If you lived in Crested Butte this winter, then you know we got some snow. A LOT of snow. SO MUCH SNOW. And it just didn’t quit this spring, so all that winter snow added up with all that spring snow, and then the cold weather kept it from melting and . . . ta da! We have had a super late spring, with trails opening slowly down low and NADA up high yet.
Nevertheless, we get asked pretty much every day when 401 will be open. Your guess is as good as ours, but thanks to our scouts, Turner Peterson and Mark Robbins, we’ve got some first-hand beta from the high country. (Thank goodness those skiers are crazy like that and are having the epic-est ski-summer of their lives up there!)
Exhibit A: Turn-Dawg’s pic of Rustlers’ Gulch that went totally viral on FB (as viral as CBMBA gets unless we have the flu, that is.)
Exhibit B.1: Mark getting on skis at the Judd Falls trailhead. (Like, you know, WAY down low as you climb the road to 401.) Judd Falls Slide Path
Exhibit B.2: Mark on the snow at Belleview mountain, where 401 crosses the valley. Belleview Slide Path
Exhibit C: And, let us not forget (let us not forget, dude) the CBCC’s own photos of LOWER 401.
So, things are looking chundery and gnar gnar up there, right now. BUT — the beauty of Colorado is that sweet, hot summer sun, so conditions are changing daily. Check the Trail Report, send us your Observations, and until then, go ride Lupine, Walrod, Upper Loop, and Strand!