This past weekend, Crested Butte Mountain Guides held our annual Summer Staff Training. Staff gathered to go over 2 great days of skills workshops, summer equipment and facilities prep, and just some good ‘ol hang out time with an incredible staff and crew of folks. This year’s training was a great mix of older, senior guides, and a few new fresh faces as well.

The weekend took place with a 3-part focus, with Sat. morning being dedicated to operating procedures, emergency response plans, and overall logistical and operational overview for the coming summer season. The we spent the afternoon Rockclimbing, by checking out all our usual climbing sites, developing s few new ones, replacing some anchors, and overall having fun in the sun and on the rock.

Sunday was dedicated as a Mountain Biking skills day, with clinics amongst the guides on appropriate rides and terrain for different guests, sharing teaching skills and tips for improving people’s technical riding, and sharing trail maintenance tricks we’ve all picked up over the years.

We are all looking forward to a great summer season here in the beautiful high country of Crested Butte and the Gunnison Valley and hope to be seeing you all for a guided adventure with us soon…..Call or email us to book your summer adventure today.

info@crestedbutteguides.com  ////  970.349.5430

–CBMG Staff

Guide Steve Bank’s account of the 2010 Haute Route European Ski Tour: April 10-18. 

Another successful Haute Route ski mountaineering week from Chamonix to Zermatt with two Aussies, father and daughter, and two good buddies from Vermont. The week provided the best weather in a long time. The route has a 50% success rate, mostly due to weather, but this week had no excuses.

Day 1:  We warmed up on the classic Valle Blanche with sunshine and great spring conditions. The next day we headed off of the Grands Montets tram and down the Glacier du Rognons to the Argentier hut. We were greeted in the morning by 10” of fresh and blue skies. This would set the scene for the week.

Day 3-4: We would have usually headed over the Col du Chardonet, but I got word that the back side had melted out quite a bit and the usual jam up of skiers at the top of the pass was getting out of hand. I decided to swing off the beaten path and to the Col du Passon instead. This led us into a more secluded area with just a short climb up a couloir to put us up on the massive Glacier du Tour. Crossing this huge plateau in the warm sunshine, we were treated to an air show by local stunt pilots buzzing the granite spires and doing touch-and-go landings on the glacier. Another climb over the Col du Tour and we traverse the Trient Glacier into Switzerland and on to the Trient hut, one of the nicest on the traverse.

That evening it clouded up and began to snow. This could be an issue as the Trient hut is not situated in an area conducive to skiing in a whiteout or with elevated avalanche danger. Luckily we awoke in the morning to another 8” of fresh snow and bluebird conditions. Unfortunately, Ian blew out a binding descending down to Champex, forcing some creative one ski action through the new snow. A quick taxi shuttle to the ski lifts of Verbier found us at a good ski shop which was able to make the necessary repairs and get us on our way up to the Mt. Fort hut for the evening. 

Day 5:  We again woke to fresh snow and blue skies, could this be possible? Up and over the Col du la Chaux and on to the coveted Rosablach Summit. Here we were able to ditch our packs and make a few laps in the fresh snow. 

Continuing on we cruised down to the Prafleuri hut for another afternoon of beers in the sun. This afternoon we were treated to another air show with helicopters using explosives for avalanche control work to get ready for the upcoming Patroullie du Glaciers ski mountaineering race coming through the following weekend. 

Day 6:  Took us along the traverse of the Lac du Dix and up to the Dix hut. Incredibly warm temperatures and sunny skies left us melting on the glacier in the mid day heat. Cold beers at the hut were a welcomed treat, and we spent the afternoon drying and tanning in the sun. 

The next morning again gave us a few inches of fresh snow with the morning sun shining off of the amazing peak of the Mont Blanc du Cheilon. A long day with perfect conditions took us over the Col du Serpentine, the Cold du Brenay and up to the summit of the Pigne d’Arrola. Here the skiing was amazing, and untouched as most people, including the heli-assisted skiers, ski the other side of the peak. We ditched our packs at the bottom and made three great laps in perfect boot top powder before heading down the other side to the Vignettes hut. This final stop on the tour is certainly the most dramatic. Weaving through crevasses and seracs high above the valley floor, the hut is perched on the side of a cliff. It is truly a wonder of Swiss engineering. Our last evening in the mountains we were treated to a fantastic meal and the drinking songs of the German ski tourers at the next table. 

In the morning we found cloudy skies and snow obscuring the skies. A long day over the Col de E’veque, down the Arrola Glacier, up the Col du Mont Brule and into Italy on the Haut Tsa de Tsan Glacier in whiteout conditions proved a bit challenging, but the snow conditions made it entirely bearable. The skies began to clear as we skinned up the Col du Vapelline and we got a magnificent view of the Matterhorn and our final destination of Zermatt. Entering the Stockji Glacier, and our final climb of the trip we found great snow for the long descent down onto the Zmut Glacier and then cruised along the base of the North Face of the Matterhorn and onto the ski slopes of Zermatt. Stopping for celebratory beers and snacks at the first restaurant we were ecstatic with the success of the trip, the perfect weather and fantastic skiing along the way.

Join us next year for the 2011 Haute Route Traverse - Dates just announced!

I’m up next for the Employee Gear Closet. I spend a lot of time in the mountains on a variety of skis and here is my quiver from right to left: First up are the G3 Reverends. I know the telemark turn died in 1924, but I still enjoy dropping the knee at the ski area. Plus, I’ve got the Lord on my side in the Extremes with these solid boards. Next to them are my skinny little G3 Aces–good for long tours and ski mountaineering around CB and the Cascades.

Up next are my go-to BC boards. The Dynafit Manaslu is the perfect mid-winter ski touring ski for the CB backcountry. It is light, decently wide and with a small rocker and early rise up front, they make skiing breakable crust fun. What’s left…I got some approach skis for accessing backcountry ice climbing areas, an old pair of BD Havocs mounted with the G3 Targa Ascent for the Al Johnson Uphill/Downhill Telemark Race and a beat up pair of Fischer Superlights that work great for the Grand Traverse.

AT Boots?  Check.  Tele Boots?  Check. Ice Boots? Check. New for me this year are the Black Diamond Push telemark boot. I like their even flex and 4 buckle support. My Scarpa Spirit 4s are my everyday work boot and I log over 100 days in them each season. For ice climbing and mountaineering I have been wearing La Sportiva Nepal Top Evos for the last 2 years. They are comfy right out of the box, and warm enough for me.

I am also operating a small backpack museum in my closet for old, tattered but still lovable rucksacks. Each pack has its own story to tell and I can’t bear to get rid of any of them! The two climbing packs up front were both hand-made in North Conway, NH by local alpinists and I have logged many miles in the mountains with them on my back. I purchased the red Wild Things Ice Sack my senior year in high school and it is still going strong. The oriental rug is one of the few domestic things I own and it is one of my prized possessions. I bought it in an alley in Katmandu with my Dad about 10 years ago. That’s my gear closet/bedroom. Enjoy!

Johnny

The end of October brought snow and winter like weather to a big part of the west including Moab, UT where American Mountain Guides from around the country and overseas gathered for our annual meeting and gathering of our professional tribe.

While Moab, UT even received a few inches of wet snow one morning, it was a fun-filled week of catching up with old friends, making new ones, getting to brush up on new techniques and guiding skills with daily skills clinics, some climbing and mountain biking in the desert sun, and of course lots of beer and good times.

This year’s AMGA Annual Meeting was also a memorial and tribute to our fallen comrade, Craig Luebben, an incredible and irreplaceable guide, teacher, climber, inventor, father, and husband whom our small community will dearly miss.

As well as enjoying the festivities and a great main event slideshow on alpine climbing in Alaska from veteran Jack Tackle…..CBMG’s own Mike Bromberg, was awarded his Rock Guide Certification. He is now only one exam away from full IFMGA/UIAGM status…way to go Mike !

Well, it’s been a fast and furious summer around these parts. We started off with a cold and rainy June (we had June in January and January in June this year), and in a blink our leaves are already falling off the trees and you have to wear gloves in the morning when you’re biking to work. We’ve had a great season here at Crested Butte Mountain Guides, expanding and trying to grow the business while dealing with some tough economic times.

It’s been a record year for the Guide’s Ridge! It seems like every week we had a trip up to the top of Mt Crested Butte. From young teens to experienced climbers, this route has become a favorite and a ‘must-do’ in Crested Butte.

Also, we had not one, but two guides get their car windows smashed by bears while parked at trailheads. Johnny came back from a 5 day backpack trip to find his passenger side window in pieces and his head rest a little chewed up,  but the beers were safe! Jayson got back from Aspen to find his cab window gone with some muddy pawprints (I guess the bear couldn’t fit through that small window). Our office manager had a bear camped out in a tree across the street from her house for two days! CBMG did some benchtime brainstorming and came up with the possibility of doing ‘Bear Tours’ in the wee hours of the morning in Crested Butte in a open back jeep, Ian (the Aussie) narrating about bear behavior and feeding habits with a bear claw necklace hanging on his chest (ala ‘crocodile dundee’) and maybe a paintball gun . . . but that idea never really got off the ground (or off the bench, I should say. . .)

Peak of the Week did well in it’s inaugural year. Six weeks of peaks in the area including Baldy, Treasury, Augusta, Teocalli, Gothic, and Red Lady; look for this program again next year with more of the local mountains.  Philip Pixley from Canada joined us for a peak, as well as a trip up Guide’s Ridge and almost made it a triple header with a mountain bike ride!  He was incredibly impressed with Crested Butte’s plethora of trails and is already planning for next summer.

With our summer arriving late this year, lots of clients got some snow mountaineering practice.  From the S couliour to the back side of Treasury, guides were exploring snow routes throughout the valley.  Harry and Iris Lyall had a full week of climbing and mountaineering with Johnny MacKinnon and left with a new appreciation for the Crested Butte area as well as increasing their own outdoor skills.  In fact, we had quite a few clients this year that were looking to expand their own on-snow techniques and we were able to cater directly to the specific needs and skills of those people and help build their experience as well as confidence.

One pleasant summer day, Jayson broke his thumb on an approach to a climb, went and got it set, and then managed to meet back up with Johnny and the clients in the afternoon.  Ian has come back strong from hip surgery in the spring venturing often with Tom Scoville, on of our longtime clients.  Hard to slow these guides down–they are pretty tough. . .

One of these things is not like the other. . . Actually what I like about this photo is Ian and the dummy having an eerily similar expression.  The dummy spent a few months on the Guide Shack bench with some people taking pictures with him, small children wondering if he was real, but most people being generally a little freaked out by him.  Our tongue in cheek promotion of sunscreen, he was inherited from CB Search and Rescue team and was found one morning in a compromising position on one of the benches in front of the Guide Shack (the shack is behind a popular CB bar. . .a lonely patron on their way home wanted a little company?). He was hence forth placed in the loft in the office, legs jutting out (still freaking people out).

And we ended our season with the ‘When’s it Going to Snow Promo?’ with the blessed happening on September 20th.  Now we are all waiting for it to snow in earnest, but we’ll be perfectly happy with a warm dry fall into November (at least I will be happy).  Thanks to everyone who joined us for an adventure this season! We appreciate your continued support of our home grown operation and we look forward to more trips, adventures, excursions. . .whatever you may have in mind, in both Crested Butte and places beyond.

 Almost 5 years ago to the day I had spine surgery following a long and nagging back injury that resulted in my collapsing and falling down from losing much muscle coordination in my right leg. The doctors at the Denver Spine Center removed pieces of 2 severely herniated discs in my low back, routed out the nerve holes to make room for the inflammed and swollen nerves to breathe, and clipped off some pieces of the bone on my spine to allow for them to get to the offending discs.

 For the next 7 months I was regulated to basically walking only….on flat ground….while I healed. Not easy mentally or emotionally for some one used to running around in the mountains for work and play. After seeing 4 surgeons along this road, I was told post-op that my ‘mountain career’ and essentially guiding should be reconsidered and that it was unlikely I would be able to climb or run around in the mountains at a continued high level after my recovery. I was also told, that the 5-year mark post surgery was a very good indicator of how the remainder of my life would go with the repair and healing of my back.

So…..Sunday morning, on a big mission I’d been dreaming about for a long time, I decided to attempt a mega Colorado 14er link-up and prove to myself and my docs that I indeed have kept up my ‘mountain guiding’ career and am not hampered in the least by this injury or recovery anymore. So at 3:30 am on Sunday I left the Maroon Bells parking lot to attempt to climb both South & North Maroon Peaks (14,156′ & 14,014′  respectfully) via their technical connecting ridge and then continue onto Pyramid Peak (14,018′) for a 9,000′+ vertical day and countless rugged mountain miles and technical scrambling on these notoriously loose and challenging Elk 14ers.

 With the ‘Bell Chord Couloir’ still full of snow I set off to climb this steep but direct line that intersects the ridge between the two ‘Bells” as the quickest and easiest way to access both summits and do their traverse. I hit the rock fall prone ‘Bell Chord’ at dawn’s first light and was able to make good time up it in great snow climbing conditions, and after a quick 4th class scramble, was on the summit of South Maroon Peak (14,156′) at 7 am…

 A brief time for a drink and some summit photos and I was off, back to the notch at the top of the ‘Bell Chord” to grab my ice axe and crampons and along the decieving and exposed 1/2 mile traverse to North Maroon Peak (14,014′), where I arrived 45 min later, fresh and feeling good, but under early threatening skies.

After a quick stop on the summit of North Maroon and some more summit photos, I pounded some ShotBloks and Red Bull and prepared for the big and steep 4,000′+ descent down to the valley floor and the base of Pyramid trail, where I had stashed some more food, water, Red Bull, running shoes, and some shorts for a fast and light mission on Pyramid that I was hoping would allow me to have the stamina to pull off the 14er trifecta.

 6 hours after starting from the trailhead, and already having both Maroon Bells under my belt, I started up the grueling and direct Pyramid Peak trail, while clouds continued to darken and build just across the valley earlier then normal. At this point, I was running on arenalin on the possibility of pulling this off….as well as an iPod full of punk rock music in my ears and Red Bull in my veins…

 I continued to move quickly and felt good until I hit the mellow snowfields in the amphitheatre below the North Face of Pyramid Peak. Here I began to bonk hard in the heat of the day and my pace started to slow drastically. The loose and frustrating climb up the loose scree and dirt of “The Filter” that leads to the 13,100′ saddle on Pyramid’s Northeast Rideg Route, was hard…as it felt like it took all my energy not to vomit on the spot from all the exertion.

 At the saddle, I took my longest break of the day…pausing to drink some more water and try and get down some real food….a turkey and cheese bagel. At this point the clouds seemed to be confining their convective build-up to localized area and were producing more wind and virga then any real threats, so I went on for the last 1,000′ to Pyramid’s summit.

 30 min later, and 8:45 after starting out, I was on my third 14er summit of the day, and was blessed with also having this summit all to myself as well, except for one lone mountain goat. Here I had 20 min to reflect on the 9,000′ of vertical I had travelled, that I still felt fairly good, and how far I had come in these past 5 years of my life. The mountain goat, however, was obviously much less impressed….as I’m sure that would be a normal routine day for them.

I was able to descend the upper technical part of Pyramid fueled by excitement and enthusiasm….but by far the hardest part of the day was the long, steep, and painful pounding back down the trail from teh ampithetare to the Maroon Lake trail and the 2 mile rocky walk back to the parking lot. This was one of the the most challenging mental activities I’ve endured in a long time….as the last hour, with almost everything done and gone behind me, it took everything I had to not just curl up in a ball and ’sleep it off’ on the side of the trail for a few days. 11 hours and 20 min later I was back in the parking lot, pounding Gatorade, and soaking my tired and sore feet in the ice cold river after a solid day of 9,032′ of vertical…

I realize my endeavor was nothing more then an entirely selfish and incredibly personal goal and achievement….made ultimately clear to me by the humbling and un-enthused mountain goat on the summit of Pyramid Peak….but I hope it has helped settled some important internal battles and questions in my own mind and body, and hopefully will maybe inspire someone else out there that has been given a less then promising outlook form the medical community to take some of their healing into their own hands and achive a goal….and hopefully one more meaningful and important then just climbing some mountains in Colorado really fast.

—Jayson Simons-Jones (CBMG Owner / Guide)

While my fellow Crested Butte Mountain Guides are home getting soaked in the apparently never ending spring showers, I’ve found myself saturated here in the birthplace of alpinism, Chamonix, France. This summer, I’m on assignment (sabbatical!?) here in Chamonix pursuing the coveted IFMGA/UIAGM certification by participating in the AMGA Advanced Alpine Guides Course and spending some time developing my high mountain guiding skills. I won’t go into too much detail about Chamonix here, but my daily routine consists stopping by the bakery for a pain au chocolat, then riding a tram 9000′ (yes that’s 9 thousand feet) and climbing the best routes of my life (literally) and returning home before dark – not bad, eh!

5.11 Splitter at 12,000ft! My hands may never recover...

Check out this video of myself and course participant Kip Davis “training” a little too hard on Mont Blanc du Tacul…

As of right now we have completed day 5 of the 12 day course and this morning was characterized by yours truly breaking trail through 25cm of fresh snow across the glacier in front of countless groups gunning for the route. Despite the fact that my photos depict blue skies, the last few days have been quite the opposite. Heavy rain, snow up high, and cooler temperatures are making the course feel even more “alpine” than usual.
Regular followers of the CBMG guide blog know that these AMGA courses tend to be a little intense (<-read: I’m worked).

Hopefully, when it’s all said and done CBMG guests will have a better alpine guide and a new climbing destination.

Mike Bromberg

It has been a fast and furious Spring ski mountaineering season for me, with the combination of a few far flung ski trips and the day-to-day of running Crested Butte Mountain Guides via a BlackBerry.

Quickly following the Haute Route Ski Tour across the pond in Europe, I came back through Crested Butte for a brief 4-day stint to catch up on office work, do laundry, and get in a day of work backcountry ski guiding on Whetstone Mountain. Then it was back on the plane heading farther West, and off to Valdez, Alaska…the undisputed home of helicopter skiing, birthplace of the World Extreme Ski Championships, and the site of this year’s American Mountain Guides Association Ski Mountaineering Guides Exam.

Arriving in Valdez 9-days early to train with other exam candiates, we were immediately greeted with the biggest avalanche cycle of the season, resulting in 2 deaths, 2 serious skier injuries, and many other skier triggered avalanches, all over the course of 2 days. Needless to say this upped the ante for our focus, training regime, and safety awarness.

The AMGA Exam process is an incredibly stressful and intensive process, with exam candidates taking turns guiding one another under the watchful eye of an IFMGA/UIAGM Guide/Examiner. The daily objectives are considerably longer and harder then a normal day of guiding, so as to see the guides ability to work in technical terrain with multiple clients under excessive stress and if they can handle it.

Obviously this instills confidence in a guide’s ability and a client’s feeling of safety in an AMGA Certified Guide.

The Ski Mountaineeirng program is arguably the most difficult with the largest amount of subjective decision-making and interpretation of terrain, conditions, and guiding tactics being required of a guide. Typical exam days were roughly 12-14 hours in length with 5000′-7000′ vertical on glaciated and steep technical Alaskan ski terrain.

Day 1 was the mandatory 40-minute crevasse rescue drill. A 1:1 scenario where the guide must catch a crevasse fall with skis on, build an anchor to transfer the fallen skier’s weight onto, rappell into the crevasse to attend to the fallen skier, then ascend back out, build a hauling system, and haul the fallen skier out safely…whew…..

Days 2-7 were all daily guided ski mountaineeirng tours through the vast and glaciated terrain of the Thompson Pass area of Valdez, AK. An area made famous by Doug Coombs and the last decade of extreme ski movie footage. Thankfully the weather during this stretch was complete Colorado bluebird, albeit unseasonably warm…and although whiteout navigation skills were somewhat of a non-issue, wet unconsolidated isothermic snow and bulletproof slide for life conditions more then made up for the guiding challenges and created quite alot of rope work and ski guiding trickery to keep everyone safe throughout the week.

Possibly one of my favorite days, of course….was the heli-drop day, as we got in a day of heli-skiing and I scored the lucky card of getting to on-sight down guide the first run of the day, down 2000′+ of steep and exposed pure Alaskan skiing!!!

Day 8 brought a final guiding challenge and examination sequence of dealing with a serious injury in the backcountry with a small guided ski party and no availablity for outside assistance…my client’s injury….a broken femure…ouch…glad I’m a WFR instructor.

Despite the intensity, inherent stresses, and long days (some ~20 hrs), the exam was a successful venture as I left not only with my official Ski Mountaineeirng Guide Certification, but also having made some new friends, and gotten to ski and work alongside some incredibly talented and best professional guides in the industry. And of course, all this in the original big mountain skiing mecca of Valdez, Alaska, and under an unprecedented stretch of clear and sunny weather!!!

Congrats everyone to giving it your absolute all and to earning your certification. Now I am looking forward to beginning the trip planning process of sharing this incredible venue with CBMG ski guests in the near future…..

—Jayson Simons-Jones (Owner / Lead Guide)

See more photos at: Valdez 2009

We’ve just received word that CBMG owner/lead guide Jayson Simons-Jones has just earned the title of AMGA Ski Mountaineering Guide! This year’s exam (held in Valdez, AK) has been reputed as having some very challenging conditions, necessitating much rope-work among the many other challenges normally associated with guiding high level ski mountaineering.

The AMGA Ski Mountaineering certification is the highest level of certification available to guides in the United States and is held by less than 100 guides in the country, four of whom are CBMG guides!

We are all very proud of Jayson for all of his hard work and dedication to the guiding profession.

Here is a video put together by Colin Zacharias documenting the 8-day exam….

Welcome home Jayson! Breathe a huge sigh of relief- you’ve earned it!

- CBMG Staff