Week One, SWS, Matt Dooley

Week at SWS Mountain Guides was a success! The learning curve is steep, repairs on equipment is constant coming in from the guides trips. Tents take forever to repair. SWS ordered lots of new equipment and gear this week, i had the honor of labeling with red tape and using a Dremal tool to carve name and size into ice axes and back country shovels. When i first came to SWS the gear room was a mess, just within the first week I have been able to organize the room and equipment better. The techniques that the on staff professionals know is teaching me a lot of time saving skills for his job and teaching me what to do when I get out on the mountain. So far i am having a great time here. I feel appreciated and i am starting to fire right back with the intern jokes. I even picked up a new nick name, Hazmatt. 6 groups are heading out so when they come back there will be a ton of gear to look over and repair. I was able to help Tim with a crampon and ice axe clinic on saturday. Once again his was a steep learning curve but Tim is a great teacher and took me aside and even put me in charge of some drills for self arresting. This is literly the tip of the ice burg for mountaineering basics. I have to spend some time in the snow on my own to learn the required skills before i can possibly shadow a summit attempt on the mountain. Without basic to somewhat knowledgable skills my life and others would be in danger on the mountain. Brady a lead guide was out on a trip and came back and said the low tempature with wind chill was (-15) out. Wear your puffy, and your parka this week, a storm is a coming. This is Hazmatt signing out for now.