Hiking · 8 min
Running a hiking party on the trail
Why this matters
The hiking exam's four named subjects are planning, gear, timetables and impact, and the first three are covered in the general units. What is left is the part nobody writes down: how you actually manage six people walking uphill for eight hours.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to
- Position yourself and pace a group correctly
- Manage breaks, food and water proactively
- Handle the strong client, the slow client, and a group that wants to split
Pace
The party moves at the pace of its slowest member, and the guide's job is to make that pace sustainable rather than to fight it. A guide who sets a pace only the fittest client can hold will spend the afternoon dealing with an exhausted one.
- Set off deliberately slowly for the first fifteen minutes. It warms people up and it prevents the early surge that costs the whole day
- Watch breathing, not distance. If people cannot hold a conversation, the pace is too high for the terrain
- Rest-step on sustained climbs: lock the rear leg momentarily on each stride so the skeleton takes the weight and the muscle rests. It is slower per step and far more sustainable
- Slow down before people ask, not after
Position
- Alone with a group: lead from the front, but put the slowest client immediately behind you and check back constantly. Never let the group string out past voice contact
- With two guides: one in front, one sweeping at the back. The sweep is the one who spots the problem developing
- Count heads at every junction, every break, and every stream crossing. Out loud, every time
- Nobody goes ahead out of sight, and nobody drops behind out of sight. Say it at the trailhead and enforce it the first time it happens, gently, or you will be enforcing it all day
Breaks
- Short and frequent beats long and rare. Five to ten minutes an hour keeps people warm, fed and moving. A forty-minute lunch cools everyone down, especially in wind
- Make people eat and drink at every break, whether they feel like it or not. Clients under-eat and under-drink, then bonk at hour six and blame the trail
- Break somewhere sheltered, not on the exposed spot with the view, unless it is warm
- Ask about feet. Every break. Clients will not volunteer a hot spot and will happily walk on it until it is a blister
The awkward group problems
| Problem | Handling |
|---|---|
| One much stronger client pushing the pace | Give them a job: navigation, carrying group gear, sweeping at the back. Do it early and as a compliment, not a rebuke |
| One much slower client | Put them directly behind you, take weight out of their pack, and never let them feel watched. Publicly re-time the trip rather than publicly wait for them |
| The group wants to split | Almost always no. A split group is two parties with one guide, and if either half has a problem, the plan collapses. If it must happen, both halves need a competent leader, a map, a plan and a hard rendezvous |
| Somebody wants to turn back | Take it seriously and treat it as information. It is often the first sign of illness, and it is never a discipline problem |
Trail courtesy, which clients copy from you
Uphill traffic has right of way. Step aside for faster parties, and step onto rock or durable ground when you do. Yield to horses, speak so the horse hears a human voice, and step to the downhill side. Keep the group's noise down. Dogs leashed where required and under control everywhere.
From the field
Hour five, and the fittest client has been fifty yards ahead all day while the slowest is visibly cooked. You put the fast one on the front with the map and a bearing to check, take four pounds out of the slow one's pack, and shorten the objective by one summit. Everyone finishes in daylight and thinks it was the plan.
This lesson is part of the NYS Licensed Guide Exam course. Open it in the course to answer the retrieval checks that go with it, track what you have read, and quiz the whole unit. Lessons, quizzes and the glossary are free.