It never fails that this time of year CBMG stays extremely busy, and it is not hard to understand why.  Beautiful weather, green, luscious mountains and wildflowers are too enticing to even think about staying indoors! 

Our guides are busy taking kids’ camps out climbing and mountain biking, hiking infamous local peaks such as Gothic Mountain, and leading wildflower tours for the 24th annual Wildflower Festival! 

The owner, Jayson Simons-Jones, has also been out leading trips in the Crestones and the Black Canyon – nothing is off-limits!

We have also started are weekly Peak of the Week climbs for all of you who would like to join us for a cheap, fun climb to our local peaks. Please visit our website to check out the schedule or to sign up!

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.

This past Wednesday marked the start of Fat Tire Bike Week, a Crested Butte tradition, and also saw the arrival of the Bicycle Tour of Colorado as well for 1-day, resulting in a massive start to the summer season here in CB with 2,000+ bikers, bike companies, and festival goers all in tow.

With the summer kick-off we’ve been busy guiding once again, with multiple trips going out daily….guiding rockclimbing, hiking, mountain biking and mountaineering trips this week.

Friday also marked the start of our NEW  ‘Peak Of The Week’ series, in which we offer a weekly guided climb of a  different and local peak every week for 6 weeks at the ridiculously low rate of $45/person.

This week, CBMG Guide Dan Escalante led our inaugural ‘Peak of the Week’ trip by successfully getting Judy & Andrew Holder to the summit of local Mount Baldy (12,610′) under tropical monsoon like rain conditions….way to go Dan.

Keep up to date with our daily happenings by joining us as a ‘fan’ on Facebook…

What do CBMG guides do on their days off? They go out and play. Last week I hit the single track with local hardman/alpineer manager Jason Wahl and CB Nordic coach Jenny Abraham for some classic Crested Butte riding. Below are some photos from our link-up of the 401 and 403 trails. They re-affirm why we all love to live and recreate here in the Butte.

 Jenny making the climb to the “Top of the World” on the 403 

Jenny face deep in flowers on the 403 trail 

Johnny tearing down the 401            

 Posted by John MacKinnon        

CBMG & the cast and crew from Globetrekker: Treks in Wild America got together over the weekend of July 19 & 20, 2008, to film a segment of their upcoming Fall broadcast on PBS, the Travel Channel, and National Geographic Television. The tour and subsequent filming took place over 3 days in Crested Butte, and featured a documentary style story on the history of the modern day mountain bike, and it’s significance in Crested Butte, CO. After visiting the Mountain Bike Hall Of Fame Museum here in CB, the crew spent two full days documenting on camera the historic ‘klunker bike’ ride from Crested Butte to Aspen via Pearl Pass….an event that some argue was the catalyst for the birth of the modern day mountain bike.

For 2 loooong days, CBMG guides (Ian Hatchett, Johnny MacKinnon, Laura Chase, & Jayson Simons-Jones), biked, shuttled, cooked, and sherpa carried alot of gear and film gear up and over Pearl Pass ensuring a successful shoot and bike tour. Globetrekker host / star Holly Morris learned mountain biking techniques and tips as well as experiencing the joy and pain of this scenic but grueling ride, on camera from CBMG Guide / Owner Jayson Simons-Jones. The pair shuttled and rode the historic ride between the 2 mountain towns, with an overnight vehicle supported camp set-up half-way. The small film crew chronicled much of the ride and the drama and trials and tribulations associated with it’s length and difficulty through Holly & Jayson’s on-screen presence.

CBMG Guides Ian, Laura, & Johnny helped the two riders focus on riding, filming, and their lines (the difficult part for Jayson), by being vehicle support, camp hosts, helping hands, and carrying huge packs filled with their own gear as well as heavy film gear up and over the 12,705′ Pearl Pass on foot. Huge thanks for their hard work…making the improbable, possible.

With such a heavy winter this past year, their was in fact real drama and hesitation at getting so many folks with so much gear up and over the still snowed in Pearl Pass. Small but steep and exposed snow slopes had to be negotiated on the CB side, with a long stretch encountered on the Aspen side for the first few miles down. All in all, the CBMG crew pulled off a successfully guided mission, allowing Globetrekker to film the entirety of the route, despite difficult conditions and threatening weather. And, the Globetrekker film crew (Jeff, Aram, Ian, & Holly), were a fun and enjoyable group to work with, and we trust, will represent CBMG and the Crested Butte area in a favorable light in their upcoming documentary.  

Look for the episode entitled: Treks in a Wild America, to air on PBS, the Travel Channel, and National Geographic sometime this Sept./Oct.

Thanks again to the CBMG crew for making this trip go smoothly and successfully, and thanks to the Globetrekker crew for an advetureous experience and in helping to showcase CBMG on national tv.

–Jayson Simons-Jones