Starting last week winter has again returned to Crested Butte, dropping over 3 feet of fresh in the backcountry, and still snowing once again as of today! Timing of these storms could not have been better as they arrived in time to kick off our second sold-out AIARE Level 2 Avalanche Course of the season.

Along with all this snow, was also had a natural avalanche cycle and a brief window of high avalanche danger, allowing for some optimal learning conditions of which to study snow stability analysis…the core of the Level 2 curriculum.

All the snow has also been bringing some excellent backcountry ski conditions, with the warm and wet nature of the storms allowing instabilities to settle out relatively quickly for a Colorado snowpack and of which to enjoy some fantastic backcountry ski touring conditions with decreasing avalanche danger.

This week, we are also promoting our newest package with Cresed Butte Mountain Resort, in offering a guided backcountry skiing adventure through CBMR & CBMG. Get a full Dynafit AT set-up (skis, boots, bindings, skins) a lift ticket, Mammut Avalanche Package, and AMGA Ski Guide for a lift accessed excursion onto Snodgrass Mountain for some backcountry turns. Returning to the base area via chairlift and a quick stop at Camp 4 on mounatin for a coffee before a final ski back to the base area. All for $416 / person.

And…..finally…..Crested Butte Mountain Guides is finally taking bookings for the brand new ‘CS Irwin’ Snowcat Skiing operation at Irwin. Call us to reserve your cat seats today.

–CBMG Staff

Mid-December brought us our first AIARE Level 2 Avalanche Course of the season, as 12 folks from here locally in Crested Butte, Gunnison, and as far as the Colorado Front Range and Vail, gathered for a sold out course over 4 days.

Course timing seemed perfect for learning how to analyze snow stability at a professional level, as the 10 days previous to the course, had brought us 2 seperate storms totalling almost 6 feet of snow in the Crested Butte backcountry. We were lucky enough to be blessed with some unseasonably mild and sunny weather for our course, perfect for spending time standing around in snowpits and analyzing snow grain formation and snowpack bonding characteristics.

The main format of the Level 2 Avalanche Course is learning about practicing expert recording and observation standards (weather, snowpack, and avalanche)as they relate to avalanches and assessing snow stability. It is also the course where professional level decision-making buidls upone the Level 1 basic Decision-making framework, and students are introduced to assessing snow stability and how and what data to gather for helping in this process.

The Level 2 Avalanche Course is the beginning step into the professional track of avalanche education and courses are ususally made up of guides, ski patrollers, and well-travelled and experienced recreational backcountry users looking to increase their knowledge base and improve upon their snow stability evaluation skills. It differs from the Level 1 ‘Foundation Course’ in that it is focused more on assessing stability and terrain choices based on field and remote data and how it all plays out in desicion-making, prior to entering avalanche terrain. Where as, the Level 1 Course tends to focus on desicion-making while in avalanche terrain.

This year we had a great group of enthusiatic and experienced folks, and great sunny weather, and enjoyed some good ski tours, some good turns, and some great learning experiences and environements, as the ease of access and travel in the Crested Butte backcountry is an ideal place for avalanche education.

Thanks all for your attention, enthusiasm, and desire to learn and imporve your avalanche decision making skills. Looking forward to seeing you all out in the mountains again, making some turns and staying safe

 — Your Instructors,

Jayson Simons-Jones & Steve Banks

This past weekend Crested Butte Mountain Guides ran our first Avalanche Level 2 Course of the season, amidst another intense winter storm, and over 2 feet of fresh snow of which to investigate an analyze. The AIARE Lvl 2 curriculum is an intensive 4-day course, centered around the science of analyzing snow instability, and the professional recording standards amongst the snow geek industry.

Our course brought together 10 participants with a great depth of backcountry knowledge; from local hardcore backcountry enthusisats, to a few ski patrollers, to some cat skiing guides.  It is the general goal of the Level 2 Course to build upon the introductory avalanche descion-making tools taught in the Level 1 Course, in a way that participants begin to learn about and understand forecasting of snow stability and the subtleties of terrain and snowpack analysis.

Because of the intensity and skill level brought on by this course, we strive to spend as much time as possible in the field, studying the science behind the changing snowpack, and practicing the various tests and recording standards that are learned in this coure. Field sessions are longer and tours are bigger then in the Level 1 Course, and a greater variety of terrain is traveled through and experinced on our Avalanche Level 2 Course.

Over these past four days we had a lot of fun with a great and enthusiastic group in which many, many snow pits were dug, lots and lots of new snowflakes fell from the sky for studying, and some great skiing was had also. We are looking forward to our next Level 2 Course coming up in mid-February. There are still seats are available so don’t delay, sign up today.

—Thanks for a fun-filled course

Steve Banks & Jayson Simons-Jones (Instructors)