The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Participating Peak Pass holders get option to ski 31 ski resorts across the country
By Alissa Johnson
Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) announced this week that it will be joining the M.A.X. Pass for the 2016-2017 ski season. The program gives participating pass holders the option to access 31 ski areas across the country and has the potential to bring more out-of-state skiers to CBMR.
According to Scott Clarkson, CBMR’s vice president of marketing and sales, the M.A.X. Pass started in 2015 as a partnership between Intrawest, Boyne Resorts and Powdr Corp., which includes Copper Mountain, Eldora, Winter Park and Steamboat in Colorado.
“It was an effort to have a competing product to the Epic Pass [to Vail-owned properties] but also tie the East Coast to the West Coast. We were invited to the table this past March and started having some conversations about whether it would fit our strategy going forward,” Clarkson explained.
The M.A.X. Pass gives pass-holders five days of skiing at 32 ski resorts across the country, including the most popular resorts in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, a few California ski areas, and Copper Mountain, Winter Park and Steamboat in Colorado.
There are two ways for skiers to participate in the M.A.X. Pass. They can buy a M.A.X. Pass for $649 and ski five days at each of the 32 ski resorts, or they can purchase it as an add-on to a ski pass from one of the participating resorts. For example, a CBMR pass-holder could add the M.A.X Pass for $299 to his or her Peak Pass or Peak Pass Plus.
According to Clarkson and director of innovations and relations Erica Mueller, joining the M.A.X. Pass made sense for several reasons. First, CBMR is already linked to Okemo Mountain Resort in Vermont and Mount Sunapee Resort in New Hampshire as part of Triple Peaks, LLC. It’s also a chance to bring more skiers to Mt. Crested Butte from other eastern ski areas.
“The majority of M.A.X. passes are sold on the East Coast, so we see this as an economic driver and a skier visit driver for us,” Mueller said. “We really think it’s going to help get our name out to people who are passionate skiers but also exploratory skiers looking to try different mountains, ideally looking to increase demand for flights into the Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport.”
There are benefits for CBMR pass-holders as well, including families that travel for Mountain Sports Team races.
“Between Copper, which has a lot of races, and Steamboat and Winter Park you’re probably ahead of the game with a M.A.X. Pass versus going to the window and buying lift tickets,” Clarkson said.
That will be on top of standing perks for CBMR pass-holders, including three free days at Loveland, two free days at Monarch, three half-price days at Purgatory and Powderhorn and three free days at 15 Powder Alliance resorts.
To purchase the M.A.X. Pass, skiers and snowboarders must visit themaxpass.com whether they’re purchasing the pass on its own or as an add-on to their CBMR pass. To purchase the pass as an add-on, skiers must have purchased their Peak Pass or Peak Pass Plus.
There are also some important deadlines to keep an eye on. Current rates for CBMR passes are good through October 7, including $669 for an adult Peak Pass and $899 for an adult Peak Pass Plus.
The current rate of $649 for a stand-alone M.A.X. Pass is good through Columbus Day. Learn more about the M.A.X. Pass at themaxpass.com.
