We went on a short hike in Kamchatka on July 25-27, 2019, to Gorely and Mutnovsky.
I would like to start with the fact that Kamchatka is beautiful. Beautiful views, majestic volcanoes. And even a complete mess in the organization could not spoil the impression. Thanks for that at least.
Yulia Argunova (the head of the group) forgot tea (and as it turned out later, almost all the food). For 2 days, we ate empty pasta and biscuits with water for all meals. It's good that the participants guessed to take at least something with them and shared it with everyone. Within half an hour it became clear that this was not some single mistake, but just a complete mess in approach, attitude to work and organization.
By the way, despite the fact that there were 4(!) guides for 8 people, the closing ones were not provided. The guides were constantly running ahead, and part of the group was trying to catch up with them, not having time to look around.
There was also no one who was responsible for the food/layout, equipment. I have not seen such a depressing level of organization even in school trips. In fact, it looked like a group of guides were going to relax, and in order not to pay a lot, they did it at the expense of customers.
The trip to Mutnovsky was in the "running" mode. No stops at beautiful venues, just running for the sake of running. It seems that our goal is to put a flag on top of the volcano.
When we sat down in the evening after our arrival, we once again expressed our complaints. The approach of the guides is that the task of the guides is to ensure that no one gets lost and that we are not eaten by bears. The rest is not their problem.
Well, yes, indeed, no one got lost - and thanks for that. Although without the closing ones, they could easily get lost. It's very funny that the guides themselves didn't really know the way, and several times they clarified where we should go from other people.
Another funny thing is that our group had been hiking around Tolbachik for a week before and the organizers did not take a tent. And then they accused the administrators of not checking the equipment themselves before going out.
I strongly advise against choosing an Extreme Guide company for hiking. The guides are not interested in your experience and safety. But they will be happy to walk around the picturesque places for your money.