Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s five-year effort to push its ski area onto nearby Snodgrass Mountain hit a barrier, according to the Denver Post.

The U.S. Forest Service rejected the resort’s  development plan and blocked its application for National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, review, a vital hurdle to expand the ski resort by 276 acres onto undeveloped terrain on neighboring Snodgrass Mountain.  The Forest Service cited a public divided on the issue , the impact of a surge of skiers on public services and “geologic hazards presented by unstable soils and unpredictable hydrology,” at the site.
Read more here.

The question is whether this move is a sign that the latest wave of expansion has ended. Breckenridge, Telluride and Arapahoe Basin all added considerable acreage during the bush years. I heard, anecdotally, that Breck wanted to get its plan for a Peak 6 expansion approved before the change in administration. It didn’t happen. It may be hard to tell what the trend is since the economy has melted the need for expansion anyway, but is the Forest Service entering an era where it is cool to developement? We’ll see.

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