Rebirth of Snowcat Skiing at Irwin Lodge -- Hopefully

Once the largest snowcat skiing venue in the US, Irwin Lodge might come out of mothballs

From 1986 to 2002, the Irwin Lodge off the Kebler Pass Road 23 miles from Crested Butte was the country biggest and best-known backcountry skiing operations. A 24-room lodge (below) located in a former mining camp accommodated overnight guests in rustic comfort and great congeniality. Sublime skiing on 600 to 700 inches of snow per year within a permit area of 1,600 acres with a vertical of up to 2,100 feet per run made for memorable experiences. When the previous operator pulled out of the backcountry business in 2002, the lodge was put on the market for $3.95 million. No sale. Now, a glimmer of resurrection is on the horizon.

Alan Bernholtz, Town Council member of six years, mayor of Crested Butte, founder of and senior guide for Crested Butte Mountain Guides, co-founder of the Crested Butte Avalanche Center, activist and indefatigable organizer of and volunteer at community events, has established Irwin Backcountry Guides LLC in the hopes of starting operation for the winter 2009-10 for extremely limited guided snowcat day skiing and snowboarding. You can read the USFS letter inviting comments to this proposal by click here. Bernoltz has already made some modifications to his original applications to comply with initial US Forest Service requests and is awaiting approval for to set up service for the coming winter. From a distance, the lodge (below) appears in good shape.

As solid as the lodge looks from a distance, bringing it back into operating condition after seven winters at 10,700 feet in the Colorado Rockies is daunting. The good news is that the roof appears largely intact, in in the great scheme of things, it probably is. However, a closeup reveals the toll that seven winters have taken on the cedar siding, doors and windows. "No trespassing" signs abound, and pink plastic tape surrounds the property, so a micro-inspection is not possible. Locals have told me that all or most of the furnishings are gone, and that the inside would need a lot of work to make it habitable.

Irwin Backcountry Guides has reportedly rehabilitated a cabin on the property to use as a warming hut and perhaps lunch spot for day visitors. I think the cabin below with its spiffy adjacent outhouse must be it. This cabin nestles a couple of hundred feet below the main lodge.

The initial permit application is for just 10 skiers or riders per day, but the buzz in town swirls around the possibility of eventual heli-skiing operations at the Irwin Lodge site. I see two results if that is approved: the lodge would have to be massively rehabilitated and a lot of townsfolk who treasure open backcountry access will be massively pissed, especially if the operation is aimed at attracting the kind of deep-pocketed clientele that can afford heli-skiing.

Meanwhile, there is not yet dedicated contact information for Irwin Backcountry Guides, but you can certainly reach them via Crested Butte Mountain Guides, P.O, Box 1718, Crested Butte, Colorado 81224; 970-349-5430.