It Feels Like Winter Again

Last week's weather was particularly favorable to the Elk Mountains: a series of storms softened up the Crested Butte backcountry with close to three feet of snow. 

The storms were predominantly moist southwest flows that delivered lots of warm dense snow. As is typical here in CO, cold temperatures and strong winds followed the storms. Today I went out for a ski tour and braved the cold temps and blustery conditions with local BC hardman Jon Swain.

We toured in the East River Valley and found cold light powder in sheltered areas on the NE side of Snodgrass Mountain.

Winter had returned to Crested Butte, and Jon and I were both OK with that.

Snodgrass Mountain Lift Free Forever!!!

Winter Guiding in CB

I spend my winters in Crested Butte Colorado working for Crested Butte Mountain Guides. In winter we specialize in backcountry skiing and avalanche education.

 

All our ski guides are trained through the American Mountain Guides Association and all of our avalanche instructors are qualified AIARE instructors. Crested Butte has a lifetime of ski touring opportunities and we invite you to hop in the skin track with us and explore this side of Paradise. 

Wintertime in CB

It's wintertime in Crested Butte and there are endless backcountry activities to choose from. I've been in the backcountry skiing and working the last 5 out of 7 days. The snowpack has been setting up great and the skiing has just been getting better and better. Below are some photos from this last week.

Steve and Kathryn came out for a snowshoe tour. We had a great day in Washington Gulch exploring the West side of Snodgrass Mountain.

I spent a couple days ski guiding up on Coney's Ridge on the opposite side of Washington Gulch. Here is another photo of Dean powder skiing near the valley floor. (Read more about our trip together below.)

And of course I have been getting out and ski touring on my days off. Yesterday,  I skied a lap on Red Lady in the afternoon. 

Not a bad view from the flanks of the Red Lady Massif. I headed up there solo for a quick tour in the glades but ran into Massimo in the parking lot and we skied a lap together on the Lady.

The highlight of the week has been a long tour I completed today. My good friend Chris Benson and I skied from the Slate River Valley to the East River Valley. Mon Dieux, Les Trois Vallees! 

We began in the Slate River Valley and worked our way up and over Anthracite Mesa.  Below is a shot looking west towards Schuykill Ridge and Peeler Basin. 

We toured along the ridgeline of Anthracite Mesa. From there we descended down to Washington Gulch and climbed up and over Snodgrass. We finished up on Gothic Road just as the sun was bathing White Mountain and WSC peak in wonderful golden alpenglow.  What a great tour!

Stay tuned for more updates.

John

Another Beautiful Day in the Mountains!

I met Dean at the Guide Shack on a classically cold and clear Crested Butte winter morning. It was sunny and calm with the temperature hovering around a balmy -7. I assured Dean it would warm up and it sure did! We shed layers immediately as we began our skin out Washington Gulch towards Coney's Ridge. 

Dean is both a nordic and an alpine skier. Backcountry skiing was the next logical step for him so he could combine the best of both ski worlds. Backcountry skiing on AT gear allowed us the freedom to explore the mountains outside Crested Butte but also provided us with the security and FUN of ripping down powder-filled backcountry bowls. (That's kind of hard on the skinny skis!) 

We eventually left the valley bottom and steadily climbed and worked our way up to the top of Coney's Ridge. 

Our summit greeted us with incredible panorama views of the Elk Mountains. At the top we re-fueled and prepared for our ski descent of Coney's Bowl.

Colorado powder and Colorado sunshine all lived up to their name today. The light powder snow was the perfect introduction to backcountry skiing.

As we worked our way down the bowl, Dean learned the nuances of powder skiing and began linking beautiful turns. In fact, we both enjoyed it so much, we decided to do another lap and ski the whole bowl again! By the time we returned to the car, the sun had almost disappeared behind the mountains and the temperatures were returning to their early morning lows. Thanks for a great day!

John MacKinnon

CBMG Guide