Crested Butte: What's the deal? (Vail: fit in, real estate, rental)

[pikabike]

Hmmm, probably the malcontents who can’t afford to leave or barely afford living there got more bitter from seeing the hordes of tourists (some rich, some not) during 2020 and 2021.

Even NOT being a malcontent or scraping-by-resident, it was hard to stomach so many tourists who acted as though they were God’s gift to the local economy. Seeing the obviously wealthy ones raid and empty grocery shelves on their way to their nth vacation home in a certain resort town (quite a few miles away) made me angry, though I never said anything. A supermarket cashier told us that management kept their employees from buying things when they were stocked. This cashier had NO toilet paper left in her home, because by the time that employees were allowed to buy the stuff, it was ALL GONE AGAIN.

Then the RE-buying feeding frenzy started. Not just people who decided to actually sell their existing homes elsewhere, but the greedy investors snapping up that nth property.

No wonder service workers in tourist towns have a higher number of PO’d among them now.

During our two-night staycation in fall 2020 in another resort town, we did not get the cold shoulder ourselves but noticed that many service workers were burned out by the nonstop barrage of obnoxiously loud, pushy, always-travel-in-big-herds tourists from one particular state that, IMO, unfortunately really did deserve the hate. The motel owner said she couldn’t believe that (a) the flood had not abated one bit in half a year already, and (b) so many people were driving all over the USA with NO idea of ending their COVID vacation.

We also saw first-hand the tremendous damage the hordes had laid to public lands and waters. Driving, parking, camping, trampling, burning, crapping, littering...you name it. This is extra-embittering to those who actually live nearby, in some cases those who gave up the chance for better pay elsewhere in exchange for the beautiful settings.

[Colorado Rambler]

Oooooh! I used to get so mad at the wealthy tourists who would clean out the shelves of the local grocery store, leaving almost nothing for us locals. The turistas would then make their way to their 4th vacation condo in Mountain Village and stock their freezers and pantries before heading out for their next stop in some other posh vacation place. I bet the poor maid will be throwing out all that chicken for the next five years!

I have lived in Colorado for almost all my life and the chic resort towns leave me cold. I used to sometimes hang out in Telluride when it was still the ghost of an old mining town. I used to have a picture of myself standing outside the old Telluride public library which then was located in the old jail with the bars still in the windows. My how things change.

It feels to me like the San Juan Mountains have been over-run. There are traffic jams every summer on the 4wd jeep trails that lead over Imogene Pass and Black Bear Pass. Condos are springing up in what used to be pristine areas. The last time I was in Telluride, I got in the gondola from Mountain Village into town. Two very well dressed lawyers decided to join me. They got out their maps and talked land deals the entire way down. I looked at the snow covered mountains around me and hoped that both of them would miss their stop on the gondola and step out into empty space, never to be seen again. Enough is enough already.

Housing prices in my humble little town are heading for the outer limits of the stratosphere. I don't see how the regular people who live here manage to get by, and the last two years have been two of the worst ever. I don't spit on tourists (I'm actually a fairly polite person), but I don't run up to them and hug them and kiss them either.

[COcheesehead]

To me the West Elks and the San Juan’s still feel way less crowded and remote in comparison to what we left on the front range.
We recently drove from Grand Junction to Durango and saw only a handful of cars the whole way on a bright sunny day.
After years of driving the I 70 / 285 routes into the mountains, I surely notice the difference.

[interloper1138]

Originally Posted by COcheesehead

To me the West Elks and the San Juan’s still feel way less crowded and remote in comparison to what we left on the front range.
We recently drove from Grand Junction to Durango and saw only a handful of cars the whole way on a bright sunny day.
After years of driving the I 70 / 285 routes into the mountains, I surely notice the difference.

Anywhere is better than the Front Range, though. Not exactly a good comparison to make. Traffic in the rest of the state has certainly gone up. I've only been a resident for 7 years, but the difference I've witnessed is night and day.

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by COcheesehead

To me the West Elks and the San Juan’s still feel way less crowded and remote in comparison to what we left on the front range.
We recently drove from Grand Junction to Durango and saw only a handful of cars the whole way on a bright sunny day.
After years of driving the I 70 / 285 routes into the mountains, I surely notice the difference.

Terrible comparison! And those of us who live in SW CO year ‘round definitely do not see “only a handful of cars” on the roads. Maybe when roads are closed/dangerous, but not on most days, not even during the nonexistent “off season.”

I know what Front Range traffic had ballooned into even by the mid-1990s and continued living there for almost 20 more years after that. I KNOW how horrible it was even then, so I’m not someone who has only lived “in the boonies” and has no clue what bad traffic is. US 285 was, at one time, uncrowded relative to I-70 ski season. Then the ski resort areas began heavily promoting all-year “deals” at condos. Deals that were not deals at all. But burgeoning mobs lapped it up. And then not much later, US 285 traffic got steadily worse every year, in addition to year ‘round heavy traffic on I-70.

Just because it’s less awful in SW CO than in major metro areas doesn’t mean it doesn’t get very crowded in urbanites’ vacation playgrounds. And for the scraping-by service workers, the contrast between the vaca players and them is getting more extreme.

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by interloper1138

Anywhere is better than the Front Range, though. Not exactly a good comparison to make. Traffic in the rest of the state has certainly gone up. I've only been a resident for 7 years, but the difference I've witnessed is night and day.

I disagree. I grew up in Moffat County. It is not better than the Front Range. Not even close. It's a dump.

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by bluescreen73

I disagree. I grew up in Moffat County. It is not better than the Front Range. Not even close. It's a dump.

The context was crowding, not QOL.

[Colorado Rambler]

Originally Posted by pikabike

Terrible comparison! And those of us who live in SW CO year ‘round definitely do not see “only a handful of cars” on the roads. Maybe when roads are closed/dangerous, but not on most days, not even during the nonexistent “off season.”

I know what Front Range traffic had ballooned into even by the mid-1990s and continued living there for almost 20 more years after that. I KNOW how horrible it was even then, so I’m not someone who has only lived “in the boonies” and has no clue what bad traffic is. US 285 was, at one time, uncrowded relative to I-70 ski season. Then the ski resort areas began heavily promoting all-year “deals” at condos. Deals that were not deals at all. But burgeoning mobs lapped it up. And then not much later, US 285 traffic got steadily worse every year.

Just because it’s less awful in SW CO than in major metro areas doesn’t mean it doesn’t get very crowded in urbanites’ vacation playgrounds. And for the scraping-by service workers, the contrast between the vaca players and them is getting more extreme.

My own experience is very similar to pika's. I served my time on the Front Range for many years. Almost any road in the country is better than the drive from Denver up I-70 to the ski resorts. Can we say, "Eisenhower Tunnel," anyone?

If I complain about the heat, and you say, "Well, I was in hell just yesterday, and this is nothing," that still doesn't make a 100 degree day any cooler.

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by pikabike

The context was crowding, not QOL.

Fair enough.

[Melanzana92]

Toxic localism is a very real thing in every single one of Colorado's mountain towns. Part of the culture is one-upping each other on how long you've been there, and if you pull the "born and raised" card, then BAM you're the king/queen and your opinion takes precedence, just like that.

Most people aren't like that though, in my experience. You'll remember the ones that are because they're loud. But everywhere in Colorado, even in Denver, you have these sorts of...undertones? in the local vibe. And I'm sure it's the same all across the west.

I understand that if you've been in a quaint place for a long time and it starts to change, it can be frustrating. But change is inevitable and we should deal with it like adults. Many choose to forever hold resentment and act like children about it. What a sad way to live.