Kebler Pass and Cottonwood Pass Open!

It was announced today that both Cottonwood Pass and Kebler Pass will be opening tomorrow, 5/21/2015, at 4pm (I would suggest treating this as subject to change). Kebler Pass (Gunnison County Road 12) connects Crested Butte with the North Fork valley, including Paonia and Western Slope towns such as Delta and Grand Junction. Residents of Irwin are also happy about easier access to and from their properties. An open Kebler Pass also greatly decreases the passenger car travel time between Crested Butte and Aspen.

Cottonwood Pass (209) cuts down the driving time and distance between Denver and the rest of the front range with Crested Butte. An open Cottonwood Pass also makes access easier to areas including Taylor Park and Tincup. There might even be some good skiing to be had on Cottonwood Pass with all of the snow the higher elevations have been receiving lately. In an older blog post, I also mentioned that Cottonwood Pass will be getting paved in 2017-18.

With the unsettled and winter like weather we’ve been having in the Spring of 2015, I would highly recommend checking road conditions before driving either pass.