The substantial buffets for breakfast, lunch and dinner each evening buffet celebrates a different type of cuisine, from French to Tex-Mex provide plenty of choices for even the most finicky eaters. There is pizza and pasta, steaks and seafood, and elaborate salad and desert bars. It doesn't matter if they all want something different to eat. Not even Ballin's husband's last-day ski injury could dampen the family's enthusiasm for the place. Programs are for children ages 4 and up.
Shorter packages are available, as are excursions to go snowshoeing or dogsledding.
Rental equipment is extra. There are direct charters from Florida and New York. There are special programs for women and for skiers with disabilities, and there is day care for infants. Crested Butte dates back to the silver boom of the 1880s and is full of quaint shops and excellent restaurants. It's just a five-minute ride from the mountain, and there are free shuttles.