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 !

This past weekend brothers Tom & Casey Kaptur once again joined Crested Butte Mountain Guides for a guided trip to the Sangre De Cristo Mountains for climbs of the difficult Crestone Peaks. The Kaptur’s have been regular guests of ours on their quest to complete all of the Colorado Fourteeners.

This year’s trip into the Crestones had a somewhat auspicious start, with a low level storm with lots of moisture blanketing the range on our approach day, so we opted for the dry comforts of town in the small ranching village of Westcliffe, CO, instead of camping and starting our trip off in the midst of a storm.

A  2am start from town had us bouncing up the 4wd South Colony Lakes Rd in the dark and leaving from the upper trailhead at 4am for an attempt at the Crestones Traverse. We were able to make good time under clear but windy conditions and reached 12,900′ Broken Hand Pass at sunrise, where we enjoyed a beautiful ridge walk above the clouds below and under the early morning sun.

 Once in the East Couloir on the Needle we roped up and made a climb straight up the gully to it’s terminus on the ridge, enjoying mostly 3rd and 4th class Crestone conglomerate knob climbing to the summit ridge, where a short scramble along the exposed ridge took us to an early morning 8:30 am summit.

Rapidly building clouds, deceasing visiblity, and high winds made the call for us that conditions for the traverse to CrestonePeak were not optimal so we opted to descend from the Needle with one difficult and successful summit under our belts and return to South Colony Lakes where we could set up camp and attempt Crestone Peak the following day.

 Once down at South Colony Lakes the weather seemed to be breaking, so Tom opted to try and tack on a climb of Humboldt Peak (14,064′) via it’s easy 2nd class route by himself, while Casey rested and secured a good campsite amongst the approaching weekend crowd, and I ran down to the truck at the trailhead to get our remaining overnight gear. As luck would have it, the weather took and incredible turn for the worst, and a half-hour after our sunny blue skies an incredibly fast moving storm was overhead and in no time was pelting sideways rain and hail while I hurried back with tents, and Tom was forced to retreat from 13,000′ on Humboldt.

 The rest of the afternoon was spent in our repective tents, soaked from being caught out there but warm, and waiting for that typical Colorado evening clearing so we could dry ourselves and gear off before tomorrow’s pre-dawn freezing cold start for Crestone Peak. We barely eeked out 45 min of evening sun, before shadow and night hit, and went to bed damp but motivated for the next day.

 Day 3 had us up early before the sun again, and walking out of camp at the lakes by 4am to be ahead of the weekendcrowd on popular Crestone Peak. The morning dawned clear and cold, and we made good time up over Broken Hand Pass again, anddown around to Cottonwood Lake and the base of Crestone Peak’s Southerly Red CouloirRoute. At the 12,600′ mark where we entered the gully proper, Casey had opted to turn around and save Crestone Peak for another day feeling sluggish andtired from the length and difficulty of the previous day’s climb.

 So as Casey chose to turn back, Tom & I opted to continue our climb, and headed into the clouds and frigid October like temperatures, making our way up the long 3rd and 4th class gully. We reached the summit by 8:15 am we were greeted with a surreal mix of clouds, sunshine, and lots of winds, with an incredible view above the clouds to the east of the range, and clear blue skies to the west. We snapped some photos ate some food and were headed back down quickly….a good decision since we passed 28 people still on the way up!

 Arriving back in camp by 1pm, to find Casey in good spirits and the weather completely stabilized and clear, Tom opted to once again try for the easy and thus far elusive Humboldt peak, so off he went again, this time I went with him as guardian against the weather (yeah right) and for moral support and company. By 3:30 pm we had reached the summit of Humboldt under clear skies, and racked up almost 6200′ of vertical !!!  A slow descent on tired legs and achy knees brought us back to camp and on to Casey waiting on us at the trailhead with the last of a few swigs of Crown Royal in honor of our big days and success on the Crestone Peaks.

Congrats again boys, looking forward to the next adventure.

—Your Guide, Jayson Simons-Jones (CBMG Owner / Guide)

Summer is in full swing here in Crested Butte, with beautiful sunny days and warm temps…and all the wildflowers are beginning to show all their beauty, just in time for our Annual Crested Butte Wildflower Festival.

All this week we are guiding daily wildflower hikes for the festival, as well as doing our standard repetoire of privately guided hikes, mountain biking, and rockclimbing and mountaineering trips.

Summers here at 9,000′ are short so don’t miss out, and take advantage of our daily trip offerings today.

And this Friday our New ‘Peak of the Week’ series heads to majestic Teocalli Mountain (13,209′) for a combination wildflower tour and peak hike…call our offices to register today.

—CBMG Staff

This past week, Randy Brooks and I headed down to the Crestone Needle in the Sangre De Cristo Range for 2-days of alpine mountaineering and a climb of one of Colorado’s most famous 14′ers.

Randy, hailing from San Angelo Texas, is well on his way to finishing his 14′er quest, as this was peak number 48 for him, and as some icing on the cake we spent his 45th birthday below the Needle’s imposing Northeast face camped at beautiful South Colony Lakes.

This was my first climb with Randy, and late spring snowstorms had combined to make the standard Southwest Face Route on the Crestone Needle a mixed alpine climbing bag of solid 3rd & 4th class rock, with snow and ice climbing skills necessary.

After a long and slow, but comfortable drive up the South Colony Road in Randy’s beautiful Land Rover we had a mellow hike to camp at South Colony Lakes where we spent the afternoon resting, acclimatizing, and preparing for the next day’s pre-dawn start.

Day 2 found us up and out of camp by 5 am, and dawned clear and sunny on us as we approached the initial difficulties of getting up to Broken HandPass under a beautiful sunrise. The rest of the climb of the Needle’s SW Face Route went smoothly with mixed sections of snow, ice , and rock, as I chose to do the more preferrable and direct but slightly harder line up the ‘east couloir’ all the way to the summit ridge and then a short exposed ridge walk section over to the summit. While this route is slightly harder (4th class) it is more aesthetic, quicker, and arguably safer.

A brief stint on the summit by 9am, had us turning around and descending under increasingly cloudier skies, and we made it safely back to camp by 12:30 after a fairly smooth and uneventful, but enjoyable and successful climb.

In camp we were greeted with a herd of local big horn sheep with babies in tow, where we hung out and took pictures before heading on out of the mountains and back to our respective homes.

Randy, thanks for a great day, and for sharing your 45th birthday with me. I hope your climbs of Mount Wilson & El Diente went as smoothly as ours did. Looking forward to climbing with you again.

—Jayson Simons-Jones (Your Guide)

We just wrapped up our 5-day Alpine Climbing Skills Clinic with Dean Kurth & Patrick Torosian, with two spectacular, big mountain days. Wednesday we tackled some technical snow climbs on Ruby Mountain (12,644′) & Mt. Owen (13,058′) and then yesterday had a capstone experience on the super aesthetic and technical “S Couloir” on Purple Peak (12,810′), to send them on their way feeling strong and more confident in their skills set and ability to tackle some more challenging and technical terrain on their own.

Wednesday, Dean & Patrick got their first taste of being ‘on their own’ by taking turns leading a steep snow climb up the South Face of Ruby Mountain. Here they put their new skills to use for the first time by taking turns on the sharp-end of the rope, placing snow protection, building snow anchors, and linking together multiple pitches of snow climbing. Then it was up the fairly mellow mixed rock and snow ridge to the 12,644′ summit of Ruby Mtn.

From there we descended of the North side and on up the slightly more challenging mixed snow and rock ridge to 13,058′ Mount Owen. An easier climb then the mornings’ route up Ruby, Patrick led us most of the way up the ridge route, across the steep and exposed snow fields at the false summit, and on the summit of a 13er ! On the way down in  the heat of the afternoon  sun we enjoyed some nice long (but wet) glissades down the bowl between the 2 peaks and the a short walk back to the car.

After a intense pace of 4-days of alpine climbing we decided to call a rest day before embarking on Purple Peak (12,810′) and a climb of it’s hidden and technical “S” Couloir Route as a capstone experience for these guys.

So….Friday morning we met at 6am and left early again for the fairly quick and direct walk on the morning’s frozen snow above treeline to the Scarp’s Ridge saddle over 12,000′ where we then descended down and around the North Face of Purple Peak to the bottom of the “S”. This route is one of the best snow climbs and steep spring ski descents in the entire Elk Mountain Range outside of Crested Butte, and us guides jump at the chance to get on it with anyone looking for a great mountaineering experience. This trip, however, was extra special, as Dean & Patrick were their primarily to put their skills together and do it mostly on their own, with me ‘ghost guiding’ just to prevent any catastrophic mistakes.

With that being said, they showed great progress in their skills from the previous climbs on Ruby & Owen, and swapped leads of steep snow climbing up the ever steepening and twisting route of the “S” Couloir. After 3 long pitches in which they demonstrated running belays, simul-climbing tactics, and belaying off snow anchors we reached the ridge fairly quickly just a  few hundred feet shy of the summit, where I took over the lead on the trickier and incredibly exposed mixed, snow, ice and rock ridge that leads to the summit.

The summit of Purple Peak (12,810′) our 5th of the trip, was no doubt the most rewarding of the week, as not only was it the hardest technically to climb, but it involved all 3 of us working together as a team more then just a standard guided ascent and thus it felt more rewarding for all of us….I know it certainly did for me watching these guys put to use all I they had learned over the course of the week.

Overall, it was a great week of alpine climbing skills, and Dean & Patrick walked away with a great improvement and development on their skill set, and are ready to tackle more challenging terrain on their own……keep practicing those knots boys…..

Thanks for a great week and looking forward to more climbing with you both in the future…

Your Guide — Jayson Simons-Jones