The year was 2019. Crested Butte had just had the largest March snowstorm on record. The blizzard doubled the snowpack for the season in just one month, leading to a once in 100-year avalanche cycle. Multiple historically large avalanches ran in the Elk Mountains, snapping grown trees like toothpicks and burying the valley floor beneath hundreds of feet of snow. Gothic Road was plugged with snow all summer until September. The landscape, covered in snow through June, experienced one of the best wildflower Super Blooms that Crested Butte had ever seen: Mule Ears Sunflower and Wyethia Amplexiculis blanketed an entire 1,500-foot mountainside. With the road plugged by snow, the only way to access the bloom was via mountain bike. Trail 401: iconic, unparalleled singletrack. A steep and brutal climb followed by a world class descent. A truly magical experience with a bloom like this. You’re taking in the expansive views while you fly down the trail brushing your handlebars on the flowers.