"Take it one turn at a time," she advises me and my partner, Jan Duprey. "Use the bumps to help you turn."
One at a time, we make a beeline across the Headwall, not trusting ourselves for that first, fast turn. Gingerly, the awkward turns are made, the forgiving bumps conquered. We resume breathing the thin Rocky Mountain air and ski to the T-bar lift to do it again.
For the New England skier or snowboarder who has wondered what Tuckerman Ravine might be like with lift service, the answer is Crested Butte. Set in the beauty of Gunnison National Forest and the jagged peaks of the Rockies' Elk Mountain Range, the resort about 230 miles southwest of Denver has a base elevation of 9,375 feet.
Its 121 trails provide well-manicured groomers for cruising and enough mountain panoramas to fill a memory card. The East River express serves up incredible vistas with fast-moving runs like Black Eagle and the half-bumped Resurrection. Bushwacker under the Teocalli lift is a wicked rolling run. Paradise Bowl is wide and easy, leading to some black diamond fun on Jokerville and signature International. Stop for a beer at the on-mountain Ice Bar restaurant and finish with a frosty apr??s-ski beverage at the chalet-style Avalanche at the base.
Free shuttle buses make the 3-mile trip from the mountain to the grid-style streets of the onetime mining town. Galleries selling paintings and ceramics abound. Sushi is flown in fresh for the dark and swanky Lobar. The skillet-served huevo rancheros at Paradise Cafe are filling, the tamales at tiny Teocalli are tasty, and beer flows at the rustic Eldo with its outdoor deck overlooking Elk Avenue, the town's main thoroughfare.
There is a New England connection to the resort, which averages more than 300 inches of snow per season and last season had a record-breaking 421 inches. It is owned by Tom and Diane Mueller, owners of Vermont's Okemo and managers of New Hampshire's Mount Sunapee.
