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Crested Butte Mountain Resort has labored over 35 years to add ski terrain to Snodgrass Mountain.

• 1970: Howard “Bo” Callaway and his brother-in-law Ralph Walton buy the 9-year-old Crested Butte ski area out of bankruptcy.
• 1975: The Forest Service, which had previously recommended against Crested Butte ski area expanding onto Snodgrass Mountain, agrees to make 2,000 acres of intermediate terrain on Snodgrass Mountain available for expansion.
• 1976: Callaway, a Georgia businessman and Secretary of the Army under President Gerald Ford, is accused by a Senate subcommittee of using his position to “improperly pressure” the Forest Service to reverse its no-expansion position on Snodgrass Mountain. The allegation forces Callaway – who denied any impropriety – to resign as head of Ford’s re-election committee. A year later the Justice Dept. dropped its conflict-of-interest investigation.
• 1986: Callaway and Walton revive plans for the then-$600 million, 1,900-home North Village on 143 acres at the base of expanded ski terrain on Snodgrass. The Forest Service in 1982 approved expanding the resort’s Special Use Permit to include 1,550 acres on Snodgrass. The resort’s plans do not evolve beyond building a road up Snodgrass.
• 1996: Citing local opposition, Crested Butte Mountain Resort owners withdraw from the National Environmental Policy Act process and pull their application with the Forest Service to expand onto Snodgrass. Several months earlier, the Forest Service, two years into an environmental review, had warned the resort that it might deny permission because of local opposition. The resort instead plows money into lift upgrades and a new hotel. The hope is that by shelving Snodgrass plans, the resort can conjure support for the expansion later. .
• 1998: The Callaways and Waltons finalize a 7-year-old, three-way land swap involving the State Land Board and the Forest Service that eventually places 558 acres of federal land adjacent to the ski area – dubbed the East Trade Parcel – into resort ownership. In 2000, the resort wins local approval to develop slopeside homes on 420 acres of the parcel.
• 2003: Following six years of steady declines in visitation that forced the resort’s family owners in 2002 to hand over their recently revamped 262-room slopeside hotel to creditors, Vermont resort developers Tim and Diane Mueller buy Crested Butte Mountain Resort. (A Dallas investment firm had cancelled a purchase contract months earlier, citing controversy over Snodgrass.) The Muellers name the Snodgrass expansion as a “major consideration” in their purchase.
• 2005: The Muellers and the Forest Service enter a “Memorandum of Understanding” that the Snodgrass expansion will be addressed in an Environmental Impact Statement, as required under NEPA. .
• 2006: Forest Supervisor Charlie Richmond writes to Tim Mueller, saying he concurs with the “convincing argument supporting a need for more intermediate skiing terrain at Crested Butte.” .
• 2008: The Muellers complete two geologic studies of terrain on Snodgrass as part of a pre-NEPA process, hoping to address the Forest Service’s concerns over sloughing hazards on the mountain.
• 2008: The Muellers sell their Okemo resort in Vermont, their Sunapee resort in New Hampshire and Crested Butte resort to Florida real estate investment trust CNL Lifestyle Properties for $132 million, which includes $82 million in cash. The Muellers lease the properties from CNL and manage the resorts under a 40-year contract.
• Jan. 2009: Richmond tells the Muellers in a letter that while he would “prefer broader support” for the Snodgrass plan, “I do not find cause at this point to deny a proposal.” .
• June 2009: The Muellers submit a 12-page proposal for lift-served, downhill skiing on Snodgrass, specifically requesting that the plan enter a NEPA review. The proposal requests 276 acres of skiing, a 373-acre reduction of the permitted boundary. .
• Oct. 2009: Gunnison County tells the Forest Service it cannot issue a letter of support for the Snodgrass expansion plan because it will be conducting its own permitting process. That letter asks the Forest Service to not consider the county’s inability to weigh in “as a cause for any U.S. Forest Service decision that is yours to make.” .
• Nov. 2009: Richmond informs the Muellers he will not allow the Snodgrass plan to proceed until further environmental review under the NEPA process, citing a lack of public support, geologic concerns, the lack of county support and other social issues. Richmond tells the Muellers his decision “is not subject to administrative appeal.” .
• Dec. 2009: Following a swell of public support for Snodgrass, Richmond allows an appeal to his decision. .
• Dec. 2009: The Muellers file a 72-page appeal of Richmond’s decision. .
• Dec. 2009: Richmond asks Regional Forester Rick Cables for a 45-day extension before issuing a response to the resort’s appeal. .
• Jan. 2010: Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell approves Regional Forester Rick Cables request that another Regional Forester handle the appeal by Crested Butte Mountain Resort. Cables, in his request, wrote Tidwell that he “felt his involvement in the screening process might present an appearance of bias if he were to review Supervisor Richmond’s decision.”