The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
This is no one-zip wonder
Canopy tours are no longer a thing of the tropics. Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) announced this week that visitors to the mountain will soon have a new way to traverse its slopes: by zip line.
Beginning in June, five zip lines will zigzag through the aspen near the BMX track in the Peachtree area of the mountain. Ranging in length from 200 to 380 feet, the lines will carry visitors between platforms 20 to 40 feet above the ground. An automatic braking system will ensure riders land safely among the trees.
Between platforms, participants will navigate a series of adventure features, like an Indiana Jones Bridge (wooden planks on suspended cables), a 40-foot-long nylon climbing net, and at the final tower, an automatic belay device that will let them leap from the tower and be lowered gently to the ground.
The Canopy Zip Line Tour grew out of the success of the CBMR Adventure Park, which brought rock climbing, a bungee jump, and most recently, a mini-golf course to the mountain. The goal? To entice guests to stay for more than just a weekend.
So far it’s working. According to CBMR marketing project coordinator Erica Reiter, the first full month the mini-golf course operated, the mountain saw a 24 percent increase in sales tax revenue. CBMR wants to continue this trend.
“We really wanted to find another activity that fit our brand of adventure while rounding out the vacation experience for our guests,” said Nick Herrin, CBMR’s director of resort services.
Herrin was immediately drawn to zip lines. But it was important, he knew, to stay away from single-line adventures—what he calls “one zip wonders. They’re exciting, but only for 30 or 40 seconds.”
Phoenix Experimental Designs, of Sugar Grove, N.C., has been creating the full canopy tour by designing the zip lines around the mountain’s features. No two of the company’s tours are identical, creating a two-hour mountain adventure unique to Mt. Crested Butte.
Installation of the zip line will begin in May, and canopy tours will commence on June 18. But this is no summertime fling. The zip-line tour will be open year-round—one of the few winter zip line tours in Colorado, and the only guided tour in the state.
Mountain guests can experience the zip line for $49 per person. CBMR is currently considering a range of discounts for early booking, group reservations and local residents, so no one need miss out on the bird’s eye view of the mountain.
