The authentic Colorado

The ski spots of southern Colorado take at least two planes to reach. The weather here can slide quickly from slushy-warm to numb-thumbs cold. And the resorts are not platinum-card havens.

But that’s also the appeal of these ski areas, where the scenery compels your attention, the skies are not cloudy and the ski slopes are not crowded all day.

Durango Mountain Resort (it was originally known as Purgatory, after a nearby river) and Crested Butte have grown up since I first tried them in the 1970s. New owners, new condos, new hotels, new restaurants and new lifts are transforming these smaller destinations into places worth the hassle of an extra flight in a puddle-jumper from Denver. A determined skier could easily include the Wolf Creek Ski Area in a southern Colorado sampler.

What’s so special? To start with, not one of these playgrounds is a Ritz-Carltonized spa with snowflakes. Each has its special strengths, and each is far enough away from a distinctive town that it retains its separate identity.

The people in southern Colorado are special too. Many come from Latino ranching families and ethnically diverse Anglo ranchers and miners deeply rooted in the region. Sure, the area has its share of newcomers, but to an uncommon degree they’ve adopted the cuisine and the manners of the locals rather than impose their own style.

That attitude applies not just to the lift operators, instructors and waiters, who have time to be friendly while those at large resorts might not, but it’s also true of the Texans, Oklahomans, New Mexicans and Kansans you’ll meet on the lifts. (I was about to say “in the lift lines,” but there usually aren’t any.)

These visitors won’t put down Californians as alien life forms. Nor will they dazzle you with five-figure Zai skis and Moncler parkas. They probably won’t make your socks roll up and down with their perfect technique.

Instead, they’ll tell you with a sense of wonder how amazing the mountains look and how thrilled they are to be there after driving 17 hours from some distant town. They won’t complain when the light gets dicey or the temperatures dip. They’re on vacation and they bring a can-do, love-it mentality that will touch even the most jaded skier.

These are skiers and snowboarders who appreciate the real deal when they see it. They may come to test themselves against Crested Butte’s renowned steep bowls and to feel their thighs burn on Durango’s long-rolling cruising snow boulevards. But when they wander through the old Western streets of Durango and Crested Butte, they sense the origins of these historic burgs.

You will too. You can’t help but absorb the authenticity that remains from their contrasting histories: Durango as a railroad hub and Crested Butte as a mining and supply camp.

CRESTED BUTTE

Crested Butte gets its name from the arc of one of its peaks, which resembles the beak of a great bird. The first miners came to dig for gold in the 1880s, but precious metals played out quickly in Washington Gulch, and within a few decades Crested Butte settled into a more humble existence as a coal-mining center. Croats, along with other Slavs and Italians, made up a large part of its population right through the early 1950s, when the last mine closed.

The small homes that the miners built made ideal houses for ski bums, who arrived after Crested Butte opened in 1962. Two former University of Kansas fraternity brothers had purchased a ranch at what is now the base area, installing one chairlift and a used gondola. They went broke, forcing a consortium of banks to run the nascent resort for five years until Georgia Republican political powerhouse Howard Hollis “Bo” Callaway took it off their hands in 1970.

As late as 1986, Crested Butte was small enough for everyone to know everyone else’s business. A friend of mine and I asked a passerby on Elk Avenue, the Butte’s Broadway, about a black-sheep cousin who reportedly had decamped to this distant outpost.

“Try the bar at the Wooden Nickel,” the local said.

The Wooden Nickel is still going strong. But since Tim and Diane Mueller, owners of Okemo Mountain Resort in Vermont, bought Crested Butte in 2004, they have expanded the on-mountain skiing and drinking options.

Advanced skiers head for Teocalli Bowl and the intimidating slopes below the crest itself. Intermediates can stick to the middle mountain and its lower flanks.

One of the finest on-slope coffeehouses in Colorado can be found at the Camp 4 shack atop the Painter Boy lift, which serves a novice/intermediate part of the lower mountain. (There is another at the base of the mountain.) If you need more bracing liquids, there’s a true ice bar tucked into a more angled, tree-studded corner near the Twister lift.

The Muellers and others also have kick-started a building spree right near the lifts at Mount Crested Butte, which is actually a separate town of condos and second homes a few miles up the road. Radiating out from the multistory wall of buildings called Mountaineer Square is an array of somewhat generic, new and refurbished hotels and condos. A free bus connects the mount with the original town, five minutes away.

Leave yourself time one afternoon to stroll along Elk Avenue and wander through the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum, a quirky Western memorabilia repository in a space once occupied by Tony’s Conoco and a hardware store.

Dinner? There’s French food at Soupcon, new American at Timberline, Italian at Marchitelli’s Gourmet Noodle, and many others.

The one criticism heard about Crested Butte’s terrain is that it doesn’t have a lot of long blue or double blue intermediate runs. And that’s where Durango shines.

DURANGO MOUNTAIN

Durango Mountain -- it’s hard for us old-timers not to say “Purgatory” -- is, like Crested Butte, a ski area in transition. Although it has been in existence since 1965, new owners from Florida, who also own Kirkwood Mountain near Lake Tahoe, are busy upgrading its somewhat scruffy base village off U.S. 550, an easy drive 25 miles north of the town of Durango.

The proximity of Durango the town to Durango the resort is one good reason to visit. When you fly into Durango-La Plata County airport, you can spend a day admiring the town’s Victorian architecture, exploring the bars and shops, or enjoying the stunning scenery by riding its railway to Silverton and back, without ever realizing there is skiing nearby. You are close enough to New Mexico to find pretty good green chili at Gazpacho, and the town is contemporary enough to have splendid “New American” cuisine at Ken and Sue’s on Main Street.

Last March, I did not see a sliver of snow until we drove up the winding road to the slope-side condos. Once there, however, I saw out my living-room window a wide, welcoming expanse of white hillside and several lifts behind a flashing bulletin board announcing that the temperature was already 30 degrees.

No one at Durango puts on airs. In between sweeping turns on wide-open runs, volunteer ski ambassador Chuck Jillson told me that the resort wanted to dub its new information counter “concierge” but no one could spell it, so it’s “guest services.” Another volunteer at the lost-and-found told me that someone once turned in a prosthetic leg, which somehow had been forgotten by an amputee skier.

From the top of almost every lift, a skier is treated to fabulous views of Engineer Mountain and the aptly named Needles range. In this landscape, the long cruisers and manageable bump runs get repetitive, so many guests sign up for snowcat-skiing; Durango’s snowcat-reachable snowfields are the most extensive of any in the state.

WOLF CREEK

And should brown patches appear, you can drive to Wolf Creek, about two hours east, because the area often boasts the most snow in Colorado.

Wolf Creek is as down home as it gets in terms of amenities: It has a cafeteria and ski rentals, but powder days -- it gets the same storms as Taos, in nearby New Mexico -- are the main attraction. In the Southwest, Wolf Creek has a mystique that reminds me of the awe with which others speak of Utah’s Alta.

There are powder hounds in Albuquerque who wait for word of a snowstorm at Wolf Creek and then drive like madmen to get there before the road gets too slick.

When you are exhausted after a day swooshing through the 1,600 acres of Wolf Creek, you can stay comfortably close by in Pagosa Springs, where the hot springs have soothed aching bones since Native Americans discovered them hundreds of years ago.

OTHER RESORTS

Another choice in southern Colorado: Silverton, the experts-only ski hill only an hour from the Durango base lodges. Here, both lungs and limbs are tested by verticality. The mountain’s vertical drop is only 2,000 feet, but the angles of some of its slopes approach 55%. What does that mean?

First, you had better be a good skier, because if you fall, you’re not likely to stop. Second, be prepared with your own avalanche beacon, shovel and probe; you can also rent a set at the ticket office.

If you have time and still crave more, head for Telluride. It too is surpassingly beautiful. And there, they have learned how to spell “concierge.”

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Planning this trip

THE BEST WAY

From LAX to Gunnison, Colo., United has connecting service (change of plane). Restricted round-trip fares begin at $566.

To Durango, Colo., United, US Airways and Delta have connecting service. Round-trip fares begin at $502.

To Montrose, Colo., United has connecting service. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $487.

CRESTED BUTTE

(800) 810-7669, www.skicb.com

Where to stay

Lodgings near the slopes in Mt. Crested Butte include condos, homes and several refurbished hotels. In Crested Butte, a bus ride away, you’ll find condos, homes, B&Bs; and motels.

Grand Lodge Hotel, 6 Emmons Drive, Mt. Crested Butte; (888) 823-4446 or (970) 349-8000, www.grandlodgecrested butte.com. Formerly the Sheraton, and among the nicest of the lodgings in Mt. Crested Butte. Doubles in high season about $200 to $310.

Elevation Hotel & Spa, 500 Gothic Road; (800) 544-8448, www.elevation hotel.com. Former Club Med. Doubles in high season from $259.

Where to eat

Timberline, 201 Elk Ave.; (970) 349-6245, www.timberlinerestaurant .com. Quality new-American cuisine interpretations of dishes that include elk, trout, duck. Entrees $14 to $36.

DURANGO MOUNTAIN RESORT

(800) 982-6103, www.durangomountainresort.com.

Where to stay

Lodgings at the bottom of the slopes include individually owned condo rooms, some of which are offered under the rubric Purgatory Village Hotel, (800) 982-6103, www.durangomountain resort.com. Last year, the unit I stayed in was badly in need of a renovation. Doubles about $130 to $240 a night.

The Lodge at Tamarron, (800) 982-6103, www.durangomountainresort .com. A pleasant hotel a few minutes from the slopes; units of varying sizes. Free ski shuttle. Doubles $109 to $149.

Apple Orchard Inn, 7758 County Road 203, Durango; (800) 426-0751, www .appleorchardinn.com. My favorite B&B;, with lovely rooms and wonderful little cottages, about a 20-minute ride from the ski area. Doubles from $150 to $170 main house; cottages $185 to $225.

Where to eat

Ken and Sue’s Place, 636 Main Ave; (970) 385-1810. First-rate contemporary American food -- from pistachio-crusted grouper to “smashed” sweet potatoes -- with lovely presentation and comfy upscale booths. Entrees $15 to $25.

Gazpacho, 431 E. 2nd Ave.; (970) 259-9494, www.gazpachorestaurant .com. New Mexican dishes like chile relleno, enchiladas with red or green chile and sopaipillas (fluffy fried bread poofs meant to be slathered with honey), with most entrees less than $10.

WOLF CREEK

www.wolfcreekski.com.

Where to stay

The Springs Resort, 165 Hot Springs Blvd., Pagosa Springs; (800) 225-0934, www.pagosahotsprings.com. My favorite lodging, with its 18 natural hot springs soaking pools. Rooms are good motel quality. Doubles $149 to $200.

Where to eat

Isabel’s, 20 Village Drive, Pagosa Springs; (970) 731-5448, www.isabels diningpagosa.com. This is an unexpectedly good choice, with dishes like herb-crusted Colorado lamb chops, in a town filled with Mexican and steak restaurants. Entrees, $17 to $23.