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Crested Butte attracts skiers who are at home on very steep unprepared runs - and 'extreme' skiers who like their mountains as steep as possible - it enjoys cult status, thanks to the extent and gradient of the slopes on the outer fringes of the ski area. Meanwhile, the commercial success of the place depends on beginners and timid intermediates, for whom the long groomed slopes of the main ski area are ideal. Skiers in these two groups can safely include Crested Butte on their short-lists. Mileage-hungry piste-bashers should stay away. Crested Butte takes its name from its mountain - an isolated peak (a butte, pronounced 'beaut') with a distinctive shape. Crested Butte started life as a coal-mining town in the late 1800s; it is now one of the most attractive resorts in the Rockies - just a few narrow streets with beautifully restored wooden buildings and sidewalks, and the tiniest imaginable town jail, straight out of a Western. Elk Avenue, the main street, is a five-minute stroll from top to bottom, and is lined with bars, restaurants and shops. There's even a classic general store, run by an old-timer. The bars and restaurants are varied in price and character. But wherever you go you'll find genuinely friendly and hospitable locals. And mingled with them you'll find a fair share of down-to-earth celebrities. The ski village of Mount Crested Butte is a huge contrast to the town of Crested Butte. Nearly all the buildings are modern and characterless, and you can judge the appeal of the place from the fact that its central focus is a bus station and car park - recently reduced in size by the construction of the new Mountain Lair hotel.

There is a cluster of bars and restaurants at the foot of the slopes, around the large Grande Butte hotel. It's a small area, but it packs in an astonishing mixture of perfect beginner slopes, easy cruising runs and the steepest cliff-jumping extreme skiing in North America. The only groups of people who might not be suited by this mixture are piste-bashing adventurous intermediates who like to ski different runs all the time and good skiers who don't fancy extreme terrain. Two main lifts leave the base area.

The Silver Queen high-speed chair-lift takes advanced skiers to black runs and lifts which access the steepest runs. Those just off the nursery slopes will take the Keystone lift to the easiest runs, and intermediates can access cruising blue runs from either. Crested Butte claims to benefit from snowstorms approaching from several directions, and it has a substantial snowmaking installation which covers runs from most of the lifts. We've usually had superb snow here. But in 1994, cover in the early part of the season was thin, keeping the North Face closed until well into the season.

• Known for its 'extreme' skiing
• Enough non-extreme steep runs to amuse advanced skiers for a while
• Excellent for beginners and for near-beginners, with long easy runs
• Charming, tiny, restored Victorian mining town with good restaurants
• Alternative of convenient ski-village
• Excellent ski school, with a special courses for skiers with disabilities
• Better-than-average scenery for Colorado

 

 

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