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Crested Butte

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Elevation Outdoors Best Colorado Mountain Towns

EO_BestPartyTown_Logo-e1378226404172-150x125We thought it was too much to simply ask our readers to vote for the best single mountain town in the state. So we broke it down a bit into all the aspects that make living in the mountains so important. We put the poll up online and watched the winners slowly assert their dominance. And it ends up that we did find a single most popular mountain town, as Crested Butte took three out of the five categories. The only loss is the towns that didn’t win. Because just being in the mountains is best.

Best Bike Town: CRESTED BUTTE

It’s sort of unfair to include Crested Butte in a “best bike town” poll. After all, this is one of two places in the world which claims to be the birthplace of the mountain bike (Marin County, Calif. the other) and the town’s whole identity seems to revolve around the famous 401 Trail. But, as the USA Pro Challenge continues to raise Colorado’s profile in the cycling universe and so many other towns in the state have made cycling a staple of their economy and identity, Crested Butte has still managed to lead the pack.

Click here to read the entire article.

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Colorado’s Top 13 Family Vacation Ideas for Summer 2013

indexSummer is just around the corner and you don’t need to look far to have a world-class vacation with your family. From theater hikes to Outhouse Races to free events galore, we have the inside scoop on All Things Colorado.

Aspen/Snowmass

It may be summertime but Snowmass has returned to the Ice Age with the Snowmass Ice Age Discovery Center that features the most significant Ice Age ecosystem find in Colorado history (and it’s free). Touch a mastodon tooth, marvel at a half-sized 6-foot Wooden Mammoth Skeleton, do a dig of your own or a daily Ice Age Discovery Hike by  Environment Studies.  Visit the Snowmass Rodeo on Wednesday nights (June 12- August 28) and sign up your kids for the Calf Scramble and Mutton Busting. Ride the Elk Camp Gondola up Snowmass Mountain where the Elk Camp Restaurant will open for activities including downhill biking, dinner, campfires, live music, movies, Stryder Park and Kid’s Playground on Friday evenings. Try your hand at some slopeside bowling at the new bowling alley below Venga Venga Cantina featuring eight full-sized lanes, a lounge area with full bar, wood-fired oven pizzas, upscale bar food and more. Then, get inspired at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center, a stellar place for kids of all ages to take workshops that include sculpture, photography, painting, beading, and mask-making.

Click here to read about all the other fun Colorado towns.

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In Crested Butte, Crested Butte Ski Resorts, resources

Crested Butte Drops Price of Season Pass

indexCrested Butte has made a dramatic move in the battle for skier days, dropping the cost of a season pass from $1049 to just $599.  The pass comes with no blackout dates, but partially compensating for the cut, the costs of children’s, young adults and senior passes have been increased from $149 to $199, from $185 to $299 and from $289 to $399, respectively. The resort has also eliminated some other discounts, including multi-day and business passes.

“This is an overall restructuring of our pass-pricing model,” said Erica Reiter, public relations and communications manager for CBMR Reiter, quoted in the Crested Butte News. “In order to make the price decrease of a regular pass work, we had to eliminate some of the previously available options. It’s our hope that the price is such that guests will purchase the Peak Pass and have access to unlimited skiing.”

“With this change we’re working to cater to all our guests,” Reiter told the Crested Butte News. “We hope the local community will be really excited to ski at their home mountain, and we believe that for out-of-area guests the price may encourage more frequent visits. The idea is to build buzz at home, on the Front Range and in new markets.”

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In Crested Butte, Crested Butte Recreation, resources

Mountain Biking Crested Butte, Colorado

crested butteFull disclosure: out of everywhere I have ridden my bike, Crested Butte tops the list as my all-time favorite location. I’ve ridden all over the United States, and while there are many places I still want to visit inside our nation’s borders as well as abroad, Crested Butte is currently my favorite place in the world.

When I first learned to mountain bike in Wisconsin, Dean, the man that taught me to ride, used to rave about this place called Crested Butte. I eventually learned that he and a group of friends would take a trip out west every year or two, and almost every single time they went they traveled to Crested Butte. At first I thought that was ridiculous: if you only get to visit the Rocky Mountains once a year, why the heck would you go to the same place almost every time?

I didn’t understand it at the time, but after visiting Crested Butte a couple of times myself, I eventually realized why: if you only get to the visit the Rockies once a year, there’s no point in wasting time on anything less than the best.

Click here to read the entire article.

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2012-13 Skier Visits Creep Up by 4 Percent in Colorado

Arapahoe Basin Ski AreaColorado’s ski areas hosted 11.4 million skier visits last season, a nearly 4 percent increase over the previous season’s 11 million.

The 11.4 million mark, while an increase over the dismal and dry 2011-12 season, is the third-slowest season in the past decade, and the annual increase falls well below the national spike of 11 percent.

Colorado Ski Country USA, the trade group that represents 21 of the state’s 25 ski areas, reported 6.4 million skier visits in 2012-13, an increase of 3.8 percent, or 235,000 skier visits, over 2011-12. Vail Resorts’ four Colorado ski areas — Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone and Beaver Creek — saw about 5 million skier visits.

Colorado’s 2012-13 season started slowly, with weak snow and local skiers staying home. Storms in late December and late spring fueled a rebound in visitation. But it wasn’t enough to pull the state closer to the 12 million-skier-visit benchmark it reached in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2011.

Declining skier visits does not necessarily correlate to decreasing revenues, as evidenced by ski areas that saw increased revenues in 2011-12, which saw record declines in visitation.

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Colorado Ski Resorts Subsidize Airline Costs

Colorado ski resorts are paying more to airlines for consistent flights into regional mountain airports.

Airlines say they need the subsidies because of rising fuel prices and financially strapped vacationers.

The Telluride Tourism Board is helping Crested Butte Mountain Resort with a $650,000 revenue-guarantee deal with Allegiant Air to bring twice-weekly flights from Oakland and Phoenix to Montrose all winter.

According to the Denver Post, Steamboat, Crested Butte and Vail are also paying more to airlines for consistent flights.

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A Milestone for Water Diversions in Colorado

If 1962 was a big year for skiing, with the opening of Vail, in Colorado it was also notable for benchmarks in diversion of water. One project was completed and another was started, the two of them substantially enlarging the unnatural flow of water from the Colorado River Basin to the Front Range of Colorado.

Colorado is an unbalanced state. Nearly 80 per cent of precipitation in the state falls west of the Continental Divide, where nearly all of Colorado’s ski areas are located, mostly in the form of snow. But 80 per cent of its population and an even higher percentage of its farms and ranches live on the eastern side.

Diversions across the Continental Divide began in 1911 and accelerated in 1936 when dewatering of creeks around Winter Park began. But 1962 was a huge year for this export of water. That year, Denver finished a new tunnel that is three metres in diameter and 37.5 kilometres long. The tunnel diverts water from Dillon Reservoir into the South Platte River, upstream from Denver.

Also in 1962, President John F. Kennedy gave a speech kicking off construction of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project. The project diverts water from the Fryingpan and Roaring Fork Rivers, both located in the Aspen area, to cantaloupe and other farms in the Arkansas River Valley. Some of that water has now found its way to metropolitan Denver.

Now, Colorado faces a new issue. Instead of figuring out how to develop its water, the key question is how much water it has left to develop — if any. The Colorado River Compact of 1922 apportions water among the seven states from Wyoming to California. It also requires Colorado and other upper-basin states to deliver 7.5 million acre-feet of water to the lower-basin states on a rolling 10-year average.

During the last 30 years, Colorado and other upper-basin states have delivered an average of 10.8 million acre-feet. But that average has been exceeded only three times out of the last 12, reports John McClow of Gunnison, writing in the Grand Junction Free Press. 2012 was particularly bad: just a little over 2 million acre-feet of water flowed into Lake Powell from April through July, the prime runoff months, reports Jim Pokrandt of the Colorado River Water Conservation District.

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In Crested Butte, Crested Butte Ski Resorts, resources

Holiday Season Starts Early at Crested Butte Ski Resort

It’s not too early to enjoy a Christmas package — especially one that comes before the holidays. Skiers and snowboarders get an early jump on Christmas this year at with a family package (not the kind you wrap) at Crested Butte Mountain Resort in Colorado that kicks in before Dec. 25.

The Grandest Christmas Package is good for those who want to enjoy the slopes as well as tubing and other activities at the on-site Adventure Park. It comes with four nights at the resort’s Grand Lodge, lift tickets for three days and access to the Adventure Park. And there’s the indoor heated pool and steam room to enjoy at the lodge too. The offer is good for Dec. 14-23, based on availability. Reservations must be made by Dec. 16.

Crested Butte Mountain Resort is once again offering free skiing and snowboarding to all visitors on its opening day. The resort plans to open for the season November 21. Until then, it is giving away one free lift ticket per day, with fans of its Facebook page eligible to win.

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Pot Votes in CO Raise Specter of Weed Tourism

Hit the slopes — and then a bong?

Marijuana legalization votes this week in Colorado and Washington state don’t just set up an epic state-federal showdown on drug laws for residents. The measures also open the door for marijuana tourism.

Both marijuana measures make marijuana possession in small amounts OK for all adults over 21 — not just state residents but visitors, too. Tourists may not be able to pack their bowls along with their bags, but as long as out-of-state tourists purchase and use the drug while in Colorado or Washington, they wouldn’t violate the marijuana measures.

Of course, that’s assuming the recreational marijuana measures take effect at all. That was very much in doubt Friday as the states awaited word on possible lawsuits from the U.S. Department of Justice asserting federal supremacy over drug law.

So the future of marijuana tourism in Colorado and Washington is hazy. But that hasn’t stopped rampant speculation, especially in Colorado, where tourism is the No. 2 industry thanks to the Rocky Mountains and a vibrant ski industry.

The day after Colorado approved recreational marijuana by a wide margin, the headline in the Aspen Times asked, “Aspendam?” referring to Amsterdam’s marijuana cafes.

Colorado’s tourism director, Al White, tried to downplay the prospect of a new marijuana tourism boom. “It won’t be as big a deal as either side hopes or fears,” White said. Maybe not. But many are asking about marijuana tourism.

Ski resorts are “certainly watching it closely,” said Jennifer Rudolph of Colorado Ski Country USA, a trade association that represents 21 Colorado resorts.

The Colorado counties where big ski resorts are located seem to have made up their minds. The marijuana measure passed by overwhelming margins, with more support than in less visited areas.

The home county of Aspen approved the marijuana measure more than 3-to-1. More than two-thirds approved marijuana in the home county of Colorado’s largest ski resort, Vail. The home county of Telluride ski resort gave marijuana legalization its most lopsided victory, nearly 8 in 10 favoring the measure.

“Some folks might come to Colorado to enjoy some marijuana as will be their right. So what?” said Betty Aldworth, advocacy director for the Colorado marijuana campaign.

Marijuana backers downplayed the impact on tourism. Aldworth pointed out that pot-smoking tourists wouldn’t exactly be new. Colorado ski slopes already are dotted with “smoke shacks,” old mining cabins that have been illicitly repurposed as places to smoke pot out of the cold. And the ski resort town of Breckenridge dropped criminal penalties for marijuana use two years ago.

 

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In Crested Butte, Crested Butte Access, Crested Butte Ski Resorts, Telluride, Telluride Access, Telluride Ski Resort, resources

New Joint Ski Pass Between Crested Butte, Telluride

Winter is on its way and so are some new ticket deals that offer days in both Telluride and Crested Butte — with no blackout dates.

A new pass called the Ultimate 6 Pass offers up to three days in Telluride and three in Crested Butte. The pass has been put together as a promotional effort between Telluride Ski & Golf and the Crested Butte Mountain Resort. The pass is only available in limited numbers, and though the exact number of passes has not been released, they are available now for $399 at Liftopia.

“Basically it’s stemming from Crested Butte participating with the Telluride Montrose Regional Air Organization,” said Telski Communications Director Tom Watkinson. “It’s helping to bring people to both resorts, and this is a great way to do that.”

The Crested Butte Mountain Resort announced in late October that it will be a private supporter of the TMRAO, namely the organization’s newest airline, Allegiant. As part of the deal, marketing efforts would be aimed at air passengers focusing on Telluride as well as Crested Butte.

Watkinson said the pass also offers a 20 percent discount on tickets at either resort if someone wants to go over the three days offered.

Telluride and Crested Butte are roughly 158 miles apart by road, with Montrose between them.

While the Ultimate 6 Pass is a good deal to hit up both resorts, Telski and Crested Butte are also offering their season pass holders a half-price deal for single-day tickets. If a Crested Butte or Telski season pass holder wants to buy a day ticket at the other resort, they are eligible to get it at half price. However, Watkinson said the half price deal does include some blackout dates, notably around the holidays.

Telski will be selling discount season passes and other passes at the KOTO Ski Swap Saturday at the Wilkinson Public Library.

This year, Telski is also selling a special three-day pass option for those with passes to Powderhorn Mountain Resort near Grand Junction.

“We figure Junction is such a big market for regional skiers, that we’re offering a three-day pass at $169 with the purchase of a Powderhorn pass season,” Watkinson said. “There’s no blackout dates and it’s available immediately.”

Telski plans to open on Thanksgiving.