Crested Butte, CO  is continuing to get pounded by storm after storm since Dec. 12th, as we woke up to another fresh 12″ of snow in town this morning!! Of course work takes a back seat when it’s a powder day, (unless you’re a ski guide) and since we’ve had one almost every day for the past week, we’ve been getting in some incredible backcountry skiing and some great powder turns.

So far since Dec 12th we’ve gotten roughly 60″ of snow on the streets of town, with the ski resort reporting 103″, and of course it’s even deeper out in the Crested Butte backcountry. The avalanche danger has been high, or considerable, but as locals and professionals with intimate knowledge of the surrounding mountainous terrain the CBMG ski guide staff has been able to get out and about, travelling safely and finding some great powder skiing.

So far December 2008 seems to be a carbon copy of December 2007, a winter that left Crested Butte with almost 400″ of snowfall. Don’t miss out, as it’s good now….so come and get some of the Crested Butte backcountry ski goods with us now !

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)