A Guide’s Book is the creation of Squamish-based, Canadian filmmaker and cameraman, Laurent Bilodeau. During Laurent’s first visit to Chamonix as a client of Pim’s several years ago, he was immediately struck by the scale of the mountains, the intensity of the skiers and alpinists, and the unique energy of the valley. He returned year on year, and as client and guide became friends, the idea for the film took shape. Not a hardcore portrait of extreme skiing and perilous, high alpine objectives, but an attempt to better understand the life of the mountain guide through the eyes of somebody who was living it, day in, day out.

The idea resonated deeply with Pim as someone who is constantly dividing his time between his own, more extreme goals, with those of his clients, but he is far from someone who is using the job as a means to achieving his own aspirations. For Pim, it’s all about how both aspects of this guiding life feed into each other, “I think it's super important to keep talking about both sides because they work with each other,” he says. “If you improve your technical skills, you can work more calmly, and you can climb more difficult routes with clients. And the more time you spend with clients, the more in tune you become with the mountain and its obstacles.”

Pim’s route to Chamonix wasn’t a typical one. Now age 29, he grew up in Aix-en-Provence, in the south of France, an area famous for limestone cliffs and sport climbing, but far from the glaciated peaks of the Alps. He had an active childhood, riding bikes on local trails, family ski holidays in the winter, and hiking in the summer, but he didn’t grow up surrounded by mountaineers and his family certainly weren’t climbers. However, they were deeply supportive of his active spirit and on his 13th birthday sent him out for a day in the mountains with a guide. “It was that day that I really discovered the mountains, it was the best day of my life,” remembers Pim. “I started sport climbing, then I got into alpinism, and then, steep skiing.”

For Pim, growing up at a distance from big mountains sparked an insatiable appetite for alpine adventure, “I think when you grow up far away from the mountains, you find this energy to practice more and more. More so than the guys who grew up in Chamonix and were used to seeing the mountains every day.” By his mid-teens, he realised he didn’t like spending time in the classroom, preferring to doodle mountains in his notebook than engage with lessons, and when the school bell rang, he would run for the hills or spend the evening at the climbing gym. At 18 he made the decision to move to Chamonix, and by 22, after three years of spending almost every day exploring the surrounding peaks, he was a fully certified mountain guide.

The process of becoming a mountain guide is a colossal undertaking, physically, mentally and emotionally, “When I arrived in Cham I was super excited to get out every day,” remembers Pim. “I loved all the preparation for the exams and made some really close friendships sharing both the fun times, and difficult moments in the mountain. After this, you become a friend for life, I think.” Pim sums up his training in a single word: perseverance. “The most challenging part is mastering all aspects of climbing and mountaineering,” he says. “It’s not easy to be strong with ice axes, and on skis, and on rock, and with crampons, and be a good alpinist on every type of objective.” And beyond technical ability, the human dimension matters just as much. “To be a good mountain guide, it’s important to like the mountain and to like people,” he says. “You need both. Some guides forget this part of the job, I think.”

Today Pim works for the Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix. Founded in 1821, it is one of the oldest, largest and most prestigious associations of mountain guides in the world, and for good reason, “Chamonix is special, it’s the capital of alpinism and working here was always my dream when I was young,” he says. But working in Chamonix is both a privilege and a pressure cooker. On the one hand, it’s the most iconic mountain town on the planet, offering a vast playground of steep ski lines, celebrated rock climbs, and tumbling ice falls. On the other, its status attracts so many people it can be extremely busy, with multiple teams approaching the same objective on the same day, skiers dropping into exposed faces above or below each other, and a sense of urgency that can lead to accidents. “I think in Chamonix you either like the vibe, or don’t like the vibe,” Pim admits. “In less than 20 minutes you can be at the top of some of the Alps’ highest peaks, dropping into the most extreme, exposed lines in the world. We meet a lot of people up there who just aren’t prepared for that, and we have to deal with it.”

The accessibility of complex terrain in Chamonix makes humility essential, and Pim makes a point of getting to know his clients well to keep them safe. “It’s really important to understand their mental capacity to accept or not accept the risk. With regular clients, I know their limits and I know where we can push.” He’s also clear that there’s a difference between the level of risk that’s acceptable when you’re at work and when you’re not, “With clients, we need to have all the green lights to feel calm, but without clients it’s a bit different. We can accept some risk to push ourselves and play with gravity.” It’s in this mode that we see Pim make his own mark on Chamonix’s storied summits. In an era of lightweight gear and a treasure trove of information at our fingertips, this generation of ski mountaineers are skiing down lines that were once deemed climbs or linking up multiple lines in a day. “I think now in Chamonix you have to be imaginative to find a first descent. You have to see connections between lines, or do two, or three, or more in a day,” explains Pim. “It’s an incredible playground, you would need fifteen lifetimes to explore all the possibilities.”

When it comes to managing the risks, Pim leads by example with obsessive attention to detail, preparation, and reflection. In the film we see him quietly recording notes after every climb asking himself, what worked? What didn’t? What gear earned a place in his pack, and what will he leave behind next time. It’s a constant feedback loop that is central to his approach, whether he’s with clients or not. “I always ensure we have options and the right gear to manage every potential risk,” he says. “Ropes, pitons, nuts to put an abseil in if we need to escape, ice axe and crampons if we need to climb out. I like to have many plans so I can always change course or be prepared to turn back.” Out of 150 days on the mountain, Pim admits that 50% of them end in turning around, “It’s important to remain humble and not overdo your commitment every day.”

For Pim, the best part of being a mountain guide comes from helping clients to achieve their dreams. Whether that’s climbing a big mountain or skiing a big line, experiencing the feeling of accomplishment with them after many days, or even years, of training is what keeps him in the job. In making the film, he wants people to understand that success in the mountains is earned through practice and patience, and his advice is characteristically measured; “Make sure you don’t skip any steps, so you don’t put yourself in danger. I encourage anyone who wants to explore the mountains to keep pushing and take time to improve their skills.” Pim’s story shows that the path to a life in the mountains requires commitment and dedication, but equally that you don’t have to be from the mountains to belong there, “I hope people get inspired to dream about a line or a climb, to dream big. I also hope people realise you don’t have to grow up in the mountains to become a mountain guide. With the right motivations, anyone can learn to live a life in the mountains.”