You Will Follow Him
How to settle on the most critical component of your trip: the guide

By David Noland

That moment taught me the single most important lesson in adventure travel: Have a great guide. He needn't have insurgency experience. But other qualifications are essential ù beginning, of course, with intimate knowledge of the country involved. Medical training is also comforting, preferably certification as an EMT. And though this is a more nebulous quality, your guide should be a mensch, however you define that term. Prefer your authority figures gruff? Or do you respond better to nudging than to orders? Do a little introspection. Then ask the outfitter for the names and numbers of former clients who've been with your prospective leader, and call them. Next, ring up the leader. Ask about his experience. Ask about support staff ù if he's the cook as well as guide, for example, he'll have less time to cajole and tend to trekkers. Finally, ask ù diplomatically ù if he's ever lost a client, whether to death, discontent, or boredom. You want a guide in whom you can have confidence. Because I guarantee that at some point you'll be following him down the side of a mountain in a lightning storm, at least metaphorically.