Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 11:40 pm
Just got back last night from my first trip out west last night. Four days of driving but the six days of skiing made it totally worth it. Crested Butte is having a pretty average season snow-wise this season, but compared to most of the rest of Colorado, it seems like they are doing pretty well. None of the extremes were open, but all the blacks on the main parts of the mountain were open. Rocky and thin at times, but it was still tons of fun.
Day 1 (Dec 29)
First day on the slopes. A few runs to warm up on Red Lady. Whatever you do, try not to ever end up on Houston. It flattens out completely and my friend Ben had to unstrap a foot from his snowboard almost every time. After that we cut over to Teocalli lift for a few runs and then East River. After that, we tried out Paradise Bowl which was nice but crowded. Ruby Chief on lookers right is much less crowded and a lot more fun. After this we cut down to Silver Queen, the most consistently short lift line even though it is a summit chair. Rode the blues down, which get skiied off very quicly unfortunately. Finished the day off on my first out west black diamond, International. It was long and a little steeper than the blues. Definitely a good next step if you are looking to step it up from the double blues.
Short lift lines on Paradise. They said that there were 6,000 people out there each day, but we couldn't tell.
International. Not too skiied off yet.
My friend Ben on International.
Looking up at the Peak from the Paradise Warming House. I recommend their Bavarian Soup, crab and beer, what a combination.
The skiing was just too much fun to take many pictures, plus the clouds were not making for the best lighting.
Day 2 (Dec 30)
Our second day brought us a dusting of snow reported as one inch, but it sure felt like more. Nice and soft in most places. We did some more exploring and spent most of the day lapping SQ.
One lift, Silver Queen, brings you all the way up from down there. 8 minutes, 2300 vertical feet. Not too shabby.
The snow made International a lot fresher and nicer. Some turns at the top delivered some nice knee and thigh shots, especially the very top before you hit the first catwalk where you cut over to International.
Looking up the middle section of International.
It snowed off and on throughout the day and made the lighting even worse, but did make the skiing much better
Day 3 (Dec 31)
Skiing on New Years eve was a lot of fun. My friend Ben's Aunt and little cousin came skiing with us for a little while. This was our first blue bird day, plus there was 3" of new snow. Great combination.
Ben gets a little air in the Canaan Terrain Park.
Shot of us before we headed into some trees. Yep, even the six-year-olds ski hard in Crested Butte.
I skiied some steeper stuff with Ben's aunt and had a blast. This is looking up at Horseshoe. The top was still covered with rocks, but we could travers across a little over halfway up and still mkae some fun turns. We came down on the far right side.
The traverse was not too bad, but there were a lot of rocks to deal with.
Barbara drops in.
Me coming into the run-out. You can see the excitement of my first steeps showing in my face.
The West Wall was my favorite of the steeper sections. We traversed out through the trees and dropped into the left chute you can see in the trees. Sometimes we traversed to 3/4 the way out and sometimes we took the easier traverse to halfway up. Too bad it wasn't open from the top
Me coming down. This was a little steeper than Horseshoe, but better snow and a whole lot more fun. It was really cool coming out of the trees and just dropping in.
Catching a little powder under the Paradise lift between Paradise Bowl and Ruby Chief.
Day 4 (Jan 1)
New Years Day was great. There was no one on the mountain. I guess everyone was still hungover. Lots of big parties in town at the Lobar and the like, but we've been skiing too much to catch much nightlife. Seven hour day after seven hour day can make you pretty tired. No new snow today, but still some powder to be found.
Crested Butte sure knows how to make some nice corduroy. Ben coming down Lower Treasury toward the East River Lift.
Close up shot.
Day 5 (Jan 2)
Our fifth day of the trip was undoubtedly the best. Four or five inches fell overnight and another four or so fell while we were on the slopes. At points visibility got to white-out, but it was so variable that at times it got to be pretty bluebird and clear. Fresh tracks all day can't be beat. To top it all off, there was no one out there. I guess they were scared away by the bad visibility and dark skies. It was funny to see people eating it all day because of the visibility. A new trail opened today called Mach 1. It was crazy steep moguls, but I didn't work up the nerve to try it until our last day.
The traverse out on the west wall. I had to make a new one in places because the snow would slough off above it and cover over the tracks from the days before. It seemed to be about 45∘but with such soft snow, you almost didn't notice how steep it was.
Unfortunately, today the light was so bad and the visibility so little that we didn't get pictures. I have some video to put up, but I still have to import it so that I can put it up.
Rest Day (Jan 3)
On our day off, we drove to Ouray, CO, a little over two hours away from CB. It was a nice drive and we got to see a lot of Colorado. Ouray is in the San Juan Mountains which are a lot more rugged and steep than the Elks where CB is. They call Ouray "The Switzerland of America" and it definitely deserves that title. Cute small town just boxed in by steep cliff walls. We went to the hot springs there which were great. They had three pools, one cool, one warm, and one hot. It was great to be able to cycle through. Ben and I also tried rolling around in the snow and then jumping back in the pool. Quite the shock.
Looking out of the town at the mountains.
We also saw some of the ice climbing Ouray is famous for. I really want to try this sport.
On the way home we stopped at The Black Canyon of the Gunnison River National Park. It was beautiful, plus it is free to enter during the winter, but most of the roads are closed.
Day Six (Jan 4)
This was our last day skiing and it was a great day. All the crowds had headed home after their ski vacation and the slopes were empty. Skiied t the chair all day. The only crowded place was the superpipe, which was only open for its second day of the season. The pipe was definitely cool, especially because there's nothing like it in the southeast. Took quite a few falls, but also had some good runs.
At the top of the pipe.
Making the turn. Too scared to go for some air. Maybe next time.
If you are in Crested Butte, don't miss Camp 4 Coffee. They have shops in town, CB South, Mountaineer Square, and eve one at the top of the Painter Boy lift. I recommend their hot chocolate and there burritos are great too. If you crave something sweet, they have awesome baked goods, made fresh every day.
The view from the porch can't be beat.
After skiing, we did some ice skating with Ben's family. We were staying with them in CB South and there is a great little rink right in town.
All in all, this was a fantastic trip. It required a lot of driving, almost 3700 miles, but we had a lot of fun. I wish some of the steeps had been open, but it just makes me want to come back some year in March I definitely recommend that you come out to CB someday. If the crowds in Aspen and Vail get you down, just take a trip to CB and see what slopes look like when it's just you on the slope.
Best moment of the trip: First chair of the decade. Ben and I got there early on New Years Day and caught the first chair up on Silver Queen of the new decade. It was great skiing on completely untouched slopes.
Day 1 (Dec 29)
First day on the slopes. A few runs to warm up on Red Lady. Whatever you do, try not to ever end up on Houston. It flattens out completely and my friend Ben had to unstrap a foot from his snowboard almost every time. After that we cut over to Teocalli lift for a few runs and then East River. After that, we tried out Paradise Bowl which was nice but crowded. Ruby Chief on lookers right is much less crowded and a lot more fun. After this we cut down to Silver Queen, the most consistently short lift line even though it is a summit chair. Rode the blues down, which get skiied off very quicly unfortunately. Finished the day off on my first out west black diamond, International. It was long and a little steeper than the blues. Definitely a good next step if you are looking to step it up from the double blues.
Short lift lines on Paradise. They said that there were 6,000 people out there each day, but we couldn't tell.
International. Not too skiied off yet.
My friend Ben on International.
Looking up at the Peak from the Paradise Warming House. I recommend their Bavarian Soup, crab and beer, what a combination.
The skiing was just too much fun to take many pictures, plus the clouds were not making for the best lighting.
Day 2 (Dec 30)
Our second day brought us a dusting of snow reported as one inch, but it sure felt like more. Nice and soft in most places. We did some more exploring and spent most of the day lapping SQ.
One lift, Silver Queen, brings you all the way up from down there. 8 minutes, 2300 vertical feet. Not too shabby.
The snow made International a lot fresher and nicer. Some turns at the top delivered some nice knee and thigh shots, especially the very top before you hit the first catwalk where you cut over to International.
Looking up the middle section of International.
It snowed off and on throughout the day and made the lighting even worse, but did make the skiing much better
Day 3 (Dec 31)
Skiing on New Years eve was a lot of fun. My friend Ben's Aunt and little cousin came skiing with us for a little while. This was our first blue bird day, plus there was 3" of new snow. Great combination.
Ben gets a little air in the Canaan Terrain Park.
Shot of us before we headed into some trees. Yep, even the six-year-olds ski hard in Crested Butte.
I skiied some steeper stuff with Ben's aunt and had a blast. This is looking up at Horseshoe. The top was still covered with rocks, but we could travers across a little over halfway up and still mkae some fun turns. We came down on the far right side.
The traverse was not too bad, but there were a lot of rocks to deal with.
Barbara drops in.
Me coming into the run-out. You can see the excitement of my first steeps showing in my face.
The West Wall was my favorite of the steeper sections. We traversed out through the trees and dropped into the left chute you can see in the trees. Sometimes we traversed to 3/4 the way out and sometimes we took the easier traverse to halfway up. Too bad it wasn't open from the top
Me coming down. This was a little steeper than Horseshoe, but better snow and a whole lot more fun. It was really cool coming out of the trees and just dropping in.
Catching a little powder under the Paradise lift between Paradise Bowl and Ruby Chief.
Day 4 (Jan 1)
New Years Day was great. There was no one on the mountain. I guess everyone was still hungover. Lots of big parties in town at the Lobar and the like, but we've been skiing too much to catch much nightlife. Seven hour day after seven hour day can make you pretty tired. No new snow today, but still some powder to be found.
Crested Butte sure knows how to make some nice corduroy. Ben coming down Lower Treasury toward the East River Lift.
Close up shot.
Day 5 (Jan 2)
Our fifth day of the trip was undoubtedly the best. Four or five inches fell overnight and another four or so fell while we were on the slopes. At points visibility got to white-out, but it was so variable that at times it got to be pretty bluebird and clear. Fresh tracks all day can't be beat. To top it all off, there was no one out there. I guess they were scared away by the bad visibility and dark skies. It was funny to see people eating it all day because of the visibility. A new trail opened today called Mach 1. It was crazy steep moguls, but I didn't work up the nerve to try it until our last day.
The traverse out on the west wall. I had to make a new one in places because the snow would slough off above it and cover over the tracks from the days before. It seemed to be about 45∘but with such soft snow, you almost didn't notice how steep it was.
Unfortunately, today the light was so bad and the visibility so little that we didn't get pictures. I have some video to put up, but I still have to import it so that I can put it up.
Rest Day (Jan 3)
On our day off, we drove to Ouray, CO, a little over two hours away from CB. It was a nice drive and we got to see a lot of Colorado. Ouray is in the San Juan Mountains which are a lot more rugged and steep than the Elks where CB is. They call Ouray "The Switzerland of America" and it definitely deserves that title. Cute small town just boxed in by steep cliff walls. We went to the hot springs there which were great. They had three pools, one cool, one warm, and one hot. It was great to be able to cycle through. Ben and I also tried rolling around in the snow and then jumping back in the pool. Quite the shock.
Looking out of the town at the mountains.
We also saw some of the ice climbing Ouray is famous for. I really want to try this sport.
On the way home we stopped at The Black Canyon of the Gunnison River National Park. It was beautiful, plus it is free to enter during the winter, but most of the roads are closed.
Day Six (Jan 4)
This was our last day skiing and it was a great day. All the crowds had headed home after their ski vacation and the slopes were empty. Skiied t the chair all day. The only crowded place was the superpipe, which was only open for its second day of the season. The pipe was definitely cool, especially because there's nothing like it in the southeast. Took quite a few falls, but also had some good runs.
At the top of the pipe.
Making the turn. Too scared to go for some air. Maybe next time.
If you are in Crested Butte, don't miss Camp 4 Coffee. They have shops in town, CB South, Mountaineer Square, and eve one at the top of the Painter Boy lift. I recommend their hot chocolate and there burritos are great too. If you crave something sweet, they have awesome baked goods, made fresh every day.
The view from the porch can't be beat.
After skiing, we did some ice skating with Ben's family. We were staying with them in CB South and there is a great little rink right in town.
All in all, this was a fantastic trip. It required a lot of driving, almost 3700 miles, but we had a lot of fun. I wish some of the steeps had been open, but it just makes me want to come back some year in March
I definitely recommend that you come out to CB someday. If the crowds in Aspen and Vail get you down, just take a trip to CB and see what slopes look like when it's just you on the slope.Best moment of the trip: First chair of the decade. Ben and I got there early on New Years Day and caught the first chair up on Silver Queen of the new decade. It was great skiing on completely untouched slopes.