On Mountain Adventures

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New Adventures Await at Crested Butte Mountain Resort
On-mountain adventure is the name of the game at CBMR, and that includes much more than the resort’s legendary skiing and riding. Below is a list of on-mountain opportunities for exploration designed to inspire body, mind and spirit.

Free Guided Mountain Tours
Prepare to navigate the mountain like a pro with a free, guided tour of Mt. Crested Butte. Tours meet at 9:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. at the CB Mountain Schools meeting area and leave at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. respectively. On the two-hour tour, participants learn trails and locations of lifts from an experienced local guide. This is a great way to kick-off a visit to Crested Butte Mountain. So bring the family or any size group, and enjoy a local's introduction to Crested Butte Mountain Resort.

Atlas Snowshoe Tours
Crested Butte Mountain Resort's snowshoe tour is a unique way to experience the majestic surroundings of Crested Butte. Tours explore areas of the mountain where few skiers go, including the proposed ski area expansion on Snodgrass Mountain, adjacent to Crested Butte Mountain. Participants learn about the history of the area and qualities of the local ecosystem. Tours last about two and a half hours, involve approximately two miles of hiking, and include a guide, snowshoes, poles, a lift ride, water, and a light snack. Ninety percent of the tour is downhill or flat, but participants enjoy a great workout along the way. Tours leave twice a day - at 9:45am and 1:15pm. For information and reservations contact Crested Butte Vacations at 800-544-8448 or visit www.skicb.com.

Moonlight Snowshoe Tours
Snowshoe by the light of the full moon this winter. CBMR features moonlight snowshoe tours three times a year, on the night of the full moon in December, January, and February. Catch a ride on a snowcat to the top of CBMR’s Red Lady Express chairlift and snowshoe the moonlight mountain trails back to the base area. The dates for 2009-2010 are: December 31, January 30, and February 28. Pricing: $60 per person; $65 per person for moonlight tours (prices subject to change). For information and reservations contact Crested Butte Vacations at 800-544-8448 or visit www.skicb.com.

Crested Butte North Face Guide Program
For guests interested in an extreme skiing or riding experience, but looking for some tips and tricks for success, CBMR’s Ski and Ride School created the North Face Guide. This in-bounds group tour allows participants to experience the resort’s famed extreme terrain, concentrating on skiing and riding off the High Lift and in the North Face area of the mountain. The tour includes an evaluation and light education, helping adventure-minded guests make the jump to extreme skiing and riding.

Crested Butte Adventure Guides Program
Akin to a private lesson, Crested Butte Adventure Guides takes the experience up a notch. Led by PSIA/AMGA Certified Adventure Guides from Crested Butte Mountain Resort and Crested Butte Mountain Guides, the goal of this private, tailored program is to provide participants with a solid knowledge of backcountry skills before heading out-of-bounds. Guides focus on teaching backcountry tactics and skills in-bounds, including skinning, transceiver use and backcountry skiing tactics.

The guided experience explores Crested Butte's heralded Extreme Terrain, including 3rd Bowl, Phoenix and Spell Bound, all within the ski area boundary. Participants also may have the opportunity to venture into the backcountry during the full-day program, depending upon conditions and available time. The full-day lesson includes an evaluation of individual needs and ability, and guests will be supplied for the day with a backpack and other necessities for hiking and exploring the mountain. Transceiver, probes and shovels are also available if guests are interested in learning more about backcountry equipment.

Adventure Park
New this year, CBMR introduces the base area Adventure Park complete with year-round ice-skating, bungee trampolines and a climbing wall. The skating rink is made from Super-Glide® synthetic ice and represents the first synthetic ice-skating facility in Colorado. Super-Glide synthetic ice is a high-tech skating surface created by skaters, and the rink was recycled from the American Museum of Natural History in New York, NY, where it was part of a display on climate change. The bungee trampolines provide a turbo-charged, gravity-defying ride up to 30 feet in the air, while the Climbing Pinnacle features a 28-foot, 6-route tower with auto-belay. The Adventure Park will be open year-round.

Lift-Served Tubing
The resort will add a lift-served tubing hill to the Adventure Park scene for winter. Located on warming house hill in front of the Crested Mountain condominium complex, in the area previously occupied by the adult learning area (which has moved to the same location as the children’s learning area), the Tubing Hill will be re-graded featuring a new tow lift and multiple tubing lanes.

Prinoth Snow Cat Driving Experience
Participants learn the basics of driving snowcats, grooming, pushing snow, and experience one of the best ski resort jobs on a closed course. The school incorporates initial classroom time for safety and operational instruction then students get out on the course to maximize the driving time. “We take everyone on a ‘full tour’ of the machine,” says Chris Corliss, CBMR’s Mountain Operations Manager. “We do a complete walk around, discuss the parts and functions, then get going with live drive time. It’s a totally different experience and a ton of fun, too.

Our instructors are the real folks on the mountain doing real work, so it’s not a watered-down version for people who do this.” Pricing and schedule TBA for 09-10. The Snowcat Driving Experience is one-on-one instruction in a fully-functional Prinoth 275 Snow Cat as used in Crested Butte’s grooming operations.

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