Crested Butte Mountain Resort - History

History

Crested Butte Mountain Resort opened in 1960 when two men - Fred Rice and Dick Eflin - purchased a ranch on Mt. Crested Butte. An operating permit enabling the resort to be built was approved by the United States Forest Service the following year. The resort struggled on for its first ten years. Some of the first lifts included a t-bar at the base area.

In 1963, Crested Butte constructed a top-to-bottom gondola from the base area to near where the bottom of the High Lift is today. The resort was the second resort to open a gondola in Colorado, after Vail Ski Resort opened theirs in 1962. Constructed by Carlevaro-Savio, the three-person Silver Queen Gondola was notorious for being cramped and the cabins were known to have frequent collisions. The gondola lasted until 1972, when a bubble double chairlift replaced it. Other opening lifts included a Doppelmayr T-Bar that serviced the training hill on Buckley.

Riblet constructed a double chairlift called Twister in 1969 to supplement the Silver Queen Gondola. The lift services expert and advanced trails on the west slope of the mountain, but with the upgrading of other lifts now operates sporadically.

In 1972, a bubble double replaced the old gondola, and provided main access out of the base area for the next twenty years. Another double chairlift, Peachtree, was built at the base area to service a set of learning trails between Silver Queen and the T-Bar area. Peachtree still operates today.

In 1979, Riblet constructed the Teocalli double chairlift on the north side of the mountain, providing access to some intermediate trails, and double chairlifts were also built servicing the Paradise Bowl, which opened intermediate trails to the east of Twister as well as the East River area below that.

In 1982, Poma constructed a triple chairlift running out of the base area called the Keystone lift, servicing beginner and low intermediate trails on the lower slopes of the mountain. The following year, they expanded the mountain by constructing two additional triple chairlifts, Gold Link and Painter Boy, servicing beginner and intermediate terrain to the north of the main mountain. In 1987, Poma constructed a platter lift servicing the North Face chutes above East River.

In 1991, another T-bar was constructed. Called the High Lift, the new T-Bar provided access to the Headwall chutes above Paradise Bowl, and also opened additional expert terrain on the upper part of the mountain.

In 1992, Crested Butte entered the high speed lift market, replacing the Silver Queen bubble double with a high speed quad. The quad services the same terrain as the old lift, but is aligned slightly differently to provide better access to the High Lift. It also provides access to terrain on all other parts of the mountain as well. Two years later, the Paradise double was replaced with another high speed quad. This quad provides access to intermediate trails in the Paradise Bowl, as well as access to the North Face. In 1997, the Keystone triple was replaced with a high speed quad, and the original triple was relocated to the East River area.

In 2004, the Keystone Express lift was renamed the Red Lady Express, while the North Face platter was replaced with a t-bar. A fixed-grip quad was also constructed in the Painter Boy area to open up new terrain in the area east of Gold Link. In 2005, another fixed-grip quad, West Wall, replaced the T-bar on Buckley. In 2006, a high speed quad replaced the East River triple chairlift.