Winter guiding is not for the faint of heart, especially in Maine, where the weather and the people can be quite bitter. I got up before the clients to feed the dogs and cook them idyllic bed-and-breakfast-style breakfasts.
The setup
Multiday trips into the winter backcountry with Mahoosuc Dog Sledding. No electricity, no Wi-Fi, no easy resupply. Every guest paid a lot, and no two wanted the same trip. Some wanted to ride the runners and split wood. Others wanted hot cocoa in an already heated tent. My job was to learn what a great trip meant to each person.
The risk
A father new to our operation, with an ankle injury, turned down our insulated boots. He did it in front of his family, and his jokes came close to making my judgment the punchline. He would be standing still in the cold for hours.
What I did
- Asked specific questions. "Do you have long johns?" wasn't enough. I needed to know what they were made of.
- Packed the fallback. Overshoes, roomy wool socks, and foot warmers. The backup plan was already in my bag.
- Kept watching. At a 3 pm lunch stop on a frozen New Hampshire lake, behind eleven Yukon huskies, he was shifting his feet. He had said the boots were settled. His body said otherwise.
- Fixed it privately. I offered the gear away from the group. He wore the overshoes for the rest of the trip.
“I didn't need him to admit I was right. I needed his feet to be warm.”
The result
Warm feet, no argument, and a family that finished the trip happy.
I didn't need him to admit I was right. I needed his feet to be warm. My priority was helping him enjoy the trip, not proving my recommendation right.