Crested Butte Mountain Resort - The Mountain

The Mountain

Crested Butte's base area is located on the western edge of the mountain. Out of the base, two learning lifts - Peachtree and Westwall - provide access to beginner and low-intermediate terrain.

The primary access route to the mountain is via one of two high speed quads on the north side of the base area. On the north, the Red Lady quad provides access to additional beginner terrain, as well as access to lifts and trails on the north side of the mountain, as well as Painter Boy. To the south, the Silver Queen lift runs from the base all the way up to near the bottom of the Peak. Silver Queen provides access to advanced intermediate terrain, as well as a number of black runs, including renowned trails like International. From the top of Silver Queen, skiers and riders can also take a catwalk to Paradise Bowl or access a number of south-facing chutes on this part of the mountain, including Forest and Peel.

To the north of Silver Queen, the Twister lift provides access to additional expert trails like Jokerville and Twister. However, since it operates very sporadically, it is often necessary for people to use Silver Queen for roundtrip skiing on these trails.

Past the top of Silver Queen is the Headwall, an area of double-black diamond chutes above Paradise Bowl. These chutes are accessible via the High lift, a t-bar that originates below the top of Silver Queen and tops out at an elevation of 11,875 feet. It also provides access to the Peak (reachable by hiking only). The High Lift also has a midway unload for people not wishing to ride the entire way up. The High Lift is only accessible by taking the Silver Queen lift from the base area and taking a cutoff. It should also be noted that most of the chutes off this t-bar require riding Silver Queen and the High Lift.

Below the Headwall is Paradise Bowl, a mostly intermediate section of the mountain. The bowl allows for intermediate bowl skiing on a number of blue trails with names like Forest Queen and Ruby Chief. Another high speed quad, Paradise, provides access to the trails in this area, as well as the resort's NASTAR course and a ski-cross course. A double chairlift, Teocalli, services some additional trails to the west of Paradise during peak periods.

Paradise also provides access to the North Face T-Bar, which services the Extreme Limits terrain east of Paradise Bowl. These double-black chutes are relatively remote, as they require using three lifts for roundtrip skiing (East River, Paradise, and North Face).

Below Paradise Bowl is the East River section of the mountain. Serviced by its own high speed quad, East River is composed primarily of additional blue trails with names like Floresta and Black Eagle, as well as continuations of a number of trails from Paradise Bowl, but also has a number of mogul runs. East River is also a runout for riders leaving the Extreme Limits chutes off North Face. It is a very remote section of the mountain, as it is necessary to ride Paradise to exit this area.

To the north of Red Lady is another small peak containing both of Crested Butte's triple chairlifts. Painter Boy provides access into this area from Red Lady and the rest of the mountain, and services beginner and low-intermediate trails. To the northwest, Gold Link accesses additional low-intermediate runs and also provides access to the resort's superpipe (which was originally located in Paradise Bowl on Canaan until 2009). A fixed-grip quad, Prospect, provides access to additional trails to the east of Gold Link.