Silver Queen and East River Lifts opening

Locals get ready

In the column tallying points, strike one up for locals, as Crested Butte Mountain Resort will open the Silver Queen Lift on Friday, December 6, and the East River Lift on Saturday, December 7. Then CBMR will give them one more benefit as the resort will be flipping the switch on both the Queen and East River at 8:45 a.m. on Saturday (15 minutes earlier than normal), but only allowing skiers with either a Peak Pass, a Peak Pass Plus or a Choice Pass to load.

“We’ve never done this before,” said CBMR Public Relations and Communications Manager Erica Mueller. “We’re giving pass holders an extra 15 minutes to get on the lifts and over to the newly opened terrain before granting access to day ticket holders. With the current storm moving through, it could be a recipe for some incredible early morning turns without the crowds.”
Mueller suggests that pass holders hoping to capitalize on the early opening get up to the hill early and stand in line.
“At nine o’clock the whole mountain will open to anyone with a ticket,” she said.
Crested Butte has already received several winter storms, and with a reported year to date snowfall of 68 inches and a base of 38 inches as of press time, CBMR is calling this the “best opening in the last three years hands down.” A statement that is clear in the enthusiasm being expressed by visitors to the mountain.
“The energy has been awesome on the mountain, and the snow is great,” said Mueller. “Last year we were well into mid-December before we could open some of the terrain that is opening this week.”
CBMR is committed to opening terrain as quickly as weather and safety permit. However, it will likely still be a few weeks before the resort’s renowned extreme runs are opened.
“Typically they like to have 50 inches of compacted snow, which translates to about 100 inches of fallen snow, up there before opening the extremes,” said Mueller. “We’re getting there, and these storms should help.”