Spring is the season for ski guides training for upcoming AMGA Ski Mountaineering Courses and Exams. I’ve been getting in touch and helping out fellow guides with advice for how to really maximize their instructional experiences while avoiding excessive MARGINAL scores.

As temperatures climb here in the Elk Mountains, stability is quite good, even Very Good (to be a dork about it), making it a great time of year to enjoy some of those steeper lines. As Jayson Simons-Jones (owner of CBMG) and I have been finding, it’s also a great time to train for his upcoming AMGA Ski Mountaineering Exam!

While the lines aren’t exactly Valdez size, there is plenty of technical terrain in our backyards to keep things interesting. Check out this vid of Jayson belaying us into a seldom skied steep line!

Mike Bromberg

It feels like spring here in CB. I climbed rock yesterday and ice the day before. I realize that it is only March, but it feels like spring and when I can be outside in a T-shirt I tend to keep the skis in the closet…

Jay F. Demonstrating a proper pinpoint search… he’s remembering to keep the beacon in the SAME orientation throughout the pinpoint phase!

Here are a few photos of the ice day down in Lake City.

This crew (all from the Los Angeles area) was super psyched on this warmer than ever ice climbing day (notice how we were rarely wearing gloves!).

It feeling like rock climbing weather and all, I’ve been spending quite a bit of time in the gym lately. The folks who were out skiing today assured me that I wasn’t missing anything. Wind affected, breakable crust. Getting after in hard in the gym training for a long alpine and rock season to come!

Mike