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As skiers and snowboarders living in mountain towns, it’s not often we hope it stops snowing. But that was unquestionably the case last January for many Crested Butte, Colorado locals during an epic storm cycle that dropped more than 90 inches of snow on the ski area in just 10 days. Crested Butte Mountain Resort received 137 inches in January, making it the snowiest January in history.
The school in Crested Butte closed for the first time in over 20 years. Bus service was suspended. Trash and recycling services stopped and government offices closed. Cars were stuck, roads became impassable and avalanche hazards increased. Snow piles rose past second-floor windows, alleys became tunnels and finding one’s front door was like entering a cave. It truly was what many were calling “Snowmaggedon” or “the Snowpocalypse.”
The patrollers at Crested Butte worked endlessly to keep the resort open and visitors safe during the legendary storms of January, 2017. Photo: Courtesy of Trent Bona Photography
On the third day of the storm, Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s powder-cam was buried beyond its 18-inch top by midday. Lift issues were growing, mechanics were getting stuck on snowmobiles and ski patrollers were closing Crested Butte’s renowned steep terrain due to avalanche danger. When the ambulance couldn’t make it up to the ski clinic, patrol ran their toboggans down to the road–that was the sign to make the very rare call to close the resort early.
“The north end of the valley was becoming paralyzed,” said Eric “H-Bomb” Baumm, ski patroller at Crested Butte. “When we can’t protect the safety of our guests, it’s time to shut down.” H-Bomb has been patrolling at the resort for 26 years, and called last January “the greatest January of his career.”
In the early mornings locals were shoveling themselves out of their homes to ski some of the deepest tracks in recent history at the resort. But throughout the storm, the unprecedented amount of snow made it extremely difficult for ski patrol to open areas of the mountain. This often left locals chomping at the bit for patrol to life the ropes on some of the best lines the upper mountain has to offer.
The Ski Patrol team at Crested Butte acts like a family in their duties, with members carrying the load for each other when crazy storms hit. Photo: Courtesy of Nathan Billow
“Locals ski the area while they wait for the backcountry to settle,” said patroller Krista Hildebrandt. “They often don’t give the same credit to the ski area as they do to the backcountry, or realize it takes the same time for the snowpack to adjust to the load. Even though we have more mitigation tools at the area, we still need to allow the snowpack to adjust.”
Skier compaction is just one mitigation tool that ski patrols uses. They want certain terrain to open as much as the guests so it can get skied and compacted, creating more stability. The snow was coming down so fast that it wasn’t getting skied fast enough, causing patrol to put up ropes and announce closures. Patrollers were working around the clock to keep the ski area safe and battled to stay one step ahead of the weather. Sleep was minimal, dehydration was common and a handful of patrollers even reported rapid weight loss.
Not only was the 10-day storm profuse, it also contained snow density numbers that are unheard of in Colorado. A typical snow density in Crested Butte is around 5 percent and there were times during this cycle where readings reached nearly 12 percent The chairlifts were malfunctioning due to rime–a white ice that forms when water droplets freeze. Rime is common in the Pacific Northwest, but rarely in Colorado, making the problem hard to navigate. “Never in my career had I seen such intensity in such a short period of time,” said Hildebrandt. “The storm was a clear example of global warming bringing water content at levels we had never experienced before.”
Lucky for patrollers, rescue dogs are always around to make sure morale stays high during stressful times like last January's 10-day storm. Photo: Courtesy of Chris Segal
Crested Butte offers some of the most prolific inbounds extreme terrain in the country, generating more avalanche mitigation than most resorts in the state. The Crested Butte ski patrol used 6,124 pounds of explosives during the 2016/2017 season, while during an average season they use about 4,000 pounds.
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Between January 1st and January 11th, the Crested Butte ski patrol hurled 1,402 pounds of explosives and on the third day of the storm, they chucked more than 130 charges into the area’s Headwall and North Face areas.
Frank Coffey, Snow Safety Director at CBMR as well as Chile’s Portillo, began patrolling in 1980 and said this was the snowiest period in Crested Butte he had ever experienced. “Crested Butte has one of the most dangerous snowpacks in the world,” said Coffey. “A continental snowpack combined with some seriously complicated terrain makes avalanche danger and snow stability some of the worst imaginable.”
And, per Coffey, warmer storms are just one reality that ski areas will have to face in the future as the Earth’s climate continues to change
“I am very curious what is going to happen to the ski industry in the next decade, said Coffey. “Climate change is presenting more dramatic weather and there is no normal anymore.”
The dedication of Crested Butte's patrollers allowed locals and visitors alike to safely enjoy endless powder throughout January. Photo: Courtesy of Chris Segal
The freak weather occurrences continued this past November, when on November 17th, Crested Butte’s first big storm of the winter brought rain and lightning. The highest density storm snow in over 50 years was recorded, and long-standing daily high temperature records were surpassed setting new all-time maximums three days in a row.
Even though last January’s 10-day storm cycle one of the most grueling and exhausting storms the Crested Butte ski patrol had ever experienced, when asked what they will remember about the storm, the adjectives used by the patrollers to describe the cycle were all euphoric.
“It was a great time to be alive in Crested Butte,” said Coffey. “Some of the best powder skiing of my life and people were skiing lines they never imagined possible. I will remember that winter forever.”
