As winter is fast approaching in the mountains outside of Crested Butte, ski season and the opening of Crested Butte Mountain Resort is still a month away. So….instead of waiting for the small dustings in the mountains to add up to a skiable base, us guides have been seeking out the last vestiges of warm rock to climb on in local Taylor Canyon, or are more likely travelling to those areas that are still very much in the heart of warm fall weather, such as: The Black Canyon, Shelf Road, Indian Creek, and the Utah desert.

Closer to home, warm sunny days coupled with frigid nighttime temperatures have begun the melting and freezing cycle that has led to the beginnings of the short Crested Butte ice climbing season being upon us. This morning, Hutch DuBosque & I, were pleased to find one of the area classics “in”. Although the ice is a bit thin, it is still totally climbable and FUN !!!

Getting on this route has been a bit of an epic for me, although it is right out our backdoor. Never have the powers that be challenged my desire to be the “first one of the season” so much. After a scouting mission a week ageo, I knew forecasted cold temps earlier in the week would bring the climb into condition. Yesterday’s first solo mission attempt resulted in a flat tire, no cell service, snowstorms, and with no wheellock key to remove the wheel. This resulted in a 4 hour mini-epic that finally saw the wheel being removed by fellow CBMG Guide Steve Banks and I, via power grinder/saw, 2 broken scewdrivers, 3 broken chisels, and one bent pry bar.

This morning’s redemption attempt started off with another tire going flat upon arrival, that required high speed driving into town for some fix-a-flat, before being left again in the middle of nowhere. The third and final try, post fix-a-flat, proved successful, and my troubles deserved a second vistory lap, as the ice was about that good.

See things here aren’t as dead and boring as one might think in the off-season. Come enjoy some great alpine ice with Crested Butte Mountain Guides today….time is of the essence…we promise to get you there and back without any car trouble!

—Jayson Simons-Jones (CBMG Owner / Guide)

This Fall at CBMG, many of us have had the opportunity to partake in some local (and not-so local) AMGA Rock Instructor & Rock Guide training courses, to help us better hone our guiding skills, improve upon our climbing, check out some new climbing areas, meet some guides from other parts of the world, and overall help us be able to offer our climbing clientele a better and safer climbing experience with us at CBMG.

Many of the CBMG staff have been busy….as previously noted, senior guide Steve Banks completed his final AMGA exam, the Rock Guide Exam, in Red Rocks, Nevada…earning him complete AMGA/IFMGA status. CBMG Guide Mike Bromberg also travelled to Red Rocks to take part in his AMGA Rock Guide Course & Aspirant Exam. Mike’s first trip to Red Rocks proved a successful one as he enjoyed his course and did well passing the necessary technical skills and guiding skills on his Aspirant Exam.

 Closer to home, CBMG Guides Laura Chase, Johnny MacKinnon, & Jayson Simons-Jones completed a privately run AMGA Rock Instructor Course here on our local stomping grounds of Taylor Canyon & the Black Canyon. The course was run by outgoing AMGA Board of Directors President & Colorado Mountain School Owner, John Bicknell. A longtime Outward Bound instructor, John was familiar with the climbing in the Crested Butte area, but we all gave him a thorough tour of our local crags, and we’re pretty sure he left having gained a full appreciation for the ‘Taylor Canyon sandbag’ as well as getting to experience the awe and wonder of climbing in the incredible Black Canyon. It was great to run a professional guides training course on our local turf, allowing our guides to immediatley put to use skills in a relevant and familiar setting….we look forward to more courses like this running under the CBMG umbrella again in the future.

Next up…..look for our first officially sanctioned AMGA Ski Guides Course to take place in Crested Butte from Feb 23 – March 6, 2009 ! Details and enrollment will be up on the CBMG & AMGA websites soon…

And lastly, as Fall winds down and Winter begins to make it’s presence known in the mountains above town, we are all out still enjoying the last days of sunshine on the warm rock of Taylor & the Black Canyons. And soon we will all be hanging up the rock climbing shoes and mountain bikes for skis, boots, ice climbing tools, and avalanche beacons. We look forward to another healthy dose of Old Man Winter again this year, and hope to share many more days of deep, deep powder skiing, warm evenings around the woodstove on a hut trip, and days on skis or on ice with everyone again under the bright Colorado sunshine this winter!!!

—- CBMG Staff

CBMG Senior Guide Steve Banks finally completed his AMGA training on October 4th, by passing his Rock Guide Exam in Red Rocks, NV! This earned Steve his IFMGA/UIAGM pin…the highest achievement of guide training and certification in the world. Steve now joins his brother Jeff, and only a handful of other American guides to have earned this highly respected level in guide training. Congrats go out to Steve for completeing a long road of hard work, training, and exams. We are proud to have him on the CBMG staff, as he is the first and, presently only, CBMG Guide to earn IFMGA/UIAGM status !!!

–Congrats Steve, from the entire CBMG Staff

Who goes to Las Vegas to rock climb in September during a record heat wave? Apparently we do at CBMG. I headed down to Sin City 10 days ago with a cast of characters from Crested Butte Mountain Guides for a week of climbing. Five of us on staff have either AMGA rock exams or courses this month so we thought we’d go to world famous Red Rocks to train and work on our suntans. Although the heat was brutal at times, once we reached the shade in the canyons, there were perfect climbing temps. Ironically the only other people we ran into were other mountain guides! Our team included CBMG owner Jayson Simons-Jones, and guides Steve Banks, Laura Chase, Mike Bromberg and me.

Jayson enjoying the morning sun

Steve studying hard for his Rock Guide Exam

Laura on Dark Shadows

A clean Mike Bromberg on his first day out and me with a week’s worth of dirt at the top of Epinephrine. Mike arrived the previous night and this was his first climb at Red Rocks. It was a good one!

Here are some action shots (Most are dark because we avoided the sun as much as possible!)

A shot of me on Triassic Sands. This could be my favorite climb EVER!

Steve sending the crux finger crack at the top of the Frigidaire Buttress

JSJ somewhere in Red Rocks

Great Trip Y’all

Johnny