After our fabulous hiking trip at Maroon Bells in September, one of our sons decided to move to Crested Butte. (COVID silver lining - when you work remotely, you can pick up and move anywhere that has internet...) So we went to visit and had a fantastic time. Gorgeous in winter!
The gorgeous views started even before we arrived in Crested Butte. On our connecting flight from Denver to Gunnison, I made sure to have a window seat and was thrilled to see Crested Butte and nearby mountains from above.
We also saw the Black Canyon of the Gunnison from above but will have to save explorations there for another time.
Our first afternoon in CB was sunny and beautiful.
That night, it started snowing and kept snowing the whole next day. So much snow! Avalanche risk was high, so we had to be careful about where we went. We had a great day snowshoeing out Brush Creek Road.
Where's the line between earth and sky?
The sun tried to shine.
No risk of a speeding ticket.
The next day we awoke to a gorgeous bluebird day.
We loved x-country skiing the CB nordic trails.
Late in the day, the blue hour was upon us.
Our final day was another gorgeous one full of sunshine and blue skies. (Badly needed for this Michigander who gets so tired of dreary clouds in winter.) We skied on the unplowed road along Slate River in the Oh-Be-Joyful area. Gotta love that name. Yes, we were joyful!
The woods were beautiful.
The open spaces were beautiful.
I loved the aspen trees. After all, it was seeing the aspens at peak golden color that drew us to this area a few months ago. We had no idea that our son would move there and we'd be drawn there again this winter.
Aspens to the left of me, aspens to the right...
I am not high-tech at all, but when I learned about the PeakFinder app this summer, it was love at first sight.
Looking back later in the day
One more view of beautiful Mt. Crested Butte. We will be back!
I have not had the right timing or time available for even the frontside backcountry this year, but plenty of snow in the foothills.
Last night was a short jaunt making some fresh tracks with new snowshoes that I got at Costco- originally for the kids, but the binding is kind to my trailrunner shod feet, and being longer they are good when you get lots of fluff.