busted in the butte

Earlier in the day friday, almost all roads to the mountains (along the I-70 corridor and the southern passes) were closed due to poor conditions. Fortunately, everything down south re-opened by noon, so we were able to head down to Crested Butte friday night as planned. The drive was long (4.5 hours) and dark. When we got in to town, Greg called Cory, our weekend host and said he was at this bar, so we stopped in town to meet up with him and drive to his place. Downtown CB had walls of snow – you couldn’t see any of the buildings! When we got to the bar, Cory was already gone, but we did say hi to Meg, our other weekend hostess.



Headed in to Mt. Crested Butte just down the road (row-ad) and pretty much passed out around midnight down in the mega guest room. Up early the next morning, ready to hit the slopes. We made breakfast and then headed to the mountain. The weather was perfect – warm and sunny. We split up from steph who was taking it easy on the board after her knee injury, and went off with corey & evan who brought us to all of the heady terrain on the mountain including the highlight - the Funnel. Met up for lunch around noon, then headed back out until 3 or so.





Went back to the house and had après ski brews and watched the Waren Miller helicopter fly overhead for shots of the town (they had been filming in the backcounrty all day, and even caused a few slides).



We cooked up a pasta dinner, had some strong coffee & homemade Kahlua drinks, and then headed out for the town. Shotski in hand, we went to the local brewpub, the Eldo. The evening started with foosball and brews and quickly got crazy with the shotski. Everyone was doing it – even the old out of towners! There was some Bluegrass band playing in the back, but we didn’t pay much attention. We met a few townies as well.



Managed to make it back to Mt. CB that night and woke up with only slight hangovers. A later start this time, we again made some breakfast and headed to the slopes. The weather was once again pristine. After the fairly aggressive day before, we took it easier and hung out with steph, the most recent snowbaord convert. We made a couple stops slopeside for brews and food.







After a fun day on the mountain, we headed back to the house and watched Wicker Man, one of Nicolas Cage's finest moments. “How’d it get burned?! How’d it get burned!?!? HOW’D IT GET BURNED, HOW’D IT GET BURNED!!!!!!!!” Whoa buddy…..



We then headed to the Secret Stash for dinner – a local eccentric pizza joint. On the menu is the “Big Mac Daddy” pizza, which is literally a Big Mac in pizza form. SO we had to order that. We were all pretty wiped after dinner, so we hit the hay once we returned.



Monday was departure day. Woke up early enough, cleaned and packed up and set out home. On the way out, stopped one last time in CB for breakfast at the Gas Café and for a commemorative shot glass for a new, improved shotski to come. The drive was far more scenic, being daylight and all. We stopped by Monarch on the way, to check out the slopes. Our route even passed thru South Park, Mr. Hanky and all. Another storm was rolling in, which we just barely got ahead of. The next day the town of Fairplay was deemed in a state of emergency, as hundreds of residents were trapped in their homes under several feet of drifting snow. We were home around 3p. Just enough time to unpack and unwind before reentering reality and work the next day.