It is a smaller ski mountain that just runs it's lifts on about every 2nd saturday during the summer. The resort is trying toget a feel for demand and a few local guys have taken advantage of the private land status and being building trails and stunts their. It works out well for the resort because they get free labor - but they also get people who know and love what they are doing building things that people want to ride. The style of things they are building is very free-ride oriented rather than downhill with lots of jumps and stunts to play on.
Amber and I both had a hard time mentally since we have not done much of this sort of riding and hadn't been in downhill mode since the end of last summer. But it was still great fun and will be fun to go back again later in the summer and try things again with a fresh perspective. (we will also have had the advantage of riding a fair bit at Keystone as well).
Getting ready for the day. Amber has new upper body armor that she got as a birthday present. It got a good work out as the day went on with a couple of decent spills leaving amber a little beaten and battered.
We had a hard time mentally with these stunts, they look so easy now in the photos but there was a steep gradient on the hill and just a sketchy (for us) feel to them. We definitely need to go back again and keep trying.
A lot of the stunts incorporated fallen trees, but there were fully built structures as well on other trails.
Such is the way of downhilling that we didn't get many photos. Unfortunately they had to stop the lifts early because of lightning so we bailed out and drove up to Taos. We found a nice camping area and decided to go try our hand at fly fishing.
Amber and I went out on her birthday with a fly fishing guide and got an awesome introduction to the sport in boulder canyon. We had long been thinking that fly fishing and mountain biking would be very complimentary, particularly in places like Crested Butte. We figured we could ride during the day and then in evenings or on rest days go fishing in beautiful high country streams and lakes.
We went out to a stream near Angel fire and fished for a while in the late afternoon. Unfortunately, because we hadn't totally decided how fishing would be for us we had only gotten 1 rod & reel for amber and had to share. She also got a great deal on waders and boots in a fly fishing shop in Taos. That meant it was harder for us both to fish and we didn't stay that long.
Amber did get a bite, but we are stilling trying to figure out the whole timing thing that is involved with actually catching the fish. We are doing dry fly catch and release as it seems the most fun and matches well with our travels.
Since getting back from New Mexico I went out and got my own set of fishing gear so next time we head to Crested Butte we can both have fun fishing.
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