Irwin Catskiing by Eleven Guide

Irwin is a remote, luxurious, adventure cat skiing company nestled in the wilderness, high above Lake Irwin in southwestern Colorado approximately 12 miles west of the small resort community of Crested Butte. We average 600+ inches of snow annually, beating out all of the Colorado ski resorts in the 2010/2011 ski season by 200 inches with close to 800 inches. Winter storms sweep across the western deserts and the first mountains they encounter are the rugged western slopes of Colorado inclusive of the Elk Mountains, which is home to Irwin. The storm clouds unload their dry and plentiful snow onto our terrain consisting of 1,000+ acres of terrain. Our terrain is one of a kind, varying from intermediate blues to extreme double blacks. Whether you are a beginner in the backcountry or an experienced rider we can accommodate you, all while ensuring that you don’t ski the same run twice. Unlike any other snow cat or heli-skiing operation our guests have the luxury of being returned to the town of Crested Butte by our elite Tucker snow cat every night to enjoy Crested Butte’s night life, 20+ restaurants and all the amenities that our town has to offer after skiing at your own private ski resort for the day. No more than 10 guests ski at Irwin per day. We are an all inclusive cat skiing adventure company providing our guests with a redefined level of comfort, grandeur and service. Irwin offsets 100% of our carbon emissions through the Colorado Carbon Fund (http://www.coloradocarbonfund.org/). We use solar power to provide electricity to our mountain base, and all other electricity used for operations is purchased through the Gunnison County Electric green power program. While the operation still uses diesel-powered snow cats, the brand new diesel engines are more efficient than older snow cats. As well as offsetting our emissions and purchasing green power, we have developed a green purchasing policy, which in turn reduces our consumer footprint by supporting other green businesses. For example, we purchased our ski fleet from Wagner Custom Skis, a Colorado ski manufacturer that runs on 100% solar and wind power.