The professor, the mystic and the alpinist HOW A FEW LOCAL GUIDES HAVE SHAPED THEIR WORK TO THEIR LIVES.
Jean Pavillard After growing up and apprenticing as a guide in Switzerland, Jean started Adventures to the Edge (now Crested Butte Mountain Guides) here in the 1980s. He promoted the guide concept, recruiting apprentices and installing yurts to create ski-touring circuits around Crested Butte. For years he balanced his guide work with directing Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s ski school, then eventually sold his local business and began guiding around the world. As Jean’s daughters grew up, he got his family’s permission to tackle the big summits. He has now guided the tallest mountains in the world, including Everest. This year he will begin a campaign to lead a female client to the tops of the Seven Summits, his second time to climb the highest peaks on the seven continents. Now internationally known, Jean helped shape the training curriculum and examinations for the American Mountain Guide Association. He still calls this valley home, but travels so much that he “keeps life simple” here; his house is a trailer at the Mesa RV in Gunnison. Jean’s specialty, big-mountain expeditions, are often “less technical but more adventurous. Nothing is certain,” he said. He might find himself in the middle of nowhere in Papua New Guinea, unraveling an argument in an unfamiliar language with porters for whom “money is not so tangible. And they all have machetes… You have to be willing to enjoy that part of the expedition, too.”
Jayson Simons-Jones A rambunctious skier-athlete in upstate New York, Jayson hit tough emotional times in college after a close friend died. Watching his buddies enjoy a winter survival course while he wrestled with his classes, he changed his major from physical therapy to outdoor education. Spending time outside and then teaching for Outward Bound “was such a profound experience, it gave me direction,” he said. For years Jayson lived out of his truck, traveling to guiding jobs and outdoor education work; one year he collected twelve W-2s for his tax file. After Crested Butte captivated him, he began working for Crested Butte Mountain Guides, eventually scraping together the money to purchase the business. He still does some of the guiding, but also spends time behind the desk. “Now I can make a living without trashing my body,” he said. Jayson isn’t destined for the cover of Forbes any time soon, but he now lives under a real roof. 62
Ian Hatchett Ian’s life “has been predicated on the natural world” since he was a youngster in Australia. After moving to Crested Butte in 1987, he was recruited as one of Jean’s first guide apprentices “in the oldfashioned Swiss tradition.” Guiding became his summer focus, supplemented for several years by running the ski area’s rental shop in the winter. Ian brings a “mystical philosopher” approach to guiding. His greatest satisfaction is watching clients undergo transformations from encounters with sacred places. One multimillionaire client “leads a frenetic life glued to his cell phone.” Finally Ian told the man he could no longer bring the cell phone if he wanted Ian to continue as his guide. After an indignant rebuttal, the client agreed, and their relationship now includes a spiritual component. “Now we set a goal for the day: to walk in total silence. Or to walk as a meditation, thinking of each step as precious instead of just marching to some goal. I’ve seen this client undergo a major spiritual change in the time we’ve spent together,” Ian said. Although guiding requires “the machinations you’d put into any job,” he said, it doesn’t dilute his sense of wonder. For refueling on days off, “There are still so many secret gems out there.”
Pemba Sherpa Pemba became a porter for the expeditions near his village in Nepal at 13. Over the years he worked his way through the ranks to become a respected expedition guide, as was his father. Pemba guided in the Everest region and all over Nepal, Tibet and India. He reached the top of Everest twice and also climbed Annapurna (the most technically difficult peak) and more “trekking peaks” than he can count. Pemba and his family, endangered by the Maoist conflict in Nepal, fled to the United States. After several years in this country, during which Pemba traveled back to his homeland to guide, they settled in Crested Butte and opened the Sherpa Café. Pemba’s small company, Alpine Adventure Intl., specializes in leading “ordinary fit people” to some magnificent but accessible Himalayan trekking peaks. Pemba also gives his clients an inside look at life in Nepal. Winter 2011 | 2012