For the month of October CBMG team memebers Ian Hatchett and Mary Mahoney took advanatge of the quiet off-season in Crested Butte, to leave and explore the trekking (hiking) possibilities of the Himalaya of Northern India.

Our first trek was in the mountains north of Dharamsala, in the Northwest of India next to Kashmir. Before our trek, Mary had attended a lecture series by the Dalai Lama, and somehow managed to get him to personally bless a set of Red Lady prayer flags destined for the summit of Crested Butte’s local iconic mountain, Mount Emmons.

We set forth through lush temperate forests to high alpine meadows…surrounded by rugged 14,000 – 16,000′ peaks, with lots of good camping to be found along the way.

After this warm up 4-day trek, we set off for the Garwhal Himal to the East, by a series of tough mountain bus rides.

The Garwhal is the section of the Himalayas west of Nepal, betwen India and Tibet, and home to the world’s 20th highest peak, and a popular mountaineering destination, Nanda Devi 25,500′ (7, 820 m).

We trekked several valleys to the East of Nanda Devi, and found beautiful and tranquil mountain trails, and very few people. Mary said, “It’s like trekking in Nepal 30 years ago.”…but she was only 2 then, so who knows?

October was perfect trekking weather, mostly dry and cool (some snow at night). We camped in some spots, and also stayed in simple government rest houses, where we could supplement our food with rice and dahl cooked by the caretaker.

We gathered lots of information, scored some great treks, lived through some epic bus rides, and returned to Crested Butte with future plans…and information and Indian contacts to share with all our CBMG guests.

—Ian Hatchett (CBMG Guide)

       &  

We at Crested Butte Mountain Guides are very excited to announce the creation of the Crested Butte Adventure Guides program being offered through Crested Butte Mountain Resort. This program was developed out of similar ideas and visions beginning almost a year ago between Ken Stone, current Chief of Operations at CBMR, and Jayson Simons-Jones, CBMG Owner / Guide.

The Crested Butte Adventure Guides program is a collaboration between CB Mountain Guides and CBMR that offers guests of either company the ability to enjoy and experience the outer fringes of the incredible lift-accessed terrain on Crested Butte Ski Resort while also getting an introduction into the experience of Colorado backountry skiing and riding. 

Guests will be offered two main products this inaugural season:

1.  A full or half-day of on-mountain guided skiing utilizing access to some of the mountain’s best in-bounds powder skiing, hidden stashes, and extreme limits terrain, an official Mammut sponsored beacon avalanche training park and an area to practice backcountry skinning techniques.
2. For those guests looking to take advantage of the true off-piste product, they can purchase a 2nd day of skiing that leads them on a complete backcountry skiing or riding tour with Crested Butte Mountain Guides, far away form the hustle and bustle of the resort. CB Adventure Guides lift tickets and offering will be available for booking both through the CBMG office and through the CBMR Ski School department.

Guides for this new program will have met the same requirements needed to be a full CBMG ski guide as well as having PSIA training and certfication so as to enrich the guests experience both on and off mountain. Many long time and well respected ski school instructors will begin to undertake the hard and difficult task of achieving ski guide training certifications, and many of CBMG’s senior gudies are undertaking PSIA training to be able to better offer our guests a quality skiing or riding experience in the backcounty.

All guests in the CB Adventure Guides program will receive along with their lift ticket price; a qualified guide, and a full avalanche pack from Osprey Packs with a beacon, probe,and shovel supplied by Backcountry Access. At this time backcountry touring set-ups will be available for rent from The Alpineer in downtown Crested Butte.

We are very excited to be partnering with CBMR on this ground-breaking venture into on/off-mountain guided skiing and, with favorable participation, are looking to be able to expand this product within the coming years, into offering resort guests guided access to currently closed and off-limits terrain. 

—Jayson Simons-Jones (CBMG Owner / Guide)

Sure it’s been 50 degrees in town these last couple days, and sure it hasn’t snowed in a week or so, but that doesn’t mean I can’t go skiing. It’s time for winter and I don’t mind hiking for those early season turns. I have skied three of the last five days and have thoroughly enjoyed the high altitude tanning sessions. I have also had a blast exploring areas of the Elk Mountains that the relatively snow-free roads have made easily accessible.

Snow is lingering in gullies and shady aspects well below 11,000 ft and it is possible in some areas to ski to within 10 minutes of the truck. 

These early season tours have also been a great chance to catch up with old friends who return to Crested Butte for the winter season. 

 And there is always good snow to be found if you know where to look and are willing to work for it!

Johnny MacKinnon

(photos courtesy of Jon Swain) 

Winter has arrived in the Elk Mountains around Crested Butte!! Earlier in the week, National Election Day blessed us with our first real snow of the season, and left a blanket of up to 2 feet of fresh snow in the mountains, with drifts from the wind even deeper. Colorado backcountry skiing season is here !

Bluebird skies and fresh Colorado skiing awaiting this morning, was all it took to convince me to blow off the office for the early part of the day and break out the skis, boots, skins and avy gear for the first time since last spring. Not finding anybody else ready to go yet, I motivated for a solo mission to check out snow totals, early season ski possibilities, and blow a summer’s worth of rockclimbing chalk out of my lungs on the skin track.

I was surprised to find some pretty darn good early season conditions up high, and though no one was with me to share in it… I enjoyed 2+ feet of creamy Crested Butte backcountry powder skiing for my first turns of the year! Now that the ski gear is out, it won’t go away until spring, and maybe, just maybe, we are on our way at Crested Butte Mountain Guides to once again being blessed by Mother Nature with another record-breaking snow year for the Crested Butte area. Don’t miss out this time….come with us and let us show you just how good, and how deep the Crested Butte backcountry skiing and riding can be.

Praying for more snow…

—Jayson Simons-Jones (Owner / Guide)