Gunks Guide Service - Onsight Climbing Guides - www.climbonsight.com

Craig Plescia wrote:RE: Advertising - definitely. I'm currently shelling out 250/mo to google adwords and have 1 company editing my site code to boost search engine results, and another one spidering links for me to also help try and get us on the first page. It's a new site though, and spidering takes time... so hopefully in the next month or two I have a somewhat decent ranking. RE: Photos - Swapping out photos with good student photos is the plan. RE: the warm welcome on the preserve... that's the understatement of the year. Between the lovely self-righteous people that feel like coming up to our van and giving me a piece of their mind, or the 2 guide services that complained to the preserve within 8 hours of my site going live, we've been having an excellent time. ...Kill them with kindness I guess.

This makes a ton of sense. Anytime you only have one legit certification, it creates a monopoly and barrier for entry. Good for those established in the profession, bad for those entering. Competetion is good. That said, if I were using a guide service, I'd look for an AMGA certified one. But most people looking to top rope with a guide a Peterskill probably don't know enough to even care.

Guiding is an interesting profession. I've met tons of really nice, friendly and helpful ones. And I've met tons of A holes that treat public land as their own. But I think we need a reality TV show of guides vs guides, I bet that gets nasty.

Good luck!

Even the nicest guides are still turning our public lands into a commercial enterprise......

Nick Goldsmith wrote:Even the nicest guides are still turning our public lands into a commercial enterprise......

wait, the gunks are on public land now?

Nick Goldsmith wrote:Even the nicest guides are still turning our public lands into a commercial enterprise......

Says the guy who used to guide...

This idea that somehow one user is more entitled to access our public lands than another is bunk. Guides have as much right as anyone else to make use of public lands. No more and no less than anyone else.

With the fact that they gain commercial benefit from that access does come extra responsibility to be good stewards of those lands and to be contributing, positive members of the climbing community.

Just callin' like I see it, Nick! Hope to see you out on the crags this summer.

Cheers and sorry for the thread hijack.

PS: Full disclosure- Yes, I earn a substantial portion of my living guiding.

Nick Goldsmith wrote:Even the nicest guides are still turning our public lands into a commercial enterprise......

• **off subject *** while not getting permits to guide on public land every time they take people out