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First overnight marijuana hotel in Summit County opens in Silverthorne

Mike Roscheleau and Stephanie Colner, the on-site innkeepers at Bud and Breakfast Silverthorne, man the upstairs "bud bar" at the first cannabis-friendly lodge in the Colorado Rockies. The cozy, laid-back lodge offers rooms, meals and cannabis samples starting at $149 per night.
Phil Lindeman / plindeman@summitdaily.com |

There’s a new kind of après in town.

At Bud and Breakfast Silverthorne, the state’s first alpine marijuana lodge, the party begins at — when else? — 4:20 p.m. It’s a cannabis-friendly twist on the ski town happy hour, complete with strains, edibles and THC products like shatter from two local dispensaries, Organix in Breckenridge and High Country Healing down the street in Silverthorne. Guests can kick off their ski boots and sit back with a bowl to warm their bones by the stone-hearth fireplace.

But there’s more. Marijuana comes paired with hors d’oeuvres from a local gourmet chef — good grub is the staple of any après hangout, weed or not — and the product samplings are led by the on-site innkeepers, Mike Roscheleau and Stephanie Colner. The two explain the difference between sativa and indica, recommend edibles for a post-ski nap and, if guests want to just lounge and chat, roll joints for everyone to share while playing with Colner’s Pomeranian-Yorkie mix, Crash.



“This really inspires a communal, social atmosphere,” Roscheleau says. “It’s a fusion of Colorado’s two biggest attractions, cannabis and skiing.”

The 4:20 happy hour is just a snippet of the overall Bud and Breakfast experience, just as skiing is just a snippet of the overall Rocky Mountain experience. True to the name, it’s a B&B lodge before anything else, and for the past few months, that cozy, laid-back vibe has been a major selling point for curious visitors who are intrigued by marijuana but have little idea where to actually, well, consume it legally when in Colorado.

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“So many people these days are coming to Colorado for a cannabis vacation,” Roscheleau says. “You can buy it as much as you want, just going dispensary to dispensary, but you can’t always use it where you want. We want to bridge that gap, give people a place that’s fun and clean and comfortable where you don’t have to worry about the legal issue.”

THE CANNABIS VACATION

The Silverthorne lodge is the second Bud and Breakfast location in Colorado, along with Adagio, a Victorian-style home in south Denver. Both are owned and operated by a Denver-based company, The Mary Jane Group, founded by one of the cannabis industry’s leading entrepreneurs, Joel Schneider.

While the B&B concept is relatively new — Adagio opened in April and the Silverthorne location opened in October — it’s gained an impressive following after just a few months. The Denver location has hosted guests from across the globe, including a man from Sweden who stayed an extra week after falling in love with the concept. In Silverthorne, everyone from 21-year-old college students to 60-something retired couples have stayed for extended weekends.

“This is a very high-brow experience,” says Tyson Broyles, company controller with The Mary Jane Group. “That’s why we bring in the full-time chef, the staff, everything you’d expect from a high-class hotel. We don’t want to be just another bed and breakfast, and people love it — they really do.”

For Broyles and Roscheleau, Bud and Breakfast Silverthorne is a natural extension of the Denver location. Built in 1972, the Summit lodge was formerly home to Mountain Vista, a traditional bed and breakfast operated by two longtime locals.

The layout is warm and inviting, with four bedrooms split between the upper and lower levels. Both floors have a full kitchen and dining room for the early-morning “wake and bake” breakfasts, which include bowls packed by the innkeepers and gourmet breakfasts like rum French toast. Broyles says the lodge doesn’t encourage skiing under the influence, but more often than not, guests tend to lounge around at least one day during their stay. They can even arrange a private massage with Primal Therapeutics, a service that uses THC infused oils and lotions.

And a safe, comfortable environment is invaluable for guests, particularly folks from outside of Colorado. The entire experience is discreet — there are no pot leaves or neon signs out front — and reservations are limited to adults only. As more and more people come to Colorado specifically to try marijuana, Roscheleau says the lodge can give skiers a comfortable introduction to a strange, often intimidating new world.

“We take a lot of pride in the education angle,” Roscheleau says. “For a lot of people, cannabis is still taboo where they’re from, but they see all these different forms and ways to consume that aren’t just smoking. It’s about what’s going to be best for them.”

It’s also affordable, at least in terms of a resort lodge. During the ski season, the flat rate for the Garcia Suite is $199 per night, including all meals and marijuana sampling. (And yes, it has two Jerry Garcia posters and a Grateful Dead blanket on the plus king-sized bed — an ode to owner Schneider’s Dead Head roots.) The remaining rooms — named Lesh, Weir and Kreutzmann — cost $149 per night.

“Were redefining the bed and breakfast concept,” Broyles says. “This isn’t just a place to go and smoke pot all day. Again, this is an experience, and we want people to get the most from everything we offer. The cannabis is extra, just another incentive.”


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