EpicPromise at CBMR

Mountain Clean Up Day 2023 at Crested Butte

About EpicPromise at CBMR

EpicPromise is Vail Resorts’ and Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s commitment to how we will create a more promising future for generations to come. We believe in preserving the intrinsic essence of the natural environments and communities where we work, play and call home. EpicPromise is our commitment to bring together the mountains, our communities, employees and guests to ignite a passion for the outdoors, conserve the natural environment and support our local communities for a bright, sustainable future.

EpicPromise consists of four pillars: our Community Impact Program, Epic for Everyone, our Commitment to Zero, and the EpicPromise Employee Foundation. Read on to learn more about each pillar and how Crested Butte Mountain Resort is contributing to their goals.

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Epic Promise Vail Resorts Green Logo
We believe the strength and health of our community is vital to our shared success. We strive to be more than a corporate funder, and seek to partner with the community to support holistic approaches to problem-solving based on our community’s unique strengths and challenges. Relationships built with community leaders allow us to better understand the needs of our neighbors, and the resources or support required to address those needs.
Fresh snowfall in the village at Crested Butte, CO.

EpicPromise Community Grant Recipients in Crested Butte

Employees living in the Gunnison Valley help decide which organizations receive EpicPromise community grants and ensure its contributions directly address identified needs. Between August 2022 and July 2023, EpicPromise was able to provide more than $594,000 of cash and in-kind grants to organizations across the Gunnison Valley, including:

  • Adaptive Sports Center of Crested Butte: Provided with in-kind support and mountain access for adaptive sports programming, which offers personalized training in skiing, mountain biking and more for athletes with disabilities.
  • Community Foundation of the Gunnison Valley: Provided financial and in-kind support to help address the most critical community needs in Crested Butte and the Gunnison Valley.
  • Crested Butte Avalanche Center: Provided in-kind support for avalanche forecasting and education programs.
  • Crested Butte Land Trust: Provided financial support for local conservation efforts.
  • Crested Butte Snowsports Foundation: Provided in-kind support for youth scholarships to access the mountain, as well as support for events such as the annual Ski Swap.
  • Crested Butte State of Mind: Provided financial support for therapy scholarships and a valley-wide mental health stigma reduction campaign.
  • Gunnison County Food Pantry: Provided financial support for the Gunnison Watershed School District’s Mini Pantry Program, which provides on-site meals for students.
  • Gunnison Hinsdale Youth Services: Provided financial support for youth development programs, family engagement workshops, and therapeutic mentoring for children in the juvenile justice system, as well as mountain access for programming.
  • KBUT Radio: Provided financial and in-kind support to help teach children the skills of radio broadcasting through the KBUTeens and KBUT Kid Radio Clubs, as well as after-school programs.
  • Living Journeys: Provided mountain access and staff support for the annual half marathon and summit hike, which raises money to support community members who are fighting cancer.
  • Mountain Roots Food Project: Provided financial support for food assistance programs.
  • And more!
Root Vegetables Pose for Mountain Roots Food Project 2023 at Crested Butte

Donation Day

Guests visiting Crested Butte Mountain Resort have the opportunity to contribute to local nonprofits and help our community thrive. Every year, the resort hosts an annual Donation Day, benefiting a different organization in the Gunnison Valley. Individual donations are met by a $2,500 guaranteed match from CBMR. In 2023, we partnered with Mountain Roots Food Project, which helps address food insecurities in the Gunnison Valley through food assistance and education programs.

Epic for Everyone Logo

Adaptive Skier and Instructor High Five while Skiing at Crested Butte

Ensuring equitable access to skiing and riding is a priority for us, and we are focused on two key areas: adaptive access for those with physical and mental barriers, and youth access. During the 2022/23 winter season, Crested Butte Mountain Resort made more than $377,000 worth of in-kind donations to the Adaptive Sports Center of Crested Butte to help break down accessibility barriers to the ski and ride experience. We also have an Adaptive Epic Pass, allowing access to CBMR and other Vail Resorts at a discounted rate for Pass Holders with permanent disabilities.

Crested Butte is also home to a youth access program. Through our partnerships with Adaptive and Gunnison Hinsdale Youth Services, we were able to help nearly 500 kids experience the joy of skiing and riding during the 2022/23 season.

As a company that operates in the great outdoors, we have a special responsibility to protect the incredible places where we live, work, and play. We launched Commitment to Zero in 2017: a bold goal to achieve a zero net operating footprint by 2030 through:

  • Zero net emissions
  • Zero waste to landfill
  • Zero net operating impact on forests and habitat
Close Up of Snowmaking Equipment at Crested Butte
Zero Net Emissions

Energy Efficiency

Vail Resorts and CBMR reached our 15% energy efficiency savings goal ahead of our 2030 target through a $25 million investment across buildings, snowmaking, and lifts. In 2022, CBMR invested $245,000 in retrofitting facilities with more energy-efficient LED lighting and upgrading refrigeration systems with higher-efficiency motors and fan blades. Our snowmaking technology includes 180 snow towers that are able to operate without using compressed air when the temperature is low enough. This technology is rare across the ski industry and allows for huge energy savings. For winter 2023/24, CBMR also invested in all-new snowmaking air compressors that are more energy efficient. CBMR will continue to evaluate additional projects to save energy and also replicate energy-saving projects that have been successful at other Vail resorts.
Field of Lupine looking down at the Painter Boy lift
Zero Net Emissions

Renewable Energy

Reducing our impact on climate change by investing in both large-scale and local renewable energy projects is the driving force behind our renewable electricity strategy. Initiatives such as the Plum Creek Wind Project, which has been producing clean electricity since 2020, helped us reach 100% renewable electricity across our North American resorts in 2022 and 2023, and 96% worldwide.
Fall Cattle Drive through Crested Butte
Zero Net Emissions

Bus Systems

CBMR encourages guests to use free public transportation to get to and from the mountain. The Mountain Express shuttles between Mt. Crested Butte and the Town of Crested Butte, while the Gunnison Valley RTA goes between Gunnison and the resort, making several stops along the way. Visitors from Denver, Fairplay, Buena Vista and Salida may ride the Bustang, which runs to and from Crested Butte daily.
Mountain Clean Up Day 2023 at Crested Butte
Zero Waste to Landfill

Composting

CBMR’s compost program started in 2019 with back-of-house food scraps at our base area restaurants and has since expanded to include nearly all of our operations. Now, compost includes food waste, green waste such as yard clippings and leaves, shredded paper, and Eco-Products, all of which are hauled to 3XM Grinding and Compost in Montrose County. CBMR composted 35 tons of food scraps and compostable packaging between August 2022 and July 2023, bringing the total to about 91 tons of compost since we began the program.
Mountain Clean Up Day 2023 at Crested Butte
Zero Waste to Landfill

Sorting Waste

When guests are finished eating, our team members clear and sort empty containers, packaging and food scraps into compost, recyclables and waste. We also have a designated team that moves product up the mountain and brings waste down to containers specific to their waste streams. All sorting stations at our food and beverage locations were upgraded in 2022. CBMR recycles glass, plastic bottles, paper, used fryer oil, cardboard, scrap metal, rubber, E-waste, soft plastic, latex gloves and wooden pallets. We also collect snack wrappers to be recycled in bulk, in partnership with Pepsi and TerraCycle. In partnership with Pepsi, CBMR sent over 400 pounds of snack wrappers to Terracycle in 2023 to be recycled into chairs for use at the resort. We also partner with Sustainable CB on various recycling projects in the Gunnison Valley.

Additionally, our food and beverage locations have moved to a nearly 100% use of durables for items such as plates, cups and silverware. Through efforts such as our composting and waste sorting programs, CBMR was able to reduce its waste to landfill by approximately 36% between August 2022 and July 2023.

CBMR has also introduced a part-time, seasonal position of ‘environmental agent.’ This employee dedicates their time specifically to our Commitment to Zero goals – helping to keep us on track to reach those goals, and generating ideas for how we can further this important work.

Mount Crested Butte with a rainbow and wildflowers in the foreground
Zero Net Operating Impact on Forests and Habitat

Restoring Forests

Since the launch of Commitment to Zero, our team has restored an acre of forest for every acre permanently impacted by new and expanded operations. Between August 2022 and July 2023, CBMR contributed $96,000 toward forest restoration and preservation, as well as trail access projects, through donations to the Crested Butte Land Trust. Our guests play an important role in these efforts through our guest donation program. One-dollar donations from the purchase of Vail Resorts products, including the Epic Pass, are given to EpicPromise partners supporting the environment.

In 2022, the Crested Butte Mountain Resort team also planted a tree in the base area that will serve as our permanent annual holiday tree, saving one tree every year and bringing the holidays to the resort without impacting the environment.

Epic Promise Employee Foundation Green Logo
Our employees are at the core of who we are, and we are committed to supporting them through times of need and setting them up for success. The EpicPromise Employee Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports Vail Resorts employees and their dependents through emergency financial assistance and educational grants. The EpicPromise Employee Foundation is made possible through the generous support of Vail Resorts, its employees, and the public. Tax-deductible contributions can be made to the EpicPromise Employee Foundation via Venmo @EPEFoundation or at this link.
Group Photo of Crested Butte Mountain Resort Winter Employees

Employee Hardship Grants

The Employee Hardship grant program provides financial assistance up to $5,000 USD to Vail Resorts employees and their dependents experiencing an unplanned crisis. To accommodate the unpredictable nature of emergencies, our hardship grant application is available year-round to active, seasonal, and furloughed employees and their dependents. Since 2019, the EpicPromise Employee Foundation has supported 20 CBMR team members with Employee Hardship grants, totaling more than $76,000.

Educational Ascent

We want to encourage our employees and their families to never stop learning. The Educational Ascent program is a scholarship of up to $2,500 for Vail Resorts employees pursuing a degree or certificate program. The EpicPromise Employee Foundation has granted 13 CBMR employees with Educational Ascent scholarships since 2019, totaling more than $26,000 in tuition savings.
Amanda Aulenback Personnel Photo
EDUCATIONAL ASCENT RECIPIENT

Amanda Aulenbach

“I went to undergrad in Pennsylvania and was working as a geologist after school. I wanted to further my education and applied to Western Colorado University for the M.S. Ecology program and got accepted! I am the first person in my family to move out of Pennsylvania, let alone across the country, and furthering my education is what drove me to do it! I love to learn and am very grateful I get to do it in the Gunnison Basin! I love this area and the community, and I am excited for my journey to continue!" - Amanda Aulenbach, Food & Beverage

EPICPROMISE SCHOLARS

The EpicPromise Scholars grant is a multi-year scholarship of up to $10,000 for the dependents of CBMR employees pursuing a bachelor's or associate's degree. The scholarship is awarded annually to students demonstrating leadership in academia, extracurricular activities, and community involvement. Four Crested Butte students pursuing undergraduate degrees have received this award since 2019.
John Smith EpicPromise Scholar Photo
EpicPromise Scholarship Recipient

John Smith

“I think it’s great that the EpicPromise Employee Foundation can help employees and families fulfill academic dreams. Our son plans to study aviation at the University of North Dakota and this scholarship will help tremendously in pursuit of obtaining his degree. It is impressive how the Foundation helps employees and their families with education, but in times of need as well. We want to thank everyone that donated towards this grant. Because of your generosity, our son’s dream of becoming an airline pilot is much closer.” - Jerry and Anna Smith, Ski & Ride School