Busy season returns this weekend and into March 4 decks

6,200 skiers expected at CBMR Saturday

Expect the slopes and the streets to get noticeably busier this weekend. With the arrival of Presidents’ Day weekend, followed by the Prater Cup and then moving into spring break, things look to be picking up at the base area and around town.
Erica Mueller, director of innovations and relations at Crested Butte Mountain Resort, says the resort expects to see record numbers over the weekend holiday. “For Presidents’ Weekend, we are expecting record numbers with more than 6,000 skiers on Saturday and very limited lodging availability,” she said.

That fits with what the Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority (RTA) is seeing with incoming flights. RTA executive director Scott Truex said that he expects the valley to feel noticeably busier on February 12.
“Things should be fairly busy through the end of the month,” Truex said.
Mueller says the resort plans to welcome all those visitors with some classic Crested Butte fun, including a beach party at Paradise Warming House in partnership with Montanya Distillery on Friday, February 13. From noon to 3 p.m., skiers can celebrate the season (and the return of a liquor license) with beach drinks and live music from Funky Bob.
“To celebrate Fat Tuesday, we’re also doing a fun event at our culinary outlets and along with the Sweet Spot, called Bourbon Street in Mt. Crested Butte,” Mueller said. Presented on Tuesday, February 17 by the Town Center Community Association, there will be a crawfish boil at Butte 66, and Bourbon Street delights all around the resort, including hurricanes, Bahama Mamas, shrimp and grits, and gumbo.
Overall, February will feel busier than last year. Mueller said skier visits will be up 11 percent, and Truex said about 15 percent more airline seats have been sold into the Gunnison Crested Butte Regional Airport. And March projections, which initially looked slow compared to last year, seem to be catching up.
Looking at airline reservations, Truex said, “In March, we are down about two percent from last year at this time. We are definitely catching up to last year, and the visitors will be here in a more condensed time period. It looks like the two weeks from March 7 to March 21 will be the busiest time.”
The resort is projecting to be up about 11 percent in skier visits compared to last March, but as Mueller says, “Time will tell and this will be dependent on snow for passholder skier visits.”
The one area that seems to have the most room for catch-up is the direct flight from Houston. According to Truex, as of January 5, the RTA needed to sell about 900 one-way seats in order to reach its projected goal. “As of today, we need to sell only 450 more seats. We’ve made a lot of progress, but we still have a way to go,” Truex said.
One reason for the progress has been marketing and advertising support from the Gunnison Crested Butte Tourism Association (TA). Interim TA director John Norton said two special promotions are projected to sell about 300 extra seats across different markets. One promotion offered a free lift ticket if visitors flew during a specific time period, and another offered $99 companion tickets.
Norton believes this kind of promotional support does more than help improve March numbers. It’s also in line with the community’s original vision for the transportation program and the TA. “The RTA and the TA were created at the same time, and it was thought at the time that the TA would vigorously support the RTA effort and protect the county’s investment in transportation. That happened to some degree, but this is the most vigorous effort, maybe ever, to shore up the county’s air program,” Norton said.
Laurel Runcie, who has been acting as interim interactive marketing manager for the promotions, says they are performing well so far. As of February 11, 173 air tickets had been sold via the companion fare and as of February 10, the TA had given away 103 free lift tickets. “There is likely some overlap in those groups, but even so, we’re pleased with how we’re moving the needle so far,” Runcie said. She expects to sell out by the end of the week.
Runcie explained that social media has helped the TA narrow its audience to a target group of people who like to ski and snowboard, and have the income to book last-minute travel. It’s also made it possible to track conversions—not just the numbers of people who are interested in the region, but also the people who visit as a result of advertising and promotions.
And while a projection of 300 tickets might not sound significant, each airline passenger spends an average of $1,625 once he or she arrives in the valley. Runcie noted that for 300 people, that’s close to $500,000 in spending in the community.
Moving forward, the TA will continue to adjust the promotions. “We’re seeing decent click-through rates [CTR] at a relatively low cost per thousand impressions. After a week of running the ads, our clicks per day are starting to go down, so I’ll be updating the ads with fresh images and copy to try to get our CTR back up. We’ll have to continue to monitor to combat ad fatigue,” Runcie said.
So as promotions continue, and the holiday weekend arrives, one thing seems clear: January is over, and it’s about to get busy.