There's a big difference between hitting the backcountry with your buddies for fun, and doing it as a j-o-b where you're legally responsible for people who are paying you for your competence. Professional guides take systems to the next level, and helping them get there is Brooks-Range with their Professional Guide Toolkit.
The PGT is BR's most comprehensive collection of useful tools for backcountry risk management, not just for guides but for anyone serious about learn-to-return. A bright yellow ripstop nylon field organizer has sleeves for the Rite-in-the-Rain field book #311 and other included items. A map tool has ten scales and slope indices, three UTM rulers, a compass rose with 360 and 64 notations that can be modifed to work as an inclinometer, and a metric-to-english conversation table. The All-in-One Emergency Latitude/Longitude Ruler has the same ten scales(1:20,000 through 1:250,000) in a slightly easier to use longer form on a piece of paper.
Those are cool enough, but the PGT also includes six double-sided cards with checklists and walk-throughs for conducting guide's meetings, planning a tour, tracking vital party stats, avalanche hazard forecasts and helicopter landing zone preparation. Most of us hacks just collapse into our fart sacks once camp is set up. The morning and evening guide's meeting cards show what kind of work professionals do in their downtime to make sure things keep running smoothly: hazard evaluations, weather observations and forecasts, client-specific needs from coaching to health to attitude, group dynamics and decision making quality to name a few.
If you want to take your game to the next level by systematizing best practices, the Brooks-Range Professional Guide Toolkit is a great place to start.
One response to “Brooks-Range Professional Guide Toolkit”
I just love Brooks-Range gear. We also have the Pro Guide Toolkit for 59.95 @ http://www.7summitsgear.com/p-59-professional-guide-toolkit.aspx