{"id":6284,"date":"2011-06-27T09:00:26","date_gmt":"2011-06-27T15:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=6284"},"modified":"2016-05-27T12:55:46","modified_gmt":"2016-05-27T18:55:46","slug":"introducing-mountain-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/27\/introducing-mountain-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Mountain Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Climbing the 7 Summits is challenging enough without trying to do it without support. I selected two companies to help me through this maze: International Mountain Guides<\/a> and Mountain Trip<\/a>. I am climbing Denali and hopefully, Carstensz Pyramid with Mountain Trip so I thought a quick introduction was in order.<\/p>\n

I first met MT on Denali back in 2001. I climbed with Bill Allen who was then a senior guide and is now a co-owner along with Todd Rutledge. They are a small company based in Ophir Colorado. Most of their trips are on the smaller size and often have a high guide to member ratio.<\/p>\n

They have grown from their Denali base to now guide the 7 Summits plus other international climbs. I ran into Bill both on Vinson and Everest just this year! Of interest, ski trips of any nature seem like their first love!<\/p>\n

I had a chance before I left for my Denali climb to ask Todd a few questions:<\/p>\n

Q: What is one thing people don\u2019t know about Mountain Trip that you want them to know?<\/p>\n

People might tend to associate Mountain Trip only with Alaska. \u00a0We have such a long and rich tradition of guiding Denali, find<\/a> that I think we’ve been somewhat pigeion-holed as only being Denali guides. \u00a0While Denali has certainly been our focus, it has also served to provide us with a solid foundation upon which to build our international expedition program. \u00a0We have taken the decades of lessons learned from guiding in one of the most challenging environments in the world and applied them to how we guide elsewhere, with really exciting results.<\/p>\n

Q: You recently added Everest to your trips. How has that gone?<\/p>\n

We are really pleased with the evolution of our Everest program. \u00a0It is completely member-driven, in that we began offering Everest at the request of climbers who had joined us on Denali and elsewhere. \u00a0They requested an Everest experience that was a bit more personal and custom-feeling than what they saw being offered by other outfitters.<\/p>\n

Q: How many people do you guide each year on Denali and what is your success rate?<\/p>\n

We have guided well over 100 people on Denali for each of the last five years. \u00a0We track our expedition success rates, rather than individual success rates, because we feel that provides a prospective climber with an idea of how probable their chances of getting a shot at the top might be if they prepare sufficiently, as there are so many random variables that prevent individuals from summitting that we have no control over, such as the fellow who’s wife hands him divorce papers two weeks before his climb or the woman who picks up a respiratory infection whilst flying from the other side of the world. \u00a0 Our expedition success rate since 2004 has been over 85% and we’ve had 11 out of 12 teams stand on top so far this season.<\/p>\n

Q: Any thoughts on the difficult year thus far on Denali (7 deaths from multiple expeditions)?<\/p>\n

This year has been a tragic reminder that we all walk in a thin, gray zone up high on Denali. \u00a0Everyone who goes high on a big, cold mountain like Denali needs to make that decision with proper deliberation. \u00a0As a team, we all have jobs to do and each team member needs to perform their job to the of their ability, and needs to communicate with their team members if anything seems out of sync with the team’s plan. \u00a0Occasionally, despite having a good plan and redundancy in back-up plans, circumstances can cascade in such a way that climbers are left no good options, and we certainly saw that occur this spring. \u00a0It is inexplicably sad to consider how hard it must be for the families and friends of climbers who left home for a few weeks’ vacation on\u00a0a big, beautiful mountain that provides so many with such fulfillment,\u00a0and yet their loved one did not return. \u00a0The dichotomy of the Denali experience was very apparent this year, as it can also be very unforgiving.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thanks Todd and Bill. Here’s to a safe and successful climb<\/p>\n

Climb On!
\nAlan
\nMemories are Everything<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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