[Tishabet]

Originally posted by cmccuist
This is where you earn your money. Because the consequences of failure are death. If a guy is haning off the side of a mountain, or you have to bivouac because of weather, you don't know how that guy is going to react. It's a huge responsibility.

PS
If you're a good guide, you will know EXACTLY how the person is going to react. Been there, done that. You are right that it's a big responsibility, which is why you need to keep your client in a situation from which they can deliver themselves. As for bivouacing and such, nobody dies bivuoacing and nobody dies because the mountain was out to get them. People get hurt and die when they screw up. It's one of those "most accidents happen in the bathroom" type of things....I don't personally know anyone who has died while lunging for that last rock outcropping, but I know plenty of people who have been huirt or worse because they unclipped from the ropes before they were in a safe spot.
If you look at any mountain range in the US, even the ones famous for difficult climbing routes, you'll find that the vast majority of deaths are from people who went out on a nice summer day, got wet, got cold and died of hypothermia because they didn't bring raingear. I subscribe to a publication called "accidents in north american mountaineering" that comes out once a year and details every accident in NA, and it's the same every year.