CBMR’s new adventure park proves to be a hit

“We went from concept to reality in eight weeks”

There have been two million jumps on the bungee trampoline since Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s new Adventure Park opened at the base area on July 4.

The new Adventure Park also sports a climbing wall, ice-skating on synthetic ice and an improved tubing hill to come this winter.
But the most popular activity this summer is by far the bungee trampoline, where kids and adults can jump on a trampoline while harnessed between two suspended bungee cables.
CBMR vice president of sales and marketing Daren Cole came before the Mt. Crested Butte Downtown Development Authority on Monday to give an update on the facility’s use. The DDA contributed $450,000 to CBMR’s new Adventure Park, and will reap 15 percent of the gross profits from the park over the next five years.
 “We’ve only been open 28 days, but sometimes it feels like two or three months,” Cole said. The Adventure Park was envisioned by CBMR earlier this spring. On May 4 the DDA and CBMR agreed to partner in the project. “We went from concept to reality in eight weeks,” Cole said. He said a fire pit and additional lighting were further amenities to the park that would be added soon.
Cole said in the first month of operation 2,542 people have used the park, an average of 85 people per day; 83 percent of them were kids. Summer ticket sales for both the park and chair lift rides have generated $37,000 in revenue, averaging $1,200 in ticket sales a day.
The DDA’s 15 percent take is calculated just on Adventure Park use, not lift rides, and Cole said it was up to $4,200.
Cole said the most popular ticket, including chair lift rides and access to the Adventure Park, is a single-day child’s ticket, followed by adult two-day and adult week-long tickets.
CBMR chief operating officer Ken Stone said adult summer passes were also very popular this year, with disc golf, hiking and mountain biking on the resort’s trail network appealing to the adults while kids play in the park.
DDA member Gary Keiser said there seemed to be more mountain bikers using the lifts and resort trails this summer.
“A lot more,” Stone noted.
Cole said the bungee trampoline was the most popular activity at the Adventure Park. Data he presented showed usage of the bungee trampoline was nearly triple that of the ice skating rink and climbing wall, which were running just about neck and neck. “There’s a perception that the ice skating [usage] is well below the climbing wall, but it’s right up there,” Cole said.
DDA chairman Allen Cox asked if the bungee trampoline would be available this winter, and Cole said CBMR was interested in keeping it up, but it remained to be seen how some parts of the device would withstand cold and snow.
Cox asked how much time kids were allowed on the bungee trampoline.
CBMR Mountain Schools director Nick Herrin said the park allows unlimited access to each of the activities, but the bungee attendants were allowing kids about two or three minutes of jump time before asking them to wait in line again. “To be honest if you let them go any longer, you have to help them jump. They get pretty tired. But they get back in line and a lot of the kids go two to three times throughout the day. Some of them enjoy watching other kids jumping on it as much as jumping themselves,” Herrin said.
Cox asked, “What’s the weight limit? How fat can you be?”
Herrin said the maximum weight was 200 pounds and the minimum was 20.
Cox asked what the record number of flips was, and Herrin said he had seen four in a row.
Herrin said the ice-skating was also quite popular. He says there were two days where they were getting some complaints about too much friction to skate. The synthetic ice rink has a slick plastic texture to it, and it is injected with a special silicone to make it possible to glide with skates. Herrin said the few days there were complaints were also days they had given the rink a heavy power washing. “We thought it would look nice and clean, but we actually power-washed the silicone out of it,” Herrin said. “Within the last four weeks we’ve definitely learned how to maintain it better.”
Herrin expected the tubing and ice-skating to be more popular in the wintertime, and the climbing wall and bungee trampoline would be more popular in the summer.
DDA member Sara Morgan asked if CBMR had heard any feedback from merchants at the base area.
“We’re definitely seeing much more traffic through the base area. The retailers and restaurants just love it,” Cole said.
“I would like to congratulate the DDA and CBMR for a joint adventure into this park,” Cox said. “It looks like it’s providing a great benefit to our community.”