Airline programs brought people directly into Gunnison from Texas, Georgia, and other mostly southern states. The Silver Queen Express built by Poma. A young competitor in the Prater Cup junior (under age 14) ski races on International trail with the Silver Queen express chair and town of Crested Butte in background. The Silver Queen Road makes for a quicker climb to get to the top of the Red Lady lift, but also a slightly steeper climb at times as well. This is a really fun mountain for advanced/expert skiers as long as you catch it in a good snow year when everything is open and covered. The T-Bar is so unreliable that it was down a significant amount of the time we were there so hopefully Vail will take care of this problem soon. It takes dedication to get there. Red Lady serves really flat green and blue terrain that is perfect for beginners and low intermediates. This is the terrain that makes Crested Butte so special. From there you can ski the really scary stuff like Headwall and Big Chute. There will be plenty of challenge for thrill seeking skiers. The lowest lift on the mountain is East River and you will end up there if you don’t take the easy-out way out of the North Face. The next 26 years would be a tough challenge for the resort. This was a very successful strategy at the time since few other remote resorts had such access. Contacts. Teocalli built by Riblet. An abrupt end to the 2019/2020 ski season, Start of the 19/20 season and our first trip of the year, Spring, Summer, and the end of the 2018/19 ski season, Lived and worked there from 1985 to 1993, hundreds, A large percentage of double-black terrain, North Face lift needs an upgrade desperately, Average snowfall on the lower end for such a rocky and steep place. Teocalli was not running when we were there, but Vail plans is replacing it this summer (2019) and it should be ready for next season. The lift is a Leitner-Poma fixed quad. We spent about 1/3 of our time riding the Silver Queen and skiing the frontside steep groomers like Keystone and International. Teocalli Chair (not running) at Crested Butte, March 2019, Paradise Bowl at Crested Butte, March 2019, Looking up the very steep Headwall at Crested Butte, March 2019. Showing 2 of 2. Top of the High Lift at Crested Butte, March 2019. Crested Butte Mountain: The Silver Queen Express built by Poma. Frontside. It services various intermediate trails. A triple chair would go a long way to easing the only long lines on the mountain. Base of Red Lady and Silver Queen, Crested Butte, March 2019. Skiing Phoenix Bowl will mean 3 lift rides to get back up. Crested Butte is a short free bus ride away. It was family owned, and the arms race of terrain expansion and lift upgrades strained budgets and lured skiers away. Vail bought Crested Butte and brought it into the Epic portfolio of resorts in 2018. It accesses, The Paradise Express, which was constructed by Poma. In any case, they are not really worth spending much time on. Hike out after skiing Teocalli Bowl at Crested Butte, March 2019. Crested Butte Mountain Statistics. It also makes for a nice way to get to the top of the Silver Queen lift if you'd like to hike to the summit of Mt. It accesses many of the area's bump runs. After two great February days at Crested Butte, my wife and I continued driving west for an extended stay with our son Vince in Salt Lake City. Ski Area in Crested Butte, CO Foursquare uses cookies to provide you with an optimal experience, to personalize ads that you may see, and to help advertisers measure the results of their ad campaigns. One could say each of Crested Butte’s high speed quads has a standout feature of it. This catwalk can also be taken up to the Paradise Bowl. Silver Queen Express Lift: Open daily from 8:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Crested Butte Rental and Demo Center: Open daily for Lift ticket sales from 8:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. Crested Butte Mountain Outfitters: Open daily from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Butte 66: Open daily for Grab N' Go Food and Drink from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Summer in Crested Butte. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. The Twister Double built by Riblet. See 11 photos from 103 visitors to Silver Queen Express Lift. In Crested Butte you can walk down Elk Avenue and drop into any of about 10 bars and feel some of the old west ambiance. Further away from the base area, the Paradise lift is the most popular on the mountain. This is only used during holidays and peak periods. Keystone accesses more beginner terrain from the base. There are 2 main lifts at the base: The Silver Queen express and the Red Lady express. This is really the only place on the mountain that desperately needs a lift upgrade. East River has some good bump skiing and some short groomers, with the bonus of some fantastic views. Base of East River at Crested Butte, March 2019. Above and left is the new Westwall lift, which replaces the original T-bar at the base. You won’t be taking laps on the North Face lift because it’s a short T-Bar. Red Lady serves really flat green and blue terrain that is perfect for beginners and low intermediates. It services beginner terrain as is a great place to instruct novice skiers and. Out of all the resorts on our list of 100, this is the only place I’ve actually worked. I remember driving snowmobiles up and down those runs in the middle of the night in 1986 when I worked as a snowmaker. It was mind-blowing to see so much soft snow laying around, which speaks to how uncrowded it is. Any North Face run will require taking the Paradise chair back up, then North Face. Even though I have hundreds of days on the mountain, there are many runs I have never skied. This provides access to the Paradise Bowl and. I went to college in nearby Gunnison and worked at Crested Butte from 1985 to 1993, so visiting Crested Butte after 26 years was a homecoming of sorts. The Keystone Express constructed by Poma. Top of the North Face Lift at Crested Butte, March 2019. There are 2 main lifts at the base: The Silver Queen express and the Red Lady express. There are so many different lines in there and over to Phoenix Bowl that it’s unlikely you could ever get bored. Silver Queen also gives you access to the front-side steeps like Peel, Forest, and my favorite Flatiron. The resort twice had permission to expand operations onto nearby Snodgrass mountain but could never get the financing in place to build it. East River has Omega chairs with Omega grips. Nice signage on the extreme terrain at Crested Butte, March 2019. Crested Butte is a solid 4-star resort on our list, which is outstanding for such small acreage. Photo by Jim Kenney. There is no end to the different steep lines available. CRESTED BUTTE, CO SILVER QUEEN EXPRESS (POMA) - This quad lift was built in 1992 to replace the Silverqueen Double. It’s a perfect playground for double-black diamond skiers. The town of Crested Butte is probably the last mostly authentic mining town which is also a ski resort in the west. Land Manager: USFS - Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison Nat. When I first arrived in 1985, there was no lift there and on powder days a long line of people made the hike up to Hawks Nest to drop into the North Face terrain. It’s interesting terrain, but there is a significant hike out at the end so you have to be motivated to make the effort. I spent many lost nights at the Talk of the Town in the 90’s and it’s still there 26 years later along with most of the other saloons. From the highest point of Silver Queen Express, riders and skiers are also welcome to take a catwalk to access Forest and Peel, which are among the many south facing chutes on this particular area of the mountain. The new East River express, replacing the former triple chair. The first thing you need to understand about CB is that there are basically 2 reasons skiers would bypass the larger and easier to get to resorts in Summit County, Vail, or Aspen and go to Crested Butte: Steeps and the town/scenery. This is only used during holidays and peak periods. 26 years ago these were only skied by a select few, but now the much better equipment available today makes them accessible to many more strong skiers. Really long lift lines were common during that time. Peachtree constructed by Heron-Poma. This was opened after I left in ’93 so this was the first time I ever skied it. 8 thoughts on “ Paradise Express – Crested Butte, CO ” Donald M. Reif February 21, 2019 / 10:42 am. Back in the day there were huge lines there sometimes, but now they could probably remove the maze entirely. "The gondola just missed the honor of being … Gold Link, Painter Boy, and Prospect are very short lifts which were an attempt and real estate development starting in the 90’s which seems to have only been partially successful. It’s hard to get to and isolated from other resorts so it’s less crowded. TEOCALI DOUBLE (RIBLET) - This lift was built in 1979 to service intermediate terrain. Nice steep groomers at Crested Butte, March 2019. There are also some surprisingly long-lived dining establishments in the town like Donita’s and some great upscale dining options for plenty of variety. The town of CB, Various chutes on the front side, Banana exit, Spellbound Bowl/Glades, Phoenix Bowl/Steps, Staircase. Shared By: Mikhaila Redovian. If you're looking to skip the Lower Westside, Middle Westside, and Silver Queen Road portions of this journey, you can take the Silver Queen Express to the bottom of the Crested Butte Summit Path.Find pricing for lift rides here. For this truncated version of the run, you'll ascend pretty steep terrain and some easy scrambling towards the summit to reach the 12,162 feet summit of Mt. Post was not sent - check your email addresses!