Crested Butte is another high American ski resort, with a village at well over the 2500m mark. Its a steep mountain and probably not the best place for the faint hearted, but more of a haven for the blood nosed powder hounds among you.

There are two main villages below the mountain: one is the town of Crested Butte, a short bus ride away from the slopes; the other is Mt Crested Butte which is directly at the base of the immense mountain ski resort above. The further away and larger settlement has a very traditional feel to it and isn't any where near as over developed as some of the cramped towns of other American resorts. Apparently this town started life as a mining area and so life has been going on here way before people started strapping strange planks to their feet.

There aren't many intermediate runs on this hill as its either super mellow, or steep and not much in between. The beginner area which fans upwards from the base village is great for kids; why not leave them to frolick in the kids park while you go and do some real skiing? Good idea..... After all you didn't come to Crested Butte to chill out did you.

If you want tree skiing and windlips then CB is the place to be. On the front side of the mountain there's the “Spellbound” Bowl which is lift accessed and then traversed into. The skiing is steep and there are lots of things to jump off- just make sure you don't land on the trees though! The vegetation is suitably well spaced and doesn't have the closed in feeling that many forested resorts have. “The High Lift” serves up so many great runs that I can't go into detail, but the potential is vast and can be as steep, deep, hairy and scary as you want it to be.

Up until quite recently, the terrain park at Butte was a snowboarder only affair and skiers had to resort to hitting the natural features. The park is now open to all so that skiers can get just as much air time as the snowboarders. When I visited, the park had lots and lots of table tops, of varying size and shape, as well as plenty of rail and box features. I thought the landings of the jumps were particularly well made with lots and lots of length to them so getting your speed right wasn't too hard. There were a couple of scarily big quarter pipes in place which were supported by an immense half pipe with the now standard 20 foot walls. Pretty good really.

Overall this place is awesome for the expert rider and will also serve the early beginners well. The village is not too expensive, the vibe is good and the powder days are immense. Lots of sunny days here too, but when the storms come you can get stuffed into some tree stash joy anyway. Brilliant.