Climbing through Climate Change in the Canadian Rockies: Guides’ Experiences of Route Transformation on Mt. Athabasca
Mountain guides play an important role in the provision of nature-based tourism activities, such as mountaineering, in alpine environments around the world. However, these locales are uniquely sensitive to climate change, and despite extensive documentation of bio-geophysical changes, there are few...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Tourism and Hospitality |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5768/4/4/33 |
| _version_ | 1797379257999032320 |
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| author | Katherine Hanly Graham McDowell James Tricker |
| author_facet | Katherine Hanly Graham McDowell James Tricker |
| author_sort | Katherine Hanly |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Mountain guides play an important role in the provision of nature-based tourism activities, such as mountaineering, in alpine environments around the world. However, these locales are uniquely sensitive to climate change, and despite extensive documentation of bio-geophysical changes, there are few studies evaluating the impacts of these changes on mountaineering routes and the livelihood of mountain guides. This constrains adaptation planning and limits awareness of potential loss and damage in the mountain tourism sector. In response, our study explored mountain guides’ lived experiences of working on Mt. Athabasca in Jasper National Park, Canada, to reveal the effects of climate change on mountaineering routes and implications for the mountain guiding community. To do this, we used a mixed methods approach that combined spatio-temporal trend analysis, repeat photography, and semi-structured interviews with mountain guides. We found that rising temperatures and changing precipitation regimes in the Mt. Athabasca area are driving glacial retreat and loss of semi-permanent snow and ice, which is impacting climbing conditions and objective hazards on mountaineering and guiding routes. Guides’ experiences of these changes varied according to socio-economic conditions (e.g., financial security, livelihood flexibility), with late-career guides tending to experience loss of guiding opportunities and early-career guides facing increased pressure to provide services in more challenging conditions. Our findings offer novel insights that identify salient issues and bolster support for actions in response to the concerns of the mountain guide community. This study also underscores the need for further research, as the underlying issues are likely present in mountaineering destinations globally. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T20:19:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e92c1e7aba82406b81cc87edca083c78 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-5768 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T20:19:34Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Tourism and Hospitality |
| spelling | doaj.art-e92c1e7aba82406b81cc87edca083c782023-12-22T14:45:54ZengMDPI AGTourism and Hospitality2673-57682023-10-014453955810.3390/tourhosp4040033Climbing through Climate Change in the Canadian Rockies: Guides’ Experiences of Route Transformation on Mt. AthabascaKatherine Hanly0Graham McDowell1James Tricker2Department of Geography, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, CanadaDepartment of Geography, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, CanadaSchool of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Road, Victoria, BC V8P 5C2, CanadaMountain guides play an important role in the provision of nature-based tourism activities, such as mountaineering, in alpine environments around the world. However, these locales are uniquely sensitive to climate change, and despite extensive documentation of bio-geophysical changes, there are few studies evaluating the impacts of these changes on mountaineering routes and the livelihood of mountain guides. This constrains adaptation planning and limits awareness of potential loss and damage in the mountain tourism sector. In response, our study explored mountain guides’ lived experiences of working on Mt. Athabasca in Jasper National Park, Canada, to reveal the effects of climate change on mountaineering routes and implications for the mountain guiding community. To do this, we used a mixed methods approach that combined spatio-temporal trend analysis, repeat photography, and semi-structured interviews with mountain guides. We found that rising temperatures and changing precipitation regimes in the Mt. Athabasca area are driving glacial retreat and loss of semi-permanent snow and ice, which is impacting climbing conditions and objective hazards on mountaineering and guiding routes. Guides’ experiences of these changes varied according to socio-economic conditions (e.g., financial security, livelihood flexibility), with late-career guides tending to experience loss of guiding opportunities and early-career guides facing increased pressure to provide services in more challenging conditions. Our findings offer novel insights that identify salient issues and bolster support for actions in response to the concerns of the mountain guide community. This study also underscores the need for further research, as the underlying issues are likely present in mountaineering destinations globally.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5768/4/4/33climatic changeguidingmountaineeringnature-based tourismadaptationrisk management |
| spellingShingle | Katherine Hanly Graham McDowell James Tricker Climbing through Climate Change in the Canadian Rockies: Guides’ Experiences of Route Transformation on Mt. Athabasca Tourism and Hospitality climatic change guiding mountaineering nature-based tourism adaptation risk management |
| title | Climbing through Climate Change in the Canadian Rockies: Guides’ Experiences of Route Transformation on Mt. Athabasca |
| title_full | Climbing through Climate Change in the Canadian Rockies: Guides’ Experiences of Route Transformation on Mt. Athabasca |
| title_fullStr | Climbing through Climate Change in the Canadian Rockies: Guides’ Experiences of Route Transformation on Mt. Athabasca |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climbing through Climate Change in the Canadian Rockies: Guides’ Experiences of Route Transformation on Mt. Athabasca |
| title_short | Climbing through Climate Change in the Canadian Rockies: Guides’ Experiences of Route Transformation on Mt. Athabasca |
| title_sort | climbing through climate change in the canadian rockies guides experiences of route transformation on mt athabasca |
| topic | climatic change guiding mountaineering nature-based tourism adaptation risk management |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5768/4/4/33 |
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