The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Four days of full throttle action
Just because the lifts stop running on Sunday, April 6, doesn’t mean Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) is shutting down. After two years of hosting the Roost the Butte snowmobile races, CBMR is bringing another snowmobile competition to the resort dubbed The Ultimate Snowmobiler Friday through Sunday, April 11-13.
“Roost was the test to see how we did and it’s been working out great,” says Vice President of Marketing and Sales for CBMR Scott Clarkson.
The event is set to run the week after the resort closes and is the brainchild of Clarkson and Joe Duncan of 357 Consulting Inc. Duncan has been involved in snowmobile events for 17 years including working as snowmobile venue chief for the Winter X Games.
Clarkson sees the event as an opportunity to take advantage of the current snowpack at the resort as well as give the local economy one more bump at the end of the ski season.
“I thought, who would want to take advantage of the snow coverage on the mountain and doesn’t rely on daily flights to get here? Snowmobilers,” says Clarkson. “We’ll have 600 to 1,000 people running around here and they’ll need to eat, sleep and drink.”
In addition to the competitors and their teams and support, Duncan expects to see as many as 1,000 fans roll in for the event that will add an additional positive economic impact to the valley.
“It should be a nice little shot in the arm,” says Duncan.
Organizers start arriving on Sunday, April 6 and will start preparing the courses on Monday, April 7. The plan is to focus most of the events in and around the base area of Crested Butte Mountain Resort.
“The main focus will be at the base,” says Clarkson. “Everything will be confined on the mountain.”
The Hill Drag will be on Buckley, the Snow Oval will be held on the flats where the Keystone jib park is and the Snocross course will be on Peachtree. The Hillcross is slated for Lower Twister and then the ultimate event, the Hill Climb, will start at the bottom of International and follow it all the way to the top with semi-pro riders topping out at Ruby Road and pro riders continuing on to try and climb to the top of Monument. According to Duncan, the Hill Climb will bring in the top riders in the sport.
“You’re going to see the best in the world,” says Duncan. “Almost everyone of the top pros is signed up for this event.”
Clarkson adds that the event is also drawing top snowmobile racing teams for the other events including Team Levi LaVallee.
“We have three of the big X Games teams coming,” says Clarkson. “We’re pretty excited about bringing those guys to town.”
There will be a sleigh dragged by a snowcat to transport fans from the base to just above Uley’s Cabin so they can catch as much of the Hill Climb action as possible.
In addition, Two Plank Productions will be providing a live feed and there will be a Jumbotron at the base area for fans that don’t want to make the trip up to the venue for the Hill Climb.
Qualifying events are scheduled to run on Thursday and Friday with the finals on Saturday and Sunday including a Big Air exhibition on Saturday and Sunday as well. The entire schedule of events and competition map can be found at skicb.com/ultimate.
