Crested Butte Mountain Resort Opens for Summer June 18, 2011

New for summer 2011: Zip Line Tour; improved bike park, trails; new events

Crested Butte, CO - Springtime brings summer dreams and the news from Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) offers plenty to fuel the imagination. CBMR plans to open for the summer season on Saturday, June 18, 2011 with a new, year-round Zip Line Tour, improved on-mountain trails for downhillers and cross-country riders, additions to the Evolution Bike Park, and a host of great events.

New for the coming summer season, CBMR introduces the Crested Butte Zip Line Tour. The guided tour, which debuts in June 2011, includes five zip lines, and a series of features, such as an “Indiana Jones Bridge,” a “Burma Bridge” and a net climb. The Zip Line Tour at CBMR will be available during the summer and winter seasons; the resort will offer the only guided zip line tour at a Colorado ski resort, and one of the only winter canopy tour operations in the state.The resort’s Adventure Park and the new Zip Line Tour will open for the summer season on June 18, 2011. Attractions, including the Crested Butte Zip Line Tour, mini golf, bungee trampolines and climbing tower, are open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. throughout the summer. The Adventure Park will close for the summer season on Sept. 5, 2011, but the resort will continue to offer zip line tours on weekends through the fall for leaf-peeping opportunities.

CBMR also hopes to improve cross-country riding options, including proposed completion of Westside trail following a two-year build-out. The trail would offer a new access route to the CBMR base area and five miles of winding trail through mixed vegetation and rock with tall views of the town of Crested Butte and Paradise Divide to the north. In addition, crews would tie in Lower Meander to Meander and Gothic Road after some technical riding while overlooking East River Valley. The resort hopes to begin all new trail construction this summer pending final approval from the U.S. Forest Service.

Crested Butte Mountain Resort Focuses Improvements and Capital Projescts on the Mountain for the 2010-2011 Season

Crested Butte, CO - The focus is on the mountain as Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) prepares for the coming ski and snowboard season. Improvements designed to maximize the skiing and riding experience are taking place in preparation for the resort’s celebration of 50 years of skiing throughout 2010-2011.
“We’ve given detailed thought to our terrain and on-mountain amenities and how the mountain is laid out,” said Ken Stone, COO of CBMR. “Our goal going into the 2010-2011 season is to maximize our assets. To accomplish that objective we’ve reconfigured things a bit, freeing up additional intermediate terrain in the process.”

Crews are glading Horseshoe Springs – expanding tree-skiing options and, as a result, adding more intermediate terrain to the resort’s tally.

CBMR also introduces the new Gold Link Terrain Park and Superpipe for the 2010-2011 season. By relocating the resort’s largest park and pipe, crews have created a complete freestyle park pod off the Painter Boy and Goldlink lifts. This translates to a literal playground for the park enthusiast, highlighted by the ability to progress from one park – and one feature size – to the next. The Cascade location also is ideal for larger park features, offering a consistent fall line for the jib park and half pipe. Cascade is blessed with good afternoon light, allowing for better visibility, and its proximity to mountain operations headquarters means snowcat operators have easier access and more time for preening features. The new location also leaves crews hopeful for delivery of a constructed half pipe in time for the Christmas holiday, thanks to the park’s location along the main water feed pipe for the mountain’s snowmaking system.

With these mindful improvements and reconfigurations skiers and riders at CBMR gain back two full-length trails in the resort’s best existing intermediate pod.

Guests to CBMR also will note increased snowmaking capabilities resulting in earlier terrain openings and a better late season base. Increased snowmaking at the base area will allow for Peachtree beginners lift and the Camp CB teaching area and magic carpets to open on the first day of the season. And, the resort is eager to utilize its $40,000 NSAA grant, which translates to 10 new high efficiency tower guns.

First Snow at Crested Butte

Crested Butte, CO - We woke to snow on the peaks in Crested Butte this morning. This photo, taken by local photographer Rob Pennie, was shot from Crested Butte South looking toward Crested Butte Mountain Resort. Winter is on its way!

Fat Tire Bike Week

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Season Finale Featuring the Adaptive Sports Center

Crested Butte, CO - With fresh powder blanketing the mountain and bluebird skies each day, prime conditions in the historic mountain town of Crested Butte during the last week of February set the stage for another picture-perfect vacation at the Adaptive Sports Center (ASC) for an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition family. The ASC and Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) hosted the Williams Family from Pine Mountain Valley, Georgia this winter, the third Extreme Makeover: Home Edition family to vacation with the ASC in the last four years. An expected 10 million viewers will watch the season finale episode, to air Sunday, May 16 at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. MT) on ABC.

The Williams family, including Jeremy, 38, Jennifer, 38, Josie, 8, and Jacob, 6, were chosen for the show based on their need for a renovated, wheelchair accessible home to accommodate two family members with disabilities. Jacob was born with spina bifida, and Jeremy, a head football coach for Greenville High School in Greenville, Georgia, was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease in 2008.

In a pre-show interview with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Jeremy said a trip to the Rocky Mountains was his “dream vacation,” and the ASC and CBMR pulled out all the stops to make the Williams’ family’s dream vacation a reality. Their activities in Crested Butte included skiing with the ASC, dog sledding, tubing at the mountain’s Adventure Park, a sleigh ride dinner, snowball fights, meals out on the mountain and in town, and down-time in their fully-accessible suite at The Lodge at Mountaineer Square, located in the heart of the resort’s base area. The family was also surprised with a private afternoon concert at the WestWall Lodge on Mt. Crested Butte by teen celebrity Demi Lovato, star of Disney’s Camp Rock. From all of their adventures, Jeremy cited “skiing with his family” as his favorite part of the whole experience.