Teo 2 Ski Area Expansion Crested Butte Mountain Resort

The Teo 2 Ski Area Expansion Crested Butte Mountain Resort is a much anticipated step in additional intermediate and advanced skier terrain. As you may be able to tell from the maps this terrain is located on the back side of the mountain facing mostly East.  If you were skiing this area you would be looking East up the Brush Creek drainage.

The profile and skier terrain will be “similar” to the East River area allowing a smooth Blue runs down the middle of the drainage and expert black runs from the ridge lines on the sides. Crested Butte will be getting more Blue ski runs with the Teo 2 expansion. This will be a great addition for the many skier visitors and for the majority of second-homeowners and their guests who enjoy the blue runs. As well exploring an additional part of the mountain especially in the morning with the warm sun will be a plus!

The Crested Butte Economy and the Crested Butte Real Estate market is tied to the Teo 2 Expansion and the continued success of the ski area.

Federal Approval Required for Crested Butte Mountain Resort

The Expansion is currently in the Federal NEPA process (NEPA stands for National Environmental Policy Act) and unfortunately this is where the Snodgrass Expansion came to a screeching halt 8 years ago. Hopefully the much needed TEO 2 Expansion Approvals will be forthcoming and we may be skiing on this new terrain in a few years.

Two new lifts will be developed in the Teo Drainage and Park areas and one new lift will replace the existing North Face surface T-Bar lift.

Teo Park Ski Lift

The Teo 2 area would be accessed via a new lift and will get you to the top of the skiable terrain providing lift-served access for the Teo 1 and Teo 2 Bowls as well as access a wide variety of terrain ranging from Intermediate to Expert from the top of the North Face lift, and Spellbound terrain..

Teo Drainage Ski Lift

There will also be a lift that will return skiers to Paradise Bowl and access to Extreme Limits terrain.The Teo Drainage lift provides access to new Intermediate and Advanced terrain that has a distinctive backcountry feel
and appeals to CBMR’s discerning guests and Brand. Several trails are conceptually planned with the longest being over 1.22 miles in length. In addition, expert terrain off the southern ridge of Teo 2 provides great fall-line gladed skiing opportunities.

North Face Lift – Moving and Upgrade to a Chairlift 

The upgrading plan will relocate and upgrade the existing North Face surface lift to a fixed-grip triple chairlift, this will increase the hourly capacity and allow for better accessibility for Intermediate and Advanced abilities into the Teo Drainage and Park areas.

CBMR Seeking Public Support for TEO 2

If you recall the Snodgrass Ski Area Expansion was shut down when surprisingly the Town Council in Crested Butte and The County Commissioners refused to write a letter in Support of the project to the Federal Government. The justification at the time was that this would “prejudice” them for future oversight authority of the impacts of the plan.  Most of the detractors to the Snodgrass proposal said clearly to CBMR to expand on the terrain that was available on the existing mountain – so eight years later here we are, and CBMR is asking for your support – see CBMR Community Newsletter – February 27, 2018 letter below

CBMR Community Newsletter – February 27, 2018

Over the past eight years, we have been working on an expansion plan that could add approximately 500 acres of skiable terrain to the main mountain. In July 2015, the U.S. Forest Service accepted our request to initiate an environmental review of this plan, and throughout the last two and a half years, we have worked with the U.S. Forest Service, through a third party environmental consulting firm (SE Group), to conduct a comprehensive environmental evaluation of the area. All of the many field studies were completed this past fall and a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was compiled and released for public review and comment on February 9th, per National Environmental Policy Act regulations. You can read and provide comment on these findings here.

From this plan’s inception, we have dedicated significant and recurring effort towards public outreach, both to improve upon our concepts and to ensure transparency in the process. Many of our CBMR team members have poured their expertise and passion into this work. They have gathered input from our guests and from the community, as well as from industry experts and our land management partners. Our local Gunnison Ranger District office has also worked tirelessly with SE Group to ensure that the field study process was comprehensive and to ensure that the draft EIS document was accurately drafted and was published in the Federal Registry in a timely manner. For all of these efforts, we are extremely proud and wholly appreciative.

Collectively, we feel that the draft EIS being presented is the very best plan possible for increasing intermediate and advanced terrain on the main mountain and the very best way to allow our guests to explore and enjoy the Teo drainage in the winter. We are very excited to have reached this point in the process. Getting the draft EIS published and receiving public comment is a critical next step. When the public comment period closes on May 10th the U.S. Forest Service will read all of the comments, respond to each comment individually, and discuss the plan internally in consideration of comments, field findings, and staff recommendations. Thereafter, the U.S. Forest Service will make a decision to either approve of or deny our plan.

The proposed expansion area is located on the East facing side of the mountain, below and beyond Teo 2 Bowl. The terrain in the proposed expansion area is largely intermediate in the drainage bottom, advanced throughout the eastern flank, and expert below the western ridge. We intend to design and manage the terrain in this area for a side-country feel, with clusters of trees throughout developed ski runs and many gladed areas for skiing and riding and absorbing the surrounding natural beauty. Incorporating this terrain will incur a permit boundary expansion of approximately 500 acres and will increase the resort’s total skiable acreage to approximately 2,000 skiable acres. There are three proposed new lifts, two for access within the drainage and one for access to the new terrain. There is also a proposed new Ski Patrol and Guest Warming Hut at the top of the existing North Face lift and several terrain access improvements on the North Face and above the Banana. The plan proposes 32 acres of new snowmaking on existing trails within the resort’s current footprint. While most of the plan addresses winter needs, it also includes 15 miles of new summer hiking and biking trails, with three new downhill trails starting from the top of the Silver Queen lift and one new Adaptive Sports focused bike loop trail in the Ten Peaks area. While this is just a very brief summary, we encourage to you take a little time to read the key sections of the draft EIS.

We sincerely appreciate the continued support, the feedback, and the friendships over the last 14 years and we look forward to many more. These proposed projects are the result of valuable input from you – our community – as well as resort guests, resort staff and Forest Service land management professionals. They represent our earnest effort to listen to, understand, and ultimately create projects that are thoughtful, effectual, and help make for meaningful and memorable experiences on the mountain.

We look forward to receiving your feedback and hope to garner your support for this exciting project.

With Sincere Gratitude,

Tim, Diane, Ethan and Erica Mueller

Click Link to Support Teo 2 Ski Area Expansion Crested Butte Mountain Resort and Leave a Comment:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=46904

Crested Butte Economy and Crested Butte Real Estate

The Crested Butte Economy and the Crested Butte Real Estate market is tied to the Teo 2 Expansion and the continued success of the ski area.  Crested Butte is a resort ski town – and improving the product of skiing is important as we are compared by skier visitors with other destinations. And these visitors are the key drivers for our tourism economy in the Winter (and they return in the Summer). Visitors also buy real estate and their dollars flow into the second large component of our local economy that employs all the people that supply goods and services to these wonderful people from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Arizona, Denver, Colorado Springs, Boulder…etc.

Second Homeowners buy land and build homes. They buy homes and remodel them. They need professional designers, property managers, plumbers, electricians, landscapers, painters. And yes – they need real estate agents!