There are some interesting developments concerning the terrain parks at Crested Butte Mountain Resort.
First, the Painter Boy and Cascade Park (the big one on Gold Link) is scheduled to open around Christmas, snow permitting. With the recent storm, work on Painter Boy has begun. At the moment, CBMR is still deliberating whether or not to include a halfpipe. Surprisingly, the half-pipe is one of the more heavily used features in the park, as it is popular with families and ski school lessons. Therefore, CBMR is doing its best to keep it. Again, the issue is snow. The low snow and rain totals have put considerable constraints on how much water CBMR can pump from local water sources. As the our pipe is entirely made of snow (dirt foundation pipes exist), it takes a lot of water to build.
However, not having a pipe won’t be devastating. If unable to make a pipe, the park crew plans to create a slope-style type set up with smaller jumps (similar to the ones that were located below the pipe last season) that flow more cohesively with rails. The left lane jumps will stay the same. “The addition of more jumps in place of the pipe will create even better progression opportunities within the jumps we offer in the terrain parks” says Christian Robertson, Terrain Park Manger at CBMR.
When the Painter Boy park opens, CBMR plans to close the jib park on Keystone. According to Robertson, “we see more opportunity to provide a quality terrain park product if we consolidate our offerings. We are, however, very open to feedback.” If you want the resort to keep the jib park, comment cards are available at locations around the base area. However, be constructive. Let them know how awesome it is having the jib park in its current location and how it increases your enjoyment on the mountain. Feedback can also be directed to Robertson directly at crobertson@cbmr.com.
In another exciting development, CBMR purchased a BagJump air bag. However, don’t get too excited as access will be extremely limited in the initial stages. The 50 x 50 x 11 will be used for tubing jumps and training for the CBMR’s Mountain Sports Team. See the videos at the bottom to see the airbag in action.
Again, everything is dependent on snowfall (which is happening!!). So do a more snow dances and be patient.
Red Bull Performance Camp using the airbag for training.
Tubing
