Crested Butte: What's the deal? (Aspen, Gunnison: vacation home, to buy, construction)

[Rock Climber]

I've visited there a few times over the past several years. A friend owns a nice vacation home up in MtCB. I've never visited to ski.

The area is stunningly beautiful, and seems to have deliberately been kept "exclusive", without the "in your face" materialistic exclusivity of Aspen. Some of that is due to the difficulty in traveling to the area. It isn't Breck, with easy freeway access to a major metro. Another aspect is strict development controls and historic preservation requirements, limiting construction in the city proper.

That being said, the locals I've met have seemed almost universally miserable and hateful, and resentful.

I've never made an ass of myself there. I've always just enjoyed the few restaurants and a beer or two at some local pubs in the evenings, while hiking lots and mountain biking some during the daytime. On a recent trip I was dressed down for "wearing a button up shirt to a townie bar" and "being a contributing force behind the affordable housing crisis" that is apparently experienced by the labor force there. I took the abuse and remained calm, and didn't argue with most of the inaccurate assumptions being made about me (I'm an academic, middle to upper-middle class, but still far below the threshold of owning a property in CB, living in the South, but generally quiet, respectful and deferential to the local culture, wherever I might be).

I'm curious if anyone else has had similar experiences with locals feeling "hostile" and extremely suspicious of the tourists who make the economy work. I've not experienced anything like that in other Colorado towns, and I've visited many. Crested Butte (self proclaimed) "locals" seem confrontational, provincial and rude.

What is the "local reputation" of Crested Butte within Colorado?

[StarrySkiesAbove]

I have never run into this in CB, the locals I have met there have been laid back. We go once a year in the summer and I can't say that I have met anyone provincial, confrontational or rude. I am from and live in Colorado though and we always have our dogs with us which makes it easy to meet people but I have never heard anyone say that about CB.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

We've visited CB a lot of times and never encountered any hostility towards outsiders. Maybe the people expressing these ideas have been imbibing too much? You said something about some local pubs in the evenings.....

I think it's pretty common to hear negative stuff from some malcontents in any town experiencing a lot of pressure from tourists. We hear stories about people from Texas getting "abused" by locals in SW Colorado. I guess you just happened to meet the wrong people.

[MN_Ski]

I love the area!

The people are so friendly, and I like how it isn't a miserable pretentious resort town. Maybe it was really all about the shirt?...as stupid as that sounds.

I'm sure the locals have seen it all, and they assume anyone is a button up shirt is someone trying to buy up the place. I'm typically dressed kind of grubby on the weekends, so maybe it's like camouflage.

[EastwardBound]

CB is the only place I've seen in Colorado, where people were openly smoking and I have traveled all over the state. Lots of trustafarians pretending to be bums and white trash.

[Rock Climber]

It might have been the shirt. And it might have just been bad luck the past couple of times I was there that I had an evening to myself.

And this was generally younger "working class" kids, although I realize that it does probably include some "fight the power" idealists who themselves come from privileged backgrounds who are LARPing as oppressed laborers.

Given the strict development prohibitions, I'd imagine there isn't sufficient work-force housing available for those who work in the tourist industries which probably breeds some real resentment.

[NW Crow]

There are plenty of people who are chill when they want to be and rude snots when they wanna be. Colorado is probably high on type A personalities and type A a**holes. But most can find folks that they are comfortable with.


I've been there on my own and as a semi-friend (shared friends) of a guy from a super rich / influential family and I think the only persons who cared anything about me passing thru were the restaurant servers looking for a tip probably bigger than I left.


Either try some other restaurants & bars or ignore them or try a different mountain town. Colorado is fortunate to have plenty.

[NW Crow]

A hybrid strategy would be to get up in the mountains by day and spend more time at night down in Gunnison.


Another strategy might be to make a big effort to befriend somebody on the staff or in the crowd. Some people might be less of a snot if somebody they know / deal with is being treated well & hopefully thinking well of you.


If a good vibe with the locals is important to you, it might help to be very outgoing, friendly to people out on the trails, who you might at least get a nod from later that night.




I noticed you are from the south and a big booster of your area. It is not uncommon for southerners to find places in Colorado that seem "cold" by comparison. Liking your area and being a local there you might be more likely to feel a contrast.


There are more than one kind of experience in places. I have some new neighbors from your area who say they were "completely done" with your area (I haven't pried too far into it) and so far say they love CO.

[wrh123]

Originally Posted by Rock Climber

I've visited there a few times over the past several years. A friend owns a nice vacation home up in MtCB. I've never visited to ski.

The area is stunningly beautiful, and seems to have deliberately been kept "exclusive", without the "in your face" materialistic exclusivity of Aspen. Some of that is due to the difficulty in traveling to the area. It isn't Breck, with easy freeway access to a major metro. Another aspect is strict development controls and historic preservation requirements, limiting construction in the city proper.

That being said, the locals I've met have seemed almost universally miserable and hateful, and resentful.

I've never made an ass of myself there. I've always just enjoyed the few restaurants and a beer or two at some local pubs in the evenings, while hiking lots and mountain biking some during the daytime. On a recent trip I was dressed down for "wearing a button up shirt to a townie bar" and "being a contributing force behind the affordable housing crisis" that is apparently experienced by the labor force there. I took the abuse and remained calm, and didn't argue with most of the inaccurate assumptions being made about me (I'm an academic, middle to upper-middle class, but still far below the threshold of owning a property in CB, living in the South, but generally quiet, respectful and deferential to the local culture, wherever I might be).

I'm curious if anyone else has had similar experiences with locals feeling "hostile" and extremely suspicious of the tourists who make the economy work. I've not experienced anything like that in other Colorado towns, and I've visited many. Crested Butte (self proclaimed) "locals" seem confrontational, provincial and rude.

What is the "local reputation" of Crested Butte within Colorado?

I have been in CB for the past three weeks. My wife and I thought we would come for a while as she has been having chemo/radiotherapy and we felt it would be a good place for her to recover. I have run into some very bitter and twisted individuals who love nothing more than to bite the hand that feeds them. This is though definitely an exception to the rule and I have met plenty of lovely people but I have had enough negative experiences to make me not want to return. Like you, I have been nothing but friendly and polite. I guess this means its 1-0 to the wasp sucking, bitter locals this time!

[brightdoglover]

When I moved to my near-resort town four years ago, people asked suspiciously, "How do you like it here" and "What did you do back East (apparently I don't look my retirement age, although it's no one's business). When I said that I worked my brains out by the hour as a night psychiatric nurse, they backed off.