMGA or IFMGA. In addition, be sure to ask these questions:
* What are the company’s guide training requirements?
* What are the company’s medical training requirements?
* Does the guide or guide service have insurance?
* Will the guide service provide a list of previous clients as a reference?
* How long has the person been guiding, and how long has the service been in operation?
* Has the company had any accidents, and if so, why?
* How familiar is the guide with the destination?
Staff writer Scott Willoughby can be reached at 303-820-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com.
Learn more — Joe Vallone can be reached for guide service in La Grave at www.snowlegend.com or directly at joevallone@hotmail.com. For more information on the American Mountain Guides Association or a list of accredited outfitters, log on to www.amga.com.
