If you've been looking at snow reports at all this year, you know that Crested Butte has been getting absolutely slammed with snow. About 2 weeks ago they were getting 90+ inches over a 7 day span. Luckily we weren't there for the insane amounts of snow but still got to see the aftermath of it and got a little over a foot of fresh snow while we were there. Below is a picture from our hotel, Elk Mountain Lodge, the second morning.
As you can see, there is still a little bit of snow around town. Here is another pretty cool picture of a colorful house followed by a picture of Elk Ave. The town was really nice and since our hotel was just 2 blocks from Elk Ave, everything was less than a 4 block walk.
So since we're talking about the town, I'll give you my quick rundown on places we ate, drank, or stayed in case you find yourself in the area.
- Elk Mountain Lodge
- This was our hotel and was a very good bang for your buck. As I mentioned earlier, it was only 2 blocks from the main strip, which is also where the bus picks you up to take you to the resort. It had a bed and breakfast feel to it as the owners fixed you breakfast every day but you didn't have to sit down formally and wait for others. They also had a bar and hot tub which were a huge plus after a long day of boarding.
- The Secret Stash
- This is probably the most well-known restaurant in town and rightfully so. It's a pizza joint with a very unique India vibe to it. We had the Buddha's Belly pizza and it was amazing. I would highly recommend eating here.
- Montanya Distillers
- If you are interested in small plates or just want some interesting drinks, this rum distillery is a good option. They have a wide variety of drinks that you've probably never heard of before.
- The Dogwood
- Similar to Montanya, The Dogwood is a great cocktail bar with small plates and drinks. I had to Google what the majority of the ingredients were in the drinks so it was a fun experience. Ali got a beets drink which sounds horrible to me but she loved it.
- The Last Steep Bar & Grill
- The Last Steep is a pretty low key bar with good food and strong drinks. They have a lot of vegetarian options if you need them and their shrimp po boy was really good.
- Bonez
- We stopped in here one day for happy hour which I would highly recommend. You can get bottomless chips and salsa for $1 with 3 different types of salsa + $5 margaritas. The atmosphere is "day of the dead" and was fun to hang out there.
- Kochevar's Saloon
- After some Googling, this was the only place we found that had bar games to play. It's a pretty low key environment with 3 dart boards, 2 pool tables, and shuffle board. If you want some average priced drinks while playing games, you need to come here.
- Ryce Asian Bistro
- So we had to get our fix of Thai food and saw this place had drunken noodles and were sold. It was pretty packed when we went there and service was pretty good for how busy they were. The drunken noodles was a good portion but it was 95% noodles and not very many vegetables. While it was good, if you get it, I'd ask for extra meat and vegetables.
Now that we got that out of the way, it's time to talk about the mountain. Our first day it was sunny and the majority of our runs were either groomers or getting off in the trees for some untouched snow. The Red Lady Express Lift is the first lift you see once you get to the resort. It only services very low key green runs so I would recommend against this lift unless you are a beginner.
One of our favorite lifts was the Paradise and East River Express. This is where the majority of the blues are and you are able to take quite a few routes in and out of the trees, moguls, etc. Below is a picture at the top of the East River Express.
Our next day on the mountain was nothing but powder. The night before they got about a foot of snow and everywhere you went, you were the first ones making a path. Since it made things quite a bit slower, I spent the majority of the day on the Silver Queen Express Lift. This lift is primary blacks and double blacks. The second picture below is from the run "International" which was probably my favorite run on the mountain.
The last day on the mountain was a good mix of some fresh snow early in the morning and sunshine in the afternoon. Overall I really enjoyed the mountain but it's definitely a lot smaller than Copper, Beaver, Breck, etc. so you tend to repeat runs quite a bit. If I did more extreme terrain of double blacks, then I see a huge appeal of this mountain as they have some very steep terrain on the north face of the mountain. However, it's not nearly as touristy as other locations in Colorado right now so smaller lift lines were amazing. If you've never been, I highly recommend checking out Crested Butte.
