GUIDE OF THE QUARTER: TANNER HASKINS
Tanner Haskins, a river and backcountry skiing guide from Stanley, ID, spoke with Redside Board Member Brian Chaffin in late May 2020… during quarantine times…
Brian Chaffin (BC): Tanner, thanks so much for speaking with us today. Where are you? We're all ‘staying at home’ these days, so we're in full-on Zoom mode! We generally like to interview in person, so tell me where you are.
Tanner Haskins (TH): I'm in the house I rent here in Stanley
BC: Awesome. How's the weather in beautiful Stanley these days?
TH: A little gray this week.
BC: Are you still are you still in the backcountry skiing mode?
TH: I kind of took a break, you know, the hospital in Sun Valley was kind of overwhelmed for a while. So everyone was kind of trying to dial it back, trying not do anything risky, so we wouldn't end up there. But I'm thinking about getting back out soon.
BC: That's good. You know, we knew because of COVID that the Sun Valley Hospital was overwhelmed. I never thought that it would have ramifications on your risk taking in the backcountry!
TH: Yeah, right?
BC: That’s fascinating. Let’s dive in. Tell me a little bit about your guiding career. So, I know you are a ski guide, but I think you are also river guide, tell me a little bit about what you do, where you work, and who you work for.
TH: Well, I moved out here to work for Sawtooth Mountain Guides. I grew up in Vermont and went to school in Vermont and visited here for the first time to take an avalanche class, actually through Sun Valley Trekking while I was still in college. Sarah Lundy was my guide on that course. She later bought Sawtooth Mountain Guides and they hired me to be like the hut keeper intern for the winter 2013-14. And yeah, so I've been progressing on the whole guide thing with Sawtooth Mountain Guides for the last seven years and needed something to do in the summers to keep me occupied and they connected me with Jared Hopkinson at Rocky Mountain River Tours and Sawtooth Adventure Company. So this will be my seventh summer raft guiding as well.
Photo Credit: Lara Antonello
BC: Awesome, so you are a full time Stanley resident, then? It sounds like you have year round work in Stanley? That's the dream right there.
TH: Yeah, it’s pretty perfect.
BC: Fantastic. So for Jared, you work all of his permitted rivers? Do you work in Stanley, as well as on the Main Salmon and on the Middle Fork of the Salmon?
TH: Yep, like now it's just a couple day trips a year out of Stanley and I'm a split pretty evenly between the Main Salmon and the Middle Fork.
BC: Yeah, and congrats on going from “hut keeper intern” to full on ski guide! So it sounds like you've been guiding about seven years, then?
TH: Yep.
BC: I'm super curious to know about—well, there's very few guides out there that that make that year round commitment and are able to have work in both the winter and the summer season. What's the balance there? What do you like about it? I mean, they are very different types of guiding. I'm curious if you might contrast that a little bit for us.
TH: Yeah, I like it. It's nice because it just kind of, you know, keeps everything fresh. I mean, even within the river season, doing the three different rivers, it's not as easy to get burned out or tired of it, if you're switching it up. And then the winter… it's not super busy for me at Sawtooth Mountain Guides, but that's perfect because summer is kind of crazy, so it's nice to have a little break. And then I actually throw in a third segment where I go to Alaska and ski guide for the spring. Yeah, so being flexible and being willing to travel and be away from home is kind of the big thing that makes it possible to guide all year.
BC: Wow, that's great. Where do you guide in in Alaska?
TH: I did five years in Valdes with Valdes Heli-ski Guides, and now I just finished my first year with Majestic Heli-ski Guides in Sutton, Alaska.
BC: Very cool. What's the the difference between ski guiding in the Sawtooths and then jumping up to heli-guiding in Southeast Alaska?
TH: The helicopter is the biggest difference.
BC: [Laughter] Yeah, yeah. I imagine the vast, ‘largeness’ of the place too…
TH: Yeah. And of course the terrain is totally different. We're entirely skiing above treeline in Alaska, which is nice because then, you know, with avalanches you're not worried about running into trees. But then you deal with a lot of flat light. If there's a layer of clouds, all of a sudden the sky is white and the ground is white and all the mountains are white and you can't see anything. It's like being inside a ping pong ball. Here you can ski out even if it is blizzarding if you're in the trees.
BC: As long as you have some point of reference, right?
Photo credit: Alan Blado
So, what does it mean to you to guide? I know that’s kind of a big question, but I'm curious on your take. I'll just preface it with this: a lot of people come into guiding because they love the sports that they're doing. They love rafting, love kayaking, love skiing. And some people don't come into guiding thinking about “guide” as a profession or as a professional. Tell me about that role for you. Have you grown into that role? How do you view it? Where are you with what it means to guide?
TH: Well, I came into guiding because I like skiing and ski guiding was the first guiding I did. It was funny coming into rafting, I had never rafted before so that has become a new passion through guiding which is really nice. I go on private raft trips all the time now, so that's great. With both of them, obviously, I enjoy the activity itself, but the guiding is a little larger than that and certainly the most rewarding part of it is introducing people to the wilderness, or a new mode of travel or transportation or sport that they're becoming familiar with and seeing that kind of blow their minds is really rewarding.
BC: Does one moment stand out? Do you have a an anecdote or story about a client or experience which was really rewarding?
TH: Let's see… yeah, trying to think if there's one in particular…. I mean, there's the guy just this year I took heli-skiing and it was his first time. He was a snowboarder, and about halfway down the first run—you know, it's like the worst run I've done all season—and it was just blowing his mind. It was the best thing he'd ever done; it was the best ski run of his life. And he was just blown away. So that was pretty cool and it changed my day too because I was like, “oh right, I'm not giving him some terrible product, I'm just spoiled.”
BC: It's all relative. Isn’t that amazing how someone else's experience can bring you into the fold and you're like, “yeah, this is awesome.” That's really cool. What about guiding is challenging for you, what are some of the challenges that you encounter in guiding?
TH: I think being away from home is the largest challenge. So even though with the rafting season I'm based out of Stanley and I come through every week, I'm still out camping, away from my house and my girlfriend and everything for seven nights a week on our rotation. Yeah, and then similarly being in Alaska is like a two or three months season where I'm just completely gone. So yeah, that's challenging, but not insurmountable.
BC: Is that Alaska season… did you already do it, or are you still going to do it?
TH: Already did it. Yeah, it was supposed to be from early February through April, but ended early.
BC: COVID put the kibosh on it?
TH: Yep.
BC: I'm glad you brought up a girlfriend. One of the biggest known challenges of guiding is relationships. Trying to create and foster—especially with overnight multiday-type guiding—what are some of your coping mechanisms or how have you navigated that?
TH: Well, fortunately, she is also seasonal. She works for Sawtooth Mountain Guides and then actually she just started back with the Forest Service. And so we both have large shoulder seasons that overlap. So we just make up for time spent apart by spending lots of time together in the shoulder seasons and going on trips and stuff.
BC: Everything seasonal in guiding right? It’s either on or it’s off. That’s great. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of guides that make it work that way; a partner hikes in on a deadhead or gets to float for a day because there's only a few clients.
Changing gears a bit, do you have any goals as a guide? Is there something that you'd like to guide that you haven't or is there's a place that you'd like to go or there's a thing you'd like to accomplish while you’re guiding, or are you just living in the moment?
TH: Yeah, as far as rafting, I don't have too much ambition outside of where I'm guiding now—certainly floating more rivers, but maybe not working them. But for skiing, I'd like to do more international stuff. Particularly, South America is interesting to me, either for touring guiding or heli-ski guiding. I think that could be a fun, like, take August when it is all smoky and everyone's angry on the river and go heli-ski for a month and then come back.
BC: [Laughter] I assume in the Andes?
TH: Oh yeah, hopefully!
BC: That would be great—”sorry guys I know it's smoky, we'll see you later!” Awesome. Do you have a favorite line or a favorite run you can you can share with us? You don't have to give us the full gems that are hidden away, but yeah, if you had to pick a favorite rapid to run or favorite line to ski, what would you would do?
TH: Yeah, let's see. Favorite rapid…. It's fresh because I just came off a Jarbidge-Bruneau private trip. The five-mile rapid section at the bottom of the Bruneau is super fun in a two-person paddle raft.
BC: Alright, a little R2 action on the Bruneau!
TH: Yeah, it was super fun. Last year I did it in a ducky, and it was more stressful than fun.
BC: I bet. I haven't been been down there yet, but I heard when that thing is pumping that five-mile is a beast of a rapid.
TH: Yeah, fortunately I haven't done it very high, both years it's been kind of moderate. So that was nice. And for a ski line… man there's some good ones in the Sawtooths. I think my most memorable ski line—maybe not always my favorite—but the Jerry Garcia run above the Williams Peak Hut. I skied it at sunrise one time with pink light and overhead powder. It was incredible.
BC: That gets me wanting to get out of my chair, that's for sure. Do you think you will guide for a while? Do you think this is a big part of your career, do you have aspirations beyond this, or is this Tanner Haskins for now?
TH: I'll do it as long as it's fun is what I keep telling people, whenever they ask. And then part of it—there's more room for growth, I feel like, in the ski guiding side of things. More certifications, more international stuff, more room for promotion even. So, I kind of feel like maybe I've already topped out on the rafting, but I'm happy to keep doing that as long as it's fun. With the ski guiding now, I've been kind of growing on the management side of things too, with the heli-skiing. So in addition to be a guide, this year I was the operations manager at Majestic Heli-ski, which is like, then I get to split my time in the office so I'm not out ruining my knees skiing 80 days in a row. And I like that stuff. It's a good challenge and it's fun.
BC: And learning a lot more I assume about the business side of it, logistics, clients, and marketing. And jet fuel costs.
TH: Exactly. Yeah, and so that seems more sustainable. It feels more like a “real job” and pays a little better.
BC: I always tell people… you know, guiding is about as real as it gets, for a real job right? I do. I love challenging that silly dichotomy of thinking, a real job versus guiding. The risk-reward that you have in your hands every single day. It's about as real as it gets. Right?
TH: Yeah, totally
BC: I'm curious, did you learn something stepping into that management role this year? Is there something that stands out that you learned that you might not have thought about as a guide, or with guiding, where you were like, “oh wow, this is different.”
TH: Yeah, I had been growing into the role for a couple years, so I was kind of used to it. I was the assistant operations manager last year at Valdes Heli-ski Guides. I'm trying to think if there was anything big—I think I mostly learned things about myself as a manager. Like I’m too nice sometimes.
BC: And probably in working with people specifically?
TH: Yeah, totally.
BC: One of the questions we love to ask our guide to the quarter interviewees is what would you say, or what kind of advice would you give to a first-year guide? You know, you’ve got your eager, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed guide showing up like, “I'm gonna sweep the huts. That's what I do. I'm super excited and want to be a guide!” What do you tell them?
photo: Alan BladoTH: Something I found about myself after the first couple years was… you know this community of guides, a lot of the time it's like a big party and everybody is kind of burning the candle at both ends, and you're having fun during the day with the clients and then you're camping out and staying up all night. And then you’re doing it again. And you just can't provide the right experience or sometimes even the safety for your clients if you're not sort of in tip-top shape yourself. And so, I always tell myself that “self care is client care.” So, if I'm taking care of myself then I know that I'll be able to be happy and be giving all my energy to a fun, happy safe experience for my clients. So, all my co-guides make fun of me for going to bed at nine o'clock on the river every night, but I know that because I do that I'm going to be cheerful and chipper and happy and strong in the morning.
BC: I love that mantra! Self care is client care. Yeah, it's true. It's really true. Do you have a hero as a guide? Do you have a mentor, or some people that have really meant a lot to you along the way that you've learned from?
TH: Probably Sarah Lundy first and foremost. I think she was like one of the first guides of the month or quarter or something.
BC: Yeah, she's been really supportive of Redside since the beginning. We love Sarah.
TH: Yeah, she taught the avalanche class that got me interested—more so than I was—in backcountry skiing, and hired me at Sawtooth Mountain Guides. So that's how I moved to Stanley, and yeah, taught me most everything. And is just fun and awesome to hang out with all the time.
BC: Meet any other wild characters along the way? Any legends?
TH: Yeah, there's some legends in the Alaskan Heli scene. But even if they're only legends within that scene… some folks that have worked up there for 30 years. You know, working with Doug Combs, starting Valdes Heli-ski Guides, and they all knew him. And yeah, and they're just kind of larger than life; they have pioneered a lot of first descents, skied more heli-runs than most people on Earth. And it's pretty cool.
BC: I'm right there with you—you meet those people that you've read about, thought about, and for the first time, and nobody else—99% of people on the planet walking down the street would not know who this person was from anyone. And you see them and they're covered in a warm glow of light.
TH: [Laughter] Totally.
BC: Well, this has been great. It's been really awesome to talk with you Tanner. Thanks for taking the time and for supporting Redside. It sounds to me like you really live some of the things that we believe in—that self care is client care and safety is paramount and guiding is professional. I really appreciate talking to you. I'm curious, do you have a memory or a story or something that you go back to that stands out as just one of the strangest, most interesting, cool…. it can be any of those things. Do you have a great guiding story you can share with us?
TH: Let's see, let's see. One of my more memorable days of ski guiding. I took out some older folks and their kids; they were visiting Sun Valley for the winter or for Christmas. Their ski resume was great; they had ski toured in the Dolomites and ski toured in Japan and they looked like the perfect clients. And there was a large enough group that there was me a another guide with them. And so we planned kind of a larger day than we normally would with clients who we were having for the first time, and… it just turned into an epic where you know they were on heavy rental gear and they were older and they're from New York at sea level and we took them to Galena Summit at 9000 feet. We were just doing these small laps but they were just getting tired so quickly and then the woman cut her finger when she was transitioning and it's starting to get dark and she wouldn’t let me bandage it and she's starting to panic that we are not gonna make it out of the woods by the time it's dark out and she was just getting more and more worked up. And she's ahead of me and the other guide was leading, and he didn't see what was going on back there. And she got to the top of the hill and she'd been wiping her face from sweat on the ski out, and it was covered with blood from her finger! And we all thought that something terrible had happened when she arrived at the top of the hill. And I thought she was just having the worst day and we made it to the car and she was just the happiest lady who had the best time and they tipped us huge and thanked us so much and were just blown away by the experience. And I thought we were gonna get no stars on TripAdvisor or something!
BC: [Laughter] I can just hear what you were thinking, “this lady's face is covered in blood and… we went too big!” It’s a great reminder that our perception of what's happening is often so much different than our clients’ perception sometimes and just being able to read that is a skill in itself, right?
TH: Yeah, absolutely.
BC: That's a great story. Thanks for sharing.
TH: You bet.
BC: Well, cool. That's really all the questions I have, do you have anything for us or anything fun you want to tell us about guiding or your trajectory that we didn't cover?
TH: I don't think so. Just thanks for all the awesome stuff you guys do and reaching out and saying hi and everything.
BC: No worries. Thank you. We really appreciate the support we couldn't do it without guides recognizing and supporting us. Thank you!