The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“The sale process gave us a different perspective…”
(Ed Note: With the prospect of an immediate sale of the ski resort having fallen by the wayside, we wanted to find out what the Mueller family has on its horizon for Crested Butte Mountain Resort. The Muellers control the management contract for CBMR so we sat down with company vice president and general manager Ethan Mueller and chatted about the present and future.)
The copious amount of snow this season and an increase in skier days have brought a certain comfort level to the CBMR management team. With the season just more than half completed, Ethan Mueller said the great storm cycle is moving people to visit here. “Snow is a big factor especially as we move into this part of the season,” he explained. “The first part of the year is on the books early but we are seeing more interest as we get more snow. We feel good with the direction of the marketing and sales initiatives. We are moving the needle.”
That needle is seeing some significant movement from regional and statewide skiers. The resort understands that airline seats have been on the decline for years and so they put a new focus on attracting the drive market. And with the help of a couple of major snowstorms, it is working.
“We are about 16 percent ahead in skier visits over last year at this point,” Mueller said. “The largest percentage of growth is coming in lift tickets and most of those are being sold to regional or Colorado skiers. The effort to bring in more drive market business is working.”
Drive market skiers are a different bird from those who fly here. They generally stay for shorter periods and spend less per visit. In general, they might buy more hamburgers and less prime rib, but they fill out the season and bring in energy and money to the valley.
“The appeal of the Crested Butte experience compared to other Colorado resorts is a draw. We want to get that message out to everyone, and right now it is appealing to those statewide skiers,” Mueller said.
Turning around the air program
As far as the airlines, Mueller says CBMR wants to work with the Rural Transportation Authority (RTA) to turn the corner and get more seats flying in here. “Airline growth has to be incremental,” he said.
“That’s why the focus on regional marketing. But we want to work with the RTA to see if we can grow a regular 5 to 7 percent every year. I think that is attainable and can be successful. Some years we might see better than 7 percent but other years might fall short of 5 percent.
“We can start that by fishing where the fish are,” he continued. “We can add some flights during the already busy periods like the holidays. We can think about starting small with some other markets. We need to look at frequency of the planes coming in here on a daily basis and strike where we have opportunities.”
The sale and the family
As for the sale that was on a track to move this year, after heavy due diligence by an unnamed buyer last fall, Mueller said the process didn’t detract from the focus of the company. “While I had this much on my plate before the sale discussion,” Mueller said with his hands 18 inches apart, “it added this much,” and he spread his hands apart by another foot. “But we’ve never lost focus on running a good company and looking forward. Now, without the sale on our plate, it simplifies it all. The move is a reaffirmation that we are here and here for a while.”
Mueller said the whole process might have actually been a blessing even with the end result being no deal. “It gave us the opportunity to see things from a different perspective,” he concluded. “But we are very glad to be here in Crested Butte and we are confident with where the company is headed.
“I see a bit of a shift in the community,” he continued. “There seem to be more initiatives in the community to move forward in a positive manner. Look at the college and look at the hospital. Those are two institutions that are making forward strides.
“Personally, we all love it here,” he continued. “Katie [Ethan’s wife] and I met here and started a family here,” he explained. “We want to live here and be part of this community. The whole family has a connection with Colorado and we are excited to be in Crested Butte. We aren’t looking to just be here for a little while and move on. We all want to be here.”
Future plans
So as far as the product, Ethan said the company’s strategic plan is focused on growth, the guest experience and company culture. He said there are several potential projects on the drawing board with the company when CBMR looks out two, five and seven years down the road. He anticipates some base area improvements in the near future.
“We want to improve the streetscape and we want an expansion of public areas for the guests. We are also looking at some culinary expansions,” he said.
In the medium term, there are ideas for some small vertical development near the base area that could encompass both residential and commercial. The company is also looking at the top of Painter Boy and Goldlink to perhaps add some new development but what that would look like has not yet been determined.
On the ski hill, the Teo-2 expansion plans are a bit further out. The first steps of contacting the regulating authorities like the Forest Service and Gunnison County to begin the discussion of how to proceed with an on-mountain ski area expansion could begin within the year.
Mueller said there are always things to be done at the ski area. “Snowmaking continues to be a focus of ours,” he said. “Look at the last two winters here and this year in California. There will be lean snow years when we need it. And we are set up to be a leader in that realm. We can make it more efficient and a better product. In a similar vein, grooming is always important and we will continue to keep improving the fleet of snowcats. We also want to keep expanding our glading projects. That’s something we need to keep after every year.”
Bringing in the community
Mueller contemplates how to more fully get the community involved in some of the ski area projects, both big and small. “I just get the feeling that the community is ripe to come together. I mean I understand there will always be some conflict and dissention but it just feels like people want to see a successful community and that can be made better with a successful resort. I am hoping we can find places to support one another, one thing at a time. We clearly need each other here to succeed and I think with Teo-2 we can perhaps find some good common ground. Even the small Ski Town Throwdown appeared to bring a unifying voice to the valley.
“To the broader point, if and when we actively move toward Teo-2, we’ll want the support of the community at large,” he emphasized. “The whole Snodgrass process didn’t go the way we hoped or were told it would. It was tough on us as a company and on a lot of the people in the community. This time, we’ll want to know where we stand. We don’t expect the community or Forest Service or county to fall over for us but we need to clearly understand the lay of the land. We are frankly a little risk averse after Snodgrass. We are little gun shy.”
But why sell the North Village?
Which brings us to the idea of selling the 255-acre Promontory Ranch that includes the North Village on the flank of Snodgrass.
“At the end of the day we are resort operators,” Mueller stated. “Real estate is a component to help the resort as whole but real estate isn’t our first passion. It is for some people so we would like to attract that type of partner to help the whole thing grow.”
“It is a smarter, safer way for us to move into new projects. That could come with something at the top of Goldlink or the North Village or other opportunities.
“We are in that sort of process at our resort in Okemo,” Mueller explained. “We are partnering with a group for a $200 million resort-real estate expansion. It is good for us and good for them. That’s in our comfort zone. We like to bring in new energy with bigger developments.”
Summer…
As for the coming summer, CBMR is just starting to look at a capital budget. The initial expectation is to expand the mountain bike trails on the mountain by two to four trails. Mueller likes the idea of bringing in more children’s activities and expanding the summer camp program. The summer concert series that has been a huge Wednesday night success might also be expanded.
“You know the whole sales thing has really focused us here,” concluded Mueller. “Katie and I are raising our family here and we want this to be a successful company that helps makes the community successful. I think as you can see this winter, we are well on the way of accomplishing that.”
