My Covid Response
There is a sliver of light. A narrow path through which we can start to look forward. Lone Peak, UT. June 2018
It is, thankfully, time to start looking forward to shared mountain time. Nothing has ever been guaranteed, but uncertainty is still higher now than we are accustomed to. With the consult of the greater guiding community, trusted mentors, extensive consult with thought leaders, and an overlay of my own values and perspectives, I’ve come up with the following.
First, some underlying theory and a set of assumptions I’m operating under.
As it pertains to the risk of infectious disease transmission, I will gauge and judge my own actions mainly by their comparison to the Jed of before.
We were at a sort of homeostasis before, and now there’s a new stimulus in the mix. I didn’t have to be perfect before, and I don’t have to be perfect now.
I do have to be better now. I can be better now.
Any one role, person, family, field, community, or population can adjust behavior in one of four major ways. Relative to pre-Covid behavior, we can make:
infinite change
a lot of change
a little change
or no change
As it pertains to guiding, I am now in a state of “infinite change”. I have gone from full time to zero. Currently, my individual choice and external factors are in line. I couldn’t guide right now if I wanted to. Return to guiding will require the approval and cooperation of multiple entities.
My first phase of guiding will be done “a lot” differently than it used to be. The only way to eliminate disease transmission due to my guiding would be to keep it at zero. I’m going to transmit more pathogens by guiding, no matter how I do it, than I do by not guiding. That being said, in the early phases I will make sure my professional behavior reduces by a lot, as compared to pre-covid behavior, my involvement in pathogen transmission. To do so:
There are likely to be practices, above and beyond the below, required by certain clients, business partners and land managers. I’ll gladly be more rigorous than this list suggests, but won’t move past this level of attention without very, very good reason to do so.
I am constantly monitoring my own health. I won’t work sick. Cancellation policies will allow me and clients alike the freedom to opt out if Covid symptoms present.
I will keep up the rigorous social distancing practices outside of work. No events, no large gatherings, no dining out, careful grocery and gas-station visits, limited small-group socializing.
I will take every action necessary to reduce the number of clients I interact with. Fewer bookings, longer bookings, smaller groups. All possible business partners are in agreement on this.
I will focus my efforts on bookings that reduce the number of interactions required outside the actual climbing time and group. More wilderness* trips, more local trips, more obscure offerings.
I will focus my efforts on bookings that reduce close-up interactions during trips. Certain types of scrambling and glaciated peaks can be climbed without violating the 6 foot bubble.
In the field, together, we’ll take the precautions that have become commonplace. No handshakes, some distance between, hand-washing, limit face touching, etc.
When we’re forced by mountain terrain and logistics to be within 6 feet of one another, I’ll wear a fabric face covering and ask you to do the same. I have equipment partners that are willing to supply us both with face coverings.
Any gear that we don’t have to share will go unshared. Notably, different from previous seasons, I have ultralight loaner solo shelter options. We don’t need to share shelter.
The gear we do need to both touch (rope and climbing hardware) will be rotated, sanitized and/or fallowed such that you aren’t exposed to surfaces touched by recent clients.
To accommodate the greater attention required by coronavirus concerns, inherent mountain-related risks and complications will be reduced. I won’t do my most demanding guiding during this time period.
If your risk tolerance requires assurances greater than those provided above, please feel free to open that dialog. There are likely ways to adapt what we do to even further lessen the risk of transmission.
Subsequent levels of “reentry” will incrementally relax one or two of the above bullet points at a time. Most likely, due mainly to financial necessity, the first to get relaxed will be work volume. Some of the “low hanging fruit” will remain in the mix for a long, long time.
*This is eminently debatable. I’m still torn a bit on the relative risks of professional-level wilderness travel in the immediate future. Some mountain professionals are leaning away from wilderness trips because of the difficulty in communication and evacuation. I’m leaning towards more wilderness time because trips to the wilderness truly reduce transmission opportunity. I’m not yet sure how to actually balance those concerns.
I feel the big-picture, societal concerns are at least equal to the concerns of the group/climbing team. If I contract and carry the novel coronavirus in society, I have “x” likelihood of getting sick in a way that requires assistance and I have “y” likelihood of participating in transmission. If I contract and carry it in the wilderness, I have the same “x” likelihood of getting sick in a way that requires assistance, but I have something much less than “y” likelihood of participating in transmission. The assistance that I (or my guest/climbing partner) requires due to Covid19 is more difficult to administer in the wilderness, but how does one balance that against the transmission question? There is no right answer. In the end, I like wilderness travel, and that certainly informs my preferences.