What CBMR Built for Its 65th Season, From Houston to the Tower 11 Zone
Crested Butte Mountain Resort first opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1961. It had a rope tow and a T-bar at the base. The 65th season opens Wednesday, November 25, the day before Thanksgiving. The resort now has 15 lifts and 1,547 acres, more than 561 of them in-bounds extreme terrain. Lifts run 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily from opening day.
The off-season projects CBMR has talked about went to two places: the runs that carry opening week and the steep zones above Banana Couloir and off the back side. The base area below is coming back in steps, too.
Snowmaking crews started on a Monday night in the last week of October, on Houston and Lower Keystone. According to the Crested Butte News, the plan is to move to more terrain reached from the Red Lady Express over the following weeks.
The start was a little early by the resort's own records. CBMR communications manager Katie Lyons told the paper that snowmaking began on October 28 last year and October 30 the year before. She said the mountain is "pacing a little ahead of schedule of previous seasons."
Snowmaking also got some upgrades before this season. Lyons said CBMR added two new compressors to the system and was in the final stages of widening Houston, a project meant to give skiers and riders more room. The widening will matter most during opening week. Houston is one of the first trails getting man-made snow, so a wider Houston means more room on the terrain everyone shares in late November.
General manager JD Crichton described the goal for the opening in terms of the whole valley:
"We go in ready for multiple scenarios, with a focus on delivering a strong start for our employees, our community, and the local businesses that count on it."
He said it in the same Crested Butte News report.
The other half of the off-season's work went to terrain that will open well after Houston. On September 2, crews used Montrose-based A-Star helicopters to fly in 32 loads of equipment for five permanent remote avalanche control systems. The Colorado Sun reported the details. Three hydrogen gas exploders sit in the Hall of Fame zone above Banana Couloir on the front side. The other two are in the Tower 11 zone on the back side. The Sun called it one of the largest single investments in avalanche mitigation in the ski area's 65 years.
The system is called Boom Whoosh. It comes from Alpine Infrastructure, a company founded by Eric Bressler, who lives outside Jackson, Wyoming. It fires a hydrogen-oxygen blend: the gas goes "boom" and the snow below goes "whoosh." The only byproduct is water. Hydrogen flows easily in the cold, so the storage tanks can sit on roads well below towers set into the cliffs. Propane-based systems handle that badly, because propane does not flow uphill easily in cold temperatures. Before Crested Butte, Bressler had installed the system at Vail Resorts' Park City Mountain Resort in Utah.
The towers let patrol trigger slides remotely before anyone skis into the steeps to test stability. Bressler described the job the system is meant to support this way:
"They put a lot of pressure on themselves to open terrain and maybe I can help them go out there and not feel all the weight of that pressure, you know."
Lyons told the Sun the program will have "no negative impact on patrollers." She added that it "will really help us with a safer and more efficient way to manage avalanche terrain."
Putting a major avalanche-safety investment into the extreme terrain fits how Vail Resorts frames this anniversary. Its 2026/27 season guide for Crested Butte goes back to 1987, when the North Face Lift opened. That made CBMR one of the first ski areas to put expert terrain on a lift. The resort calls itself the birthplace of extreme in-bounds skiing and riding in North America. The guide counts more than 150 named areas inside the Extreme Limits. It mentions Rambo, which it calls North America's steepest tree-cut run, and the hike-to terrain of Spellbound and Phoenix Bowls.
The compressors and the wider Houston serve the first weeks, when nearly everyone skis the same few runs. The towers in Hall of Fame and Tower 11 serve the terrain the anniversary is built around, which depends on patrol's mitigation work before it opens.
What's open at the base follows the same idea of a staged season, with listed reopenings on three different schedules.
| Spot | Location | Listed reopening | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| billy barr @ Elevation | Elevation Hotel lobby | November 7 | Coffee and take-away breakfast in the morning, full bar in the evening |
| José at Elevation | Elevation Hotel | November 7 | |
| Butte 66 BBQ Roadhouse | Mt. Crested Butte | November 25 | |
| Highlife Crust & Crafts | Mt. Crested Butte | November 25 | |
| Coffee Lab | Base area bus stop | Not listed | Listed hours 6:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. |
Those dates come from the Travel Crested Butte restaurant directory. CBMR's own hours page shows the resort-run spots, including Butte 66, Coal Breaker Coffee, Highlife, Paradise Warming House and Rooster Run. Call ahead before planning a lunch around any of them.
The Elevation lobby listings fill the stretch between snowmaking and first chair. Butte 66 and Highlife are listed for the same day the lifts start turning.
The Mountain Express winter schedule also starts November 25. The posted winter routes include:
The routes almost changed. In October, the transit board took public comment on possible cuts. These included ending spring and fall service, dropping the backup buses used on busy ski days, and running summer routes less often. The Crested Butte News reported on October 28 that the board then gave direction to cut no service this winter while it takes a broader look at its budget and core service. To cover the gap, the board agreed to spend $290,000 of its $1.4 million operating reserve in 2027. A formal vote on that plan was scheduled for a special meeting on November 5. The board also said it wants a closer look at FirstTracks, the on-call service on the north side of Mt. Crested Butte, as part of decisions planned for next spring.
If you're driving, CBMR's getting-here page lists heated day parking in the Lodge at Mountaineer Square garage for $30 per vehicle. It also lists two free town-managed lots, one on Snowmass Road and one at Treasury/Gothic.
Opening day brings the First-Chair banner break. The season guide's calendar continues with Santa Ski Day in December and World Tutu Day on February 2. It also lists a new Snow Cats and Avy Dogs demo, the 53rd annual Al Johnson Telemark Race, and the pond skim on closing weekend. The opening-day event listing has the November 25 date and the 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. hours. If you'd like a cross-country holiday weekend instead, CB Nordic's Thanksgiving Camp runs November 27 to 29, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Nordic Center.
Gary and Hillary keep a close eye on what each new season brings to Mt. Crested Butte. If you're wondering how a strong start to the 65th season fits into what your place near the lifts is worth, we're happy to talk it through. Request a free home valuation from Crested Butte Homes, and we'll put together a number grounded in this winter on the mountain.
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