It’s a freezing February morning in Crested Butte, Colorado and scribbled “Powder Day” signs are swinging from the windows of the Main St shops.
Here, in the place Australian skiers and snowboarders have dubbed the “Byron Bay of the USA”, everything stops for the snow.
Few bat an eyelid when the local bar or taco shop shuts to sample an overnight dump.
“When Mother Nature calls by giving us more than six inches of snow, the town of Crested Butte listens,” former US snowboarder Erica Mueller says. “Many of the shops will open late to allow their employees to enjoy the goods.”