SOP and scheduling, please read

[Martin Volken]

Hi all.

We have all heard of the AMGA SOP. We are trying to be compliant as much as possible. 

I have looked over the document and find it "a step in the right direction", but not a finished document. I doubt that the AMGA would dispute that. 

There is also no good way for them to enforce this, but the message is clear and there will be a cultural shift over the next few years. 

PGS is not an accredited business yet and with that we have some liberty in the reasonable interpretation of SOP. This is important to me, since PGS has guides that are perfectly qualified for certain assignments, but might not fulfill the SOP requirement. Simply being SOP compliant can have severe financial consequences for PGS and the guide and that is why my SOP compliance comes with "some small print". 

We will never send a guide into terrain that they are not comfortable with, but it is important that you  communicate your stance on SOP with the office. If your stance is full compliance, we will 100% respect that. We just need to know. This way we can assign you for the proper trip. 

Please let the office know as soon as possible. The ski mountaineering season is upon us. 

Cheers. Martin