Back Country Guiding with Suunto

When I started guiding back in the late 70's we always had to use a compass, a topo map and just plane eye site to figure out what we were going to ski what the slope angle was and what the orientation of the slope was. As a powder guide, your clients put a lot of faith in you to show them the goods but to also make sure they came back alive. Any new tool that would help you in your travels was always welcomed, from the old Pieps One Beacon to the handmade shovels we made to fit in our packs. Everything that was available at that time was used.

Back then it was easy when we skied at places like Snowbird - the tram ride was 3,000 vertical. Six trams and you got 18,000, no problem. At Park City it was a little harder because it has 3,000 vertical from the base to Jupiter Bowl but you had to hop scotch up the mountain and back down. So the only true vertical you could figure you got in a day was by adding and subtracting your chair rides from the trail map. I am sure we would be within a 1,000-2,000 vertical feet on any given day, but it would take time to figure that out. In the backcountry all bets were off on your vertical as well as anything else counting runs, how long you were out there, and what direction you were going other than using a hand held compass.

As a guide your clients always wanted to know how much vertical they got in a day, let alone per run, and I would say, "oh that's about 1200' vertical," little did I know I was 300 vertical off. We would have to go back to our topo and try and add what we had done for the day. I could never figure out how the Canadian heli operations could figure out if you got the 100,000 vertical that you were promised for your paid week of skiing. Must be just luck.

Skip to 1999. Suunto, a new company that neither I nor anyone else had heard about, came out with a watch they called the Vector. It promised to give you your daily vertical, have a compass to show you where you were heading, and also tell you how high you were, in feet that is. It also had a barometer to keep track of incoming weather. Another watch came out a year before, and I had 5 clients with the same watch. At the end of our day of cat skiing everyone was off by 1,000'. From the map I knew what the vertical feet were per run. Only one of the five was close. So much for buying that watch.

I asked Santa for a [#Suunto Vector#] that Christmas back in 99'.I guess I was a good boy because he left me one in my stocking. No coal that Christmas. Everyone was asking, "Why is your watch so big." "It has to be smart for being that big." "Is it going to help your guiding skills?"

Man, that was the best Christmas present I ever got. Within a week I was able to tell my clients what direction the slope was facing. How high we were. How long each run was, and how long it took us to ski it. The watch was a good functional tool that worked. Soon I relied on it every time I stepped into the backcountry.

When you are a guide most folks rely on you to find them good snow. Make sure you are safe from avalanches and that kind of stuff. They will ask you questions on what elevation we at are. Which way is North. Things that we as guides have a good sense of. I found that the Vector made my senses a little keener and way quicker.

Photo: Scott Markowitz, courtesy of Park City Powder Cats & Heli-ski.

Then the Suunto S6 came out. What a treat it was. Not only did it do what the SuuntoVector could do, it could be linked to my computer. I was able to email my clients a graph that would show them their day of skiing. I really enjoyed the barometer for weather trends and also the other options that it provided like measuring the slope angle with the clinometer.

It has been 6 years now that I've traveled with my Suunto watches. I have used them in Canada, Colorado, Nevada, California for ski guiding/touring, I even used my Suunto S6 traveling in Mexico on a surf trip to record how long it would take to get to that secret surf spot using the compass and a trail map. Wow, I never figured a watch would be so instrumental in making all these options possible. Backcountry skiing we always said "Know Before You Go." The Suunto S6 sure helps you out on that saying. As a guide it gives me immediate information that takes me less time and effort than my guiding days back in the 70's.

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