Crested Butte Mountain Resort

I spent a week here in March 2011, staying at the Chateau condos.  First, the good stuff:

This mountain has amazing steeps.  The Headwall area skied great all week, even without fresh snow.  The north facing slope keeps the snow firm without getting icy, even after two days of full sunshine.  The High lift T-bar will drop you off on this bowl after a quick ride up Silver Queen quad.  For another rush, drop off the t-bar at the midpoint and get into Big Chute.  This tight drop will test your resolve, since you don't see how steep it is until you've dropped past the point of climbing out.

Another venture from the top of the High lift T-bar takes you into Teocalli Bowl.  This bowl has some steep but playful terrain, but beware, there's a stout 10-15 minute hike out.  I dropped into Morning Glory for my only run into that bowl. 

The second t-bar, NorthFace, gives you several options at the top. My favorite was to take a quick right behind the lift shack and traverse south.  A small cliff band is easily surmounted, leaving you with some great powder runs back to the bottom of the t-bar.  The second option is to go north for shots into the double blacks Hard Slab or Rachel's.  That gets you into the edge of the back bowls like the Glades and Sock it to Me Ridge.  The last day I skied Crested Butte it had snowed about 6", and the back bowls were a bit more friendly.  A long up and down hike from the NorthFace t-bar gets you to Spellbound.  This is the other edge of the back bowls, and has several steep drops with shelves between them to catch your breath on.  A fairly painless hike/skate gets you out of the back bowls.  I didn't ski the middle back bowls.

The East River Express had some funs runs, and Resurrection and Black Eagle were noteable in that half the run was groomed and half was bumped, so you can take your pick.  Double Top was a particular favorite of our group.  Paradise Express is the major lift for the 'back side' of Crested Butte, with mainly blue and double blue runs.  For some challenge, try Tower 11 chute.  If you can dodge the rocks at the top, it's worth the trip down.

Silver Queen Express is the main front side lift.  Most of the runs it accesses are black diamonds like International, Jokerville, and Peel.  I never got past Forest on the right side of the Silver Queen, so I can't comment on the exposed runs like Upper Peel or Banana Funnel.  Peak is the run from the very top of the mountain, and was only open briefly during my visit.  From the looks of it, count on powerful winds up there most of the time.

I never rode the Red Lady Express or WestWall, which accesses the main green runs.  One ride apiece on Prospect, Gold Link, and Painter Boy all week was just to get a feel for the terrain (try 'flat').

Crested Butte had about 80" base, which was adequate for covering the everpresent rock bands.  I managed to avoid any major hits to the ski bases all week.  Like I mentioned before, only Paradise and Silver Queen lifts are necessary to hit most of the runs.  I am not too impressed with t-bars; the novelty wears off pretty quick, and if you ride with another skier, be sure you're about the same height. 

Nightlife isn't my forte, but we did make it into the town of Crested Butte for a couple of dinners.  Most of the action is on Elk Street.  I like to bring home a few trinkets for the kids, but I didn't find any good t-shirt shops in either the town or the base area.  The bus system is pretty good, and we got the hang of it quickly.

Crested Butte is my favorite resort and will probably remain so for the forseable future.  Why?  because of the extreme variety of skiing available.  A single run from top to bottom can have you skiing steep terrain with multiple intersecting fall lines full of rock bands, tight trees, ice, powder, crud, wind slab, coral, slush, bumps, stumps and  rocks then onto groomed and ungroomed black runs, blue groomers and long wide green groomers you can rip nice carves on.  Now that is my kind of skiing.  

This resort is thought of by many as a resort for only fools like me but that is not the case.  There is far more high speed lift serviced beautiful wide green runs at this resort than Alta/Snowbird or Jackson Hole. Some of the greens can seem steep but the trails are wide and they ski easy.  Many of the green runs are in areas where you have little high speed traffic ripping through.

The Silver Queen lift is a high speed all the way to nearly the top from the base area.  From there an intermediate has a green trail and blue runs all the way back to the base area.  Views from many areas are the best in Colorado with several peaks over 14k.

The trail map rating is like any other resort in that the rating is specific to CB. I would really call it lower intermediate and up. Blues will seem challenging to upper intermediates and black diamonds with seem challenging to many advanced skiers.  Some of the black diamonds are steeper than some of the double black diamond areas. 

Early season can have most of the extreme limits closed as it takes a lot of snow to cover those areas. Better middle to late season as the resort is high in elevation.  Local knowledge is good to have in the exteme areas as you may find yourself in a situation where you are in over your head terrain wise or energy/strength wise.  Visibility of entire runs in the extreme areas is next to impossible as the terrain variation precludes seeing much of what you are electing to ski.   Once commited to a run you will find traversing out or climbing out to be very difficult.  There is a local trail map and explanations of the extreme limits that can be purchased that is not part of the trail maps.  First time skiers to CB would be wise to purchase one of these maps.  Do not venture off the beaten path without a buddy skier with you.  There are many areas inbound where help may not easily find you.

The kids program is good  for all levels.  I put my daughter into a couple of all day programs which freed me up to ski the extremes.  Yes, they will take your kid into some difficult terrain if that is what you want and your child is eager and capable.

Night life in town is not all that great but some spots can be had.  There is virtually nothing in Gunnison.  Many accomodations are close to the slopes but elevations for sleeping are at 9000+ feet.

I will return to Crested Butte as I cannot in all honesty stay away even if you can't get there from here.  The skiing is simply the best variety anywhere.