The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Some steeps are opening…
Last weekend’s big snow on Crested Butte Mountain is not only making for great powder skiing for people already in town, it is attracting skiers for the upcoming holiday period. The resort reported nearly 40 inches of fresh snow last weekend.
“With the snow advantage over the northern areas right now we are seeing some very encouraging close-in bookings,” said CBMR Chief Operating Officer Ken Stone.
That is a good thing. Stone said the pace of reservations at the resort is lower than last December. But they are on par for the traditionally busiest week of the season between Christmas and New Year’s.
“We have kept our early season ticket and lodging pricing and promotions in place longer this year and have a buy-one get-one airline ticket special on United Airlines right now,” Stone said. “Hopefully we will start to catch up on pace.”
According to the CBMR website, “You can ski and ride on a total of 48 trails, 43 of which are groomed every evening. As the ski patrol and groomers work to prepare and open more terrain on the mountain, you can already enjoy a total of 329 acres of open terrain. In laymen’s terms, over the last seven days, we’ve been blanketed with 39 inches of fluffy white powder and our snow total for the entire season thus far is a whopping 90 inches.”
The Monument and West Wall runs opened Monday. The resort has its boot packing crew out in the Extreme Limits with the expectation that the High Lift will open before the North Face Lift. According to CBMR’s Kirsten Texler, it is too early to set a date when the Extreme terrain will be open.
CBMR expects to get Painter Boy and Peachtree open this Friday and the WestWall lift open on Saturday. The tubing hill will open this weekend as well. Goldlink, Prospect and East River lifts are hoping to start spinning next week.
