Ski Season Is Underway in Crested Butte

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Hello from snowy Crested Butte!

Cat Skiing Returns to Crested Butte
CS Irwin is getting ready to open for business after a 9 year hiatus from commercial cat skiing operations in Irwin Colorado, about 11 miles from Crested Butte. CS Irwin will operate two custom snow cats each day during the 2010-2011 ski season. Guests are transported from Crested Butte to Irwin in absolute comfort and style aboard the Tucker”, a luxury sno-cat with leather seats, large picture windows, a large flat-screen TV and a surround-sound stereo system, that will take everyone to Irwin. “No other snow cat or heli-skiing guests have the luxury of being picked up in a first-class snowcat and returned to the town where they are staying,” says Director of Operations, Alan Bernholtz, a former mayor of Crested Butte. “Last winter, Irwin received more than 525 inches of snow, beating every ski resort in the state by more than 90 inches.” Visit CS Irwin

Nordic Skiing Underway at Lily Lake – 10th Annual Thanksgiving Training Camp
That’s right. The ski season is underway in Crested Butte. The nordic skiing at Lily Lake (10 miles west of Crested Butte off Kebler Pass road) is good to go. The Crested Butte nordic ski coaches have been grooming about 8km of tracks at Lily Lake and Gunnison County is keeping Kebler Pass road open until Thanksgiving! Be sure to check out the 10th Annual Thanksgiving Training Camp. The Nordic Center is offering beginning, intermediate, and advanced skate and classic clinics, as well as clinics for women only and Masters racers. Visit Crested Butte Nordic Center’s website for more information.

Local Real Estate News
Since Labor Day, our real estate market has experienced a decent surge in sales activity. Over the last 2 months we have jumped from 87 home and condo sales year-to-date ($44 million) to 132 residential closings and $71 million in sales. And, we have 24 additional homes and condos under contract representing another $14 million in pending sales. As it stands now, we are on pace to surpass 2009’s sales performance, in terms of the number of sales and volume.

Upcoming Events
This upcoming winter is a special one. We will be celebrating the 50th year of skiing at the resort! Opening day for Crested Butte Mountain Resort: November 24. See you on the ski slopes!

Quiznos Pro Bicycle Race Coming to the Valley – 4th Largest Bike Race in the World
After an absence of 23 years, major professional bike racing is ready to return to Colorado next summer! The best part? Crested Butte and Gunnison will host two of the seven stages! The Quiznos Pro Challenge is on track to draw 120 professional bicycle racers, including many from the Tour de France, to the 600-mile, multi-stage race. Lance Armstrong, who owns a second home just over the hill in Aspen, gave his support to the race, which will be the fourth largest in the world. “This is a great place to ride bicycles, and it’s been absent from the high-end pro cycling agenda since the Coors Classic ended in the 1980s,” said Steve Wood, a former member of the U.S. national cycling team who now lives in the Vail area. The race will pose a special challenge to the world’s bicycling racers, because of the thinner air. The lowest elevation will be in Denver. Visit the Quizno’s Pro Challengewebsite for details.

Thanks for reading today!

Channing Boucher
Broker Associate
Benson Sotheby’s International Realty

Contact Channing at 970-596-3228 or via his website.
Channing’s Blog: The Crested Butte Real Estate Letter