Crystal Dam, Hydroelectric power station in Montrose County, Colorado.

Crystal Dam is a 323-foot-tall (98 m) double-curvature concrete thin arch dam on the Gunnison River in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, built in pre-Cambrian metamorphic rock. Its crest carries a raised metal rim or walkway, and a notched, ungated spillway lets excess water sheet over the top. A small angled concrete block sits at the foot of the curved wall.

The Bureau of Reclamation finished construction in 1976 as the final element of a larger water management project. It was built as part of a coordinated plan for water control in the region.

Crystal Dam is the newest of the three dams of the Bureau of Reclamation's Wayne N. Aspinall Unit, which stores Gunnison River water for agricultural and municipal use in the American Southwest. Its 28 MW turbine generates hydroelectric power, and the reservoir it impounds is named Crystal Reservoir.

Crystal Dam lies 6 miles downstream from Morrow Point Dam on the Gunnison River, deep in the Black Canyon, and is reached by road from the Curecanti National Recreation Area side. The crest carries a raised metal rim or walkway along the top of the curved concrete wall. Stay back from wet concrete near the spillway when water is running.

The spillway is a notched-out, ungated cut in the crest, so nothing regulates the overflow; in times of high water it can send a 227-foot (69 m) waterfall over the dam. The rest of the year the Gunnison passes through an 11.5-foot (3.5 m) diameter penstock to a 28 MW turbine.