Leadership in the Wild

Over the years I have had the good fortune of going on numerous adventure travel trips on foot, bike, and kayak. I have had the opportunity to travel under a number of leadership styles. The customers on these trips have usually been American professional people, who love the outdoors. They are smart and responsible, but on vacation in a foreign country they readily put themselves in the hands of the trip leaders. Most of my trips have taken place in Europe, Asia, and South America. Of the fifteen or so leaders I have had I had, most were excellent. Three, Anna Bezzola, Sarah Quee, and Sergio were outstanding. So what makes a good leader on a hiking trip to Nepal or the Andes? Why is one leader more effective in The Dolomites of Northern Italy than another in the French Alps?  Having held a number of leadership positions, I have though a lot about this issue. I came up with a number of variables that seemed significant to me.






First and foremost leaders on these type trips need to be concerned about the safety of their charges. In Italy Anna Bezzola nearly called in a helicopter to fly out one of our group who fell and suffered a nasty gash on his head. In Nepal Sergio arranged for a 78 year old client to leave the trip, when he fell victim to heat exhaustion. They made crisp judgments in tense situations. One leader in the Dolomites hiked far ahead of the group, which was inexperienced. Vicki and I more or less guided the abandoned group for lengthy periods of time.


The best guides keep good boundaries between themselves and their clients.  Outstanding leaders like Anna and Sergio were friendly and down to earth, but they were authoritative in the best sense of the word. In Pakistan Sergio changed the exit route from the Baltoro Glacier, though he was highly pressured by the Pakistan guides not to do so. The new route meant more hassle for them, but it wasn’t safe in lieu of recent snow storms, and Sergio knew this. On a trip to the Andes, the Peruvian leader, who had been the first Peruvian to climb MT. Everest, was an excellent logistics person, but he lost control of the group, which was made up largely of younger professional people, who were inexperienced in the outdoors. In the end the group seriously fragmented as his efforts to accommodate everyone’s needs was counterproductive. He actually left the trip early to take out an “ill” trekker. We all knew there was nothing wrong with the trekker. He just got tired of the trip and wanted out. He had proved to be a braggart and self absorbed person. The leader should have let someone else take him out or insisted he finish the trip.