Courtesy of Crested Butte Mountain Resort
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According to Outside magazine, there are seven top spots in the world for small-town adventuring, ranging from locales in Mexico and France to New Zealand and South Africa. The list conjures up exotic images of humid hikes and adrenaline junkies living out their wildest dreams abroad. But Colorado adventurers don’t have to go far: The first town on the list is Crested Butte (and that’s pronounced “beeyute,” not “butt,” by the way), a mountain town about 230 miles southwest of Denver with a population of less than 2,000 and an iconic mountain bike and ski scene.
“This free-spirited mountain town in the shadow of the Elk Mountains remains fiercely independent,” the Outside article reads. “Its lack of big brand resorts and chains have earned it the reputation as Colorado’s last great ski town, and we’d agree.”
Outside, which is part of Outside Inc., now headquartered in Boulder (and the organizer for the Outside Festival — rebranded this year as Outside Days), looked for towns with fewer than 10,000 full-time residents for its list; La Ventana in Baja California Sur, Mexico, is the smallest spot on the list, with a population of 306. Other towns named were Wanaka, South Island, New Zealand; Highlands, North Carolina; Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada; Chamonix, France; and Scarborough, South Africa.
Unsplash / Chris Henry
The towns are touted for their food scenes and signature adventures, such as surfing, kiteboarding, hiking, biking and skiing. Crested Butte has the added charms of its old mining-town history, as well as the popular Wildflower Festival.
Crested Butte earned a top spot on another Outside list in 2024, the ten best biking towns in the U.S. “Crested Butte boasts more than 560 acres of expert terrain,” the small-town adventure article reads, going on to praise the Colorado town for its adventure guides, miles and miles of hiking trails, and its focus on mountain biking. (Crested Butte lays claim to being the home of the original “clunkers.”)
But skiing is still a highlight. “The Butte is a skier’s mountain,” Westword wrote back in 2010. “Other places may try to claim it, but the Butte is the real deal. The town likes to claim the title ‘the last great ski town,’ and there’s good reason for it. The Butte doesn’t have the glitz and glam of places like Vail and Aspen; instead, it offers some of the best ski terrain on the planet.”
And that terrain doesn’t change.
