LOCALadk Magazine

Summer 2018 LOCALadk Magazine 43 LOCALadk Not surprisingly, these new waves of Adirondack tourists have led to a corresponding surge in guides. Prior to the 1980 Olympics there were only a few hundred guides, and by 1884 there were 1,430. There was little to discourage anyone wanting to call himself a guide; then, a guiding license could be purchased for $2, no questions asked. Today, according to the New York Department of Conser- vation, there are 2,500 licensed guides who pay the $100 fee and submit to an exam. Different sports have different re- quirements (Lake Champlain guides must be registered sea captains, while climbers only need submit an affidavit attest- ing to their skills), but all must be in good health and be ca- pable of basic life-saving measures. There is a sense of community among the guides, and a support network that invigorates the profession. Naturalist guide Elizabeth Lee of Westport said she was encouraged to get her license by legendar y Adirondack Guide Joe Hack- ett, at a time when there were not many women guides. Lee has had a foot in both old- and new-school guiding, dating from the time she took wealthy clients and their prodigious amounts of gear up to the Ausable lakes in the shadow of the Great Range. "It was always a big, fun adventure," she said. "I got a lot of repeat clients because I was a pretty good cook." Then along came TripAdvisor and informative, how-to websites, and full-ser vice guiding faded. Today, Lee said she primarily guides families whose primar y objectives are, "not to get lost or hurt. They don't care as much about skills, they just want to go somewhere pretty." Lee can identif y animals from tracks and scat. She knows the names of plants, mushrooms, flowers, and trees, and can explain how they all relate to each other. These relationships are, essentially, the true meaning of the Adirondacks; like all guides, Lee feels privileged to be the messenger. "You pro- vide them with a sense of accomplishment. They want the feeling of being in the Adirondacks, and it's really fulfilling to take people like that out," she said. As circumstances in the Adirondacks change, along with the visitors they attract, so too have the guides changed. And they will most likely continue to do so. Even in the rough- and-tumble world of extreme sports, the emergence of the philosopher-guide has broadened the focus to include and explain a changing climate, the principles of Leave No Trace, and the age-old debate of use vs. wilderness. These are not entirely new questions, having filtered down from long ago. When Old Mountain Phelps threatened to throw the young women off his "mounting," he was reflect- ing a reverence for the wilds, of a melding of nature and spir- it, not to be taken for granted. That message rings through the words of today's guides and will continue to do so as long as there is an Adirondacks. LOC ALadk would like to dedicate this article to the late Lynn Malerba, NYS Licensed Guide #4043 and owner of Ad- irondack Connections. Lynn sadly passed away on May 7th as a result of injuries suffered after a large tree broke off and fell on her while she was tent camping. She was guiding a backpacking trip at the time and was caught in a storm. She began guiding in 2002 and had helped countless people fur- ther explore, enjoy and appreciate the Adirondacks. Our con- dolences to her family, friends and clients. Will Roth Elizabeth Lee Timothy Behuniak

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