"5 Principles of Project Comaprison" Charlie Grove, Northern Rockies CM

Throughout the season I’ve come to notice certain trends when comparing project experiences with crew members from other crews. From these conversations I have devised a list of five principles to help guide my fellow MCC’ers in their own project comparisons.

5 Principles of Project Comparison:

1. Location - No matter where you went the other crew went somewhere cooler. There are many amazing places to go in Montana and I’m sure you’ve all been to some of them. Our crew has been lucky enough to spend time in Glacier National Park, Kootenai National Forest, and even Priest Lake in Idaho. And yet, there’s still that crew that spent a month in Antarctica… Well, not really, but by the way they describe wherever they really were you’d think they’d been somewhere as extraordinary as Antarctica.

2. Work Performed - You might think that 15 miles of trail you cleared, brushed, and re-treaded in 4 days was quite an accomplishment. That is, until you talk to your fellow crew member who just got done building the Great Wall of China and stopped by Egypt on the way back to finish off another Pyramid. We’ve all seen the numbers and it’s clear that MCC does an amazing amount of work over a 5 month season. Can you imagine how amazing the numbers would be if we just added up everything we’re told by other crew members?

3. Wildlife Viewing - No matter what wildlife you saw, they saw something better. Here’s a rough breakdown of what you saw vs. what the other crew will say they saw:

Your Crew, Squirrel
Their Crew, Deer

Your Crew, Deer
Their Cre, Elk

Your Crew, Elk
Their Crew, Moose

Your Crew, Moose
Their Crew, Black Bear

Your Crew, Black Bear
Their Crew, Grizzly Bear

Your Crew, Grizzly Bear
Their Crew, Sasquatch

As for my crew, we’ve seen 18 grizzly bears and a unicorn… Beat that!

4. Weather - No matter what your weather was like, their weather was more extreme. There was a hitch in early June where our crew was fortunate enough to spend a day working in rain/sleet/snow. There was no way anyone could top that. That is, of course, unless you count the crew that got 6 inches of snow that day and had to build an emergency fire at lunch to warm up and the other crew who had to spend the night in a hotel, paid for by the sponsor (see Principle #5), due to heavy snow. Thus, no matter what weather you endure some other crew had it worse.

5. Sponsor Hookup – Your sponsor could give you food, tools, or even have your equipment helicoptered in, but in the end it doesn’t matter because the other crew’s sponsor took them rafting or had them flown out of the backcountry in a plane that just happened to be there. Your sponsor may have been great; more than you could ever ask for, but in the end… you still had to walk out didn’t you?