In addition to technical skills, the core competences of a mountain guide are risk management, guiding, communication and teaching. In all sectors he/she demonstrate the highest possible levels of professionalism.
Risk management
The tasks of a mountain guide are guiding, accompanying, advising, teaching and training of clients in alpine terrain. The executed activities mainly take place in natural environments, however, activities in artificial environments are also subject to certain dangers. One of the main tasks of the mountain guide is to protect his/her clients and himself with concrete measures (recognising, planning, tactics and application of suitable belaying techniques) as effectively as possible from dangers during the execution of these activities. For this reason he/she reduces the risk through his/her specialised know-how and competence to act in accordance with the below defined “subjective and objective residual risks”.
Applied risk management is a continuous process that improves over time. It takes place during planning, realisation and reflection. The mountain guide is aware of a certain risk that always exists, even after having taken protective measures. It is his/her job to inform clients about the remaining residual risk.
Subjective residual risk:
The subjective residual risk of a mountain sports activity is the residual risk that has to be accepted by the person executing mountain sports if he/she and persons indirectly and directly involved carry out the activity normally associated with the engagement of this type of mountain sport.
Objective residual risk:
Objective residual risk is present when exterior circumstances including environmental factors continually present maximally average risk exposure concerning objective dangers.
The total subjective and objective residual risk is usually less than the general risk when executing the corresponding mountain sports activity because, not all people who carry out mountain sports dispose of enough competences to use the recognised rules of the types of mountain sports according to the situation and do not have enough specialist know-how to assess the objective dangers.
