Featured Image: Justin Bufue
Alaska, and more specifically, the Chugach Mountain Range is amongst the holy grail of big mountain skiing. Each fall, we watch our favorite pros tackle its epic spines, gnarly steeps and blower pow on the big screen during ski movie premiere season. Some mere mortals are even fortunate enough to make the pilgrimage to Alaska for a trip of a lifetime in the Last Frontier.
One of the newest heli-ski operators in AK, Crown Mountain Guides (CMG), is staking their claim alongside some of the best in the 49th state. Now entering the second “official” season, their unparalleled location, access to a fleet of A-Star B3 helicopters and a staff of guides, pilots, chefs and more allows this newcomer to deliver authentic Alaskan adventures to guests, pro skiers and film crews.
CMG might be the new kids on the block, but they already fit right in | Photo: Jake Sloan
The Backstory
Before the formation of the guiding outfit, Alpha Aviation, a helicopter charter company owned by the same parent company as CMG, had been contracted by several of Alaska’s heli-ski operations for nearly a decade. Alaska Glacier Lodge, located about an hour’s drive from Anchorage, is also part of the umbrella business and has been a longtime summer destination for tourists visiting the Land of the Midnight Sun. With this seemingly-perfect infrastructure in place, Director of Operations Mike Neely set out to start a new operation. He hired veteran heli-ski guide Travis Elquist, who had been guiding in AK since 2008, as his chief guide and Crown Mountain Guides was born.
The new operation soft-launched in 2022 with an invitation to pro athletes, film crews and locals to get a taste of the experience in what they dubbed “Year Zero.” A TGR film crew brought athletes Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Ian McIntosh, Parkin Costain and Maggie Voisin to spend nearly two months shooting the AK segment for “Legend Has It.”
“The terrain we skied was super sick,” Costain said. “They have some insanely beautiful glaciers. We skied through these twisted ice tunnels popping out of the ground there. I skied one of my favorite lines from that whole season with Crown Mountain Guides.”
The film gave CMG an unbelievable platform to market their new outfit while also allowing Elquist and his team of guides to familiarize themselves with the terrain.
“I really pushed to do a lot of guiding that year because I hadn’t flown a ton on this side of the Chugach Mountain Range,” Elquist said. “I needed to familiarize myself with the zones and snow. ‘Year Zero’ really ensured we were delivering a quality product when we opened up for guests last season.”
The Location and Terrain
The scenic lodge offers private guest cabins and is tucked away in the heart of the remote Knik River Valley—a 30-minute drive from the nearest town of Palmer. This location is CMG’s secret sauce, allowing them to fly to the top of pristine lines in the Chugach Mountain Range in as little as three minutes.
“The one thing that we have that other operators don’t is our location,” Elquist said. “Being in this little weather shadow where we can fly most days of the week, that’s what really sets us apart—we don’t have many down days. I was begging for down days last year!”
Elquist goes on to explain that the Knik Glacier acts as a funnel that can offer vastly different weather patterns to the north and the south. When southern flows cause weather holds in the Chugach Range, pilots can easily fly skiers 20 minutes north to ski the Talkeetna Range. When a storm from the west knocks out the northern mountains, the guides head to clearer zones in the southern Chugach Range. From knife-edge spines to open panels and dreamy couloirs, the terrain in the three-million-plus acre playground offers up something for every skier. Last season, Jake Hopfinger, Caite Zeliff and Maggie Voisin shot their new film “Strike” almost entirely in the Colony Island zone.
“Colony Island is a ski-movie-making factory,” Hopfinger said. “We flew a few minutes from the lodge and everywhere you looked, it was like ‘oh, this is sick.’ We had light on an easterly face in the morning, and then we’d go ski the other side of the ridge in the afternoon. We could pick anything from big cliffs to big panels and the snow was really good up there.”
Costain had a favorite spot of his own. “I think Atomic Spines is one of the better film lines out there,” Costain said. “There were all of these twisted little flutes that lined up perfectly on the ridge at the right aspect for incredible snow.”
Some runs will have 1,500 feet of steep terrain that open up into another 1,500 feet of wide-open cruising down to a glacier. When the weather and snowpack are just right, you can have runs starting at an elevation of 6,000 feet that allow you to ski all the way down to 100 feet above sea level. Other times, the weather and snowpack dictate that the guides pick 1,000-foot runs and instead of the average of six to eight runs in a day, you’re doing 10 to 12.
“Because of the way our snowpack comes in right off of the coast, it just seems to stick and then heal very quickly,” Elquist said. “When we have storms where it doesn’t heal as quickly, we have other options outside of the Chugach Range thanks to our prime location.”
Two to three days per month, both the Chugach and Talkeetna Ranges are unskiable, so they head to the Tordrillo, Alaska or Kenai Ranges—each offering different terrain and weather patterns about an hour-long flight from the lodge.
Just a sample of the vast and humbling terrain CMG can help you access | Photo: Jake Sloan
The Bespoke Experience
Prior to arrival, guests fill out a thorough questionnaire so the guides have a good understanding of their skiing ability and preferences. Futhermore, pre-trip phone calls and meetings with guides and pilots on day one, allow them to build personal relationships to ensure the experience is fully-dialed.
“Our main focus is creating the perfect experience for our guests their entire trip,” CMG Communications & Digital Marketing Manager Sage Dudick said. “We want people to show up to Alaska and know that everything is taken care of and they don’t have to worry about a thing.”
While down days are far fewer with Crown Mountain Guides as opposed to other heli-ski operations thanks to their prime location, they will craft activities based on your preferences and requests. Fat tire biking, exploring ice caves, ice climbing, snowshoeing, ice fishing, surfing and glacier lake ice hockey are all on the table.
“We really pride ourselves on our down day activities thanks to the access that we have to the Knik Glacier,” Elquist said. “It is a mecca of recreation, and with Crown’s infrastructure, we’d be idiots not to utilize it to its fullest.”
CMG offers both private and semi-private heli-skiing and they take great care in pairing similar ability levels for the latter. Usually there are two groups of three or four guests skiing together and they have three guides between the two groups—one more than most heli-ski operations. This allows one group to follow one guide into more advanced terrain while the other group follows a guide into a more moderate run in the same valley with a tail guide behind them.
“Our motto last year was ‘nobody leaves unhappy,’” Elquist said. “I can truly say that we met those expectations—every guest left with a big smile on their face.”
Photo: Tyler Bryan
Photo: Tyler Bryan
THE SKIING
STATS
AVG. daily runs: 6 to 8, minimum
AVG. daily vertical: 10,000–20,000 ft
AVG. Annual Snowfall: 400+ inches
SKIING ZONES
CMG primarily operates in the Chugach Range. As little as three minutes away, this zone offers a deep coastal snowpack that is tucked just far enough into the mountains that it comes in light and fluffy. If conditions in the Chugach aren’t optimal, CMG can fly to the Talkeetna range in 20-30 minutes, or to the Monster Peaks of the Tordrillos. An hour-flight from Alaska Glacier Lodge, the Alaska Range is home to Denali, the highest mountain on the continent. Also an hour-flight away is the Kenai Range that offers a more coastal snowpack and views of the Gulf of Alaska.
LOGISTICS
GETTING THERE
Crown Mountain Guides is one hour from Ted Stevens Anchorage Int’l Airport (ANC), which has nonstop flights from major cities including Seattle, Chicago, Denver, Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles. Crown Mountain Guides can arrange an airport pickup, or you can rent a car to allow for extra Alaskan exploration.
ACCOMMODATIONS, DINING & PACKAGES
The Alaska Glacier Lodge features 22 private cabins—with a variety of king, queen and double queen arrangements. The main lodge has a full bar and dining room for family-style meals. Chefs prepare a variety of local dishes including Alaskan salmon, king crab, reindeer sausage and more. Take advantage of the hot tub and sauna during the après hours and challenge your buddies to a match on the ping pong table or take in views of the Northern Lights after dinner.
Daily skiing starting at: $1,850
Packages starting at: $8,500
Book today at crownmountainguides.com
This story originally appeared in FREESKIER Magazine Volume 27 Issue 2. Click here to subscribe to FREESKIER and have print copies (yes, real print magazines!) delivered right to your door.
