Western Chugach Ski Guide & Avalanche Educator

There’s no doubt about it: no other ski guide or avalanche educator is as experienced working with the terrain, weather, and snow dynamics of the Western Chugach as CMI’s Mat Brunton. CMI is your best choice for guided backcountry skiing, snowboarding, and ski mountaineering in Alaska’s most accessible mountains near the city of Anchorage, town of Girdwood, small community of Whittier, and Portage Valley.

As a graduate student, and as part of his master’s thesis, Mat started a grassroots avalanche information and education program for Chugach State Park (Alaska’s most accessible avalanche terrain) that he directed for a decade. When he started this project, 16 avalanche fatalities and countless other avalanche-related accidents had occurred in this area (more than in any other part of the state)…but no professional or organized program existed to provide public safety information for snow-season recreationists. Mat provided numerous educational opportunities and hundreds of avalanche forecasts and professional observations for this area, pro bono, over the course of nine seasons via the Anchorage Avalanche Center.

These mountains hold a special place in Mat’s heart: it’s where he cut his teeth as a backcountry skier, ski alpinist, and avalanche educator. He established numerous first descents and new routes in the Western Chugach, studied and learned the snow and weather patterns for finding the best conditions, set the bar for an avalanche information program that serves Alaska’s most accessible and widely used avalanche terrain, and showed that there’s world-class backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering within a 20 minute drive of downtown Anchorage and Alaska’s international airport.

While he has since moved to the sparsely populated wild side of the Chugach (near Valdez, AK & Thompson Pass), Mat regularly returns to the civilized west side to guide, provide skills instruction, and teach a variety of courses.

The snow climate of the Western Chugach is very unique, and highly variable: from season to season and from one valley to the next. It typically has a deep, maritime (aka coastal) snowpack to the south near Girdwood (in America’s northernmost temperate rainforest) but deceptive snow depth and coverage closer to Anchorage (due to being on the windy, downsloped, “rain shadow” side of the Chugach) give it more interior (aka continental) snowpack characteristics. These snowpack characteristics have gained the “Front Range” of Chugach State Park, right above Anchorage, a notorious reputation for being difficult to understand.

While the Western Chugach north of Anchorage (from Eagle River to the Knik River) is relatively interior-continental, the Front Range (closest to Anchorage), is truly unique. After all, the Anchorage vicinity mountains are on the coast (and overlook the Cook Inlet and Turnagain Arm area Pacific Ocean). However, snow depth and coverage doesn’t look typically coastal. It’s not. But, the snowpack also isn’t as dangerous as a typical interior-continental one. Often, it’s more stable than Hatcher Pass and Turnagain Pass.

The Western Chugach, especially of Chugach State Park, is rocky relative to the more southern and eastern Chugach. This creates a very special ambiance. While the rock quality for climbing in the Chugach is relatively low grade “choss,” the range more than makes up for what it lacks in terms of “splitter” crack climbing with splitter couloir skiing: arguably some of the best in the world (especially in terms of accessibility being so close to Anchorage).

Chugach State Park may not have Alaska’s deepest snowpack and powder, but it definitely has the lightest, driest, and fluffiest powder on this side of the state. With widespread 1000′ (300m)+ steep couloirs, numerous high alpine and treeless bowls with 1500′ (450m)+ 30-35º runs, and heavily glaciated mountains within a day’s approach that feature a world-class hut system along the Eklutna Traverse; the Western Chugach has appealing terrain for all types of skiers and snowboarders.

Whether you’re new to backcountry skiing and snowboarding and want basic backcountry travel instruction and avalanche education (like CMI’s exceptional 4-day Rec Level 1 & Avalanche Rescue course that significantly exceeds national guidelines), are a blossoming backcountry skier looking to take your game to the next level via an Adventure Skiing course that will help you develop the skills and abilities to more safely enjoy wild areas without avalanche information programs, want to become a proficient ski mountaineer via a Ski Alpinism course, or just want a day of guided alpine touring; contact CMI to start planning a snow-based adventure in Alaska’s most accessible mountains near Anchorage.

Email info@chugachsnow.org or call/text 907-831-9686 for inquiries, availability, to arrange an incredible day of skiing or riding, and to register for courses.