Crested Butte Bike Park, at Crested Butte Mountain Resort, was established way back in 2009. This quiet corner of the Colorado mountains has been on our radar for years. We have always heard of an understated mountain bike scene, progressive and challenging trails, and a quiet town surrounded by heaps of incredible riding. We were finally able to spend a long weekend exploring the bike park, and it did not disappoint in the slightest. Here are a few reasons to put this MTB mecca on your list:

Psycho Rocks: the name says it all. This expert trail is pretty much littered with rocks, top to bottom. Keep your speed and momentum and trust these cheeky trail builders. While it might look intimidating, the whole trail rolls and becomes incredibly fun/intuitive once you figure each unique rocky section out. One of our favorite sections was the old wooden roll into corkscrew berm, which sets riders up perfectly into a few exceptionally steep and loamy turns.

Woods Trail: this old-school trail winds through some deep and dark woods, towards the backside of the mountain and away from the base area. Woods trail starts with a few modest jumps and berms, and then gets serious with two consecutive wallrides: a left hand berm into a right hand monster of a wall. These were built over a decade ago but have withstood the test of time (and the modernization of bike park features). These can be ridden fast or slow, on both high or low ride lines. The trail finishes with some fast singletrack sections, dumping out into a stunning alpine meadow surrounded by snow-capped peaks.

Timeline: looking for jumps? Yes, me too, always. Timeline seems to check all the boxes I enjoy in a jump trail- it starts off as an innocuous flow trail with a few berms and rollers into some smaller tabletops, then gets large. Stay off the brakes for flowy step-downs, doubles, hips, step-ups, and more. Nothing is generic on this trail, which makes it so entertaining and special to ride. There are also a few large features near the bottom, including a tabletop that’s about 40’ long, and a mandatory wooden cheese wedge gap.

Outside of the bike park, there is also legendary trail riding all over town. We were blown away by the high alpine environment, quality of dirt, and general overall friendliness of such a unique mountain town. The resort offers plenty of slopeside accommodations and dining options- we recommend staying for an extended duration to fully explore as much as possible. We barely scratched the surface over three full days of riding. For more information, visit www.skicb.com.