u/AccordingRabbit2284

Starting my next section August 31 from Cuba up to Cumbres Pass. A few questions:

1. Is the Eureka Mesa Ranch still welcoming hikers? Last postings I can find are from 2024 and early 2025. Nothing since.

2. I am not anticipating ANY snow made it through the summer even at 11k. This seems accurate? I'll be checking weather for any new freak snow but generally assuming snow-free and not planning microspikes or anything..

3. I've seen some recs to avoid staying at Ghost Ranch as the rooms and food are "meh". Instead camp about a mile onto the alternate after where the trail crosses back over in Carson NF. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

I’m looking for perspectives from people in engineering consulting leadership, especially those in firms around 500–1,000 employees.

I’m currently in a senior technical leadership role in a multidisciplinary engineering consulting firm. Historically my responsibilities have centered around technical leadership, project risk, QA/QC, mentoring, and supporting business development.

Over the past couple of years, however, my responsibilities have expanded significantly beyond what I would consider a traditional senior technical role. In addition to maintaining technical leadership, I’m now expected to:
- Develop and execute market growth strategy.
- Expand into new geographic markets.
- Build and grow a service line.
- Lead recruiting and help identify strategic hires.
- Develop technical standards and organizational processes.
- Mentor and develop future leaders.
- Support major client strategy and executive-level business development.
- Balance utilization with long-term strategic initiatives that don’t directly generate billable hours.
- Continue serving as a recognized technical expert on high-risk projects.

In other words, the company is asking me to function as a hybrid technical/strategic leader rather than simply a senior technical expert.

I’ve drafted a position description that more accurately reflects these responsibilities, not as a request for a title change, but to clarify expectations and provide a basis for discussing how the role is evolving.

My question is about compensation philosophy. At what point does a role stop being “Senior Technical Director” (or equivalent) compensation and start becoming something closer to a Practice Leader, Market Leader, or Business Unit Leader compensation?

Should compensation simply increase incrementally as responsibilities accumulate, or should there be a point where the organization recognizes that this is fundamentally a different role requiring a different compensation model based partly on the enterprise value being generated?

For those in firms of similar size:
- How would you classify a role like this?
- What compensation structure would you expect (base salary, bonus, profit sharing, phantom equity, etc.)?
- Would you expect reduced utilization targets to create capacity for strategic work?
- How much authority should accompany responsibilities like these?
- Have you seen companies successfully compensate hybrid technical/strategic leaders, or do they often end up with “two full-time jobs” under one salary?

If you’ve held a Principal, Practice Leader, Technical Director, Market Leader, or Business Unit Leader role, I’d especially appreciate your perspective. Thank you.

Regular length/width fine. Looking for something very light. I purchased a 50° quilt a few years ago and should have purchased a 30° one to handle more variable conditions. 🤷‍♂️

I'm putting under the skillz flair because this feels like a skill.

What do people do in camp if your trail shoes or boots are wet and you don't have camp shoes? If the premise behind ultralight is to be as light as reasonable (my interpretation) then you're prob not bringing camp shoes. So are you just accepting them being wet and move on? Or do you do something else like put your feet in ziplocs if you're in camp and need to put your shoes on?

My concern is getting my camp socks wet which wouldn't be the end of the world but would still suck.

If you could hike Cuba to either Cumbres Pass or Pagosa Springs area, which months would you pick?