Ultimate Crested Butte Skiing Guide | Get Ready to Hit the Slopes

Are you looking for the perfect getaway? Maybe for a long weekend or a week in the Colorado mountains without all the massive tourists and tons of lift lines? Well. Crested Butte has it all for you! Make sure to stay tuned; this video has everything you’re going to need to know, including how to get there, how to get around, where to stay, where to eat, and information about the mountain.

I’m Kim, The Abundant Traveler, and this channel is all about tips, tricks, and inspiration to make your travels more fun and easier. I’ve got credit card hacks, ideas, plans, as well as packing guides, so make sure to subscribe and ring that notification bell.

Now, let’s talk about Crested Butte. Crested Butte is at 8,885 feet, so if you have altitude issues, Crested Butte may not be the place for you. It is a place that you definitely want to go skiing, though. However, if altitude is not a problem for you, this is a great place to go skiing as it usually has a ton of snow throughout the season. It is incredible, and I absolutely love the people in Crested Butte. I found everyone kind, generous, helpful, and so, so nice, whether it was a chairlift (the lifties), the people working in restaurants, the shop owners, or the hotel owners. I thought everyone was absolutely phenomenal when I was there.

Just recently, we had bluebird days and beautiful, beautiful snow. There’s over 561 acres of expert terrain. So, I think this is a great mountain, one for beginners because there’s lots of beginning slopes, as well as experts. In the middle, there are a few great runs for the intermediate skier, but I would say it’s great for beginners and great for experts. If you are a beginner, it’s a great place to take lessons. Group lessons are $209, approximately, a day, and full-day private lessons are $995, half day is $699. If you’re a group of six, you can take your own private instructor. And, again, this is a great place to take lessons because there’s all types of terrain, yet there aren’t a lot of people there. Even in the high season, you don’t have long lift lines, etc., so there’s plenty of room to get your ski on and learn the best tips and ideas from your ski instructor.

Crested Butte is on the Epic Pass, so if you have that season pass, you are good to go. A day rate is 175 dollars, which is a little bit cheaper than, say, Vail. And it’s part of Vail Resorts now, Crested Butte. So, beware of changes coming along in Crested Butte. It’s going to get bigger, more commercialized, more hotels and restaurants in town, simply because it’s part of Vail Resorts now. So, again, it’s part of the Epic Pass; it is owned by Vail Resorts. A day pass is $175, a kid’s pass is $113, and if you have a friend with an Epic Pass, then you can get their buddy pass for the kid’s rate at $113 a day.

Now, let’s talk about actually getting to Crested Butte. There’s two ways to come in unless you’re gonna drive. One is flying into Gunnison, the other is flying into Montrose. If you fly into Gunnison, it can be a little rocky getting in from the Denver airport. My small plane was the scariest ride I’ve had in a long time because there was weather actually coming through the area and over the mountains, when we were flying over the mountains. American and United come in. It’s really, really easy. It’s a tiny airport in Gunnison, and something that is great, is in Gunnison, but not at the airport, in Gunnison, you can actually get a free bus ride from Gunnison into Crested Butte. It will take you into town or up to the mountain village.

Okay, here’s the thing about Gunnison. There are no Ubers in Gunnison, so someway, you got to take a taxi or something to, say, the Safeway to catch the bus. I don’t know why there’s no bus from the airport, but you know, they didn’t ask me for my opinion. The other way is to go fly into Montrose. Bigger planes can come into Montrose, the airport is just a little bit bigger. The thing is, it’s about a 30-minute ride from Gunnison and it’s about an hour and a half or two hours from Montrose, and the bus ride will cost you $20 to $50. Again, you can take shuttles like Dolly Shuttle (I put the information in the description below) for some of the shuttle companies that can get you either from Gunnison or from Montrose into Crested Butte.

The other way is to rent a car and just enjoy the ride and check out all the elk and all the animals coming into Crested Butte. When you’re driving, just beware there’s lots of weather that comes through this area of Colorado, so if you’re not used to driving in this crazy mountain weather, then maybe you should just take a shuttle or take the bus.

So, there are two distinct parts of Crested Butte. One is the old mining town, and this town was founded in about 1880. It was originally a mining town, a coal mining town, and prior to that, it was an area for the Ute Indians. The coal money stopped in the early 1950s and in 1960, a couple of gentlemen actually bought the actual mountain and started the ski resort of Crested Butte. So, yes, you have the old mining town.

The other part of Crested Butte is about a 15-minute bus ride away, free ski bus, and it is the mountain village. So, between the two, mountain village has lots of condos, very few restaurants, basically only one small grocery store. Whereas the town has all of the churches, the beautiful homes, the main street which is Elk Avenue where all the restaurants and all that is happening in Crested Butte.

So, me, I like to be in a little bit of action in the evening, so I prefer to stay in town and then take the bus up every morning and back to the mountain. It’s just personal preference. If you want to stay on the mountain and ski in and ski out, that is a definite possibility. I’ll tell you about those hotels in just a moment.

So, hotels in town – there’s not a lot of accommodation. There are a couple of b and b’s in town. There’s Christina’s, there’s also the Old Town Inn; it’s very casual, very low-key in town. It’s a great place actually to do airbnbs, as well. On the mountain, you’ll find more traditional two-bedroom, two-bath condos; the actual sort of mid-rise properties where you get the swimming pool, etc. That is what you’ll find in the mountain village, but in the town you have – I’m sure they have a height restriction. It’s more like b and b’s, beautiful old homes. And, also, Crested Butte is not very fancy, so as of today, you’re not gonna find the Four Seasons and the Ritz Carlton like you do in Vail. But, since again, they’re part of Vail Resorts, we don’t know what is going to happen in the future.

A couple of the condo complexes I recommend on the mountain are the Grand Lodge Hotel, as well as the Grand Mountaineer. Those are part of Vail Resorts. You can also go to the Elevation Condo, as well. Again, I put a list of recommended hotels in the description below.

Also, if you are interested in what to pack for your first ski trip or want to have a packing list just in case you don’t want to forget anything (which I’m notorious for doing) when you go on a ski trip, then go to the description below and download my free guide. It’s everything you’re going to need when you’re taking a ski trip.

Now that you have all the clothes you need from the downloaded free guide, then I recommend renting your skis from Alpineer or from Christy’s. Actually, Christy’s now owns Alpineer but they always have great prices. If you rent online in advance, you get a really nice discount. They have good quality equipment, and I do recommend going to the mountain to actually rent your skis and boots. That way, you have a place to store them at night. Also, you don’t have to traipse them back and forth from town, up the mountain on the bus, up to the mountain. So, it’s perfect. Go ahead and rent once you get to the mountain.

If you have your own skis and boots, then you can store them up at Christy’s, as well. It’s five dollars a day at Christy’s for a boot locker for 24 hours. Also, if you want and you’re staying at the resorts that are owned by Vail Resorts, they do have a ski valet that you can just pop your skis over, and they’ll be waiting for you the next morning.

So, now let’s talk about food and drinks on the mountain and off. Well, again, up on the mountain village, there’s not a ton to do, but there is Butte 66, which is a great beautiful outdoor patio, has a delicious elk sausage, a sauerkraut and a bun, and french fries, which is delicious. They also have some great beers and wines. They also have delicious nachos. So, if you’re going for lunch at the bottom of the mountain or want to apres ski, then Butte 66 is great.

On the mountain, there is the Umbrella Lounge, which I highly recommend going to. There’s not a lot of food, but it’s a great vibe, lots of adirondack chairs to hang out and enjoy the sun. There’s also Uley’s and it is, I believe it’s a Vail Resorts property. They have delicious charcuterie plates. They, I would say it’s the fanciest restaurant on the mountain. Really, really nice, relatively small, looks very European chalet-ish.

Down in town, some of the places that I recommend: Secret Stash Pizza. Yum, yum, yum, and they have gluten-free. If you’re gluten-free, the best one to get is the Notorious F.I.G. That is fig and prosciutto, and it also has blue cheese on it. It is to die for; just the best pizza I may have ever had. Also, when you’re going to Secret Stash, make sure to go downstairs. When you see it from the street, you see sort of that lodge look, really low-key. But what you want to do is go in the door and down the stairs, that is called the Red Room, and it’s got a much cooler vibe. It’s more loungy; it’s a perfect place to enjoy the evening, have a great drink, and have the perfect pizza.

Another place to try is Bones, which is delicious Mexican food. They have street tacos, they have bowls, as well. But something to know on their street tacos, they only have flour tortillas. So, if you are gluten-free, it’s not the place to get a taco for you. A couple other restaurant recommendations: Elk Avenue Prime, absolutely ridiculously good steaks and sides. It may have been the biggest baked potato with everything on it I’ve ever seen, and the steaks were to die for. Also, a really good wine list. I also suggest going to Public House, which is on the corner near the bus stop. And this particular restaurant has a delicious elk meatloaf that was so, so, so good, and these incredibly delicious fried brussels sprouts. So, those are my top picks for restaurants.

There are some low-key places, as well. There’s the Gasser, which is a gas station where you can sort of get hangover food if you want. There’s also the Clark’s grocery store, and if you’re big into food like I am, I like going to the different grocery stores. And honestly, the Clark’s had everything I could possibly want; lots of unique and interesting gluten-free or specialty items for dietary restrictions and lots and lots of choices. So, Clark’s is a great one.

And also, if you’re gonna go to Clark’s and be cooking at home, you definitely need the liquor store and the wine store, and right to the left of the front door, it’s a fantastic liquor store and wine shop with lots of amazing wines; just to the left of the front door. That is my suggestion for food. If you’re going to be drinking, well, of course, you have to be in the mountains; you have to drink everywhere. The place that I recommend is Dogwood. It is a great cocktail lounge, it is so much fun to go there. They have lots of board games and cards and Yahtzee, etc. So, you can go hang out in the evening after dinner and enjoy your cards and enjoy a low-key evening because, as you know, it’s really hard to stay out too late in the evening once you’ve already been skiing all day at 9,000 ft altitude.

So, this was my first trip in winter to Crested Butte, and I absolutely fell in love. Would I stay there a week? Probably not. Three or four nights is enough, get three days of skiing in, enjoy my time, and head back home. If you have any recommendations for Crested Butte, make sure to leave them in the comments below.

I’m Kim, The Abundant Traveler; I cannot wait to see you on some amazing ski vacation very, very soon. I look forward to seeing y’all very soon, and make sure to subscribe and ring that notification bell. See y’all next time. Bye everybody!