This year we were going to CB to ski the first time! After a couple of cancellations in the past years, we made it to CB on Sunday afternoon Dec17. We took two days to drive for altitude acclimation and stopped at Trinidad. Norah had to skip 2.5 days of school because of her later school end dates.
We left Dallas around 9am and arrived at La Quinta around 6pm. Our dinner at Tequila's Family Mexican nearby was a lovely change from the fast food on our long drives. We had a decent night's sleep and a free breakfast at the hotel. When we left Trinidad around 9am, I already planned a lunch stop at my favorite Salida restaurant Boathouse Cantina. The setting is beautiful as usual and we enjoyed our lunch. After a grocery run at Gunnison's City Market, we went to pick up the kids' ski boots at Christy Sports. Both kids got new skis for Christmas. We arrived at our condo Three Seasons right around check-in time 4pm.
Three Seasons was built in 1979 and doesn't have an elevator. It has a cargo elevator at the opposite side of the building. It took us a few trips to get our groceries and luggage to our room on the third floor. Our condo is around 800 sq. ft. and was well equipped. It is a 2-3 mins bus ride away from the Mountaineer Square. We thoroughly enjoyed the bus system to take mid-day ski breaks in the next few days.
CB has about 1/3 of trails open because of the snow condition. It also staged its trail opening during the week we were there. It added a surprise factor to our trip since it felt everyday there is something new open and worth exploring. We enjoyed the first two days of skiing by just exploring a new mountain. Both kids gravitate towards the terrain park. Tuesday dinner we checked out Secret Stash that Jeffery recommended. Town of Crested Butte was festive.
Wednesday we took a break from skiing. We got two sleds from Ace Hardware in town and headed to the CB Nordic center. They have a covered ice skating rink and a small sledding hill. Kids liked the sledding but the ice skating rink was closed. It opened later on the weekends. In the afternoon, we sent Will to ski while I took the kids to the hill outside of our condo to sledding. I can't believe they sled for more than two hours on the small hill.
We skied the next two days and found our favorite run Poverty Gulch. It's in between the green runs and has the defined twists and turns of mountain biking. We all loved it.
Saturday was supposed to be our break day again. But we woke up to a few inches of new snow and the resort opened East River Lift. I urged Will to go ski the East River Lift while the three of us played games at the condo. In the afternoon, we took the sleds to Snodgrass Trail. We walked past the aspen trees and evergreen trees. The view is breathtakingly beautiful. Topped with constant complaints from Jackson. :-) On our way back, both kids loved the sledding down experience and learned to steer their sleds. They requested more hiking up.
Sunday both Prospect and Gold Link Lift opened. We went around the mountain to enjoy the freshly opened terrain. Also the terrain park opened at the top of Painter Boy Lift. We spend a good amount of time there. Monday the Christmas day was our last ski day. We've grown to like the mountain after 6 days of skiing. The hard section won't open till the end of January. The 27 year CB instructor I met on the lift told me that her favorite run is Morning Glory. We want to come back in the later season to check it out.
We woke up at 5:45am on Tuesday and headed out at 7:08am. We made a stop at Raton's JR burrito inside a liquor store. All of us liked the burrito and it was so big that we ate it for lunch and dinner. Each burrito was only $6! We would definitely consider stopping by JR again. They open till 2pm. We arrived home at 9:30pm. Our drive time is just below 13 hours.
Jackson: Dec. 2023, 22-22.5 ski boots (265)
Norah: Dec. 2023, 36” poles, 20 ski boots (240)
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