The saga continues for the winter 2008/2009 snowpack here in Crested Butte. Persistent weak layers, basal facets, natural avalanches and HIGH avalanche danger for over a week now. We saw the sun for a few hours yesterday, but it seems like we’re going to continue to receive heavy snowfall.

As the skeptical students rolled in ready to go out into the backcountry and experience our first Hut Based Avalanche Course of the season, they all had their doubts about the probability of our launch into the Gothic backcountry due to the conditions. Our unique and popular hut based program allows students full immersion into the backcountry without the distractions of town.

As with all backcountry skiing endeavors our goals are often dictated by the stability of the snowpack and a group’s ability to make sound decisions. Sometimes we aim for the steep and deep, and in this case our goals were to stay safe and learn about our unstable snowpack. With HIGH danger in the forecast one of our main goals turned into avalanche terrain recognition as well as avoidance due to the increased hazard.

Check out this short movie shot over the weekend shot at the beautiful new Maroon Hut and out in the field during companion rescue practice!

Level I Avalanche Hut Course with Crested Butte Mountain Guides from mikebromberg on Vimeo.

At course end all of these motivated and sharp students learned a lot about traveling in the backcountry environment in even the most unstable of conditions. Thanks to my great group of six that really contributed to an excellent ans safe weekend!

Mike Bromberg

Today we are seeing a quick break in the weather, as we are in between storms, and are getting a moment to dig out, look around and prepare for the next pummeling. So far since last weekend we have received up to 3 feet of snow (100 cm) in town, with more on the way through this coming weekend !

The backcountry skiing and riding will be phenomenal once the storms clear and the snowpack has a chance to settle out and stabilize a bit. In the meantime check back often for current backcountry conditions reports, as we have our first backcountry ski tours of the season going out over the next few days, as well as another AIARE Avalanche Level 1 Course, and our much sought after Avalanche Level 1 Hut Course…looks like conditions will be optimal for learning and skiing !!

For those not familiar….here is a current shot of weather models showing the Southwest flow we are in channeling wet and stormy weather directly from the Pacific (The Pineapple Express)….resulting in snow amounts measured in feet for Crested Butte !!!

—Crested Butte Mountain Guides Staff

This past weekend Crested Butte was hit with a major winter storm, dropping slightly over 12″ in town, and well over 24″ in the backcountry !!! On Saturday, we ran our first Avalanche Refresher Course of the season, and could not have asked for better conditions….for both learning and skiing.

The Avalanche Refresher Course is a new course format we started offering at Crested Butte Mountain Guides last season, and has had a successful start with great reveiws from folks that have partcipated in them. The course is a one-day mostly all field based course, in which participants work together to plan and undertake a backcountry ski tour, while an Avalanche Instructor / Ski Guide shadows the process and decisions, offering feedback where necessary.

The course also allows for some time in which the instructor updates participants on new and cutting edge techniques and research in the avalanche education / snow science field, such as new bonding tests, rescue techniques, and learning models. Course ratios are kept small, with a max of 1:6 to allow for ample field time for all participants. This weekend’s past course was blessed with a great learning environment in that the 4 course participants were forced to plan and carry-out a tour in worsening avalanche conditions with difficult terrain choices and management to make. We were rewarded with a great day in the field and good decision-making tactics that resulted in multiple laps of waist deep powder skiing !!!

Thanks to everyone for a great course and for the best turns of the year…..so far.

—Jayson Simons-Jones (Instructor)

This past weekend Crested Butte Mountain Guides AIARE Avalanche Course Instructors Steve Banks & Jayson Simons-Jones ran our first AIARE Avalanche Level 1 Course of the season.

Despite a fairly thin snowpack close to town, we had a completely full course with 15 participants, and some that came from as far away as Norman, OK !! The course turned out to be a great success with a super energetic and invested group of mostly CB locals in the course, and some other CBMG guides and out-of-town guides around to help out and shadow this first course of the season.

Classroom sessions were filled with good thought provoking discussions on backcountry skiing and travel in avalanche terrain. The companion rescue / beacon search field day was beautifully warm and sunny, and the touring aspect of the course on Day 3, was warm and spring-like with some excellent layered snowpack properties from which to teach about, and some pretty darn good turns at the end of the day as well.

Overall, the course turned out to be (as usual) incredibly fun with a great group of students and instructors alike. Here’s looking forward to a winter of many more courses.

Anyone still interested in registering for an AIARE Avalanche Course should call (970.349.5430) or email (info@crestedbutteguides.com) our office today as Level 1 & Level 2 Courses are filling up fast !

—Crested Butte Mountain Guides Staff

Earlier this week the staff and crew at Crested Butte Mountain Guides got together for 2-days of our seasonal winter guides training. As well as being an informative skills and training session, it was also a great time to catch up with the whole crew together again, and share stories, laughs, and excitement about the upcoming winter season of backcountry skiing, ice climbing, avalanche courses, hut trips and other guided winter activities.

Day One started out as a morning gathering of 10+ guides in our cozy little shack, that had everyone scrambling for space and seats. Definitely the least exciting part of the entire training; the staff sat around talking and discussing guiding and office protocols, new gear and product offerings, and general expectations and collective visions for the upcoming winter guiding season.

After all the required office stuff, we spent the remainder of the day refreshing our beacon skills, as well as making sure everyone is up to speed on the latest and greatest on the newest beacons, search techniques, and getting familiar with our new Barryvox Pulse beacon that we are offering Crested Butte Mounatin Guides guests this winter.

Day Two was spent, obviously, enjoying some classic Colorado backcountry skiing, and was a great day of sharing tips and techniques for top quality guided skiing experiences from the numerous AMGA Trained and Certified Ski Mountaineering Guides on our staff. Then we got to sample some of the early season thin snowpack and touchy avalanche copnditions, utilizing our collective skills to stay safe, train with one another, share some knowledge, laughs, and enjoy some surprisingly good early season skiing.

Check out the mini-video below, put together by CBMG Guide & techno-computer whiz Mike Bromberg

CBMG Winter Training DAy from mikebromberg on Vimeo.

Thanks everyone for all your effort, input, enthusiasm, and energy towards the upcoming winter season. 

—Jayson Simons-Jones (CBMG Owner / Guide)