The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
North Face Lift a work in progress
By Alissa Johnson
Last Sunday, Crested Butte Mountain Resort opened the Glades Traverse to allow hiking access to the Tower 11 Chute, Glades, Pinball, and Easy Out, causing some to question the North Face Lift’s continued closure. Despite rumors, resort officials maintain that it has been closed for routine maintenance and continued control work.
According to Scott Clarkson, vice president of sales and marketing, the resort has been doing ongoing lift maintenance but did not push to finish maintenance on the North Face lift until recently—the bulk of the terrain it serves is still being worked on by patrol, including control work, boot packing and running ropes.
“Historically we do not open the extremes until we have over 50 inches of settled snow. We are now in the low 40s with more settling occurring each day,” Clarkson said.
“However, in an effort to open more terrain we have been exploring what routes we can open to the public. This is something we have been more aggressive with in the past couple of years,” he continued.
That led to the opening of the Glades Traverse last Sunday.
“Patrol was diligent in controlling snow and in getting this terrain ready to ski, so we opened hiking access on Glades Traverse while routine maintenance continued on the lift and more work continued to prepare additional terrain served by the North Face lift,” Clarkson said.
He confirmed that the resort rebuilt the North Face lift motor last summer and it has been ready for winter use since then. Patrol and boot packers have been using the lift to access extreme terrain to do control work.
In general, Clarkson also pointed out that the resort has made efforts to get more creative with opening extreme terrain. Three years ago, much of the terrain now open wouldn’t have been skied by the public until there were 48 inches of snow.
When the lift opens will depend on future snow.
