Monday, January 31, 2011

CMC Offers Winter Schools

Winter Camping
The CMC has winter schools coming up in all kinds of activities and locations around the state.  Check out some of these offerings and call our office (303-279-3080) to sign up.

02/03/2011
Pikes Peak Telemark Ski Class
Sponsoring Group: Pikes Peak Pikes Peak Group Telemark Ski Class

02/17/2011
Pikes Peak Introduction to Avalanche
Sponsoring Group: Pikes Peak Pikes Peak Group and CAIC Introduction to Avalanche Class

03/10/2011
2011 PPG Basic Mountaineering School - Colorado Wilderness Fundamentals
Sponsoring Group: Pikes Peak This course covers the introductory information and skills needed for safe travel in the Colorado wilderness. This course is one of (3) you can take towards earning a PPG-CMC BMS Wilderness Trekking Certificate.

03/14/2011
Basic Mountaineering School
Sponsoring Group: Denver Please register for Trip #13262 in order to receive your application link (you must have your C Classification to register for this trip). Once your application has been reviewed you will receive an authorization code if accepted into the school.

04/04/2011
2011 PPG Basic Mountaineering School - Colorado Wilderness Land Navigation
Sponsoring Group: Pikes Peak Ever been lost in the woods? How about cloud cover or whiteouts? Working through these situations requires solid map & compass skills. This course is one of (3) you can take towards earning a PPG-CMC BMS Wilderness Trekking Certificate.

04/26/2011
2011 PPG Basic Mountaineering School - Colorado Alpine Snow Mountaineering
Sponsoring Group: Pikes Peak This course gives you specific knowledge and skill sets to help you safely tackle your Colorado winter mountaineering activities. One of (6) BMS courses you take towards earning a BMS Alpine Mountaineering Certificate.

05/10/2011
2011 PPG Basic Mountaineering School - Colorado Rock Climbing
Sponsoring Group: Pikes Peak This course will help you acquire the rock climbing fundamentals you need to efficiently and safely climb rock in a top rope environment. One of (6) BMS courses you take towards earning a BMS Alpine Mountaineering Certificate.

Visit www.cmc.org/schools for more info.

Backcountry Skiing in the News

Another reminder on avalanche safety came to us with recent events at Vail Pass.  A snowboarder was able to "swim" through an avalanche to safety.  Read the story and find links to Colorado's Avalanche Information Center at the Summit County Citizens Voice.  

A reminder we should always include this time of year:  Every backcountry skier should carry safety equipment and have taken an avalanche safety course.  CMC offers an avalanche awareness school.  So does Friends of Berthoud Pass.  CAIC gives updated avalanche warnings on its site. You can find more general info on avalanche safety at CAIC's website.

And here's a story from the Fort Collins Coloradoan that you might like to share with any friends who you think might benefit from trying out the backcountry experience.

If you see something else in the news, send it to bsi@cmc.org for next month's newsletter.

Wooden Ski Rendezvous in the North Routt

Wooden Ski

The Wooden Ski Rendezvous is a weekend-long event that will include wooden ski racing, dancing, a potluck, a pine tar clinic, and maybe even a trip up Hahns Peak.  The event is held in Columbine, which is 30 miles north of Steamboat Springs.  Most folks rent cabins for the weekend at Columbine Cabins where the event is held. (Call 970-879-5522 to rent a cabin.)

The weekend is packed with fun events. Saturday is the main event day and then on Sunday we'll go out for a ski  in the backcountry on Hahns Peak and  other surrounding areas.  If you have want to come along, bring some more modern touring/backcountry skis or showshoes for Sunday.

Your old woodies or snowshoes will be perfect for Saturday.  Old time clothing and leather boots are encouraged though not required.  We award prizes for best costumes. We also have a "Boil 'em Up" race where participants ski around a course and then have to boil up a cup of snow with their own backcountry stove. The more old timey and authentic, the better!

If you have any old time clothes that you want to contribute to the communal lending bin, bring them along. We offer a bin of dress-up clothes for those who don't have vintage clothing. Creativity is encouraged!

Saturday night is a potluck dinner with dancing, music and old time ski movies.

Most cabins have small kitchens and there is a nice modern bathhouse for those cabins without bathrooms.  Bring along something for the potluck dinner and food for the weekend as the nearest store is 30 miles away.  Some folks go to the Hahns Peak Cafe for dinner on Friday night.

For more info on the event, email Leslie at frb@cmc.org.  You can buy tickets online at www.cmc.org/woodenski.

Bear Creek near Telluride Needs Your Help


Bear Creek
If you haven't taken action yet, Bear Creek Basin near Telluride still needs your help.  Bear Creek is an uncontrolled backcountry area that offers some of the most spectacular ski and snowboard terrain in the Rockies. Until December 2010, it was accessible through USFS gates at the Telluride Ski Resort. On December 8th, however, the U.S. Forest Service's Norwood District Ranger, Judy Schutza, closed three backcountry gates accessing the popular Bear Creek drainage adjacent to the Telluride ski area.  The closure is in response to a request by property owner Thomas Chapman of the Chapman Group (a.k.a. Gold Hill Development Corp.) and another private landowner with holdings north of Chapman's claims. Chapman's group recently acquired a contiguous strip of three mining claims that start in Delta Bowl and run down to the bottom of the Bear Creek drainage. The other landowner owns the nearby Nellie claim.

The gates closed by the USFS are on federal land and provide access to public lands that do not necessarily cross Chapman's private mining claims. These gates provide the only reasonable ski access from the ski area into upper Bear Creek, and their closure effectively closes the basin to public winter use.  The closure also blocks access to the Wasatch Trail, which has been recognized by the USFS for several decades and is one of the region's most popular summer hikes.

The landowners of the specified mining claims have been accused of attempting to create greater potential sale value for their properties by advocating for this closure, advocacy some locals view as extortive.  Chapman told Telluride Magazine in an interview published this winter that one of his professional goals is "to serve as a 'check' against the over-zealous portion of the environmental community and the sycophant politicians that pander to them for political gain."  We don't see what's over-zealous about protecting historical backcountry ski access to public land.  This situation needs to be corrected, and to do that, we need your help.

Jay, please help us in our attempt to regain access to public land in a constructive and respectful manner. The Forest Service needs to hear from as many of us as possible in order to better understand the highest and best use of our high-country environments. If we can educate our government and other establishments on backcountry usage in this case, our work may have impacts far beyond the current issue in Telluride.

The CMC, with Telluride's Sheep Mountain Alliance, has filed a FOIA request with the Forest Service to discover the details behind these closures.  In the meantime, it is my hope—on behalf of the Colorado Mountain Club, the American Alpine Club, Telluride recreationalists, Winter Wildlands Alliance, and The Access Fund—that you might take a few minutes of your time to help protect access to our many spectacular mountain environments.
 
Take Action: Write a Letter!

Personalized messages are the most effective form of communication when making a comment to public officials. Therefore, please use the text as a guide and spice-up your letter with your personal connection to the Bear Creek area and Telluride's backcountry user community. Written letters are more effective than emails. Both are even better.

 Compose message to the following recipients;
Charley Richmond
Forest Supervisor, U.S. Forest Service
2250 Highway 50, Delta, CO 81416
Email: csrichmond@fs.fed.us

Judy Schutza
District Ranger, U.S. Forest Service
P.O. Box 388, Norwood, CO 81423
Email: jschutza@fs.fed.us

Subject: Please Reopen the upper Bear Creek backcountry access points that provide public access from the Telluride Ski Area onto National Forest System lands in Upper Bear Creek.

Dear __________,

Paragraph 1: Introduce yourself, include where you live and work, if you have skied Bear Creak, how often. If you are from out of town, discuss how often you come to the area to ski. Don't forget to mention if you are a member of Winter Wildlands Alliance. Discuss why this area is important to you.

Paragraph 2: Discuss why you oppose the recent closure. Include any of the following talking points in your message.
  • Please reopen the Upper Bear Creek backcountry access gates immediately and involve the public in future decisions about this area.
  • The hasty decision to close access to this area did not adequately take into account the economic and social impacts on the region's people and businesses.
  • It is problematic, and potentially illegal, when a federal agency closes public land that has been open to public use for over 10 years without any public input.
  • The closed gates provide access to public lands that do not necessarily cross the involved private mining claims. There are many other areas that can be accessed via these access points that do not conflict with or trespass on private land.
  • In the previous decades, there was never any concern about public access in the Bear Creek drainage. There have been documented ski descents in this area as early as the 1960s or earlier.
  • Part of the USFS's mission is to provide the public with reasonable access to public land.
  • The Wasatch Trail is an USFS-recognized trail that has been used by the public for decades without any contested use.
Paragraph 3: Closing statement restating reopening access.

Jay Heeter
Include Address and Contact Information

Sources:

Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour

Banff Logo
March 3 and 4, 2011, the CMC will host the Banff Mountainfilm Festival World Tour, with proceeds to benefit the Colorado Mountain Club.

Hot on the heels of the largest, and one of the most prestigious mountain festivals in the world, the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour has hit the road, with stops planned in 360 locations worldwide. This year's tour features a collection of the most inspiring and thought-provoking action, environmental, and adventure mountain films. Traveling from remote landscapes and cultures to up close and personal with adrenaline-packed action sports, the 2010/2011 World Tour is an exhilarating and provocative exploration of the mountain world. For 35 years, the Banff Mountain Film Festival has celebrated the spirit of adventure and the mountain environment.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour is produced by Mountain Culture at The Banff Centre, and features award-winning films and audience favorites from approximately 300 films entered in the annual festival in Banff, Canada.

The screenings of The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour in Canada and the USA are presented by National Geographic, The North Face, and Parks Canada; sponsored by Deuter, OR (Outdoor Research), Stones into Schools, Three Cups of Tea, PrimaLoft, Tom's of Maine, and ProBar; with support from MSR (Mountain Safety Research), Fernie Alpine Resort, PETZL, World Expeditions, and Mountain Hardwear.

Tickets are $15, available beginning December 7 at REI Boulder, Denver, Englewood and Lakewood locations; the Paramount Theatre; and through the Colorado Mountain Club. Ticket price includes parking. Proceeds will benefit the Colorado Mountain Club. Tickets purchased at the Paramount Theatre will incur additional service charges.

You can also buy tickets at our CMC site.  Be sure to buy tickets for the night you want to attend, or both nights separately.  We have one purchase page for March 3 and another page for March 4.

The festival now attracts audiences of 10,000 with approximately 300 films submitted from over 30 countries. During the third week in February, visit www.rei.com/stores for the local play list and other information. Doors open at 6:00 PM.

Check out the event trailer online.

Monday, January 24, 2011

"Wolverine Night" Brings Gulo gulo to a Theater Near You

The Center for Native Ecosystems, with support from CMC and other groups, is hosting four "Wolverine Nights" across Colorado next week.
 
Fewer than 500 wolverines remain in the lower 48 states. Get a glimpse into the lives of these mysterious, cold-loving creatures and learn how they survive in the most rugged terrain on earth.
 
Jason Wilmot is the executive director of Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative and has studied wolverines for several years in Glacier National Park and the Greater Yellowstone Area. Jason will be presenting his research and showing never-before-captured footage from a recent wolverine documentary. Don’t miss it!
 
All events are free and open to the public!
 
Edwards
Wednesday, Jan 26, 6-8PM
New Battle Mountain High School
 
Golden
Thursday, Jan 27, 6-8PM
American Mountaineering Center
 
Denver
Friday, Jan 28, 7-9PM
Denver Zoo
 
Boulder
Saturday, Jan 29, 6-8PM
REI
 
For more information and directions, visit or call:
www.nativeecosystems.org
(303) 546-0214 x 7