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 Adventure Magazine - September 2007 Issue (excerpts below)
Gunnison, Colorado was named the "#1 Top Mountain Town" in
National Geographic's Adventure Magazine feature article entitled, "50 Best Places to Live + Play 2007".
"The Gunnison River territory is blessed with 25 feet (8 meters) of Colorado's airy powder a year—more than any other ski area in the state. Come summer, mountain bikers head up the hill to Crested Butte's singletrack; rock climbers reign on the 2,000-foot-walls (610-meter-walls) of Black Canyon of the Gunnison; and cowpokes converge for Cattlemen's Days, the oldest rodeo in the state (this year marks the 107th)."
~ Adventure Magazine contributing editor Dan Koeppel
Mr. Koeppel spent months compiling a list of 2007's top adventure towns. With an ideal mix of terrain, activity, and opportunity, each of the action hubs he found could inspire a complete and total life change. Adventure Magazine called his work the "first ever guide to the best mountain, urban, coastal, wilderness, and small towns in every state, where you can live the adventure dream daily."
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 Outside Magazine - August 2008 Issue (excerpts below)
When Outside Magazine started looking at the greatest towns in America, its writers picked places that had overcome adversity and were "riding on a wave of civic reinvention and fresh ideas."
Crested Butte came in at No. 9, Outside Magazine senior editor Jeremy Spencer said.
THE REVIVAL: Crested Butte made its name as a coal town in the 1880s, then relaunched 80 years later as a ski bum's nirvana. But thanks to inconsistent snowfall and a remote, road's-end location at the foot of the West Elk Mountains, hard times came calling in the late '80s.
The energy returned when the town's eponymous ski resort changed hands in 2004. News of its imminent modernization triggered a real estate feeding frenzy, with dilapidated Victorians and miners' shacks alike starting bidding wars. Now, with long-awaited upgrades under way at the ski area—including a totally revamped base area, swank lodges, and the possible, controversial expansion to adjacent Snodgrass Mountain—"Colorado's last great ski town" is all abuzz. Once the holdout of elite athletes, former hippies, and powder dropouts, down-to-earth CB is attracting a new crop of young families and telecommuters looking for a laid-back and affordable alternative to glitzier counterparts like Telluride and Aspen. There's a boutique bookbinder on Second Street, a new farmers' market every Sunday in summer and fall, and a steady stream of locals on cruiser bikes.
THE LIFE: The '80s saw a slow and steady proliferation of singletrack outside town, making the Butte a true trail-riding mecca. Even on a sleety night, you'll see locals taking to the Lower Loop with snowsuited toddlers strapped in back, and half the town volunteers to maintain their beloved trails, like the legendary 401. Fly-fishing, hiking, and skiing are literally just out the back door.
Local park in Crested Butte, Colorado (courtesy, Colorado Tourism Office)
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