Crested Butte Magazine 2011 Summer by CrestedButteMagazine

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Crested Butte Magazine

Long story short 9

PLAYING WITH FIRE by Dawne Belloise Crested Butte’s poi troupe re-ignites an ancient art form.

AN INTERNATIONAL STAGE by Laura Puckett As the world’s top racers scream to a Mt. Crested Butte stage finish in the U.S.A. Pro Cycling Challenge, locals should flaunt their passion for cycling and celebrating.

BRINGING ZIP TO THE MOUNTAIN

by Sandy Fails The new Crested Butte Zipline Tour sends people zinging around the ski mountain via cables and bridges.

GLORIA! By Katherine Darrow

Local researchers have joined a global initiative monitoring mountaintops to understand climate change.

CRESTED BUTTE ON CANVAS

by Sandy Fails The Crested Butte Plein Air Invitational will draw esteemed painters and patrons fascinated by “that direct conversation with nature.”

Contents

STEPPING IT UP

For those who’d rather run than walk, Living Journeys adds a Mountain Half-Marathon to its Summit Hike fundraiser.

THE LOCAL STOKOLOGIST

by Luke Mehall Mike Horn aptly named his adventure website and online magazine “Stokelab.”

PARADISE FOUND by Laura Puckett PAWS’ new digs – a home away from home for our lost or abandoned pets.

Cover photo Snowmelt rodeo. This intrepid kayaker rides the crashing cascades of the ‘27 Footer’ on Oh-Be-Joyful Creek in late June.

Crested Butte Magazine

Features 28

THE EVOLUTION OF ADRENALINE

by Kain Leonard and Kevin Krill The ski resort’s downhill mountain biking turns an adventure sport into a thriller.

SPREADING MUSICAL SEEDS

by Sandy Fails Young singer-dancer Ava Lypps shows just how powerful the Crested Butte Music Festival’s opportunities can be for local kids.

528,000 REVOLUTIONS…AND COUNTING by Brooke Harless Guided by local mountaineer/equipment designer Dave Penney, Paralympian Chris Waddell summited Mount Kilimanjaro on a handcycle. And that’s just the beginning.

BACKYARD BREWS

by Dawne Belloise Why quaff a generic beer when you can savor a neighbor’s creation at the local brewpub?

ROBBER BEES, FAT MARMOTS, HELPFUL FUNGUS

And other fun facts about our flora and fauna compiled by Rocky Mountain Biological Lab researchers.

REALITY TV MEETS WILDEST DREAMS

by Erin English Extreme Makeover: Home Edition teams up with Crested Butte’s Adaptive Sports Center to give special families a special gift.

SUITABLE FOR FRAMING

Beauty break, brought to you by local photographers.

ANCIENT TRAILS

by Polly Oberosler Natives and pioneers, covered wagons and trains – many have traveled the trails where we now hike, bike and ponder.

ON THE ASCENT by Ben Johnson The valley’s climbing community invites rock-fiends to reach for something bigger.

A BUTTE-IFUL BOULDERING BONANZA

by Luke Mehall A barbeque, dance-off, slack-lining, music and autumn leaves will color this climbing celebration.

Perspectives 81

WHERE OM MEETS MOO by Shelley Read Zen and the art of the cattle-drive drive.

ZEN DISHWASHING by Luke Mehall Seeking higher consciousness in the dish pit.

GRUMPS AFLAME by Gregory Pettys Finding alchemy in Vinotok’s fiery ritual.

TWENTY YEARS OF JIMMY CARTER

Photographer Tom Stillo marvels at the great humanitarian and former President.

HOME IS WHERE… by Pam Montgomery Why we love our valley.

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MUSEUM TEASER CALENDAR LODGING GUIDE DINING GUIDE

Crested Butte Magazine

Vol. XXXIII, No. 1 Published semi-annually by Crested Butte Publishing & Creative PUBLISHER Steve Mabry Chris Hanna EDITOR Sandy Fails ADVERTISING DIRECTOR MJ Vosburg GRAPHIC DESIGN Keitha Kostyk WRITERS Dawne Belloise Kathy Darrow Erin English Sandy Fails Brooke Harless Ben Johnson Kevin Krill Kain Leonard Luke Mehall Pam Montgomery Polly Oberosler Laura Puckett Shelley Read Asya Stillo PHOTOGRAPHERS Dawne Belloise Nathan Bilow Sandra Cortner Raynor Czerwinski Kathy Darrow Dusty Demerson Xavier Fané Alex Fenlon Suzette Gainous Paul Gallaher Kevin Krill JC Leacock Spenser Li Jan Runge Tom Stillo Mike Stoner Mike Tittel Rebecca Weil COVER PHOTO J.C. Leacock ONLINE www.crestedbuttemagazine.com E-MAIL happy@crestedbutte.net SUBSCRIPTIONS Crested Butte Publishing P.O. Box 1030, Crested Butte, CO 81224 970-349-7511 • $8/year for two issues ADVERTISING 970-349-6211 E-mail: mj@crestedbuttemagazine.com Copyright 2011, Crested Butte Publishing. No reproduction of contents without authorization by Crested Butte Publishing & Creative. 4

Crested Butte Magazine

Editor’s note Learning to walk

Xavier Fane

If you saw me sashaying down the sidewalk a few months

looser, more fluid and energetic. My singing got better (or my

ago looking like a spastic runway model, attempting to wiggle

dog deafer). One dark evening on our nightly rounds, as I was

various body parts in relation to others, don’t worry. I was

trying out a slick little Michael Jackson move, it occurred to

neither imbibing nor convulsing; I was relearning how to walk.

me that I was also inexplicably happy. My body had apparently

Which, oddly enough, prompted some reminders about how

been laying some subtle “lighten up” hints on my psyche.

to live.

Walking had become a metaphor for how I wanted to live my

Last winter, I started going to long-time acquaintance Jani Wedmore Pulaski, a Rolfer and movement practitioner, to treat the plantar fasciitis that had bedeviled my right foot.

life: less rigid, braced and protective; more purposeful, open and playful. Now striding sometimes feels so good that I forget it’s a

Rolfing bodywork releases the fascia, the sheathing around our

mode of transportation. Then it’s not just about reaching a

muscles and tendons, so our bodies can realign themselves.

destination; it’s about joyfully going forth in the world.

In the process of getting Rolfed, I spent some time striding

I had plenty of practice perambulating this winter after

up and down Jani’s carpet like Miss Middle-Aged America,

we rented a house in town while our water-damaged Skyland

learning to loosen, align and counter-rotate my mal-adapted

home was being repaired. I hadn’t lived downtown for 15 years

body.

but fell easily back into the rhythm of walking most everywhere.

I began practicing my new moves while walking my dog on the slippery streets last February. My brain recited mantras like

That reminded me of a few life lessons as well. There’s something grounding about putting on my shoes,

“grace, flow and balance,” while my body tensed itself into Tin

opening the door and strolling where I want to go. I feel the

Man rigidity against the icy peril. The best antidote seemed to

spongy earth or hard sidewalk under my feet, smell the hint

be singing old Doris Day jingles as I sauntered. Alas, my off-key

of rain in the air, say hello to Sammy the crossing guard, and

warble and exaggerated strutting drove even my loyal, half-

notice the tiny blades of grass that weren’t there yesterday. As

deaf dog to falter at the end of his leash.

I put one foot in front of the other, I use up nothing but the

Eventually the snow melted, as did my body’s frozen fascia. Not only did the foot pain go away, but my movements grew

breakfast muffin that would otherwise glom onto my thighs. I’m no pedestrian purist; I’ve bonded well with my aging Crested Butte Magazine

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Jeep Grand Cherokee. But I have to admit it’s just different to travel through the world in a car, isolated in a fuel-burning bubble – fast, separate and consumptive. I generally hop into the car in one place and hop out in another, with little connection to anything in between. So relying on my car turns my physical world into a series of destinations with blank spaces in between. My life can mirror that: moments of engagement interspersed with blanked-out stretches when all I’m doing is rolling along between the lines. I can see why people in car-dependent cities live much of their lives on cruise control. During the weeks when I was relearning how to walk and tuning back into the world as I ambled through it, I was also putting together the editorial list for the summer Crested Butte Magazine. As I glanced over the stories, I noticed how many dealt with people who are engaged full-on with life. There are the housekeepers who juggle fire every Friday. Dave Penney leading a Paralympian up Mountain Kilimanjaro on a hand-cycle he helped design. Shaun Horne out painting in the rain. People here tend to live their lives more consciously: tackling new challenges, opening to new ideas, stretching their mental, physical or spiritual reach. So many things keep us awake here: rock climbing, crying at the beauty of “Carmen” as performed in our intimate Center by Metropolitan Opera artists, speeding down the ski slopes on mountain bikes or the new ziplines. Even our local beers can be provocative. It occurred to me that perhaps people laugh, celebrate, move and pay attention so intensely here partly because we walk more often than we plop ourselves in a car and punch the cruise control. In honor of that revelation, may this issue of the Crested Butte Magazine inspire you to engage your heart, brain and senses, and to boogie forth into the world with a little jive in your stride. — Sandy Fails, editor

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Crested Butte Magazine

long story short

PLAYING WITH FIRE

Crested Butte’s poi troupe re-ignites an ancient art form.

by Dawne Belloise

Local fire-spinners outshine the full moon. Alex Fenlon

TRAILS OF HOT ORANGERED ZIP THROUGH THE AIR, WEAVING THE NIGHT INTO A DAZZLE OF FLAMING DANCE. A dozen bodies sway and bend as arms swing burning globes into fiery patterns. The dance troupe is secluded in an alley enclave for now, away from the

Now a performance art, the word

yourself,” troupe member Chris Krueger

“poi” means ball on a cord. It can also

said. “It’s the fire in everyone, the

represent the choreography or music of

people, the kids and the lookers. Dance

the poi dance. The method was used

with fire. Be what you are, striving for

to increase coordination, flexibility

what you need – that’s what poi is for

and strength in Maori women’s hands

me.” Krueger jumped into poi not only

and arms. Maori dancers originally

because his friends were doing it, but

performed poi with balls attached to flax

also for therapeutic reasons.

strings and swung rhythmically to music. “I got into poi growing up in New

“I separated my shoulder a few years ago and started using poi as rehab, but I liked the movements... so I kept it.”

crowds as they practice their fiery night

Hampshire, where I started as hippies

moves. Their dance is known as poi,

do... poi dancing in the woods.” Taggert

traditionally practiced by the indigenous

giggled. “We used tennis balls and

addition to spinning flames – there are

Maori people of New Zealand but

cords. Then when I came out here to

socks, ribbons, long nylon with LED-

adopted into the unique rhythm that

Crested Butte, I didn’t have anybody to

lit balls on the end – but the spinning

is Crested Butte. Lighting up parties,

practice with.” Last year she hooked into

and movements are all based off of a

back alleys, streets, parades and

the troupe that practices every Friday

pattern. “The combo creates patterns to

Vinotok celebrations in a spontaneous

night at 8 p.m. in the Pump Room. “For

the viewers’ eyes,” Krueger explained.

combination of dance and flame,

me, as a structured girl who works a lot,

“It’s sort of taught by everyone in the

these men and women are ever ready

it’s a freedom. It’s this thing that doesn’t

troupe, like a passed-on tradition. We

for some seriously fun spinning. “We

match the rest of my life and that I’m

pass it on and get different moves. It’s a

always have our stuff with us,” said Erika

drawn to. It’s fun and unstructured... like

fun thing to get into.”

Taggart, a member of Crested Butte’s

dancing out the work week.”

poi troupe.

“Poi is freedom to represent

There are different types of poi in

Today’s poi tools have modern components like Kevlar wicks, and the Crested Butte Magazine

Paul Gallaher

Erika Taggert hones her moves.

poi is soaked in white gas or kerosene

with fire, and it takes practice not to set

for a better burn. Different wicks are

yourself and your surroundings ablaze or

chosen for specific performances, burn

suffer bruises from misguided poi strikes.

times and flame brightness.

Krueger confirmed, “It’s gonna happen,

“We carry staffs of four-foot hollow

more an illusion of being dangerous. Fire

single poi, double-headed poi and torch

itself is relaxing and calming. It’s one of

poi,” Taggert said.

our basic elements.”

Krueger made his torch poi, which

happening all over America, our

ski pole – “because we’re ghetto,” he

fascination with the magic of fire stems

said, smiling.

from the time humans learned to control

Crested Butte’s dozen or so fire-

fire to cook (about 1.9 million years ago),

spinners defy stereotypes, ranging from

stay warm, keep wild predators away and

bearers of dreadlocks to a teacher,

fight enemies. Modern-day fire spinners

a teenager and her mom. Some are

take it to a ritualistic and holistic level.

for dancing with flame; others have advanced to moves like fiery hulahooping. To get going in poi, spinners learn simple moves until they build the dexterity for the more complex ones, integrating the weaves, butterflies, wraps and flowers into their own creative, synchronized dance. Yes, there’s a minor danger factor involved with playing Crested Butte Magazine

With enormous tribal poi gatherings

has a 36-inch chain on the end, out of a

still slinging bean bags in preparation

but you don’t go up in flames. Poi is

aluminum poles with torches on the end,

“The fire alone will take people somewhere else,” Krueger said. “Regardless of whether I’ve had a bad day, if I light up and spin, the day just goes away. The art form of the fire is intriguing. It’s a stress reliever. You sort of get into a trance and go off into your world.” Dawne Belloise is a freelance writer, photographer, traveler and musician living in a small cottage with a large cat on an alley at the end of the road. dbelloise@gmail.com.

Crested Butte Magazine

long story short

AN INTERNATIONAL STAGE

As the world’s top racers scream to a Mt. Crested Butte stage finish during the heralded U.S.A. Pro Cycling Challenge, locals should flaunt their passion for cycling and celebrating. By Laura Puckett

John Pierce, PhotoSport International

The breakaway and the peloton, coming soon to your backyard.

IMAGINE STANDING ON ELK AVENUE WHEN THE PELOTON FROM THE TOUR DE FRANCE RIPS PAST, so close you can see legs pumping and lungs heaving amid the whirling mass. That is essentially what the U.S.A. Pro Cycling Challenge will bring to town this August. In its debut year, the U.S.A. Pro Cycling Challenge this August 22-28

reaching record race altitudes. The race will be broadcast on NBC,

Somewhere between biking legend Lance Armstrong, former Colorado

and the cable network VERSUS will

Governor Bill Ritter, sports promotion

provide daily international coverage with

company Medalist Sports, and founding

famed commentators Phil Liggett and

sponsor Quiznos, the idea for a full-

Paul Sherwin – similar to the coverage

fledged American tour was born and

given to the Tour de France. More than

brought to Colorado.

a million viewers will watch, and the race

“There’s a deep history of

is expected to be the largest spectator

professional road racing in Colorado,

event in Colorado history.

and they want to bring it back,” said

On August 23, the whole shebang

Aaron Huckstep, a lawyer in Crested

will barrel up Highway 135 and through

Butte and one of three chairs of the

downtown Crested Butte, then up the

Local Organizing Committee (LOC).

is being hailed by promoters as “the

Gothic Road to Mt. Crested Butte for

Colorado is an ideal place to hold this

greatest bike race ever to be held on

the race’s only mountain-top stage

caliber of race, he said, because “there’s

American soil.” One hundred twenty-

finish. The following day’s stage will start

an organic group of spectators already

eight of the world’s best professional

in Gunnison en route to Aspen. As many

here,” in addition to the grueling climbs,

cyclists will compete in seven stages

as 10,000 spectators could flood the

thin air and spectacular scenery.

across Colorado, covering 600 miles and

valley to cheer on the racers.

Crested Butte Magazine

The race will begin in Colorado

Springs with a time trial, but the first full stage will happen here. Riders will start in Salida, charge through Gunnison and turn onto Highway 135 toward Crested Butte, hitting town around 3:30 p.m. In town they’ll make a loop up Whiterock to First Street to Elk, with a sprint point right at Third Street, before heading back to the Gothic Road. Finally the racers will climb to the finish line just past the Grand Lodge, with iconic Crested Butte Mountain and the Elk Mountains filling the backdrop. The seven stages encompass Salida, Mt. Crested Butte, Gunnison, Aspen, Vail, Avon, Steamboat Springs, Breckenridge, Golden and Denver. For Crested Butte the U.S.A. Pro Cycling Challenge means galvanizing our own endemic “bike cult,” as Dave Ochs, another LOC chair, calls it. Just to get the race to come here, the LOC put together a 72-page proposal, including dozens of letters of support. Now with 20 LOC volunteers and seven sub-committees, they are taking care of everything from sponsorship to portable toilets. They’re also planning ancillary events such as a Townie Criterium and a “Race the Race” mountain bike tour to Aspen for the days surrounding the stage, to create a multiday, bike-centric festival. “Crested Butte is cycling,” asserted Ochs. “There are more townie bikes in town than cars; there are more cheap cars than cheap bikes. We are a bike culture.” As demonstrated by the Al Johnson, Vinotok and other flamboyant occasions, Buttians like to dress up and celebrate. Road race spectating is its own full-on sport, with outrageous costumes, painted signs and fans who chase the riders like their own championship titles are on the line. Embracing Crested Butte’s wacky spirit, Medalist promoters chose to host a stage here in part because they want to see us do what we do best. Ochs put it succinctly: “Bring your costume. Be Crested Butte. Be creative.” INFORMATION: www.usaprocyclingchallenge.com. To help with or sponsor the local stage, call 970-596-3304. Crested Butte Magazine

long story short

BRINGING ZIP TO THE MOUNTAIN The new Crested Butte Zipline Tour sends people zinging around the ski mountain via cables and bridges. By Sandy Fails

380 feet each, get longer as the course progresses and people gain confidence and ease. The bridges, too, get more adventurous, including a burma bridge made of three cables: one for the feet and two for the hands. At each tower platform, the group and guides reconvene to catch their breath, sightsee and learn a fun fact or two. “The adventure is there – you go faster than you’d think – but it has some meaning, too,” Herrin said. The course finishes at the base area Learning Center, where people descend from the final tower using an auto-belay system for a last little zinger of fun. The Zipline Tour will also operate in winter, with riders catching the Peachtree chairlift up to the start and zigzagging back down suspended above the skiers. “We’re the first ski area in Colorado to have a year-round

IN CRESTED BUTTE MOUNTAIN RESORT’S CAMPAIGN TO RAISE THE LEVEL OF YEARROUND, ON-MOUNTAIN ADVENTURING, ONE IDEA ROSE ABOVE ALL OTHERS: THE CRESTED BUTTE ZIPLINE TOUR. Now, while some fun-seekers ride bikes or skis down the mountain, others won’t even touch the ground. Instead they’ll descend via five ziplines (cables that riders “zip” down, suspended from fullbody harnesses) and three bridges. “I didn’t want a one-zip wonder,” said Nick Herrin, director of resort services for Crested Butte Mountain Resort. “I wanted to create a canopy tour that exposes people to the mountain environment.” He also wanted to balance thrills with comfort, 14

Crested Butte Magazine

so everyone from young people to grandparents could have fun together. Starting near the top of the Peachtree chairlift, the Zipline Tour zigzags down the slope connecting eight towers built among clusters of aspens. Zipline riders skim 15-40 feet above the ground, and an automatic braking system slows them down as they approach the next tower platform. Two guides for each group (up to eight people) not only instruct and help with the ziplines but also point out plants, wildlife and landmarks and tell stories about Crested Butte’s history, natural wonders and culture. “We didn’t want it to feel like a theme park; we wanted it to feel like Crested Butte,” Herrin said. Canopy tourers meet their guides at the base area and take a short hike to the top of Peachtree. A practice cable there lets people get used to the equipment before climbing a bridge to the first tower. The zipline sections, 100-

zipline,” Herrin noted. The tour, lasting more than two hours, costs $49, with discounts for early booking through the Adventure Center (970-349-2211). There’s no age limit, but zipline riders must weigh between 70 and 250 pounds to be accommodated by the braking system (which works with counterbalancing weights). Herrin said, “The resort’s Adventure Park has been a huge success. Not every grandparent wants to climb a rock tower or do flips on the bungee trampoline, but miniature golf is for everyone. We want the Zipline Tour to get the whole family out there, too.” Starting June 18, Crested Butte Mountain will be open for lift-accessed hiking and mountain biking; the Adventure Park climbing, mini-golfing and bungeeing; canopy tours; and free weekly concerts. The resort has extended its chairlift hours to 5 p.m. most days and 7 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays.

ZIP ZIG ZAG

ridecb.com

DOWN LINES 200 TO 380 FEET LONG

THROUGH THE TOWERING ASPEN TREES

BETWEEN 40 FOOT HIGH PLATFORMS

CRESTED BUTTE MOUNTAIN RESORT IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE

NEW CANOPY ZIPLINE TOUR To make your Zipline Tour complete, navigate through a series of adventure features, including a wooden plank bridge on suspended cables, a 40 ft climbing net, and a belay device that lets you leap from the final tower and be lowered gently to the ground.

Open year-round. Group discounts available. Adventure Center (970)349-2211

CRESTED BUTTE MOUNTAIN RESORT Crested Butte Magazine

Photo : Bob Brazell

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long story short

GLORIA!

Local researchers have joined a global initiative monitoring mountaintops to understand climate change. By Katherine Darrow

After months of hauling 50-pound loads of equipment and assembling the stations during the summer of 2008, Butz said her most memorable moment was when the first one began running on Cinnamon Mountain. The stations are an “upgrade” in GLORIA protocol, which prescribes compact wireless soil temperature data loggers within each monitoring plot. In addition to collecting data on air temperature, solar radiation and wind speeds, each station is rigged with cables attached to sensors that monitor soil moisture and temperatures, critical factors for plant growth and survival. This information will be correlated with plant species inventories and detailed observations

WHILE SKEPTICS AND POLITICIANS DEBATE THE MAGNITUDE AND ORIGINS OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE (GCC), SCIENTISTS ARE PROBING FOR INFORMATION TO HELP UNDERSTAND AND PERHAPS PREDICT ITS EFFECTS. Investigators at Rocky Mountain Biological Lab (RMBL) in Gothic are on the forefront of ecological research to

Treasury Mountain and one on the summit of Cinnamon Mountain. The fourth is perched on the rocky top of Ruby Mountain west of Lake Irwin. Each site is a node in the GLORIA network that includes long-term monitoring sites on over 400 sentinel peaks around the globe. The GLORIA Project, an aptly crafted acronym for Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments, was conceived by a research team in Austria in 2004, and has grown to include 91 mountain regions in 34 countries on five continents. “Putting in these weather stations

of square meter plots that will be made every year for the first five years. “This baseline data will help us understand any year-to-year variation that occurs,” says Kueppers. “After that, we plan to continue monitoring every five years for several decades to detect whether there are any significant trends or changes that can’t be attributed to normal annual variation.” All of this effort is aimed at trying to understand GCC from the perspective of alpine plants. While humans often regard the alpine landscape as harsh and extreme, to “cryophilous subnival flora,” (science speak for “cold-loving

was not trivial,” notes Dr. Lara Kueppers,

plants that thrive under snow”), the

assistant professor at the University

high life is quite comfortable. But if, as

of California, Merced. Sharing a keen

scientists predict, the long winter season

interest in GCC research and a zest

of insulating snow pack is rapidly altered

for outdoor adventure, Dr. Kueppers

as the atmosphere warms, some species

information about how GCC operates.

teamed up with Dr. Ramona Butz, an

may face conditions that they are not

If you scan Paradise Divide through

ecologist with the US Forest Service

well adapted for. This, coupled with

powerful binoculars from the valley

in Northern California, to establish

already apparent upward migration of

below, you may spot the wiry frames

GLORIA sites in the Ruby Range of the

treeline vegetation in some mountain

of three out of four stations that were

Elk Mountains. With RMBL as a logistical

ranges, is likely to cause dramatic

installed in 2008 to take the temperature

and intellectual hub, more than a dozen

changes in plant communities and

and pulse of alpine weather. Two are

local researchers and field crew have

species survival, since there is no escape

installed on the southeast ridge of

collaborated on the project.

route but up.

decipher the causes, symptoms and prognosis for Earth’s atmospheric fever. Luckily for beauty-seeking ecologists, mountain summits have been tagged as an environment that may provide

Crested Butte Magazine

Rolfing

STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION RE-ALIGNING THE BODY & MIND

Jani Wedmore Pulaski

Certified Rolfer Rolf Movement Instructor Kundalini Yoga Teacher & Health Counselor ®

970-209-9723 | JANIPULASKI@YAHOO.COM 101 N. 10TH STREET, MAIN HOUSE, GUNNISON How will climate change affect plant communities like these alpine sunflowers?

Now that two years of vegetation and climate data have been collected in the Ruby Range, analysis is underway. “There will be some challenges,” says Kueppers. This is an understatement; already lightning has zapped two out of four stations. But data is beginning to reveal some interesting patterns. Kueppers breaks into a grin as she downloads the soil temperature data from Treasury Mountain and notes the precise date when diurnal cycles kick in, which indicates that the snow pack has melted at that site. “This is important, because one of the predictions of climate change is that we will have earlier snowmelt, and therefore a longer growing season,” explains Kueppers. “This may increase seasonal soil temperatures, but will there also be more moisture stress? How will plants respond to these changes?” So far more than 130 species of flowering plants have been identified on the study sites. Interestingly, more than 60 of them have been found on only one of the four peaks. Barely ten percent, or 14 species, occur on all four, including alpine sunflowers, alp lilies, tundra paintbrush and columbines. Understanding these patterns, and how they change over time in response to global climate change, will be a long uphill climb for GLORIA ecologists. Learn more at www.gloria.ad.at/ or volunteer at lkueppers@ucmerced.edu. Botanist Katherine Darrow is the author of Wild About Wildflowers. 18

Crested Butte Magazine

long story short

CRESTED BUTTE ON CANVAS

The Crested Butte Plein Air Invitational will draw esteemed painters and patrons fascinated by “that direct conversation with nature.” By Sandy Fails

painting in a studio and painting outdoors is that you’re looking at something moving; you’re having a direct conversation with nature,” he said. “It’s certainly more challenging, which is sort of the same thing as being more fun. And you have the pleasure of being outdoors and watching nature do what it does. When you paint from a photograph, you’re painting what the camera sees – one moment. When you paint outdoors, you’re painting 10,000 moments, a ‘smear across time.’ The scene probably never actually looked exactly the way the painting looks.” Because he paints on street corners as well as in secluded natural settings, Shaun also interacts with people as he applies color to canvas. That can be both engaging and distracting, especially if people don’t realize he’s working and instead view him as a

WHEN SPECTATORS GATHER TO WITNESS THE “QUICK DRAW” ON ELK AVENUE ON JULY 16, THEY SHOULDN’T EXPECT SIXSHOOTERS A-BLAZING.

Butte and its surrounding mountains

performer. “It’s a very, very slow show,”

throughout the first half of July. Starting

he said.

The 30-plus quick-drawers who convene downtown will instead wield pencils and paintbrushes, and they’ll be drawing

July 15, the slate will bring exhibitions

After hosting the Rocky Mountain

and sales, receptions, workshops,

Plein Air Painters last summer, Horne

gallery talks, the Quick Draw and a

decided to create an independent

more relaxed Paint Out in Crested

invitational event with big visibility and

Butte’s historic downtown. Many of

major star power. He hopes the Crested

the paintings will remain on exhibition

Butte Plein Air Invitational will become

through July 23. (For the schedule, see

an annual, high-profile event with

crestedbuttepleinairinvitational.com.)

national prestige.

En plein air, a French expression

“This event in itself is not unique,”

art, not blood. The artists will have three

meaning “in the open air,” describes

he said. “In the sixties, you were pooh-

hours to sketch and paint, then an hour

the act of painting in the outdoors.

poohed if you did realist painting, but

to frame and display their work for a

As during last year’s Rocky Mountain

in the last 15 to 20 years, there’s been

silent auction in the art tent on Third

Plein Air Painters gathering, sightseers

a rebirth in plein air painting. Plein air

Street.

meandering along Crested Butte’s

events have sprung up from Salida and

scenic byways in July will spy not only

Telluride to Laguna, California, and Door

events during the Crested Butte Plein

deer and columbines but also artists at

County, Wisconsin – there are probably

Air Invitational July 15-17, sponsored

their easels.

30 this year. Of those, we’ll have perhaps

The Quick Draw will be one of many

by Southwest Art Magazine and hosted

Shaun Horne, owner of the Oh-Be-

the second strongest line-up of painters

by the Oh-Be-Joyful Gallery. More

Joyful Gallery, has become a familiar

next to Laguna. PBS did a five-part

than 45 select professional painters

sight as he applies paint to canvas

series on master plein-air painters; we’ll

from 13 states will create original,

amid winter snowstorms and summer

have two of the five in Crested Butte.”

realist landscape paintings in Crested

sunshine. “The main difference between

Nationally acclaimed artists Ralph Crested Butte Magazine

Alex Fenlon

Last year’s plein-air exhibition; Ralph Oberg’s rendition of Emerald Lake.

Oberg, Jay Moore, Gay Faulkenberry,

for each emeritus artist; they get the

develop Crested Butte as a world-class

Jean LeGassick and Kenn Backhaus

first choice of paintings,” Horne said.

landscape art destination for both artists

will join the Crested Butte Plein Air

Others may buy tickets to the Patrons’

and collectors,” he said. “If people

Invitational, along with the other

Preview for $500, which will be applied

participating painters “who are really

to the purchase of a painting there.

know we have Ralph Oberg’s paintings,

excited about interacting with these

Townspeople and guests can also watch

emeritus artists,” Horne said. “Emeritus

art unfolding in and around town and

artists don’t generally do these things;

visit the exhibitions, receptions and

this is pretty rare.”

other events.

The invitational is designed for art

Ultimately Horne wants to extend

they will travel to Crested Butte to buy them.” With the visibility and caliber of art brought to town during the Plein Air Invitational, “this event has the potential

appreciators as well as art creators.

Crested Butte’s allure to art fans as

to help Crested Butte in total,” he said.

It offers patronage on three levels.

well as to skiers, mountain bikers,

“We’re getting an emeritus sponsor

gourmands and music lovers. “I want to

“Crested Butte is a natural landscape market… and everyone wins.”

Crested Butte Magazine

STEPPING IT UP

Local cancer support organization Living Journeys adds a Mountain Half-Marathon to its Summit Hike fundraiser. WHY WALK UP A MOUNTAIN WHEN YOU CAN RUN UP? For the stalwarts who ask such

to challenge themselves. This adds the fun of competition; a lot of people here love to compete.” As in past years, Summit Hikers can leave between 7 and 10 a.m. for the

questions, there’s a worthy new way to

11-mile (round-trip) trek to the peak and

feel the glorious burn – a July 30 half-

back – or ride the chair lift and hike up

marathon up and around Crested Butte

just the final steep mile.

Mountain. The Mountain Half-Marathon will

Many walk in honor, memory or support of loved ones who have battled

be held in conjunction with the annual

cancer; others celebrate their own

Summit Hike, in which 150-200 hikers

victories by ceremoniously signing the

walk to the 12,162-foot crest of the

journal at the dramatic tip of Crested

mountain. Proceeds from both events

Butte Mountain. The day is typically

will help the local, non-profit Living

filled with touching moments, hugs,

Journeys provide support for people

songs and laughter as climbing the

touched by cancer.

mountain becomes a fitting metaphor

Half-marathon runners will start from the base area at 8 a.m. on Saturday,

for the ordeal of cancer. The day culminates with a

July 30, and forge their way four miles

celebration in the base area event tent,

uphill on a dirt road, then wind around

with barbeque, a sundae bar, silent

the mountain on rolling single track

auction, lots of kids’ activities, prizes and

and finish down the jeep road back to

live music by Alpine Soul.

the base. Over approximately 13 miles,

To up the adrenaline bar, Crested

runners will ascend and descend several

Butte Mountain Guides will also offer a

thousand vertical feet.

guided and roped, 750-foot technical

Why volunteer for that pain? Glory

climb up “Guide’s Ridge” (good for

and bragging rights, of course; a race

first-time climbers) as a Summit Hike

t-shirt, great food and festivities; and

alternative. A portion of the guide fees

gear prizes for the top male and female

plus all registration fees will go to Living

runners, master runners and money-

Journeys.

raiser. Plus the satisfaction of helping

Each hiker and runner is encouraged

neighbors who are going through pain

to raise pledges for Living Journeys.

that is not voluntary.

Prizes go to the top three fundraisers,

“For people who want to step it up, we’re putting the challenge out there: Can you conquer this race in the name

long story short

fundraising team and, this year, best costume. Living Journeys provides financial

getting better.” The group has touched hundreds of lives, assisting about 30 people each year, she said. Living Journeys recently formed a resource support network of people who provide body work, overall health services, advocacy (e.g. for insurance or legal issues), household help (e.g. babysitting, meals and cleaning), plus cancer survivors and

of cancer?” said MaryMike Haley, who

support, group and individual therapy

helped create Living Journeys a decade

caregivers who can share experiences

and practical resources to local people

ago.

and information.

living with and affected by cancer. Haley

“The Summit Hike is Living Journeys’

Runners or hikers can preregister

noted, “The huge financial burden that

($40) at crestedbuttesummithike.

major fundraiser, and we wanted to be

comes along with a cancer diagnosis

zapevent.com; or register on the day

creative in drumming up interest,” said

takes a toll on people’s lives. In the

of the race ($50); or just attend the

board member Annie Coburn. “With the

middle of treatment, they’re hit with

barbeque celebration for $25. Go to

half-marathon, we hope to appeal to the

massive bills. Living Journeys helps

race circuit and to adventurers who like

alleviate the stress so they can focus on

www.crestedbuttesummithike.zapevent. com or www.livingjourneys.org. Crested Butte Magazine

long story short

THE LOCAL STOKOLOGIST

Mike Horn’s aptly named adventure web site and online magazine. By Luke Mehall BASE jumping, skateboarding and climbing. The Stokelab magazine is available for free on the web site. The issues tend to run for a hundred-plus pages and are easily viewed with a few clicks. Horn has scored interviews with some major stars, including Seth Wescott, a former Gunnison Valley resident and two-time Olympic boardercross gold medalist. “We were really excited to interview him,” Horn said. “He was about to appear on the ‘Today Show’ when I tracked him down, and he’s just been honored by President Obama. It was a great validation for what we’re doing.” Stories aren’t just about the famous. In one issue a six-year-old girl, a skateboarder nicknamed the Flying Vermont. The duo became acquainted

Bunny, gets a two-page spread, which

when Horn was living in Vermont and

notes that “most athletes, famous or

cutting his teeth as an outdoor writer

not, are really just kids at heart.”

with Backcountry Magazine. Horn

MIKE HORN WANTS PEOPLE TO BE STOKED, AND HE’S PROVIDED JUST THE PLACE.

Advertising is minimal and creative

and Cash still team up as writer and

at the Stokelab. The site often hosts

photographer on snowboarding stories

contests, and this year awarded a

for Backcountry. They came up with the

season pass to Jay Peak, an East Coast

idea for Stokelab while brainstorming

ski resort. Horn and Cash plan to skip

about “the next big thing” after a

the costs of printing and maintain the

bumpy stretch on the freelance roller

magazine as an online publication only.

coaster.

“Digital publishing has fewer barriers

A visit to www.stokelab.com reveals

to entry and requires less of an initial

an array of stories, photos and videos in

investment, especially when you look

Horn, a Crested Butte writer and

a user-friendly format. Fresh content is

at how expensive printing and shipping

entrepreneur, last July launched a new

uploaded almost daily, mostly tailored

are,” Horn said.

web site and online magazine called

to the seasons.

Stokelab, to get people stoked on

“My days usually begin with coffee

While Horn wants to get everyone psyched, he mainly considers those who

everything from wild experiences to

and finding or producing content to

aren’t lucky enough to have the great

undercover urban exploits.

post up on the site,” Horn said.

outdoors as their backyards.

“The Stokelab is a digital media

Winter brings coverage of snow-

“I’m thinking about that guy at work

experience, consisting of entirely

related sports, from snow skating

who is just going to flip out if he can’t

positive material,” Horn said. “For

(snowboarding on groomed trails

get a couple of minutes of stoke in,”

everything we post on our site, whether

without bindings) to BASE skiing (skiers

Horn said. “That’s who’s in the back

it’s a video, story or photo essay, the

hucking themselves off huge cliffs and

of my mind while I’m brewing up the

simple question is asked: where is the

then landing with parachutes). Horn and

stoke.”

stoke in this story?”

Cash keep a year-round focus on other

Horn runs the Stokelab with cofounder Justin Cash of Woodstock, 22

Crested Butte Magazine

Luke Mehall attended Western

adrenaline outdoor activities, including

State College with Mike Horn, both

kayaking, surfing, mountain biking,

graduating in 2004.

CARETAKING SERVICES • VACATION RENTALS Crested Butte Magazine 23 PO BOX 168, CRESTED BUTTE • 888.417.4766 • IRONHORSECB.COM

PARADISE FOUND

New digs for the Paradise Animal Welfare Society – a home away from home for lost or abandoned pets. By Laura Puckett

EVERY NEW ARRIVAL TO THE BUTTE SEEMS TO BRING WITH THEM THEIR NALGENE WATER BOTTLE, SUBARU AND DOG. We love our dogs; they even get their own photo-ID Nordic ski passes. But too often pets end up lost or abandoned, needing a place to stay. The Paradise Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) formed in April 2005 to answer this need, relying solely on volunteers’ warm hearts and warm homes until its new rescue facility opened this spring. The building just south of Crested Butte feels more like a home than a pound. Guests are greeted by colorful walls and a comfortable lounge with big windows looking into the dog room. Guided by the Pet Animal Care Facilities Act, advice from other shelter operators and their own experience, volunteers built the space to hold up to eight dogs and eight cats. The animals have space, light and, in the busier summer season, outdoor access. Each dog kennel has a door to a private dog run, in addition to the group play area that will be covered to keep out wildlife. 24

Crested Butte Magazine

In the first month of the shelter’s existence, “We had 12 animals in here that would have been in our houses,” said Sharon Sharpe, the PAWS treasurer. This community’s compassion for animals doesn’t stop at the end of the day; many fosterings have turned into adoptions, and furry friends have found their way into every board member’s life. Most of the PAWS “guests” are just lost for a night or a few hours, having run away from housesitters, broken off their leads or simply gone adventuring. PAWS volunteers cannot take “relinquished” animals, but they do receive strays from the police and place abandoned animals in foster and permanent homes. In addition to sheltering animals, PAWS provides medical assistance and a spay/neuter program for low-income pet owners, advocating for animal welfare from multiple angles. These initiatives are labors of love. With no paid staff, a steady rotation of volunteers visits the shelter to provide food, water and exercise for the animals. Someone can be reached at all hours via the on-call cell phone (970-209-3656) in case strays are found. Volunteers have also undertaken some creative fundraising, like selling 2011 calendars featuring local pets and hand-painting donation boxes to place in area businesses. Occasionally PAWS applies for town grants or sends out donation cards, but board members feel strongly that they need to demonstrate results before asking for more money.

“The building validates the organization,” said board member M-J Farnan. “People would say, ‘What’s PAWS?’ Well, we were just people. Now this is PAWS.” The facility has provided a new way of engaging people. Passers-by pull off the highway to take a look or drop off strays (though the PAWS phone number works better because the building isn’t always staffed). And there are more ways to volunteer, such as landscaping, dog walking, feeding animals, finding owners, writing checks and donating food. Beyond sheltering animals, the building also gives PAWS a home, a foundation from which to grow. For more information, see www. PAWScrestedbutte.org.

J.C. Leacock

long story short

REMINDERS FROM PAWS • Please spay or neuter your pet; there are too many unwanted animals out there! • Tag your pet (especially if you’re traveling) with your phone number. Then if Fido goes walkabout, the person who finds him can contact you and save you the fine that comes if the police get involved. • Visit PAWScrestedbutte.org or the PAWS Facebook page for lostand-found pet information, events, adoptable pets – or to donate.

301 Third Street Crested Butte CO 81224

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Crested Butte Magazine

CRESTED BUTTE | MOON RIDGE

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CRESTED BUTTE SOUTH

PEACEFUL NEIGHBORHOOD 73 Endner Place, Unit B is a nicely kept, well built 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath townhome in CB South. Located on a quiet Cul-de-sac and featuring a large fenced yard. This property is perfect for the first time buyer or a second homeowner. Plenty of sun and views accompany the southern deck. An easy setting.

MT. CRESTED BUTTE

Beds: 3 Baths: 2 Full & 1 Half Space: 1,516 SqFt Price: $364,900

COTTAGE HOME IN PITCHFORK

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Crested Butte Magazine

THE SKI RESORT’S DOWNHILL MOUNTAIN BIKING TURNS AN ADVENTURE SPORT INTO A THRILLER. BY KAIN LEONARD AND KEVIN KRILL Crested Butte Mountain Resort felt different last summer.

light sat soft on your skin and cast long shadows; and the peaks

Music drifted across the lawn on perfect summer evenings, the

all around carried a hue of stunning pink. Every Wednesday

fragrance of food rose in the air, and the Red Lady chairlift bore

night, the Red Lady lift was filled with kids from age seven to

strangely dressed people up the slopes, beaming the same

seventy, and conversations were prolific.

grins you’d see on a powder ski day. But instead of wearing

In addition to Wednesday evening sessions, CBMR

skis, these riders were accompanied by their bicycles —

increased daily hours (lifts will run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. this year).

contraptions that looked more like the motorcycle you rode as

Thunderstorms came, wet down the trails, then departed in

a kid than the mountain bike that sits in your garage today.

time for riders to enjoy late-afternoon cruising. Local kids often

Thanks to some crazy new trails, chairlift-assisted mountain

took their bikes on the buses from Gunnison and Crested Butte

bikers got their groove on last summer at the ski resort.

to get in some amazing days of riding without their parents

Whoops, cheers and spontaneous outbursts of joy followed the

worrying about their safety.

flow of bikes down the mountain. Some riders were young and

CBMR’s bike patrol, just like the ski patrol, is always on the

some were not; some were fast and some were not. It didn’t

mountain while the lifts are running. In fact, many of the ski

matter. Everyone had a great time.

patrollers in winter become bike patrollers in summer. When

Tee-shirted lift operators basked in the summer warmth. Parents and children traded high fives riding up together on the lift. The mood was both excited and relaxed. Several factors got the downhill mountain biking going at

they aren’t helping riders, they tend the trails to keep them in top shape. Like many businesses in the past few years, CBMR has found a way to do more with less. The spartan trail crew, headed by

Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) last summer. First, the

Christian Robertson, added two new trails and revamped the

company decided to run the lifts until 7 p.m. on Wednesday

entire bike park last summer. The first trail added was Mineral

evenings in addition to the normal daytime hours. That move

Point, an intermediate trail focused on bermed corners and fun

ignited the local gravity community and offered everyone the

jumps. The 14 jumps are friendly and built in such a way that

chance to experience downhill mountain biking. The winds on

an average mountain biker can work up to clearing all of them.

those summer evenings were generally calm and warm; the

There are no rocks in this smooth, flowy trail, just clean airs and

Crested Butte Magazine

Kevin Krill

Crested Butte Magazine

Full Rental Fleet • www.flatironsports.net • 970.349.6656 • Treasury Building, Mt. Crested Butte

Casual Clothing Trail Information Hiking Equipment Winter Gear at Sale Prices Trailers Tag-A-Longs

Whatever your pleasure - Downhill (pads included), X-Counrty or Townie Bikes 30

round berms. With some outside help, the crew built the second new trail that opened last summer, Psycho Rocks. As the name suggests, it’s filled with Crested Buttestyle rock gardens and steep sections. Big boulders connected by wide wooden bridges thrill both riders and spectators. With these two new trails, the Evolution Bike Park was born. From technical maneuvering on Psycho Rocks to the smooth turns of the Luge trail or the fast pace on Avery or the airtime on Mineral Point, riders can find whatever they want. Many Crested Butte mountain bikers never had a reason to ride the chairlifts in the summer; after all, Crested Butte’s backcountry has the best high-alpine single track in the country. Bikers just pedaled up into the mountains to get their shots of downhill. But the well-designed trails of the Evolution Bike Park can provide a whole season of downhill riding in one day. Crested Butte is filled with talented athletes who trade higher-paying jobs in the cities for quality of life and recreation in these mountains. They ride bicycles in the summer and ski the resort in the winter. What a thrill awaits them when they combine those two, riding the ski slopes on their bikes! For those of us who can’t get enough downhilling, CBMR takes it to the next level by hosting the Wildflower Rush competition and Fat Tire Bike Week. Both mid-June events were smashing successes in 2010, bringing us the hilarious chainless race from the top of Kebler Pass, the Fat Tire 40 endurance race and other biking festivities. Hundreds of gravity racers, in all classes, plunged down the Avery trail in the downhill race. The course was lined with cheering spectators, amazed at how fast the riders maneuvered the ragged rock gardens and gnarly obstacles. Witnessing a downhill mountain bike race can be almost as thrilling as riding it. The ground shakes and you feel the speed of the riders, see the focus in their eyes, and then, swish, they’re gone. In the wrong

Kevin Krill

place at the right time, you can gasp as a racer crashes and bounces off Mother Earth. No one likes to wipe out, but everyone likes watching. As hard as downhillers can crash, most get up and walk away. Serious riders wear protective gear such as full-face helmets, gloves, goggles, safety jackets with spine protectors, elbow pads, chest protectors, knee pads, hip pads and often Leatt braces, worn around the neck to stabilize the head and prevent neck injuries. Riders look more like hockey players than bikers. Whether you’re in it for speed, air, adrenaline or working on the fundamentals of mountain biking, downhilling on Crested Butte Mountain will give you a new take on a great sport.

The ground shakes and you feel the speed of the riders, see the focus in their eyes, and then, swish, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re gone.

Raynor Czerwinski

The goal of each trail is different. Hit Mineral Point to fly around bermed turns and catch air on the jumps; Psycho Rocks to maneuver technical steeps, rock gardens and wooden bridges; Avery to sample a speedy downhill competition course; and The Luge to get a smooth intro to gravity biking.

Raynor Czerwinski

Crested Butte Magazine

An insider’s perspective

HALF & FULL DAY DEMOS

Half & full-day demos featuring downhill & cross country Specialized mountain bikes. (Women

A CHAT WITH GRAVITY RIDER KAIN LEONARD

& kid demos also available)

CRESTED BUTTE

DO OTHER SKI AREAS HAVE LIFTACCESSED BIKE TRAILS?

SPECIALIZED DEMO CENTER OPEN DAILY 9–6

MOUNTAIN RESORT

TREASURY CENTER (970)349-2278

2163 SKYLAND DRIVE | ON THE GOLF COURSE

Yes, in the U.S., Canada and Europe many ski areas have built “bike parks” in the past 10-15 years. The East Coast has a ton, from New Hampshire down to North Carolina. There are a few handfuls in Colorado and a dozen or so more throughout the West. Photo: Raynor Czerwinski

CLINICS Enhance your mountain bike experience. Ride with an experienced coach and learn tips and techniques to boost your skills and confidence. Lesson and demo packages starting at only $50.

HOW DOES CRESTED BUTTE’S EVOLUTION BIKE PARK STAND OUT? Crested Butte has offered lift-accessed biking for a long time, but just in recent years have they started building trails that match what Crested Butte is known for in skiing: extremes. This past summer when the resort built the Mineral Point and Psycho Rocks trails, it started to touch on its potential. Crested Butte is still finding its identity as far as its flavor of trails. The terrain here offers limitless opportunities – the resort has just scratched the surface as a summer bike park – and what we have seen already is good!

WHO GOT THE BALL ROLLING ON BUILDING THE TRAILS? Spectacular Duplex Home Site at The Club at Crested Butte Attractive Owner Financing Available Approved for a duplex or single family home, .66 acre home site adjoins the first Tee and first Fairway. Fishing, canoeing and use of the picnic pavilion at private Lake Grant, and numerous hiking and biking trails are just a few of the amenities available to Skyland residents. Sellers will include two weeks’ use per year, for two years, of their Lodge at Mountaineer Square condominium for the new owners to enjoy while planning and building their new home. Offered at $395,000

Right Time. Right Place. Right Broker.

Karen Allen Fine Homes Specialist™ 970.209.2668 Karen@cbproperty.com • www.KarenatCBProperty.com 32

Crested Butte Magazine

Many people were involved in getting the ball rolling – the Forest Service, upper management at Crested Butte Mountain Resort, the bike patrol and other employees. Christian Robertson, assistant director of the Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team, really stuck with it to see this through. Ken Stone, CEO of CBMR, was also excited about the possibilities and gave us the green light.

WHAT WAS THE GOAL OF THE DESIGN? The goal of each trail is different. Mineral Point was designed as a jump trail with berms and smooth turns the whole way, while Psycho Rocks was designed as a technical, steeper trail. The Luge is a beginners’ introduction to gravity biking, and Avery is the remnant downhill course for competition. That’s the fun thing about a good mountain bike park; it has a variety of trails each with a distinct purpose.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO “YAHOO IT” DOWN A TRAIL THAT YOU’VE HELPED TO CREATE?

HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT BUILDING THE PSYCHO ROCKS TRAIL, WORKING WITH THE TERRAIN, ETC.? It was kind of hard at first when I was looking at the natural terrain, but once I got to work moving rocks and scrapping duff away from the trail, it seemed to go pretty quickly. Basically, it’s hard work. Working with the terrain is the easy part; the tougher part is jumping through all the hoops involved with ski areas on public land. It takes a long time for answers.

Psycho Rocks was only lift served for one day after its completion last fall, and that day was the best day I have ever had riding downhill at Crested Butte – and believe me, I’ve had some great days riding and racing on The Butte. Being around all of the excitement from the riders that day was really special. Leaving the 2010 season on such a high note was great, and it brings with it some high expectations for 2011. I hope CBMR will continue to improve the bike park and become a real gravity bike destination. KEVIN KRILL is a freelance photographer and writer for the Mountain Weekly News. He focuses on fine art landscape prints, mountain lifestyle and action sports photography.

KAIN LEONARD is a prodownhill racer, coach, co-founder of the Gunnison Valley Freeride Association, mason and realtor. He helped design and build the Psycho Rocks bike trail.

Crested Butte Magazine

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S p r e a d in g

Musical

Seeds

CER YOUNG SINGER-DAN ST HOW AVA LYPPS SHOWS JU TED POWERFUL THE CRES AL’S BUTTE MUSIC FESTIV BE FOR OPPORTUNITIES CAN LOCAL CHILDREN. By Sandy Fails

When Ava Lypps grows up and look s back, 2010 might stand out as the summer that chan ged her life. Before that, Ava was a bright, energetic nine-year-old with few musical aspirations beyond dancing for fun, playing a little violin and singing in the car on family outings. But last July she became an anim ated character in “La Boheme,” crooning Italian alongsid e Metropolitan Opera pros on the Center for the Arts stag e before enthralled audiences. That rare opportunity came via the Crested Butte Music Festival’s (CBMF) Opera Chil dren’s Chorus. “It was a very unique experience that had a huge impact on her,” said Ava’s mom, Alicia Davis.

Now Ava intends to learn different languages, practice hard for her voice and instr ument lessons and

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jump on this little bed and whack each other with pillows. There’s another part when we’re being very naughty, singing and attacking a toy seller. We had to sing in a sort of vicious way.” The pros and experienced young performers took wide-eyed Ava under their wings, giving her tips on everything from warming up (walk in circles and hum) to preventing stage fright (focus on fun instead of fear). Ava threw herself into developing a distinct character for her opera debut. “She always wanted to know what was motivating her character earn grades good enough to get into the prestigious Julliard School. “[The Children’s Chorus] was so cool,” Ava said. “I didn’t know anything about opera before. Now I’m hooked. Maybe I want to be a professional singer.” Ava was one of three area children, two from Crested Butte and one from Grand Junction, who joined the Opera Children’s Chorus along with three experienced young performers from around the country. This year the CBMF will present the opera “Carmen,” the Children’s Chorus will double in size, and Ava will once again sing and frolic her way around the stage. Ava’s grandmother, Roxie Lypps, signed her up for the 2010 debut Opera Children’s Chorus. “I went in blind,” Ava recalled. “I immediately made friends with all the kids. Then I heard Dominique sing – she’s one of the kids – and I was blown away. Then I knew what I was getting into.” The six children had their own coaches and instructors, even a “kid manager” to keep them fed, happy and organized. They worked with prestigious artists like Jens Georg Bachmann, festival music director and conductor; Sarah Meyers, New York opera stage manager; Linda Gelinas, dance captain, New York Metropolitan Opera; and opera conductor David Syrus, head of music for London’s Royal Opera of Covent Garden. The children started with voice lessons, games and exercises, then focused on songs for “La Boheme” and eventually began rehearsing and performing with the renowned musicians that made up the opera cast. “Staging was my favorite part – figuring out where you’re going to go, working with all these different famous people, seeing what the opera was going to be,” Ava said. “We had a lot of fun with one scene, when the kids all come in and

onstage, which is very impressive,” said Heather Sibelius, who helped the kids with Italian diction, sang with them to “fill out” the sound and helped organize them backstage. “Ava was a joy -- lively though quiet, focused and hard-working.” For three weeks, the kids’ lives were consumed by classes, rehearsals, performances and community events. “It’s not day care; it’s intense,” Alicia said. But there was time for horseplay as well. The adult performers sometimes played tricks on the youngsters, like pretending to get into big fights. “We tried playing a trick on them, too,” Ava said, “but we weren’t as good as they were.” The young singers were also invited to social gatherings to help promote the opera, and those events – especially the ones hosted near ponds and pools – held great potential for friendly mischief. The concentrated effort culminated in a production of “La Boheme” that moved its viewers to tears and sealed Ava’s love of opera. “Going from the practice room to the stage was amazing,” Ava said. “Then performing in front of an audience was quite different. You go from doing your bows with nothing except the director clapping to having a roaring crowd. They gave us a standing ovation.” Watching Ava from the audience, her mother was overwhelmed. “The opera is so intense. And our little Center for the Arts is such a small, intimate setting for that level of art. The sound goes right through you. I cried, it was so good.” Ava and her sister Audrey weren’t immersed in music from babyhood; neither parent is particularly musical. But Ava began dancing with the Crested Butte School of Dance, then in school started playing violin in a strings program that was supported by the Crested Butte Music Festival. The family attended some of the CBMF’s kid-friendly concerts, and last summer Ava and Audrey participated in the two-day Barefoot Bluegrass program. All of those influenced Ava, but it was the opera that captivated her. Crested Butte Magazine

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“I’m very happy that the Crested Butte Music Festival is opening these doors for local and ‘transplant’ children,” said Heather Sibelius. “It exposes them to the highest level of professionalism with some of the most talented and creative individuals working around them. It was very inspiring for me to see the children learn the ‘Boheme’ score. It reminded me that kids like the ones I worked with are capable of doing things that most people would think impossible.” Involving children in a highly sophisticated production fits the CBMF’s mission of educating as well as entertaining. The festival draws exceptional international artists like Syrus, the Boston Brass, and world-renowned tenor Marcello Giordani. In this laid-back retreat from tight schedules and huge venues, the artists enjoy connecting with and bringing exceptional music to Crested Butte, from knowledgeable patrons to kids like Ava just learning what an opera is. Events, held in intimate settings like homes or small performance venues, often include explanations or introductions for those less familiar with a musical genre. The music festival helps fund the Celebrate the Beat dance/movement program and a portion of the strings program in the local school and last winter co-hosted a Kids Rock concert series with the Trailhead Children’s Discovery Museum. In the summer, the Divine Family Concerts on Saturdays mix lively, kidfriendly educational components in with the music. One of the festival’s huge successes has been the Opera Young Artists Program, which brings in rising-star operatic singers to work with pros like Marcello Giordani. “When we started, 35 people applied and we only took 10. This year, with our growing national reputation, we auditioned over 500 people for 15 spots,” said Alexander Scheirle, artistic and managing director of the CBMF. “It’s so well recognized that it has become very competitive.” The program benefits music lovers as well as the phenomenal emerging artists, noted Susan Gellert, director

of marketing and communications for the festival. The Young Artist performances present “an opportunity for audiences to see and hear tomorrow’s opera stars. The quality for the price is unbelievable.” For local and visiting young people, the CBMF this summer will host the Boston Brass Music Camp, Bluegrass Kids Camp and Opera Children’s Chorus (see sidebar). For some of these, the festival offers special rates for area children. “We want to focus on local kids because there are limited musical opportunities for them here,” Alexander said. He added, “At Ava’s age, the kids want to try everything. They are so open and hungry to learn. David Syrus, who’s used to conducting in London, loves coming here to work with the kids. It’s a way to pass on the torch.” Crested Butte, with its beautiful surroundings and relaxed atmosphere, “opens the kids up and fosters creativity. They can be themselves and be playful.” Susan borrowed an analogy from a friend who teaches: Being a teacher is like throwing seeds over a brick wall; every so often one takes root and grows so tall that you can see it over the wall. “We’re throwing a lot of seeds out there,” Susan said. For her, the finest job reward is seeing Crested Butte’s children being exposed to things they would otherwise never experience: watching her own preschool daughter wiggle like a puppy during a kids’ concert or seeing another child giggle while trying to play an alphorn. “The bonus is seeing kids like Ava getting so excited.”

KIDS LEARNING FROM PROS

BOSTON BRASS MUSIC CAMP Famed Boston Brass quintet has performed everything from classical to jazz and conducted master classes around the world. On July 1-2, Boston Brass will offer a Brass Music Camp for high school and college students, ending with small and large ensemble concerts. BLUEGRASS KIDS CAMP As part of Bluegrass in Paradise, young people ages 7-17 can participate in a Kids Camp July 5-8. Drew Murzda, Tyler Grant, Amanda Thompson and other instructors will focus on strings, percussion, vocals and movement, exposing the students to many instruments and musical styles and leading them in a group performance. www.bluegrassinparadise.com OPERA CHILDREN’S CHORUS Children ages 7-18 will meet for three weeks, July 18-August 10, with professional vocal, dance and drama training and musical games, along with rehearsals, live performances and outdoor activities. They’ll perform with opera stars from the Met and around the country during Bizet’s “Carmen” and take part in the Marcello Giordani Young Artist Program’s opera-for-kids production. Information: www.crestedbuttemusicfestival.com.

Crested Butte Magazine

GUIDED BY LOCAL MOUNTAINEER/EQUIPMENT DESIGNER DAVE PENNEY, PARALYMPIAN CHRIS WADDELL SUMMITED MOUNT KILIMANJARO – ON A HANDCYCLE. AND THAT’S JUST THE BEGINNING. Story by Brooke Harless, photos by Mike Stoner. 40

Crested Butte Magazine

Quiet and soft-spoken, with the presence of a dharma bum, Penney is mindful of others, lives modestly and has figured out a lot about himself over the years. Having lived in the valley for three decades, he has also figured out how to work with the elements. “Living in Crested Butte is all about adapting and creating,” he said. Adapting technology to suit the elements has been the linchpin in Penney’s professional pursuits. He moved here in 1980 as a ski instructor and was one of the first to work with handicapped skiers as well as with the Adaptive Sports Center. In those days, there was little equipment for handicapped skiers; Penney recalls using rudimentary gear for his weekly skis with a disabled boy. “Way back when I was a teen, I could put myself in other people’s shoes and feel it, and then adapt things accordingly,” he said. In the summer he worked at Bicycles Etc. with the storied Neal Murdoch and began building some of the first Local adventure athlete Dave Penney

The three spent the afternoon

has many feats to his credit (including

testing Waddell’s handcycle on the rocky

victory in the grueling backcountry ski

terrain of Pikes Peak. They parted after

race the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse).

agreeing to climb Kilimanjaro, hoping

But as an international mountain guide,

to make Waddell the first paraplegic to

some of his greatest accomplishments

summit the mountain unassisted.

involve other people’s successes. One of the highlight journeys

“The idea emerged from my subconscious while I was out training

involved climbing Mount Kilimanjaro

one day. I wanted to do something

with ten-time Paralympic medalist Chris

different, something personal,” Waddell

Waddell, using a handcycle designed

recalled. “After the accident, I didn’t

and built in Crested Butte.

change as a person, but the way people

Penney and Waddell met through

saw me changed. I didn’t want people

mutual friend Jeff Scott atop Pikes

to see me for my limitations. I wanted

Peak in the summer of 2007. After a ski

them to see me for me – and I wanted

accident in 1988 had left him paralyzed

to make a difference for all people with

from the waist down, Waddell had

disabilities.”

tackled para-athletic exploits, receiving

Penney became the guide, trainer,

mountain bike prototypes. As he began telemark skiing and rock climbing, he adapted equipment for those as well. His intuition of others’ needs and love of the outdoors led him to a career in international guiding, scaling the world’s most alluring mountains with clients of varying abilities. After Waddell proposed the Kilimanjaro climb, two years went into planning, including a scouting trip, two handcycle prototypes and intensive training. “Working with Dave was a godsend; he gave me the hope to do it,” Waddell said. “Dave really stretched my imagination in terms of endurance. I went from competing in ski events for minutes at a time with little long-term

ten Paralympic medals in skiing, five

vehicle developer and designer for

endurance to climbing for hours. It was

of those gold. He had turned his focus

the Kilimanjaro endeavor. “Dave had

a really bonding experience with Dave.”

to handcycling and was considering

everything; the skills, knowledge of

climbing Kilimanjaro in Africa, the tallest

the mountains, and also knowledge of

invested in his challenge. They formed

freestanding ascent in the world. For

vehicles. He had the ability to look at

the One Revolution Foundation to

an adventure of that magnitude, Scott

the whole picture and evaluate whether

parlay Waddell’s quest into creating

suggested working with Penney.

or not we could do it,” said Waddell.

change for people with disabilities.

Within a year Waddell had a team

Crested Butte Magazine

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After scouting Kilimanjaro, Penney and Waddell determined they needed a burlier handcycle. A fairly recent innovation, the handcycle was invented in the late 1990s by Mike Augspurger. His three-wheeled (two in the front and one in the back), rearwheel-drive vehicle liberated paraplegics with its all-terrain abilities, allowing riders to steer with the chest while pedaling and then steer with hands on the downhill. After testing two prototypes involving engineers in Utah and Montana, Penney and Waddell decided to develop their own model and applied for research and development funds from the Easton Foundation. The grant award came through two weeks before the crew was scheduled to leave for Africa. With the clock ticking, the Crested Butte A Team was called in, consisting of Penney (developer and designer), Scott Gilman (fabricator) and Ben Preston and Zach Gustafson of Resource Engineering Group. Working out of the Cement Creek Welding building, the team labored day and night to finish in time. Using technology similar to Augspurger’s, they fit the 50-pound chrome frame with four-inch-wide “Large Marge” wheels and tires — a profile that turned a 26-inch rim into a 29-inch tire. With the traditional 27 bike gears, three in the front and nine in the back, “it looked like a Mars Rover monster truck,” said Penney. They completed the handcycle the night before Penney was to fly to Africa. “We finished it at midnight and had to assemble it and do a test-ride in the Riverland parking lot. Then we took it apart, put it in box and I drove to Denver and got on a plane with it.” Penney and Waddell met in Tanzania a week before the climb. Waddell’s entourage had swelled to eight members, including documentary filmmaker Amanda Stoddard, photographer Patrick Reddish, cinematographer Mike Stoner, One Revolution Foundation board president Bob More, and doctor/friend Nate Bryan. The group spent that week preparing gear and catching up with local friends they’d met during their scouting trip in ’08.

They were particularly excited to see Tagiri, a former mountain porter who had been caught in a rockslide while guiding on Kilimanjaro. The slide had crushed one of his legs, which had to be amputated. Waddell and Penney along with the Appalachian Mountain Club had brought a new, high-tech prosthetic leg for Tagiri. With his new apparatus,

Tagiri was able to join Waddell. An inactive volcano, Mount Kilimanjaro rises 19,341Â feet above sea level. With 30,000 attempts by hikers each year, only 18,000 make it to the top, with around nine hiker deaths each year. Although Kilimanjaro is nearly bisected by the equator, its peak is capped with snow and glaciers.

Climbers traverse five climate zones during the 30-mile trek to the summit, starting in a rainforest and finishing on a glacier. On September 24, 2009, Waddell and his team plus 61 African porters and guides started up the Marangu Trail. Penney and the guides laid the trail floor with boards to bridge gaps; Waddell then used a sailing winch to maneuver the steep, loose upper mountain. The winch heated up, increasing the resistance until it became ineffective, so it was only usable intermittently. On

Crested Butte Magazine

difficult or loose terrain, the porters placed eight-foot-long 2x8 boards, which Waddell was able to ride over. The diverse landscape made for a slow, grueling pace, with Waddell having to climb down into each waterbar (designed to preserve the trail in rainy season) and then pedal back out. Although Kilimanjaro is considered a “walk-up” for most hikers, Waddell had to crank over everything – approximately 528,000 revolutions worth of arm power. In the first three days, the team climbed 9,000 feet of exhausting vertical. “Those days were just a warm-up. The cone rose high above, three times as steep as the lower mountain… Nerves ran higher as we made our way into the thin air and to the foot of the cone,” said Waddell. They continued the pace for the next couple of days, sleeping in huts in the lower sections and building tent

camps at higher elevations. As they neared 18,000 feet, Waddell cycled up to an impassable boulder field on the crater rim just below Gilman’s Point. Knowing he couldn’t winch and cycle over the massive boulders, Waddell was crushed with disappointment. “I didn’t just stare defeat in the face, I swallowed it whole.” The team and porters carried Waddell 100 feet of vertical, negating his goal of climbing the mountain unassisted. “I grappled with defeat as I rode through the desolate crater. It seemed like the bottom of a dried lake and I felt decidedly underwater.” On the far side of the boulders, less than a thousand feet to the summit, Waddell took Penney aside and told him how disappointed he was. Penney responded with words that changed Waddell’s life. “He told me that no one climbs a

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mountain alone,” Waddell said. “That’s what I had wanted to eliminate — that feeling of being alone. If I didn’t need anyone, I was separate. I was alone.” The next day the team reached the summit and spent two hours celebrating. Tagiri, the first African amputee to summit Mount Kilimanjaro, yelled, “You never thought you’d see me here again. Well I’m back!” The group was overwhelmed. “It was the realization of a dream, but also the beginning of a dream,” said Waddell. “This was the leverage we needed to change that sense of separation and to break down that barrier. I felt gratitude because the success wasn’t the summit; the journey was the success.” Consistent with his personality, Penney stepped aside during the summit celebration, allowing Waddell and Tagiri their moment of reflection. “On this venture I had used basically every skill set I had ever learned. It was a beautiful moment,” said Penney. Since the climb Waddell’s foundation has flourished. With Waddell’s motivational speaking and the release of the One Revolution documentary this spring at independent film festivals across the nation, he is creating worldwide change for people with disabilities. “’One revolution’ means so many things to me. One revolution of the handcycle, one revolution of the earth, one lifetime, one moment, one chance to make a difference,” said Waddell. Penney and the foundation are making similar handcycles available to disabled people in developing countries. With the help of some guides from the climb, Penney is also helping build an elementary school in the bush of Tanzania. “Working with Chris I learned that we really don’t have any boundaries. You can dream it, live it and make it a reality. When we first met at the top of Pikes Peak, the goal was not very realistic, it was a dream; but it became a reality and we did it,” Penney said. “I’ve come to realize that this work is inside me. It’s something I can do and want to continue doing… There’s definitely more to come.” Crested Butte Magazine

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WHY QUAFF A GENERIC BEER WHEN YOU CAN SAVOR A NEIGHBOR’S CREATION AT THE LOCAL BREWPUB? by Dawne Belloise

Crested Butte Magazine

THE AROMA OF PUNGENT HOPS, SWEET MALT AND FERMENTING YEAST SIDLES ALONGSIDE VARIOUS PALATE-TICKLING COMBINATIONS– CHOCOLATE, COFFEE, BERRY, HONEY AND VANILLA – STEEPED INTO AMBERS, REDS, GOLDS, BROWNS, STOUTS, PALES, WHEATS, ALES, IPAS. OCCASIONALLY STARTLING, BUT NEVER BORING. WITH ITS LOVE OF EXTREMES IN EVERYTHING, THIS VALLEY SAVORS ITS BEER DIVERSITY, AND, FORTUNATELY, WE HAVE THREE REMARKABLE BREWPUBS CRAFTING UP AWARDWINNING MICROBREWS FOR US.

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HELLES BELLS LAGER, SNOWBLIND MAIBOCK, KING’S KOLSCH, BREAKFAST ALE, NORTHSIDE ALE, SESSION ALE, PIVO BLOND ALE, WILDFIRE ESB, SECRET TRAIL ALE, PARADISE PALE ALE, HOOLIGAN IPA, BECKWITH BROWN ALE, SOCK-IT-TO-ME SCOTTISH ALE, ABOMINABLE STRONG ALE, SLEDGEHAMMER PORTER, IMPERIAL STOUT Dawne Belloise

From the numbers of brews offered at the Eldo, one could certainly conclude that Crested Buttians love their beer. This brewery has been likened to the crazy drunken uncle that you’d rather hang out with, a little rough around the edges but a lot more fun. Currently the only brewpub located in Crested Butte, the long-time bar has a small, seven-barrel brewing system and limited distribution. The brewers do a lot of experimentation, which has been the entire town’s M.O. since the late ‘60s. Brewmeister Ted Bosler transformed the Eldo into a brewpub in 1996 after attending Sieble Institute of Technology and Brewing Academy in Chicago. It’s one of only two schools in the U.S. specializing in an education in brewing, and it attracts students from all over the world. Ted recalled: “It had a cool lunchroom – they had beer on tap. After lunch they’d play movies... beer movies for classes, like ‘The Beer Hunter,’ and everyone would pass out.” Why a brewing career? “It was something I knew how to do. And ever since my mom said, ‘You smell like a brewery’ I thought, ‘Damn, if I just worked in a brewery!’” Ted created his own recipes through trial and tweaking, “You go out and drink a few. If you’re going to do an IPA, you drink it for a while and figure out where you want to go with it. Researching is the fun part.”

Being a brewer-owner-pub manager took its toll, so Ted eventually sold the Eldo. “Being here all day till 3 a.m. wasn’t working all that well with my family,” he said, “so I opted for keeping the family.” In 2008 he sold to Mike Knoll, the current owner. However, the sale came with stipulations. “I wrote it into the contract that I get free beer for life... or until death, whichever comes first.” But unable to escape his fascination with the art, he’s still the Eldo’s brewmeister. “All the recipes are original. The recipes aren’t that hard; they’re shockingly similar,” he said with just a hint of humbleness. “If you have an IPA, it has to have certain characteristics, so right there is a road map.” IPA beer has certain IVUs, or international bittering units, a certain color, and a certain alcohol strength. “Other breweries have to make the same beer every day, but we can make anything we want,” commented the brewmeister. “This summer we’re doing a hefeweizen, getting the yeast from the oldest brewery in the world in Bavaria, Germany. In Germany, I got off the train and at the station there were a bunch of old guys drinking hefe and eating sausages for breakfast, and I thought, ‘I’m home. I love this place.’” He brought the concept back home to Crested Butte, where we can all enjoy it. Crested Butte Magazine

212 West US Highway 50, Gunnison cbbrewingco.com RED LADY ALE, WHITE BUFFALO PEACE ALE, RODEO STOUT OATMEAL, JOKERVILLE IPA, ASCENT AMBER LAGER Dawne Belloise

Two years ago, when snow collapsed a portion of the brewery’s original home (formerly the Idle Spur, now Maxwells in downtown Crested Butte), the owners took that as a sign. They moved out and began looking for a permanent home that would also serve as a production facility. Eight months later, they started the conversion of the old Gunnison Ford dealership into a brewery pub. Crested Butte Brewery beers are still served at Maxwells, and also at Slogars, Lil’s and the Last Steep in Crested Butte. The owners are hoping to soon have bottled brews available at liquor stores and other locations. Joellen Fonken, one of the clan of local owners who is pleased with the brewery’s direction, said, “We definitely want to keep a light industry in the valley that will promote job creation. People are excited about our beers, so we’re excited about them, too. The group wants to revisit Colorado distribution and implement bottling.” At one time, she said, the brews were distributed to 23 different states, but now only Montrose, Salida and Gunnison County enjoy the kegs. “We’re working on building distribution back up,” Joellen said. “We’re all involved because we believe in this beer and it’s been around for twenty years. Its reputation has earned it some great awards.” Brewmeister Greg Tomlin walked into the office talking about CO2, nitrogen and other beer business. He’s been a home brewer for a couple of decades, which is most of his life. Greg has been the brewmeister here for the past seven years. When the brewery moved to Gunnison, he worked with the Western State College chemistry department to tweak the local water to match Crested Butte’s, so the beers still tasted the same. Greg feels that people don’t come to microbreweries for commercial brews; they come for handcrafted beer. Some folks travel all over the states seeking out specialty brews. One couple came into the pub with a map of breweries they were following, trying to hit every microbrewery in Colorado – evidence of a new “microbrewery tourism.”

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FOR YOUR SINCE MOUNTAIN 1973 LIFESTYLE

Nathan Bilow

ICEMOUNTAINJEWELRY.NET A. Brian Dale, Gemologist G.I.A. & Carol Dale 311 6th at the 4-way Stop Nathan Bilow

When the Crested Butte Brewery moved its operations to Gunnison, brewmeister Greg Tomlin worked with Western State College chemists to tweak the water and maintain the tastes of the hand-crafted beers.

800-863-2375 970-349â&#x20AC;&#x201C;6331 Rings by Alex Sepkus Crested Butte Magazine

138 N. Main Street in Gunnison, gunnisonbrewery.com BLACK LAGER, GUNNISON PUB ALE , SHOOTIN’ SKEET WHEAT, HOPALICIOUS IPA Beer making is both art and science. Kevin and Lori Alexander started from scratch in 2003. As a biology professor at Western State College with a PhD in aquatic biology, Kevin concocted all their original beer recipes. “I do a little of the creative stuff, but my wife does 99 percent of the work around here!” he confessed. “It’s a little bit of art and a little of science…and a whole lot of creativity. Learning your palate you think about what you might like to taste and then you make your recipes from that.” Their beers rotate through a variety of new recipes and experiments. And they sell growlers-to-go like the other two breweries in the valley. A growler is a large jug, looking like something from a backwoods still, and evidently well loved by the beerdrinking crowd. “I studied in Santa Fe at the Second Street Brewery and was taught how to do stuff on a big scale,” the doctor said. The Gunnison Brewery has a brewmeister as well: Keith Hefley, from Walsh, Colorado. “I started working behind the bar and was curious about brewing, so I researched,” Keith said. He read everything he could get his hands on. When the pub became too busy for Kevin to handle alone, Keith stepped up. He gladly apprenticed in 2006 and went to Sieble Institute of Technology and Brewing Academy. Keith now develops his own recipes. Gunnison Brewery tries to use regional ingredients in its

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brewing: hops from Hotchkiss, malt from Alamosa, and yeast from Denver. Kevin thinks of the Gunnison Brewery as a neighborhood pub. “We’re family friendly – and we like to be part of the community.”

Nathan Bilow

Crested Butte Magazine

Robber bees, fat marmots, helpful fungus and other fun facts about our flora and fauna. COMPILED FROM RE SEARCHERS AT THE RO CKY MOUNTAIN BIOLOGIC AL LABORATORY.

Natives and newcomers Of the four species of trout found around Crested Butte, only one, now the rarest, is native: the cutthroat. Rainbow, brook and brown trout were introduced.

The secret life of sparrows The white crowned sparrow population in the Gunnison Basin is infected with six species of avian malaria transmitted by local mosquitoes and blackflies (but these cannot be transmitted to humans). The amount of whiteness of the crown of a white crowned sparrow is proportional to its genetic quality and its overall health. Female sparrows can probably not only assess whether a potential mate is infected with malaria but also with which pathogen species he is infected with, since each type impacts sparrow song in a different manner. Low-quality sparrow males try to make up for their genetic shortcomings by being particularly attentive dads and lightening the feeding tasks of the mom.

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Hot topic The longer growing season that climate change has brought us results in marmots putting on an extra pound of fat before hibernating.Â Marmots now emerge from hibernation a month earlier than they did 30 years ago, in response to the warming climate. Robins arrive in Gothic a month earlier in the spring than they did 30 years ago, probably prompted by global warming.

Aspen: big, old and thinning Measurements of tree girth over the year reveal that aspen trees start expanding in March/April when they are still leafless and there’s still three to four feet of snow on the ground! Aspen trees have green bark under the white coating on their stems, and this allows them to engage in bark photosynthesis to recapture some of the carbon dioxide that would otherwise be lost from stem respiration. Aspen trees are really just stems (called ramets) from a single, larger individual (a clone). Aspen is a dioecious species, and clones are either male or female. Female aspen clones tend to grow faster than male clones. High-elevation aspen clones tend to be male. Some aspen clones in the western U.S. are probably more than 10,000 years old. The aspen forest on Kebler Pass is one of the largest continuous aspen forests on Earth. We recently learned that our “healthy” aspen stands (not affected by “sudden aspen decline”) have only half as many trees in them as they did in the 1960s, and the rate of loss has more than doubled over the last 16 years as compared to the previous 30.

Guard bugs Ladybird beetles attack the parasite aphids that damage lupine plants. That’s why gardeners buy bags full of live “ladybugs” to release as backyard sentinels.

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World’s oldest hummingbird The world’s oldest known hummingbird in the wild was banded at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, and seen there almost every year for 13 years. That female made the round trip from Gothic to her winter home in Mexico each of those years.

Butterflies and bees

Snakes

Butterflies congregate to feed at mud, dung and carrion. Generally, it is young males that do this, collecting salt to pass to females during mating.

There are no poisonous snakes near Crested Butte or higher; it’s too cold for all but the garter snake, which is common.

Field penny-cress, a non-native mustard, arrived in the upper East River Valley around 18501880. A native butterfly, the sharp-veined white, readily lays eggs on the plant, but the resulting caterpillars won’t eat it and subsequently die. Some bumblebees with short tongues are “nectar robbers”; they bite holes in flowers with long corollas to reach the nectar.

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Buggy ideas about eating and coupling Adult mayflies are very short-lived (a few hours to a few days) and do not feed; so their aquatic larvae need to obtain all the resources they need to reproduce, disperse and lay their eggs. Some stoneflies metamorphose from their aquatic larval stage to the winged adult stage in the dead of winter! Males and females crawl around on the snow and mate on sunny days. Mayflies that trout like to eat oviposit by landing on large rocks protruding from fast-flowing streams, crawling under the water and laying their eggs on the undersides of those rocks. Extreme hydrologic events, such as floods or droughts, which are increasing in frequency and intensity with climate change, may have negative impacts on those mayflies by affecting the availability of places to lay their eggs. Adult male mayflies form large swarms that attract females who fly into swarms to mate. Females fly off to lay their eggs in streams.

Green things Unusually wet July and August weather is what triggers flowering in Frasera speciosa, the monument plant or green gentian. But with a four-year lag time. 2010’s spectacular display was triggered by the wet summer of 2006. Because of last summer’s soggy weather, 2014 may be the next good flowering year. Invasive flowering plants can steal pollinators away from native flowers.

Bad name, good job The aspen heart-rot fungus, which produces a shelf-like reproductive body on the trunk of aspen trees it infects, is one of the most ecologically important organisms in the Gunnison Basin because it softens aspen heartwood, allowing red-naped sapsuckers to drill out their nest cavities. These eventually provide essential nesting holes for over seven species of birds, including black-capped chickadees, house wrens, and violet-green swallows. Crested Butte Magazine

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Wildest Dreams EXTREME MAKEOVER : HOME EDITION TEAMS UP WITH CRESTED BUTTE’S ADAPTIVE SPORTS CENTER TO GIVE SPECIAL FAMILIES A SPECIAL GIFT. By Erin English

Glistening with sweat and smiling widely, Andre Anderson stops to catch his breath 50 feet up a wall at Hartman Rocks. Anderson is blind due to diabetic retinopathy and has never climbed before, but you wouldn’t guess that from the ease he exhibits on the rock. An hour into it, still brimming with enthusiasm and determination, he’s ready for guidance from Adaptive Sports Center Program Director Chris Read on how to scale a particularly difficult section. For now, this is a personal challenge for Andre, but in a few weeks it will be witnessed by ten million people across the country. Because nearby, clipped into a separate set of ropes, a cameraman is filming Andre’s climb for the TV program Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. “With the rock climbing, I thought, let’s give it a shot. Now

I can put that in my file of ‘things I have tried once,’” Anderson said later. “It really gave me a sense of openness. Feeling the texture of the rock, feeling the different warm spots and cool spots...it was awesome. I never thought I would get as high as I got.” Andre, his wife Jasmine—who also is legally blind due to diabetic retinopathy—and their sons, Jaison and Jahzion, are the fourth family in the history of ABC’s hit reality show to be whisked away on a dream vacation hosted by the Adaptive Sports Center (ASC). As with the other families, while they’re here, their house is being demolished and rebuilt around the clock by hundreds of volunteers. In a week, the Andersons will be living in a carefully designed, fully accessible new home. In Crested Butte Magazine

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the meantime, they are under strict orders by host Ty Pennington to do just one thing: have fun. The relationship between Extreme Makeover and the ASC started with a phone call during the winter of 2007. Since then, three families with special needs have experienced a winter vacation in Crested Butte, and one has enjoyed a fall getaway. “There’s nowhere Extreme Makeover: Home Edition won’t go to help a family in need, and there is no place too extreme to send them for vacation,” said Diane Korman, senior producer with Extreme Makeover. “We are ultimately a wish fulfillment show, so we send the families to places they’ve always dreamed about going, to do things they’ve always wanted to do.” True to its mission, the Adaptive Sports Center not only provides quality outdoor adventures to people with disabilities, but also includes family and friends whenever possible. This emphasis on “inclusion” sets the ASC apart from other adaptive programs and makes the Extreme Makeover partnership successful. To the Makeover families that have visited Crested Butte, the vacation offered a rare opportunity to enjoy outdoor adventures together. Jeanette and Patrick O’Donnell and their six children, five of whom were born with varying levels of autism, had never experienced a family vacation until visiting Crested Butte. Before her trip, Mary Ann Riojas, a single mother of four teenagers who was born with no legs and only one fully developed arm, generally found herself watching her children play instead of joining in the fun. The Williams family seldom found activities to include both dad Jeremy, who experiences muscle weakness and balance issues due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and son Jacob, who has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair full time. “Imagine our surprise when we realized we were going to a place that offered adaptations that make it possible for us to ski together,” said Jennifer Williams. “I never thought I’d see Jacob ski,”

Kurt Reise

Jasmine and Andre Anderson, both blind, ride horseback at Cochetopa Hide-a-Way while their Ohio home is re-made.

Jeremy said. “Watching him, I became very emotional. I was so proud of my son. Skiing together was an awesome experience.” The ASC provides all of its clients, not just its televised ones, with individual instruction and attention. It’s the other pieces of the Makeover vacation that require so much extra planning – such as brainstorming the most picturesque locations to film the family’s remote video “check-in” with host Ty halfway through the house remodel. The ASC staff works closely with Crested Butte Mountain Resort and local businesses to pull together the ultimate getaway for each family. The film crew shoots about 24 hours worth of footage during each family’s vacation, which will ultimately be edited down to three segments, five to seven minutes each, spliced in throughout a one-hour show. A variety of activities and beauty

shots are key. The Andersons’ vacation, for example, included rock climbing, a morning at the KBUT radio station (where the family was delighted by an on-air phone call from Ty), a day of ranch activities at the Cochetopa Hide-a-Way in Gunnison and a sunny morning stroll on Elk Avenue. A surprise visit by teen star Demi Lovato highlighted the Williams’ vacation, prompting some unusual tasks for the ASC staff. When on short notice the production team requested a nearly completed snowman for Lovato to finish on camera, the ASC staff rolled up their sleeves and set to work. The snow at the ski area base was ice-hard, difficult to form into snowballs, let alone an entire man. But in the end, a respectable snowman sat atop skis, complete with mittens, a scarf and knit cap, just in time for Lovato’s surprise appearance. With the cameras rolling, Josie and Jacob helped Lovato put the finishing touches on the snowman before heading over to the WestWall Lodge for a private concert. Despite the long hours and flexibility required by the ASC staff, hosting an Extreme Makeover vacation is well worth the investment; the family, ASC staff and local towns all reap benefits. Averaging 10 million viewers per episode, Extreme Makeover can inform the public about ASC programs in particular and the benefits of adaptive recreation in general. The center receives a flurry of inquiries after each show, and new e-mailers refer to the program even years later. The staff also gets the thrill of meeting inspiring, deserving Crested Butte Magazine

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Jacob Williams skiing with Adaptive instructor Lisa Schulte. families and providing them with memorable experiences. The Extreme Makeover casting department receives thousands of applications each week, from which only a handful of families are

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ultimately selected. “These families have a lot of positive energy and are psyched by the opportunities and gifts they’ve been given from being chosen for the show,” said Read. “It’s great to see them let loose, relax, have fun, and challenge themselves in new ways.” Jeremy Williams, a high school football

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coach featured as the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s 2010 “Sports Story of the Year,” had a blast zipping down the mountain on a tethered sit-ski, but it was evident he wanted more. Two days later, grinning ear to ear, he navigated his way downhill on his feet using an adaptive “slider.” Meanwhile, his wife Jennifer was overcoming her own perceived limits during her first time out on skis. “I asked my ski instructor, Cathy, if I could just take my skis off and walk down the side. She said, ‘Jennifer, I’ve found that any time I’m scared, I just have to do the very thing that scares me.’ She gave me the confidence to continue when I thought I couldn’t. Now when I see a situation in my life that fills me with fear, I think about being at the top of that mountain and how God’s special angel encouraged me to go on.” Two years after her Crested Butte visit, Mary Ann Riojas prominently displays her ski photo in the family’s new digs.

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Riojas skied alongside her children in a sit ski equipped with one regular outrigger and a custom outrigger she could maneuver with her partially developed arm. Since the show aired, Riojas has had many people approach her and say things like, “I saw you on Extreme Makeover, and even though you have a disability and are a single mom, you are still skiing and working, and it actually gave me hope; it made me look at myself and say, What am I doing complaining.” Four years later, Jeanette O’Donnell also references a photo from her Crested Butte visit -- a portrait in her purse of ski instructor Pablo Robledo. “[I told the show] if you are going to send me up skiing, you better get me a good-looking ski instructor,” O’ Donnell recalled, laughing. “Well, they got it right. Pablo is a gorgeous man, I thought, I am skiing with a model!” The happily married O’Donnell, who keeps busy with her five children with special needs, remembers the way the

community embraced them. “Crested Butte welcomed us with open arms,” she said. Korman added, “The Adaptive Sports Center always comes through for our families, creating a once-in-a-lifetime vacation especially tailored in a breathtaking setting. An ASC vacation is the icing on the cake for our families.”

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Alex Fenlon

photo intermission

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Dusty Demerson

Sam Faivre

Mike Tittel

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Alex Fenlon

J.C. Leacock

Alex Fenlon

Raynor Czerwinski

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Nathan Bilow

NATIVES AND PIONEERS, COVERED WAGONS AND TRAINS – MANY HAVE TRAVELED THE TRAILS WHERE WE NOW HIKE, BIKE AND PONDER. By Polly Oberosler

Crested Butte Magazine

When I was a little girl the family sport of choice was looking for the arrowheads that littered the lower elevations of the Gunnison Valley, once populated in summer by the nomadic Uncompahgre band of the Northern Utes. We would walk the low, sagebrush-covered hills with eyes held downward, hoping to glimpse the edge of a hand-knapped piece of flint or quartz. Local lore had it that the U.S. Calvary and a few hundred Utes clashed in the northern part of the valley, but I’ve never been able to substantiate that – though I have found remnants of bunker-like formations, and my uncle found a cavalry sword which is now on display at the Pioneer Museum in Gunnison. As a kid, I also found a heavy metal canister that had an exploded end and was never sure if it was of the mining era or the cavalry. Either way, it was far older than I, and such discoveries kept me alert for hidden treasures. The arrowheads eluded me until well into my adulthood when I was hiking in the mountains at 10,000 feet and found a piece of one in the trail. I was both dumbfounded and exhilarated to find a discernable fragment, especially at that elevation. This find only added to the excitement of my husband having found a larger fragment the night before…in the root ball cavity of a toppled 300-year-old tree. That tree was a sapling when our Declaration of Independence was signed. I got goose bumps at the likelihood of us camping in the exact site as a band of Utes so many years before, and walking the same trail they had trod. There is some mention, again in local lore, of the Utes running large herds of sheep in the high mountains of southwestern Colorado, and our camp spot would have been perfect for that, or simply as a summer hunting ground. I could see indication of beaver ponds once clogging the floor below the point of trees where we camped, and those ponds would have not only provided fish but also attracted big game. The site lies at the northern end of a large grass-covered park, likely unchanged in three hundred years save for a fire or two and white man’s trail markers. That area read like a book as I gazed at the mountains formed by volcanic mudslides millions of years ago, then looked down at the arrowhead fragments in my hands. Across the valley I’d seen a seven-foot-diameter spruce tree that had an unreadable US Forest Service sign tacked to it, with a date of 1936 written in pencil; the graphite pencil had far outlasted the man-made paint. Well before the Utes’ arrival here, the Paleo-Indians had at least temporary camps in the area, some which were on Tenderfoot Mountain near Gunnison. Their campsites have been dated to around 10,000 years ago. Little is known of these people, but they likely followed migratory wildlife like the bison and elk into this valley as they populated North America. One of the projectile points found in an excavation of the camps was made of material from much farther north. Some Crested Butte Magazine

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believe the Paleo-Indians actually lived on “W” Mountain for an extended period of time. Long after the Paleo-Indians had packed up their last camp from the grasslands of the Gunnison country, the Spaniards wandered into what is now northern New Mexico and southern Colorado starting in the 1500s. There the Spaniards eventually encountered the Utes and introduced them to the horse. Once acquiring horses, the Utes had a much larger nomadic range, enabling them to summer in this valley and winter farther to the south. In spring they came over the “coo-che-to-pa” or “pass of the buffalo” into what is now known as Saguache Park in the south end of the Gunnison Valley. Saguache Park is one of the area’s geological wonders; it is the giant La Garita Caldera, the mouth of a large volcano, and is ringed by volcanic ash and debris that was flung from it 28 million years ago. When I stand in the middle of it, I get a feeling of insignificance in the vast scheme of things. Cochetopa Dome, Razor Creek Dome and Tomichi Dome, large unbroken volcanic bubbles near the caldera, can be seen from nearly any place in the county. The Gunnison area is dotted with caprock plateaus, the harder volcanic

material that was left after the lighter, finer sediments were eroded away. From Cochetopa Pass, now known as North Pass, the land drops little in

elevation until near the Tomichi Creek Valley. The original route into the valley did not go through the Cochetopa canyon as it does today; rather it stayed

high in the Cochetopa hills to presentday Doyleville just off Highway 50. The Tomichi Creek has wandered the east leg of the Gunnison Valley for thousands of years from its headwaters north of Whitepine, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been told that the topsoil along its route can be well over a thousand feet deep. When the ancients arrived here, most of the Gunnison River drainage was choked with cottonwoods and willows anchored in the rich topsoil, perfect for finding the game and fish they later dried in the intense highaltitude sun. Game trails connected tributaries throughout the river basin and allowed the animals easy routes to lower country in winter; they still follow those routes today. When the ancients and the Utes stumbled on those trails, with their abundant hunting and fishing, the trails became normal travel routes. The Utes wandered up nearly every tributary in the area in search of food or just for the sake of exploring. Long gone from this area are the

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huge pinion forests that produced pine nuts, or piñón as they are called in Spanish. The nuts were a mainstay of the older civilizations as they traveled the Southwest. There is evidence of pinion as far north as Oh Be Joyful drainage near Crested Butte. Likely, the Paleo-Indians dried the cones in the sun until they released their delectable seeds, but the two-year cycle at Crested Butte’s altitude would have enabled the gatherers to simply pick the seeds up off the ground after the cones opened

naturally. No one really knows what became of the pinion forests here, but it is speculated that a huge fire took out the bulk of them. In many locations around the county, petrified wood outcroppings give evidence of a more heavily forested area at one time. My family used pieces of the petrified wood as doorstops when I was young. A succession of folks followed the ancient trails to this high valley. About the mid-1700s the Spanish came up the Gunnison River from the Uncompahgre

Valley, so others began to get a look at what the area offered. The Spaniards were followed by fur traders such as Antoine Robidoux, who used the Cochetopa Pass extensively to transport furs out of the valley to traders. Following him, Otto Mears made the “coo-che-to-pa” into a two-track, establishing the Mears Toll Road in 1871; sometime later it became part of the Saguache and San Juan stagecoach route to the south, linking Lake City and eventually winding as far south as Del Norte. To make way for settlement and mining, the Utes were eventually herded up throughout the Southwest in the late 1860s, and some of them were brought to the Los Piños Indian Agency in Saguache Park. It was the beginning of the end for a once proud people, but it gave rise to new people, for the agency demanded beef -- and Gunnison ranching was born. As cattlemen settled here to supply the agency and later the miners, they

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began to clear the Gunnison Valley of its cottonwoods and willows to make way for hay meadows. Thousands of cattle were grazed in the valley’s far reaches. Much of the sagebrush we see today replaced the fragile native grasses during that era’s intense grazing. In the summer of 1875, Alonzo Hartman, who was “herd boss” for the Los Piños Agency, gathered the government cattle in Taylor Park and started the herd south, where the Utes were now being taken to the New Uncompahgre Agency near Montrose. Sidney Jocknick, in his 1913 publication, Early Days of the Western Slope of Colorado, wrote that there were ten men or so, including him as cook and his pack outfit, a “prairie schooner” and the herd, and they took the whole shebang over the hills to the west of the old agency, then south to Montrose. They pushed and pulled, unloaded and reloaded the wagon, coaxing it to Cathedral and on to the Lake Fork, over “The Blues” and then to the Cimarron River, finally arriving

at the “new” agency. At one point the wagon overran the team and the whole thing ended upside down in a creek. The men repaired it on site and hit the primitive trail again. Those early cattlemen followed the trails of the ancients from one drainage to another as they moved their cattle from winter grounds to summer pastures and back. When the railroads came here, crews loaded the cattle into wooden slatted cars that labored over mountain passes following the trails and wagon roads of their predecessors. Today, we hike, horseback, motorcycle and bicycle many of those same trails, following the steps of explorers, the wagon ruts of pioneers, the tales of Ute storytellers, and the tracks of the buffalo and mammoths that wandered this valley. We stand on the same ridges overlooking the same drainages. We gaze upon the same stars and hear the same winds. And if we are lucky, we will see evidence of the ancient ones in whose footsteps we follow.

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CLIMB

SIX ROUTES ON THE PINNACLE CLIMBING TOWER

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SINK Photos: Tom Stillo

A HOLE-IN-ONE AT THE FLYING GOPHER MINI-GOLF COURSE

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On the Ascent

The valley’s climbing community invites rock-fiends to reach for something bigger. By Ben Johnson

Luke Mehall

OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS

Alex Fenlon

our climbing community has been through an evolution. Climbing has grown immensely as the common image has steered from “hard core and crazy” toward something that can be indulged in by threeyear-olds to build confidence and college students looking for a new canvas for expression. As ever more young people discover the ease and safety with which they can learn to climb, it’s easy to stereotype these climbers as vagabonds and bums. But many Gunnison Valley climbers are representing our sport with the utmost concern for our community. Here’s my view of the climbing progression happening in our backyard. Why do people climb? Most climbers are involved in the sport, adventure or puzzle of climbing for reasons other than to scare ourselves silly. Chiseled abs or ego boosts might inspire some to climb, but it’s also a social, fun, inspiring, gratifying activity. It boils down to the mentalCrested Butte Magazine

preserving trails, wildlife habitat, & working ranches

photograph by nathan bilow 78

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physical challenge: how we get our arms, hands, fingers, stomachs, toes and, most importantly, our minds to work together to navigate rock faces. It’s like a live game of Tetris where our bodies are the Tetris pieces moving up the rock. In the Gunnison Valley, we understand there are many reasons people climb. It’s important to respect those and keep the climbing community welcoming to anyone, whether they’re trying to impress the next guy or girl they meet or trying to find a new level of Zen. Climbing also helps with other life challenges. For anyone, especially youth, it can be an incredible confidence booster. Imagine trying something that scares, intimidates and excites you. Now imagine breaking through those comfort zones and succeeding even the slightest bit to realize good things can happen when you push yourself. Climbing offers a beautiful and unique setting that takes us out of our normal routines and inspires us to become better than we think we are. Climbing can also expose us to new cultures, allow us to tap into our primal animal and develop new friendships we never thought possible. Who climbs? Everyone! From students and professors to coffee shop employees, lawyers, dentists and chair lift personnel. Climbers aren’t yet quite as abundant as skiers, but they’re around us in all shapes and sizes. Most people in the valley have

tasted climbing in one way or another, whether it’s one move or a healthy addiction, and it has touched people and made their lives better. The non-profit Gunnison Valley Peaceful Warriors are helping to create a more beneficial and sustainable climbing community. They’ve been around for five years, specializing in youth development through climbing. They are playing a significant role with the Bureau of Land Management in shaping how our climbing areas are managed, hosting climbing days with Partners youth and leading community service projects. These climbers have teamed up with Western State College’s Climbing Club and recreation/outdoor education program to facilitate their climbing and program-planning skills. The Peaceful Warriors are coordinating many of the summer climbing events and the youth climbing programs. The Peaceful Warriors group also invites young people to enjoy friendly competition and climb alongside other kids from around the world. They participate in the American Bouldering Series (ABS) and the Sport Climbing Series (SCS) and have excelled on a national level. At ABS Nationals and SCS Nationals, the Warriors had seven climbers in the top 25, including two national championship titles from Sebastian Infantes and an eighth-place finish at intercontinental championships in Canada by Daisy Willis. The Warriors have also made some impressive “sends” on real rock, with countless 5.12 “on-sights” (successful climbs on the first attempt) and a send of one of the area’s test pieces, the rarely climbed Full Facial at God’s Crag, by John Duft. The Peaceful Warriors guide half of all rock-climbing trips in the valley, accounting for almost 700 user-days annually. The Warriors love outdoor climbing events and participate in the City of Rocks competition, Hueco Rock Rodeo, Horsetooth Hang, Butte Bouldering Bonanza and 24 Hours of Gunnison Glory. In 2009 the young people summited fourteener Kit Carson Peak. But it’s not just about accomplishments on the rock; the Warriors have also raised several thousand dollars for causes like the local Six Points and international American Foundation for Children with AIDS. The Peaceful Warriors represent the best of what climbing is bringing to our community – ways to learn and stretch, both on and off the rock. Ben Johnson, a 14-year resident of the valley (on and off), instructs for the Peaceful Warriors. When not teaching or climbing, he’s often backcountry skiing or mountain biking.

LAKE CITY ICE PARK CHIPETA FALLS OURAY ICE PARK

EVENTS

We’re blessed to be surrounded by such amazing, diverse rock. Here are some local areas and events to celebrate climbing.

WINTER

SUMMER

BARBEQUE, DANCE-OFF, SLACK-LINING, MUSIC AND AUTUMN LEAVES TO COLOR CLIMBING CELEBRATION. By Luke Mehall The Butte Bouldering Bonanza, Crested Butte’s energetic and friendly climbing festival, will return this year just as the fall colors kick in. The Bonanza is Crested Butte’s only formal gathering of the climbing community, a small but passionate group that treasures our Skyland Boulders. These boulders, located along the Upper Loop trail, have been named “some of the best in Colorado” in multiple guidebooks. The sixth Butte Bouldering Bonanza on Saturday, Sept. 10, will be organized by the Peaceful Warriors and the Western State Climbing Club. “We’re hosting the Bonanza later so climbers can enjoy the fall colors,” said Ben Johnson. “This will also let the buzz build among new Western State students.” Coordinators invite everyone interested in bouldering. “It’s more of a celebration of climbing than a competition,” Johnson said. “The main purpose is to provide a charismatic event to bring our community together.” To encourage camaraderie over competition, the biggest prize will be for best costume. In addition to the bouldering contest, the Bonanza will include a barbeque, dance-off and slacklining competition, with live acoustic music echoing off the boulders. At other end of summer, the 24 Hours of Gunnison Glory will bring climbers to

A Little Local Beta HARTMAN ROCKS LOST CANYON SKYLAND BOULDERS TAYLOR CANYON/SPRING CREEK BLACK CANYON GOD’S CRAG THE POINT

BONANZA

24 HOURS OF GUNNISON GLORY May 28 at Hartman Rocks BUTTE BOULDERING BONANZA, September 10 at Skyland Boulders

Hartman Rocks over Memorial Weekend for one of only two 24-hour climbing competitions in the country. Luke Mehall organized the Butte Bouldering Bonanza for its first five years. For more of Mehall’s writing visit lukemehall.blogspot.com.

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where meets As I turn onto Highway 135, a typical fall morning greets me. A blast of rising sun slaps me awake through the frosty windshield. I clutch a warm travel mug of tea in one hand, the steering wheel in the other, and head up the hill out of town. I run through my morning mental checklist: Kids off to school with everything they need? Check. Dog fed? Check. Briefcase? Check. The student papers I graded last night? Check. Teaching plans for the day? Check. Lunch? No check. Office keys? No check. Cell phone? No check. Pants? Check. I relish in the small victory of having at least covered the basics in the mad dash to get everyone out the door. I glance at the clock. I have exactly enough time to get to my first class at Western State College. The late fall landscape unfolds before me like an idyllic pastoral painting. Hawks circle and dive in the blonde

Sandra Cortner

pastures; the yellowing hillsides glow; golden cottonwoods lining the highway are ablaze with sunlight. I think of all the city commuters sitting in traffic jams on crowded freeways, surrounded by concrete and honking, and I feel gratitude for my morning jaunt to Gunnison where I am more likely to see fox, eagles, coyotes, deer, elk and an occasional bighorn than a corporate executive with road rage. I’m feeling rather supercilious as I glance at the clock again. Right on time. To the minute. It takes me a moment to believe what I see when I come around a bend and encounter 200-plus cow butts. At first they appear as a surreal brown sea spreading across the highway. When the realization dawns that the rocking tide is composed of enormous, swaying momma cow hips, the next thought is inevitable: I’m going to be late for work. The cars in front of me come to a standstill. Cowboys ride the highway’s perimeter—four on each side—whistling and hollering at the cattle to keep them moving forward. Spotted dogs bark at the cows’ heels. But the girls aren’t listening, and I find myself in a traffic jam after all, Gunnison County style. Living in Crested Butte for my entire adult life has taught me many things. I’ve learned to change with the seasons; I’ve learned which flowers bloom first and last and that riverbanks shape-shift from one summer to the next; I’ve learned my community will catch me when I fall and the joy of catching others; I’ve learned that if mounds of melting dog poo are a bother, get a trash bag and clean them up. I’ve learned how to shoo a bear, how any sport can be performed in an absurd costume, how a loving village raises its children. And I’ve learned how to get stuck in a cattle drive. Based on my observations over the years, I’ve determined there are three primary ways to get caught in a cattle drive.

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One way is to be stupid. This I have done myself when I once walked out onto Highway 135 from the Crested Butte South entrance without looking very carefully at what was coming down the road. It was only when I got to the southbound lane, turned and stuck my thumb out to hitch a ride that I saw them: an enormous herd of cattle, stretching from shoulder to shoulder, running toward me like I was their long lost breakfast. I ran for my life along the fence line, laughing, crying, laughing (craughing?), my heavy briefcase slung over one shoulder and smacking me in the rear with every lunge forward. I kept just ahead of the mooing, drooling mass bearing down upon me until a blessed angel of a driver finally popped through the herd in her minivan and stopped to pick me up. That evening, I told the story to the Spanish class I was auditing and, amid their hysterics, the students dubbed me vaquera (yes, that means “cowgirl”). You know you’ve done something stupid when it earns you an immediate nickname. Another not-so-bright cattle drive maneuver is performed by the tourists who become so enthralled by the “I didn’t know cowboys really existed!” scene that they pull off to the side of the road and get out of their car to take photos. Inevitably they are soon overwhelmed by the “I didn’t know cows were so big!” problem and end up screaming in terror, racing to their car that is now blocked by three mommas and a wildly pooping calf. The more common way to get stuck in a cattle drive is to get pissed off. I’ve seen

Photos: Tom Stillo

drivers honk at the cows, lean out their windows to yell at them, sit impatiently drumming their steering wheels, or attempt to wedge between the bodies, though such a tactic is safe for neither cow nor car. Take it from someone who tends to be running a tad late: it can be infuriating to think youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to make it to the other end of the valley in the nick of time and then be halted by an unexpected, slow-moving, foul-smelling obstacle. Clearly, we all have places we need to be or we wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be on the highway in the first place. But I remember one morning, sitting impatiently (I was more the steering-wheel-drumming type than the lean-

out-the-window-to-yell type, but impatient just the same) when the massive head of a cow appeared at my window. As she peered in at me with curiosity, smearing her enormous nostrils across the glass, it occurred to me that perhaps she was feeling impatient with me for being in her way. We stared at each other for a moment. Impulsively, I lowered the glass that separated us. She stuck her head into my car and let out a deafening moo. I jumped in surprise, then began laughing as she withdrew her head and sauntered on. In that one close encounter of the bovine kind I realized I had been sitting in cattle drives all wrong. I, like so many of my fellow drivers, had

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been so obsessed with the destination the cows were keeping me from that I forgot to see them as cows at all. They might as well have been semi-trailers at a standstill on an interstate, and the highway between Crested Butte and Gunnison might as well have been anywhere. But Gunnison County is not anywhere. It is a special place, rich with a ranching tradition that dates back many generations and is still going strong. Tourists probably shouldn’t venture from their cars in the midst of a couple hundred head of moving cows to snap photos, but they sure have one thing right: a cattle drive right down the center of the highway, complete with whooping cowboys on horseback and loyal cattle dogs, is an extraordinary sight. What many of us locals take as an inconvenience is actually a piece of western history that most people glimpse only when recreated in books and films. Cattle drives are a crucial practicality for our working ranchers as well as a symbol of our valley’s heritage and identity, not to mention being darn entertaining when one allows them to be. This leads me to the third way to get stuck in a cattle drive, the way I have practiced for many years now and the one I recommend to you: appreciation. Let go of your worries about time; roll down the windows; let your eyes drink in the scene; listen to the mooing, the whooping, the whistles that have echoed through this valley for centuries; look a cow right in the eye, be open to what she might teach you. I am going to be late for work. Luckily, I have learned to warn my students every semester that the occasional cattle drive might keep me from arriving on time, and I have instructed them to wait. I immerse myself in the moment as if there is nothing and nowhere but here. I observe the way a mother cow keeps her young ones close, admire a cowboy’s skill with the lasso, smile at a vaquera and our secret, unlikely bond. I notice the fine mist of steam spraying from the cows’ nostrils and listen to the cacophony of their grunts and slapping hooves.

THIS IS MY KIND OF TRAFFIC JAM. 84 Crested Butte Magazine

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SEEKING HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE DISH PIT By Luke Mehall

Washing dishes was my first real job at age 16. Today I’m twice that age, and it’s still my occupation. What lies in the space of those 16 years is the Zen of dishwashing. Probably half the people living in Crested Butte have been dish divers at one time. Our economy demands that most of us take jobs for which we’re overqualified. It also demands creativity, so it’s fitting that Zen dishwashing was born in Crested Butte. (Former dishwasher Garth Mangels of Crested Butte coined the term.) Dishwashing got me through my college years, and I met a ton of characters working the valley’s restaurants, including Zen

dishwasher Tim Foulkes. I’d been diving in the dish pit at the Palace in Gunnison for a couple of months and was ready to move up to cooking. I was 20 and ambitious, dishwashing was the lowliest job in the restaurant, and I was tired of being the last person in the joint after the place closed down. The cooks would promptly start drinking at the bar when their shift was over, leaving me to finish up. Plus, I’d nearly died in that dish pit when I unknowingly turned on the disposal with a big sharp knife in it; the knife came flying out, blade first, barely missing me. It would have been a tragic death for a young diver. Tim loved death metal, and the main benefit of the Palace

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was that the diver had his own stereo, a key element attaining Zen in the dish pit. Back then I was somewhat of a Deadhead, but we managed to keep the peace.

I’d never seen a diver as content as

Tim in the pit. He would simply blast his death metal and get into the zone. I’d stay a bit later, helping him put dishes away so he wasn’t finishing up alone while everyone else partied at the bar. Tim refused to advance to cooking. I couldn’t conceive why one would hold on to an occupation that earned less money and worse treatment. But visionaries are often doubted.

In those days the place was a little

too casual about the drinking; the boss was a so-called recovering alcoholic who still drank. The place soon closed down. I followed Tim to the Green Lizard, a Mexican joint with alcoholic managers and the worst dish pit ever. No machine, just a sink, and lots of oil from all the fried food. The only ray of light and fresh air was a small vent right in front of my face. That space was even violated one day when a

bliss

cook pulled a prank, blowing flour through it and covering my face in white powder.

Some of the cooks were climbing buddies of mine, and we’d take safety meetings near the pit, blowing the marijuana smoke into the vents above the grills. A couple of times police officers came in to eat, but the smell was masked by the fryers and cooking food.

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Fortunately the unhappy, alcoholic

managers left us alone most evenings.

I jumped at the chance to advance to

cooking, leaving behind the cramped dish pit, but moving closer to the alcoholic manager. He gave us such a hard time I eventually told him I was done.

A restaurant friend, Rich Lombardo, set

me up with an interview at the Cantina in Crested Butte. My diving career there was unremarkable at first: I showed up, washed some dishes, went home and repeated. There wasn’t much of a social scene for me: no climbers or friends worked there. But it paid more than places in Gunny, so I continued.

Meanwhile I experimented with

minimizing bills and maximizing recreation

“I COULDN’T CONCEIVE WHY ONE WOULD HOLD ON TO AN OCCUPATION THAT EARNED LESS MONEY AND WORSE TREATMENT. BUT VISIONARIES ARE OFTEN DOUBTED.” time. I was studying recreation in college; why not take a semester off for some field research? When my lease ran out, I put my domestic belongings into storage and moved into a tent. It was a glorious period, with plenty of time for climbing and camping and virtually no living expenses beyond gasoline, gear and food. I wrote poetry by the fire and spent a lot of time inside my head. I finally graduated and realized there were warmer places to camp and be a climbing bum/dishwasher. So I packed up and travelled to Joshua Tree in southern California. I walked into a restaurant called Crossroads, told the manager I was the best dishwasher in Colorado, and found myself employed in the modest, three-sink dishwashing station the next day. That winter brought 100 days of camping, naked dance parties atop rock formations, tons of climbing and free food from Crossroads. The two head cooks could not have been more different; one was a hard working thirty-something woman who cursed up

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a storm, and the other was a beautiful, quiet Asian woman, a climber who had graduated from Yale. I made friends with all the cooks and took them climbing, and in turn they treated me with respect, rare for a new dishwasher in a kitchen.

Moments of contentment came and

went, and I pondered how long this simple life of climbing, camping and washing dishes could satisfy me.

By April Joshua Tree started to heat

up, and I followed the signs pointing back to the valley. The Cantina’s dish pit

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seemed bigger and cleaner than ever after working in a cramped space without a dish machine. One cook at the Cantina, however, was always messing with my Zen. He would shout obscenities and place dishes in my area by basically throwing them at me. He also dissed my music (which by now was hip-hop, as I’d become less of a hippie). One day I put on some

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Outkast and he started complaining, running off a slew of obscenities. It was time to punch him or walk out. I chose the latter. I heard the same cook had a plate thrown at him by another dishwasher he was disrespecting. I wish I could have seen that.

A couple of years ago I thought I

was exiting the dish game forever. I was washing dishes for minimum wage in Salt Lake City when I got a call from my alma mater, looking for a writer for the Office of Public Relations and Communications. I jumped at the chance and when the job moved to full-time, I thought my diving days were done.

I went almost two years without

commercially washing a dish. But, when the economy fell and my job was cut to half-time, the Cantina took me back.

Things were better in the kitchen.

The stars had aligned for some Zen dishwashing, the cooks were friendly, I was treated with respect, the music was generally good and safety meetings were tolerated.

The problem was with me. I wasn’t

content in the dish pit.

I thought about it. What had changed?

Had I learned all the life lessons the dish pit had to teach me? 90 Crested Butte Magazine

I consulted fellow writers and philosophers. One friend, Nathan Kubes, an artist from Gunnison, wrote back to me, “The term ‘the Zen of dishwashing’ is right on. This drudgery is a serious pain in the arse, it wounds our ego, it exhausts our bodies, it tires our minds, and it seriously inhibits inspiration.” I realized I knew very little about Zen. Could the suffering with the dishes teach me as much as when I was content with the job? Was I really after Zen dishwashing or was I searching for something else? I asked Nathan to recommend some readings on Zen. He wrote back, “You want to read about Zen? Read the phone book.” A clever answer. I began to look at diving with a new perspective. Meditation and Zen are not easily attained; nor is finding happiness while working a mediocre job that you are over-qualified to do. The whole summer I’d been learning more lessons about the Zen of dishwashing. When I thought I’d lost the path, I was on it more than ever. The busy summer has passed. While many are sad to see the summer go, we grunt workers welcome the autumn slow season with joy, especially if we’ve saved money to recreate here when we have it mostly to ourselves. I realize after this most recent season of diving, having briefly returned to the dish pit after a long hiatus, that I don’t need to continue to look for Zen dishwashing. It’s always there, soapy hands or not. There’s Zen in every moment, learning in every situation, whether we judge it good or bad. So now I’m searching for the dishwasher’s nirvana, and I’m going to be thinking about that while I’m enjoying the fruits of my labor: time off, recreating in the wild lands of the West.

317 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte, CO • 349-5913 • 10am to 9pm Daily zypp.net Crested Butte Magazine

Nathan Bilow

EACH YEAR, ON OR NEAR THE AUTUMN EQUINOX, WHEN THE SUN SHINES DIRECTLY OVER THE TOWN OF CRESTED BUTTE, A MAGICAL EVENT TAKES PLACE TO USHER IN A NEW PHASE FOR BOTH EARTH AND MAN. 92 Crested Butte Magazine

Vinotok celebrates our relation to the land with a week of storytelling, community feasts and a Medieval-inspired reenactment of a tale of enchantment. Its ritual bonfire has often been misinterpreted as little more than a hedonistic debacle offering lonely mountain drunkards a chance to frolic with receptive maidens while losing themselves publicly through wine and other entheogens. Yet behind the façade of mere merriment lies an ancient remedy for transcendence, healing, renewal and growth. “Burn the Grump! Burn the Grump!” The incessant chanting echoes through town well before the magistrate has even asked the crowd for their verdict. In a bewitching display of group hypnosis, various archetypal figures proceed theatrically down Elk Avenue, with one rising above all others: The Great Grump. Towering before the torchbearers, the terrible beast remains silent, with a melancholic glow that suggests a deep awareness of the energetic transmutations taking place. For weeks leading up to Vinotok, festive boxes at various

Nathan Bilow

Alex Fenlon

establishments encourage locals to contribute anonymous statements of things they wish to leave behind from the previous year. Often it is simple. An eight-year-old is tired of being picked on at school. A teenager is frustrated by the curiosities of a younger brother. Other times it is more complicated, and writing down one’s “grump” becomes an alchemical event – preparation for a powerful rite of passage. Life is an ever-shifting cycle. As time slips by, from birth into old age, it’s imperative that we honor the lessons learned lest we miss the point of life’s “seasons.” And, as the leaf falls from the tree in autumn, life demands that we let go of that which no longer serves us. Throughout history various rituals have made these milestones more tangible and, in the process, more powerful. During Vinotok, the act of visualizing one’s setbacks, annoyances and/or sicknesses as “grumps” and then releasing them into the fire provides a means for transformation that has been lost to most of the “civilized” world. I benefited greatly from this aspect of Vinotok last fall when

Alex Fenlon

I began to participate more sincerely, believing that, as the snows would soon fall and purify our town, I too must clean my slate to make a clean shift into adulthood. I saw in The Great Grump an honorable warrior able to take on the woes of all who needed to be released from them. So in gratitude, I fed my childhood fears and sloth-like tendencies into the fire, and as the Grump burned, I visualized my setbacks bursting into flame along with this great martyr. And miraculously a strong sense of empowerment came over me, which I still feel to this day. This mythical presentation has inspired other emerging gatherings of archaic revival, such as the infamous Burning Man. Tales of wild abandon have leaked through many a dorm room at Western State and beyond. Rumors will spread and with them the seduction to attend a debaucherous party purely for hedonistic purposes. But be not fooled. Vinotok, though fun indeed, is no simple ski town bonfire. Vinotok is, for those with eyes to see and ears to hear, a powerful initiation into all that is yet to come. Crested Butte Magazine

Photos: Tom Stillo, Alex Fenlon

ridecb.com

Bring this ad to the Adventure Center, now through Labor Day, 2011, and get one FREE child (17 and under) summer lift ticket with the purchase of one adult summer lift ticket.

Canopy Zipline Tour Chair lift rides Hiking trails Disc golf course Bungee Trampolines Flying Gopher Mini-golf Climbing Tower Evolution Bike Park Mountain bike trails & Skills Zone Specialized Demo Center Wednesday Night Concert Series

MORE AT THE MOUNTAIN CRESTED BUTTE MOUNTAIN RESORT 94 Crested Butte Magazine

To book activities call (970)349-2262 or (800)847-6877

the President Photographing

When budding photographer Tom Stillo in 1991 took his first portrait of former President Jimmy Carter, he was happy to have his tripod to keep the camera from shaking. Twenty years later, having photographed the President and Mrs. Carter thousands of times as part of their annual Carter Center fundraising weekend, Tom has become both more at ease and more in awe. Still sharp and active at age 86, Jimmy Carter isn’t just a celebrity; he’s a major player in world history. “President Carter is my idol. He’s one of the greatest humanitarians alive today,” Tom said. “People say he’s the only president who used the presidency as a stepping stone to a more successful career.” Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have long-time ties to Crested Butte and still occasionally spend time here. Rosalynn Carter served on the board of what is now the Adaptive Sports Center, and the Carters participated in fundraisers for that program starting in the early 1990s. Tom, who had a new job working for Crested Butte Mountain Resort then, began photographing the Carters during those events. He continued when the Carter Center, an Atlanta-based non-profit center for social change and human rights, began hosting Winter Weekend fundraisers in Crested Butte. The Winter Weekends brought Carter Center donors and inner-city Atlanta kids to Crested Butte for all-inclusive ski vacations, with evening entertainment, “town hall” talks and social engagements with the Carters. Tom documented the events and shot a portrait of each attendee with the Carters, who signed the print as a gift for the donor. One year Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter, in their late sixties then, hiked with their entourage from Crested Butte to Aspen over rugged West Maroon Pass. Tom’s wife Jenny led the Secret Service’s advance security team over the trail a week beforehand to scout out the terrain. Photographing Jimmy Carter in both candid interactions and posed portraits over two decades has given Tom insight into his character, intelligence, humor and compassion. “The Carters are such cordial, gentle people, so easy to be around. You’d think the power would go to their heads, but they are personable and interested in each person they meet,” he said. The Carters take particular interest in youth, going out of their way at social events to engage young people like Tom and Jenny’s daughter Asya. When a family poses for a photo

FOR TWO DECADES LOCAL PHOTOGRAPHER TOM STILLO HAS DOCUMENTED FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER, BECOMING BOTH MORE AT EASE AND MORE IN AWE OF THE GREAT HUMANITARIAN. By Sandy Fails

with the Carters, the president sometimes lifts a young child to his lap and says, “You come be in front, because you’re most important.” After ten years in Crested Butte, the Winter Weekends moved to Snowbird, then to the beaches of Mexico, Florida and (in 2012) California. The Carter Center flies Tom, Jenny and Asya to the February event, giving them a few days to play before the intense work begins. Tom shoots throughout the day, including scenic photos of the resort, inspiring speakers and activities, candid people shots and portraits with the president. Each day he compiles a slide show to share with the crowd during the dinner gathering. Jenny helps with the auction, the highlight event of the weekend; this year her grown son Andrew (known as Justin when he was growing up in Crested Butte) joined her from his Florida home to help. The auction generally raises around a million dollars for the Carter Center; each year, a small furniture piece or original painting created by President Carter brings $100,000-250,000. Approximately 250 participants gather for the Club Med vacation, with cruise-ship-type activities like tennis, fishing, golf, boat tours and sailing. Despite his age, Jimmy Carter maintains a full schedule, including time to socialize and discuss world affairs with his keen memory and insight. “When people question him about current or past events, he just nails it,” Crested Butte Magazine

Tom said. “I can’t imagine how he could not just be exhausted. He’s got the energy of a young man.”

In the time he has been documenting the Winter

Weekends, Tom has seen the Carters’ impact spread around the world. In 2002, President Carter received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work conducting peace negotiations, overseeing elections and supporting human rights work. He plays a key role in Habitat for Humanity, and Rosalynn Carter has been a staunch advocate for those with mental illness. The Carter Center promotes democracy, mediates in potential conflicts, monitors elections and works to improve nutrition and crop production and to eradicate crippling diseases in developing countries. The

Through a teenager’s eyes

The years I’ve attended President and Mrs. Carter’s Winter Weekend have not only been outstanding vacations but also very enriching experiences. There are major sponsors like Coca-Cola, Monsanto and Merrill-Lynch, but what impresses me most is the number of small companies and individuals who passionately believe in the Carter Center’s work and donate what they can. The weekend is a fundraiser for the center’s efforts, such as eradicating Guinea worm disease from certain parts of Africa. According to the Center for Disease Control, the disease remains in only four countries in the world. It will be the second disease in history to be fully eradicated, a huge accomplishment for the Carter Center.

Center’s motto: “Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope.”

Tom has found his cynicism challenged not only by

the tireless work done by the Carters and the Carter Center, but also by the people who attend the Winter Weekend fundraisers, making huge donations to fund that work. Tom is also grateful that his daughter gets to attend the inspiring presentations about such effective humanitarian work.

“I love the Carters’ policies, the way they think, and

their dedication. I come away with renewed energy and belief in the goodness of humanity,” he said.

970-349-5478 96 Crested Butte Magazine

Topics like that are discussed in nightly dinner functions, all leading up to a live auction on the last night. It’s always incredible to see how much people are willing to spend on the donated auction items to support the Carter Center. That shows what a fine job President and Mrs. Carter do in opening minds and hearts to worthwhile causes. They have certainly influenced and convinced me that through kindness, perseverance and hard work, every person can help make the planet a better place.

--Asya Stillo, age 18

WRIGHTANGLECONSTRUCTION.COM Custom Homes & Renovations

Crested Butte Magazine

A PEEK AT THE CRESTED BUTTE MOUNTAIN HERITAGE MUSEUM PHOTO COLLECTION WITH ARCHIVIST BROOKE MURPHY.

Junior Gibson jumping at the Pershing Hill in 1950. Ski jumping was popularized in the 1940s and 1950s. The Pershing Hill was used for downhill, slalom and ski jumping. The motor that powered its rope tow was donated by the Pershing Mine.

Capturing the times, complete with multi-pronged antennae, dated gas pumps and unpaved Elk Avenue. Tony’s Conoco, as it was known, was long a center of town activities and now houses the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum. 98 Crested Butte Magazine

In this scene circa 1980, photographer David Sumner highlights the importance of music in Crested Butte’s history. Bartender Chuck Wirtz is serving Pitsker, Matt Volk, Botsie Spritzer, Joe Sedmak and Joe Saya (with his sax) in Kochevar’s, at the same bar once patronized by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

WHY WE

love OUR PLACE

AND HOW OUR NONPROFITS PROTECT THE QUALITIES WE VALUE MOST. By Pam Montgomery, executive director, Community Foundation of the Gunnison Valley What is it about a community that creates an attachment that goes beyond pleasure, beyond pride? Ask folks around you and you’ll hear many answers. Do a nation-wide survey, and guess what? We have it all right here. A three-year “Soul of the Community” study by Gallup and the James L. Knight Foundation identified three major factors that create attachment to place: a vibrant social scene, openness to new people and thoughts, and beauty. Other factors certainly played a role, but those factors ranked at the top in 26 diverse communities around the country. Interesting, in our small community, many of our non-profit organizations focus on those same elements. Who creates most of our vibrant social events and festivals? Nonprofits do: the Crested Butte Center for the Arts, the Wildflower Festival, Crested Butte Music Festival and year-round Mountain Theatre. Go from festivals to fundraisers and think about the Tour This photo by Nathan Bilow is from a slide collection donated by Crested Butte’s former town planner, Myles Rademan. Shot during an era of change, it beautifully captured the essence of our revered “old-timers.”

de Forks, Caddis Cup fly-fishing tournament, Sonofagunn plays, Seven Hours of the Banana, Beachball Express, Crested Butte Open... so many there isn’t enough time to do them all! Who protects our incredible view corridors and natural resources? The Crested Butte Land Trust, 1% for Open Space, Coal Creek Watershed, High Country Citizens Alliance, Red Lady Coalition and the Gunnison Ranchland Legacy come to mind. In our openness to diversity, the Adaptive Sports Center in Crested Butte and Six Points in Gunnison are best known. Their clients are beloved members of our community or special visitors who are often featured in our newspapers, and their triumphs are the community’s triumphs! Our lifestyles range from homesteaders to immigrants, from those below the poverty line to those with mega resources. New folks can easily make friends and find outlets for their interests. The Community Foundation of the Gunnison Valley’s “Speak Your Peace” initiative has curricula used throughout the county, from schools to politics, to heal divisions or navigate tough issues. These programs lie at the heart of the Gunnison Valley Leadership Program. The Foundation’s staff and volunteers also live those principles of respect.

One of the most iconic local ski photos, this was taken at Irwin in 1883. Skiing was originally called snowshoeing, and “snowshoers” used one pole to guide their long, wooden skis. Skiing was necessary for everyday life during the winter.

What does all this mean for our valley? We specialize in the three characteristics that tie people to their places. In a microcosm, we ARE the best America has to offer. More information: www.cfgv.org or 970-641-8837. Crested Butte Magazine

summer highlights 3 -10

1, 2, 5, 7

13, 20

12, 19, 26

3-Aug. 14

14-15

Crested Butte Restaurant Week Crested Butte Farmers Market, 1st & Elk

17-19

Crested Butte Writers Conference, Elevation Hotel

Readers in the Rockies, Elevation Hotel

23-26

Fat Tire Bike Week

24-25

Wildflower Rush x-c/downhill bike races, Mt. CB

25, 26, 29, 30

“Oklahoma” by CB Mtn. Theatre, Mallardi Cabaret

25-26

Bridges of the Butte 24-hour townie tour

Alpenglow free concert: Bob Malone Band

ArtWalk at local galleries and studios

“Oklahoma” at the Mallardi Cabaret Crested Butte Music Festival

3, 10, 17, 24, 31

Crested Butte Farmers Market, 1st & Elk

Crested Butte Fireworks Display

Downtown parade, games, Mt. CB fireworks Gothic-Crested Butte 1/3 marathon (run, walk, crawl) Alpenglow concert: Julia Bryan & The Last Flight Out

Live from Mt. CB: free concert, Big Sam’s Funky Nation

6, 13, 20, 27 Public Policy Forum

9-10

Bluegrass in Paradise

10, 17, 24, 31

AWEFest on Elk Avenue, Artists of the West Elks

Alpenglow free concert: Amber Leigh

11-17

Wildflower Festival 100

Crested Butte Magazine

Live from Mt. CB: free concert CB Land Trust Caddis Cup fly-fishing tournament

15-17

CB Plein Air Invitational, Oh-Be-Joyful Gallery

Alpenglow free concert: Chuck Mead

20-24

CB Land Trust Wine & Food Festival

22-23

Rocky Mountain Epic Relay, Woodland Park, Crested Butte

Alpenglow free concert: Lipbone Redding

Live from Mt. CB: free concert, Lake Street Dive

ArtWalk at local galleries and studios

Summit Hike and 1/3 marathon for Living Journeys

CB Alpine Odyssey, Leadville 100 qualifying race

THE LIVELIEST CRESTED BUTTE SUMMER EVER!

Alpenglow free concert: Hot Club of Cowtown

Live from Mt. CB: free concert, The Gourds

1-30

Live from Mt. CB: free concert

3-4

Historic Preservation Dinner, RMBL

Alpenglow free concert: Old Californio

3, 10, 17, 24, 31

Public Policy Forum

5-7

USA Pro Cycling Challenge stage ends in Mt. CB

CB Arts Festival (with culinary events)

CB Open golf tournament & gala dinner for the Adaptive Sports Center

7-8

USA Pro Cycling stage starts in Gunnison Live from Mt. CB: free concert

7, 14, 21, 28

ArtWalk at local galleries and studios

Chefs on the Edge, Center for the Arts

Crested Butte Farmers Market

Alpenglow free concert

Live from Mt. CB: free concert, Uncle Lucius

12-14

Yoga Rocks the Butte

AWEFest on Elk Avenue, Artists of the West Elks

Alpenglow South: Dr. Robert/Better Late Than Never

September Splendor events, valley-wide People’s Fair on Elk Avenue

4, 11, 18, 25

Farmers Market near Elk and First

Butte Bouldering Bonanza, Skyland Boulders Fall Festival of Beers & Chili Cookoff, Mt. CB

10-11

35th Pearl Pass mountain bike tour, CB-Aspen

11-12

Wooden Nickel Fall Golf Classic, Club at CB

19-24

Vinotok Fall Festival

Fall Colors Classic ½ marathon, Gun. Valley Health

ArtWalk at local galleries and studios

30-Oct. 2

Crested Butte Film Festival

FIND MORE INFORMATION AT GUNNISONCRESTEDBUTTE.COM/EVENTS. Photos from left to right: J.C. Leacock, Raynor Czerwinski, Alex Fenlon, Rebecca Weil, Alex Fenlon Crested Butte Magazine

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retreats boutique meditation teacher trainings private instruction yogaforthepeaceful.org 120 Elk Avenue â&#x20AC;˘ 349.0302 102

Crested Butte Magazine

OmLightPhotography.com

YOGA FOR EVERYONE!

LODGING OPTIONS

Sam Faivre

ESTABLISHMENT

DESCRIPTION

RESERVATIONS

AD PAGE

213 GOTHIC Rustic Log Home Crested Butte

Beautiful 7-bedroom, 8-bathroom home. An ideal vacation home and great location for the whole family. Sleeps 19.

1.970.209.6376 keithpayne@yahoo.com 213third.com

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CRISTIANA GUESTHAUS Bed & Breakfast Hotel 621 Maroon Avenue PO Box 427, Crested Butte

Cozy B&B inn with European ski lodge charm. Hearty homemade Continental breakfast served fireside. Hot tub with mountain views. Private baths. Near free shuttle; walk to shops & restaurants.

1.800.824.7899 cristianaguesthaus.com email: info@cristianaguesthaus.com

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ELK MOUNTAIN LODGE Bed & Breakfast Lodge PO Box 148 129 Gothic Avenue, Crested Butte

Historic inn located in a residential neighborhood of downtown Crested Butte. Just two blocks off the â&#x20AC;&#x153;main street.â&#x20AC;? 19 rooms individually decorated. Some with balconies.

1.800.374.6521 elkmountainlodge.net email: info@elkmountainlodge.net

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INN AT CRESTED BUTTE Boutique Hotel & Spa PO Box 4234 510 Whiterock Avenue, Crested Butte

A renovated boutique hotel and spa. We are conveniently located in downtown Crested Butte. Offers the finest in luxury accommodations and an unparalleled level of service.

1.877.343.2111 innatcrestedbutte.net email:info@innatcrestedbutte.net

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IRON HORSE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT Rental Homes PO Box 168, Crested Butte

Specializing in highly personalized property management and vacation rentals. Expect more.

1.888.417.4766 ironhorsecb.com

THE NORDIC INN Bed & Breakfast Lodge 14 Treasury Road PO Box 939, Mt. Crested Butte

Allen (your host since 1969) and Judy Cox welcome you to this Scandinavian-style lodge. Rooms with two double beds & private baths. Within walking distance of the ski mountain.

1.800.542.7669 nordicinncb.com email: acox@nordicinncb.com

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OLD TOWN INN Hotel & Family Inn PO Box 990 708 6th Street, Crested Butte

The warmth of a family inn; value, convenience & amenities of a hotel. Home-made afternoon snacks, yummy breakfast. Rooms with two queens or one king bed. On shuttle route, stroll to shops, restaurants & trailheads.

1.888.349.6184 oldtowninn.net email: info@oldtowninn.net

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PEAK PROPERTY MANAGEMENT & SALES Rental Homes PO Box 2023, Crested Butte

Specializing in one to four bedroom private vacation home rentals in historic downtown Crested Butte, Mt. CB & the Club at Crested Butte (country club).

1.888.909.7325 peakcb.com email: kat@peakcb.com

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PIONEER GUEST CABINS Rustic Cabins 2094 Cement Creek, South of CB

Established in 1939, inside National Forest, only 12 minutes from town. 8 clean and cozy cabins, with Cement Creek running through the property. Fully equipped kitchens, comfy beds, fireplaces and more. Dog friendly, open year round.

970.349.5517 pioneerguestcabins.com pioneerguestcabins@gmail.com

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PR PROPERTY MANAGEMENT Rental Homes 350 Country Club Dr., 110A, CB

Large variety of private, luxury rental homes in Crested Butte, Mt. Crested Butte, the Club at Crested Butte and Meridian Lake.

1.800.285.0459 prproperty.com

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THE RUBY OF CRESTED BUTTE Luxury Bed & Breakfast PO Box 3801 624 Gothic Ave, Crested Butte

Luxury B&B with full breakfast, private baths and concierge in historic Crested Butte. Also pampers pets with in-room dog beds, crates, home-made treats and dog-sitting service.

1.800.390.1338 therubyofcrestedbutte.com

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Inside the National Forest but only 12 minutes from Crested Butte with Cement Creek winding through the property. 8 adorable cabins with fully equipped kitchens, comfy beds, fireplaces and more! Snowshoeing, xc skiing, fishing, mtn. biking and hiking trails right from your cabin door.

View cabins inside and out at

pioneerguestcabins.com 970-349-5517 OPEN YEAR ROUND

Pooches Welcome 104

Crested Butte Magazine

NEW LODGING ASSOCIATION TOUTS DOWNTOWN The lodges and bed and breakfast inns of Crested Butte this year formed the Downtown Crested Butte Lodging Association to promote downtown as a great place to stay, dine, shop and celebrate. The group created a website which showcases the eight lodging members, lists area restaurants and retailers and hosts a blog about happenings around Crested Butte. “Some of our businesses are off the main thoroughfares, so people might not even know about all the lodging options downtown,” said Andrea Greene, chairperson of the association. “And they might not realize that when they stay downtown, they can just park their car and walk, ride a bike or take the shuttle bus almost anywhere they want to go.” Last winter, the association

members collaborated on promotions such as Military Appreciation and Teacher Appreciation packages and threw a downtown gala for Gay Ski Week in late March. “Particularly in winter, we want people to know they can stay downtown as well as in Mt. Crested Butte. With the free shuttle, it’s a convenient alternative,” Greene said. The lodging association is also fostering “positive partnerships” with the ski area, local chamber and tourism association, town councils and transportation authority, restaurants and retailers, Greene said. The website is www. downtowncrestedbutte.com.

Crested Butte Magazine

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Perfect Vacation Rental

* 7 Bedrooms, 8 Baths, Sleeps 22 * Complete Gourmet Kitchen * Steps to Free Shuttle to Crested Butte Mountain Lifts * Stunning Views, 1 Block to Center of Town of CB * Sunroom, Steam Room, Library, Internet & Wireless * Location is perfect for walking to Shops, Restaurants, and the Historic Center of Town

970-349-0445 www.213third.com E-mail: rita@213third.com 106

Crested Butte Magazine

PRICE

Ad Page

Take Out

Catering

Televisions/Sports

Outdoor Dining

Private Parties

Live Entertainment

Full Bar

Late Night 10pm >

Happy Hour Specials

Children’s Menu

Reservations

DINING GUIDE ESTABLISHMENT

DESCRIPTION

9380 PRIME • 251-3030 Elevation Hotel, Mt. Crested Butte

Slopeside, featuring 2 dining venues: 9380 (casual) and Prime (fine dining). 9380 is your breakfast, lunch and apres-ski spot, with firepit and outdoor bar. Prime opens at night for contemporary dining.

$7-39

Breakfast Lunch Dinner

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BRICK OVEN • 349-5044 223 Elk Avenue, Downtown

Pizza-by-the-slice, deep dish, thin crust & specialty. Fresh subs, appetizers, burgers, largest salad bar in town. 24 beers on tap, high end tequila, spirits and wine. Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. FREE DELIVERY. BrickOvenCB.com

$2 - 20

Lunch Dinner

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DJANGO’S • 349-7574 Courtyard of Mountaineer Square, Mt. Crested Butte

Now gaining national attention, this culinary adventure introduces guests to a seasonal menu of globally inspired small plates. With an extensive wine list, courtyard dining and weekly live music, you won’t want to miss it.

$6-19

Dinner

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DONITA’S CANTINA • 349-6674 4th & Elk in Crested Butte

Mexican. Down-to-earth eatery specializing in good food, ample portions and fun service. Fabulous fajitas, enchanting enchiladas, bueno burritos. Local favorite for over 30 years!

$4-24

Dinner

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EASTSIDE BISTRO • 349-9699 435 6th Street, Crested Butte

Upscale neighborhood bistro. Menu represents the eclectic, creative, sophisticated visions of our passion for food, using locally fresh ingredients & prepared with innovative style.

$10-35

Brunch Dinner

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LAST STEEP • 349-7007 208 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte

Sandwiches/soup/salads. Casual family dining. Affordable menu with Caribbean island flair; Cajun chicken pasta, curry shrimp & coconut salad, artichoke-cheddar soup in bread bowl.

$5-16

Lunch Dinner

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LIL’S • 349-5457 321 Elk Ave., Crested Butte

Sushi bar & grill. Crested Butte’s original sushi bar serving great seafood, steaks and surf & turf entrees, as well as options for the little ones. In Historic Downtown.

$4-28

Dinner

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LOBAR • 349-0480 Downstairs at 3rd & Elk Crested Butte

Eclectic dining. People rave over our sushi, try our new casual bistro menu, fish tacos to crack fries! Free kids’ meals 5-6 p.m. On weekends, Lobar transforms into CB’s only nightclub with live music, karaoke, DJs & more.

$8-32

Dinner

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MARCHITELLI’S GOURMET NOODLE • 349-7401 411 Third Street, Crested Butte

Italian. Offering generations of family recipes in a cozy, relaxed atmosphere. Featuring unique pastasauce combos, traditional and regional Italian, seafood, veal and elk. Reservations recommended.

$6-30

Dinner

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MAXWELLS • 349-1221 226 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte

Fine Dining. CB’s newest steakhouse. HDTVs for watching the games. Hand-cut steaks, seafood, pastas, lamb, pork, burgers, salads, appetizers, kids’ menu. Extensive wines & beers.

$7-31

Dinner

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PITAS • 349-0897 212 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte

Gyros, kabobs, fresh made hummus and baba gannoush, pita nachos and 7-layer mezes. Greek and tahini salads, spanokopita and curly fries. Daily happy hour. Two outdoor patios.

$4-12

Lunch Dinner

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RYCE • 349-9888 120 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte

Bringing you the best culinary treats from Thailand, China, Japan and Vietnam. Spacious riverside dining room and an atmosphere that is perfectly casual. Ryceasianbistro.com for hours and menu.

Lunch Dinner

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SLOGAR • 349-5765 2nd & Whiterock, Crested Butte

Skillet-fried chicken and steak dinners served familystyle. The toughest part is deciding what tastes the best: mashed potatoes, fresh biscuits, creamed corn, chutney, steak, chicken.

Dinner

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WEST END PUBLIC HOUSE • 349-5662 201 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte

Crested Butte’s first GastroPub! Elevated comfort food, Colorado and Global craft beers, specialty cocktails and an eclectic wine list await. Dining rooms and patios on Elk Avenue and Coal Creek.

Dinner

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WOODEN NICKEL • 349-6350 222 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte

Steaks, prime rib, king crab. USDA Prime cuts of beef, Alaska King crab, ribs, pork and lamb chops, grilled seafood, burgers, chicken fried steak and buffalo burgers.

Dinner

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$16-26

$7-40

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Cooking’s an art, too!

ON THE HEELS OF LAST SUMMER’S SUCCESSFUL CULINARY ARTS PROGRAM, THE CRESTED BUTTE ARTS FESTIVAL WILL EXPAND ITS 2011 OFFERINGS. In addition to top-notch visual arts and free music on Elk Avenue, folks can enjoy culinary art programs all weekend, including free chef demonstrations inside the Viking tent at 4th and Elk. CULINARY KICK-OFF Friday, August 5 Five chefs, five courses, five perfectly paired wines. This interactive, multi-arts evening will allow foodies to get up close and personal

with the chefs and watch them work. Two visual artists will do demonstrations, along with live musical entertainment. 9380 Prime Restaurant in Mt. Crested Butte, $75. THE ART OF PAIRING Saturday, August 6 Learn from the experts the subtleties of pairing wine with food – a fun, educational seminar at Django’s in Mt. Crested Butte, $35. THE ART OF CRAFT BEER & BBQ

Saturday, August 6 A succulent barbeque dinner served with a large side of Oskar Blues award-winning brews. Avalanche Bar & Grill, Mt. Crested Butte, $45 More info: www.crestedbutteartfestival.com.

is your breakfast, lunch, and dinner slopeside dining choice. The sundeck is the

fine cuisine • spectacular views • Eclectic American Cuisine with Global Influences •

perfect place for lunch or

Dinner Nightly 5 - 10pm Intimate Dining • Private Parties • Patio

après hiking and biking. SLOPESIDE – ELEVATION HOTEL & SPA

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Crested Butte Magazine

Saturday & Sunday Brunch 10am - 2pm

(970)251-3030

435 Sixth Street • (970) 349-9699

eastsidebistro.com

WEST END Join us at Crested Butte’s First GastroPub • Elevated Comfort Food • • Colorado & Global Craft Beers • • Full Bar & Specialty Cocktails • • Eclectic Wine List •

creekside & patio dining Private Dining Rooms large parties Weddings

201 Elk Avenue 970.349.5662

Family Style Chicken & Steak Dinners Your Dinner Menu:

Assorted Relish Tray Fresh Baking Powder Biscuits Savory Sweet & Sour Cole Slaw Homemade Mashed Potatoes Whole Kernel Corn in Cream Sauce Hearty Chicken Gravy Honey Butter

DINNER NIGHTLY 5 PM TO 9 PM RESERVATIONS RECOMMENDED (970) 349-5765 LOCATED AT 2ND & WHITEROCK

One-half Skillet Fried Chicken or Grilled Steak Entree Home Style Ice Cream Coffee, Tea or Milk

www.westendpublichouse.com

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SLICES, DEEP DISH, THIN CRUST + SPECIALTY PIES SUBS, APPETIZERS, BIG JUICY BURGERS LARGEST SALAD BAR IN TOWN TEQUILA, SPIRITS, WINE + HDTVs

24 CRAFT BEERS ON TAP LUNCH + DINNER EVERY DAY OPEN FROM 11 A.M. ‘TIL 10 P.M.

Dine In • Take Out Full Bar Late Night Food Smoke Free Outdoor Dining Fish Tacos Cilantro Chicken Salad Spinach Salad Artichoke & Cheddar Soup Cajun Chicken Pasta Steak Great Burgers Kid’s Menu Chalkboard Specials

“We’ll meet ya’ at the Steep.”

Friday, Saturday 11:00AM - Midnight

Sunday - Thursday 11:00AM- 11:00PM

off season late hours subject to change

970-349-7007 208 Elk Ave. Downtown Crested Butte, Colorado

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Crested Butte Magazine

Dine-In • Take-Out • FREE Delivery

223 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte brickovencb.com

SOUPS • KABOBS • GYROS

HAPPY HOUR 4PM-6PM • TAKE-OUT AVAILABLE

OPEN EVERY DAY SERVING LUNCH AND DINNER OUTDOOR SEATING AVAILABLE

212 ELK AVENUE • 349-0897

Dinner Nightly 349-7401

Irresistibly Italian Downtown Crested Butte Crested Butte Magazine

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PHOTO FINISH

Xavier Fane

“The stars are the jewels of the night, and perchance surpass anything which day has to show.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Our family of care is your local resource for living well together.

Community Wellness

Cardiopulmonary

Rehabilitation

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Baby-sitting Classes

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Breast-feeding Support Group

Graded Exercise Testing

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Personal Wellness Profile

24/7 Ambulance Service

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Emergency Department • 24/7 Physician Coverage

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Local Physicians

EMT training

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Visiting Physicians Cardiology Dermatology Ear, Nose & Throat Neurology Oncology Ophthalmology Pathology Podiatry Pulmonology Urology

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24/7 Skilled Nursing

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• Home Health

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CT Scan — NEW!

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Short Bore MRI – NEW!

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Joint Commission Accredited. Visit: www.GunnisonValleyHealth.org to take your free and confidential Personal Wellness Profile. For more information, please call (970) 642–8406.

EXPLORE ALL THINGS RANGER

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