Mt. CB businesses powwow with council

“I’m proud to be a Mt. Crested Butte business

Visitors are arriving by the planeload, and Crested Butte Mountain Resort is forecasting a big boost in skier visits by the weekend. Saturday, December 18, 3,700 skiers are expected to flock to the ski area and that number climbs to 4,440 by Monday, December 20. The daily jets began flying in from Dallas and Houston on December 16. We are moving to the busy time of the season.

Twice a year, Mt. Crested Butte businesses have the opportunity to meet with the Town Council to discuss various agenda items that affect business on the mountain. On December 7, a few businesses showed up at town hall to discuss postal service and fireworks, and to update the community on upcoming and potential events, airline seats filled, and the winter forecast.
Crested Butte Mountain Resort, Treasury Liquors and The Store, Black Tie Ski Rentals, Colorado FreeSkier, and the Mt. Crested Butte/Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce were represented at the meeting. The council asked if the businesses would consider changing their addresses if a postal facility is installed on the mountain.
Gabe Martin, owner of Colorado FreeSkier said, “I would be willing to do that. It would be a great thing to have your billing and shipping all in one. I’m proud to be a Mt. Crested Butte business.”
Tracy Hastings, co-owner of Treasury Liquors and The Store, responded, “It’s pretty challenging getting mail delivered here anyway. I would say we would potentially do that, but we’d keep our [existing] PO box for five years just to make sure… our PO box we’ve had for 18 years. But yes, we would do that.”
CBMR’s chief operating officer Ken Stone and vice president of sales and marketing Daren Cole spoke on the ski area’s behalf. Stone joked, “I think if [the USPS] ever gets back into pro bike racing it will save everything for them. We’d certainly embrace a post office now with sights on having a postal center in the Performing Arts Center. Changing the businesses’ post office to Mt. Crested Butte makes so much sense. I’m proud to be a business in Mt. Crested Butte as well.”
Councilman David O’Reilly said he’ll continue working with the community, primarily Mt. Crested Butte resident Jim Sharpe, in building a list of potential postal customers before moving forward with a temporary facility.

Fireworks
The businesses were asked to comment on how the fireworks in Mt. Crested Butte this past Fourth of July affected them, and what they’d like to see in the future. In 2011, the town of Crested Butte will host fireworks on Sunday, July 3; Mt. Crested Butte will host them on July 4.
Tracy Hastings said, “We had business on the mountain and it was great. This year we even had an extra staff person. I think it was great for both towns to do their show last summer. But we already have that audience here; I think it would be nice to take that ten to fifteen thousand dollars [and spend it] at another time when there aren’t 10,000 people here already. It would be nice to spend that money and create an event to bring people here.”
Ken Stone asked, “Was there a discussion about flip-flopping the dates over the years—where we alternate the third and fourth?”
Mayor William Buck, also a member of the council’s fireworks committee, said, “There was discussion about it. There was a strong feeling from us that the Fourth was the Fourth, and the alternating schedule caused some conflicts with the days of the week. In order to create a sense of consistency we felt it was important to maintain the Fourth.”
Richard Bond, Chamber executive director, commented, “I think it came off brilliant last year and both communities were satisfied.”
Stone joked, “Have we considered a third show up at Gothic?”
Roman Kolodziej of Black Tie added, “I think it’s unfortunate something collective can’t be figured out. It would be nice to have an event that Mt. Crested Butte can have as their own on a certain day, and downtown, where my business is located, they can have an event. For the Fourth, sometimes it makes sense to not move people around too much.”
Mayor Buck asked the businesses if they’d contribute to next year’s fireworks program. “Would you be willing to make a financial contribution, as the town has limited financial resources?”
“We would donate,” Hastings said.
“From the resort’s standpoint, we saw a benefit and we’ll increase our contribution,” said Stone.
Gabe Martin added, “I would. It will be small, but I would.” Martin also said he plans to open his doors this summer due to the increased traffic at the base area.

Snow, skier days and airline seats
CBMR provided a look at November, and current and future bookings.
Daren Cole reported, “November we were up about 17 percent in skier days; airlines we’re pacing up right now about 500-plus seats from last year. Winter seems to be on a good track. For December we are running at about 90 percent load factor. We’re 868 seats ahead of last year for Christmas; we’re sold out on many of the flights right now, and are five percentage points higher for load factor than last year.”
Stone added, “We just got a weekly report on seats sold—1,101 inbound seats booked this week, 280 more than the same week last year.”
Meanwhile, during the same time period, Jackson Hole was down 1,000 seats, and Montrose down 500 seats, according to CBMR.
“On the snow front, we’re at 98 inches mid-mountain,” said Cole. “We didn’t hit 100 inches until about mid-January last year.” And that was before these last couple of storms.
On the groups and event front, CBMR listed Military Appreciation Week for the second week of January; Matthew Shepard Gay Ski Week; a potential tele festival; and a National Brotherhood of Skiers event that will come to the valley the next three years.
“Is there a way to get this information, so we can mirror those events with our businesses?” asked Kolodziej.
Stone said that the skicb.com website and event calendar is updated constantly and has a list of the events.
“Do you think the market is just coming around or are you getting better at identifying the groups?” asked Kolodziej.
Cole responded, “We’re up about 1,700 pass products, primarily mountain cards. One thing we’re noticing is we’re doing a much better job at targeting the destination guest.”
Gabe Martin is making an effort to liven up the north end of the valley with events as well. “In October, I put on two movies and I’m trying to do different events up on the mountain; we want to bring people up here and get that revenue. My sales are up; there are different things I want to do with the town and CBMR to do more events. I’m thrilled that the park is moving, and I hope we can get some late-season events as well.”
“Also, thanks for dropping the [price of] college passes,” Martin said to Stone and Cole. “I think we’re seeing more kids coming here instead of going to Monarch. It helps us businesses that buy passes for those kids, too.”
Martin is also organizing the Big Air on Elk event on March 12. He said he feels a little guilty being a Mt. Crested Butte business owner and holding the event in town.
Stone responded, “At the finale you can line up 10 Mountain Express buses for them to jump over. We’ll tell the crowd to get in the buses first and then we’ll drive them up here.”
Mayor Buck commended Martin with, “I like your ambition.”
Buck then asked the crowd, “Do you see any gaps in what we have to offer in Mt. Crested Butte and what business opportunities might be out there? We all work off each other.”
“I’d love to see a dry cleaner,” said Richard Bond.
“I’d like to see ziplines,” commented town resident Bob Puglisi.
Gabe Martin said, “I was asking around today, and I asked people ‘What would you like to see?’ People that drive [to the base area] said they were looking for closer parking.”