Mustang Powder, Jan 10-12 2025

EMSC

Well-known member
Solidly decent and kinda lucky for this Jan it appears.

Mustang and all of BC had pretty decent Dec snows, but very little (almost none) precip in Jan. However 6" (15cm) fell on on the first day which hugely helped plus another 1-2 on day 2/evening. Though by day two snow had all sorts of different things going on making it great in places and dense or challenging in others. Combinations of wind, settling, cloud mist kinda drizzling on the surface in just one or two limited spots, etc... plus 6" isn't enough to fully refresh well skied lines from the prior 2weeks of no snow.

Temps weren't an issue. -4C day 1, -6-8C days 2 and 3. Very stable snowpack as well so far this year.

A few oddities this trip with a 'legendary' guest guide (two actually) that clearly didn't remember all the terrain and almost kinda following instructions/recommended runs via radio at times for the first two days... Also us rushing back to the lodge on day 3 just to have almost 2 hours for our group waiting for flight 6&7 heli out...

But also some very nice lines and new friends made. Food and staff as good as ever of course.

I'm going to try to get an Avenza map from one of the cat mates because on my new phone (8mo old s24) that app flat out would not track GPS paths. At some point I stopped trying and used my Garmin watch. But of course those are not super useful without being overlaid on the run names. But alas Avenza also refuses to import those kml files. Sigh. Tech can suck sometimes.

Also keep in mind that this was "small groups steep chutes" program so only 6 in a cat and supposed to be steeper and a bit rougher version of Mustang.

Here is a google earth view of things. Not a lot of context for those that have no idea where the tenure boundaries are or how steep/cliff infused various sectors can be. Red=day 1, purple=day 2, green=day3 (definitely got a cat road recorded once on day one and also one on day 3)
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Day 1: woke to predicted snow storm. Only 2cm at 7a though. Probably one of the few times it's really beneficial to have to do avi training for 1.5hrs to start. Snowed solidly all am then in waves in the pm. So conditions started a touch thin as to new powder in previously skied areas to start but then got better and better all day. Not being a resort, things never get literally skied off. But popular runs do get well skied in droughts which it appears January is shaping up to be with no new snow in the forecasts I've seen for BC.

Unfortunately an Aussie in the group had some sort of weird interaction with a small compression/bump significantly injuring his calf muscle and ligaments. Not torn, but bruised and way over stressed. So after only 5-6 runs his skiing for the trip was done. He could barely walk, but was feeling slight improvement by the time we flew out. He handled it better than just about anyone could with a positive attitude.

Day one runs I recall are andiamo twice to start, carnival twice, looking glass & mad hatter area 4 times, short Samba to finish to the lodge.

My Garmin recorded 10.7K of vert but I missed 4-5 runs on the watch.

Not a bad day1 and with the new snow; while solidly steep nothing crazy challenging either. Small sluffs in a couple spots.

As usual, many of these photos will be from the very top, or bottom of the runs that I happened to get down ahead of others. So mostly scenics and run-outs not the pitches or cliff areas (mostly, I have not frame grabbed any Gopro footage as yet).

Day 1 pics:
How to get remote real fast
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Avi training.
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This was a different group's cat... We had Pussy Riot cat
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Sometimes this deep...
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Sometimes this deep
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Lots of runs I took no pics though either. Not enough time, rotating to be last, etc...

Days 2 and 3 will be in a reply post (either late tonight or even tomorrow).
 
Day 2: A couple of very good lines, but also some less than expected lines and repetition.

Plenty of fog at times, some odd snow in places but also some very good snow in places. The new snow had settled and was more dense overall. On some runs not enough to cover partially skied areas making for challenging thick and not thick turns alternating randomly. Had to be on your toes. At one point we were going to try Cloud Nine (above treeline) as it looked like it was clearing, until it wasn't. Turned into a waste of time, then headed to Stage right which is fine, open trees decent pitch, but too much regrouping (endless regrouping really), and too much repeat. Then a newly named run (I think) schnickel fritz (or something close to that) just W down the ridgeline from stage right. Except we missed it and basically bushwhacked a not fun run before going back up the same ridge for a 5th!! time at least finding that run... which at the bottom we then followed the logging/cat roads all the way to the valley to go over to Anstey Ridge (never skied so much cat road in prior seasons, but I guess it's an occasional thing, talking to others).

One of this group is now at Mustang for 6 groups per season. 3 weeks total per year with over 100 days and knows the runs at least as good as the tail guides. In fact he was frequently suggesting runs, pointing out wrong directions, etc... to the guide(s). Not in a bad way. Saving us from mistakes and wasting time. Anyway despite suggestions of Showtime and runs on Love Hump like Centurion Bowl... none of that ever happened. Our lead guide just wasn't comfortable taking us to places other groups were not also at and that he didn't remember well enough (implied by behavior not direct words).

We did indeed get two great runs off Anstey Ridge as the low cloud got better: Rainbow and Cobra, but one of those was actually lead by our tail guide. We might have had a 3rd there but the road was too soft for the cat to try a 3rd time. Probably an extra 5-8 minutes was spent spinning the tracks getting to run #2 off the ridge already. For those that don't know, Mustang has one of the steepest and most extensive cat road networks that exists (or so 'they' say). We then did two runs of a cut block not listed on the map but called Montana Mustache. In pics it looks tame, but is actually a 40 degree pitch. Very deceptive, but wide open and tons of things to huck off if that's you're thing.

The day was finished with two White Boy runs which come directly down into the lodge. It is steep with a cliff band 3/4 down. With a staff member doing full cartwheels after not landing a cliff jump on the first run followed by all cats in attendance and cheers/jeers for 2nd lap efforts. with tail guide not landing his jump on 2nd run, but less wild looking.

At any rate, polite but firm complaints were given to the powers that be for switching up the guides for day 3. My watch counted ~14.3K of vertical.

AM had some flurries and certainly fog
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There are 15 people in this picture
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Not all bad
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Over the Rainbow (I think?)
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Montana Mustache
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Tail Guide - Bottom of White Boy 2nd lap
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Lodge "polar bear"
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'legendary' guest guide (two actually) that clearly didn't remember all the terrain and almost kinda following instructions/recommended runs via radio at times for the first two days..
On 10 different trips (31 days) I never had an impression of a guide who didn't know his way around. This seems especially strange with the small group that is more likely to be demanding.
 
Day 3: different guide, though still one oops run.

We had a new guide (to us) for day 3 and immediately went to the 'no zone', skiing some of those very long steeps, boulder fields and technical stuff. Then Jacks run to move away from that area. A much steeper than I expected Flying Squirrel run (it's next to west bank which is very cruiser-y), Also Mardi Gras, another couple of avi chute untouched Looking Glass/Tea Party runs... though second one was more like bushwhacking again as the drop off road to tea party had not been built; so the best guess by the cat and guides was off a bit. On Mumbo Jumbo our guide went ahead to look and had the tail guide move us 100 yards to the side half way down as the cliffs were too gnarly where he'd gone (he said even more sketchy than he wanted too). Then a center and a right Bossa Nova. With one a nice cut through the cliffs and another directly through/down the cliff band.

You know you're in a spicier group/day when the guide asks who is ready to billy goat their way down some cliff bands. Which happened at the start of a couple of runs on Day 3. Despite having to return to the lodge an hour earlier (to heli out supposedly, though we twiddled our thumbs for almost two hours which was weird and unlike my prior two trips), we ended up with slightly more vert for the day at 14.7K.

Skiing was challenging at times with huge boulder fields, fog, cliffs, a bit thinner snow that continued to settle in some areas, etc... Also after 4 days of skiing (including SilverStar) my legs were tired in the AM but then getting stronger in the PM.

I took less video and pics on Day 3; Lots of fog early, lots of treed runs, etc...

No Zone
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Literally a natural mogul field
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Not No Zone (not sure which run)
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More No Zone pics
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(not No Zone) Doesn't look like it, but he is ~2 feet from airborne over a ~6-8 foot drop.
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This seems especially strange with the small group that is more likely to be demanding.
They especially shouldn't have put him with a client that has more than 100 days and is very serious about his skiing. Plus so knowledgeable about the place that he was given a guide jacket as a 100 day prize. It was kinda like doing an own-goal to yourself to put him in our group.

The guide is a positive, very knowledgeable about guiding/snow science person, etc... but just clearly had not spent time at Mustang in a very long time. Plus a tendency to regroup every 10-15 turns at times.
 
Did you use skins? Mustang's Small Groups, Steep Chutes webpage says "Skiers and boarders will, on occasion, use climbing skins for a short or medium length tour to access a run’s entrance."

Regrouping "every 10-15 turns at times" does seem excessive with only 6 skiers in the cat. The number of people they put in the regular cats when they are letting some of their employees ski a half-day also has been excessive a couple of my days at Mustang. But letting employees cat-ski must help them recruit and keep employees. I don't think I mentioned previously that when I confirmed my dates for February 2026 will (finally) rollback a week, they offered me a job scheduling.
 
Did you use skins?
I've talked to several long time Steep Chutes folks about that and the apparent outcome is that if there is new snow there will basically never be any skins used. Why? The key options for skinning apparently chew up several runs worth of cat time and of course everyone wants to maximize vert and runs given the price of admission. However, they do (rarely) skin if you are getting into drought situations. Which allows the small groups to access otherwise untouched powder long after storms.

So, need to have them with you, but vast majority of the time not likely to be used.

letting some of their employees ski a half-day also has been excessive a couple of my days at Mustang. But letting employees cat-ski must help them recruit and keep employees.
Based on my experience with Small Groups, I expect one extra employee in our cat every single day. Sometimes an extra 'learning' tail guide, sometimes kitchen or housekeeping; even the masseuse once. Of course this year we basically had a group of only 5 clients.
 
polite but firm complaints were given to the powers that be for switching up the guides
How often does that happen, where the entire group is less than delighted with the guide -- to the point that you feel obligated to complain to management?
 
How often does that happen
That's one of those hard to say kind of deals having only been there 3 times. Depends on the group, depends on the guide.

My 1st year there were a few complaints, but I felt that was simply because we were so restricted to their not-so-interesting terrain by Avi danger. Personally, I liked the guide himself.

2nd year, no complaints about the guide. Everyone liked the guide and he also has the craziest back story of any guide I've ever met (Karsten) Though that group was also a full sized cat, not specialty steep chutes.

Interestingly, both previous guides still work for Mustang, but both were on a week off this year when I was there.
 
In my extensive experience I have no recollection of a guide situation like EMSC describes, lack of knowledge of terrain or snow conditions. Some guides do a better job than others of handling divergent abilities within a group.

Negatives have been more of management or logistics: Breakdown of a cat needing repairs, the cat having trouble making switchback turns or getting through an inadequately packed down section of snow. Worst was Great Northern not rain-checking (literal description!) a trip after 4 days of torrential rain. First day of that was almost dangerous skiing; very lucky no one submarined under that newly soaked snow and wrenched a leg/knee.

My record with Mustang over 10 tours was impressively consistent, including snow conditions. I surely thought 31 days in 10 different seasons was a meaningful sample size.
 
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