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Growing the Sport

Courtesy of Crested Butte Mountain Resort

Crested Butte allows fat biking before and after the lifts are operating on most of its beginner terrain.
Idaho’s Kelly Canyon Ski Resort is one of the few resorts “Our rule is that in winter time they have to have tires
that takes fat bikes up the lift during the winter season for at least 3.7 inches in width, and we do a device-by-device
use on well-groomed trails, according to David Stoddard, inspection to make sure they can be hauled up safely on our
the resort’s co-owner. Kelly Canyon Ski Resort—which also lifts,” Stoddard says.
welcomes ski bikes—previously had great success with fat Although the resort anticipated a tough slog navigating
risk management, liability insurance, and user acceptance
around having the fat bikes on winter slopes, it hasn’t
“The features that make ski bikes encountered much resistance in any of those areas, Stoddard
says. The areas works closely with its insurance underwriter
friendly to adaptive users also and risk management team to ensure the operations are safe
and well monitored.
make them appealing to many “We’re finding that it’s really just a paradigm shift. The

older riders, younger riders, and thing is, the bike actually has manually operated brakes, unlike
a ski or snowboard. Once people start thinking this through,
even hard-core mountain bikers.” they don’t find it all that shocking or worrisome,” he says.
Colorado’s Crested Butte Mountain Resort, home of the
—JIM WEILAND, ADAPTIVE SKI BIKE INSTRUCTOR Fat Bike World Championships, allows Type 1 and Type 2
snow bikes (and offers a two-hour ski bike lesson program),
and has also begun to experiment with limited use of fat bike
bikes on its Nordic trails and multi-use trails, and has been mountain bikes on its slopes, though not on its chairlifts
experimenting with having them on its winter chairlifts for just yet. The resort allows fat biking outside of its operating
a couple years. It now has a complete fleet of Specialized times—before the lifts open and after they close—on more
Fatboy bikes that are rented out for winter use (retail price or less all of its beginner terrain, says Zach Pickett, CBMR
for an entry-level Specialized Fatboy is $1,400). communications coordinator.

16 | NSAA JOURNAL | FALL 2018