Crested Butte
For February, Alexis came out to Colorado and we went of a quick tour of the western range. Visiting Monarch, Gunnison, Crested Butte, and the Black Canyon.
The first activity of the weekend was to head to Monarch for snowmobiling on the continental divide. We stopped by Monarch Snowmobile rentals and got on the Local’s Tour. Alexis and I, each got our own snowmobiles to ride on. There would be no sharing and deciding who should drive today! We road in a van across the divide to our stored sleds. From here we toured a bunch of back-trails up and over the divide to Marshall Pass. At one point, we were playing in chest deep snow and several people got their sleds stuck and we had to dig them all out.
Snowmobiling, Dead Animals, and Beer from Nalevanko on Vimeo.
After riding all day, we drove in to Gunnison, and stopped by the local brewery for a beer and to re-fuel. Alexis found some wooden animals at local park.
We would spend the night in Crested Butte at the “inn at crested butte”. This was great inn with a hot tub, comfy rooms, and great views. Also, the guy at the counter was a fan of climbing and reading rock and ice, so they got bonus points right away. In the morning, we toured the town taking pictures and getting coffee at “Camp 4”.
The rest of the day, we road tripped out to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison (“the Black”). This took us past Blue Mesa Reservoir and some small little forgettable towns. However we stopped at one little store and met a local climbing legend of the Black, Jim New Berry. The Black was impressive 2000 ft gash in the terrain. However, we couldn’t see all of it due to it be partially close do to snow and we didn’t have snowshoes or skis.
So we head black to Colorado Springs, with the occasional stop.
