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CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
2013 WINTER
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MountainOffice.com
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25 WALKING DEER, MT. CRESTED BUTTE
The “Dream Catcher” property on 38 acres of Trapper’s Crossing is within walking distance from downtown Crested Butte. 6,909 sq. ft. of living space, post and beam Log Construction with 6 bedrooms + apartment, 2 living areas, detached barn and breathtaking views through a forest of Aspen Trees. $3,995,000
Ski-in Ski-out of this furnished 5 bedroom custom home with unobstructed views of the East River Valley. Each room is carefully designed to showcase the views, wood beams, floors and rock fireplaces. Contains top of the line systems, custom kitchen, media room, hot tub and cell phone repeater, fully furnished. Unmatched views and setting in Prospect. $3,950,000
722 PROSPECT, MT. CRESTED BUTTE
WESTWALL C103 MT. CRESTED BUTTE
22 SNOWMASS ROAD MT. CRESTED BUTTE
27 BELLEVIEW MT. CRESTED BUTTE
This is the ultimate Ski in - Ski out mountain home. New construction with master suite on main level, 2 junior master suites, separate living areas with full bar and game room, large exterior hot tub, 3 fireplaces, sauna, ski access room, heated entry and driveway apron with oversized heated 2 car garage. $4,975,000
This stunning 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath, skiin/ski-out WestWall Lodge residence is conveniently located on the ground floor for easy access to the slopes. Spacious 1,964 square feet of living space, completely furnished. Amenities include a large covered deck, parking garage, private storage, health club facility with pool & hot tub. Quality living at the base of WestWall lift. $899,000
What an amazing Ski in – Ski out location. Peachtree and West Wall lifts right out your back door. Unobstructed views of Mt. Crested Butte. This 4 bedroom 3.5 bath home has incredible finish detail throughout including: hand crafted aspen leaf railings, flagstone floors, Thurston kitchen cabinets, unique marble and granite countertops, steam showers, and a loft office/library, fully furnished. $2,479,000
Private location on Belleview Dr. in Mt. CB. Completely renovated home with new floors, granite counter-tops, appliances, bathrooms and kitchen. 4 bd rms, 4.5 baths, 4,252 sq ft with 1,256 sq ft garage/workshop. Immaculate exterior with new siding, fascia and decks. Grounds are landscaped with flowers, trees, sprinkler system and a large paved drive and parking area. $1,200,000.
17 TIMBERLAND DRIVE, MT. CRESTED BUTTE.
15 ANTHRACITE, MT. CRESTED BUTTE
OUTRUN CONDOMINIUMS, MT. CRESTED BUTTE
Located on the Home-owner’s trail, this 5 bedroom home offers the best ski access to the slopes. Finished living space of 4,680 sq. ft. with spacious living areas and vaulted ceilings. Extras include hot tub room, expansive views, private apartment, 2 car garage and tons of storage space. Located on a private culde-sac in Timberland subdivision in Mt. Crested Butte. $1,854,000
This 4-bedroom 3-bath home is located on an elevated site surrounded by an Aspen tree forest. The lower level bedrooms and bath are newly remodeled with granite countertops, glass enclosed shower, new tile and carpet. Private setting with excellent views, two car garage, well equipped kitchen and paved driveway. $649,000
100 SNOWMASS ROAD, #27B VILLAS, MT. CRESTED BUTTE
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
Beautiful townhome in the Villas Summit with 4 large Bdrms/5.5Baths completely furnished. Media room, 6 person Hot Tub on deck, two master suites, flat screen TVs and granite countertops throughout. Large oversized garage, located right across the street from the ski area. 3,265 finished sq. ft. $795,000
© 2012. An independently owned and operated member of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc.
Complete exterior renovation including new garage doors, roof and rock accents. Excellent one level floor plan with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. Fully furnished units including one-car garage. Located on the shuttle bus loop or short walk to the base area. Unit C-1, $229,000 / Unit M-4 $324,900
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CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
2013 WINTER
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Long story short 10
ADVENTURE ON A BIGGER SCALE by Than Acuff
A bold new way to explore the ski mountain: rope up and climb the granite rib of Guides Ridge.
13 KUDOS FOR A CRESTED BUTTE CHARACTER by Sandra Cortner
Colorado’s Ski and Snowboard Museum Hall of Fame posthumously honors innovator and affable personality Ralph Walton.
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SMALL PHOTOGRAPHERS, BIG PROJECT
Crested Butte and Gunnison students tell stories through photos in their book Small Towns Big Life.
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PLAYING IT SAFER by Sandy Fails
The unusual Crested Butte Avalanche Center, born in a basement ten years ago, helps backcountry users wise up.
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SKIING TO DINNER
A new menu tempts foodies to ski or snowshoe to the Crested Butte Nordic Center’s yurt dinners.
23 EXTREME LEARNING by George Sibley Western State Colorado University’s new Mountain Sports program: this is not your parents’ ski team. 4
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
Xavier Fane
FEATURES 28
FANTASTIC (but maybe not totally) MR. FOX by Sandra Cortner
In recent decades, foxes have moved to higher elevations, and some people are less charmed by our clever new neighbors. Alex Fenlon
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WINTER MORNINGS WITH THE POLITBURO by John Norton
JC Leacock
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EVOLUTION OF A COWBOY by Rachael Gardner
Doug Washburn found a lifestyle, not just a job, when he volunteered to help at his new wife’s family ranch as a greenhorn/ski bum 13 years ago.
Skiing up the mountain in the icy dawn: it’s a wicked workout, but the view beats any gym in the world.
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HAPPY PRE-SKI SUFFERFEST by Erin English
Winter sports conditioning classes, a prized (and sometimes painful) community tradition.
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“ALMOST LIKE ALCHEMY” by Sandy Fails MountainHeart School of Bodywork students learn the art and science of transformation – and find themselves changed in the process.
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STRIKING A CHORD by Scott Clarkson
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GRAND TRAVERSITIES by Than Acuff
Alex Fenlon
Epic stories from an epic race.
FIRST-PERSON SINGULAR 87
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LUNACY by Molly Murfee Seeking vision in the deepest dark: the Winter Solstice full-moon eclipse. OUTLASTING GRIEF by Rachael Gardner How one woman coped with loss.
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CALENDAR/PHOTO ALBUM LODGING GUIDE DINING GUIDE PHOTO FINISH
The Crested Butte Songwriters Festival raises money for cancer research – and enchants country music fans – by revealing the faces and stories behind the hits.
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FIFTY SHADES OF GREEN by Sandy Fails Advice from the pros on building a healthy, efficient, Earth-friendly home. Page 85: how a heat-seeking couple designed their own smart house.
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PHOTO BREAK
Winter at its most photogenic.
2013 WINTER
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Vol . XXXIV
No. 2 Published semi-annually by Crested Butte Publishing & Creative PUBLISHERS Steve Mabry Chris Hanna EDITOR Sandy Fails ADVERTISING DIRECTOR MJ Vosburg GRAPHIC DESIGNER Keitha Kostyk WRITERS Than Acuff Scott Clarkson Sandra Cortner Erin English Sandy Fails Rachael Gardner Molly Murfee John Norton George Sibley PHOTOGRAPHERS Nathan Bilow Trent Bona Sandra Cortner Dusty Demerson Shayn Estes Xavier Fané Alex Fenlon Braden Gunem John Holder Kevin Krill JC Leacock COVER PHOTO “Waiting for Spring” Braden Gunem ONLINE crestedbuttemagazine.com E.MAIL happy@crestedbutte.net ADVERTISING 970-349-6211 mj@crestedbuttemagazine.com Copyright 2012 Crested Butte Publishing & Creative No reproduction of contents without authorization by Crested Butte Publishing & Creative. 6
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
Editor’s note
Happy revolutions Before
I began writing this editor’s note, I sent Zach Vosburg a birthday message on Facebook. Zach, a friend’s son and my honorary nephew, turned 25 today. That conjured a funny memory: me composing a previous editor’s note more than two decades ago, when Zach and my son Chris were precocious toddlers. As I babysat Zach, I scribbled in my notebook while the boys discussed firefighting theory and plucked Cheerios from the sticky trays of their high chairs. To celebrate his 25th birthday, Zach will trade his investmentbanker attire and downtownDenver office for camo pants, a rifle and an elk permit in our West Elk Mountains. Chris will finish the sales tax reports at our family business, the Old Town Inn, before heading out to rock climb. And I’ll polish this editor’s note, wondering how I could edit this magazine for longer than their lifetimes and still find it so fresh and fun. How could I live in a place for three-plus decades and still discover so many fascinating topics to explore?
The answer: Crested Butte is always reinventing a small part of itself.
Alex Fenlon 7
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
Many aspects of life here remain timeless, like the mountains, dramatic seasons and the strong anchor of community. But something new is always brewing. Right now I love the young energy that enlivens our town – quiet, happy revolutions around dance, health and well-being, children’s programs, art and food. I learned to cook in the casserole 2013 WINTER
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era, heavy on Campbell’s soup and canned onion rings. But lately I’ve been heeding the example of Crested Butte’s healthy-food activists. At this moment, apples and pears from the Farmers Market are drying in my new food dehydrator, and, to the feigned horror of my husband, I just slow-baked some kale leaves into a surprisingly tasty, chip-like snack. I’ve discovered that what these young folks say is true. Overly processed foods fit our harried timelines, stimulate our taste buds and fill our bellies for a while, but then, if we pay attention, leave our bodies polluted and hungry for real nutrition. By contrast, the ever-changing harvest from the garden keeps us nourished, satisfied and engaged. A similar effect keeps Chris and Zach connected to their roots in Crested Butte – and draws ever more young people from big, fast-paced, highstimulation origins. Here their ideas and energy can flourish in a place that’s small and nurturing but still open and lively. That, in turn, keeps this magazine interesting. Like our community, the Crested Butte Magazine has a solid foundation (approaching 35 years), but with every issue we get to reinvent ourselves, to shine a light on different facets of our quirky, colorful, big-hearted home. In this issue, for example, our writers and photographers introduce you to some local adventure athletes, country music songwriters, body workers, foxes, avalanche detectives, green builders, third-grade photographers and a former ski bum who’s now president of the Gunnison County Stockgrowers Association. So as I crunch on kale chips and finish yet another editor’s note, I send my gratitude to my hometown and its happy revolutionaries for keeping life – and these pages – fresh and real. —Sandy Fails, editor *See Kale Chip Recipe on page 104 8
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
Expect More. Expect More.
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CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
2013 WINTER
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Adventure finds a bigger scale A BOLD NEW WAY TO EXPLORE THE SKI MOUNTAIN: CLIMB THE GRANITE RIB OF GUIDES RIDGE. By Than Acuff
CRESTED BUTTE IS KNOWN FOR PUSHING THE ENVELOPE, ESPECIALLY IN THE SKI WORLD. Considered the birthplace of extreme skiing, or freeskiing, in the U.S., Crested Butte hosts the longest running freeskiing event in the nation on its steep terrain. Now Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) and Crested Butte Mountain Guides (CBMG) have teamed up to lead the way in another realm: lift-accessed, highalpine winter adventure. The Guides Ridge on Crested Butte Mountain hovers over town, following a rib of granite from the top of the Silver Queen Lift to the summit at 12,162 feet. It poses a formidable challenge for summer hikers and was off limits in the winter until last year. Rumor has it that Jean Pavillard pioneered the Guides Ridge. Pavillard, a Swiss-born mountain guide, 10
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
owned a guide company in Crested Butte and has since led clients on the world’s highest peaks. “I think Jean used it for guide training back in the day,” said CBMG owner/guide Jayson Simons-Jones. Simons-Jones brought it back into the fold in late 2010. In an effort to “up the ante” for his guides in their winter training regimen, they spent one training day climbing the Guides Ridge that December. “Everybody was super psyched about how cool an experience it was,” he said. So he approached the ski resort with the idea of offering public adventures on the ridge in the winter, and after a year of discussion, it was a go. Crested Butte Mountain Guides took ten trips up the Guides Ridge last winter, including leading a family of four from Texas. “They all loved it,” said Simons-Jones. Guides Ridge wouldn’t be available without the work and cooperation of the Crested Butte Professional Ski Patrol. Director Bill Dowell, in his 31st year at Crested Butte Mountain, witnessed the opening of the Headwall and North Face, and he sees the winter opening of Guides Ridge as another notable progression. “I’m excited we can offer this,” he said. “It’s a fun adventure and very much the real thing. It’s mountaineering.” Professional guides take climbers up the rib of granite fully roped up with the necessary climbing equipment. The route includes some sections of double exposure, with the world dropping away on both sides right below your feet. There is even a sneak between two vertical flakes informally dubbed the “Taco.” “It’s a great chance to get a taste for high-alpine exposure in a completely safe and accessible way,” said Simons-Jones. Guides Ridge was showcased when the ski mountaineering race circuit came to Crested Butte for its annual race last winter. Rather than the usual route, the resort and race organizers included the Guides Ridge ascent as part of the course, setting the bar high in North American ski mountaineer racing. Some of the top racers in the world came from Italy and were blown away by the Guides Ridge course. “It was very nice, similar to a European course,” said Italian racer Lorenzo Holzknecht. “We liked the race; it was a little more of an adventure.” Anyone interested in climbing the winter route must do so through Crested Butte Mountain Guides. Availability depends on snow and avalanche conditions. “The guides have to check with ski patrol before they
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CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
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Scale the ridge, then ski the powder waiting on the other side. Alex Fenlon
go,” said Dowell. While some trips involve a lift ride up the Silver Queen, climb up the Guides Ridge and then walk back down to the Queen for a lift ride back to the base, there is another option if conditions permit. The Guides Ridge experience takes on a new feel when snow conditions are right and the peak is open for skiing. Imagine loading the Silver Queen in the early morning and ski-traversing to the bottom of the Guides Ridge. Then you throw your skis on your pack, climb the ridge to the summit as the sun hits you and then click back into your skis for a 2,800-foot vertical descent off the peak back down to the base. Simons-Jones noted that such a high-alpine adventure in most places requires a lengthy approach. Thanks to the cooperation of the guides, resort and ski patrol, the experience is a lift ride away. “It’s something cool and different that you can’t really do in any other ski town,” he said. “It’s got a Euro feel, especially when you can get up so high and then get an espresso at the base when you’re done.” 12
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
Kudos for a Crested Butte character COLORADO’S SKI AND SNOWBOARD MUSEUM HALL OF FAME HONORS INNOVATOR AND AFFABLE PERSONALITY RALPH WALTON. By Sandra Cortner
FEW PEOPLE STILL REMEMBER WHEN THE CRESTED BUTTE SKI AREA WENT INTO FORECLOSURE IN 1966. Rumors whipped through our tiny town that the ski area was closing for good. So we greeted with relief the news of its sale to Ralph Walton and his brother-inlaw Bo Callaway of Atlanta, Georgia, in 1970. Of course, some of us were skeptical. As southerners, what could they possibly know about running a Rocky Mountain ski resort? More than we suspected, as it turned out. By the time Ralph retired in 2001, Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) had grown from a modest ski area to one of Colorado’s top ski resorts, sporting 15 lifts, several of them quads; four mountain restaurants; more than 700,000 square feet of condominium and commercial space; and snow-making capabilities mountain–wide. Ralph Outlaw Walton, Jr., the driving force behind the ski area’s success, was rewarded for his dedication and leadership in October when he was posthumously inducted into the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Museum
Hall of Fame in the “Sport Builder” category. A 1951 graduate in electrical engineering from Auburn University, Ralph and his wife Martha skied once a year with his brother-in-law’s family at Aspen. “After skiing one day, they decided they could do a better job running the place, and they tried to buy Aspen Highlands,” recalled Martha. “The owner said he was having too much fun to sell and suggested Crested Butte, then owned by several Kansas banks.” Quitting his 16-year position with the Westinghouse Electric Company, Ralph moved his family to Crested Butte. “It was kind of a lark,” recalled Martha. “We figured maybe five years. But we’ve lived in this same condo since 1973. There were 26 children and three teachers when our kids Chic and Scout began school here.” Ralph quickly put his and Bo’s ideas into action. Revamping the core base area, they built four of the largest buildings in the county at the time. The Gothic Building, the first in the county with an elevator, replaced the warming house and featured a mammoth cafeteria. A zoning tussle with the Gunnison County Commissioners over its size led the ski area’s business leaders to incorporate in 1973 as the Town of Mt. Crested Butte. Ralph’s big smile, hearty laugh and southern charm masked a shrewd mind. As son Scout described him, “His electrical engineering mind was well suited to orchestrating things and seeing the multiple tracks that had to come together at a single point. He liked to see things come out of the ground and get created.” Explained Martha, “He understood that restaurants, uphill lift capacity, accommodations and airline seats all needed to be in balance.” To achieve that, he negotiated with airlines to bring passengers directly into the Gunnison County Airport, which he encouraged to expand to handle large jet traffic. In 1985, he pioneered a deal with American Airlines to guarantee minimum revenue for them in return for regular non-stop direct service into Gunnison. Other ski resorts followed suit, and Ralph’s innovation became an industry model. Once assured that the skiers could arrive more easily, Ralph and Bo installed the North Face Lift in 1987 for easy access to the area’s now famous extreme ski terrain. In 1991, the High Lift was built and CBMR hosted the first US Extreme Freeskiing Championships, a televised event. The Silver Queen covered chairlift, later a highspeed quad, replaced the gondola. The new Peachtree Lift carried beginners. Ralph capitalized on Crested Butte’s small-town 2013 WINTER
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CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
environment and hired creative minds to promote it. He approved the Ski Free promotion and later the “Heaven forbid we should be like Aspen or Vail” and “Crested Butte: Like Aspen was and Vail never will be” ad campaigns. He greeted such ideas with one of his southern expressions, like: “Let’s run it up the flagpole and see who salutes.” To increase lodging, the ski area built Columbine Condominiums in a joint venture, the Grande Butte Hotel (now the Elevation) and the Mountainlair Hotel (now the Grand Lodge). “Ralph was always talking about ‘flagships’,” explained Martha. By selling the hotels to the Sheraton and the Marriot companies, he tapped into the reservations systems of two national chains. When the ski area enlarged the Paradise Warming House, the fancy restaurant adjacent to the cafeteria was dubbed Bubba’s, a southern nickname bestowed on Ralph by his big sister Beth Callaway, Bo’s wife. Ralph loved to host parties and gatherings. CBMR sponsored a multitude of marketing events and groups, including the ESPN Winter X Games and BMI Country in the Rockies. My photos for the newspaper those years capture the friendly master of ceremonies introducing fellow southerners President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter at the Adaptive Sports Center’s fundraisers or laughingly exhorting bidders at the American Airlines Celebrity Ski for Cystic Fibrosis. “That’s what I miss the most, his laugh,” said Martha of her husband, who died in April of 2011. “He loved people and he loved the challenge of making things work.” Added Scout, “He built relationships the way he built companies; he had to coordinate and motivate.” Following his 2001 retirement, Ralph was on to his next big idea: engineering his dream cabin on a large flat rock in a stream that was his and Martha’s evening retreat at his Georgia family farm. Ralph’s tenacity saw it through 18 months of permitting and construction. “He had the ability to picture the
Ralph Walton with his grandkids in 2000 (left), and egging on auction bidders during the 1987 Celebrity Ski for Cystic Fibrosis (right, photo by Sandra Cortner).
finished production in three dimensions,� observed Scout. Ralph was highly regarded by his peers during his 31year tenure in Crested Butte. He served on the Colorado Ski Country USA board of directors for 18 years, and in 2001, U.S. Congressman Scott McGinnis recognized him in the House
of Representatives as a ski industry leader. He also served on the board of the National Ski Areas Association and received the NSAA Lifetime Achievement Award. Yep, southerner or not, Ralph Walton turned out to be pretty good at running a Rocky Mountain ski area.
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Small photographers, big project CRESTED BUTTE AND GUNNISON STUDENTS TELL STORIES THROUGH PHOTOS IN THEIR BOOK SMALL TOWNS BIG LIFE. of humor or artistic twist. Each student submitted ten pictures. After a preliminary edit, the professional photographers and artists gathered to select photos for the book, using at least one per student. Joyce laid out the book online and printed a few dozen copies, available for $25 in Crested Butte at Townie Books, J.C. Leacock’s photo gallery and the Crested Butte Community School. “The project was huge, and it turned out great. The kids really liked the finished book,” Joyce said. The ArtReach project idea originated with Jenny, Crested Butte Arts Festival director and Gunnison teacher, based on a similar “Picture Omaha” project from her childhood. ArtReach funds come from the Arts Festival’s art auction. Grants from Art4Moore and the Crested Butte/ Mt. Crested Butte Rotary Club also supported Small Towns Big Life.
“A mountain of fun” by third-grade photographer Nico Marchitelli
ONE WEEKEND LAST MARCH, A FEW DOZEN CRESTED BUTTE STUDENTS SET OUT WITH CAMERAS TO CAPTURE THEIR LIVES IN IMAGES. The same thing happened in Gunnison the weekend before. The result: a 28-page book of photos called Small Towns Big Life. Subtitled “Crested Butte and Gunnison through the eyes of its youth,” the project was part of the Crested Butte Arts Festival’s ArtReach. Each year ArtReach hires local artists to engage the community, particularly young people, in creative endeavors. For the book project, photographers J.C. Leacock, Nathan Bilow, Dusty Demerson, Allan Ivy, Amanda Harris and Bill Kastning worked with about a hundred students: eighth graders in Gunnison, ninth graders in Crested Butte and third graders in both towns. They talked to the youngsters about storytelling through photography, and project leaders Jenny Thomes and Joyce Lamb explained the “day in the life” book concept. Then it was all in the students’ hands. Though Jenny and Joyce had discussed specific subjects with each young photographer – like skiing, hockey, town scenes and ranch life – the final submissions held some surprises. “Some of the photos were amazing,” Joyce said. The young people turned their lenses on their friends, siblings, pets, hobbies, neighborhoods and nature, often with a sense 16
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
Making the grade THE CRESTED BUTTE COMMUNITY SCHOOL EARNED A BRONZE MEDAL IN THE 2012 BEST HIGH SCHOOLS ANALYSIS BY U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT. Of nearly 22,000 public high schools, about 4,800 received gold, silver or bronze medals. The study analyzed how well students of different socioeconomic strata did on state assessments. Crested Butte’s students performed well above the state average on both math and reading components of the CSAP tests, said principal Stephanie Niemi. The study also considered Advanced Placement test scores, but too little data was available for Crested Butte’s small high school, so it was eligible only for a bronze medal. Crested Butte’s high school has 134 students – “and we are competing against much larger and better-funded charter schools, magnet schools and gifted and talented schools,” Niemi noted. “The high school re-opened in Crested Butte in 1997, and after 15 years, we are receiving national recognition. The whole community should be proud.”
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CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
Playing it safer THE UNUSUAL CRESTED BUTTE AVALANCHE CENTER, BORN IN A BASEMENT TEN YEARS AGO, HELPS BACKCOUNTRY USERS WISE UP.
Steve Banks
Snow study tools, including a snow saw, thermometers, snow crystal card and all-weather notebook used by avalanche forecasters to observe and track changes in the snow pack.
EACH WINTER DAY, PEOPLE HEAD OUT FROM CRESTED BUTTE’S TRAILHEADS BY SKI, SNOWSHOE OR SNOWMOBILE TO FROLIC IN WILD, SNOWLOADED MOUNTAINS. Luckily, a good percentage of those first consult the Crested Butte Avalanche Center (CBAC) to see when and where to go – and when to stay home safe with a good book. Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, the CBAC is unusual in several respects. “It’s the only independent, non-governmental avalanche center of its kind,” said Executive Director Steve Banks. “Most are Forest Service run, and in Colorado most are run by the state. We’re community funded, and that local support amazes me every year.” In avalanche-prone terrain where snow conditions can vary hugely from slope to slope, local recreationists also support the center by reporting their observations of backcountry snow conditions. “Most avalanche centers don’t get five observations a week,” Steve said. “We get 18
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
that many in a day. That broadens our reach.” Crested Butte’s center also differs from others in its mountain-savvy forecasters. Each is required to be out in the backcountry the day before compiling a forecast. “Many other avalanche center forecasters come from a science background and do a lot of data crunching, maybe getting out in the mountains a couple times a week,” Steve said. Though well versed in snow science, “we’re all guides, avalanche educators and practitioners, out touching and feeling the product four or five days a week. We have a feel for what’s actually happening in the field; we’re not just making guesses in front of the computer.” The Crested Butte Avalanche Center began in the basement of founder Alan Bernholtz’s house, staffed by volunteers. “One year each forecaster got a pair of skis; it was huge,” Steve recalled. Now the forecasters receive per-diem pay, and the center has an office in the former rock jail building on Second Street. But the CBAC staff
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keeps overhead low, with a $29,000 budget for this year. Funds come in part from the annual CBAC Avalanche Awareness Night held each December, with avalanche education, pizza and beer, a raffle and sale of CBAC “schwag.” This year’s will be held on December 14. Sponsors also support the center in return for advertising on the daily bulletins, center website and other materials. The CBAC daily avalanche report is emailed to subscribers (free), announced at 8 a.m. on KBUT, and posted at local breakfast/gathering spots, Western State Colorado University, the ski resort and the Crested Butte Mountain Guides office. Although the Colorado Avalanche Center issues avalanche reports for the state, the information for each large region isn’t very specific. “Conditions can be drastically different here,” Steve said. “This is a small niche. We have so many backcountry users here by percentage, it makes sense to have our own avalanche center.” Since the center’s beginning, backcountry use has escalated, thanks to bigger and better equipment, from snowmobiles to ski gear, and adrenaline-pumping ski films. As more people venture out into the wilds, there’s pressure to spread farther afield. Even with more sophisticated analysis, the avalanche death toll in the U.S. is starting to creep up. Fatalities rise during winters like last year’s, with unstable, unpredictable snowpack that can be solid on one slope and lethal on the next. Daily observations then become even more critical, as does skier prudence. “Around here, a lot of people are using our report as another piece of their decision making,” Steve said. “For ten years we’ve kept people informed and helped them make better decisions in the backcountry. Who knows, maybe we’ve saved a few lives along the way.” TO GET THE FREE DAILY AVALANCHE REPORT EMAILED TO YOU, CONTACT CBAC@CBAVALANCHECENTER.ORG. CBAC HOTLINE : 970-349-4022
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CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
Skiing to dinner NEW MENU CHOICES TEMPT DINERS TO SKI OR SNOWSHOE TO THE MAGIC MEADOWS YURT.
DOZENS OF PEOPLE SKI THE NORDIC TRAILS OF THE MAGIC MEADOWS AREA IN WINTER’S BRILLIANT SUNLIGHT. But Magic Meadows by night holds its own charms, when reflected moonlight gives the snow a mysterious luminescence – and a golden glow from the cabin ahead announces that a warm fire, live music and a three-course meal await. In its fourth year of offering Magic Meadows yurt dinners, the Crested Butte Nordic Center this year expanded the menu offerings; patrons now choose beforehand from four entrées, ranging from steak au poivre to vegetarian strudel. Diners ski or snowshoe at their own pace about a mile from the closest trailhead (farther if they wish), taking an average of 30 to 45 minutes to reach the yurt
over mellow, groomed trails. A circular, canvas-sided cabin nestled among pines, the yurt on dinner nights is well heated by a wood-burning stove and filled with the aroma of fresh herbs and the sounds of guitar melodies, clinking wine glasses and the chatter of guests. “The whole experience is special,” said Josephine Kellett of Creative Catering, who is overseeing the cuisine this year. “After your little ski or snowshoe in, you’re greeted warmly at the door. There’s a guy playing music. You can sip a glass of wine or beer. Food is just one component of the evening, hopefully a strong one.” Josephine begins serving hors d’oeuvres at 6 p.m., followed by a plated dinner at 6:30. After dessert and conversation, diners ski or snowshoe back by the light of the moon, though headlamps or flashlights are also 2013 WINTER
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recommended. Those unfamiliar with the trail can arrange for a guide to escort them to and from the trailhead. “It’s one of those unforgettable Crested Butte experiences,” Josephine said. “It feels adventurous, but it’s nothing to be scared of. If you have equipment issues
or start to feel the elevation, you can get a lift back on the snowmobile. You’ll be well cared for.” The $70 cost includes the three-course meal (wine, beer and gratuity are extra), Nordic trail pass and ski or snowshoe
WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT WESTERN STATE COLORADO UNIVERSITY? It’s not just the altitude. Sure, we’re located in the spectacular Colorado Rocky Mountains, with instant access to skiing, snowboarding, rock climbing, and just about every outdoor pursuit you can imagine. But it’s WSCU’s amazing faculty, small class sizes, and unique research opportunities that will take your college experience to a whole new level. We’ve got everything you need to get where you want to go in life — from the head of the board room to the top of the mountain.
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rental, available any time the day of the event. As a member benefit, local Nordic pass holders get $20 off. Children 12 and under are $35, and the yurt dinners make great family adventures. This winter’s yurt dinners will be December 23, 28 and 31, January 19 and 26, February 14 and 24, and March 27. The dinners are limited to 40 people and often sell out. Book early at www.cbnordic.org. During the day, the yurt is open for public use, unless it has been reserved for a special occasion. The yurt can also be reserved for personal, group or business events, with the option of arranging snowmobile and staff support, kitchen use and clean-up services. Nordic Center Director Keith Bauer noted that the yurt has enhanced Crested Butte’s growing reputation as a Nordic ski destination. “Crested Butte is special in that we have all these Nordic trails heading out from this village. When people think about a Nordic vacation, they tend to think about a dude ranch-type experience, a self-contained lodge. What we have is even better. You can stay in the village, walk to catch a movie or eat at a different restaurant each night, do a yurt dinner, and sign up for Nordic lessons, clinics or tours. And you can walk to the trailheads and ski 55 kilometers of groomed trails – plus countless valleys where you can go off on your own.”
Extreme learning WESTERN STATE COLORADO UNIVERSITY’S NEW MOUNTAIN SPORTS PROGRAM: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS’ SKI TEAM. By George Sibley WHEN WESTERN STATE COLORADO UNIVERSITY (WSCU)* DECIDED TO DROP ITS NCAA SKI PROGRAM IN 2008, MANY OLD-TIMERS IN THE VALLEY – NOT TO MENTION ALUMS ACROSS THE NATION – THOUGHT THE COLLEGE WAS ABANDONING A LEGACY THAT WENT BACK TO THE POST-WAR 1940S. But today’s WSCU students who ski or snowboard, which is most of them, barely noticed the loss of the old NCAA ski program, with its traditional menu of alpine gate races, Nordic slogs and ski jumping. Many young people today prefer “freestyle” events like park and pipe contests where skiers and boarders do gymnastic feats at speed in large iced half-pipes, or skiercross and boardercross events where four riders race down a slope simultaneously rather than one at a time against the clock. And for the extreme skiers and boarders, at areas like Crested Butte with the necessary terrain, there are the “big mountain” or “freeride” events where skiers or boarders pick their own routes down areas rife with cliffs, boulder fields, avalanche chutes and trees, and are judged for their daring as well as their style. Only the Nordic racing and jumping have been carried forward from the old NCAA agenda. So what really happened at WSCU was the updating of a legacy, jumping back onto a cutting edge in mountain sports. Students led the way (as they had with skiing in the 1940s); they began organizing “club sports” for newly popular mountain-based activities that invite a competitive element: mountain biking, kayaking and climbing, as well as the aforementioned ski-related activities. WSCU puts up modest sums to support club sports, but until recently, those students were laying out their own money to travel to mountainsport competitions – mostly resort-based rather than intercollegiate – all over the southern Rockies. And they were doing very well in those competitions. It occurred to WSCU’s senior administration that there was recruiting potential at such events where Western students were shining, so additional money was found for their travel, and for T-shirts and jackets to wear. Now the university has gone a step further, creating a “WSCU Mountain Sports” program. To lead this effort, WSCU this year hired a 1990 graduate who made a name for himself in mountain biking: Dave Wiens, winner of two World Cup series races, two U.S. Mountain Biking National
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Western State versus Ft. Collins in dual slalom bike competition.
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Championships, and six consecutive Leadville 100 races. He is an all-round athlete who can also keep up with the skiers, although he may not follow them over every cliff. The university was able to bring Wiens onto its staff thanks to a grateful alumnus, Michael Johnson, and his wife Mari. Johnson attended Western in the late 1970s and discovered his own “inner mountain sportsman” here. He has become a serious mountain biker and has chased Wiens around the Leadville 100 course. He is also the CEO of Herbalife, a “global nutrition company” whose products range from protein and energy drinks to skin and hair products. The Johnsons made a three-year commitment of $75,000 to the Mountain Sports Team program. Wiens’ task is complex. He is to organize a single WSCU Mountain Sports Team, from which different groups of students will go to different events depending on specialty, skill and love of the event. But they will all be one team with different approaches to a common goal – excellence in what WSCU calls the “extreme learning experience.” Wiens’ job is partly to inspire that, but it also includes more concrete duties like finding coaching assistance for the activities, lining up places to train and handling travel logistics (can anyone contribute a bike trailer?). For now, he will focus on developing the mountain biking and “21st-century skiing” components. But he looks for the day when he can expand into climbing, whitewater kayaking, ski mountaineering, trail running and other activities where individuals seek their personal best in the mountain environment that has always been one of WSCU’s greatest attractions and assets. Wiens notes that a few other colleges and universities are trying similar programs. “But where else can you leave the classroom or dorm and be on a mountain trail five minutes later?” * This past August, Western State College of Colorado officially became Western State Colorado University. This follows a trend among four-year colleges across the nation; “college” has become a term associated in the public’s mind with two-year junior and community colleges. Western is adding a number of graduate programs to warrant the elevation to university status.
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78 Redstone Cove, Meridian Lake Meadows
This custom built 3 BD/4 BA, 3,289 sq ft home has it all! Situated on 1.11 acres in Meridian Lake featuring an open floor plan, infloor heat, high-end finishes, oversized two car heated garage, large deck with a hot tub and fabulous views of Mt. Crested Butte. $750,000
Jesse Ebner 970.901-2922
420 Journeys End, Crested Butte
Every detail is covered in this magnificent 4 bedroom home located in the Heights Subdivision of Crested Butte. One of only 12 home-sites on the bench above town that allows for the best views in the valley. Right sized with 2,919 finished space with custom woodwork, ironworks, fixtures and window coverings. Top of line surfaces, appliances, systems and decor. This home has it all including granite counter-tops, wood floors, gas fireplaces, entertainment/sound center. Exquisitely furnished in upscale mountain taste with the highest quality furniture and accompaniments. This is a must see property. $2,395,000
Charlie Farnan or Joel Vosburg 970.349.6692
You want to feel at home in Crested Butte before you buy. You want regular communication and unparalleled service by sales
Unit 110 Mountain Sunrise Mt. Crested Butte
Upper Level unit in a small complex offering 2 bedrooms / 2.5 baths, washer/dryer, i-car garage, outdoor hot tub, sauna and gorgeous views of Crested Butte Mountain! Totally turn-key and ready to go. The free shuttle bus stops right in front of the complex. $189,000
Jana Barrett 970.209.9510
professionals who live and work in the area that inspires you. That’s where Prudential Becky Hamlin Realty, Inc. comes in. Our sales professionals have the knowledge and skill to make your experience of home ownership a delight while treating you to a Crested Butte only locals know. Villas Condominiums, Mt. Crested Butte
Located just a short walk to the lifts and Village Center amenities. Two lovely duplex residences, 4 BD/3/5 baths. Both have excellent views, quality construction, fine finishes and are offered furnished. 135 Snowmass Rd., #9B $725,000 217 Mineral Pt., #14A $739,000
Karen Allen 970.209.2668
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147 Slate River Drive
What a great 4 bedroom 4.5 bath home with the most amazing views of the Crested Butte Valley and Paradise Divide. Wonderful great room with vaulted wood beam ceilings and beautiful rock “Moberg” fireplace. Excellent layout. All bedrooms have a private bath. Several exterior decks, two car garage and a private elevator for convenience. $1,950,000
Joel Vosburg 970.209.1581
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Inspired Mountain Living inspired mountain living
675 Meadow Lane, Meridian Lake Meadows
Luxury mountain living in exclusive Meridian Lake Meadows. 4 BD/3.5 BA, 4072 sq. ft. on 1.17 acres. Beautifully maintained custom home with large covered deck, sunny open floor plan, bright sunroom, outstanding views and fully landscaped. $899,000
Karen Allen 970.209.2668
7 Stetson Drive, Wildhorse at Prospect
© 2011. An independently owned and operated member of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. “The Rock” is a registered service mark of the Prudential Insurance Company of America. Equal Housing Opportunity. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
This roomy mountain home features stunning views, hardwood floors in living and dining areas, large fireplace, and vaulted ceilings. 4 BD / 4.5BA, mostly furnished, needing only linens, kitchen accessories and electronics of choice to be a completed home. $799,000.
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Karen Allen 970.209.2668
1 Black Diamond Trail, Mt. Crested Butte
The views are incredible from this 5-bedroom/4.5-bath residence in The Summit Subdivision. Located just a short walk across the cul-de-sac to access ski-in/ski-out. Large master suite including office and sitting area, three wood burning devices and a two car garage. Fully furnished. Adjoining lot also available. $1,395,000
Joel Vosburg 970.209.1581
2215 Skyland Drive, Crested Butte
Prime location on the 1st tee of the scenic Robert Trent Jones II designed golf course. Take in the incredible mountain views from your large deck. Three bedrooms, 2.5 baths and an additional room which can be used as on office or a guest room. Fishing rights on private Lake Grant. $949,000
Dalynn Trujillo 970.596.3397
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
732 Teocalli, #C, Crested Butte
Turn key property in fantastic condition shows like a model. This 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath residence features new cabinets, appliances, slate floors, travertine countertops in the kitchen. Vaulted ceilings offer tremendous views of Mt. Crested Butte. Nice deck area to enjoy your coffee or a good book. Two offstreet parking spaces. Lots of storage! $439,000
Linda Pitt 970.901.1047
34 Belleview, Mt. Crested Butte
Priceless views and beautifully landscaped yard on a quiet cul-de-sac in the heart of Mt. Crested Butte. Immaculately maintained, this 3 BD/3.5 BA home features open living areas and a large deck for summer entertaining. $795,000.
Karen Allen 970.209.2668
1 Ridge Lane, Overlook at Mt. Crested Butte
Priceless views from this lovely 3 BD/3.5 BA home overlooking the valley below, town of Crested Butte, Paradise Divide and surrounding mountains. Main floor master suite, 2 guest suites, large media/game room, open living area with massive beams and custom finishes. $1,395,000.
Karen Allen 970.209.2668
1156 Ridge Road, Skyland
Five bedroom, 5.5 bath home on the bench above the Championship Golf Course in Skyland. Features include: 1.23 acre lot, 2 living areas, large view decks, Master Suite on main level, elevator access from entry to main level, custom kitchen, rock surround fireplace, hot tub and 2-car garage. $1, 295,000 fully furnished.
Charlie Farnan or Joel Vosburg 970.349.6692
#3 West Elk Townhomes, Mt. Crested Butte
Great Location! Close to the lifts and the free bus shuttle, this 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath townhome comes fully furnished. Large kitchen/great room/dining will accommodate lots of friends and family. In addition, there is a one car garage, with an additional room for storage/office, and another 3/4 bath, vaulted ceilings, and a wood fireplace. $209,000
Linda Pitt 970.901.1047
18 Sage Court, Skyland
Elevated site gives this 4 bedroom home beautiful views in every direction. Large 1.28 acre site. 3,584 finished square feet with two living areas, bunk room, connecting baths with every bedroom, powder bath on both levels, full size laundry room with sink, air lock entry and security system. Granite counter tops custom cabinets and stainless appliances. $1,239,000
Charlie Farnan 970.209.0609
10 Nevada Ridge Summit Dr, Mt. Crested Butte
“Founders Residence” offered as five 20% individual deeded interests in the 2,700 sq. ft., 3-BD, 3.5 BA, furnished 3-story townhouse. No cost of ownership for the first 3 years AND receive $14,750/year for the first 3 years for allowing the property to be used and shown as a model. Only the first 5 will have this opportunity. $295,000
Charlie Farnan or Joel Vosburg 970.349.6692
695 Bryant Ave., Crested Butte South
This custom home features southern exposure and extraordinary energy efficiency for extremely low heating bills. Quality features throughout including a kitchen with stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, custom cabinets, and a spacious island with bar seating. Large loft for extra bedroom or office. Beautifully landscaped. Two-car detached garage. $499,000
Jesse Ebner 970.901.2922
Downtown Crested Butte 970.349.6691 - The Mountain Office 970.349.6692 - CBProperty.com
[ but maybe not totally ]
In recent decades, foxes have moved to higher elevations, and not everyone is charmed by our clever neighbors. By Sandra Cortner
Adaptable, sly and keen of hearing, sight and smell, our foxes live up to their wily reputation.
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Alex Fenlon
The red fox trots by a few times a week, eyeing the territory for his next meal.
He doesn’t acknowledge me as I whisper through the windowpane, suggesting the rodents who dug up our garden last fall. He stops, takes a few steps, halts again. Then he crouches with muscles tensed, long bushy tail quivering in anticipation. Suddenly he arcs high in the air, paws drawn up to his belly, hangs for a split second and pounces. His reward is a meal — or sometimes just a faceful of snow. We have seen elk paw through snow in the front yard, and watched a coyote sleep away the morning curled up on our driveway. The fox is new. We met last winter during his nightly forage under our bird feeder for sunflower seeds discarded by the picky chickadees. Of course, he is not really ours; he makes the rounds of the whole neighborhood, a hillside above the Jack’s Cabin Cut-off Road. Little is known about the Colorado red fox. Some scientists speculate that the human population explosion combined with climate change caused the fox to expand its range. Milder winters may have led the foxes to stay in our high country year-round. With their numbers on the rise over the past 20 years in the Crested Butte/Gunnison area and other ski towns as well, studies of them are increasing. 30
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Foxes thrive here because we offer almost everything the animals need. Homes on acreage and in town have decks and sheds to den under, standing water in ponds or gutters, trashcans to explore and humans who, for the most part, are fascinated by them. We even offer up our dogs as playmates — one homeowner says his dogs can’t wait to be let out to frolic with their neighborhood fox — and, if we are not careful, our kittens for food. The omnivorous animals eat fruits, nuts, insects, birds, rodents, earthworms, our sunflower seeds and even the dead mice my husband tosses up the hillside. With acute hearing and a jumping height of seven feet, they pounce on small mammals to scare them out of their holes, pin them to the ground and then kill them. They don’t put great fat stores on their small bodies and thus have to stay active all winter foraging for food. Diana Graves and Steve Glazer had a close-up look at fox life last summer when a family denned in the Halazon barn next door to them on the south edge of Crested Butte. In late May, a litter of at least four emerged from the barn a month after their birth. The kits took over the couple’s grassy yard to use for their playground, bathroom and kitchen. Graves and Glazer contacted researcher Carrie Merson through her website, ifoundafox.org, which encourages citizen reports on fox activity. Merson, a graduate student
from Texas A&M University, studies fox genetics in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) in nearby Gothic and the University of California, Davis. Last summer, Merson collected scat as a source of genetic material, including that of Graves’ and Glazer’s fox family, to determine if the foxes here are native or non-native. Low-elevation, non-native species were imported from Alaska and Canada in the early 20th century for fur farming. Their descendants could be displacing the natives and/or could have bred with them to create a hybrid, she explained. Since 2006, in a separate study, Dr. Pat McGee, professor of natural and environmental sciences at Western State Colorado University, has been using radio telemetry to gain baseline information on red foxes’ strategy for living in the Gunnison Basin. Last summer, he trapped foxes west of Gunnison near the site of a 1930-50s fur farm. “When the fur trade ended in about 1955, they just opened the cages and set the foxes free,” he explained. His DNA collection will help determine whether the progeny of those foxes still live in the area. Native or not, “We just call them all ‘Fred’,” Graves said last summer, “although as the kits grew older, it became easier to distinguish among them. One is really aggressive, and we can usually spot the nursing mother and the father. They are pretty straggly looking. The kits’ fur is sleeker.” Dr. McGee explained that foxes adapt to wintertime cold by growing a thicker underfur and guard hairs (the outer coat we see). By summer, the animals have shed most of the guard hairs. That explained the change in our fox’s luxurious winter coat when we saw him in May. When I described our fox’s light color to Merson, she explained, “Red fox coats can be entirely black, blonde, silver and every variation in between, but one can always look for the whitetipped tail. The fur farms in the Denver area primarily raised red foxes with the more desirable silver coat color. But color alone cannot determine if the fox 2013 WINTER
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is native, non-native or a hybrid. It’s also possible there are some grey fox species here, which have a grey coat, orange color behind the ears and black-tipped tail.” After hearing about Graves’ and Glazer’s “Freds,” Dr. McGee noted that many fox lovers name and feed their resident fox. “Someone even advertised once in the Gunnison Country Shopper looking for their ‘lost’ collared fox.” Evidently, it had stopped coming around for free meals. Like rambunctious children, the young foxes wrestled each other on Graves’ outdoor chaise longue and chairs. “They don’t wipe their feet, and so they leave marks. I used to clean the lawn furniture daily, but I gave it up. Because we live on the edge of town, we usually have a huge chipmunk and mice problem…but not this year!” she said gleefully. The tradeoff was dead mice and rodent guts from the animals the parents brought in to feed the kits, plus scat all over the grass. “Steve’s upset because their pee is making brown spots in the lawn,” Graves said in mid-summer.
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“Sometimes they wake me at night with this strange, indescribable bark. And they drag in trash, like Subway wrappers.” Graves’ and Glazer’s neighbor often came home from work to find the fox kits on his picnic table or hunting voles in the adjacent field where cattle graze. “I love all wild animals,” he said “but I wish they’d move on. They climb all over my new motorcycle, and I’m worried about them scratching it. They also poop in the yard and my dog wants to roll in it.” He quickly learned to keep his tiny Chihuahua close. Once, when he had her on a 15-foot extended leash, one of the fox parents ran up, apparently to attack the dog. “I scooped her up into my arms, and the fox stood and growled at me from about three feet away. Now I never let my dog out without a short leash.” Other friends have told me about foxes denning in the culverts at Larkspur, levitating to dine daintily in the Riverbend dumpsters, and hunting along the recreation path. Our local foxes have lived up to the species’ reputation
for being cunning and intelligent. Dr. McGee’s student assistant, Kristin Barker, spent last summer monitoring the radio-collared foxes and recording locations, weather data and other information. She once tried to re-trap an animal to make sure its radio collar fit properly. The fox, remembering his first experience, “would go into the trap, step over the trap plate (which would have triggered the door), eat all the bait in the back of the trap, carefully turn about, step over the trap plate and out again.” Another time, she was tracking a collared fox in a latenight snowstorm when the signal disappeared. “I heard it last in the direction of the (Gunnison) recreation center, so I walked around to the other side of the building but couldn’t get a signal over there. When I got back to where I had been before, there were fresh fox prints on top of my boot prints in the snow. HE had been tracking ME!” Not all biologists are charmed by our bushy-tailed neighbors. Dr. Daniel T. Blumstein, a long-time marmot researcher at RMBL, wrote in an article for the Denver Post
in 2008 that one winter’s misguided feeding by a couple of caretakers at the lab (not longtime resident Billy Barr) had conditioned the red foxes to associate the lab buildings with food. To his dismay, the foxes were killing a marmot population that had been continuously studied since 1962. He warned that there are ecological dangers to feeding a wild animal even inadvertently, making me think we should stop putting out winter sunflower seeds for the birds and stick to suet attached high on a tree trunk. Foxes used to be rare in Gothic, elevation just below 10,000 feet. Said RMBL researcher David Inouye, “I remember one year my family saw one here around Christmas time, and the next day we found it frozen solid. I skinned it (it had no fat) and still have the tanned hide. That was about 22 years ago.” Billy Barr recalls the first foxes showing up to winter in 1992-93. Foxes’ natural predators include golden eagles, mountain lions, wolves and coyotes, although badgers,
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weasels, ermine and skunks may take the kits. More foxes are killed by being hit by cars or shot by ranchers protecting livestock. A small-game, rifle-hunting season on red, grey and swift foxes, with an unlimited bag limit and possession, extends from February through November. People can also legally kill a fox at any time of the year to protect their animals. Should we be as worried about the foxes’ presence as we are about bears? Or can we enjoy having a wild animal, clever, playful and seemingly benign, share our space? Barker warned, “Foxes are vectors of disease, especially rabies and mange. They also have fleas which they can pass on to pets and humans.” Foxes can catch rabies and distemper from domestic dogs, and rabid foxes have attacked humans in other places. Although there have been no reported rabies cases in the Gunnison Basin, Dr. McGee has had rabies vaccinations. “You can never be too sure,” he cautioned, “and the likely result of getting rabies is, of course, death.” The Gunnison Airport has a problem with foxes on the runway, a danger to both animals and humans. Recalls Dr. McGee, 60 animals were trapped there and removed over an 18-month period in 2005-06 as part of the airport’s wildlife management plan. But many predators, including foxes, respond to stress by increasing their reproduction rate. “And when foxes are removed from somewhere, others will move in to take their place. It’s better to just fence them out,” he said. By next summer, Merson and Dr. McGee will have compiled the results of their research. In the meantime, county residents will continue their love/ hate relationship with the red foxes, a new part of the fabric of mountain life. Though Graves’ neighbor wants to reclaim his picnic table from the playful kits, she hopes that one of the “Freds” will return to raise another family next year. And I am hoping our fox, deprived this year of my unintentional offering of sunflower seeds, will eat the pesky voles and pocket gophers around our house.
By Erin English Photos Nathan Bilow
FITNESS INSTRUCTOR SARAH JONES SAYS SHE’S NEVER SEEN ANYONE PASS OUT OR LOSE THEIR COOKIES DURING CRESTED BUTTE’S WINTER SPORTS CONDITIONING CLASS IN MORE THAN A DECADE OF TEACHING.
Sarah Jones puts her students through their core-work paces. 35
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I came dangerously close to doing both after experiencing the “beep test” one night two years ago. Designed to gauge cardiovascular endurance, the test consists of running between two points — in this case, the two boundary lines for the basketball court in the Crested Butte Community School gymnasium — at progressively faster speeds. An audio track of computerized 2013 WINTER
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TRUTH BE TOLD, I’D RATHER WAKE UP TO SMELLING SALTS IN THE HIGH SCHOOL GYM IN PREPARATION FOR THE SKI SEASON THAN MISS OUT ON THE FRESH TURNS OUR MOUNTAIN HAS TO OFFER.
beeps regulates running intervals, while the class instructors keep an eagle eye on participants. Incidentally, once the test starts, there are no breaks for administering oxygen or wiping the perspiration from your brow. During the practice runs, I huffed and puffed like all get-out. The 40 or so people lined up on both sides of me — from high school students to a few graying men in their
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fifties — bounded across the gym like gazelles, while I struggled to make contact with the black line on the floor before each beep sounded. A dozen laps in, I was audibly gasping for breath every few strides, and noticed that no one around me was doing the same. I soon fell short of reaching the line before a beep and was the second person to be eliminated. I exited the gym and collapsed onto the floor of the community school hallway, staying there until my tunnel vision subsided and the spaghetti dinner rearranged itself back in my stomach. The beep test continued for another half-hour, much to my chagrin, with the last two finishers smiling and casually high-fiving friends as they cooled down, looking more recharged than exhausted. In our town, which is heavily populated with ultra
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athletes, Olympians and ski film stars, I consider myself somewhat of an anomaly. I am not naturally athletic or especially skilled in any one sport, and “proceed with extreme caution” is my modus operandi when it comes to most outdoor adventures. So the dismal beep test just adds to a long list of embarrassing stories related to sports and fitness. There was the time I came in dead last during a snowshoe race in Beaver Creek years ago; the finish line banner had already been packed up and hauled away by the time I completed the race. Or the time I turned my timing bracelet in early to a course marshal at the Alley Loop after accidentally heading out on the trails early – during the expert-level race. My friend and I were practically trampled by the 40K competitors; we skulked away in our costumes. I laughed when, later that week, my name was mistakenly listed in the paper as a top finisher in my age category. Back in high school, I received a gold statuette for being “most improved” on the soccer team. That was a nice way of saying I started out terrible and was slightly less terrible by the end of the season. With all that said, I keep trying my hand at sports, trying to put my fear of failure aside. I love the endorphin rush that
comes after a good workout, and I’m also always on the lookout for a good deal. Which is why I have been a huge fan of Winter Sports Conditioning class (informally known as ski conditioning) since I arrived in Crested Butte five years ago. For the price of a nice dinner in town, seven weeks of fitness classes — held for one and a half hours three nights a week — is a bargain not to be passed up.
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Ski conditioning was started 14 years ago by local fitness
guru Emily Miller to help Crested Butte Mountain Resort ski instructors and patrollers prepare for the upcoming winter season. Eventually it was opened up to the greater community and relocated from the mountain to Jerry’s Gym in town. As the class grew in size and popularity, the odor
of dirty gym socks in Jerry’s became harder to ignore, requiring another location change to the Crested Butte Community School gymnasium several years ago. Now close to 100 people attend ski conditioning each fall, and another 30 or so take part in “Creaky Knees & Achy Backs,” a less-strenuous option for individuals with injuries or other physical limitations. Local fitness instructors and athletes — all women and all in fantastic shape — lead the classes every year, effortlessly guiding participants through challenging exercises, including lunges, squats, and ball and band work. Both classes, which become progressively harder each week, are designed to “peak” participants’ physical fitness for opening day on the mountain. Ski conditioning has been referred to as something akin to military boot camp (a comparison for which I can personally vouch), though instructors have “softened up” in recent years by routinely demonstrating modifications for tough exercises and reminding people to go at their own pace. Last year, for the first time, a class schedule was posted online so people like me could mentally prepare for demanding evenings and avoid altogether those that caused great distress. As it turns out, I am not alone in having fitness-related fears. For Bill Racek, a loyal attendee, it’s the prospect of core exercises, followed closely by yoga balancing poses, that makes his heart sink. Another friend confessed to serious
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trepidations about step work. At a ski conditioning class in a different town, years earlier, his arms and legs became entangled as he enthusiastically stepped and jumped over a wooden box, ending in a fall and a minor injury. Of course, the whole point of class is to prevent injuries, which is why Gunnison Valley Health sponsored it in the past, and Alpine Orthopedics is subsidizing it this year. The instructors are, in fact, successful in safely preparing a wide range of individuals with varying skill levels – even us amateurs – for the upcoming ski season. As instructor Carrie Chernoff Hicks points out, even the most competitive mountain bikers need to train different muscle groups for winter sports: those that are needed to hike up, glide across or careen down snow-covered terrain. Minus the beep test, most exercises in class are noncompetitive and fun, and often done with partners. A typical night might include 20 minutes of cardio (running, hopping, skipping) followed by core exercises, medicine ball and band work, and a virtual ski or snowboard run: charging through deep powder, jumping off cliffs and navigating through rocky terrain. In the last weeks of the course, circuits are common, with participants spending several minutes at each of a dozen activity stations. During these fast-paced evenings, the goal is to not get sloppy or lazy. More often than not, though, I’ve found myself sagging in the middle during the third round of pushups or stopping for a swig of water when I’m supposed to be
hop-scotching at record speed through a rope ladder set out on the floor. Last year I skipped out on ski conditioning class altogether, daunted by the prospect of crab-walking or doing the grapevine across the gym while eight months pregnant. But as I worked out alone to Summer Sanders’ Prenatal Workout DVD in the comfort of my living room, I missed the camaraderie of ski conditioning – the cheerful banter in the hallway before class, the sidelong glances exchanged with friends during particularly grueling workouts, and the encouragement from instructors who truly want you to reap all the benefits that exercise provides. At the end of the seven weeks of ski conditioning, I always notice the same things. My clothes fit better, sleep feels more satisfying, and the stresses of daily life slip into perspective. Best of all, when I head out to ski on opening day, I feel ready. Shooshing down Keystone’s corduroy for the first time, my legs feel solid and my core muscles are more tight than jelly-like. I can savor the crisp mountain air and focus on the pleasures of skiing rather than my physical shortcomings. Truth be told, I’d rather wake up to smelling salts in the high school gym in preparation for the ski season than miss out on the fresh turns our mountain has to offer. I’ll be back again this year, dutifully attending class as many nights as I can. But you can bet I’ll check that online schedule to see when the beep test will happen. I’m certain I’ve got something else scheduled that night.
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SKIING UP IN THE ICY DAWN: IT’S A WICKED WORKOUT, BUT THE VIEW BEATS ANY GYM IN THE WORLD. By John Norton
Alex Fenlon
TWO DAYS ARE TIED FOR THE “SHORTEST DAY OF THE YEAR” TITLE THIS WINTER: DECEMBER 20 AND 21, BOTH 9 HOURS, 21 MINUTES AND 13 SECONDS LONG. But… the shortest day has neither the latest sunrise nor the earliest sunset of the year. The earliest sunset will be shared by eight days, December 3-10, during which the sun will disappear at 4:35 43
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p.m. After December 10, afternoons will actually get longer. The latest sunrise and darkest mornings of the year begin on December 29 and last for 13 days. Not until January 11th’s sunrise at 7:20 a.m. will winter mornings get longer. Finally. Does anybody really care? I belong to a group that does. Between six and a dozen skiers put skins on our skis and meet at 6:45 a.m. three days per week to climb the ski mountain. On those darkest 2013 WINTER
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Taking a breather and welcoming the first long shadows of daybreak.
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Chris Kopf
mornings, more than half our uphill climb is done in the dark and none of it in direct sunlight. Years ago on December 23, we started cracking jokes about the mornings getting brighter. Stupid jokes, really, the kind you tell when you’re half asleep and frozen: “Did you bring your sunscreen?” And then we noticed that we weren’t really feeling the sunrise moving in our direction. The mornings felt like they were getting darker, not lighter, in early January. And so it was, two minutes darker to be exact. Can anyone really feel two extra minutes of darkness? We could, probably because of the sheer repetitiveness of our morning climbs. Tom Filchner, one of our climbers, has a cousin who’s an astrophysicist. We asked her why the days and nights weren’t uniformly lighter and darker at the solstice. She answered with a seven-page explanation describing earth wobble, the moon’s gravitational pull, spin and Druids. Kidding about the Druids. Our climbs started in 2002 and have continued, unabated. Back then there was only one other morning climber on the mountain, loner Norm Bardeen. He’d be up earlier than us, and we’d meet each day on Upper Park, we ascending and he descending. We’d exchange a few short greetings and carry on. Visiting skiers and locals would hear about us climbing and ask to join the club. We always said yes and then would lay bets on the show. Ski-waxing legend Ed Chase was the first to figure out that setting the alarm for 5:30 a.m. and departing the base area in the pitch black at -15 degrees appealed to most people only while sipping après Stellas at the Avalanche. The rest of us, the participants, practiced willpower in those early climbs. We had to watch what we ate and drank the night before our ascents; we had a clear goal, which was usually a time of around one hour to the top of Paradise; and we had a reinforcement mechanism — the group itself — to insure participatory compliance. Our only allowance was for cold, and so it remains. On mornings of -20F (-29C) or colder, climbing becomes optional — not because we can’t keep our fingers and toes warm, warmth never being a problem when skiing uphill, but because we don’t want to hurt our lungs with such frigid air. As we learn from neuroscientists, though, willpower practiced over time becomes habit, and now answering the early-morning call is as natural as rolling over in bed. There have been some comings and goings in the group. One of the Politburo founders, Jim Gebhart — we call ourselves the Politburo because we are decidedly not a democracy — died one night. The aforementioned Ed Chase moved to Hanover, N.H., because he wanted to experience really cold winter temperatures. David McCay and Peter Kennel became occasional climbers. David Baxter, my wife Robin and I have remained mostly resolute. Rookies joined in: the editor of the paper, head of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, mayor of Mt. Crested Butte, creator of Larimer Square in Denver, a retired investment banker, head of the Regional Transportation Authority, owner of the ski area, and a couple of successful realtors to replace Gebhart. There are even some frequent tourists who join us when they’re in town. The farthest-flung are a couple from London who hire a babysitter to watch the kids while they climb. The babysitter arrives at their condo at 6:15 a.m. and goes back to bed until their kids wake up. David Baxter, who for purposes of this article asked to be described only as a “reclusive and private” individual, has lobbied these many years for a later start time. He takes every opportunity to foment discontent about 6:45 a.m. and asks why it couldn’t be 7:45 a.m. The stock answer has always been that there are those of us who have to go to work, but Baxter correctly points out that even
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realtors are hard pressed to sell a listing before 8 a.m. Baxter’s efforts remain for naught. The official start time remains 6:45. Baxter has the longest commute to the base area, so we put up with his incessant complaining about the start. He lives up Cement Creek and so must snowmobile to his car and clear it to begin his journey to the mountain. Baxter also, getting older and a bit slower, likes to get a head start on the rest of us so as to remain with the group for the latter part of the ascent. He suggests a 10# handicap for every decade shy of someone’s seventh. Tough to argue; that’s about the right handicap. But we don’t yet load our packs with rocks, sand or Nalgene bottles full of water to equal us out. Years ago we all hung together and talked on the way up the hill. Those talkative times the “private and reclusive” Baxter misses, and rightly. We now have an antisocial and taciturn faction of speeders led by Mt. Crested Butte Mayor William Buck and Tom Filchner, and a slower, gabby group where my wife Robin and I can usually be found. Fast or slow, after our ski we all meet at Al’s to sip a cup of Camp 4 coffee and solve whatever local and world problems can be found. Why do it at all? Lots of folks go to the gym or take a run before work. We just prefer our winter workouts to be outside. There’s no gym in the world that provides the view from Upper Park or the top of Paradise as the morning sun kisses the peaks to the north and west of Mt. Crested Butte. You’re invited to join us. Just be ready to start by 6:45 a.m.
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In addition to our group, there are now a couple dozen climbers on the mountain in the early mornings. Because of climbing’s growing popularity, the ski area, in the interest of safety, has established some rules for all to abide. One rule is a designated route, so that machinery operators may know where and where not to expect climbers. Another is to be down at 9 a.m. Those wishing to climb should stop at the ticket office for a climbing pass and instructions before embarking.
Alpine touring ski equipment consists of super-
light boots, bindings and skis, some of it almost as light as race Nordic equipment. AT bindings allow a free heel when climbing and a lock-down when descending. Anyone physically fit and capable of skiing the mountain’s groomers can handle the up and down of a morning workout.
The ski area rental shop on the mountain has
AT gear for rent, as does the Alpineer downtown.
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MOUNTAINHEART SCHOOL OF BODYWORK STUDENTS LEARN THE ART AND SCIENCE OF TRANSFORMATION – AND FIND THEMSELVES CHANGED IN THE PROCESS. Story by Sandy Fails Photos by Alex Fenlon
After turning off the pre-election hoopla squawking from my car radio last September, I walked into MountainHeart School of Bodywork and instantly felt the contrast. Here, people weren’t accusing, arguing or promising change; they were just quietly making it happen. On that gentle fall day, eight students took turns doing fascial release massages on each other, finetuning their “ecopressure” to the sounds of soft jazz and birdsong floating in the open window. The classroom walls were papered with charts on the skeletal, muscular, nervous and energy systems of the body. Interspersed were quotes that reached beyond the physical: “What kind of possibilities can I create today?” and “Make the choice – NOW – to facilitate healing, compassion, gratitude and love with yourself, others and the world.” Getting ready to take her turn as “client” under
the flannel sheets on a massage table, MountainHeart student Sandy Finegood said, “I feel good just walking into this room. I never have the Monday blues.” A realtor and ski instructor in her fifties, Sandy came to MountainHeart, like her classmates, to become an agent of healing and transformation for other people. In the process, she and her colleagues found themselves changed as well. Over their six-month course, the students mastered the nuts and bolts of massage – anatomy, physiology, business practices and client interaction – but they also deepened their understanding of themselves, their fellow humans and how they might impact the world. Craig McLaughlin, who meticulously designed the school, said, “When you say ‘relax,’ people think of the body letting go, but it happens at all levels. People let go, open up to new ideas, and change through their 2013 WINTER
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Hands-on class at MountainHeart School of Bodywork.
experience here. The science fits in with the spiritual. They find ways of being on the planet that are more comfortable and helpful.” MountainHeart alum Nicole Digate, who now manages the office, said, “We get a variety of students, from young guys to single moms, from teenagers straight out of high school to people in their late fifties. When we ask the graduates for a quote about their experiences here, they all say their lives have changed, they’re new people, they’ve found themselves. People undergo selfgrowth; it’s not just about getting employment as a massage therapist.” When Eli Becker, 25, enrolled at MountainHeart in November 2011, he had no idea how much he would learn and grow. He attributes that impact partly to the subject material and partly to Craig’s masterful guidance. “Craig didn’t make us do anything. He set it up to happen on its own,” Eli said. “It’s almost like alchemy how he facilitates change in people.” When Craig announced early on that the class would discuss learning strategies, Eli all but rolled his eyes at the expected waste of time. But he enjoyed the games and interactions and later realized how they helped the students learn about themselves and each other and allowed Craig to understand each person. With such a foundation, Craig can reach each style of learner: kinesthetic (learning by doing), auditory and visual. For example, in anatomy and physiology, the most intimidating area of study to many people, he uses threedimensional skeletons, has students palpate their own bodies, refers to books about muscles and bones, breaks down each term to explain its meaning, asks students to write and to build models out of clay. “It’s impossible not to learn,” Nicole said. Eli noted that his class “had 12 very different individuals, and Craig managed to honor all of us.” Craig leads most classes, though other instructors and a local accountant also work with students. In contrast to stern, ruler-rapping schoolmarms, Craig strolls around the classroom with a little massage roller and applies the occasional relaxing neck or foot rub. He weaves stories and his impish sense of humor into his instruction. Students do concentrated units of study, building on a scientific foundation to master basic bodywork and then more advanced massage and energy 50
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“S C I EN C E SUF F ERS F R O M A ‘ WORL D IS F L AT’ SYN D ROME.”
work. They also research and create business plans and focus on relating to clients. The MountainHeart curriculum goes beyond primary skills to encompass neuromuscular techniques, internal organ massage, trauma/ deep stress work and finer aspects of communication such as “the language of relaxation.” Each student recruits friends or family members to receive practice bodywork. One morning the classroom might be alive with squirmy babies; on other days, athletes or pregnant momsto-be get their turn on the massage tables. Toward the end of the semester, students offer massage to the residents of Gunnison’s senior care center. Craig doesn’t judge or impose his belief systems on his students. He does introduce them to transformational therapies and invite them to deepen their awareness of how the spirit, mind and body work in concert. “He balances the scientific and anatomical with what he calls the ‘woo-woo’ stuff,” Eli noted. “Most people think that stress is about what’s happening to them and that they need to change their circumstances,” Craig said, “but the problem lies partly in the stressful way they view themselves and their lives. You meet people where they are, you give them what they’re asking for without
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preaching, and at the same time you hold space for new possibilities for them.” Likewise, a bodily pain or ailment might carry a message about deeper emotional or psychological dis-ease. “When the physical body is unhappy, it’s from a disturbance in the whole system,” Craig said. “But the physical may be the best way to address it. You use whatever healing modalities fit the person and help them turn their journey to a healthier place.” MountainHeart students end their semester envisioning goals and writing statements of how they want to influence the world. Their own changes prove the difference they can empower in others through their new profession. After graduation, MountainHeart alumni are certified as massage therapists but must take state exams to become licensed. Craig designed the curriculum to cover state guidelines but wanted more than a “nuts and bolts and out the door” type of school. “The kind of people who are attracted
here are more open to a deeper level of understanding,” he said. “Science suffers from a ‘world is flat’ syndrome. The human body is so much more amazing than we’ve been able to figure out scientifically. We try to nurture that understanding.” Though it’s tucked away on the third floor of a building at Red Lady and Fifth Street, MountainHeart lends its subtle effect on Crested Butte – through a growing community of healers, the “practice clients” who enjoy student massages, and the school’s quiet presence. “Crested Butte gets gentle encouragement to be a more healthy, nurturing kind of place,” Eli said. “A lot of people here are not gentle with themselves. They push themselves hard, party hard, and have that ‘go big or go home’ kind of attitude. MountainHeart encourages us to treat ourselves better and take care of ourselves in every realm – physically, emotionally and spiritually.”
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ON THE ROAD W IT H HE ART A HIGH SCHOOL APTITUDE TEST BACK IN THE SIXTIES INDICATED CRAIG MCLAUGHLIN WOULD MAKE A GOOD EFFICIENCY EXPERT. Instead he became a musician, spiritual explorer, healing arts practitioner and teacher. Still, that aptitude test wasn’t all wrong. As the founder and director of MountainHeart School of Bodywork, Craig embodies plenty of contrasts. Slender and soft-spoken, with a touch of gray to his wavy hair, he is both unpretentious and effective. His fastidious, logical side deals well with databases and curriculum requirements, but intuition makes him a masterful instructor and bodyworker. In the classroom, Craig will ditch the day’s well-structured lesson plan if his students seem primed to learn something different. A singer, guitarist and mandolin player, he shows up at jam sessions with the song lyrics alphabetized in a tidy notebook. “He looks like a hippie, but he’s good with Quickbooks,” said friend and musician Kevin Donovan. “He’s organized, but he thinks outside the
box. He’s serious about the music, but we laugh when we screw it up. He brings a spark when we get together.” Craig also brings healing hands, and in between songs he eases the backs or unkinks the necks of his fellow musicians. Along with music and MountainHeart, Craig devotes time to daughter Mara, 16, and son Pearce, 12, with an equanimity that other parents marvel at. His secret: prioritize, keep life simple and remember to breathe. “I’m up by 5:30, before the kids wake up, to meditate, breathe and visualize. That time is a really good thing for me,” Craig said. Raised in small towns in Iowa, Craig as a young man played sports, taught himself the guitar and had little vocational calling. He sampled aerospace engineering and business in college before heeding the call of adventure and heading west. After a few months in Denver, road trips and hitchhiking adventures, and a musical stint in Los Angeles with a 2013 WINTER
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drummer friend, he settled briefly in Aspen in the early ‘70s. There he worked as a cook, honed his musical skills and began exploring alternative health work. That interest followed him to Montana and Idaho, where he lived in a tipi in the woods, and on to Washington to join an intentional community. “I knew early on that when I got old, I wanted to be wiser, not necessarily richer or even smarter,” he said. Colorado sunshine lured Craig back to Aspen, and a hike over Conundrum Pass introduced him to Crested Butte. He immediately warmed to the people, found work cooking at the Eldo, where he also performed and set up open-mic nights, and took healing arts classes at gatherings and barter fairs. A flyer in the Company Store health food store in the early ‘80s led him to Total Person Facilitation, a blend of spiritual practice and personal growth. “That was a turning point for me,” Craig said. “It was very opening on a personal level.” The intense training combined deep inner work with practical knowledge on how the body and brain function, touching everything from Rolfing to neurolinguistic programming. Craig also learned Swedish massage and opened a practice in Crested Butte for a year. To learn more, he eventually moved to Boulder, worked with chiropractors and assisted with workshops and study groups for bodywork students. Then for six years in Vail, he built a private practice, taught workshops and ran a spa/athletic club. With additional certification in hypnosis and neurolinguistic programming, he created a body-mind therapy program for a school in Fort Collins and taught advanced bodywork for another seven years. After marrying and having his daughter, Craig felt drawn back to Crested Butte, a great place for children but not necessarily careers. “We had to make our own 54
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opportunities,” he said. He and his wife Christine formed MountainHeart and opened with ten students in June of 1998. When they divorced in 2002 and Christine moved to Switzerland, they decided their children should stay in Crested Butte with Craig during the school year. “I had to think what was most important to me and drop a lot of extraneous things off the edge,” Craig said of his transition to single parenting. “I’m fortunate because I have easy, awesome kids. We help each other.” Craig sings and plays folk/rock, jazz and bluegrass. He and Karen Janssen perform at weddings and parties, he joins Lizzie Plotkin for Princess Wine Bar gigs, and he jams at Rumors with Kevin Donovan, Dave Houghton, the Rubinoffs and others. “He’s sort of our vocal coach,” Kevin said. Though Craig witnessed astounding changes with his clients through bodywork/transformational therapy, he happily moved from private practice to running MountainHeart. “I realized if I wanted to have a bigger impact, I could help people help others. When I started teaching, I knew this was right on my path. I had learned the skills, and it came naturally,” he said. Rather than being “against” anything, Craig seeks to help build the momentum toward something better. “There’s no sense getting upset about where we were,” he said. It might not facilitate healing, he noted, to take in the depressing six o’clock news with your healthy raw food. In his sixty-plus years, is Craig becoming wiser, as he wanted? His answer would be yes — “if that means being less reactive, more patient and understanding of the situation. Or listening and responding in a way that works, not just out of habit. Or stressing myself less. Or being awake enough to know I need to plug into the ‘good red road,’ the road with heart.”
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Nathan Bilow
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JC Leacock
“If you need, I could help out around the ranch for a few months,” said a twenty-something Doug “Crash” Washburn. That was 13 years ago and half a lifetime away from the man you now see patiently navigating cattle through traffic, bikers and curious tourists. Whether you know him as Doug, Crash or just another ski dad, he’s earned his spot in the saddle and is doing his part to keep the family business, Spann Ranches, competitive in the ever-challenging industry of agriculture. Offering to help out his new wife’s family on one of the valley’s longest running ranches was a bold move – especially when you consider that back then, Doug didn’t even know how to ride a horse. Perhaps it was simple generosity, youthful stupidity or an attempt to impress the red-headed cowgirl he’d recently married. Regardless of motive, there was a significant learning curve to wrangling the respect of Jan Spann’s family and the cattle with which she was born and raised. Born in Fowler, Indiana, Doug was the fourth son in a third-generation farming family. They had cattle, but it was
completely different from ranching out West. While his brothers headed off to fraternity life at a small liberal arts school in Indiana, Doug broke with tradition and made his way to Western State College in Gunnison (now Western State Colorado University). Initially more of a demolition-derby guy than a ski bum, he moved to the valley in 1988, fell under the spell of a good snow year and never looked back. Five years and two summer sessions later, he was proud to call himself a Western graduate. The next challenge was finding a way to stay in this valley and make a living. Sitting at the Washburn kitchen table discussing the difficulties facing today’s ranching industry, both nationally and locally, I can’t help but think Doug could have selected an easier profession. But, as he said, “Ranching isn’t work, it’s a lifestyle. You don’t punch in, you don’t punch out.” Ranching in the Gunnison Valley is a tough business. For starters, a short growing season translates to one cutting of hay per year compared with the two to three
Nathan Bilow
cuts ranchers can expect in other areas. That holds greater meaning when you tally the abundance of hay needed to maintain a herd through our long winters. Cattle spend the warmer months in a grazing rotation, comprised of permits held primarily on Federal lands. Adding to the overhead, allotments in this area of Colorado are often accessible only by horseback versus other areas where terrain allows management by motorized vehicle. Further complicating profitability, Federal lands are shared-usage lands. Whatever combination of rancher, hunter, hiker or biker you label yourself, you can probably think of a time when your interests competed with those of another sector. The West is vast, but public lands eventually abut private land, the uses of which can be one more factor in the day’s work of a Colorado cowboy. Aside from the obvious environmental extremes, I ask Doug what he considers the biggest hurdles to ranching in the Gunnison Valley. A supporter of shared land use, he ponders and chooses his words carefully and insists on some explanation when he lists his top three challenges as
development, recreation and elk. Development and elk are somewhat tied together; increased development has altered elk migration and herd size. To condense Doug’s explanation, the unnaturally large elk herds (numbering in the thousands) take a great toll on the land of which ranchers consider themselves stewards. Likewise, these larger herds alter the grazing patterns of cattle, equaling more time in the saddle for ranchers to ensure that cattle are grazing on their scheduled allotment and haven’t been pushed into an unpermitted area. In a tourist-based economy, recreation can be a hot button, and Doug seems apprehensive to discuss its impacts. An avid skier and hunter, Doug most certainly appreciates the value and need for multi-use public lands. However, the effect on cattle is undeniable. With a commodity whose value is determined by price per pound, every pound counts. As outdoor enthusiasts, we enjoy the land – and the calories we expend out there. For cattle, whose primary task should be weight gain, burning calories to navigate the terrain isn’t such a bonus. When bikers, 2013 WINTER
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hikers or hunters leave gates open or chase cattle off trails, the dollars shed off the ranchers’ already uncertain profit margin. The pros and cons of land usage aside, this is a story about a visitor turned local, now doing an incredible job keeping a sector of our county’s heritage alive and profitable despite mounting challenges in a tough economy. As if wearing the hats of rancher, father and husband weren’t enough, Doug has become president of the Gunnison County Stockgrowers Association. He is young for the job, but no doubt his open-minded attitude will continue to lead the local cattle industry in the right direction. The good woman behind this good man is Jan, who also plays a crucial role in the family business. After she broke her back in a serious riding accident, Jan took on the ranch’s book-keeping tasks in addition to mothering their two children, Catherine and Porter. I’m impressed as she pulls up spreadsheet after spreadsheet of data on individual cattle dating back to 1997. She explains the complicated tracking system, and I realize there’s much more to being a cowgirl than sitting in the saddle. In our conversation, Jan is happy to let Doug do the talking, interspersing his thoughtful analysis of modern ranching obstacles with phrases like “it’s tricky” and “it’s complicated” and “there’s not one answer to the problems.” Listening, I wonder if the biggest challenge a rancher faces in Gunnison County is being politically correct, always careful with words so as not to unintentionally ignite one group or another. These ranchers are clearly doers and not complainers, so the thought makes me a little sad but at the same time proud. I’m proud of this family that represents the next generation in ranching, the next generation of land preservationists. I’m proud to live in an area where people of all interests keep finding ways to work together. The Washburns illustrate this in many ways, one being the use of their land for a Crested Butte South Nordic ski track.
Nathan Bilow
DOUG IS YOUNG TO TAKE ON THE PRESIDENCY OF THE GUNNISON COUNTY STOCKGROWERS, AND HE BRINGS AN OPEN-MINDED ATTITUDE TO HIS LEADERSHIP.
Nathan Bilow
Ranching is such hard work, I ask why the Washburns don’t give it up, sell the ranch and take an easier path. Jan and Doug look at each other and then at me as if they don’t understand the question. After a few moments, the answers start pouring out, but I already understand. Like all of us, they do what they do because they love this place, they love the open land, and they love being part of something that is bigger than them. Wearing cowboy hats or ski helmets, Doug, Jan and their children are just another family working to make ends meet and continue a life in Paradise. 2013 WINTER
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WHEN YOU START A 40-MILE BACKCOUNTRY SKI RACE AT MIDNIGHT, EXPECT THE BEST BUT, BY ALL MEANS, PLAN FOR THE WORST.
Alex Fenlon
For the past 15 years, an average of 125 teams of two skiers each have lined up in Crested Butte at midnight to embark on the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse ski race to Aspen, an epic in itself. Best-case scenario: your hands and feet grow cold, maybe numb. You get thirsty and hungry, and you’re exhausted by the time you cross the finish line, but soon you’re relaxing at the base of Aspen Mountain with a cold beverage in hand. Worst-case scenario: well, anything is possible, as several survivors of the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse can attest. Disorienting ground blizzards, crippling cold, immobilizing crashes and equipment failures that turn a hoped-for 12-hour race into a 16-hour slog. Keith Fortin said it best following the first Elk Mountains Grand Traverse: “You won’t know until you go. Once you go, you’ll know.”
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Nathan Bilow
two black eyes, a lost ski and a shattered hand CRESTED BUTTE BORN and bred skier Andrew Kastning has seen his share of success and suffering in the Grand Traverse. “I seem to be on a routine; every other year something happens, and every other year goes smoothly,” explained Kastning. His first race with partner Bryan Wickenhauser was the latter, as the two finished fifth overall in 2006. But 2007 — same partner, same course — was an entirely different beast. It started 30 minutes into the race on the descent off the backside of Crested Butte Mountain toward the East River Valley floor. “I was trying to keep my kick wax on my skis, so I thought I would point it down East River…in the dark,” said Kastning. His world erupted as he hit a cat track at full speed on Nordic skis, bringing him to an abrupt halt. “I cracked my face so hard on the snow that I came up cross-eyed, with my shoulder partially out of place,” he said. “My eyes were rolling around in my skull.” Ten minutes later, Kastning hit a fence and crashed again, perhaps setting his eyes and shoulder back in position, and the duo continued into the night bound for Star Pass. “My shoulder clicked back in place and I thought, what the heck, might as well keep going.” Eight miles later after returning to second place, they hit another snag. “Wick started screaming and I knew Battered survivor Andrew Kastning. Sometimes the Traverse is a blood sport. 2013 WINTER
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it wasn’t good by the tone of his voice,” said Kastning. It turns out Wickenhauser had lost a ski off the top of Star Pass, and it rocketed down into the pitch-black void below. The two skiers limped to treeline and waited for some shred of light, and waited and waited. “I was sitting in a tree well for two and a half hours with two fully blown black eyes and a scratched face, watching the sun rise,” said Kastning. (During his tree-well time, Kastning conceived of a Grand Traverse documentary idea that came to fruition as “Beyond Midnight” in 2010.) Eventually, Kastning headed for the Taylor Pass checkpoint while Wickenhauser huddled in his sleeping bag, waiting for a miracle. “At that point I thought the race was over, so I started slugging the whiskey at Taylor Pass,” said Kastning. Little did he know, help was on the way. Veteran racer Allen Hadley had found the lost ski. “I’m sitting in my sleeping bag at treeline and here comes Allen with my ski in his pack,” said Wickenhauser. He rejoined Kastning at Taylor Pass, and, in the interest of team dynamics, the two shared
some more whiskey before heading back out to finish the race in a time almost three and a half hours longer than the year before. Kastning would have another strong showing the following year, only to get smacked down again on his fourth race. “Things were great until I decided to take a short cut,” he said. Looking to cut off a turn on the course with a straighter line on Richmond Ridge, Kastning caught more speed than anticipated, and when he came back to the frozen course, his world, and hand, shattered. “I tried a last-second butt stop and catapulted into the air,” he recalled. “I knew something was wrong right away. It was either go back to the last checkpoint at Barnard Hut or go forward to Aspen and a Bloody Mary — and a Bloody Mary sounded much better.” Remarkably, he and his partner still finished with the co-ed title, and Kastning received additional hardware in the form of two plates and 11 screws in his hand. “It really is a quest,” said Kastning. “It’s an awesome experience. When I see that finish line, I always get a little misty eyed. I just find a way to dig deep and gain further resolve.”
photo by Thomas Rutherford
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a freezing flesh-mass of humanity
THE YEAR 2003 is etched forever in the minds, faces, fingers and toes of Grand Traverse racers. That year, some of the strongest local racers dropped out, as did world-famous high-alpine climbers like Everest veteran Neal Beidelman. The race had a helicopter evacuation. It forced 40 of the 102 teams that started the race to call it quits, as the temps turned the first checkpoint at the Friends Hut into a “freezing flesh-mass of humanity,” according to racer Geo Bullock. And it was the year that co-ed teammates Kat Hardegen and Gant Ginter left on Friday night, spent Saturday night
out on course, but still finished — with the Traverse’s record longest time of 32 hours, 43 minutes. The skiers had a dubious start. Rental gear, a frozen car battery and a disintegrated avalanche beacon had them lining up for the race well after the rest of the field had headed off. Nevertheless, the two skied into the sub-zero night, using the cold to inspire speed. With no idea of the course, the two reached the Friends Hut and started toward Star Pass. One skin failure later, one was post-holing up to Star Pass, and they reached it in last place and 15 minutes after the cut-off time. Some convincing words with course officials allowed them to continue, and the falling temps and howling winds on Taylor Pass left no option but to keep going. “All I could think about was if I stop moving, I’ll freeze to death,” recalled Hardegen. By 4 p.m. they were suffering along Richmond Ridge. They had been at it for 16 hours straight, and Ginter had resigned himself to the most basic mode of transportation. “He just starts hiking with his skis off,” said Hardegen.
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As the sun started to set, with race markings long gone, the team came to a fork in the course. Head right and down, or left and up. Given their physical and mental state and zero knowledge of the terrain, they picked right and down. Two thousand feet later, they realized they’d gone the wrong way. “The snow was so deep, it was cold and it was dark,” recalled Hardegen. Fortunately, on their descent they saw a cabin, and the two hiked back up to it. While Ginter was worried about missing the post-race party, Hardegen made the final call. “We had pushed our luck enough,” said Hardegen. “I told him, I’m freezing and I’m staying.” The cabin, part of a snowcat skiing operation based out of Aspen, came complete with firewood, a stove, M&Ms and, of all things, Mardi Gras clothes. “We built a fire, put on all of the Mardi Gras clothes, got in our bivy sacs and laid down on the benches,” said Hardegen. The next morning, after replenishing the wood they’d used, the two skiers headed back to the top of Richmond Ridge, where they ran into two Aspen ski patrollers and explained that they were part of the Grand Traverse. Then Hardegen and Ginter finished the course and were treated to a hot breakfast with race officials. “We even got medals,” said Hardegen. “We had shelter; there was no panic. We signed up for it, and this is what can happen. When you’re dead last, you’re dead last. Just don’t panic.”
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Duct tape, a hose clamp and a running shoe
When all else fails (even duct tape), try a hose clamp.
THE 2012 GRAND TRAVERSE also spawned a story of ultimate triumph. Another born and bred Buttian, Chris Garren, and partner Alex Pogue jumped into the Grand Traverse fray for the first time in the co-ed division, overcame serious equipment issues all race long, and came out with one of the best tales of perseverance.
Mother Nature was on the side of racers that year. Sure, a low-snow year left the first seven miles of the course nearly void of snow, forcing racers to run instead of ski, but temperatures and winds were mild. That might have made all the difference in the world for Garren and Pogue, as the two spent a better portion of the 40 miles hobbling with a broken boot and then a broken ski. All was good until the descent off Star Pass. As they battled a mix of firm, crusty and sastrugi snow in Nordic gear, the toepiece of Pogue’s boot snapped off. In the darkness, under the glow of their headlamps, the two skiers fashioned a repair using duct tape — a repair that lasted all of 30 seconds; the ski broke away again on the first turn attempt and shot off down the basin into the night. Remarkably, another team heard their screams of a runaway ski, caught it and stuck it in the snow. The second time around, again working by headlamp, they ran a hose clamp through one boot and around the Nordic binding track.
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“Our main priority at that point was to just get out of there,” said Garren. “We talked about it, and we were okay with leaving the race.” But the clamp held, and the two started making ground, passing other teams and getting back in the race. Five miles later, a frozen whup-deedo caused the hose clamp repair to pull apart from the ski. Combining the working ski and boot on one side and cobbling the other side together using the hose clamp, the two skiers pressed on. However, skiing downhill with the patched-together gear was out of the question at this point, leaving Pogue no option but to run downhill. Furthermore, with one ski and boot clamped together permanently, the petite Pogue could either run in her sock or run in one of Garren’s shoes, several sizes too big, that he’d brought for the dry sections of the course. So off they went, skiing the uphills and running the downhills, Garren in his Nordic boots, Pogue in one Nordic boot and one of Garren’s over-sized
running shoes. “We probably did the switch-off six or seven times,” said Garren. Once at the Barnard Hut, they had eight more miles of skiing up and running down to reach the final checkpoint atop Aspen Mountain, and they set their sights on beating the 4 p.m. cutoff there. “We just wanted to make it there in time,” said Garren. “After that we would have slid down Aspen Mountain on our bivy sacs if we had to just to finish.” In the end, they made it down Aspen Mountain (with Pogue at a full run) to cross the finish line 16 hours and 30 minutes after they started. Amazingly, they did not finish in last place. In fact, they won their age class in the co-ed division. “It all starts with Mother Nature, and Mother Nature has never been known to be consistent,” concluded current race co-director and two-time winner Bryan Wickenhauser.
THE CRESTED BUTTE SONGWRITERS FESTIVAL RAISES MONEY FOR CANCER RESEARCH – AND ENCHANTS COUNTRY MUSIC FANS – BY REVEALING THE FACES AND STORIES BEHIND TODAY’S COUNTRY HITS. Story by Scott Clarkson Photos by Alex Fenlon As songwriter Dean Dillon notes, country music lyrics are all about “life, hardship and coming out on the other side” – which sounds a lot like the experience of cancer. So it’s fitting that some of country’s top songsters would convene at the Crested Butte Songwriters Festival to raise money for two cancer-related organizations: the T.J. Martell Foundation and the local Tough Enough To Wear Pink. Fans of snow sports and/or country music can catch the second annual Crested Butte Songwriters Festival January 16-19, 2013. Until a few years ago, Crested Butte hosted Country in the Rockies, the signature fundraiser for the T.J. Martell Foundation, which funds cancer, leukemia and AIDS research. The foundation was inspired by Frances Preston, the former president and CEO of Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). Following a several-year hiatus, BMI’s David Preston, a former Crested Butte resident, announced the company was interested in putting on an event focused on the songwriters, similar to its event in Key West each year. In support of the event and its potential to draw visitors to the valley, the folks of Crested Butte, Mt. Crested Butte and Crested Butte Mountain Resort teamed up with BMI last year to bring back a country music event on a more intimate scale. The inaugural Crested Butte Songwriters Festival last January carried the same feeling as the original Country in the Rockies. At this reunion of sorts, friendships were renewed and new ones forged among artists and songwriters, performers, friends and fans. The Crested Butte Songwriters 69
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Dean Dillon, Gunnison resident and famed songwriter.
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Festival continues to support the T.J. Martell Foundation and Tough Enough To Wear Pink by highlighting “the faces, the music and the stories behind today’s top country hits,” according to Mark Mason of BMI’s Artist Relations. With skiing and music at its core, the affordable festival offers an upclose-and-personal feel. Fans can meet the writers and hear the tales that inspired the songs. Imagine walking into the Eldo and hearing “Here for a Good Time”— not performed by George Strait, but sung by Gunnison Valley resident Dean Dillon, who wrote the song for George. Or stroll into Kochevar’s and hear the familiar “Drink on It,” but it isn’t Blake Shelton on the stage, it’s songwriter Rodney Clawson. To kick off last year’s festival, Kochevar’s turned into a country roadhouse as locals Steve Snyder and David Paulik opened for Rodney Clawson and Kristy Lee Cook. Soon the floor was packed, with music fans standing on chairs and tables. Budweisers flowed and the donation
bucket passed overhead for the Martell Foundation and Tough Enough To Wear Pink. The evening offered equal measures of raucous energy, footstomping music and good times. The party then progressed to the Eldo, where we were treated to the sounds of local Tyler Hansen, then Nicolle Galyon, Dean Dillon, and finally the charming, wry country and folk legend Robert Earl Keen. The weekend culminated on Saturday with two in-the-round performances at the Center for the Arts. Emily Shackelton and Kristy Lee Cook sharing their hearts and sounds as if we had joined them in their living room. The highlight for me was seeing singersongwriters Dean Dillon, Mac Davis and Robert Earl Keen on stage sharing songs and telling stories about when, where and how their popular melodies were written. When Davis performed “In the Ghetto,” his song that Elvis Presley made famous, it brought the place to silence. The threesome collaborated for over an hour.
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Dean Dillon singing one of his country hits, onstage with Kristen Kelly.
Scott Clarskson: What makes the Crested Butte Songwriters Festival special for you? Dean Dillon: It’s another avenue to raise money for Tough Enough To Wear Pink. Several years ago when I met my wife-tobe, I had to pass muster with Crested Butte resident Jimmy Clark, a local restaurateur and former bull rider. Jimmy was a short guy with a big smile, very outgoing. He became my good friend. Jimmy was a very giving man of his time and talents. One day he was opening chutes for Colorado High School State Rodeo finals near Denver, and in a freak accident he was kicked hard by a bull and died from internal injuries. Jimmy’s dream was to bring some country artists back to Crested Butte to raise monies through music for Tough Enough To Wear Pink. The monies stay in Gunnison and Lake City to help fight breast cancer. When Jimmy died, that became my mission. So when David Preston from BMI called in September 2011 and asked that we raise some money for T.J. Martell, I said: “Sure, as long as the money stays local.” We agreed to split the proceeds with Tough Enough To Wear Pink.
SC: Tell us about last year’s event. DD: Everyone who came last year was amazing. When was the last time you heard Mac Davis sing “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me”? This stuff just doesn’t happen. My favorite is Robert Earl Keen. He sees the world through different eyes from most songwriters. He’s a quiet guy, but a very, very deep thinker. And he’s smart as a whip. Storme Warren hosted our event and while doing so he rolled film. Our show ended up on Great American Country. You just can’t beat that exposure for Crested Butte. We’re just trying to do something right for the valley and for the cause. We plan on doing the Crested Butte Songwriters Festival for the long haul, as long as we’re making a difference. The people who live in Crested Butte and Gunnison give so much. The monies raised the last several years are nothing short of amazing. Everyone here has an attitude, but it’s one of great concern and giving. People take what we do very seriously. For BMI to help put this together says a lot about BMI as well.
SC: Do you enjoy collaborating with up and coming songwriters? DD: I’m an old guy and I’ve been doing this for about 43 years. I was young and aspiring once, too, and I wanted somebody to hear my songs. When I see some earlytwenties trying to make their name, I say, “Now it’s time to give something back.” I had some of the best teachers in the world: Hank Cochran (“Make the World Go Away”), John Schweers, Kent Robbins and Larry Butler, the first country producer to ever win a Grammy Award. Some of today’s young writers don’t know their arse from a hole in the ground, and some are born with the talent. When my daughter Jesse Jo Dillon was 18, she came to me with an idea for a song and proceeded with Casey Bethard to co-write “The Breath You Take” for George Strait. Others my age, like John Anderson and Paul Overstreet, have kids that are now writing and performing. Songwriting is a gift you’re born with, though you can learn to some degree. The songwriting community is very supporting and inspiring. Songwriters are one big, trying family. 2013 WINTER
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“THIS FESTIVAL GIVES WRITERS AND PERFORMERS THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET AWAY, SHAKE CABIN FEVER, SKI, HANG OUT TOGETHER AND CREATE NEW CO-WRITING RELATIONSHIPS. WITH THESE FRESH COLLABORATIONS, THE MUSIC WORLD IS GUARANTEED THAT SOME NEW HIT SONGS WILL BE BORN RIGHT HERE IN CRESTED BUTTE.” – BMI’s Mark Mason, Crested Butte Songwriters Festival organizer
Rodney Clawson (second from left) and Jake Owen (second from right) celebrate with new friends at last year’s Crested Butte Songwriters Festival.
SC: Describe your songwriting process, environment. Where are you most inspired? DD: Anywhere a darned idea hits me. I do a lot of writing on my ranch in Gunnison. If you can’t be inspired here, where can you be? I still love writing songs and the process of elimination of great lines, great hooks. That’s what I’ve always done, what I’ll always do. I
started playing guitar at seven years old and began writing songs at nine. They were little songs, but they were mine. I heard Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash and wondered, could I make a living doing this? I just set about honing my craft and after high school I packed my bags and headed for Nashville.
SC: What’s it like to perform songs that you wrote but others made famous in front of live audience? DD: To me it’s more about hanging out with my songwriting buddies. Heck, I’m just as awed as you are. There’s 15 or 16 of the best and most talented writers in country music, just hanging around and shooting the breeze. I love hanging out with these guys. And I get
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Mac Davis wowing last year’s audience. Right : Emily Shackelton accompanies singer-songwriter Kristy Lee Cook. to show them my little part of the world.
SC: Do you have a favorite performer of your material? DD: Well, I’ve been with George Strait since his start in 1979. I wrote six of the songs on his first record. Now I had five or six studio albums of my own by that time, but with George’s success recording my songs, I began to realize
my cup of tea was writing. George would come back to me before every album and ask me what I had. I took a chance and pitched him everything I had. I’ve had four, five, six songs on each of his records since. After 60 or more songs, the magic is still there. It’s about the songs themselves, not the numbers. I wrote them because it’s where my heart wanted to go that day.
SC: Which artist are you looking forward to seeing again in Crested Butte? DD: Robert Earl Keen – I just love that guy. Before I met Robert Earl, I had heard his song “Merry Christmas from the Family” and maybe one other song. When I did finally meet him, he was just about the nicest guy I’d ever met. So I cajoled him into writing a few songs together. I flew down to Texas and we got together for
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a few days. He comes from a different set of writing rules. Texas rules. I wrote by Nashville’s rules: Write a verse, a course and a melody. Or a verse and a course. And then go home. When I wrote with Robert Earl the first time, we were at a little guesthouse in Curryville, Texas. He was trying to understand the Nashville school of thought more than to learn it. Out of this effort, we co-wrote “West Texas Town.” It’s a straight-ahead country song, and when I played it for George Strait, he wanted me to sing a duet with him. Robert is a very interesting but humble guy. He’s really, really smart. Just listen to “Merry Christmas from the Family” and you’ll see. I went out on the road
with him a while back, and at Robert Earl’s shows every person in the audience knew every single word to every single song.
SC: Who is your favorite co-writer? DD: Hank Cochran. He was brilliant. Oldschool but brilliant. He taught me that you don’t have to be in an 8 x 12-foot room to write songs. Some of the best songs you’ll write will be in the most unexpected places. He was like a father figure to me. We cowrote “The Chair,” performed by George. If you come to the Crested Butte Songwriters Festival this year, I’ll perform this one for you.
SONGWRITERS CONFIRMED FOR 2013: Robert Earl Keen Dean Dillon Rodney Clawson Colin Lake Wendell Mobley (Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney)
Kristen Kelly Brandy Clark Paul Overstreet
(Alison Krauss, Kenney Chesney, Blake Shelton, Randy Travis)
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ADVICE FROM THE PROS ON BUILDING A HEALTHY, EFFICIENT, EARTH-FRIENDLY HOME. By Sandy Fails
North-facing windows would chill your proposed house, but that northward Paradise Divide view warms your heart. Rigid foam insulation would keep the house snug but contain potentially toxic components. Bamboo renews itself so much more quickly than wood, but you could get lumber locally while bamboo flooring might be shipped from (and your money shipped to) China. Most people building a home these days in the intense sunshine, cold, snow and beauty of Crested Butte give some consideration to “green” construction. But that can encompass different priorities – from energy efficiency to healthy air quality to Earth-friendly materials. How do you choose your shade of green? Since your home is often the biggest financial investment of your life, one of your largest impacts on the planet, and the place where you’ll spend the most time, it’s worth thinking deeply about your options. Home energy specialist Dusty Szymanski said, “We all want happy, healthy homes that are good for the planet. Some people can take one little step toward green; others want to go as deep green as they can.”
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ADVICE FROM THE GROUND UP
The builders, energy specialists and architects interviewed for this story would each create a slightly different ideal green home, from a net-zero (producing as much energy as it consumed) strawbale structure to a well-designed, small, smart, traditionally framed home with geothermal and solar applications. But most people agreed on some basic advice for people seeking to build green.
1. THE GREENEST OPTION: BUILD NOTHING. Buy and remodel 5. THE DESIGN PHASE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PLACE an existing home instead. TO SPEND TIME AND CARE. Align and design the house to the sun, and balance the wall-to-window ratio so you don’t 2. IF YOU’RE GOING TO BUILD, CONSULT YOUR ARCHITECT use overheat by day and overcool by night. Put closets, bathrooms
AND/OR BUILDER BEFORE YOU EVEN BUY PROPERTY. It’s easy to assess views and convenience, but some lots (e.g. south-facing) are more conducive to energy efficiency or specific types of construction.
3. RESEARCH well when choosing an architect and builder.
Consult the recommendations of Gunnison’s Office for Resource Efficiency (ORE); review the architect/builder’s green portfolio; interview in person and look for honesty (“the person will control a lot of your money,” pointed out Michael Weil of Green Robin Builders), organization skills, an easy rapport and ability to communicate. Choose a builder and architect who work well together. If you want a specific type of construction (e.g. strawbale or structural insulated panels), find a builder who has good experience with that technique. If you want to use reclaimed materials, select a builder who has resources to get those.
4. SMALLER IS GREENER – AND BETTER. “Ninety-five percent
of people don’t need as much space as they think,” said architect Andrew Hadley. Ponder what you really need and consider building a cozier house with character.
and bedrooms to the north with fewer windows, but don’t feel guilty for accommodating those spectacular views. Simple rooflines help prevent ice-damming and leaks. Insulation and air exchange must work as a system to keep the house warm without stale air or trapped moisture. With so many details to balance, don’t rush the planning in your eagerness to start building.
6. CONSIDER HIRING AN ENERGY ANALYST to consult with
the architect and builder. Using the Energy Star for Homes rating system, the analyst can pre-assess the efficiency of your home from the blueprints and suggest design or construction improvements. You can then compare the estimated impact and cost and make decisions at the planning stage, when it’s less expensive.
7. GET YOUR “TEAM” TO WORK TOGETHER: architect, builder,
even subcontractors. “There’s often a disconnect between design and building. Paying a plumber $50 to show up at a meeting in the final design process can save thousands down the road when you’re trying to figure out how to get a pipe from A to B,” said ORE’s Home Energy Advisor Bart Laemmel.
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A masonry stove helps heat this timber-framed, straw-clay Crested Butte home, which also has solar Andy Sovick
thermal and photovoltaic systems.
8. “BUILD IT TIGHT AND VENTILATE RIGHT.” In our environment, insulation and
preventing air leaks are HUGE priorities. Air leaks can be minimized with attention to detail, such as quality window installation, extra caulking and sealing, and using wider, two-foot stud placement (wooden studs conduct cold, as do recessed can lights). Building codes for insulation have been upgraded but are still minimums; Bart recommends R values of 20 (foundation)-40 (walls)-60 (ceilings). Instead of less-effective fiberglass insulation, which often isn’t installed well, he recommends dense-pack cellulose (at a minimum) or, better yet, spray foam inside and rigid foam on the outside, which both insulates and cuts down on air leaks. Natural home builders Dusty Szymanski (Straw and Timber Craftsman) and Don Smith (Smithworks Natural Homes) prefer “bio-philic” (“nature-loving”), self-insulating wall materials like strawbale or straw-clay and coatings such as lime or clay plaster rather than petroleum-based foam insulation.
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970.349.0806 andrewhadleyarchitect.com
9. HOMES MUST BREATHE. It seems
contradictory to build a tight home and then add mechanical air exchanges. But tight houses with no air exchange often develop moisture problems (e.g. mold and rot) and poor indoor air quality. Modern heat recovery ventilators (HRVs) allow escaping stale air to heat the fresh incoming air for minimal loss of warmth.
10. SMALL, INEXPENSIVE ACTIONS • Green Robin is an owner operated building company. • Specializing in innovative contemporary build strategies for both remodels and new construction • Recipient of sustainable house and business of the year. • Committed to building responsibly with a vision for the future. • Natural, Breathable, Super insulated homes that minimize toxic impact to both homeowner and environment.
Owner: Michael Weil 80
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michaelweil@mac.com
ADD UP, like caulking between the wall and floor in the framing stage, said Randy Swift of Swift Construction. “Find a builder who knows the little tricks.”
11. CHOOSE NON-TOXIC FINISHES.
Among a fit and healthy population, “who wants to live in a toxic house?” Michael asked. Use low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paint, wool or other non-off-gassing carpet, and other natural, healthy products. Some composite materials (siding, lumber- replacement, countertops, etc.) are good; some are suspect, so do your research, or make your priorities known to your builder. “If you don’t use the chemical, then it’s not in your house, the factory workers don’t have to
This Nicholson Lake guesthouse uses timber-frame construction with air-tight straw-clay walls and reclaimed materials for doors, siding, cabinets, trim and accents.
handle it, and there’s not that waste going into the earth,” said Don.
12.
INSTALL EFFICIENT APPLIANCES. Energy Star ratings make this easier.
13. “PAYING MORE MONEY FOR BETTER
WINDOWS IS A WISE CHOICE,” said Tyler Sweeney of Revolution Energy Solutions. “Particularly in our cold climate, windows make a big difference in heat loss and comfort.” The best: double or triple pane low-e windows with low u-values and high solar gain coefficients. Even good windows have fairly low insulation values, so insulated window coverings also make a big difference on frosty nights.
14. DON’T OVERLOOK THE CRAWLSPACE.
Moisture and air quality problems can start with a crawlspace that lacks proper barriers from the soil.
15.
Andy Sovick
THERE’S NO RIGHT OR WRONG CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUE. “Every building material and style has its ups and downs,” Bart said. But, whether you choose traditional stick frame, structural insulated panels, strawbale, straw-clay, or something else dear to your heart, use a builder who knows that material. “If you do the right thing the wrong way, it’s still wrong.”
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16.
FOR YOUR SINCE MOUNTAIN 1973 LIFESTYLE
TAP INTO RENEWABLE ENERGY. With our intense sunshine and cold, passive solar is a “no-brainer.” At its simplest, it requires proper orientation to the sun, good windows and some mass (like a rock wall or tile floor) to absorb heat during the day and redistribute it at night. “On a 20-degree day, if you have the right design, you can almost heat the house from the sun,” said architect Andrew Hadley. Solar hot water heating (for domestic hot water or in-floor radiant heat) can have a fast payback, followed distantly by photovoltaic (storing solar energy in batteries). Geothermal heating, using warmth from the earth, has a longer payback, but has been used widely around the world and is becoming more ingenious.
17. RESEARCH NEW PRODUCTS. The
last few years have brought innovations in efficient lighting systems (compact fluorescents and light-emitting diodes), programmable thermostats, “smart home management systems” operated remotely or from a control panel in the home, manufactured materials like tile from reclaimed windows, and more- accessible natural products like bamboo. Do your own research, consult your builder or ask ORE.
18. OPEN YOUR MIND. Crested Butte
WWW.ICEMOUNTAINJEWELRY.NET A. Brian Dale, Gemologist G.I.A. & Carol Dale 311 6th at the 4-way Stop Crested Butte, Colorado
800-863-2375 970-349–6331
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has strawbale, straw-clay and structured insulated panel (SIP) homes as well as traditionally framed ones to visit and consider. These techniques seem new, but straw, a renewable waste product, has been used for centuries in Europe. A Smithworks home in downtown Crested Butte uses a continuous “poured” straw-clay mixture for the walls. The wood-siding exterior of the home looks traditional, but the walls are highly insulated and have no air-leak seams. A strawbale home in the Larkspur subdivision has 16-inch-thick walls, poured adobe floors and a lime plaster exterior coating. Natural homes “feel calm, quiet and healthy,” Dusty said. “They feed our innate connection to nature.”
19. USE THE ENERGY SMART PROGRAM
at the Office for Resource Efficiency in Gunnison. ORE offers a $50 energy analysis of structures and provides a wealth of information, including lists of recommended builders, energy specialists and architects; new-product data; and on-line Energy Smart advice.
“It’s just too expensive.” With careful planning and building, the upfront costs of a green home may be little more than a code-built one, Tyler noted. “When taking into consideration the operation costs and future durability concerns, a well designed and constructed, efficient, healthy home may very well cost less over time than a conventional home.” Even with a tight budget, a wise builder can “green up” your house. Randy built a “staggered stud” home to affordably minimize air leaks. On another project, by choosing one-inch rigid foam insulation instead of the two-inch version, he could use a nail gun rather than the more expensive and timeconsuming screws. “There are ways to meet your building budget but still end up with lower heating bills,” he said.
“I’m sure my builder is environmentally conscious.” “Building science has been particularly active in the last few decades,” Tyler said, but “far too many builders have been slow or loath to adopt the improved techniques, materials and approaches.” Find a builder who continually educates himself on best building practices. Energy Star for Homes certification can ensure that the design and construction of your home are efficient and thoughtful. Why bother with green at all? “It’s not just about R values,” Don said. “It’s about health and connection to nature. Like walking instead of driving, or stopping to take in the sunset. When we look at our homes differently, we’ll be rewarded tenfold.”
ORE’S THREE ENERGY TIPS FOR HOMEOWNERS.
Energy Smart’s Tyler Sweeney testing a home’s air leakage.
GET YOUR HOUSE CHECKED. You get your car checked and your health checked; why not your home? Assessment experts find energy, health and life-safety issues and make recommendations for improvements. VISIT THE HARDWARE STORE AND GRAB THE LOW-HANGING FRUIT. Armed with CFL light bulbs, caulk gun, weatherstripping, a water heater blanket and a few other inexpensive materials, you can start saving energy right away. MAKE CONSERVATION A HABIT. Use less by turning off lights, setting thermostats low (programmable ones can help with this), washing laundry in cold water, etc.
MORE INFORMATION Contact ORE and the Energy Smart Program at www.energysmartcolorado.com or 970-641-7682. Gunnison County Electric Association also offers its customers energy assessments and rebates; visit www.gcea.coop. 2013 WINTER
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Selected for the 2012 Architectural Institute of America Home Tour, Dallas.
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305 Sixth Street, at the 4-way stop, Crested Butte 84
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970-349-5313
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bighornrealty.com
HEAT-SEEKING HOME
HOW ONE INGENIOUS COUPLE DESIGNED THEIR OWN SMART HOME. By Sandra Cortner
Sandra Cortner and Greg Payne celebrating their new Roaring Judy home in 1999.
OUR CRESTED BUTTE HOME WAS A SMALL, OLD LOG BARN, MOVED AND REMODELED INTO A RESIDENCE IN THE 1940S, AND A DRAFTY ONE AT THAT. When we finally could afford to build our dream home, we wanted it warm, energy efficient and easy to maintain. During the late 1990s, my husband Greg Payne’s construction experience helped us to research building techniques, materials and heating systems. I quizzed other homeowners and builders. Thanks to architectural software, Greg created the design and final drawings on our home computer. By the time we broke ground in the spring of 1999, he had redesigned the heating system at least three times. But we never wavered from our basic passive solar design with its open floor plan. Here is how it works: solar-heated air from the large windows is ducted from the top of the 10-foot-square, glassed-in foyer down to an insulated crawl space that is part of the building envelope. This heat-delivery “plenum” contains thermal mass that absorbs and retains heat from the air before it returns to the living space via floor vents.
The furnace kicks in only at night or on cloudy days. Best part: the water lines under the house won’t freeze. Insulation is critical, beginning with the foundation. Below grade and in the garage, the walls are I.C.E. Block, a type of insulated concrete form, purchased locally, measuring 11 inches wide. Above grade for two stories, we also used I.C.E. Block, estimated at about R-40, giving a much higher insulating value than standard 2x6-inch wood framing. Although almost every new foundation in the county then was of I.C.E. Block, few people were using the product for all the exterior walls. I think our insistence on extra insulation surprised some of the subcontractors. Unlike most homeowners, who accept without question what is recommended, Greg was ahead of the curve on how to make the house energy efficient. In fact, one item we asked for wasn’t even available locally. We gave up our plan of blown-in cellulose (recycled newspapers) insulation in the two-to-three-foot deep attic, because it needed to be shipped from Denver, an added expense; instead we substituted blown-in fiberglass. 2013 WINTER
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OTHER FEATURES OF OUR HOME: • House faces south for maximum winter sunlight. • High R-value, aluminum-clad, wood- frame windows with two heat mirror films between two glass panes.
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•
Attached, north-side, unheated garage built into the hillside stays at 45 to 50 degrees most of the winter and reduces heat loss from the living space. Perfect place to store extra fruit and vegetables that won’t fit in the refrigerator.
•
Double ceiling contains electrical, plumbing and ventilation pipes and ducts to prevent penetrations through the vapor barrier.
•
Forced-air, electric hydronic furnace with built-in heat recovery ventilator to bring in fresh air, warm it, and exchange it with stale interior air.
•
Stucco and moss rock exterior wall covering, with metal fascia, soffits and roof reduces maintenance and provides fire resistance.
•
Native grasses and flowers surround the house and wraparound flagstone terrace. No more lawn mowing, staining siding and decks and replacing rotting wood for us!
•
Airtight Vermont Castings wood- burning fireplace as a back-up heat source. (We agonized over this decision; we had spent years chopping wood in Crested Butte).
• Compact fluorescent light bulbs. We tried to balance energy efficiency, comfort, looks and cost- effectiveness. Complicating it all was re-sell. What exactly are our costly energy-saving features worth now that we have the house on the market in a recessive economy? No one thus far seems eager to pay extra, perhaps because airtight walls are not as visible as granite countertops or plush carpet. Priceless, however, is basking in our winter indoor temperature of 75 degrees in shorts and t-shirts while the thermometer outside hovers at 20.
Seeking vision in the deepest dark: the Winter Solstice full-moon eclipse.
By Molly Murfee
“The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in darkness, could we but see. And to see, we have only to look.” - Fra Giovanni, written on Christmas Eve 1513
The roaring was that of a man swinging a large rock tethered by a rope over his head, like the blades of a Medieval helicopter. At first, my subconscious convinced the noise was only in my dreams, I stayed in the stories that raced muffled through my mind like crazed cats. But the roaring insisted, pulling the dead weight of my awareness upward to the thin membrane that separates the sleeping from the sharp rake of reality. Struggling against the weights that bore down on their lids, my eyes slowly opened. A pair of bats madly chased each other, like racers on a track, two feet over my head. The noise their wings emitted 87
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE John Holder
from the speed and fury of their flight was alarming. Their proximity to my face brought about a fear I otherwise don't express against those animals society has deemed “evil” or “dangerous.” I pulled the covers over my head, shrieking, “Open the door! Open the door!” to Mark, who was stumbling, drunken with sleep, to the bathroom. Not understanding, he barked at me to quit screaming. Then, as if in a trance, he ambled to the door and swung it open to the night. The bats seared through the portal. Those who believe in the power of animals consider bats' wisdom one of transition, initiation and the pollination
of new ideas. Understanding grief. Their use of vibration gives them the ability to observe the unseen, the nuances that lie beneath the surface. Their presence signifies an impending transformation of the ego – the end of one life and beginning of another. When we are wrought with the fear of letting go of something familiar, the bat shows us the need, and gives us the strength, to confront these fears. The bats' visit was one week after I moved, resisting, into a new home, just after losing a job I had poured my heart into. Moving toward the darkest night of the year, there wasn't a day I didn't think about those bats. 2013 WINTER
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*** The full-moon eclipse was to begin at 11:33 p.m. on December 20, the Winter Solstice – a coincidence of planetary alignment that hadn't occurred since 1638 and wouldn't again until 2485. Auspicious. Outside, a giant wing of moisture arched over the Pacific, like the span of a great and ominous angel, gathering water from the tropical oceans of Hawaii, then swooping head strong into the mountains of Crested Butte, bursting on the sharp ridges of shale tipped into the atmosphere. The solstice moon with its grand eclipse was thus darkened even further, its lamp obscured by the wallops of snow, glutted with water, that blasted against our roofs, our walls, the bark of trees. Two feet fell the first day, light like the sloughed cells of rice paper. The next, temperatures soared to the low 30s, and the snow plummeted from the sky in vast soggy clumps. Snowfall predictions escalated: four to eight inches today, five to ten tonight, ten to fourteen tomorrow. Four inches of water content in 12 hours. Avalanche danger high for four days running. Backcountry travel not recommended. Then, as the storm cleared, 88
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in a thousand years’ time. This was the deepest any of us would be asked to go. In the astrological woo-woo world, an eclipse is a revolutionary matter. Prognostications like “trigger necessary changes to one's journey in life,” and “harsh, sudden and undeniable realities” are shoved down our throats until we choke, until we realize all we have to do is spit the disagreeable matter onto the ground and leave. Why was I encouraged by so many to continue writing, only to have the rug pulled out from under me? Why was I given this curse, these words that forced themselves through my cells until they bled through my fingers, if to no avail? It felt as if someone had reached a bony hand between my ribs, ripping my skin and tearing pieces of my heart out in tatters. Was I supposed to give up? Run in a different direction? Fight with the tenacity of an enraged bull? Visions of a china shop raced through my thoughts. “Don't force it,” Mark's advice sprayed through the shards. But how could I change the world if not through my words? I’d thought that was the point.
CAN
two to four. Trace to two. Sunny. It's like being run over by a locomotive, your feet anchored in the ties as you lay on your back “safe,” while inches from your face car after car hurls over you. Exhilarating. Puzzling. And awe striking. My friend Nancy and I headed out into the meat of this storm, to see what we could of the eclipse. “It would be cool just to be out there during it,” she said, in her cheery, “why-not” attitude and in recognition that all this universal harmonizing was something to at least try and check out. She brought the cookies; I ladled melted Mexican chocolate bars into a thermos of Rumplemintz. It was dark as all hell. But it was still beautiful — strange and quiet and ominous skiing out into the eclipse air, with its accompanying eclipse storm. I could imagine what was going on beyond the clouds – the blood red disk emerging, the same vision that scared ancients into believing the moon had been wounded or was being swallowed. It was fascinating to think that the night couldn't possibly get any darker in a given year, or even
WHERE
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My mind returned to the bats in my bedroom. Does the euphemism of “bats in your belfry” come from those who resist too much, forcing their minds into straitjackets and strengthening their inevitable insanity? Does it come from conformation? From giving up, or conversely, trying too hard against the universe's wishes?
stretch the planet's crust twice daily, like the taut skin of a pregnant woman's belly. The gravitational pull two entities have toward each other diminishes with distance but never goes away, so that everything in the universe exhibits this force on every other entity. Through proximity, a mother holding her baby exerts 12 million times the tide-raising
There is some poetry you don’t have to work to compose. Or do you earn the company of bats by hopping aboard, unabashed and unafraid, galloping wherever that wild ride takes you, giving in to the gift of lunacy and enjoying it? Why would poets sit in their proverbial towers if not to be closer to the conversations of these night creatures and their lunar nightlight and hear the transformative secrets either have to tell? The combined gravitational forces of the sun and the moon in perfect alignment pull not only our oceans to create the phenomenon of tides, but also
force of the moon. We are all like furious lovers who can't possibly pull ourselves apart. These gravitational forces have much the same flavor as the “butterfly effect,” the concept that small alterations in a system can cause a chain of events leading to large-scale impacts. We see it in everything from quantum physics to Buddhism to chaos theory. I watch Nancy's exhalations into the frosted air, feel the cold suck of my own lungs and wonder what sorts of universal mutinies we are creating together. And
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Yorum Gal
if this is so, what of our larger actions and their reverberant impacts? What are the consequences of the rage and sorrow felt over losing a profession you thought was your life's purpose? Or losing what you thought was your home? Many scientists purport the moon has no effect on our human bodies, which are made of 75% water. The entire Pacific Ocean is magnetized towards this object in such a way that it actually bulges, pulls its watery bulk away from its earthly core, reaching for that opalescent orb. But not us, these scientists claim, we're not influenced. We're far too mature for that. Yet what immeasurable shifts are taking place in the pathways of our blood — what pressures and places of relief we think non-existent simply because they are immeasurable? The lack of romance is apparent even in the scientists' naming of the birth of the moon: “The Great Whack.” I much prefer the wild-tempered Artemis, the Greek Goddess of the Moon, or the Egyptian Thoth, who commanded writing and wisdom. In China the moon means love and fate. I would rather run like a rabid coyote, chasing and stealing the moon at every opportunity, than come up with something so sterile as “The Great Whack.” This tale postulates that 4.6 billion years ago, a Mars-sized object hip-checked Earth shortly after the birth of our sun and the solar system. A huge cloud of vaporized rock kicked up, a celestial cocktail of the two entities slam dancing into each other, and hurled itself out into the galaxy. The cloud of rock began orbiting the Earth, and as the cloud cooled and condensed, it formed a ring of small, solid bodies, which eventually got it together and formed the moon. I mean, you couldn't make this stuff up. The moon is a piece of us. Perhaps that’s why we long for it. We yearn to be whole. Ironically, this thing that we birthed, this thing toward which we gravitate, from which our pull can never be severed, it steals from us. Each spin we make, creating rotational energy, the moon steals to slowly slip away from us, propelling itself 1.6 inches higher in orbit each year. “Is this my relationship with stories?” I pause to ponder. Stories illuminate my life, make it seem brighter in the writing, yet steal my energy in their gravitational pull
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The summer man landed on the moon, I was born a Gemini – that crazy bifurcated sign that promises two personalities for the price of one. on my being, in their perpetual insistence, like children, to be born, defying all logic of things like rent or health insurance. Still they tug. This slow sucking of our energy by the moon slows us down 1.5 milliseconds every century, lengthening our days. Eventually, our planetary rotation will practically cease, Earth's day will be a month long. Perhaps, if I could expand my mortality to live that long, I could finally fit everything I wanted into a day. I would be able to write and then go to work to buy the groceries, since a partnership of the two seems so eternally incongruent. Nevertheless, I love this fact of the moon and the Earth, proving that even those things we thought constant — like the length of a day — are in perpetual flux. The summer man landed on the moon, I was born a Gemini – that crazy
bifurcated sign that promises two personalities for the price of one. Perhaps the pull we felt so strong, that globe we had stared at for so long, finally got to our heads back in that summer of 1969. We had to get there, to see what it felt like to be on the other side of that vast, black, pinpricked abyss, and look back upon ourselves. This full-moon eclipse was a Gemini moon. The meteor shower a few days prior sprouted from the bodies of the twinkling twins – the largest of the cosmic sprays we endure in a year. “Surely, this is my time,” I think, I hope, I wonder, grasping at whatever celestial debris oscillates around my all-too-human head like a colony of bats, not understanding the next step into the depth of the winter darkness, and wondering where the hell my promised night vision has gone.
HOW DO YOU ACCEPT GRIEF? By Rachael Gardner
Xavier Fane
Life is fleeting. It’s a cliché but also an accurate expression. Many of us are all too familiar with this truth. As of late, it appears to be something our community is grappling with in unusually high numbers. Living in a small town, the ripples of grief seem to reach a little further. The absence of a familiar face is more apparent and the loss feels harder to bear. Time is a friend and life is busy, so as the days roll by, the mind allows the memory to soften — until some occasion forces you to acknowledge the absence of someone who was once a fixture in your life. It can be something as simple as a walk through the Farmer’s Market or as complicated as picking up the phone only to realize your biking buddy just isn’t there any more. Either way, it crashes in on
you like a steamroller and leaves you wondering if you will ever find the strength to accept your loss. Eventually, you will find the strength. I can’t say when and I can’t say how, but it will come to you over time. It may feel like one step forward and two steps back. Then one day, it will change ever so slightly, and you’ll take two steps forward and one step back. I know this terrain because some time ago my family was presented with not a first, but a second major tragedy. As I tried to make sense of the situation, I recalled a conversation with a friend. We were discussing an uncomfortable break-up and at the time, I got a chuckle from his logic. Little did I know how soon I would be clinging to that phrase for my sanity.
“I’m going to organize things into neat, orderly piles in the hopes that this goes more smoothly.” When I received the news that I would be losing someone I loved to a terminal illness, I lost control. Having already lost a younger brother to cancer, I had naively assumed my dues had been paid. I wanted no comfort, and I didn’t feel the least bit secure in Crested Butte, which I had always considered my safe place. When I got control of myself, I thought of my friend’s words and began organizing the pieces of our lives into neat and orderly piles. What else was I to do? As my five-year-old would say, with a shrug of his shoulders, “It makes sense.” In the weeks and months to come, I organized and re-organized, both 2013 WINTER
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mentally and physically. It seemed that each time I succeeded in getting life sorted, a great wind would blow and mess up my stacks. It was maddening. At times I wanted to pick up all the pieces of my life and start tossing them around the yard. I longed for a full mental breakdown to take me away from this chore.
The pattern of organizing and re-
organizing life continued for a while. A few times I considered packing up all our things, stacking them inside the house and protecting our lives from any more winds and unexpected disorder. Wouldn’t it be easier to lock my children and myself away and save all the trouble and frustration of having the fragments of our lives blown about willy-nilly for the entire world to see?
One definition of insanity is repeating
the same action and expecting different results. Well, there were a good many days I felt insane, and I suspect my friends, family and neighbors were coming to similar conclusions. However, every day, I would get out of bed and, sure enough,
CRESTED BUTTE NORDIC CENTER
the sun would be shining and people would be going about their business as usual. How could I stay inside and shelter the three of us from the outside world’s unpredictability? Especially when everyone on the outside was having such fun?
I couldn’t. I survived a good many
moments living by the unwitting advice of my friend, organizing and re-organizing my life into tidy piles. I knew order wouldn’t last, but it kept me focused and gave me purpose. At the very least, I knew when the storm passed, I would have a vague idea of where all our things were and I could begin re-arranging once again.
I share this story in the hopes that it
strikes a chord, offers some strength and helps just a little for any of you trying to find a way to accept grief. Go ahead,
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embrace the insanity and continue putting your life into neat and orderly piles — over and over and over again. The piles won’t last, but it will get you through to a happier day. After all, a little bit of housekeeping never hurt anyone, and there are far worse ways to grieve.
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Crested Butte Magazine
Photo break
Trent Bona
Winter 2013
Xavier Fane
Alex Fenlon
Crested Butte Magazine
Trent Bona Winter 2013
winter highlights Nathan Bilow
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
17
1
CRESTED BUTTE NORDIC CENTER OPENS
21
CRESTED BUTTE COMMUNITY SCHOOL HOLIDAY BAZAAR
SKI FREE / OPENING DAY, CRESTED BUTTE MOUNTAIN RESORT
8
22-24
15
NORDIC THANKSGIVING TRAINING CAMP
24
NORDIC CENTER SILENT AUCTION DINNER
IRWIN RANDO RACE (SKI MOUNTAINEERING) NORDIC CITIZEN’S 10K CLASSIC RACE LIGHT-UP NIGHT, HOLIDAY PARADE, CRESTED BUTTE
17-22
ROCK ON ICE, CBMR
18-30
GINGERBREAD COMPETITION, MT. CRESTED BUTTE
100
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
20-23, 27-29 CB MOUNTAIN THEATRE: “BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER”
21
END OF THE WORLD PARTY, OFFICE FOR RESOURCE EFFICIENCY SANTA’S WORKSHOP AT THE TRAILHEAD CHILDREN’S MUSEUM
22
NORDIC CITIZEN’S 10K SKATE RACE
23
PRE-CHRISTMAS YURT DINNER
24
TORCHLIGHT PARADE AT THE SKI AREA
28
MOONLIGHT SNOWSHOE TOURS, CBMR FULL MOON YURT DINNER
31
NEW YEAR’S YURT DINNER PARTY ARTWALK EVENING, LOCAL GALLERIES AND STUDIOS KIDS ROCK CONCERT SERIES, LODGE AT MOUNTAINEER SQUARE TORCHLIGHT PARADE / FIREWORKS, NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
3
1-2
LEARN TO SKATE SKI FOR FREE, NORDIC CENTER
5, 12, 19
CITIZEN’S NORDIC RACES (SEE CB NORDIC CENTER FOR DETAILS)
12-13
USASA GIANT SLALOM, SLALOM AND SLOPESTYLE COMPETITIONS, CBMR
16-19
CRESTED BUTTE SONGWRITERS FESTIVAL
19
NORDIC TEAM FUNDRAISER AT THE YURT
25-27
IFSA JR. FREESKIING / SNOWBOARDING REGIONAL COMPETITION
26
USSMA C.A.M.P. SKI MOUNTAINEERING RACE FULL MOON YURT DINNER MOONLIGHT SNOWSHOE TOUR AT THE SKI AREA
27
SUZY BOGGUSS CONCERT, CENTER FOR THE ARTS
31
ARTWALK EVENING AT LOCAL GALLERIES AND STUDIOS
21-24
JR. EXTREME FREESKIING CHAMPIONSHIPS, CBMR
USSA DAN PRATER MEMORIAL CUP SKI RACE
2
24
BEARFOOT BLUEGRASS CONCERT, CENTER FOR THE ARTS
FULL MOON YURT DINNER
ALLEY LOOP NORDIC MARATHON
MOONLIGHT SNOWSHOE TOUR, CBMR
6-9
25
CLEO PARKER ROBINSON DANCE RESIDENCY/ PERFORMANCES, CFTA
28
6-10
TBD
EXTREME FREESKIING CHAMPIONSHIPS, CBMR
7
ARTWALK EVENING AT LOCAL GALLERIES AND STUDIOS RED LADY SALVATION BALL, HIGH COUNTRY CITIZENS ALLIANCE
Also check out the programs at the Trailhead Children’s Museum, classes at the Art Studio of the Center for the Arts, and events through Yoga for the Peaceful, the Crested Butte Mountain Theatre, the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum and Crested Butte Spirit, Mind, Body. For the latest information visit GunnisonCrestedButte. com/events.
LEARN TO SKATE SKI FOR FREE, NORDIC CENTER
7-14
ROMANCE IN THE ROCKIES, VALLEY-WIDE EVENTS
10
TRAILHEAD EXPRESS KIDS’ SLEIGH RIDE ADVENTURE TO ULEY’S CABIN
12
TWISTER OF LOVE, CHAIRLIFT SPEED DATING, CBMR
14
VALENTINE’S DINNER AT THE YURT
16
GOTHIC MOUNTAIN TOUR, NORDIC CENTER
17
‘80S PARTY WITH SIX MILLION DOLLAR BAND, CBMR
Braden Gunem 2013 WINTER
101
winter highlights
JC Leacock
MARCH 1-2
MOVE THE BUTTE, CENTER FOR THE ARTS
2
SKI FOR HOPE NORDIC CHALLENGE FOR LIVING JOURNEYS
2-3
USASA BOARDERCROSS
3
7 HOURS OF THE BANANA
7
LEARN TO NORDIC SKI FOR FREE
7-10
IFSA JR. FREESKIING CENTRAL DIV. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
102
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
APRIL 9
27
BIG AIR ON ELK, DOWNTOWN CRESTED BUTTE
MOONLIGHT SNOWSHOE TOUR AT THE SKI AREA
FESTEVOL WINTER CONCERT, CBMR
28
16
EXTREME TELEMARK FREESKIING CHAMPIONSHIPS KIDS ROCK CONCERT “ALOHA IN THE BUTTE,” LODGE AT MOUNTAINEER SQUARE
24
AL JOHNSON UPHILL/ DOWNHILL RACE
27
FULL MOON YURT DINNER
ARTWALK EVENING AT LOCAL GALLERIES AND STUDIOS
28-30
ELK MTNS. GRAND TRAVERSE
29
RUTH MOODY BAND CONCERT, CENTER FOR THE ARTS
30
KBUT’S SOUL TRAIN
TBD
CB MOUNTAIN HERITAGE MUSEUM’S BEACH BALL EXPRESS
3-7
FLAUSCHINK END-OFWINTER CELEBRATION
6
SLUSH HUCK AND POND SKIM, CBMR MOONLIGHT SNOWSHOE TOUR, CBMR
7
CLOSING DAY FOR NORDIC CENTER AND CBMR
LODGING
ALPINE GETAWAYS
Vacation Rentals 510 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte
Crested Butte’s premium vacation rentals. We work with each client to provide the perfect vacation -- arranging accommodations, activities, tours and more. 1.800.260.1935 alpinegetaways.com AD PAGE 60
CRISTIANA GUESTHAUS
ELK MOUNTAIN LODGE
Cozy B&B with European ski lodge charm. Homemade Continental breakfast. Hot tub with mountain views. Private baths. Near free shuttle; walk to shops & restaurants. 1.800.824.7899 cristianaguesthaus.com info@cristianaguesthaus.com
Historic inn located in a residential neighborhood of downtown Crested Butte. Just two blocks off the main street. 19 rooms individually decorated. Some with balconies. 1.800.374.6521 elkmountainlodge.net info@elkmountainlodge.net
Bed & Breakfast Hotel 621 Maroon Avenue PO Box 427, Crested Butte
Bed & Breakfast Lodge PO Box 148 129 Gothic Avenue, Crested Butte
AD PAGE 104
AD PAGE 104
IRON HORSE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
THE NORDIC INN
OLD TOWN INN
Specializing in highly personalized property management and vacation rentals. Expect more. 1.888.417.4766 ironhorsecb.com
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.
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 info@oldtowninn.net AD PAGE 105
Rental Homes PO Box 168, Crested Butte
AD PAGE 9
Bed & Breakfast Lodge 14 Treasury Road PO Box 939, Mt. Crested Butte
1.800.542.7669 nordicinncb.com acox@nordicinncb.com AD PAGE 104
PEAK PROPERTY
PIONEER GUEST CABINS
Specializing in one to seven bedroom condos & private vacation home rentals in historic downtown Crested Butte, Mt. CB, the Club at Crested Butte (country club) & CB South. 1.888.909.7325 peakcb.com info@peakcb.com
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 AD PAGE 105
Management & Sales Rental Homes 318 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte
AD PAGE 105
Rustic Cabins 2094 Cement Creek, South of CB
Hotel & Family Inn PO Box 990 708 6th Street, Crested Butte
THE RUBY OF CRESTED BUTTE
Luxury Bed & Breakfast PO Box 3801 624 Gothic Avenue, 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 AD PAGE 54
WEST WALL LODGE
Luxury, Slopeside Condominiums PO Box 1305, 14 Hunter Hill Road, Mt. Crested Butte
One to four bedroom residences. Each condo offers a fireplace, balcony, fully equipped kitchen, and oversized master bathroom. Underground parking. Fitness center, guest bar/ lounge, four season pool, hot tub and fire pit. 970-349-1280 westwalllodge.com AD PAGE 19
Photos by Shayn Estes
2013 WINTER
103
How to make
kale chips kale leaves, washed and dried olive oil your favorite healthy seasoned salt cayenne (optional), to add a little fire Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Remove the tough center rib from each kale leaf, and tear leaves into halves or smaller. Rub a thin film of oil over both sides of each piece. Spread the kale leaves in a single layer on a baking sheet. Sprinkle a small amount of seasoned salt and even smaller amount of cayenne on the leaves; they shrink as they dry, so the seasoning gets more concentrated. Bake for 20 minutes or more until the leaves are crispy. Lift carefully (they’ll be brittle) and crunch. We’re talking healthy!
A distinctive, unique Historic Inn Downtown Crested Butte
800.374.6521 elkmountainlodge.com
104
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
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 2013 WINTER
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DINING BRICK OVEN • 349-5044 Pizza-by-the-slice, deep dish, thin crust & specialty. Fresh subs, appetizers, burgers, largest salad bar in town. 30 beers on tap, high end tequila, spirits and wine. Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. FREE DELIVERY. BrickOvenCB.com
Ad pg. 107
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.
The all-new Bacchanale is a modest Italian restaurant from the team that launched django’s. Our fresh and light menu will re-introduce you to simple flavors, colorful salads, artisan flatbreads and handmade specialties. Join us daily at 7am for coffee and breakfast, and come back for dinner nightly from 5-10pm. Reservations accepted and can be made online.
Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner
Breakfast / Dinner
209 Elk Avenue, Downtown - Bacchanale.net
Ad pg. 108
DONITA’S CANTINA • 349-6674
Courtyard of Mountaineer Square, Mt. Crested Butte
4th & Elk, Downtown
Enjoy award-winning cuisine in a relaxed modern setting. Our small plates have captured national attention and combine Spanish and southern European flavors with the freshest seasonal ingredients. Join us apres ski from 4 p.m. every Tuesday-Sunday, with dinner served 5-10 p.m. Reservations recommended.
Dinner
Ad pg. 111
Ad pg. 70
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!
Dinner
Ad pg. 109
EASTSIDE BISTRO • 349-9699
GINGER CAFE • 349-7291
THE ICE BAR AT ULEYS • 349-2275
Fine dining with spectacular views. Rotating menu created with local and sustainable ingredients ranging from Rocky Mountain Elk, Wild Boar, Arctic Char, and Colorado Striped Bass to locally raised Beef Steaks, Duck Breast, Colorado Lamb and Pork Chops. Well rounded wine list and specialty martinis. Brunch on Saturday & Sunday.
Open 11 am to 10 pm every day. Reservations recommended. Sip our famous Mango Mojito or house infused Ginger Martini at the BEST HAPPY HOUR in town. Using only the freshest local, organic produce, and natural meats. We specialize in Thai, Indian and Vietnamese cuisines, with a little home cooked fusion for good measure.
Serving gourmet lunches daily inside the cozy, remodeled cabin and signature drinks outside at our legendary bar made out of ice. At night, embark on an epicurean dining adventure. Enjoy a starlit ride in a snowcat drawn open sleigh to a charming cabin in the woods, then delight in a gourmet dinner. Call for dinner reservations.
Brunch / Dinner
Lunch / Dinner
Lunch / Dinner
435 6th Street, Downtown
Ad pg. 110
LAST STEEP • 349-7007 Sandwiches/soup/salads. Casual family dining. Affordable menu with Caribbean island flair; Cajun chicken pasta, curry shrimp and coconut salad, artichoke-cheddar soup in bread bowl. Happy hour and daily specials.
Lunch / Dinner
425 Elk Avenue, Downtown
Mid-mountain at the base of Twister Lift
Ad pg. 107
LE BOSQUET & WHY COOK? • 349-5808
208 Elk Avenue, Downtown
Ad pg. 111
Majestic Plaza, Crested Butte
Ad pg. 46
LIL’S • 349-5457
321 Elk Avenue, Downtown
Family owned and opertated since 1976. Breathtaking views, warm ambiance, mouthwatering rack of lamb, vegetarian entrees, french onion soup, salads and break-your-diet desserts as well as our extensive smallplate menu. Quality, consistency and friendliness are our trademarks. Full bar and extensive wine list.
Serving the best sushi in town as well as meat, seafood, and options for the kids. We take pride in serving our guests the highest quality of fish which is why we get it delivered 6 days a week! We offer a nightly happy hour at the bar from 5:30 to 6:30. Open 7 nights a week at 5:30. Reservations are recommended but not necessary.
Lunch / Dinner
Dinner
Ad pg. 108
Ad pg. 107
MAXWELLS • 349-1221
MCGILL’S • 349-5240
PITA’S IN PARADISE • 349-0897
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.
Old-Fashioned soda fountain. Malts, shakes, sundaes, banana splits, libations, home-cooked breakfasts and lunches prepared to order. Historic locale, casual atmosphere.
Gyros, kabobs, sliders, fresh made hummus and baba gannoush, pita nachos and homemade soups. Greek and tahini salads, spanokopita and curly fries. Outdoor dining. Happy hour specials. Serving everyday.
Lunch / Dinner
Breakfast / Lunch
Lunch / Dinner
228 Elk Avenue, Downtown
226 Elk Avenue, Downtown
Ad pg. 109
3rd and Elk, Downtown
Ad pg. 109
Ad pg. 107
RUBENS • 349-5003
RYCE • 349-9888
THE SLOGAR • 349-5765
Ruben’s offers authentic New Mexican cuisine featuring all natural beef and chicken, using fresh ingredients and homemade salsa, locally roasted chilies, a full bar with fresh juice margaritas, kid’s menu and happy hour.
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.
A truly unique dining experience. Skillet-fried chicken and steak dinners served family style. The toughest part is deciding what tastes the best: the mashed potatoes, fresh biscuits, creamed corn, chicken, or steak. Serving dinner nightly from 5pm to 9pm. Full drink menu and wine list. Reservations recommended.
Lunch / Dinner
Lunch / Dinner
Dinner
207 Elcho Avenue, Crested Butte South
Ad pg. 110
WEST END PUBLIC HOUSE • 349-5662 2nd and Elk, Downtwon
“Elevated,” comfort food. The ONLY house-smoked BBQ in CB! Fresh oysters, small plates, steaks, seafood, salads, sandwiches, burgers, kids menu, and more. Eclectic wines, craft beers, and specialty cocktails. HDTVs, 8ft. digital screen upstairs to watch the game or play X-Box Kinect!
Lunch / Dinner 106
BACCHANALE • 349-5257
Elevation Hotel, Mt. Crested Butte
DJANGO’S • 349-7574
223 Elk Avenue, Downtown
Lunch / Dinner
9380 PRIME • 251-3030
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
Ad pg. 110
120 Elk Avenue, Downtown
Second & Whiterock, Crested Butte
Ad pg. 110
Ad pg. 108
WOODEN NICKEL • 349-6350
WOODSTONE GRILL • 349-8030
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.
The WoodStone Grille offers a generous breakfast buffet to charge you up for the day’s adventures. Come back to rest by the fire while sipping your favorite drink, and stay for a pub-style dinner suited for the whole family. Serving breakfast, après ski and dinner daily.
Dinner
Breakfast / Dinner
222 Elk Avenue, Downtown
Ad pg. 44
The Grand Lodge, Mt. Crested Butte
Ad pg. 111
SUSHI BAR HAPPY HOUR 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. DINNER NIGHTLY 5:30 Reservations Recommended 321 Elk Avenue | 970.349.5457 LILSSUSHIBARANDGRILL.COM
30 CRAFT BEERS ON TAP + BEST PATIO IN TOWN! SLICES, DEEP DISH, THIN CRUST + SPECIALTY PIES SUBS, APPETIZERS, BIG JUICY BURGERS HUGE SALAD BAR TEQUILA, SPIRITS, WINE + HDTVs LUNCH + DINNER EVERY DAY OPEN FROM 11 A.M. ‘TIL 10 P.M.
Dine-In • Take-Out • FREE Delivery
brickovencb.com
BIGGEST KIDS MENU
INTRODUCING OUR WINTER
SOUP BAR
featuring a daily selection of 5 or MORE homemade soups
NEW BAR MENU
Wings, Burgers, Potato Skins & Queso Winter Drink Specials • Rootbeer on Tap
Daily Happy Hour: $1 PBRs, $2 Wells, $2 Beam Shots, $3 Drafts, $4 Wines
970-349-0897 • TAKE-GO AVAILABLE 302 ELK AVENUE • DOWNTOWN CRESTED BUTTE Open 7 days a week for lunch & dinner Come see us at our NEW location...corner of 3rd & Elk
Local and organic meat and produce used whenever possible.
Vegetarian Dishes • Gyros • Shrimp, Chicken & Tofu Pitas Hummus, Pita Nachos, Salads & More!
425 Elk Avenue, Downtown Crested Butte Reservations recommended. 970 - 349 - 7291 thegingercafe.com
Bar and Grill
Open for lunch and dinner + Sweet deck + HAPPY HOUR SPECIALS DAILY
NEW LOCATION
Serving fresh, house made, asian inspired dishes and designer cocktails since 2002.
223 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte
2013 WINTER
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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 One-half Skillet Fried Chicken or Grilled Steak Entree Home Style Ice Cream Coffee, Tea or Milk
108
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
DINNER NIGHTLY 5 PM TO 9 PM RESERVATIONS RECOMMENDED (970) 349-5765 LOCATED AT 2ND & WHITEROCK
Crested Butte’s superior place for Homemade Mexican Food! Come see for yourself why Donita’s has been getting praise for 33 years. Visit www.donitascantina.com for specials, hours, reservations, menus, gift certificates and the POPULAR CantinaCam!
4th & Elk Downtown Crested Butte 970.349.6674
seafood
pasta
salads
wines from around the world
beer on tap
trent bona photo
hand cut steaks
226 elk avenue crested butte 970.349.1221
2013 WINTER
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Join us at
Crested Butte’s First GastroPub
Enjoy the taste of Santa Fe, it’s worth the drive! Happy Hour 4:30 to 6:30 • Kitchen open at 5:00 every night!
207 Elcho Avenue • Crested Butte South • 970.349.5003
• Elevated Comfort Food • • house smoked bbq • • 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
www.westendpublichouse.com
fine cuisine • spectacular views • Eclectic American Cuisine with Global Influences • Dinner Starting at 5:00pm Intimate Dining • Private Parties • Patio Sunday Brunch Starting at 9:30 am 435 Sixth Street • (970) 349-9699
Visit eastsidebistro.com for our most current menu and seasonal hours. 110
CRESTED BUTTE MAGAZINE
970.349.7007
208 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte
www.TheLastSteep.com
The Last Steep Bar & Grill 2013 WINTER
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PHOTO FINISH
Slaying sweet powder. Braden Gunem