guiding services

[mocomedic]

myself and two other friends are headed up for the the presi range in 55.5 hours! for spring break. We signed up for a guided trip on mount washington through mooney mountain guides (the guide is probably reading this now) but anyway my curiosity as to what it will be like is driving me mad! so i was wondering if anyone here has any experience with a guide in the whites, if so how was it?

[climbabout]

I have taken many guided trips (mostly through ems) in the whites over the years, for instruction at first, but now mainly because I don't have a regular climbing partner. I have done the Mt washington 1 day, the overnight in the Observatory probably 10-12 times, some waterfall ice climbing and several alpine gully climbs - shoestring, pinnacle, damnation and the like. To me it was the best way to learn safely, short of having an experienced friend to teach you. Art Mooney is one of the best - he used to work for ems years ago. I have also climbed quite a bit with Joe Lentini(formerly of ems) and Travis Piper - who now only guides part time for ems. I never had a bad experience among them. The good ones are a wealth of knowledge - not just about climbing, but winter travel in general and self maintenence and survival in tough conditions. You won't regret your decision to hire a competent guide. Good luck. I'm probably heading to Mount Washington myself with my son on The 21st to try Lion Head.
Tim

[mocomedic]

All right guys we just got back from our White Mountain expedition (it was epic to say the least!) our VW chariot receved a punctured oil pan, lacerated power steering line and experienced a spontaneous compustion in the drive axle, but even that wasnt enough to even remotely spoil the expirence of seeing and climbing the ice crusted summits of the Presidentials.

I must say I am very glad we got a guide and even more glad we got Mooney, granted I did feel wierd paying someone to plan and lead the trip (actualy my favorite part or climbing) I got over it . at the end I actually wanted to give him more $ (mind you that says alot coming from a poor college student).

It was a great learning expirence for me as well as my girlfriend. In the next few years I plan on making strides to become a great certified guide and it nice to be able to use one of the best and a role model for that.

I will type up a trip report this week with pictures and poetry and have all you guy see what we saw

[lordvoldemort]

I took a glacier travel/crevasse rescue class from Alain Comeau of newenglandguides.com and i have to say he is one of the best guides out there. He is very knowledgeable and experienced and i was very satisfied with what i learnt at the end of the day.
And i agree that in general all guides are great, i have taken several courses with ems and ime and always came out learning something.