We held Winter Guide Training this week and due to limited snow we had a last minute change of plans.  Instead of backcountry skiing on Monarch Pass and risking early season injury due to barely covered obstacles (i.e. rocks, tree branches, not-quite-hibernated bears), we opted for a local tour up Splains Gulch to practice rescue sled assembly and usage and then up to the Kebler ‘Y’ for some beacon practice.  Jayson started us off with a ‘welcome to winter’ talk with the buttresses of the Butte looming in the background.

The team  assembled in Crested Butte once again as many of us took off-season forays to such places as Australia, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Costa Rica.  Some of us returned with tans that will never be seen expecting to come home to a winter wonderland.  Well, not so much as our year of funky weather has continued;  we had two months of Juneuary this year (June in January and January in June) and now we had August in November (Augvember? Nougust?).  But with most of us now more than ready to get the skis out, we dusted off the skins and toured up Splain’s Gulch to the closest accessible snow and did some rescue training with sleds and some discussion on safety protocol.

We then traveled up the the Kebler ‘Y’, looking for some deeper snow to do some beacon work.  Most of the CBMG staff uses the Mammut Pulse for its advanced features and it’s accuracy with multiple burials.  It was discussed that’s there is no substitution for practice in using your beacon for avalanche recovery.  CBMG may be holding ‘Beacon Clinics’ later on in the winter so those of you who haven’t taken an Avy Course in a while can brush up on beacon use and the latest recovery techniques. 

Who loves red jackets?  We Do!  We are all looking forward to a safe and exciting winter this year full of backcountry tours and new alpine experiences.  We’re slated for a good storm cycle this week, so keep your eyes on our Current Conditions page to get the latest in snow accumulations in the Crested Butte Valley. Also, we’ve just added Snow Study Tools to our website. Whether stocking up your own pack, planning on taking an Avalanche Course, or shopping for a loved one who loves to ski in the backcountry, we have a selection of tools for the backcountry skier and rider. People enrolled in a avalanche course with us receive a 10% discount on these items. Avalanche Courses are filling up fast, so call us today to reserve a spot.
-Karina Steele
Office Manager CBMG

CB Mountain Guides

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 5th, 2009 at 3:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.