Safety report on Big Air offers some suggestions

“Nothing in it is a deal breaker…”

The town of Crested Butte has signed off on the Big Air on Elk event slated for next month. There were some safety concerns voiced by town staff and the town’s insurance company so the Town Council agreed to pay $2,500 for an independent party to evaluate the event.

A report from the Tilton Safety Group made some recommendations that the town staff were comfortable with and plan to implement in coordination with Big Air coordinator Gabe Martin.
“The report was helpful and straightforward,” said town manager Todd Crossett. “Nothing came out of the report that surprised us. There were no major changes but the biggest request was to further mitigate the possibility of snowmobiles and people coming into contact. They recommended a double barrier with barricades and some fencing.”
In the report, it is recommended pedestrians not be allowed in the area while the venue is being constructed. The report also suggests that barricades be used for the test session as well as during the event itself. “This is an area of serious concern as the testing has at least the same risk as the actual event,” the report states.
As for the primary concern about snowmobile-spectator interaction, Tilton brought it up as a risk, recommending at least a 15-foot separation with barricades between the snowmobile lane and spectators. It also suggested that the organizers consider removing all spectators from the snowmobile shuttle side of the event area.
“As Todd mentioned, the report did not contain any shocking surprises,” said Big Air organizer Gabe Martin. ”We will have to extend the barrier between the snowmobile side farther down the street. We are very thankful for the town for hiring a safety group that has had experience putting on high-risk events so they understood what we were trying to do.”
“It gave us some other ideas on how to further mitigate the risk,” added Crossett. “It seems pretty good. The overall message was to formalize some of the processes Gabe already has in place, like the EMS plan and safety briefings. Nothing in it was a deal breaker. It just puts us in a good position and shows we have done some due diligence with the event.”
Big Air is scheduled to take place on Saturday, March 8 on Elk Avenue.