IBG snowcat ski operation in Irwin gets final okay

Permits allow for December 1 start
 
Irwin Backcountry Guides (IBG) should soon be open for business, now that it has permits from the Forest Service and Gunnison County to operate a snowcat skiing operation near Lake Irwin.

IBG cleared its last major hurdle to starting operations this year when the Gunnison County Planning Commission gave a final nod on Friday, November 20 to approve a minor impact decision granting IBG a land use change permit. The county’s permit will mirror the specifications of a special use permit granted to IBG by the U.S. Forest Service in September.
Although that permit is nearly in IBG’s hands, it is still contingent on a few minor loose ends being tied up in the coming weeks.
“There were no appeals of the Forest Service decision and we’ll be working between this week and next to get [IBG’s] permit issued,” Forest Service Winter Ranger Kai Allen said Monday. “The final okay is still dependent on a whole bunch of steps that we have to go through… but we’re getting to the end.”
Along with the special use and land use change permits, IBG had to get permits or approval for its operations from several other county departments, as well as the town of Crested Butte and federal and state agencies that oversee the cache of explosives IBG will use for avalanche control.
To cap his journey through the county’s seven-month permit process, IBG Mountain Manager Alan Bernholtz appeared at a special meeting of the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, November 24 to see a resolution passed granting IBG snowcat access on County Road 12—Kebler Pass Road—through the winter.
For Bernholtz, the task of getting everything in order for an inaugural season in the Irwin backcountry has been a full-time job since he joined the company a year-and-a-half ago.
“It has been an arduous process, but I think that the powers that be are doing a good job at managing our public lands. But I am definitely glad it’s done,” Bernholtz said.
The snowcat skiing operation, he said, “will be a huge amenity to this community and I’m glad to have this process behind us so we can move forward.”
The operating permits will allow IBG to conduct all of the avalanche control and scouting work necessary to take as many as 24 clients by snowcat safely onto more than 1,000 acres of backcountry seven days a week between December 1 and April 30.
IBG will also be using the remodeled Movie Cabin, located near the Irwin townsite, as a base camp and warming house. Access to the public land will be via private property owned by, or leased to, IBG’s parent company, Scarp Ridge LLC.
While a final version of the Forest Service permit hasn’t been issued, or even conceived, Allen said the special use permit will probably have a 10-year term, with a probationary period for the first two years.
And as the finishing touches are being put on the special use permit paperwork, IBG is waiting for the arrival of one rubber-tracked snowcat that will get clients from Crested Butte, and another snowcat with metal tracks that will pick up clients before heading into the hills.
Meanwhile, Bernholtz and Snow Safety Director Billy Rankin will be scouting IBG’s permit area for safe routes around mine shafts for their clients.
“We’re not in a hurry to open. We want to get up there and work out the kinks,” says Bernholtz. “We’re still working on the details and the plans. We are looking at mid-January after we get some good snow up there. It takes an incredible amount of planning and we’re always upgrading so when we do open the doors, it’s a top notch operation.”
After spending more than a year in the federal permitting process, seven months in the county process and many days in between tending to the logistics of approval for IBG’s operation, Bernholtz thanked the Planning Commission at their final meeting Friday for the speed with which the process moved along.
“This is my first time through the county process, and I appreciate the clear direction that [the county] gave us and all of the input from staff and the planning commission,” he said. “I’m glad to see the county taking care of our public lands the way you’ve been taking care of them.”