The Meaning of Active Followership

After a guided backcountry ski trip in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, former NOLS instructor Molly Absolon reflects on the concept of active followership. An experienced backcountry skier, she sometimes found the guides’ decisions limiting, especially since the trip’s structure didn’t encourage clients to take an active role in the decision-making process.

“I was itching to ski the slope.

We’d wasted time on shorter, discontinuous lines earlier that day, and I was eager to link more than three turns in one shot. The snow was awesome — deep, fluffy and untracked — just what we’d come to British Columbia to ski. And the slope I coveted looked perfect. But we were in a group with a guide, and he called the shots. I could make my desires known, but it wasn’t up to me to determine if we should stay or go. Unfortunately our guide decided it was too late in the day to ski another run, and so we turned around to head home, leaving the pristine slope unmarked.”

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