Crested Butte, CO, March 7, 2009 – Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR), in conjunction with Prinoth, launches the Snowcat Driving Experience. Beginning March 7th, 2009, participants learn the basics of driving snowcats, grooming, pushing snow, and experience one of the best ski resort jobs on a closed course. The school incorporates initial classroom time for safety and operational instruction then students get out on the course to maximize the driving time.

“We take everyone on a ‘full tour’ of the machine,” says Chris Corliss, CBMR’s Mountain Operations Manager. “We do a complete walk around, discuss the parts and functions, then get going with live drive time. It’s a totally different experience and a ton of fun, too. Our instructors are the real folks on the mountain doing real work, so it’s not a watered-down version for people who do this.”

The Snowcat Driving Experience is one-on-one instruction in a fully-functional Prinoth 275 Snowcat as used in Crested Butte’s grooming operations. Classes will run twice daily at 10am and 2pm four days a week (Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday) for the rest of the ski season. Group bookings are available by request.

Cost for the program is $275 and includes transportation from the Lodge at Mountaineer Square, some classroom time, and an hour of actual snowcat drive time. Family and friends are welcome to observe from our on-site tent (please mention at time of booking). Drivers must have a valid drivers’ license and be over 18 years old.

To book your Snowcat Driving Experience in Crested Butte, call 970-349-4554 or visit the Adventure Center.

Crested Butte has been named as Skiing Magazine’s #1 Best Steeps, #8 Best Trees, #10 Best Powder, and Outside Magazine’s Top Places To Live Now, Sunset Magazine’s # 3 Top Dream Towns, SKI Magazine’s #20 Readers Survey Top Resort, and SkiNet’s # 3 Top Ski Town. Crested Butte was also named one of America’s Best Small Ski Towns by Travel + Leisure Magazine and Conde Nast Traveler’s #13 Reader’s Poll Top Resort and most recently, Crested Butte Mountain Resort was named Top 10 Family Ski Resorts by ShermansTravel on MSNBC.

For more information about Crested Butte's lodging, conference, meeting facilities, and special packages, call Crested Butte Vacations, (800) 600-2803 or visit the website at http://www.skicb.com. For information on ski area real estate opportunities call (970) 349-4999 or (877) 805-6109 or visit the website at http://www.cbliving.com.