We moved on to Crested Butte. We have skied Crested Butte a number of times because they are a Powder Alliance member and it’s close proximity to our home. But this was our first time staying in the town of Crested Butte, at a nice boutique hotel. The town is about 3 miles from Mt. Crested Butte (the ski area). After skiing an epic day at Vail and then driving down the next day, the first thing we did was jump in the hot tub. The hotel has their hot tub outside on an upstairs deck with a really nice view.
Got to talking with another couple in the hot tub, JoAnn and Roy. Met up with JoAnn and Roy at the hotel’s nightly complementary wine hour. They are really a nice couple from Connecticut, who are also on a ski vacation visiting various resorts.
Woke up the next morning to a lovely blue bird day. I mean, if you can’t get fresh snow might as well be sunny while you’re skiing. Again met up with Roy and JoAnn on the shuttle bus up to the ski area and decided we’d at least try to meet up and ski part of the day together. Spent the majority of the day with our new CT friends. JoAnn a former ski instructor, from their local hill in CT, really challenged us. We tried some runs we hadn’t done before and had a really great time. We ended our day around 3, just in time to check out the band at the lodge. One of the ski patrol guys has a band that was quite enjoyable. Headed back to the hotel in time for our glass of wine and walked the street again to review our dinner options. Found an interesting restaurant called Django. Wow! Even if you don’t like brussel sprouts you should try their crispy variety. Truly, excellent. It’s a restaurant that does smaller plates which are expected to be shared.
Day 2 – Skiing at Crested Butte didn’t work out well for us. They had gotten just enough snow to cover rocks and create drifts from the strong winds that were causing us a lot of grief. Being tired from the day before and with our CT friends on their way to their next destination, we took an early day. After a well needed nap, we met up with an old high school friend for dinner, Jack and his girlfriend Marie. The food was lackluster, but the company was great.
Woke up for our third and last day at Crested Butte refreshed and ready for a day of skiing. The wind stayed away and the sun was out. Had a nice day of skiing. Then Will set up shop in front of the hotel and did some needed repair work on our skis. He got done just in time for us to jump in the hot tub and decide where we were going to watch the Superbowl. We ended up going to a pizza place that had been recommended called Secret Stash Pizzeria. Great Pizza! You can build your own or order one of their speciality pizzas with a gluten-free crust. The place was also doing a Superbowl pool and had a few squares left. So, we bought 2 squares and ended up winning the final. Whew hoo!!
The next morning we set off for Monarch Mountain about an hour and a half away. Monarch is a small no frills ski area, started in 1939. What we normally find here is powder. Monarch gets about 280 inches of snow a year and has no snow making equipment. Yes, there aren’t too many places around that don’t at least supplement by making their own snow but the mountain does seem to hold the snow well. At Monarch, you will not spend time in lift lines, but you will spend a lot of time on the lifts. The majority of their lifts are older double chairs.
Our first day was fairly decent. A little overcast, but the snow on most runs was decent for not having snowed in over a week. We met a young guy in the parking lot Keenan, a native New Mexican, and his friend Gabby. They were planning on spending the night in the parking lot in the camper shell of Keenan’s truck. Crazy kids! Had some great nachos at the Sidewinder bar. Plenty enough for 2 for lunch and reasonably priced.
Day 2 at Monarch was a Pow Pow Day. We arrived that morning with 6 fresh inches on the ground and it was still snowing. Fantastic Day! Skiing the Powder!
Ran into Keenan and Gabby again. We offered to show them one of our favorite runs, Shagnasty. Shagnasty is in a bowl, so it’s a great one to do on a powder day. We offered to buy Keenan and Gabby’s lunch. These kids did spend the night in the parking lot after all. After lunch, we went and tackled a run called High Anxiety. I think Will is still having anxiety over that one.
The last day at Monarch and the last day of our trip – They still had decent snow coverage and we had a good day of skiing. Will was still worn out from skiing the powder the day before and wasn’t really feeling it, but being a trooper agreed to try another run we hadn’t done before. We went to ski Outback, it’s in the same area as Shagnasty, but takes a bit more hiking to get there. As usual, I’m stopping to take pictures and Will had gone on ahead. Since, I couldn’t see him, I went ahead and dropped-in and had a great run with nice soft fluffy powder. When I caught up with Will, he said his run was awful. He had dropped-in further in to where the snow had been wind-blown and was crusty. It’s interesting that another 20 feet or so could make such a drastically different experience.
We ended our ski day a little early and hit the road to Alamosa, CO. The next day we were headed home and the end of our 2018 ski trip. In spite of some rainy days and trying to feel our way through the fog on others, we really did have a lot of fun and met some great people along the way.