The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Curling lessons anyone?
There’s ice in the ice rink, and 54 people hit the disco party at the tubing hill last Friday night. The bungee feature is slinging people up, down and around. In its first winter, the Adventure Park up at Crested Butte Mountain Resort is catching on, according to Director of Resort Services Nick Herrin.
“The tubing hill and bungee have been home runs,” Herrin told the Mt. Crested Butte Downtown Development Authority during its February 1 meeting. He also had some preliminary numbers for December and January to share with the DDA, although the revenue calculations are not yet final. For December, he tallied 982 Adventure Park visits—and the tubing hill was not opened until December 19. January saw 820 park visits. The total estimated revenue for December was $23,897.51 and $24,491.33 for January.
The DDA contributed $450,000 to help fund part of the cost of CBMR’s Adventure Park. The resort will pay the DDA 15 percent of the Adventure Park’s revenues for four years, or until the $450,000 is paid back. That 15 percent payback, based on the estimated revenues for December and January combined is $7,258.32.
The skating rink re-opened Saturday, and with the new icy surface came a slew of new recreation opportunities. Herrin said they were considering offering free curling lessons, and starting a town curling league wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. CBMR is still fine-tuning the rink, and they installed fans recently to keep air moving because the roof structure is trapping heat and creating a “greenhouse-like effect.”
Herrin emphasized that they wanted to offer activities in the Adventure Park that are adventurous and exciting, but simple as well. He cited the bungee and tubing hill as activities that require minimal gear and preparation for guests.
The tubing hill is going off as well, and Herrin reported that lights for the run were on the list of possible improvements for the park.
When the climbing wall reopens, the attendants will be manually belaying participants. There was a worldwide recall on the feature’s automatic belay device. “We do have a new auto-belay system we’re looking at, but it’s not going to be available until the end of this month,” said Herrin.
