The question we hear most after a trip is not about the view. It is about the moment we stopped. Two hundred metres below the top, the sun already up, the summit right there.
The three questions
Before every big day we write down a turnaround time. It comes from three questions: when does the snow get soft, when do the clouds usually build, and how fast are we moving today. If we reach the turnaround time and the summit is still an hour away, we go down.
It sounds simple. It is the hardest thing in guiding, because everyone on the rope wants to keep going, the guide included.
What the mountain gives back
Most of the people we turn around come back. Some the next day, some the next summer. They almost always say the second time was better: they knew the route, they knew the pace, and they knew we meant it when we said the mountain would still be there.
Our rule
We would rather walk you down safely a hundred times than get you to the top once in bad snow. That is not a slogan in a brochure. It is a time written on a small card in the guide's pocket.
