“I grew up in an alpine village not very large, where you know each other easily. I wanted to become a high mountain guide because it is a job that I find beautiful, demanding. After my training, I returned to work in my town. There was an office, installed here for a long time, where older guides were working.
When I arrived, in 2001, Fabrice had already been there for three or four years. We were the same age, about thirty years, but he had more experience than me. He was from another corner and had already worked elsewhere as a guide. He welcomed me with warmth and, fairly quickly, this colleague became a friend. He trained me, taught me his way of seeing things, shared his knowledge with me. He has become a kind of big brother for me.
Mountain guide is an intense job, first of all because it is a passion, and that requires a lot of energy. But also because relationships with customers are strong: they rely on us, trust us, in situations that can be dangerous. We too, the guides, must be able to trust ourselves, rest on each other. Fabrice has often repeated it to me: “You always have to take care of the other.” It is quite counter-intuitive because we are often alone in the mountains, and that we quickly come to forget the rest of the world. But it is important. With each outing, he assured that we were in touch; We communicated by radio. In bad weather, he always watched my backs to make sure that no storm or avalanche threatened us. We are resuming, we put our lives in the hands of the other without hesitation. We also shared our doubts when it was necessary.
In parallel, we invested in the office. There was everything to do, and we did it together: hiring a secretary, managing the accounts, getting involved in the association … This asked us a lot of work, but we were passionate. We organized distant trips. With our hiking skis, we embarked, with our customers, on a boat that explored the Norwegian fjords. As we were self -employed, we were the masters on board. 2>
doubt and resentments
I can’t say exactly when our relationship started to deteriorate. There was, I think, several events. First, I was a young father. In season, a guide, it’s a really engaging job. After the outings, I returned to the office, where it was still necessary to make the cash register, prepare the next day … It was quickly 8 p.m. or 8:30 p.m., and that weighed me a lot, a lot. I wanted to see my family. I went there less, my investment has decreased. At first, I was a guide in summer and ski instructor in winter. Then, little by little, I wanted to be a guide for the year. I have formed a private clientele, outside the office, which also allowed me to organize myself differently. It worked pretty well.
You have 62.74% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.