Telluride, Crusted Butte, or Mt. Bachelor (OR)

[snowsoc11]

I have narrowed down buying a season pass for either Telluride or Crusted Butte, or saying screw it to CO and going to Bend to ski more pow in OR. I am looking for pow and steeps and improving my tree skiing. I have some backcountry experience but not enough to properly assess avalanche risk myself, and Im traveling alone, so Id have to find some people to ski backcountry with.

I know Crusted Butte is cheaper (cost of living) but something about Telluride draws me in. I hear both have great terrain and fun towns. I plan to buy the college pass before Oct 26 for one of these places and ski 2 months. I have nowhere to live yet.

Other option is not getting in on the early bird deals and just getting the mid week pass at Bachelor, and living with family in Eugene until I find a place to crash in Bend for a few months.

Any opinions?

[Dr. Emmet Brown]

Advice: One thread on this subject is enough.
go to Bend.

[Buster Highmen]

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...uride-Opinions

???
Bend can have pow but Bachy is lacking in steeps (O jeez, if that offends any Benders, my apologies, it's just my opinion...) aside from a few runs off the very top. Having lived in Oigene for a year, I can tell you that it's a bit of a drive.

If pure pow skiing is really your objective, then I'd head for UT. You can go compete with the bros @ Alta/Snowbird in Little Cottonwood, find a little more quiet @ Solitude/Brighton or be more adventuresome and head up to Snowbasin or Powder Mountain out of Ogden. Ogden is a really interesting place that's a bit of a dump but has incredible potential and a great undergound community. SLC or Ogden will provide a ton of housing opps, places to hang out and lots of community, bars, restaurants and sceneage. Good student passes around there too. LOts of pow skiing in the trees in UT.

Then there's JH/Targhee where housing is tighter but a ton of top drawer skiing that's saturated with a lots of competition for the goods. There are a ton of great folks around the area but the glare of the brobrahs there can be blinding.

But really, it seems like if you're not a troll, then you just haven't thought through what you want. If you are a troll you haven't thought through what you want either.

What's your priorities?
If you want to try being part of a smaller mountain community then you're going to have to deal with all the usual stuff of expensive housing and potentially exclusiveness. I'm ignorant of Crested Butte but by all reputation it's awesome. I can't really expand on what reidhresko said in your other thread other than I think T-ride is where it's at and would be my choice of a town to hang in for a while and ski. Then again, I really like the lift set up @ T-ride and am partial to all the little slipknot slashes off chair 9 or poking around Apex or Gold Hills. The Black Iron hikes are amazing. T-ride tree skiing is choice, but snow there can be spotty.

If you want the best potential for snow, try Glacier/Mt. Baker or the UT areas.

[BDKeg]

CB and t-ride = better terrain
Bend = more snow

More stuff to do in Bend. The only things to do in t-ride and CB are drink and ski. cost of living is cheapest in Bend, and you've got deschutes...I think you know what to do.

[raisingarizona13]

If the El Nino kicks in then Bend = less snow. I t could be a good year to be in the San Juans. Telluride is awesome if you ski tour. Crested Butte is one of the best ski mountains with rowdy ib in Colorado but without enough snow to open the steep stuff it's not very good at all. I think having a sled in the Butte opens up a lot more. Either way you better get there now, housing for the winter will be getting hard to find now.

[powski3]

Sounds like you have family in OR which is probably how Bend got in the picture, but why are you limiting your other 2 options to CB and Telluride? What about Jackson or Tahoe? Or even Bellingham or Salt Lake? All have much better terrain than Bachelor and much more snow than Colorado. I'd get pretty bored skiing Bachelor everyday if that was my sole reason for moving to Bend, and the backcountry there is mainly sled access mid-winter.

[montanaskier]

It is predicted to be warmer than average all over the west....I'd pick the town with the highest elevation.

[jonesy]

Bachy has the snow just not the terrain. Might as well ski in your front yard. As a bouns we do like to party.

[powski3]

Bachy has the snow just not the terrain. Might as well ski in your front yard. As a bouns we do like to party.

Plus when it's snowing it's usually blowing 60mph and 50% of the mountain is closed. Don't get me wrong it's a fun place to ski, but not where you want to go specifically to ski bum IMO.

[Gone Skiing]

Axtel is reachable from CB without a sled or even a car, and gets 500"/yr.

[DasBlunt]

The month or two the OP is going, might be better at Bend. Expand your potentials and IMO look at Mt Baker or Stevens

How many pow days will you get in 2 months in Colorado? From the last few years (3-4), even the good years, Jan and Feb have been 1 or 2 or maybe 4 pow days a month. Spring ramps up good late feb, March to late April. December and Jan are as hit and miss as mid or late may. Could be gold, has been scarce.

Seems there is a clear pattern to the pow days in Colorado, and far between is the rule, no matter the drought pattern in this rocky world.

[Benny Profane]

or be more adventuresome and head up to Snowbasin or Powder Mountain out of Ogden. Ogden is a really interesting place that's a bit of a dump but has incredible potential and a great undergound community. SLC or Ogden will provide a ton of housing opps

If you can stand solitude, one word. Eden.

[raisingarizona13]

It is predicted to be warmer than average all over the west....I'd pick the town with the highest elevation.

Warm is good though, that means those pineapple storms could pack some serious punch and hold a shit ton of moisture. 2005 was a warm one and we got 500 inches here on the Peaks in Flagstaff.

[raisingarizona13]

Axtel is reachable from CB without a sled or even a car, and gets 500"/yr.

Yep, the Butte is sick. I always wish I had at least one season there.

[wolfelot]

Snowsoc11,

To get a decent answer around here, you are obligated to post nekkid pics of your wife, gf or sister. Now post up Jong!

The rest of you guys are slipping.

[snowsoc11]

how are the avalanche conditions around crusted butte? same stability as telluride area, or perhaps a bit more stable?

[skieurmalade]

If I recall correctly, the West Elks are the second worst range for avalanche conditions (these are to the west of CB) in North America. The first is the San Juans, where Telluride is.

[raisingarizona13]

how are the avalanche conditions around crusted butte? same stability as telluride area, or perhaps a bit more stable?

That is the part that is a crapshoot. You need to have time and patience in them parts. But when it's right in those ranges they have some of the best big lines in the lower 48.

[slobmonster]

First off: congrats and have fun. You cannot make a bad choice here, as your options are each phenomenal. Just something to acknowledge and appreciate...

I am moving BACK to Telluride, after living here and there and everywhere for 12 years. And I'm kind of psyched. What used to be hike-to terrain now has lifts and big metal stairs; the (dreaded) Bear Creek "sidecountry" ever more accessible, and I have a job AND a home.

Your biggest PITA factor will be where to sleep. Get online (Telluride Daily Planet, CL) and start lookin' for rooms or shared rooms or beds or whatever. Second PITA will be eating, as food is expensive. But you're young (or so it seems) and you'll figure it out.

Regarding generalized snow stability forecasts for entire regions and mountain ranges: West Elks and the San Juans are going to be more similar than they are different. Period. Some micro and meso differences due to storm paths, but for all intents and purposes, very much the same. After the first few storms come in, just cross your fingers that some more snow comes in soon.

Good luck with your decision...

[Z]

If I recall correctly, the West Elks are the second worst range for avalanche conditions (these are to the west of CB) in North America. The first is the San Juans, where Telluride is.

Front Range is worse.

I would say there are many areas in CB that tip transitional in avg/above avg years. But you'd need a sled to get there. Regardless, it's Colorado so tread lightly.

CB and Telluride are somewhat similiar towns, a bit more going on in T-ride. With no sled and BC knowledge, I'd go Telluride-bigger mountain to explore.

Sounds like housing in Tride is tough, CB in comparison is easy and cheap.

[jonesy]

1 more dis. Powdr Corp ruins Bachy. Enough said.

[raisingarizona13]

First off: congrats and have fun. You cannot make a bad choice here, as your options are each phenomenal. Just something to acknowledge and appreciate...

I am moving BACK to Telluride, after living here and there and everywhere for 12 years. And I'm kind of psyched. What used to be hike-to terrain now has lifts and big metal stairs; the (dreaded) Bear Creek "sidecountry" ever more accessible, and I have a job AND a home.

Your biggest PITA factor will be where to sleep. Get online (Telluride Daily Planet, CL) and start lookin' for rooms or shared rooms or beds or whatever. Second PITA will be eating, as food is expensive. But you're young (or so it seems) and you'll figure it out.

Regarding generalized snow stability forecasts for entire regions and mountain ranges: West Elks and the San Juans are going to be more similar than they are different. Period. Some micro and meso differences due to storm paths, but for all intents and purposes, very much the same. After the first few storms come in, just cross your fingers that some more snow comes in soon.

Good luck with your decision...

My gut says it's going to be a good year in Telluride. I was there for the winter of 06, not a great season but after a stabilizing mid winter spring cycle late February and March came in strong and I got to experience deep over the head worry free conditions on all aspects and elevations. For the OP, if I could be anywhere this season I would choose the San Juans, whatever that is worth.

[Alkares]

What used to be hike-to terrain now has lifts and big metal stairs; the (dreaded) Bear Creek "sidecountry" ever more accessible, and I have a job AND a home.

I thought I heard somewhere that gates into Bear Creek are being closed this season? Would suck if its true....

[raisingarizona13]

I thought I heard somewhere that gates into Bear Creek are being closed this season? Would suck if its true....

They were closed two years or so ago because real estate developer Thomas Chapman bought up a small mining claim and refuses to allow access across his land. I don't want to say what the ski patrols feelings are to it but I know the locals are ignoring the closure. Look that guy up, he is one serious D-Bag, this isn't the first time he ruins it for everyone.

[BDKeg]

how are the avalanche conditions around crusted butte? same stability as telluride area, or perhaps a bit more stable?

all of CO sucks for avy conditions...with the front range being the worst. If you know when and where to go you can be pretty safe about it. The snow up near kebler and the anthracites get some of the most snow in CO averaging 600-700 inches a year, but of course you need a sled to access that.