Leslie-anne

The guide Deni is the sole reason I did not give 4-5 stars. The company s very responsive and seems to be an great company. If you book with this company, you need to ask who the guides will be and their guiding style. I found Deni to be impatient to the point of being contemptuous. Deni was a very capable mountain man however he had a tendency to be dismissive of those not at his skill level. The pace was go, go, go, stop and wait for others rather than slightly slower so the wait was shorter. Some examples of Deni’s guiding style are: walking at a pace the majority of the group could not keep up to unless we hiked so fast all wee did was look at our feet (missing all of the scenery) and when he was repeatedly asked to slow down he said his pace was a pace for “normal” people. For one peak only 2 of 12 were able to walk at the speed Deni required. For another it was 4 of 12. When at the back of the group he spoke on his mobile phone the vast majority of the time. When at the front he moved so fast the majority of the 12 could not keep up. He did not seem to know (or care) when hikers were injured or struggling and had to be told by our group where there was a problem. At times there was such a spread in the group, if anyone was injured they could have been eating for 20-30 minutes for a guide to notice. On time, When Deni was asked if he had extra water to share with the guests he asked us if we had ever hiked 30 days without food or water and told us stories of how he does. No extra water was carried. Questions about the geography were often answered by ” yes of course just look at the geography”. I have been on many guided trips and I would say Deni was the most arrogant guide with the most minimal people skills I have ever encountered. The company is very responsive and it was too bad Deni was not

Consider the type of guiding style and the apparent go, go, go, philosophy of your guides