Anyone been to Crested Butte?

Never been there but be sure to listed to the song Crested Butte while you are enjoying the sights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYqu_cR-AGg

(John Kahn on bass and Buddy Cage on steel)

While I've only visited Crested Butte in the winter, one of the things that impressed me, unlike many resort areas, is that the locals keep the town real. There is an amazing sense of community and as long as you aren't a visiting jerk they will point you to the local goods in any endeavor you are partaking of. Ok, maybe not untouched powder stashes. To get those coordinates you usually need to get someone out of jail, sleep with them, buy whatever they might be selling...or probably all the above. 

It's been a few years but the downtown area has a cool "like it was" vibe and just strolling about will pay dividends in of itself. One word of caution, don't challenge the local women to any form of competition. You will lose.  

Very cool spot, Ned. I've been in Winter, Spring and Fall. Skiing is top notch, but Fall hiking is beautiful. Find your way to the Maroon Bells..if you have the time and inclination, one can hike from Crested Butter to Aspen on a beutiful trail About a 5-6 hour one way hike through the mountains. 

Crested Butte is a great spot for sure.  The "community" seems to have hung on in terms of being pitted against rising real estate costs and associated "gentrification".   The Snodgrass ski area expansion proposal denial was awesome!    Still, the town is only a glimmer of what it once was.  Not sure if they're still doing the ski naked day?   It's been quite some time, but I used to go there after Telluride lifts closed and saw it a couple times (though never participated).   Also not sure if they've replaced their surface lifts?  I'll never forget waiting in line for a half-hour and when it was my turn I wound up getting tossed off my snowboard, but held on tightly, allowing it to drag me up  ... since I noticed this was a tactic of choice for other boarders who also got thrown.  The lift op was "forced" to stop and allowed a border to get back on midway (instead of having to go back down and get in line again).  I avoided steep platter lifts after CB.

I was there last summer with my dad.  We rented a pontoon boat on Blue Mesa Reservoir ... which is a very cool spot.   They have fishing boats for rent too.  There are two marinas ... one is closer to Gunnison, the other is on the west side.   Even if you went to the west side ("better" scenery), it's still very doable from CB.  

You could also make a day trip and explore the region by driving.    There's a jeep road that links up to 133  -> Carbondale -> Aspen -> Indpendence Pass -> Salida -> Gunnison

Not sure if they're still doing the ski naked day?   It's been quite some time, but I used to go there after Telluride lifts closed and saw it a couple times (though never participated).   Also not sure if they've replaced their surface lifts?  I'll never forget waiting in line for a half-hour and when it was my turn I wound up getting tossed off my snowboard, but held on tightly, allowing it to drag me up  ... since I noticed this was a tactic of choice for other boarders who also got thrown.  The lift op was "forced" to stop and allowed a border to get back on midway (instead of having to go back down and get in line again).  I avoided steep platter lifts after CB.

Ski Naked Day is normally the final day of the season at Crested Butte. Since a season ended abruptly this past season, I would imagine it didn't happen. I'm sure it will happen again. If it doesn't I would not be surprised if the locals burn the resort to the ground. Hard to believe that you are a mountain local and haven't joined in the fun. Even a flatlander like myself has let it all hang out on Naked Ski day of which there may or may not be film of a perfectly executed spread eagle unlike any I had done before. Just don't fall in the corn snow...ouch. 

As for the CB surface lifts; if you can't figure them out safely you probably have no business riding the terrain they service. The main reason they use steep surface lifts there is to keep the numbers down in terrain that will injure or kill those who don't have their shit together on the slopes. I can only imagine the carnage that would happen if a bunch of intermediates riders got loose on the North Face. 

Wasn't there a prevalent rumor that the Dead were going to play there the year or two after Telluride?  I remember looking up hotels and camping in preparation. 

No, but I once knew a hooker named Minnie Mazola.

Ski Naked Day is normally the final day of the season at Crested Butte. Since a season ended abruptly this past season, I would imagine it didn't happen. I'm sure it will happen again. If it doesn't I would not be surprised if the locals burn the resort to the ground. Hard to believe that you are a mountain local and haven't joined in the fun. Even a flatlander like myself has let it all hang out on Naked Ski day of which there may or may not be film of a perfectly executed spread eagle unlike any I had done before. Just don't fall in the corn snow...ouch. 

As for the CB surface lifts; if you can't figure them out safely you probably have no business riding the terrain they service. The main reason they use steep surface lifts there is to keep the numbers down in terrain that will injure or kill those who don't have their shit together on the slopes. I can only imagine the carnage that would happen if a bunch of intermediates riders got loose on the North Face.<<<<

I do not live in CB, so never felt any obligation to let it all hang out; and even on the warmest of spring days, I always wear at least a shell for the reason you mentioned ... not getting raspberry'd falling down and getting through the trees unscathed is more important than appearing as if I'm the central character in a spring break party flick.   Regardless, glad to hear ski naked day is likely still a thing!

Here's a little tip for you in case you're ever unloading off of a fixed grip chair with a steep / icy / rutted offramp and you're sitting next to a snowboarder:  we're often still on "yellow alert", even if one might be an expert.  Without one's back leg secured in a binding, one only has so much control & sometimes there's a curveball thrown your way.   In addition to the steepness of the surface lifts at CB, it throws yet another variable into the picture; in so far as the unrelenting uphill force.   If I were to ride that day after day, I'd eventually figure out the nooks and cranny, but it'd still wouldn't be something I'd gravitate to unless the conditions warranted.   Similarly, I don't like to take any goat track traverses on my heelside edge through the steeps where it's mandatory to maintain my height.   There's an exit through a choke point in a chute in Telluride that requires this (and they even have fixed hand holds / rope) ... and because of this, I will bail out to an easier exit earlier higher up.   Snowboarding inherently has the most difficult time with egress (telemark probably best), but there's not a marked run in CB I wouldn't come down ... and it does have some of the steepest I've seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPZDEWBzneY

A hike down into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is a nice thing to do in the summer/fall.

Never made it to Crested Butte but lived in Breck for a couple of years so a few high country observations. 

Moved to Breck in August and planed to camp until I found a place then it snowed 5 inches in August and again in September and then every month for the first 12 months I lived there including a July 4th dump. 

Elk season opens September 2nd. Be careful of the idiot Texans out there trying to bag their Elk. 

^ What years were you in Breck? I lived there from 1990-2001.

I was there 93 to 95 I think. I worked at Beaver Run used to be able to get to the top and down on my lunch break and then I switched to Colorado Mt. Lodging. My wife worked at the Erics and for the Film Festival and the Ice Sculpting Championship. 

My first year there was an epic snow year. It was the year the avalanche took out 80 by the tunnel and at one point all passes were closed for a few days and there was no way in or out. 

Nice. I worked FaHeata's for the first few years and then was at the Summit/Vail Daily for years.

1993 had "Big November" when it snowed daily from Halloween through Thanksgiving. HUGE powder day Thanksgiving morning (they opened The Burn that day). 

I do not live in CB, so never felt any obligation to let it all hang out; and even on the warmest of spring days, I always wear at least a shell for the reason you mentioned ... not getting raspberry'd falling down and getting through the trees unscathed is more important than appearing as if I'm the central character in a spring break party flick.

I was aware that you do not live in CB. I was referring to the general being of being ANY mountain local and the spriit that comes with that. I did it to join in the fun. I was under no illusion that I was anything but(t) a bit player and not even a secondary character...lol. As for riding a surface lift on steep slopes, I think everyone, regardless of the choice of sliding equipment, is on full-time yellow alert. It's the price you have to pay to get to the terrain. It was also not a dig at your skill level or use of a snowboard. My comment was aimed at the fact that a chairlift to access the North Face of CB would put people who would be in way over their heads. That is the reason CB leaves it like it is. 

I have to wonder if nedb and I ever crossed paths when he was in Break. I was working with Interzine Production during that period producing iSki and Snowboarding Online. 

I was aware that you do not live in CB. I was referring to the general being of being ANY mountain local and the spriit that comes with that. I did it to join in the fun. I was under no illusion that I was anything but(t) a bit player and not even a secondary character...lol. As for riding a surface lift on steep slopes, I think everyone, regardless of the choice of sliding equipment, is on full-time yellow alert. It's the price you have to pay to get to the terrain. It was also not a dig at your skill level or use of a snowboard. My comment was aimed at the fact that a chairlift to access the North Face of CB would put people who would be in way over their heads. That is the reason CB leaves it like it is. <<<

Well, I don't dress up in a zany costume on the last day in Telluride either, but I do get into the spirit of the day (which I consider to be a solemn day).  Having said that, I do think CB has got it right in going "back to the basics" ... vs. afro wig + sparkly disco jacket / cape + oversized sunglasses, or giant onesy customes that have gotten a bit cliche in Telluride ... then again, I kind of remember "hybrids" of this at CB (i.e. birthday suit + cape + wig + sunglasses).  It's an all inclusive day as far as I'm concerned, even if you're visiting.

It was definitely the North Face lift that I ate shit on, but I do recall there being another surface lift (High Lift?).  I didn't realize that's the reason they keep it around, but see from the trail map there's no egress out of that area that isn't a double black ... other than the single blacks in the immediate vicinity of the surface lift itself.  While it might serve as a deterrent, it's also not as "necessary" in marketing demand.  IOW, the general profile of squeaky wheels for high speed quads fit more closely in the advanced intermediate camp.

Doesn't the surface lift get you in to the Banana Peel?

The stuff far right (skier's right) is a lot of work to get to, and even more to get out. That said, that's some of the best terrain in the state of CO. It's like 4 Palavacini's stacked on top of each other.

When I lived in Breck in the 90s, we used to head down in early December and it was FREE lift tickets with purchase of lodging. Every year the snow was deep. I love me some CB.

Side note: I had an old girlfriend who had lived in CB and used to work at the bank that blew up. She lost a couple friends :(

^ The High Lift is the other surface lift at CB and it is the way to access the Banana section of the main face. All those runs are sublme in good conditions and holy hell when hard and windpacked. 

The first time I skied at Crested Butte was a few weeks after I did an America Online auditorium event for National Womans Ski week with Jill Sickels Matlock, then current US Womans Extreme Champ. We were talking after the event and I mentioned that I, being new to Colorado and looking for adventure, wanted to try telemarking. As it turned out, her husband ran the telemark school at CB and she told me to come on down to learn. The first morning there my buddy and I was baptized in tele turns by her husband for what amounted to a 4 hour semi-private lesson by the head of the program. I didn't know that legs could burn so bad. At the conclusion I could make a decent tele turn on black diamond terrain so it was worth it. Met up with some people from the NYC area who frequented my site's message boards for lunch and they convinced me to come out with them skiing. A couple of runs in they decided to hit the North Face and I followed along. I wasn't pretty. My legs were lead and they tracked where they wanted to go, not where I wanted to go. I traversed to skier's left a good way into the area that the US Extemes are usually held. I took awhile but I was able to get down in one piece...barely. My legs were so done that I had a problem walking afterwards. 

Went back and did it again the next day with much better results. :-) 

Family member has lived there for 30 some years, loves the place. 
 He's been active with the annual  Vinotok  festival there. Trippy..

He drives the town's shuttle bus, and is a massage therapist in town. 

probably cancelled this year though ..

https://travelcrestedbutte.com/events-calendar/vinotok-2/

https://coloradosun.com/2020/07/20/gunnison-county-coronavirus-ban-second-home-owners-political-fight/?fbclid=IwAR0c1ULvhY6BDRCn4kSaOt_2c45sntVQ0cq0z9jYJUiWZpqisPMn6F0hfA8