The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Mt. CB writes letter of support
[ By Kendra Walker ]The Mt. Crested Butte town council has approved a letter of support for the Crested Butte Mountain Biking Association (CBMBA) to continue grooming Gothic Road in the winter, as well as to groom Snodgrass Road.
CBMBA regularly grooms Gothic Road from the Snodgrass trailhead to the Gothic townsite in the winter. As its 10-year winter grooming permit with the U.S. Forest Service is up this year, CBMBA plans on renewing the agreement to continue its grooming services and has requested a letter of support from the town.
Additionally, CBMBA would also like to groom Snodgrass Road and is seeking a 10-year permit for those operations. In a memo to the town council, town clerk Tiffany O’Connell explained that Crested Butte Mountain Resort used to groom Snodgrass Road but has not done so since Vail Resorts took over the mountain. “CBMR has relinquished their Special Use Permit on Snodgrass. Most of Snodgrass Road is either in Mt. Crested Butte or on Forest Service Lands,” she wrote.
At the March 3 town council meeting, CBMBA executive director Dave Ochs shared that as with Gothic Road, the grooming on Snodgrass Road would be for all non-motorized users, and will include the track for classic Nordic skiing. “It’s open to skate skiing, classic skiing, fat biking, walking, po-go sticking, you name it. If it’s non-motorized, you can do it.”
He noted that both Snodgrass and Gothic Road are popular areas for walkers and dogs, and grooming will help with the overall conditions for every type of winter recreational user. “The majority of users there are people on foot,” he said. “We want to refresh it to make for a better experience.”
CBMBA currently uses snowmobiles to groom out toward Gothic, and Ochs said they try to limit their impact with the motorized grooming by doing it at night to stay away from people and give the snow time to set overnight. Ochs said they would like to improve their grooming with a snowcat, which is what they plan to use for Snodgrass Road if they obtain the permit. “If there was an opportunity in the future to have a snowcat and a place to store that snowcat, there might be more grooming there,” he said, when asked if CBMBA plans to groom more frequently.
A portion of the road also crosses land owned by North Village Associates, the adjacent 150-acre property that has approval for a planned unit development including commercial units, residential housing, deed restricted workforce housing, a trail system and Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory campus and visitor center. North Village Associates has also written a letter of support for the winter grooming.
The town council quickly and unanimously approved the letter of support for both Gothic Road and Snodgrass grooming. “We believe the high use of these non-motorized winter roads deserve maintenance and management. CBMBA’s presence with a groomed trail amenity, along with signs and outreach, provide the adequate means of winter trail stewardship needed to provide for the best winter non-motorized experiences for the greatest number of users,” the letter states. “The town values the important winter recreation amenities this grooming permit can provide for the residents and visitors of the Gunnison Valley.”
