October 1998 issue, letters, U.S.Guide Roulette- This is an interesting letter written by someone from the U.S. now living in Switzerland about his surprise that there’s no requirement for certification for guides in United States. He mentions the fact that in Switzerland he would be very surprised if anyone would ever choose to ski with someone who called himself a "ski guide" who hadn’t been trained or certified. He states,


 

"Moreover, no Swiss would be willing to pay someone without the diploma, which strikes me as perfectly normal. Everyone has a right to know what he’s paying for, right? Until the United States adopts a standardized system of required qualifications, hiring a guide back home must be roughly akin to playing the lottery… or Russian roulette. Now, it’s obvious that a piece of paper doth not a good guide make, but at least it insures that the guy digging the snow profile before you cross that slope knows depth hoar from his elbow-that is, it insures a minimum level of competence."