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!

Crested Butte Mountain Guides has a few spaces left on our Colorado Spring Ski Mountaineering Camp being held in Crested Butte on April 8-11, 2010. As the resorts close, it’s time to go bigger and badder, so learn the technical skills of ski mountaineering from AMGA Ski Mountaineering Certified Guides in this 4-day camp. $525 / person. Call us 970….349.5430 or visit our website for more info: www.crestedbutteguides.com

The summer season is knocking at the door here in Crested Butte, and before the guiding and managerial workload starts in earnest for the summer season I took advantage of a brief window this Sunday and got out of town to go visit our neighboring San Juan Mountains, a few hours drive to the South.

The weather here in the Rocky Mountains continues to be very spring-like with lots of rain and snow squalls, making for difficult to predict hiking, mountain-biking, and rockclimbing conditions close to town.

If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em, right?… So we loaded the skis into the truck and armed with some beta on where the roads were plowed up to the trailheads, and the snow was still white and good, we headed south for a quick 24 hr ski and alpine climbing mission.

American Peak (13,806′) in the American Basin area below Handies Peak is famous for having lots of great steep couloirs for snow and ice climbing and skiing and allows high vehicle access to practically it’s base…so why not take advantage of the stormy weather.

Surrounded by 14er peak baggers headed for Handies Peak, we enjoyed complete solitude on it’s less famous but way more technical neighbor, and had a relatively quick approach hike in ski boots on the dry trail before being able to don skis and skins and head towards it’s eye-catching lines.

Great firm late-spring snow allowed for perfect alpine mountaineering conditions involving crampon and ice axe use, and we had our pick of multiple steep and challenging ski lines on American Peak’s north face.

The first couloir we chose was a fairly straight forward quick warm-up climb and ski before we began to work our way down the face and pick continually steeper and more challenging lines. The second was a beautiful steep and rock-walled couloir that felt like being in a giant rock-walled hallway, with perfect consistent pitch and snow conditions the entire way.

The third and final gem of the day, was a tad more alpine-esque in that it proved to be good mix of snow, ice, and rock, taking all types of alpine climbing & mountaineering skills and techniques, complete with an ice-climbing bulge and a near vertical rock wall finish in ski boots and crampons to reach the ridge just below the summit.

A perfect run of 1500′ of spring corn snow, brought us back to a quick dry walk to the car, and we were having beers on the tailgate by noon, before venturing back to Crested Butte for the evening.

American Basin is a great spot for quick and easy alpine access for either early season summer alpine snow and ice climbers, late season spring skiers looking for some challenging and quality lines, or the easy 14er climb in Handies Peak. Come check it out sometime….

—Jayson Simons-Jones (Owner / Lead Guide)

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

This past Saturday my good friend and backcountry partner Hutch Dubosque and I decided to break-away from the crowds at the US Extreme Freeskiing Championships going on at Crested Butte Mountain Resort, and head for the hills. We were able to get in a great ski mountaineering tour in the Slate River Drainage and spent the day up high in the alpine under bluebird skies getting in a mid-winter descent of two area classics: Augusta Mountain’s South Face & “The Nose” on Mineral Point’s Southeast Face.

The Crested Butte backcountry has received almost 2′ of new snow over the past 10 days, but warm and mild temps to start off the weekend have brought some pretty stable conditions and opened up some big and steep ski mountaineering lines on many of the local peaks.

“The Nose” line on Mineral Pt. is arguably one of the most aesthetic ski descents in the Crested Butte zone of the Elk Mountains. It is an immediately compelling line that draws one’s eye, and is steep, exposed, and committing. It is also a fantastic spring snow climb as well.

I’ve been eyeing this line on and off for almost 10 years, and on Saturday the conditions seemed good to give ‘er. With both of us training for a trip to Chamonix and the Swiss Alps, we headed out on a ski tour that took us up into Baxter Basin and around Cascade Mountain before heading up to the summit of Augusta Mountain (12,559′).

From here, we descended Augusta’s South Face in some fine wind-stiffened powder conditions. We then toured back up to the saddle and on up to the summit of Mineral Point (12,509′), where we dropped the direct and ever steepening “Nose” line for 3,000′ all the way back to the snowmachines.

A great day out in the mounatins with a great friend.

—Jayson Simons-Jones (Owner / Guide)