by Stephanie Block

Today I was looking at pictures from our recent Tango Diva trip to Club Med Crested Butte. Pictures of our gang shoulder to shoulder on top of the ice bar at the Paradise Lift, or me cheek to cheek with my hot ski instructor, Cowboy, who doubled as the lead singer in a band one night.

Photos of us in a riot of Gortex in front of Mount Crested Butte’s delicately jagged peak, and of course, Teresa blowing out her birthday candles surrounded by most of the young male staff, looking like she’d already gotten her wish.

Although you might associate Club Med with sunshine and trapeze classes, let me assure you that they do snow well, too. At almost 10,000 feet, the air in Crested Butte is thin, the snow powdery, and the light crisp. We lucked out on the weather that week—Mother Nature was kind enough to dust the slopes with fresh snow every night while we slept, and treated us to glorious sunshine each day, stretching long shadows across the valley. Even the trees were decorated in splendor, but that had way more to do with Mardi Gras. Shining strings of beads and even panties hung from the highest branches, making us giggle as we rode up the lifts.

I mean, what better sport to make a Total All-Inclusive resort for? Skiing should always be all-inclusive! Your lift ticket, ski lessons, après ski cocktails…no need to dig frozen fingers through pockets searching for your moolah. You can literally just get up and go.

The mountain there is tremendous. Even I, a newly minted skier, was taken. My more expert friends were thrilled with all the double black diamonds and moguls. Even at their level, they loved ski school because it translated into small, guided tours through the best mountain runs.

And when we weren’t draining the two bars of hot chocolate and Peppermint Schnapps, we were experimenting with the free bus into town to check out the local scene. A lot of our ski instructors showed up at Eldo’s, “a sunny place for shady people,” and it was strange how very natural it was that after only a couple days, we knew lots of people.

Crested Butte is slowly catching up to Aspen and Vail, and some say that’s a good thing. Property values are sky-rocketing, but it’s still a cozy ski town heartily lacking a Starbucks on its one main street. The fact that the resorts are small and the mountain big makes for a great ski vacation.

And if you want to know which Divas went on the trip, it’s always hard because what happens in the Butte stays in the Butte, but I would keep my eye out for women wearing shirts that say, “I Love Boys Who Ski Crested Butte.” Oh yes we do.

For more fun in Crested Butte, check out:

Crested Butte, Colorado: Crested Butte Club Boutique Inn & Spa

or

http://www.crestedbutteclub.com

For more info on cheap deals, including lift tickets for the over 50 read this article about how Discounts Get Better with Age from the latimes.com

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