Colorado Telluride and Crested Butte

[Umatt322]

Has anyone attempted a family ski and snowboard vacation between Telluride and Crested Butte? Looks like with good driving conditions they are about 3 hours apart. We have been to Telluride once already but would love to experience Crested Butte .
We may fly into Gunnison and out of Montrose airports.

 

[Nathanvg]

I haven't done that exact combo but I've been to both and often do combo trips like this (including a Wolf Creek and Telluride combo trip with similar distances, via Durango airport) I'm generally a big fan of these combo trips. Flights into Gunnison and out of Montrose can work but often adds expense to flights and rental cars so you might just want to fly in/out of Montrose . Montrose also has half as many cancellations (see: https://www.pugski.com/threads/airports-to-avoid.16423/)

A three hour drive is pretty reasonable but be sure to factor in the cumulative driving impact and risk of delays due to weather. As I recall, there are not any major passes which reduces the risk of travel delay but of course snow can fall throughout the drive. It's unlikely but it's possible the 3 hour drive turns into 6 hours. Assuming average conditions, cumulative driving is likely 7 hours (Mon->cb 2, cb->T 3, T->montrose 1.5, plus .5 hour of weather delay) which isn't too bad assuming a 5+ day trip.

Full disclosure, I once did a Seattle->Apex->Big White->Silver Star->Sun Peaks->Seattle trip which included 15 cumulative hours of driving over 6 days and loved it, although I probably wouldn't squeeze so much into one trip again. I've done tons of 8 hours over 5 day trips (aspen/copper, panorama/banff, fernie/kimberley, killington/jay/loon, etc.) 7 hours sounds pretty reasonable.

Assuming your family is up for the driving, enjoy.

 

[Umatt322]

We have been to Telluride before and loved it. I was thinking about doing a week at Crested Butte we are strong single black diamond skiers. But looking at the trail map it looks like there are alot of double black ex and alot of blues and not much in-between.I thinking we would run out of terrain with in a week if we can't handle the double ex trails.
Last year we did Canada which was alot of driving Lake Louise, Banff and a two hour drive to Kicking Horse back to back days. We had a great time even though there was alotof driving.

 

[Jim Kenney]

I skied at those two back-to-back on a road trip from SLC in early Apr 2019. We skied two days at Telluride and three at Crested Butte. It takes about 3.5 hours to drive from Telluride to Crested Butte and it is not a particularly difficult route. They are two very beautiful places and we had a great time. They are the kind of places that the better you know them, the more you love them Here's a trip report: https://www.pugski.com/threads/closing-week-at-telluride-and-crested-butte-april-2019.15144/
Telluride

CB

 

[djetok]

We have been to Telluride before and loved it. I was thinking about doing a week at Crested Butte we are strong single black diamond skiers. But looking at the trail map it looks like there are alot of double black ex and alot of blues and not much in-between.I thinking we would run out of terrain with in a week if we can't handle the double ex trails.
Last year we did Canada which was alot of driving Lake Louise, Banff and a two hour drive to Kicking Horse back to back days. We had a great time even though there was alotof driving.

CB is a fun place. it skis tougher than its grade.

 

[Nathanvg]

looking at the trail map it looks like there are alot of double black ex and alot of blues and not much in-between.I thinking we would run out of terrain with in a week if we can't handle the double ex trails.

Crested Butte is smaller than most major ski areas (e.g. smaller than Telluride, Copper, Lake Louise) so that's a reasonable consideration. I'm not sure what you like to ski or what you're capable of but Crested Butte generally has runs rated blue that would be black at many areas. Older maps used to separate double blues from blues which may be enlightening: https://skimap.org/data/514/1615/1386615966jpg_render.jpg

CB definitely has some gnarly runs but it seems overboard that they rate all double blacks at extreme (that didn't used to be the case). For example, many people ski the North Face and take Easy Out to Pinball to avoid the more extreme parts. There are similar paths in Teo bowl, headwall and banana areas. Even these easier paths are legit double black steep but without cliff jumps, tight chutes or other more extreme elements. These easier paths are similar to Little Rose at Telluride.

 

[New2]

My only day at Crested Butte was during a Telluride trip... I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing it as a day trip like we did, as it's a lot of driving in one day, but it's definitely doable. This season would be the perfect time to book a few days at Crested Butte and then decide last-minute whether you want to stay there or drive down to Telluride, as lodging will probably be available last-minute. Another reason to hold off on committing to Telluride early is that it's not 100% clear yet how safe the gondola's going to prove.

If you're close enough to Newark or LaGuardia to take advantage of the nonstop flights to Montrose, it's well worth taking those both directions rather than connecting (and risking diverting to Denver) to Gunnison.

 

[Ken_R]

My only day at Crested Butte was during a Telluride trip... I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing it as a day trip like we did, as it's a lot of driving in one day, but it's definitely doable. This season would be the perfect time to book a few days at Crested Butte and then decide last-minute whether you want to stay there or drive down to Telluride, as lodging will probably be last-minute. Another reason to hold off on committing to Telluride early is that it's not 100% clear yet how safe the gondola's going to prove.

If you're close enough to Newark or LaGuardia to take advantage of the nonstop flights to Montrose, it's well worth taking those both directions rather than connecting (and risking diverting to Denver) to Gunnison.

The gondola at Winter Park worked great this past summer. I just rode it by myself or with someone in my party. It was no big deal. Rode it with the vents open, always.