Black diamond Crested Butte, CO
Lower Crystal drops 117 vertical feet over 546 feet of skiing, with a steepest pitch of 17° about 70 feet below the top. That's steeper than 3% of the 4,740 black diamond runs we've measured in North America, and the 213th steepest of 227 named runs at Crested Butte. It faces west.
Facing west at an average 13°, Lower Crystal gets about 100% of the winter sun that flat ground at Crested Butte does, December through March. That's sunnier than 71% of the runs we've measured, and the 19th sunniest named run at Crested Butte. Its top sits at 10,270 feet.
With little slope to hide behind, it takes nearly the full winter sun of open ground: powder settles and turns heavy sooner after a storm, and spring snow softens early. Shading from ridges and trees isn't counted yet.
under 25°25–35°35–45°45°+ Hover to follow the line on the map.
Measured by ZRankings from 1-meter USGS lidar. Steepest pitch is the steepest stretch of about 50 vertical feet along the skiable line. Run lines come from OpenStreetMap and can sit a little off the skied path.