Category: Crested Butte

Teocalli Ridge Trail (8 Aug 2010)

Posted by Brittany – August 12, 2010

Teocalli Ridge trail has been a favorite ride for me in the past. Due to various circumstances, I have not been able to ride it the past two summers. Reports from riders have conveyed that the trail has been beaten by the dirt bikers- nasty ruts on what used to be a fun, technical descent. Still, I’ve been wanting to ride it, as I’ve neglected it for over two years. Sunday was the day we were to check it out. Frank and I met our friend Adam at the trailhead on a beautiful morning dotted with low-hanging clouds.

Me riding up the road with Whetstone behind.
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Teocalli in front.
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TR: XX Trail (7 Aug 2010)

Posted by Brittany – August 11, 2010

There are some trails here in Crested Butte that I can ride over and over again and rarely get bored. Those include trails like Doctor’s, 409.5, Strand, Green Lake trail, the classic 401, and even many of the ski area trails. One of the more popular rides in Crested Butte is Reno-Flag-Bear-Deadman’s. People rave about this trail combo, but frankly, it’s just not something that gets me that excited. Too often, I dread the crowds and user conflicts that occur there- far too many dirt bikers on top of the already numerous mountain bikers. And I just don’t get the same feeling of satisfaction from riding these trails like I do the ones listed above…. not to mention that it’s a tad on the short side. I know others differ in this opinion. But, that’s just it- it’s an opinion.

The weather for the weekend was looking a little iffy. Forecasts called for 70-80% chance of rain for the entire weekend. . But, this is Crested Butte and forecasts rarely seem to actually apply here when it comes to rain. The worst rainstorm I’ve ever been caught in – poured for hours with huge lightning and thunder – happened on a day where the forecast called for 10% of rain. Riding in this kind of weather is just not the most enjoyable thing in the world. So, despite the fact that we believed the forecast to be vastly wrong, we decided to look for a ride that had “options”. If the weather looked like it was deteriorating, we could take a different trail than planned and end the ride early. Frank suggested heading to Reno-Flag-Bear-Deadman’s, but putting a different twist into it. Instead of taking Flag, we would traverse along Old Italian Creek road from the top of Reno, and then follow this to the top of XX. We could descend XX to Spring Creek Reservoir, and then head up Bear from there. I’ve never ridden XX before and I’m always game to ride a new trail. As it turns out, I loved it.

From the top of Reno road, it’s a 30-45 minute fairly easy climb to the top of XX. Can you spot Frank?
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The road near the top.
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Belated TR: Brittany & Frank take Jen & Jon on a ride

Posted by Brittany – August 2, 2010

Two weekends ago, my friends Jonathan and Jen came to visit Crested Butte from Salt Lake city. I’ve known Jen since before I was in high school. We were ski buddies in Ohio and traveled to Colorado and Utah a few times to enjoy the goods. But, it was only recently that Jen moved from the east coast to Utah. It was time to show her and Jonathan the goods that Crested Butte had to offer.

We took several pictures through the course of the weekend, but I have not had the time to actually get them up… until now. Life just gets hectic, you know?

The first day we rode from Harmel’s and did lower Flag to Bear to Rosebud to Doctor’s. Us taking a break on Spring Creek road.
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Photo courtesy of Jen & Jon

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Riding 403

Posted by Brittany – July 23, 2010

Trail 403 has always been a favorite of mine. With fantastic views and a fun, technical descent, what could be better? I only wish it was longer :) Sonya and I took the opportunity to ride this trail on a lovely weekday morning earlier this week. As we rode, I realized that, due to numerous reasons, I don’t think I’ve been on this trail since 2007. All the more reason to enjoy it. I’ll let the pictures do the talking….

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Who doesn’t love this view?
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Quite the climb.
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Sonya smiles.
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She rides pretty good too, especially through the fields of wildflowers.
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Sonya, admiring the views.
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Avery
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No pics of the descent, since we were enjoying it so much we didn’t stop for pictures. But it was a great ride on a great trail with a great friend :)

Season in Review Part II

Posted by Brittany – July 20, 2010

See Part I

March is one of my favorite months. The days get longer, the snow stays good and often is quite stable… it’s the time for long tours and big lines.

March
March opened up with a bang with a long tour beginning at Mt. Emmons, and then skiing Scarps and Peeler.

I was able to tick a few more lines off of my wish list, like the East Face of Gothic

and Teocalli.

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2009-10 Season in Review

Posted by Brittany – July 19, 2010

The hot weather this past week has had me glum. Yes, Crested Butte CAN have temperatures above 80-degrees- which, for us, who are used to temperatures in the 60’s and 70’s, 80+ degrees seems ridiculously hot. To keep from wilting away in the sun, like the flowers have on my deck, I’ve turned my thoughts back to skiing. Oh, how do I wish it would be snowing again.

I have never done a season in review post before. I never really felt the need. But, this season was full of story after story – from healing from last year’s ACL surgery, hosting several women to Crested Butte to my 14er project and other goals. To top it off, this season was my first season to top 100 fantastic days of skiing. I’ve been close to 100 before, but have never actually been able to top it in a season. This year was the year :)

I set out this season with some huge goals, most of which I was not able to fully accomplish. I was hoping to ski 120 days this year, but my knee and work prevented that from happening (although I will be fairly close!). I was also hoping to finish my 14ers this year, but was unable to finish my 9 remaining peaks. I was unable to hit Pyramid in good conditions, and then the line melted out as I sat around waiting for a week-long round of 50mph winds to settle. This left me with 2 14ers left to ski- Pyramid and Pikes, which I am saving for last. Though I didn’t accomplish all of my goals for the season, it was still a season to remember and I am happy with what I did accomplish. So, to honor and reflect upon the stories of this season, I’ve decided to do this season in review. By no means does this account for every ski day or every ski tour, but focuses on the highlights. I hope you enjoy.

Early Season
My season started off back in October, skiing at Loveland shortly after they opened. After not having been on snow since February due to tearing my ACL, I had anguished over actually getting on skis again. But, when I strapped those planks back on, I was ecstatic, despite being terrified of other skiers on the slope.

I enjoyed some early season skiing at Wolf Creek.

My knee didn’t feel right, so I took my time to get into the backcountry. The last thing I wanted to do was to re-injure my knee on some obstacle not fully covered with the early season conditions. But, skinning felt good on my knee, as I found when I began skinning at the resort in November.

December
December marked my first backcountry trip, to Redwell Basin off of Red Lady. I felt like a whole new person.

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Trail Stoke

Posted by Brittany – July 15, 2010

I’ve been riding a lot these last few weeks, and due to my crazy schedule, most of my rides have been solo. Really, I don’t mind too much though, as it gives me the opportunity to explore on my own. I’ve discovered I have a growing appreciation for what the ski area trails have to offer a rider like me:
1) It’s right across the street
2) It takes me 1-2 minutes to get on to single track
3) I can easily spend 2-3 hours riding single track trails at the ski area alone
4) If the weather looks threatening, it doesn’t keep me from venturing out since I can be down from nearly anywhere on the ski area in 5-10 minutes, and home a couple minutes later
5) The trails are actually pretty fun
6) It’s surprisingly not crowded.

I took time to enjoy my ride this week- My latest favorite loop: Go up Prospector, descend Painter Boy to service road, follow service road to top of Peachtree lift where it meets up with West Side, up West Side, descend upper Luge, take service road to top of Lower West Side, descend Lower West side. This loop takes about an hour and a half at a comfortable pace, making it perfect for when I can only get a short ride in for the day.

Anyway, this is not a great TR or anything. I just wanted to share a bit of trail stoke as I felt particularly inspired by the scenery that day. Please excuse the photos as they were “not planned”. I ended up using the camera on my cell phone. Hope you enjoy the pics anyway :)

Propector starts out in a field of skunk cabbage.
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If you like wildflowers, you’ll enjoy yourself here.
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The magnificent “monument flower”

Posted by Brittany – July 8, 2010

The beautiful wildflower-filled landscape is dotted with something conspicuous this year. It’s a large, extraordinarily tall white flower called the monument plant, monument flower, or green gentian. It’s scientific name is the Frasera speciosa.

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These flowers are not seen every year. But, this summer, they are in nearly every green field that is above 8,500 feet.
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Not having seen these before, I had no idea what these prominent plants were until I read an article in the Crested Butte News. As it turns out, these plants are simply amazing. Here’s a few interesting facts I learned from the article:
* most of these flowering plants are really old, with estimates being that the average flowering plant in Gothic valley is about 35-40 years old, and near Cumberland Pass it’s about 50 years old
* some plants may wait as long as 80 years to flower
* after the plant flowers, it dies
* each stalk doesn’t produce just one flower, it’s actually about 600 different tiny white flowers
* flowering seems to be triggered by some sort of environmental cue like soil moisture or summer precipitation, but since these plants flower so rarely, scientists are unsure of the exact trigger
* the environmental cue is usually widespread, often crossing over into other parts of Colorado and Utah
* since many of the plants tend to flower on the same year, this increases their chances of being pollinated and reproducing
* a stalk may drop 30,000 to 40,000 seeds, but on average only one seed survives to actually grow a new plant
* the plants “pre-form” their leaves, which means that their leaves form on the stalk underground about two or three years ahead of when they actually reach above the ground, which means that the “environmental trigger” causing them to flower likely happened two or three years before

So, if you see these magnificent monument flowers, remember that they are nature’s example of patience. Also, keep in mind that that some of these plants may be older than you and that it could be a long time before you see them again!

Trail 401 clear and ready to go!

Posted by Brittany – July 7, 2010

401 is by far Crested Butte’s most popular trail in Crested Butte. Really, it’s the trail that popularized Crested Butte as a mountain biking destination. In 2009, readers of Bike Magazine named Crested Butte the Best Destination in an article titled the “33 Best Rides in North America”. Because of this, tourists and riders of all types swarm this trail like flies on a horse during the weekends. But, Sonya and I took time to enjoy in on a weekday morning :)

This year, access to upper 401 was blocked by snow and fallen trees for longer than usual. In the last few days, someone has taken the time to cut the blocked trees away using a chainsaw, allowing the snow under the trees to finally melt. Hooray! I can officially now say that 401 is clear and ready to go!

Sonya, heading up Gothic road, with Mt. Gothic behind.
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Part of what makes 401 so amazing is that it takes riders above treeline, offering spectacular views.
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TR: Strand Ride with Kim (3 July 2010)

Posted by Brittany – July 6, 2010

We were happy to have Kim in town for some 4th of July fun- biking and skiing. Since Kim is relatively new to the mountain bike, I took her for a ride on Strand- a relatively easy, but scenic and fun, single track ride. I’ll let the pics do the talking :)

The lupine are amazing this year. Whetstone in the distance.
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Strand has a few sections that run through a beautiful Aspen forest.
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