the experience
“Thank you for an amazing day cat skiing.” - Tony, Warren Miller Entertainment
“This was my best ski day ever. Though I have gone on another cat skiing trip, skied here in Colorado almost everywhere for years as well as most places in Lake Tahoe, I would say without equivocation that there was no comparison. The terrain, ambiance and snow on this trip were out of this world." - Rich J.
"If you enjoy snowboarding serious powder, this is the trip for you. My father and I took the cat up for the day over Christmas break, and it was perhaps the greatest experience of my life." - Chris
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The early morning alpine glow has left the high peaks and the morning sky sparkles with remnants of last night’s snow. It’s a 12-inch powder day and still snowing lightly.
Groups of skiers excitedly hustle through the parking lot at Durango Mountain Resort to the San Juan Ski Company desk. Everyone is feeling the frenzy of being at the bottom of the mountain on a powder day and is eagerly anticipating a day backcountry skiing with the snowcat.
Once inside, guests make haste to fill out the necessary paperwork.
Attention is divided as the group listens to Kevin Devine, long-time guide for the San Juan Ski Company, and owner/lead guide Bob Rule, explain the use of avalanche transceivers and safety.
Some attention is focused on that ache for the first powder turn; of carving effortlessly through untracked powder, line after line, anticipating the icy crystals of the first face shot and the pillow-soft landings after airing off a roll.
Some attention is focused on other members of the group – strangers sizing up strangers – before spending the day in a shared experience. Some wonder, “Will they slow me down?” Others are wondering, “Can I keep up?”
Rule and Devine bring the attention back to the task at hand - safety. After guests are briefed on backcountry travel guidelines, avalanche protocol, use of transceivers and snowcat safety, they head outside, step into skis or boards and glide into line for the chair lift ride to the top. Local Purgatory powder hounds watch enviously as guests are transported up the mountain. Locals must wait another 30 minutes or so before the chair officially opens at 9 a.m.
The short ski to the snowcat rendezvous gives everyone a taste of what the day will bring. At the snowcat, the guides and driver are smiling and joking and, as skiers and boarders ride in, they are grinning, too. Everyone is excited as they load into the snowcat.
The custom designed Bombardier snowcat is warm and comfortable and soon the conversation and scenery chases away the desire for instant “beam-me-up” powder gratification. A window is opened and the clear, fresh mountain air fills the compartment.
The guides are deciding if the warm up run will be down “The Milk Run” or in “Bubba’s Bowl.” Suddenly, the cat makes big looping turn and comes to a shuttering stop. Gear is collected; a lost glove located, a broken helmet buckle is jerry-rigged and shovel packs are slipped on. Eyes seem to brighten and smiles widen as the group of 10 jumps down the steps of the snowcat, landing thigh deep in snow.
One by one, Devine checks avalanche beacons as guests ski past him, before following Rule down the first run to the day, “The Milk Run”, a sparsely treed glade of mostly medium angle. (The first run tends to be conservative as the guides assess the snow pack and skiers abilities.)
The five-foot base of snow holds a topping of more than 12 inches of soft, dry powder. The group floats down through the trees. An occasional “whoop” and more than a few giggles float up into the mountain air.
The ride back up is filled with laughter and smiles. The guides are happy with the group’s ability. And some worries are laid to rest - those riders who wondered if skiers could keep up - now realize everyone in the group beat the snowcat down to the loading zone.
The cat driver maneuvers the snowcat past the first drop off where the road skirts the edge of a steep pitch. The machine lists to the right, producing nervous smiles from the group. The guides, more acquainted with the roads and the snowcat’s ability, are unaffected. Guests are dropped off at the top of “The Upper Glades.”
This run faces more to the north and is steeper and deeper. The trees are well spaced and there are rolls and big, soft bumps providing the opportunity for air and soft landings. The boarders straight line it to the bumps, aiming to get big air. The skiers move slower, milking the turns and savoring the cold powder as it floats up to greet them.
And so the day goes, one fabulous run after another. Afraid of missing out on turns, the group decides to eat lunch in the snowcat on the way back up.
One of the skiers has opted to sit the last run out and climbs into the snowcat’s cab. He is rewarded with a front-row seat up the mountain, through old growth Engelmann spruce to the above-timberline yellow-pole road that leads to a drop near the 12,504-foot Grayrock peak. The skies have cleared and the views are spectacular. To the east is Engineer Mountain and the Wiminuche Wilderness, to the north, Grizzly Peak, (262 feet short shy of being a fourteener), and Lizard Head, (a well-known landmark southwest of Telluride); to the west, the La Plata’s and the further out, the Sleeping Ute, and the high plateau of Mesa Verde.
Around 4 p.m., the group, tired, but wanting more, is dropped off at the edge of Purgatory. Although the group is back on the groomed, (now chopped-up crud with intermittent icy patches) the ski down to the base area somehow seemed the proper way to end a perfect day of backcountry skiing.
It left everyone thinking the same thing...