I once heard a client mention, "Good guide, good ride," whilst on a backcountry ski trip with us in Hokkaido. He was a regular heli-ski client and had probably been guided by a number of guides through the years.

The heli-ski guide’s role is to make the heli-ski day as safe and enjoyable as possible for the clients.  Sometimes there can be a difficult balance between managing the clients’ expectations and navigating safely through avalanche terrain. It’s tough to deliver on “steep and deep” when the avalanche risk is high, as an example.

The guide will continually be assessing avalanche risk with respect to the terrain, weather and snowpack. The weather can change through the day, the snowpack can vary from one run to the next and the terrain is constantly changing, so the guide has a lot to think about.

A guide will navigate the terrain with safety margins. This is so as not to push the boundary between safe and what could be potentially risky and dangerous. For this to work, clients need to be able to show that they can ski in control and also to be respectful of the guide's decision making.

Skiing in control is mostly just skiing within yourself. Being respectful of the guide just means following the guide's directions. Sometimes it can be difficult to focus when there is a foot of fresh blower overnight and to reign in your own skiing ambitions.

Put it this way, the guide will need to increase the safety margin with clients who aren’t skiing in control, or may not be following directions. This could mean landing and skiing into a mellow run as opposed to perhaps skiing off a steeper landing and into more interesting terrain.

So I would say that there is a caveat to the statement, “Good guide, good ride.”  It is more like; “Ski in control and be respectful, for the guide, to give you a good ride.”