Take me to your leader - adventure travel

Sierra, Nov-Dec, 1992 by Steve Kasper

You're ready to head out for adventure--maybe a seakayak trip in Baja, or a hutto-hut ski tour in the Alps. But when you think about making transportation arrangements, collecting the right equipment, buying and organizing two weeks' worth of food, and charting a course through unknown terrain, it may seem like no vacation at all.

Leaf through the ads in any outdoor magazine and you'll find dozens of adventure-travel outfitters who will be more than happy to accommodate your wanderlust and penchant for convenience. Unfortunately, there's no Consumer Reports to help you choose the right one; this is a multi-thousand-dollar investment you could end up making with precious few facts to go by. Unless you've got a rocksolid recommendation from a trustworthy friend or travel agent, the only indepth research you'll be able to rely on will be your own.

First, though, interview yourself. How exotic a trip do your mind and body crave? How pampered do you want to be? How much are you willing to pay? Most important, what are your physical capabilities? You won't have a good time if you're continually struggling to keep up. Worse yet, you can endanger an entire group. The more remote the destination and the more arduous the trip, the more important this concern becomes.

A good outfitter tries to orchestrate a successful trip by clearly spelling out itineraries, expectations, and requirements, and by asking all prospective clients to complete a pre-trip questionnaire scrutinizing their experience, skills, and medical histories. The more extensive the printed trip information, and the more intrusive the questionnaire, the better. A truly professional operator will be willing to exclude ill-prepared participants even though they've got credit cards in hand; the result will be a trip roster filled with people of roughly matched skills and interests. If you sense that an outfitter is willing to take all comers, look elsewhere.

Once you've determined what you want from a trip, a well-focused phone interview will help you fill any informational gaps. Ask for references or copies of trip and leader evaluations filled out by previous clients. (Just don't expect to be referred to clients who hated their trips.) Ask a guide company about its particular strengths: Some outfitters offering worldwide trips will freely admit that they have more experience in some locales than in others. Even if you're considering a general excursion, an inquisitive call may lead you to a guide with invaluable knowledge in your area of interest (such as botany or geology), gleaned from years on the trail.

This is also your chance to delve into topics that may have been glossed over in the glossy brochures: cancellation policy, payment rules (not all outfitters accept credit cards, for example), and guides' professional training. If an outfitter doesn't discuss the subject in its literature, ask what it does to promote environmentally responsible tourism.

Because trip catalogs usually provide sparse biographies of guides, don't hesitate to ask to talk directly to your prospective leader. If your outfitter is subcontracting with another travel operator (a common practice with foreign trips), ask for the name and telephone number of the subcontractor, and consider calling them. At a minimum, you may be able to find out how well their guides speak English. If your tour is subcontracted, make sure you have the name and phone number of the domestic outfitter's representative in the host country.

Find out the size of your tour. An ideal group has 8 to 15 members. If it is any smaller, one client's bad experience (or rotten personality) can cloud an entire group's. But tours with more than 15 people can be unwieldy and impersonal.

By the same token, the guide-toclient ratio is important. The more guides, the easier it is for agroup to find its natural level, possibly splitting into faster and slower "teams" so that no one feels like a deadweight.

An outfitter should be willing to load you down with as much information as you need to make your decision. But don't expect an answer to every question. A lot of what makes a good traveladventure company or an excellent guide is intangible, as hard to predict as the weather in the Andes during your two weeks in February. After all, it's called adventure travel for a reason.