Quiet Times at Crested Butte, an Unsung Resort

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. —  Let’s be honest. To most folks from the flatlands, and many in Colorado, Crested Butte sounds like a species of exotic jungle fowl.

“I say, Hortense, old girl, isn’t that a great crested butte up there in the top of that tree? They’re quite rare, you know.”

“I think you’re right, Reginald. It’s right underneath the pileated woodpecker in the tall cypress.”

Poor Crested Butte. Hardly anyone knows much about this pretty little town and resort tucked into the folds of a valley 28 miles up the road from Gunnison.

To make it even worse, Aspen has already celebrated its 40th anniversary as a resort this year, and Vail is set to kick off its 25th-anniversary celebration next fall. So Crested Butte is getting less recognition than usual, which is to say probably none.

And that is a shame, because Crested Butte is one of the nicest resort areas, both summer and winter, in a state overflowing with good resorts.

Friendly Dogs, Too

Only 1,200 folks live in Crested Butte, and another 375 in adjoining Mt. Crested Butte, where the ski slopes and most of the hotels and condominiums are. There must be at least that many dogs in town--great shaggy, golden-pelted beasts that wag their way up to visitors on the few sidewalks in town, asking only for a pat on the head.

The residents of the town are as friendly as the dogs, and just as relaxed. The good folks at the Crested Butte Hardware & Auto Supply, for example, will ask you to sit a spell by their old potbellied wood stove and tell you how they came to have the mounted head of the largest elk ever shot, a massive creature that was killed near Crested Butte in 1899 by a fellow named John Plute.

Just down Elk Street, at Penelope’s Restaurant, owner Lynn Heutchy will invite you in to inspect the place, even though it is closed and several hundred dollars are lying about on an old wooden table as she does the afternoon bookkeeping. Her fat, rusty-colored dog wags a welcome.

Such openness, aside from the extraordinary mountain scenery, is what sets Crested Butte apart from most other resort areas. A recent survey of 1,400 visitors asked the question: “What one word describes Crested Butte?” The overwhelming answer: “Friendly.”

When the Crested Butte ski slopes first opened a quarter of a century ago, Vogue paired the resort with Vail as two new “in resorts where everybody who’s anybody is going.”

Well, that never really happened. Today Vail gets about 1.3 million skiers each year, Crested Butte about 380,000. And in the summer, when the crowds drive down Interstate 70 from Denver to Vail, few folks make the long drive to Gunnison, then up the valley to Crested Butte.

But that’s fine for you and me, because we will have much of this splendid little place to ourselves. We’ll be among the lucky ones to drive the 28 miles up the valley, past rivers named Gunnison and Taylor, East and Roaring Judy; past fields where herds of Black Angus and Herefords graze and calves on matchstick legs prance about the meadows. We’ll drive past ancient pioneer farmhouses where weathered old folks rock in the summer twilight, listening to the crickets and the splash of a trout.

The entire town is a national historic district, with a superb collection of wonderful Victorian houses. There are houses the color of blood, and others painted like a robin’s egg, and one as sweet and as purple as a Concord grape. The houses are not as large or impressive as the Victorians in Aspen; these houses, like Crested Butte itself, are understated, modest, charming.

Today, most of the old buildings have been revived. The old brothel is now a hotel; the 1883 City Hall houses the chamber of commerce and a modest art gallery; the 1883 Masonic Temple is still host to meetings, and boasts perhaps the world’s only two-story outhouse; and the 1902 Croatian Fraternal Hall is now an athletic club.

The side streets and alleyways of Crested Butte offer a marvelous collection of eccentricity, from the creaking old Roman Catholic Church that is now a home, to the pair of plastic pink flamingos that stand guard in front of an aging Victorian house.

There is little of the typical oh-so-cute mountain resort look to Crested Butte, and almost none of the plastic feeling one gets in some Rocky Mountain towns. There aren’t even many stores catering to tourists.

On the mountain, at Mt. Crested Butte, there are a few stores operating for tourists, but nothing like you’ll find in Vail or Aspen, or even Steamboat Springs. For all practical purposes, Crested Butte has resisted too much development, and is content with the trickle of tourists that walk its changeless streets.

Old-Time Colorado

And that, of course, it why all those smart people who want to experience a Colorado little different from a century ago come here, where there is plenty do to, especially in the summer. For example:

--There is a free guided walk each day at 1 p.m. that takes you back into the past of the mountain town; or ride a horse-drawn carriage and learn the town’s history for $3.

--Some of Colorado’s finest trout fishing surrounds Crested Butte, much of it in the 1.2 million acres of National Forest ringing the town. You can find a lot of it on your own, or check with the Coal Creek Angling Service, which will set you up with a guide who probably knows every trout in the county personally. A half-day trip costs $95 for two anglers, $75 for one; a full day, which includes lunch, is $140 for two, $120 for one.

--Skyland Country Club, one of Robert Trent Jones Jr.’s real gems, has 18 holes of golf, 87 sand traps and 13 water holes awaiting you. The four-year-old course has been named one of the best 65 courses constructed in the United States since 1962 by the American Assn. of Golf Course Architects, and one of the top 130 courses overall.

--You can ride a fat-tired mountain bike on hundreds of miles of trails which are free of traffic. A number of bicycle shops will rent you a 15- or 18-speed mountain bike for about $16 a day and turn you loose.

--There are also hot-air balloons to ride, rivers to raft, horses to gallop and nearly unlimited hiking trails with thousands of wildflowers to soothe your soul.

If all that isn’t enough to fill your day, there are plenty of special events during the summer planned to amuse locals and tourists alike.

Add to all that some of the finest dining in the mountains--in restaurants such as Soupcon, Le Bosquet, Slogar, Donita’s Cantina and the Forest Queen (breakfast only)--and Crested Butte doesn’t have to take a back seat to any of the big resorts. And always, life in town is relaxed, as casual as a golden retriever’s wagging tail.

To make a summer stay at Crested Butte even more pleasant, the town’s resort properties offer some of the least expensive lodging in the mountains. The posh Grande Butte Hotel, a $46-million hunk of elegance on the mountain, for example, offers its luxurious rooms for as little as $22.50 per person, double occupancy, and kids under 17 can stay free in the room with parents. The hotel also has a “golf around” package for $43 per person, double occupancy, that includes a deluxe room and round of golf at Skyland, plus a golf cart. Write to the hotel at P.O. Box 5006, 500 Gothic Country Road, Mt. Crested Butte, Colo. 81225 or call (800) 441-2781 (in Colorado) or (800) 341-5437 (outside the state) for information about these and other summer packages.

The Crested Butte Alpine Summer Family Holiday offers a package for $225 per person--seven nights lodging in a condominium and five days of scheduled activities, including horseback riding, fishing, rafting and chairlift rides. Write Crested Butte Mountain Resort, Box A, Mt. Crested Butte, Colo. 81225 for more information. For general information on Crested Butte, its history, attractions and special events, write the Chamber of Commerce, Old Town Hall, Box 1288, Crested Butte, Colo. 81224.