Sami
What to expect when you join one of Sami's hikes
Purpose
If you are reading this page, chances are that you followed a link from one of my invites for hiking, and are wondering what to expect from the hike.
Important to keep in mind: Unlike many others, I don't vet people to decide whether they have the skills, experience and fitness the join my hikes. Instead of an "interview process", I favour shared responsibilities between you and me:
- I attempt to best represent my hiking philosophy so you can judge whether there is a good fit, based on how you like hiking.
- You do all the necessary research to determine whether you are comfortable and experienced enough to attempt the hike/scramble. Please point to me anything that looks fishy with my plan, as I'm no expert, I could be pushing for something that doesn't make sense.
- You decide what equipment, gear, maps, and amount of food & water you need to bring in order to tackle the hike/scramble.
- If you have doubts or questions, reach out to me and we will sort it out.
- Don't let perfect be the enemy of good, all we are trying to do here is to get rid of outlier outcomes where there is an obvious misfit.
What to expect when joining Sami's hikes
In brief, a typical Summer Sami hike on a nice, hot, sunny day, looks like the following:
- Early start: 5am for a regular day at the trailhead, and sometimes earlier for special hikes to give plenty of time for breaks without rushing. Spring and Fall hikes often start at 7am instead, as the temperature/weather isn't conducive to stopping all the time for pictures and taking extended breaks.
- Start on time: To be respectful of everyone who shows up on time, we start the hike at the time that is advertised. Keep in mind that the meeting time is always 15 minutes before the start. So if you are 5 minutes late, you are not 5 minutes late, you are 20 minutes late.
- Lots of pictures along the way: When the weather / conditions are right, I take a lot of pictures. If you hate picture breaks, you are more likely to enjoy my company when the weather is cold (the colder, the less pictures). If you do love picture breaks, make sure to wear flashy colors so we can have good shots! I always share my pictures in full quality/resolution after the hike.
- Moderate/intermediate pace: Unless stated otherwise, I aim to go at a moderate pace for most of my hikes. The hard part about this point is that everyone seems to have a different definition of "moderate pace", so it is a bit hard to accurately describe. My version of "moderate" pace has a tendency to turn into a "fast" pace on the "boring" sections (approach roads without views, etc), and into a slow pace because of pictures when the views are amazing and the sun welcomes us.
- Long break at the top: When the weather is good, I love spending several hours at the summit. It's not everyone's thing, so it makes it even more important to mention.
If you don't like long breaks, I have two options for you:
- I don't insist on the group staying together the whole time, so it is perfectly fine if part of the group splits to complete the hike.
- Join the early/late season hikes when the temperature is colder. I don't insist on long breaks when it's freezing outside.
- Finish the hike at a reasonable time: I usually camp on Saturday nights, and hike the next day. So I'm usually trying to complete the hike by 5pm, to give a little time for a cold dip (always bring a swimming suit) and a beer with the team. I don't mind finishing a bit later on Sundays, as I'm not trying to beat the traffic, but rather let it go and get back home after the rush.
Your Safety, Your Responsibility
Please note that I am not a professional guide. I have average mountain and navigation skills and you assume all responsibility for your safety, well-being and preparedness. Do your own research to ensure that you know what you are getting into and be prepared to be self-reliant in case we have to split.
More specifically:
- Don't take for granted that I know what I am doing. I have some ideas/plans, but these may not be realistic/possible under the current conditions, or at all.
- Do your own research to get your own feel of the adventure
- Make sure you have all the maps and directions that you need.
- Plan the adventure like if the group will need to split.
- Make sure to bring enough food and water. Don't forget that on nice, sunny days, we will take extended breaks, so you will consume more water than usual.
- Depending on the conditions, make sure to bring the gear you need (helmet, spikes/crampons, ice axe, etc). Do not hesitate to ask the rest of the group what gear they are considering bringing.
- Things don't necessarily go according to plan. Bringing a headlight and warmer clothes is never a bad idea.
Staying all together vs splitting the group
One of the subjects that seems to create division is whether the group has to stay together all the time, or if it is fine to split the group.
My take is that philosophically, I'm perfectly fine with splitting. Especially with bigger groups (7-9), it often happens that different people end up adopting a different pace, and that things are simply more harmonious if we let the group split rather than artifically keep it together. Live, and let live! Whatever moments shared together are good moments that don't need to last for the entire hike. Sharing part of the hike is better than not sharing the hike at all.
Also part of the debate is if someone overestimated their ability to complete a hike/scramble safely, is it fair to ask the whole group to turn back? In this particular case, my personal take is unless the person's life is in danger, we should try to find practical arrangements for the person to either turn back or wait for the group. Things can get tricker if the hike is a loop, though.
However, in practice, some things have to be considered:
- If the hike has a restriction on the minimum number of people in the group (e.g. Parks Canada bear safety), then splitting a smaller group may not be an option
- Out and back vs loop. If going out and back, it is less stressful to leave some people behind and wait for them at the summit as the group is necessarily coming back anyways. But what about loops? How confident are we that the people behind can safely complete the loop or turn back?
- Maps and directions: Everyone in the group is expected to have all the maps and directions. But are we sure that the people we leave behind indeed do have all the information?
- Technicality of the hike/scramble vs experience of the team: is the hike comparable to a "walk in the park", or is it a more intense scramble?
- Are there lots of other people on the trail?
- Car pooling arrangements are also something to consider when splitting the group.
And in case you are wondering, these guidelines are symmetric. It's not just "other people" who have to wait for the group to come back, it also happened to me that I didn't feel comfortable pushing to the summit because of the conditions, and waited for the group to summit and return.
If anyone joining my hikes feels strongly about staying together all the time, it is best to discuss it before the hike to align the expectations. Otherwise, we will just try to use common sense depending on the situation to ensure that we don't split the group in a dumb way.
What to expect when joining a multi-day camping or hut trip
First of all, let me make it clear that the multi-day trips that I enjoy the most are the ones where nobody comes with the expectation of doing everything with everyone. In my opinion, the best trips happen when everyone feels free to plan their days the way they prefer, and that we happen to do some of the hiking/scrambling together when the desires and plans are compatible. And regardless of what everyone decided to do during the day, we can enjoy some quality time and share some food at night around a fire.
Here are some of the factors motivating this:
- Each person has done different hikes in a given area.
- Everyone has their own preferences of pace, amount of breaks, start time, etc. My preferences are explained in the previous section, but vary based on the weather, etc.
- Different people don't always need the same amount of rest days on longer multi-day trips.
- We don't need to match 100% to do a trip together. But make sure to express your preferences/concerns first.
- Even when my hiking preferences don't match yours, average to bad weather will usually modulate these preferences towards less extreme ones (start later, shorten the breaks, etc), which might make them closer to yours, so it's impossible to know ahead of time (at least for me) what the "ideal" plan would be.
Also worth highlighting that as far as I am concerned, weather and smoke conditions play a big role in influencing my plans:
- The nicer / warmer / sunnier the weather is, the earlier I'll start, and the more breaks I'll take. And I will usually want to pick the "best" hikes for the "best" days.
- Smoke means that I don't hike. I will use the smoke days as rest days and 100% enjoy the nice days instead.
- Cloudy days are days for the more average hikes.
- Rain means that I will need someone who acts as a cheerleader to convince me that it's a great idea to climb 1200mEG to enjoy zero view ;-)
Finally, the What to expect when joining Sami's hikes section is definitely relevant here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do your hikes start so early?
Different people are willing to make different compromises to enjoy their hiking days.
In my case, the priority goes to:
- Taking my time during the hike with plenty of picture breaks.
- Enjoying extended breaks at the summit (several hours during the core of the summer).
- Finishing early (~5pm) to enjoy a beer and a cold dip with the rest of the team, and have enough time to eat and go to bed early to be ready for the next hike.
- Having extra room for when things don't go exactly according to plan. If you're looking for days that go according to plan, I'm not your guy.
As a result, I simply start the hike early-enough to be able to achieve all that.
To give realistic examples of what early starts mean for longer day hikes,
- We started Pharaoh Peak at 4am and caught the sunrise on Healy Pass around 7am (August 2022)
- We started the Skyline Trail at 5am (September 2023).
And for what it's worth, I advertised both of these hikes as "FAST" hikes, not "moderate pace" ones.
Why don't you wait for people who are late?
When I create an event, I set the meeting time 15 minutes before we actually start the hike, to give people enough time to put their boots on, go to the washrooms, adjust their gear, etc.
So, when someone doesn't show up by the time we start the hike, we have technically already waited for 15 minutes:
- Isn't 15 minutes a fair time to wait for late people?
- If not, what is a fair amount of time to wait for?
Factors motivating this system:
- Consistent/easy to grasp rules regardless of the availaibilty of cellular network at the trailhead to receive messages about people behind late or not coming.
- Fairness to people who show up on time. Especially with early starts when the temperature is often cold even during the summer.
- Without cellular connectivity, it isn't even possible to know whether people will join or whether they cancelled.
What groups do you advertise your hikes on?
I first create an event on Alberta Hikers Together (public group, so events can be seen by anyone), and then share it to:
- Find Hiking Groups/Partners, Alberta (private group)
- Alberta Hikers & Climbers (private group)
There is an entire section on meetup groups
Why don't you vet people who join your hikes like most other organizers do?
- I don't see myself as a full-fledged "organizer". I just go hiking, and I am happy to share (part of) the trail with others.
- I suspect that the meetup organizers who have a vetting process in place spend a non-negligible amount of time on that, which I would like to avoid for as long as possible.
- So far, I'm running at a pace of roughly one potentially-avoidable incident worth mentionning per summer (May-Nov), and so far, these incidents have not been catastrophic. Is it worth spending a lot of time vetting people to avoid these rare and minor incidents? Would my vetting process be so good that I would avoid these incidents anyways?
- Some of the incidents were arguably partly my fault where I set the wrong expectations. So I hope that by being more mindful about setting expectations, it would solve part of the problem.
- Even if I wanted to vet people, how good would I be at that? I recently moved to Alberta, and don't have that much experience with the mountains.
- Honestly, most of the people I have hiked/scrambled with are more experienced and do better research than me anyways. So I would feel a bit of an imposter.
I would like to join one of your hikes, but can't commit now
Some organizers take it personally if someone says they would come but doesn't. I don't. If you can come, that's great. If you can't, then see you next time!
If there's a chance you won't make it, just let me know you're a maybe, and avoid making car pooling arrangements with others that mess up everyone's plan if you can't come.
Can we carpool from Calgary?
I often camp on Friday and Saturday nights from end of June to the beginning of September, so it is not possible for me to carpool on these weekends. When I do the return trip from Calgary, we can generally carpool from the Petro Canada at the intersection of Highway 1 and 22.
However, I do create a group chat for every hike, feel free to use it to look for car pooling opportunities.
What is the typical number of people who participate to your hikes?
Most of my hikes are 3-4 people hikes. It does happen that we have bigger groups (7-8).
Why do you post your hikes so late in the week?
The more unreliable the weather and conditions are (late snow, smoke, etc), the more I wait before posting a hike. I will often keep (what I consider) the best and longest hikes for when the weather is good/perfect, and adjust the objectives when I don't get the weather I wish.
So that can lead me to post a Saturday hike on Thursday night or Friday afternoon. If you would like a heads up of what I am considering for the week-end, feel free to reach out to me.
Do you keep a log of your hikes?
Yes. You can find it in this spreadsheet. Among others, the spreadsheet also contains links to the corresponding Garmin activities. The portal doesn't provide the GPS traces, but don't hesitate to reach out if you want some traces, I can share them with you.
Do you hike when it's smoky?
I don't usually hike or scramble when it's smoky. I will usually cancel an event if the smoke forecast changes drastically. However, if the rest of the group still wants to do the hike/scramble, feel free to do it without me.
Can you provide the template that you use to create FB events?
Sure! Here are a couple:
Event 1:
Event 2: