Winter has made an abrupt arrival in Crested Butte, with back-to-back winter storms hitting us over the past 2 weeks, leaving us with 5 feet of fresh snow to start off December. With the sudden arrival of all this snow, we have also been brought our first cycle of avalanche danger, and perfectly in time for the beginning of our avalanche course season, bringing us a very real-life learning and educational situation of which to teach from and experience in the Crested Butte back-country.

The first weekend in December saw Crested Butte Mountain Guides running two separate AIARE Level 1 Avalanche Classes to full capacity; one an open enrollment course and the other a college specific course targeted at the local Western State College back-country community in Gunnison. And just in time, as the first storm of the season arrived on the third day, the field-touring day of the course, in which we were able to see the beginnings of our first avalanche cycle of the 09/10 season first hand.

Then as another major winter storm slammed into Crested Butte again this past weekend we held two more AIARE Avalanche Courses, our super popular 1-day Avalanche Refresher Course & another sold-out Level 1 Hut Course in nearby Gothic, CO. Bluebird skies were overhead on Day 1 as we made our way to the hut on Friday, only to find ourselves breaking trail in nearly 2 feet of fresh snow and a raging blizzard on Sunday.

The local Maroon Cabin in Gothic, CO makes for an ideal retreat of which to learn the basics of avalanche education. Situated amidst some of the largest avalanche paths in Colorado, it is a state of the art, new age ‘hut’ with in-floor heat, electricity, running water (usually), and even wireless Internet of which to study weather and avalanche reports. All with the Elk Mountains just out the door, allowing for immediate immersion in the winter mountain environment from which to study snow stability, practice companion rescue, and plan and prep for the courses back-country tours.

This week CBMG will be running our first AIARE Level 2 Avalanche Course of the season, and another completely sold out course. With some clear weather on the way we should have some excellent snowpack dynamics to study in the wake of the past two storms, and enjoyable weather of which to go touring and stand around in snow pits looking at snow grains and performing snow stability evaluations.

Also, NEW this year is our classroom space located in the conference room at the Grand Lodge hotel at the base of the ski resort in Mount Crested Butte, CO. Having run one course out of here already it is turning out to be a fairly ideal classroom with easy access to local trailheads, gear shops at the base of the resort, and lots of good coffee and restaurants in walking distance. As well as offering available lodging discounts just down the hall from your classroom, it is as easy as it gets for visiting folks to learn about avalanches in the place that AIARE (American Institute For Avalanche Research & Education) got it’s founding from.

Unfortunately, the beginnings of the winter and avalanche season, have also brought it’s first casualty of the season, when world-renowned Canadian ice climber, Guy Lacelle, was killed in a small avalanche this past weekend outside of Bozeman, MT in Hyalite Canyon, while taking part in their seasonal Ice Festival.  Our thoughts go out to his wife, friends, and family. Read more….

Here’s looking forward to a great season of classes, guided ski and climbing day, and safe back-country travels all around…..

—JSJ

Well, it’s here ! Crested Butte is getting pounded by our first big winter storm of the season, with 24″+ in the last 24 hours, with more in the high alpine, and more on the way!

Itching to get some backcountry powder turns in, a few of us guides decided to brave the winter burliness this morning and try and get some turns in, as well as get a handle on what is happening with avalanche conditions during our first natural avalanche cycle of the season.

What we found was a lot of new snow, with cold temps and gusty winds near treeline, creating very poor visibility and an incredibly touchy snowpack, as anything over 25 degrees seemed to be cracking and collapsing.

The sheer amount of the new snow, coupled with our previous thin and weak snowcover, meant ski penetration was full depth, resulting in lots of leap frogging a downtrack between us, the occasional load of powder being too much for forward momentum, and a few great face shot worthy backcountry ski turns on the steeper slopes.

Looking forward to letting the snowpack settle out a bit over the next few days, and then really being able to get after it.

—Jayson Simons-Jones (CBMG Owner / Guide)

Yeah….Crested Butte’s promising weather forecast for this week ! Book your backcountry ski, snowboard, or hut trip tour now…

–CBMG Staff

We held Winter Guide Training this week and due to limited snow we had a last minute change of plans.  Instead of backcountry skiing on Monarch Pass and risking early season injury due to barely covered obstacles (i.e. rocks, tree branches, not-quite-hibernated bears), we opted for a local tour up Splains Gulch to practice rescue sled assembly and usage and then up to the Kebler ‘Y’ for some beacon practice.  Jayson started us off with a ‘welcome to winter’ talk with the buttresses of the Butte looming in the background.

The team  assembled in Crested Butte once again as many of us took off-season forays to such places as Australia, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Costa Rica.  Some of us returned with tans that will never be seen expecting to come home to a winter wonderland.  Well, not so much as our year of funky weather has continued;  we had two months of Juneuary this year (June in January and January in June) and now we had August in November (Augvember? Nougust?).  But with most of us now more than ready to get the skis out, we dusted off the skins and toured up Splain’s Gulch to the closest accessible snow and did some rescue training with sleds and some discussion on safety protocol.

We then traveled up the the Kebler ‘Y’, looking for some deeper snow to do some beacon work.  Most of the CBMG staff uses the Mammut Pulse for its advanced features and it’s accuracy with multiple burials.  It was discussed that’s there is no substitution for practice in using your beacon for avalanche recovery.  CBMG may be holding ‘Beacon Clinics’ later on in the winter so those of you who haven’t taken an Avy Course in a while can brush up on beacon use and the latest recovery techniques. 

Who loves red jackets?  We Do!  We are all looking forward to a safe and exciting winter this year full of backcountry tours and new alpine experiences.  We’re slated for a good storm cycle this week, so keep your eyes on our Current Conditions page to get the latest in snow accumulations in the Crested Butte Valley. Also, we’ve just added Snow Study Tools to our website. Whether stocking up your own pack, planning on taking an Avalanche Course, or shopping for a loved one who loves to ski in the backcountry, we have a selection of tools for the backcountry skier and rider. People enrolled in a avalanche course with us receive a 10% discount on these items. Avalanche Courses are filling up fast, so call us today to reserve a spot.
-Karina Steele
Office Manager CBMG