I felt jealous of all these recent trip reports so I had to add one more.  Me and the adult-kid-that-likes-ski-trips (aktlst) flew out west for the first week ending in Febrary.  It did not suck.  To be clear ...  this is not like going to a regular crowded overdeveloped resort.  This is going to a huge steep mountain in the middle of a remote cold valley.  I love it. 

1. Travel could not be easier.  Fly into Montrose, get bags from outdoor tent (yes), walk 50 steps to car, drive to CB.  In this photo nearly every person there is going to Telluride.  Haha, not we.  The drive is dead easy with no real mountain passes just fabulous western scenery.  CB is literally almost at the end of the road going up the Gunnison Valley.

   2.  Mount Crested Butte is incredible.  We stayed in great condo across the street from the base area.  It literally started snowing as soon as we got into the room and snowed all night.  Anyone love 8" fresh in the morning?  And snow all day?  I am only showing one picture from pow day 1 becasue this is pretty much what it looked like everywhere - low, high, very high, all the same.  I am not showing cliffs because I don't ski cliffs.  CB has a lot of cliffs.  Sorry.  I am not even sure now where I took this picture.   THE SNOW WAS F*** INCREDIBLE,

3.  The skiing is pretty awesome.  About half the chair lifts serve some sort of green and low blue terrain.  Ignore those, they are slow and there are better options.  A lot of traffic goes to the East River lift which has some really nice terrain but it all gets tracked out very quickly; this lift was ok but only great on pow day 1 and 2, and I kept wondering why are all these people down here?  The Sliver Queen, Paradise, and North Face tbar are enough to keep me happy for a week.  I did not get on the HIgh lift tbar for various reasons, like it was broken for a day and a half.  Otherwise, CB terrain ranges from blue to oh-my-god-I-can't ski that.  Mostly the latter.  Probably the best long lines of sustained pitch powder bumps I have seen.  I nearly died but I loved it.  This photo is looking up Paradise Bowl with the North Face tbar on the left.  All good terrain for me. 

Pretty much everything is skiable - if you can see it, ski it.   Just turn right and see what happens.  CB is a steep mountain and the average skier ability is really, really good and everyone here loves it. that way.  This photo is typical. everywhere. 

4.  The scenery is the best.   Not much else to say but I have a hundred pictures that rival this one.  Yeah I know all ski areas look great in winter but this one is special. 

 5,  The town is awesome.   Very small and so friendly,  The main street is picture perfect western town but about half the foody places were closed for I was told a combination pandemic hangover, staff shortages, and summer is a bigger tourist season.  Nonetheless Secret Stash Pizza is a requirement and Teocali taco can't be beat.  This photo shows the town gearing up for the winter festival later that night.  Contrast this with your average ski resort.  

Oh wait, I forgot to show you the actual mountain. This is looking back at the east face of CB from the town's nordic trail system which is expansive.  You have probably already seen the iconic north face of the mountain a hundred times.   Btw, it was really really cold, like zero F once the sun behind the ridge. 

Oh no, one more.  Back near Montrose is Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  Not bad, eh ?

The end.