Before engaging a Guide, or an Instructor on the recommendation of the concierge, get some expert advice as to who is the best. The Secretary of the local Ski Club would advise or some good runner in the neighbourhood.
In some parts of Switzerland the Guides and Instructors have taken to touting for clients. They hang about the hotels and try to induce the unwary to engage them and to go for tours for which they are often not fit. The better Swiss Guides are the first to want the public to discourage this type of behaviour, as it is doing a lot of harm to their good name.
When a Guide is engaged, treat him as a friend and trust him. They are usually a most obliging and reliable set of men, who will do everything in their power for their clients, such as carrying food and spare clothing, waxing skis, attaching skins and even making terms in inns, and cooking the food in huts when on tour. Their knowledge of the mountains and their experiences are well worth probing, and they will usually talk willingly when kindly dealt with. They are quick judges of character and if the younger ones are sometimes a little inclined to take advantage of the people who do not treat them suitably, only those people themselves can be blamed. The old-fashioned Guides are never familiar, though they are very friendly and will always do their best for the entertainment of their party. They should not be petted and flattered, neither should they be treated as inferiors. A happy medium is easily found which is what the Guide will prefer, because in his heart of hearts, he has the whole of the Swiss characteristics—great dignity, independence and respect for wise people.
On a long and dangerous tour the safety of the party may ultimately depend upon the trust and confidence placed in the Guide in charge, and by him in his clients, and this should be remembered in all negotiations. These men often have to risk their lives for the sake of the people who employ them, and their staunch unselfishness is a fine example of human endeavour for the benefit of others. Their fees may appear to be high, but when everything is taken into consideration, including the shortness of their Winter and Summer Seasons, it is soon realized that the fees are not exorbitant.
MAPS AND FINDING THE WAY
Every Ski runner going across country should carry a map. Even on a short run a great deal can be learnt from a map, which will prove useful later on a longer run. Both time and risk can be saved by people who run by their map and who know how to avoid dangerous places and how to take advantage of narrow safe openings.
There are different types of maps to be had in Switzerland. The best are the official Ordnance Maps published by the Eidg. Landestopographie at Bern. The mountain districts are produced at a scale of 1 centimetre in 50,000 centimetres or 2 centimetres in one kilometre, and large or small sheets can be bought almost everywhere. The gradients are clearly shown by contour lines. The equidistance being 30 metres, or roughly 100 feet, the dotted contour lines when height is marked some every 8 or 10 ordinary contour lines. This differs according to the edition. Cliff and rock are shown grey, while glacier contour lines are blue.
Some districts, such as the Bernese Oberland, have produced this map with red lines showing all the Ski runs. In other places they also provide Ski-ing maps, but on a different scale and not as good as the Ordnance Map.
All maps are best when mounted on linen, as the weathering they receive on a run may reduce a paper map to pulp or rag.
It is easy to work out the distance of runs or the gradient of slopes from the large scale Ordnance Map. 1 in 50,000 metres means that 1 centimetre on the map equals a run of 50,000 metres; 2 centimetres equal a kilometre or 100,000 metres; 8 kilometres equal five English miles. Therefore, if a centimetre measure be carried, the distances are soon ascertained with a minimum of arithmetic.