Crested Butte is a home rule municipality located in Gunnison County, Colorado, United States.

[4] A former coal mining town nestled in the Slate River Valley, Crested Butte is now known as a destination for skiing, mountain biking, and outdoor activities.

[6] The East River Valley where Crested Butte is located was once used as a summer residence by the Ute people.

As a result of the renewed growth, Crested Butte began to offer middle school in the railroad depot building in 1990.

However, on July 9, 2008, the academy was closed permanently due to financial difficulties that had plagued its entire existence.

[6] Crested Butte is in north-central Gunnison County on the west side of the valley of the Slate River, along Coal Creek.

Colorado State Highway 135 runs south from Crested Butte 27 miles (43 km) to Gunnison, the county seat.

The town of Crested Butte has a Nordic Center which has an ice skating rink as well as cross-country skiing trails.

[18] The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame was located in Crested Butte before moving in 2014 to Fairfax, California.

Movies filmed in Crested Butte include Snowball Express (1972), Snowbeast (1977), The Further Adventures of the Wilderness Family (1978), and Ink (2009), Aliens vs.

[20] Since the 1970s, several companies have attempted to mine molybdenum on Mount Emmons (called the "Red Lady") near Crested Butte.

In 1977 W Mitchell was elected mayor of Crested Butte and led a campaign which stopped AMAX (now Freeport-McMoRan) from building a billion-dollar molybdenum mine on Mount Emmons.

[citation needed] The same year, 1977, saw the formation of the High Country Citizens' Alliance (HCCA), an environmental organization dedicated to protecting natural resources within the Upper Gunnison River Valley.

[22] Although US Energy continued to maintain its commitment to moving the project forward on its own behalf,[23] the withdrawal of Thomson Creek Metals was heralded as a major victory in the town of Crested Butte in its battle against the proposed molybdenum mine.