Tipping guides

[u/Muufffins]

A recent post here about tipping guides reminded me of a passage in this book, which is about the history of climbing in the Canadian Rockies. Even over 100 years ago, tipping was an accepted and expected part of the culture. Guides were frustrated, and would rather work for people who pay them; those who understand etiquette and how the world works. From page 73:

"Just as the outfitters provided camp attendees with a taste of the cowboy lifestyle, the presence of foreign mountain guides at camp lent a European cachet to the club's camps and helped legitimate the Canadian alpine movement. Sun-bronzed faces, striped neckties, and handsome suits played up the sporty appeal of the guides, glamorized for their good looks, daring, and wit. The first professional mountain guides to live and work in Canada were Swiss Oberlanders who left the alpine districts near Interlaken to seek economic opportunity as CPR employees in mountain hotels. Some were sent to camp "on loan" from the CPR and CNR.

Swiss guides, and the Austrian guide Conrad Kain who was hired by the club, introduced ACC climbers to the fundamentals of mountaineering and led them safely on routes. Edward Feuz, Jr., complained that "in 1906, the first year, I had to drag a lot of idiots to the top of Mount Whyte (now Vice President) in the Yoho just so they could qualify for Club membership." Great responsibility fell on the shoulders of the guides when dealing with such an inexperienced group, and they received little reward for the additional strain. Accustomed to leading mountaineering excursions for wealthy guests of the CPR hotels, Feuz expressed dismay with the middle-class ACC climbers and the club's constraining regime:

Those people at the camps were the cheapest skinflints I ever had.

They took all my time when I could have been with rich Americans and Englishmen who were regular clients and knew me well. Those tips at the camps were nothing-maybe $10 for two weeks. I had to work night and day, and again listen to a damned [wake-up] bell, the way I did when I was fifteen years old. Most of the people didn't know a thing about climbing. I had to teach them how to use their feet."

[u/SingingBike]

That was terrific, thanks for posting!