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.