Hiking with a partner.

set your expectations in advance

If you are leading a group of other people's kids, you are responsible for them and need to stay in control. Ideally the sweep should be someone well versed in first aid and equipment repair as such issues inevitably filter back. The lead needs much less skill as they can wait at questionable points. You may also predesignate one adult to go back if someone has problems early on. Kids may be very annoyed if one laggard keeps them from summitting and may take it out on them later, so don't turn everybody around IF you have enough leaders to split.

The toughest call I ever had to make was an adult hike on a very cold day on Jackson, after an hour or so the guy who was obviously the fastest was getting frozen feet from waiting and wanted to turn back by himself so he could walk faster and get to the car sooner. I finally decided that this was safest and let him do it, although I went back as far as the stream crossing to see that he got across safely. If anything had happened to him on the way down I'm sure that the accident writer at the time would have judged me harshly.

With partners you need to decide (preferably before you start) whether you will split up and what you will do afterwards. Some people want to stay together and some want the flexibility of splitting up.

The most famous incident at one time was "The Breach" where "Harley" talked his partner Rob into leading a dangerous ice climb on Kilimanjaro, Rob fell and broke a leg. Harley decamped with both cameras as he didn't want to miss a lecture tour in the U.S. He notified authorities who sent a stretcher team and got Rob to the hospital in several days. In African hospitals it was expected that your relatives would provide your food and routine care but Rob was lucky that some locals helped him as Harley was long gone. I went to a lecture that Rob gave and he said the misunderstanding was his fault: he knew that Harley would behave like that and his choices on the trip should have been made accordingly.

Hiking w a Partner

The thread seems to have gone off into more discussion about groups then the 1st post about hiking w/ a partner & decisions to turn around, etc. I can only speak to my own experience hiking with a partner where each of us had a situation where we could not finish the hike. mine came first. i started out feeling ok but about 1/2 way thru the hike i started feeling very tired and winded; short of breath. i sometimes get an irregular heartbeat and it was really acting up and just kept getting worse. i have been told it is nothing life threatening but if any of you have ever had this problem you know that when it goes on for quite some time it can be a bit scary and it makes you get lightheaded and dizzy. i stated this to my partner but tried to go on for a bit more. finally about 3/4 from the summit i just did not feel right and got really cold and knew since it was late in the day and we would be hiking out in near dark or dark that it was time for me to turn around. to be honest i was a little shook up and really was not comfortable heading back alone however i did not say this. my partner wanted to finish the hike and said he'd come this far and didnt want to turn back but that he would do it really fast and catch back up to me. i was a bit disheartened and disappointed he didn't make more of an offer to see me back but i also did not push it. i'm sure if i had said something he would have come with me. i made it back but did find myself going off the trail in a couple places that were not marked too well. i swore on that day that i would never leave a person go it alone back to the car. you just don't know what is goint to happen along the way. likewise, just this winter my partner was not feeling well and we had been snowshoeing with me breaking trail for several hours. i offered several times to turn back but he said let's keep going i think we are almost to the summit. well we went a bit more and no summit & finally i could tell he was miserable - we went back together. a couple weeks later we came back and finished the hike - together. my hiking motto is never to let someone head back alone under any condition - the mountains will always be there but you never know how long your friends will be.