Crested Butte Magazine Winter 2015/16 by CrestedButteMagazine

Winter 2015-2016 Complimentary

Custom Homes and Remodels 970.275.3462

MWeilCu stomHomes.com

c r e st e d bu t te, color a do

Photos: tom stillo

MOLLy ELDRiDGE

Owner 970.209.4234

Doug Kroft

970.209.0373

MAGGiE DETHLOff

970.209.7880

JOE GARciA

970.209.4034

DiANE ARONOvic

970.209.0405

SiGRiD cOTTRELL

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JOycE ROLOff

970.209.4895

DEEP ROOTS u NEW GROWTH You have many choices when it comes to selecting who will help you navigate the real estate market. Whether you’re buying or selling, it’s one of the largest financial decisions you will make and it’s important to choose your guide wisely. As Crested Butte’s Oldest Real Estate company, Red Lady Realty has deep roots in the community. New growth is taking place at Red Lady Realty with a change in ownership and there is positive momentum in the market.

SALLy HALL

970.209.6913

Put the new energy and our forward thinking brokers at Red Lady Realty to work for you.

215 Elk Avenue

RedLadyRealty.com

970.349.5007

Free Delivery and In-Room Fitting Choose the time and place for delivery. Usually the night before you start skiing is best. Your personal concierge will deliver and custom fit you with the latest in ski and snowboard equipment.

Slopeside Service If you have any equipment needs, we are just a phone call away. Our rental techs can meet you to make any necessary adjustments or replacements and get you back on the slopes quickly.

Complimentary Return When you are ready to return just give us a call and we will arrange to collect all of your equipment without imposing on your dining or travel plans. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that easy!

RESERVATIONS

BlackTieSkis.com

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59 Cinnamon Mtn Rd | $1,795,000

10 Aspen Lane | $1,395,000

425 Whiterock Avenue | $895,000

2600 Roaring Judy Ranch | $895,000 4 Bed | 3 Bath | 3,216 SqFt | 40.11 Acres

846 Sioux Road | $695,000

San Moritz Condos | $695,000

Land Offerings

San Moritz Condos Unit P202 - $339,00 | Unit K104 - $235,000

1363RedMtnRanchRd-35.1Ac-$615,000 Lot 36 - Summit - 0.72 Ac - $395,000 Lot 7 - Summit - 0.37 Ac - $299,000 84 Stream View Ln - 0.49 Ac - $225,000 43 Ruby Drive - 0.81 Acres - $199,000 38 Ruby Drive - 0.58 Ac - $196,000 8 Aspen Lane - 0.49 Ac - $150,000 451 Anderson Drive - 0.36 Ac - $80,000

Retail Therapy | $250,000 Successful Local Business | 510 Elk Ave.

Corey Dwan Realtor Columbine Condo | $235,000

970.596.3219

Grand Lodge Condos | $125,000

CrestedButteCollection.com

FEATURES 30 Winter by dog and by wheel

by Alissa Johnson A budding alpine athlete finds thrills and confidence sampling three emergent snow sports: fat biking, snow biking and skijoring.

42 Forgotten roads

by Brian Levine Rare photographic images from the 19th century show a Gunnison Valley far different from the landscapes of today.

50 Finding an “unplanned retirement community”

by Beth Buehler Neal Manecke and Kim Walter add adventure, art and serendipity to their retirement game plan.

57 Shutters, skis and shenanigans

by Sandy Fails Sandy Cortner has photographed Crested Butte through half a century, from post-mining town to mountain resort.

64 Buried

Photography from the dominion of snow.

68 Kicking and grinning

by Rachael Gardner At age 30, the Alley Loop draws national Nordic racers and local costumed crazies.

78 A new water-cooler experience by Kathy Norgard Remote workers blend big-city occupations with mountain-town lifestyles.

86 Legacy, laughs and love

by Toni M. Todd As KBUT Community Radio celebrates 30 years on air, its loyalties span generations.

96 One woman’s fight for her land

by Cara Guerrieri How Ernestine Eastman Spann battled a 1972 plan to turn her ranchland into an airport.

102 The risks and bliss of the backcountry

by Zach Guy Why an avalanche expert ventures into the wintry wilds.

107 From pirate ships to the Santa Maria?

by Dawne Belloise Stunning new finds from underwater explorers Barry and Brandon Clifford, a Western grad and his Crested Butte-based son.

121 The party at the end of the slopes 4

by Dawne Belloise The French may have invented the phrase après-ski, but Crested Butte perfected the party.

SHORTIES 10 The other side of the mountain by Erin English A proposed ski area expansion would open a northeast portion of the mountain to intermediate and expert skiers. 12

Skiing both up and down by Kaitlyn Archambault The rising interest in ski mountaineering prompted December’s inaugural Grand Traverse Skimo Academy.

14 Fat chance by Laurel Runcie Crested Butte will host the 2016 Fat Bike World Championships. 16

Where art meets karma by Gregory Pettys John Bukaty hopes to raise a million dollars for worthy causes with his vibrant, spontaneous, on-site paintings.

Differing interests; same love for the land by Hilary Henry The Gunnison Public Lands Initiative invites diverse users and fans of the county’s wild spaces to envision their future.

Snow sisters by Stephanie Maltarich Ladies Session: adaptive skiing made even better with friendship, Paralympic coaches and glittery disco pants.

Going places…silently by Beth Carter Silent Tracks seeks to protect quiet havens for human-powered winter recreation.

114 Calendar | 118 Lodging | 120 Dining | 128 Photo finish

CONTENTS w’15-’16

Trent Bona

Vol. XXXVII, No. 2 Published semi-annually by Crested Butte Publishing & Creative PUBLISHERS Steve Mabry & Chris Hanna EDITOR Sandy Fails

27 Treasury Road

4 BD | 2.5 BA | 2 Car Garage Spacious Home, Walking Distance to Ski Lifts $850,000

930 County Road 744

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ADVERTISING DIRECTOR MJ Vosburg DESIGN Chris Hanna PRODUCTION Keitha Kostyk WRITERS

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13 Kokanee Drive

6 BD | 7 BA | 6,377 SF Luxury Home, Premier Ski-in/Ski-out Location $4,400,000

Kaitlyn Archambault Dawne Belloise Beth Buehler Beth Carter Erin English Sandy Fails Rachael Gardner Cara Guerrieri

Zach Guy Hilary Henry Alissa Johnson Brian Levine Stephanie Maltarich Kathy Norgard Gregory Pettys Laurel Runcie Toni M. Todd

PHOTOGRAPHERS

475 Oversteeg Gulch Road

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928 Gothic Road

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14 Hunter Hill Road B-201 4 BD | 4 BA | 2,572 SF Turn-key Luxury Ski-in/Ski-out Condo $1,850,000

Nathan Bilow Trent Bona Bob Brazell Beth Carter Sandra Cortner Dusty Demerson Petar Dopchev Xavier Fané

Alex Fenlon John Holder Kevin Krill J.C. Leacock Rebecca Ofstedahl Nick Schley Lydia Stern Tom Stillo

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COVER PHOTO Beyond the Veltri barn, headlamps trace the path of Grand Traverse racers. Xavier Fané ONLINE crestedbuttemagazine.com

Jesse Ebner

Broker Associate

Keller Williams Realty Colorado Heritage • Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist

970-901-2922 jesse@cbproperty.com www.JesseEbner.com 211 Elk Avenue, Downtown Crested Butte Keller Williams Realty, Inc. is a real estate franchise company. Each Keller Williams office is independently owned and operated. Keller Williams Realty, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer and supports the Fair Housing Act.

E-MAIL sandyfails56@gmail.com ADVERTISING 970-349-6211 mj@crestedbuttemagazine.com Copyright 2015, Crested Butte Publishing. No reproduction of contents without authorization by Crested Butte Publishing & Creative.

Editor’s note

Through the eyes of a puppy I got two gifts last summer: a puppy and plantar fasciitis. I love hiking, and I’d planned to spend the summer getting to the top of some mountains I hadn’t explored yet. Instead I hobbled around the neighborhood on a foot that felt like a crew of tiny gremlins had jack-hammered it. Luckily, golden retriever puppy Barley arrived in mid July, an irresistible bundle of curiosity, playfulness and little needle teeth. Barley didn’t care about getting to the top of some distant peak. He wanted to bite, sniff and frolic with every dog, stick and sock in his immediate vicinity. Why go somewhere else when there were so many ways to play right in front of him? While my hiking buddies hit the trail, Barley and I hung out beside a nearby

pond, where he gleefully dug holes, batted the water and chased the fluff from the cattails. After a while I stopped gazing at the mountains I wasn’t climbing and began to notice where I was: the buzz of bugs, the smell of summer greenery, the play of shadows beneath a tree. For the first time in ten years, I also lounged in my own front yard. I luxuriated with Barley in the cool grass, watched a caterpillar ooch onto the driveway (where Barley devoured it with gusto), eavesdropped on magpies and robins, and felt the sun and breeze. I got to know long-time neighbors with whom I’d mostly traded waves in my hurry to get elsewhere. Now that winter is imminent, I’m delighted to report my heel ailment is easing and Barley has become slightly more discriminating in what he ingests and 7

Trent Bona

Rental & Demo Center

RENT (970) 349-2211

8 a.m. – 6 p.m.

FREE STORAGE WITH RENTALS FIRST IN PROXIMITY CONVENIENCE, AND SERVICE

RIDE We’re proud to offer the “Experience” line of skis from Rossignol, Nordica demos, as well as other top-quality brands of skis and snowboards for all abilities. For your uphill excursions, rent the latest Scarpa® AT equipment, or learn how fun it is to explore the mountain on a snow bike.

REPAIR (970) 349-2241

8 a.m. – 6 p.m.

TREASURY CENTER (mid–level) Kids’ rentals are also available at Camp CB

Retail

THIN AIR SPORTS This upscale boutique features top brands from Mammut, Eider, Lole, and Sorel, with a knowledgeable and friendly staff to help you find the ideal clothing and accessories for all of your adventures.

8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Mountaineer Square Courtyard

LOGO’d The perfect place to pick up authentic logo wear, souvenirs, gifts, and forgotten items such as swimsuits and sundries.

8 a.m. – noon and 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. Grand Lodge

CB MOUNTAIN OUTFITTERS NEW! The convenient location and attentive staff make it easy to get the most out of your mountain vacation. Offering an extensive selection of versatile apparel, technical gear, and authentic logo apparel for the entire family. 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Slopeside, Treasury Center

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Editor’s note demolishes. I’ve added some forward momentum to our outings, and he’s a good little hiking buddy—but I haven’t forgotten his lessons about using my senses and sometimes savoring where I am right now. I’ve been thinking about Barley on this September day as I edit the Crested Butte Magazine. That’s partly because this morning I awoke to a little puppyvomit action (he’s not yet TOTALLY discriminating in what he ingests). And it’s partly because this issue of the magazine says a lot about Crested Butte’s enduring puppy-nature. Especially during the autumn, when various deadlines and work schedules clamor for my time, I can fall into a routine dominated by making lists and checking things off of them. Luckily, Crested Butte and Barley remind me to shake things up a little. Chase yellow leaves skittering down the sidewalk. Cavort around a Vinotok bonfire. In conjunction with Vinotok this year, the Center for the Arts hosted a free community “iron pour.” I told myself I was too busy to participate, but the tales of fire and molten iron flowing into molds intrigued me. Next fall I’ll put that on my list. Crested Butte has long had a puppylike spirit of playfulness and innovation, as celebrated by the stories in this issue. Photographer Sandy Cortner recalls a magical convergence decades ago of caring old-timers and fresh-eyed newcomers who birthed the Mountain Theatre, mountain biking and telemarking. Thirty years ago a similar spirit gave rise to the eclectic KBUT Community Radio and to the Alley Loop that turns the town into a crazy costume party on skis. Imagination, fun-spiritedness and boldness are still part of Crested Butte’s culture—whether it’s trying to set a new world record for most skiing Santas; using art to effect change in the world; or figuring out how to work remotely to make a big-city living in a small mountain town. After typing this last paragraph, I’ll go outside and frolic in the autumn leaves with my dog, feeling grateful. This place has brought me so many gifts, one of which is living among people—and puppies—who still see through eyes of openness and wonder. —Sandy Fails, editor

The Mountain Office Team Charlie Farnan and Joel Vosburg

Long Standing Producers-Committed to Excellence and Service

970-349-6692-info@mountainoffice.com 211 Elk Avenue Suite C, Crested Butte

SOLD

WestWall Lodge A-207

25 Walking Deer, Mt. Crested Butte

426 Old Cottonwood Lane, Gunnison Riverbanks Ranch

59 Summit Road, Mt. Crested Butte

3 Bed – 3.5 Bath – 1,953 Sq. Ft. Base of the WestWall Chairlift $997,500

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22 Sunflower Drive, Mt. Crested Butte 6 Bed - 3.5 Bath - 3,811 Sq. Ft. Top of the World Location $1,639,000

5 Bed – 5.5 Bath – 4,582 Sq. Ft. Sold, 9-15-15, $3,000,000

5 Bed – 6.5 Bath – 2 Fireplaces - 2 Kitchens Perfect Ski-In/Ski-Out Location $2,995,000

Crested Mountain, C-1, Mt. Crested Butte 3 Bed - 2.5 Bath - 1-Car Garage Direct Ski-in Ski-out Location $619,000

SOLD

147 Slate River Drive, Slate River Estates 4 Bed - 4.5 Bath - Elevator Sold, 5-15-15, $1,425,000

553 Eagle Lane, Skyland

3 Bed - 3.5 Bath - 3,311 Sq. Ft. Two Living Areas, Open Space, Golf Course Views $1,199,999

The other side

By Erin English

of the mountain

Nathan Bilow

A ski area expansion plan could open a northeast portion of the mountain to intermediate and expert skiers. The journey to acceptance for a big ski area development project in our small, opinionated community can have more ups and downs than bumps on Twister. Anyone who followed Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s (CBMR) Snodgrass Mountain expansion plans knows this is true. Snodgrass expansion, of course, never materialized, but CBMR’s latest plans to grow the ski area are receiving early signs of support. In mid summer the U.S. Forest Service approved the resort’s initial proposal to expand by 500 acres in the Teocalli Park and Drainage area, and numerous locals and community leaders are giving a “thumbs up” to the project. “It’s nice to see them moving forward,” said Tricia Seeburg, a 21year resident of Crested Butte and supporter of a lift-free Snodgrass. “It will be a better experience for visitors when all is said and done.” CBMR President Ethan Mueller said he and his colleagues initiated the expansion process around four years ago. “We were really looking at what on the mountain had potential,” he said. “We decided to physically explore several areas and were pretty blown away by the terrain in the Teo drainage.” 10

Mueller described a snowy oasis adjacent to Teo 1 and Teo 2, with terrain to satisfy everyone from intermediate to expert skiers. “The fall lines, the whole bowl, feel different from the rest of the mountain,” he said. “The views are looking out to Brush Creek, up toward Star Pass and that whole area. The length and vertical are huge. To give you a sense, it’s about the same length as Paradise Bowl.” Mueller and his team have escorted interested parties and local stakeholders to the area for the last several ski seasons. Soon, the community will have a better feel for the scope of the proposed project. This winter, the team plans to hold informational forums for locals and visitors. The proposal accepted by the U.S. Forest Service includes plans for developed trails and glades, the addition of two new chair lifts, the relocation and replacement of the North Face lift, expanded snowmaking capabilities and the creation of new mountain biking trails for summer use. The resort is also looking at the addition of a satellite ski patrol office and warming shelter with light snacks for sale. The expansion would be a boon for intermediate skiers who

currently have around 700 acres of terrain to ski among CBMR’s 1,500-plus acres. The expansion would also create a different flow of skier traffic for those accessing the backside extreme-ski terrain. For example, the North Face T-bar would be replaced with a fixed-grip triple chairlift and repositioned over the mountain’s Rambo run, allowing skiers to make laps on the North Face without having to get back on the Paradise chair. There are murmurings that the new lift might appear less intimidating than the current T-bar—opening up the possibility of more accidents if less experienced skiers venture into areas designated as “extreme.” But Mueller isn’t particularly worried. “The reality is that people go into that terrain now and get themselves into a bind. It’s always going to be a component of any ski area,” he said. “It will probably have to change our awareness a bit. Our biggest thought is that we are excited that it will open up terrain to people who have been apprehensive to go over there.” He continued, “There are a few areas down through the glades that are much more skiable and manageable than people realize. That could be a really great thing for some of our guests.” John Sale, CBMR’s director of planning and sustainability, painted a picture of greater inclusion on the mountain with the addition of new Teo Park and Drainage terrain—a scenario where more than just extreme skiers would get to experience the backcountry-style beauty. “This provides a pseudo-backcountry experience for an ability level that hasn’t yet experienced it,” he said. “The lifts will allow intermediate and advanced skiers to feel like they are on a totally remote part of the mountain.” For now, the Forest Service has given CBMR the green light to conduct environmental studies in preparation for the next step in the process—the submission of a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Over the next year or more, third-party evaluators will look at how a ski area expansion could impact soil, wildlife and other factors. There will likely be snags in the process, but Mueller hopes for smooth groomers as much as possible. “In a perfect world, people will be skiing the new terrain in three years, but I’m hopeful for three to four. It’s definitely a moving target,” he said.

Skiing both

By Kaitlyn Archambault

up and down

Releasable-heel bindings and removable skins on the ski bottoms help winter explorers go up, down and around the mountains.

The rising interest in ski mountaineering prompted December’s inaugural Grand Traverse Skimo Academy. Cold air stings our lungs, our cheeks glow rosy, and the sound of skis swishing on the fresh snow accompanies us as we climb up the mountain. Skins, or strips of synthetic material attached to the bottom of our skis, help us ascend without slipping backward. We begin to find our rhythm and start testing out the new techniques taught by our instructors: accomplished ski mountaineering (a.k.a. “skimo”) racers who are pioneering this sport that is quickly gaining popularity in the United States, after long being mainstream in Europe. As I gasp for air, I briefly question why I signed up for this skimo camp; then I look around at the magnificent views, feel that satisfying burn in my legs, and think, “I could be hooked.” “Kick turns!” shouts one of the instructors as she starts 12

Nick Schley

cutting uphill turns into a steep section of the mountain to help her skins grip the snow. Grunts and laughter echo down the line as people test their kick turns, some kicking one ski and then the next perpendicular to the mountain with finesse, others wavering clumsily. The coaches keep a watchful eye and point out ways to make our turns more efficient. As the slope grows too steep to continue ascending on our skis and skins, we practice removing our skis and strapping them onto our backs so we can try a boot pack, placing one foot solidly in the snow, and then the next, using our poles to help hoist us upward. On reaching the top of the slope, breathing heavily, we’re urged to test our newly learned transitions. Quickly pulling our skis from our backs, we rip off the skins and tuck them in our shirts to keep them dry, then click into our skis and set our boots to ski mode. Then we’re skiing, playing follow-the-leader down the mountain and attempting to look as graceful and steady on our skinny skis as our instructors look on theirs. They give tips on downhill techniques and embolden us with encouragement the entire time. A few tumbles, a fair amount of hacking away at ski turns, and

some burning quads later, we high five at the bottom of the slope, celebrating an exhilarating ski downhill that was earned by a breathtaking (in every sense of the word) hike uphill. It’s no wonder this sport is gaining popularity among fitness fanatics, ultrarunners and snow enthusiasts. It’s a grunt to get up a mountain on human power, but the new gear being produced for this purpose adds an aspect of ease to swishing uphill, while providing enough structure to ski back down on almost any terrain and variety of snow. Skimo brings a closeness to nature, a sense of accomplishment at making your way both up and down any slope, and a workout like no other. As the sport’s popularity grows in the United States, Crested Butte looks to be a leader in embracing it, boasting a winter uphill route at the ski resort as well as a plethora of accessible backcountry peaks begging to be skied, both up and down. Already Crested Butte has put itself on the skimo map by hosting the Grand Traverse, an epic ski trek (almost 40 miles) from Crested Butte to Aspen. Starting at midnight, people snake up and over remote mountain passes and onto valley floors on a journey of physical and mental toughness. The grueling adventure requires an immense amount of training. To honor the growing interest in skimo and races such as the Grand Traverse, and to highlight all Crested Butte has to offer, the Grand Traverse and Griggs OrthopedicsgO Performance are partnering this year to offer the inaugural Grand Traverse Skimo Academy. The camp, Dec. 18-20, 2015, at Crested Butte Mountain Resort, invites all levels of participants, from never-evers to seasoned skimo athletes looking to take their performance to the next level. It can help racers prepare for the Grand Traverse, but it’s open to anyone who wants to learn about ski mountaineering for reasons of fitness, health, lifestyle and pure enjoyment. The camp will focus on uphill techniques to improve efficiency and speed as well as incorporating downhill ski instruction. Daily forums will cover topics such as nutrition for both training and racing, injury prevention, the newest gear and the backcountry aspect of the sport, with access to skimo national champions, Grand Traverse winners and Dynafit athletes and reps. Participants will be pushed, encouraged, exhausted and fulfilled. For three days, lungs will burn, legs will ache and smiles will abound.

830 Sopris Avenue, CB 4 bedroom furnished home situated on a sunny east-side corner lot. $1,549,000

829 Red Lady Avenue, CB Artistically appointed 3 bedroom home and accessory residence. $1,092,000

251 Neville Way, CB South Custom 5,679 sq. ft. log home situated on over an acre with wide open views. $949,000

40 Slate View Lane, Riverbend Over an acre on Slate River, 5 bedroom, extensive living space, close to town. $897,000

723 Maroon Avenue, CB Versatile historic residence currently a duplex: 2 bdr/2 bath & 2 bdr/1 bath. $825,000

92 W. Silver Sage Drive Elevated lot with 3 bedroom suites and bonus living space. Fishing rights. $792,000

11 Castle Road, Mt. CB Attractive 3 bdr/3.5 bath townhouse, easy access to the slopes and big views. $625,000

28 Snodgrass Lane, Meridian Lake Adorable 5 bedroom home surrounded by aspens, big deck, views of the Butte. $589,000

Maggie Dethloff BROKER ASSOCIATE CNE, e-PRO, RSPS

970.209.7880

Maggie@RedLadyRealty.com

CrestedButteNow.com 13

Fat chance

By Laurel Runcie

Petar Dopchev

Could you be the first-ever Fat Bike World Champion? Ever eager to embrace mountain bike innovations, Crested Butte will host the first annual Fat Bike World Championships January 2731, 2016. Four days of fat biking will attract both new and veteran onsnow cyclists, with a backcountry team relay at Lily Lake, demo days, the real-deal Fat Bike World Championships and a downhill race through a mini terrain park of jumps. “Crested Butte rallies whenever bikes are involved, and fat biking is quickly becoming a big part of our winter culture,” said Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce Director Dave Ochs. “This inaugural event is a perfect opportunity to showcase our valley.” Crested Buttians built klunkers, the original mountain bikes, in the 1970s to negotiate the town’s pot-holed dirt roads. The twowheeled contraptions handled pretty well on trails, too, launching a mountain bike trail-building boom that continues to this day with 14

750-plus miles of singletrack in the valley. The rugged Pearl Pass Tour from Crested Butte to Aspen grew from a grassroots party to become an R&D opportunity for new bike technology. In 2016, the tour will head to Aspen for the 40th time, but now it’s a test of human endurance rather than a proving ground for the newest bike designs. Crested Butte also pioneered the Chainless World Championships, busing wildly costumed riders to the top of Kebler Pass with their townie bikes to coast seven miles downhill to the downtown finish line (where the last-place finisher has at least as much fun as the first). Given Crested Butte’s history, it makes sense that fat biking should take off here, highlighted by the inaugural Fat Bike World Championships. The Worlds will draw big-name bike racers, but the event isn’t just for them. As with the Chainless, anyone who can buy, rent or borrow a fat bike can compete to become the first Fat Bike World Champion. And with this being the debut event, there’s a pretty solid chance that whoever takes the title will set a new world record as well. For more information, see the events section at cbchamber.com.

Live your passion.

celebrating the art of getting out.

at the top of elk 120 elk avenue, crested butte 970 349 2446 chopwoodmercantile.com

Where art

By Gregory Pettys

meets karma

John Bukaty hopes to raise a million dollars for worthy causes with his vibrant, spontaneous, on-site paintings. Crested Butte has become somewhat of an epicenter for plein air art, or art created “in the open air.” French impressionist painters like Pissarro, Renoir and Monet were pioneers of this movement, which in truth has been a means of artistic expression since cave painters decoded life en plein air. But few have infused the art form with as much energy and heart as Crested Butte painter John Bukaty. The plein air artist typically paints a moment experienced outdoors, so it’s easy to understand why such painters congregate in a setting as beautiful as Crested Butte. Yet, even within this niche mode of expression, some feel a call to veer from the mainstream, seeking ever more authentic ways of sharing the emotion and depth of the soon-to-pass moments they encounter. John Bukaty is such an artist. I first spotted Bukaty at an outdoor Alpenglow concert at the Crested Butte Center for the Arts. Tall and strong, splattered by a thousand colors of paint, he stood joyful and focused before his 16

easel. His canvas seemed to extend outward from his brush to include everything from the cloud-drunk sky to the wine-drunk audience, the band performing on stage to her majesty Crested Butte Mountain towering over us as the sun settled in for the evening. When the band gave its final bow, Bukaty had captured more than a still image of the event; he’d created a vibrant explosion of energy and light, the embodiment of the collective experience shared briefly by all in attendance. Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of an NFL football player and stay-at-home mom, Bukaty grew up drawing in mud, seeding his life-long love of both spontaneous creation and the wonder of nature. Blessed with wild energy and a strong body, he followed in the footsteps of his father, playing football in both high school and college. But the desire to express himself artistically carried him far from the football field to follow the call of the wild— the wildness of Crested Butte’s mountains and of Colorado’s music scene. Over the years, you might have seen a handsome, well-built man at the corners of late-night shows at the Eldo in downtown Crested Butte, painting the live musical experience as it unfolded. More likely you’ve seen Bukaty’s artwork, like a peculiar gap-toothed man proposing an unlikely question to customers at Teocalli Tamale. Or an ocean scene that transported you temporarily to a place

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John Bukaty translates music into paint.

far from the cold of February while you enjoyed a meal at The Last Steep Bar and Grill. However humble Bukaty may be, his expressive footprint is visible all around our mountain shire. In recent years I’ve been blessed to get to know John Bukaty. His devotion to and belief in the power of art are inspiring in an era of cookie-cutouts and commercial reproductions. His character shows the same heart he puts into his paintings. As we climbed our valley’s peaks, I heard tales of his ever-expanding philosophy. His engagement with the natural world was an artistic exchange in itself, filled with moments of beauty, layered in grief-stricken uncertainty, rich with colorful, hopeful textures. “I grew up thinking an artist should hide their work, isolate themselves; not share. I was told that to do so was to allow others to steal from you, and you need to protect your craft. Well…defiance has suggested the opposite, in fact. I share everything, all my secrets. I am always exposed, constantly…” Bukaty has grown far beyond his modest Crested Butte beginnings and now paints live portraits of Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Widespread Panic, Eric Clapton, Elephant Revival, Blues Traveler and many more. He paints everywhere from JazzFest in New Orleans (where he has recently opened his own art gallery) to AriseFest in Loveland, Colorado. He has painted full-wall murals around Denver and live sports events nationwide. As I write this, he is “serving”

his craft among the creative mayhem of possibly the world’s largest artistic experiment in spontaneity and radical self expression, Burning Man. This curious, colossal caravan of global seekers gathers each year at a temporary village called Black Rock City just outside of Reno, Nevada, to, among other things, make art. A few years ago, a filmmaker approached Bukaty to travel with him to the Far East, to express in paint the incomparable explosion of humanness that is the subcontinent of India, for the creation of a documentary. For 100 days Bukaty painted daily, capturing the magical, uplifting and sometimes horrifying offerings of life that only India can deliver and only Bukaty can capture in such a fitting way. Since then, touched by the spirituality he found in India, as well as the love he already was experiencing from his many other projects, Bukaty has focused much of his energy into a non-profit called Kartma (a fusion of the words “karma” and “art”) which seeks to share his love of the arts in a charitable way, by donating large works of art and raising money for myriad causes. His goal: to raise a million dollars by 2020. He’s well on his way. Above all, Bukaty sees his work as service: artfully capturing moments we too often miss, allowing us to see the beauty of simple experiences in a way that evokes deeper awareness. Through his art, we not only see, but also feel.

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Differing interests,

By Hilary Henry

same love for the land

Tony Prendergast on top of Mendicant Ridge, an area proposed as an addition to the West Elk Wilderness.

The Gunnison Public Lands Initiative draws together diverse users and lovers of the county’s wild spaces to envision their future. On the first warm day of spring last year, I drove to the far western border of Gunnison County. Escaping snowy Crested Butte to the lower elevation and warmer climes near Crawford, I soaked in the golden sunlight, chirping birds and budding, vibrant green leaves. I made the drive to visit Tony Prendergast, a rancher and outfitter. Tony was born in Gunnison County and has spent most of his life roaming the rugged mountains of the Rocky Mountain West. That spring day, we cleaned a ditch high in the West Elk Mountains that irrigates the fields for his grass-fed beef. Picking sticks and rocks that had accumulated over the winter out of the cold, clear water, Tony oriented me to the landscape. He has the intimate eye for these mountains that’s developed through deep and sustained experience. Running his finger along the outline of the mountains, he told me about their history, geology and plant and animal communities. He knows where and how people graze their cattle, the routes the elk take through the valleys and ridges, and the winding paths where water flows, or has been made to flow. 20

Tony Prendergast

The backcountry is his first home. Supporters like Tony are the lynchpin to my work as the coordinator for the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI). I spend my days reaching out to the people who best know the public lands in Gunnison County—ranchers, mountain bikers, motorized users, hunters and anglers—learning the landscape from their perspective and discussing what the future holds for our backcountry. The Gunnison Public Lands Initiative is a coalition of groups that believes we should have a vision for the future for our public lands. We’re working to ensure that some of the most special places in our backyard are protected, safeguarding our best trails, habitat and views. Despite their resilient and enduring beauty, our landscapes are changing. Our population is growing, the backcountry has become more accessible, and the pressure for our natural resources continues to increase. We can’t take for granted the

sanctity of wild places—the snow-covered valleys and wildflower meadows that make Gunnison County feel like home. GPLI formed in 2012, after Senator Michael Bennet came to Gunnison County and asked local residents for ideas about protecting this spectacular landscape. The Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association, Gunnison Trails, High Country Conservation Advocates, hunters, anglers and other concerned citizens formed GPLI, realizing that we could better tackle this question as a united coalition. The interests of these groups differ at times, but the love for the land is the same. GPLI, from the beginning, has been about compromise and collaboration. It’s about discovering the sweet spot where everyone feels the solutions we find are good for the community as a whole. After several years of discussion and outreach to elected officials, motorized users, water agencies, ranchers and residents, we released a draft proposal for public lands protection in 2014. The proposal includes a combination of new Wilderness and Special Management Areas. Wilderness designations protect undeveloped lands and waters from all extractive, motorized and mechanized uses. Realizing that some lands deserve protection but aren’t appropriate for wilderness designation because of their mountain bike or motorized trails, we also proposed the Special Management Areas (SMAs). SMAs are a more flexible designation that can prohibit future extractive use but leave areas open to existing motorized and mechanized uses. Our goal has been to balance conservation and recreation, while ensuring that highly valued lands are protected against irresponsible development and extractive industries like mining and oil and gas. Our proposal is a first draft of what public lands protection could look like in Gunnison County. We’ve spent the past year gathering feedback and hope to refine our proposal in coming months with the help of Senator Bennet. We’ve received some helpful guidance as well as the support of more than 80 local businesses and 500 individuals. Reaching out to diverse stakeholders is a mainstay of our work. I’ve spoken to hundreds of people who, like Tony, are connected deeply with the landscape here. When I asked Tony why he values the public lands in Gunnison County, he said, “I hunt, fish, climb mountains and make part of my living as an outfitter. The public lands sustain me and my family in every way.”

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Snow sisters

By Stephanie Maltarich Lisa Schulte, Julie Maloukis and Krista Pomeroy having some serious fun at Ladies Session 2015.

Photos by Petar Dopchev

Ladies Session: adaptive skiing made even better with friendship, Paralympic coaches and glittery disco pants.

la·dy·like

(adjective): Gentle, modest, elegant, refined, wellmannered, courtly, polite and proper. If this definition dictates how a woman must behave to be considered ladylike, then I’d consider the women who attended Ladies Session, a ski camp hosted by the Adaptive Sports Center, quite unladylike. As the coordinator of Ladies Session, I got to spend three days with seven incredible women laughing, skiing and acting the complete opposite of ladylike. After getting to know these women, I’d like to redefine the word as: strong, confident, graceful, kind, fun, courageous, beautiful and adventurous. For nearly a decade, the Adaptive Sports Center (ASC) has hosted a ski weekend for women with disabilities. This year I was asked to bring in some fresh energy and ideas to turn the weekend into a unique and memorable event. With the vision of Mike Neustedter and Pat Addabbo, we transformed Ladies Camp into Ladies Session and hoped to turn the heads of every skier and snowboarder on the mountain. Cool and trendy ski camps for women take place across the 22

Rosa Post takes an on-slope break with U.S. Olympic Hall of Famer Sara Will.

country, but until last winter none catered to women with disabilities. That’s what makes Ladies Session stand out: it’s cool and hip, creating an opportunity for women to get together and ski with top-notch instructors—and it caters to women with physical disabilities. Selfish. That’s how I felt when I designed the itinerary for Ladies Session 2015. Every moment of the weekend was based on my own desires for a dream ski camp. I knew I would be psyched to hear talks by professional female athletes like Wendy Fisher, drink one too many après-ski cocktails at Montanya Distillers, relax in yoga sessions hosted by the CB Community Yoga Coop, indulge in a lunchtime chair massage and sing along to a lunchtime concert by our locally loved lady band Free the Honey. I also love free stuff, so there had to be a sweet SWAG bag of goodies. One question remained: was this every woman’s dream ski camp? Any doubts were put to rest when a longtime camp participant declared Ladies Session 2015 was “absolutely the best ever!” One of the most unique elements to the new and improved Ladies Session was the addition of three Paralympic athletes as coaches and mentors. Kep Koeppe, an ASC instructor and Paralympic coach, connected the Adaptive Sports Center with phenomenal athletes. Having won numerous gold medals in the Paralympic games, Alana Nichols was described by one awed participant as “kind of a big deal.” She cruised all over the mountain on her mono ski, giving tips on how to load a chairlift and ski the bumps on a powder day. Sara Will, a 12-time gold medalist who was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 2009, loved skiing with all ladies. Heidi Duce (a very big deal) continues to climb the ranks in Paralympic snowboarding and

gave her endless smile and expertise to those learning to carve on their snowboards. No, there wasn’t a shortage of special guests. Though the Adaptive Sports Center boasts some of the besttrained instructors in the country, skiing with these decorated athletes was invaluable for the participants. Danielle Watson noted, “It was hugely helpful to see someone in the mono ski demonstrating the techniques I’m trying to learn.” Some of my male friends were a little jealous of the excitement surrounding Ladies Session. One asked, “Why do we need Ladies Session; why don’t the men get a ski camp?” I support any occasion for females to come together to build community and empower each other to become their strongest selves. I could come up with fifty reasons for a women’s ski camp, but the participants expressed it best themselves. As Sara said, “I came to Ladies Session to be with other ladies. They are so graceful when they ski. They are so kind and considerate. Not that the men aren’t…but it’s a chance for us to be around women and good food and learn something from each other that is very personal and unique to each skier. When you see the smiles at the end of the day, you know you came to the right place.” Empowerment comes with being surrounded by a strong group of women. I find I can be authentic while building genuine friendships. And I never think twice about busting out some dance moves or singing off key while dressed in a silly costume. I feel less need to compete and impress; I feel more compelled to support and encourage. Being with all women provides opportunities to talk about “girl stuff.” It’s inclusive, and it’s fun! Danielle, who was injured almost five years ago, noted, “I was uplifted by the women who have made their 23

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disability their strength.” On the first night, everyone gathered around the table at the Ginger Café, and the women introduced themselves. As the night went on, stories were shared and life timelines compared. Toward the end of dinner, one woman said what probably most were thinking: “I’ve never been around so many women in wheelchairs in my life!” Though not all the participants used wheelchairs, each felt the bond of something shared. On the last morning, a huge grin spread across my face as the women dug through the costume bags I’d brought from home in hopes of inspiring a classic Crested Butte costume ski party. Alana pulled out tutus, American flag sweater vests, glittery disco pants and hot pink wigs and divvied up costumes among the participants, eager or reluctant. “Oh yes you ARE wearing a costume!” she demanded. In true Crested Butte form, instructors layered fluffy skirts over their uniforms, and the posse of ladies hit the slopes in style, albeit goofy style

with mismatched parts. Coincidentally, our dress-up day coincided with the infamously costumed Al Johnson Uphill-Downhill Telemark Ski Race. But with the grace and laughter of the ten women, coupled with their volunteers and instructors laughing and taking pictures and videos down the slopes, we felt like our party was the only one that mattered. At the end of Ladies Session 2015, one participant commented her biggest takeaway wasn’t learning how to get off the chairlift or mastering a specific run on the mountain. Instead it was “the friendship, memories and inner strength and bond with other ladies who are in the same bucket.” Ladies Session was the highlight of my year. In three short days I witnessed women fly fast and free down the mountain at speeds they’d only dreamed of, while finding friendship, laughter and memories for a lifetime. For Ladies Session 2016, March 1821, keep an eye out on the slopes for women who may or may not be acting ladylike.

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Silent Tracks seeks to protect quiet havens for human-powered winter recreation. As the first frost hit the Gunnison Valley in the fall, heads turned toward storage sheds. Some people dug out skis that needed a good stone grind; others tuned up their snowmobiles for the many miles in store. We reside in a county with an embarrassment of richesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a million-plus acres of public landsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and we have many ways to play there. As the busy summer indicated, things are changing fast for the Gunnison Valley backcountry. Winter, too, has seen a huge surge in activity, both human and motor powered. With the increase in winter travel numbers, the U.S. Forest Service decided to take action. To provide all winter users with gratifying experiences, the agency in February 2015 passed the Over-Snow Vehicle Rule (OSV Rule), directing all forest units to develop and publish maps for winter travel. That task includes determining specific areas and routes open to motorized winter travel. To have a place at the busy table of stakeholders in the OSV process, a group of recreationists created Silent Tracks, a 501(c)(3) 26

nonprofit organization pursuing an equitable allocation of public lands to human-powered winter recreation. To produce unbiased data to inform the decision-making, Silent Tracks enlisted graduate students of the Masters in Environmental Management at Western State Colorado University. They will develop research methodologies to quantify and qualify needed data. Silent Tracks also will work with land management agencies to determine what data sets are required for the planning process. Local government officials and all stakeholders will be engaged. With a strong educational component to its mission, Silent Tracks also will promote community involvement in workshops, volunteerism, fundraising and active lifestyles. Based in Crested Butte, Silent Tracks will use the Upper Gunnison Valley as its pilot project, developing a template to be applied to the countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s remaining valleys. Partnering with Silent Tracks is Winter Wildlands Alliance, a national organization promoting reasoned dialogue and planning among winter users. That group has moderated many successful agreements in snow country. Backcountry Sports Initiative (BSI) is assisting Silent Tracks in holding mapping sessions, a key tool in landuse allocation discussions. Nordic skier and backcountry explorer Beth Carter is the president of Silent Tracks (silenttracks.org).

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By Alissa Johnson On this calm March day beneath deep blue skies, sunlight glints off the snow at the Town Ranch trailhead—perfect conditions to learn the art of skijoring. In the days leading up to this lesson, I’ve imagined that attaching a dog to a harness around my waist and letting his unbounded energy whisk me down the trail will be reminiscent of childhood. I remember decades ago climbing into a blue plastic sled on the ice-covered alley behind my house, my dad handing me the leashes to our two Samoyeds. They were born to pull, their fur the color of snow as they streaked down the alley with the sled and me rocketing behind them. Would skijoring feel like that, a child-like version of flying? Erika Taggart, a local skijoring enthusiast and my coach for the day, meets me with her pack of two, Cannon and Pico. I’ve left at home my senior herding dog, who has decided that sunbathing in the yard is preferable to most forms of exertion. But I’ve brought Marmite, a 10-year-old black lab who’s under my charge for the winter. His idea of walking on a leash is to charge full speed ahead, and I suspect skijoring will be right in his wheelhouse. I fasten Erika’s padded harness around my waist and step into my skis, then Erika shows me how to clip Cannon’s and Pico’s leashes to the harness (which, I’m glad to note, includes a quick release). Marmite runs up and bounces right into Cannon and Pico. The next thing I know, I’m lying on the ground amid a pile of dogs, all sniffing and smothering my face with kisses. This isn’t the start I’d imagined. I’ve celebrated the winter by trying new activities in the snow. So far I’ve attempted fat biking and snow biking, quite 30

Alissa Johnson finding her rhythm with skijoring dog Cannon on the Town Ranch.

Nathan Bilow

With miniature skis on their bikes and feet, snow bikers can fly down the slopes.

Lydia Stern

a stretch for me after spending the first thirty-some years of my life in the Midwest, carefully pacing my way through hikes and runs and avoiding anything that spiked the adrenaline. But I’ve been in the mountains for a few years, learned to mountain bike and downhill ski, and the time has come to branch out. My snowy explorations have gone so well that by my skijoring lesson, I’ve started to believe I can give anything a go. Now, floundering to untangle myself from dogs, skis and leashes, I wonder if I’m wrong.

SNOW BIKING: PURE FUN “I laughed so much my teeth got cold.” When I moved to Colorado, I quickly got used to being the slowest person in a class or clinic. I could get down almost any terrain on a bike or skis, but I arrived at the bottom last and commonly heard, “You just need to relax. Then you’ll go faster.” If you’ve ever tried to relax on command, you’ll understand why I didn’t have high hopes that snow biking would be different. Snow biking is a hybrid between downhill biking and skiing. Instead of wheels, snow bikes have a front and back blade, and riders attach small blades to their ski boots. Snow bikers sit low with their feet on the ground as they descend. You might think snow bikes are a new-fangled invention created by people who want to do something different on a ski hill. In fact, the earliest snow bikes, or sit skis, appeared in the mid 1800s as a mode of transportation. Since then they’ve swung in and out of popularity as a form of play. Some people (particularly those who fear downhill skiing) mistakenly assume modern snow biking will generate less momentum than skiing and therefore be a less intimidating alternative. Not so, I discovered. Thanks to my Midwestern roots, I did not assume that snow biking would be easy. I arrived at Crested Butte Mountain Resort for a group introduction to the sport, pondering a familiar set of questions: What if I was the slowest in the group (again)? What if I fell over? What if I not only fell but yardsaled down the mountain in a puff of snow and flying accessories? And what if a resort photographer caught my escapade on film? To my surprise, the first run down the Houston ski trail went well. Maneuvering the bike felt easy, as I drew on a combination of skiing and biking skills. And when I really let it fly, I felt like I was cruising through the

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forests of Endor (I was a child of the eighties, after all). And I wasn’t last, but swerved in and out of the middle of the pack, at one point flying out in front. I held my own as we graduated from beginner runs to intermediate, hitting bumps on Paradise Bowl and Black Eagle off the East River lift. There was something about the rhythm of the bike around the bumps—and the sight of snow bikers around me rising up and dipping down amid the moguls—that made me feel like a kid. Instead of struggling to keep up, I laughed so much my teeth got cold. Maybe, I thought, I was getting this mountain thing down.

FAT BIKING: PURE DETERMINATION Neither sleet nor snow can keep a Buttian off a bike. My newfound confidence on the snow bike didn’t follow me into fat biking. This sport evolved as a way to bicycle on snowy or sandy terrain and once filled a tiny niche among the most dedicated bikers looking to accomplish feats like pedaling the Iditarod Trail. It’s growing in popularity, however, in regions like Colorado, where bikers have embraced the ability to extend their season year round. The bike itself—essentially a mountain bike with very fat tires—felt more familiar to me than a snow bike, but the stakes seemed higher. Because fat biking is relatively new to Crested Butte, there are two ways to learn how to do it: rent a bike and go on your own, or sign up for a race. And though it went against my nature, I chose the latter and registered for a 10-mile race on the Magic Meadows Nordic trails, the first in the Reebdonkadonk Fat Bike Race Series. On race day, I awoke to snow. It snowed all morning. It snowed as I drove out to Peanut Lake Road and the start of the race. It snowed while I tested out my bike, a demo from race sponsor REEB Cycles. Five or six inches of freshies coated the trail as I pedaled carefully around a corner—so far so good— and started down a hill. Within seconds, I skidded out and tipped over. When I tried again, the bike tires punched through the snow and ground to a halt. The reality of my situation settled in like the snow settling onto the trail: I had 10 miles of riding ahead of me, and I couldn’t pedal more than 20 feet. Fortunately, a more experienced racer took control and deflated my tires to less 35

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than 10 psi—so soft and squishy they were nearly flat. I hopped back on the bike and it floated across the snow. Just in time, too: racers were laying their bikes on the ground at the starting line and gathering in a pack a few yards away. I joined them, my heart doing its best to climb into my throat as snowflakes melted on my goggles. On cue, I ran (okay, trudged) through the snow to my bike, turned it upright and hopped on. I had one goal: keep pedaling. I eased the bike around the first corner and down the hill where I’d skidded out. I stayed upright all the way to the bottom and kept going. The riders ahead of me had created a track through the snow, and I followed it, focused on moving my feet in circles and maintaining momentum. Soon, I passed a couple of riders. As I realized that there truly was nothing to do but pedal, I began to see the beauty in the day: the white of the snowflakes against the grey of the sky, and the silhouettes of trees coming in and out of focus as I pedaled by. I was not fast, but gradually the first lap gave way to two, and though I could have joined other riders in quitting halfway through, I didn’t think of dropping out. Falling snow continued to coat the trail, and I fell into a rhythm: pedal until I couldn’t, walk until I could. I finished last, but only five minutes behind the person ahead of me. As I drove home, my voice was hoarse and I coughed from breathing so hard in cold, damp air. But I also felt a natural high—that elation that comes from finishing something hard. From realizing that you can, in fact, tough something out. By the time I showed up for my skijoring lesson, I had decided that I might not always be graceful, but I could do anything I set my mind to. Which is why, perhaps, I was so surprised to find myself on the ground, surrounded by sniffing, licking dogs before I’d even started skijoring. The word is Norwegian for “ski driving,” and the sport itself has been done with dogs, horses and even reindeer. Originally a mode of travel, it has evolved in North America as a fun pastime with family pets. So far, both travel and fun require a level of control I don’t seem to have.

SKIJORING: PURE POTENTIAL Play and exercise with four-legged teammates. When I get back on my feet, the dogs seem uncertain about being harnessed to

me instead of Erika. Cannon is ready to go, pulling as soon as we set out on a test run. But Pico is slower to pick up the pace, running fast enough to stay in front of me but slow enough to leave slack in her line. “C’mon, dogs,” I call. “Hup hup!” They continue at the same pace, and Marmite runs alongside, leaping across the snow and keeping an eye on me. I snowplow to a stop, and the dogs come to a rest. Thinking they will pick up the pace if we run toward their human, I turn around and head back to the trailhead. Pico speeds up, but things really start to make sense when we split up the team. Erika takes Pico, and Cannon comes with me. With Erika in front, Cannon runs to catch her, and his momentum becomes a constant force pulling me forward. I begin to settle into a rhythm as I push and glide across the snow at a speed I could never achieve on my own. When we take a break, Erika’s dogs roll belly up in the snow, and Marmite leans into me and pants, tongue hanging out of his mouth. With Erika’s help, I slip a harness over his shoulders and clip the line to me. He looks up at me, his unbridled enthusiasm replaced by a look of worry. “Okay, Marmite, let’s go!” I push off, but Marmite moves tentatively, trotting at my side and giving no sign that he’ll break into a run. When I stop, he presses into my legs once more. What happened to that leashtugging dynamo? We try again, and a third time, but something about the unfamiliarity of the harness has tempered Marmite’s energy. It’s only when I release him that he bounds down the trail, content to run laps while Erika and I skijor with Cannon and Pico. This sport doesn’t yet feel like flying—I need more practice to match my pace to the dog’s—but I can see the potential. With skijoring, skate skiing becomes more than strength and stamina. It’s about finesse, moving in synch with your dog to glide down the trail and eventually slow to a stop without getting tangled in lines. I would find that finesse with time if I had an eager canine partner, but skijoring’s potential is clearly lost on Marmite, and my own dog would rather sit and watch from the trailhead. Still, this crisp March day has been a worthy wrap-up to my winter of exploration. Under the bright Colorado sky, I’ve finally come to understand that when it comes to winter play, I’m not limited by my abilities; everything is a matter of timing.

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Located on the upper level of The Villas, and close to the ski area lifts, restaurants and shops with priceless views. 2,486 sq. ft., 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, master suite with private deck, fireplace and wet bar, main floor open living, large covered decks. $725,000

SNOW BIKING Crested Butte Mountain Resort offers snow biking on most of its green and blue runs. The resort’s two-hour lessons ($120) cover handling a snow bike and loading the lifts, plus where riding is allowed on the mountain. The course is required to become snow bike certified, even for those with their own equipment. (Riders who have been certified at another resort may get an exception but need to meet with a snow bike instructor to go over guidelines.) Full- and half-day snow bike rentals include the bike, boots and snowblades. See www.skicb.com/snowbike.

Erika Taggart with Cannon and Pico: “I love Nordic skiing with my dogs, but skijoring is even better because we have to work as a team.”

FAT BIKING In Crested Butte, both Big Al’s Bicycle Heaven and the Handle Bar Bike Shop rent fat bikes. Hard-packed trails make for the easiest riding. For groomed trails, fat bikers can ride Town Ranch, Riverbend Trail and the North Village, all part of Crested Butte Nordic’s trail system. Riders can also head up the ski runs after hours, or ride any of the local drainages, where snowmobilers and other backcountry users may have packed trails. If you ride the Nordic trails or ski resort, check with Crested Butte Nordic Center or Crested Butte Mountain Resort first. Crested Butte will host the Fat Bike World Championships January 29-31 as well as a fat bike race in conjunction with the Alley Loop Nordic Marathon in February. See www.facebook.com/CBFatBikers or www.cbchamber.com. Nathan Bilow

SKIJORING Skijoring here is a do-it-yourself sport. Harnessing systems, available through outdoor retailers, come with a dog harness, human hip belt and towline. A great book for learning is Skijor with Your Dog by Mari Hoe-Raitto and Carol Kaynor (University of Alaska Press). On the local Nordic trails, Town Ranch, Riverbend Trail, Pooch’s Paradise and Mike’s Mile are dog friendly, but dogs must have trail passes. Visit www.cbnordic.org for information on skiing with your dog.

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Knowledge and Experience

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809 Elk Avenue

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New 5 bed/4 ½ bath home on the park & along the greenway in CB. Luxury home by Faust Builders includes lots of artisan ironwork, stone fireplaces, 2-car garage, great protected views in all directions. $1,875,000

Large, 5,454 sq. ft. commercial building in a prized location on Elk Ave. Home of the established Elk Ave. Prime Restaurant w/ a 1,300 sq. ft. elevator bsmt and also includes an additional, first-class street front retail/office location. $2,229,000

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.22 acre homesite in Town with open space on 2 sides and very open and quiet location. Elevated, protected, views over CB and to the mountain horizon. Only a short walk to Elk Avenue and all of Crested Butte’s amenities. $975,000

Ranch home in the aspens with open floor plan, prime views to Mt. CB, hardwood floors, 2-stall, 1,700 sq. ft. barn, all on 35 forested acres in a convenient location. $1,539,000

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By Brian Levine

CF&I (mining company) boardinghouse and store at Floresta, near what is now Ohio Pass Road.

Nineteenth-century Crested Butte bore little resemblance to what we see today. The same can be said for the other towns in Gunnison County. That, of course, is partly due to the passage of time, but also to our perspective. Most of us drive into Crested Butte via Colorado Highway 135, traveling adjacent to and sometimes along the old rail-bed of the Denver & Rio Grande. But back in the 1870s and early 1880s, travel around Gunnison County was very different. And so was the way people viewed the surrounding environment. Consider the following historical facts. Between 1879 and 1882, the town of Irwinâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;supply center of the Ruby Silver Mining Districtâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;was considered more significant than the town of Crested Butte. Mt. Emmons was known as Mt. Emmons (not its current nickname of Red Lady), named after the outstanding geologist Samuel Franklin Emmons. Silver and gold were far more significant to the Elk Mountainsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; mineral industry than coal. In 1881, Crested Butte had a year-round population of about 800; Irwin, 500; Gothic, 800; Pitkin, 2,500 (during the mining season); and Gunnison, 5,000. Summer was preferred to winter because snow depths, avalanches and transportation difficulties hindered the mining industry. Most hard-rock miners residing in northern Gunnison County were of British, German and Scandinavian descent. And the majority of roads in and out of the Elk Mountains were toll roads. Bluntly said, the environment was very different back then: panoramas whose vibrancy is often muted and, on occasion, even cancelled out in the modern reinterpretation of the past. Northern Gunnison County in the 1870s was a region dense with trees and undergrowth, deep lakes and heavy water flows, abundant wildlife and numerous predators. There were few roads, and those few either required payment for use or were so rough they were little more than trails. Traveling ten or twenty miles might take days along overgrown, often barely visible, winding paths. Even routes and obstacles were different from today; and thus the perspective of the early explorers and 43

The Elk Mountain House at Elk and Fourth in Crested Butte was a grand hotel until a fire burned much of the structure; the surviving portion now houses Donita’s Cantina.

prospectors varied significantly from ours. This is most evident in the glass-plate negatives and albumen photographs taken by photographers of the time. Photographic images act as tangible fragments of the past; bytes from the stream of cause and effect we perceive as history. These fragments, despite statistical probability, have transcended spacetime to exist here in our current bubble of reality. Don’t know exactly what I mean? Well, let me offer some detail. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, glass-plate photography was a method of mirroring fractions of time in a chemical emulsion spread over a smooth, transparent surface. These glass-plate negatives, generally ranging in size from 2 x 3 inches to 17 x 21 inches, were coated with a light-sensitive wet collodion, better known as silver bromide. When properly exposed through the lens of a box-camera, the negative mirrored the subject’s reflection in specific light tones and contrasts. After the collodion emulsion dried, a light-beam was passed through the glass-plate negative and focused on a specially prepared albumen paper. After a chemical bath, a positive sepia-toned image developed on the paper’s surface. And thus, a photonic slice of history became a tangible fragment of the past. Now, imagine discovering a group of glass-plate negatives and albumen photographs—over a hundred—most of which have not seen light for more than a century. Think of the detail they’d reveal; the perspectives they’d expose. There, before you, would be the actual past, exhibited on glass and paper—a reality much different from what you’d read or been told. Imagine finding photonic slices by such photographers as Frank Dean, the Swain Brothers, George 44

Mellen, M. Brumfield, C. H. Scott, W. H. Jackson and others, mirrored between 1881 and 1915. Images of people who once lived and places that once existed; actual history—lost, forgotten, and perhaps misperceived…until now. I had the good fortune of uncovering just that: a cache of glassplate negatives and albumen photographs. As I studied each image or “developed” a glass-plate negative on my Epson V850 scanner, I began to see an environment almost completely unfamiliar, though it is now essentially my back yard. I soon realized, after almost dropping one of those fragile slices of space-time, that I was now the custodian of those photographic images; and therefore, I had new responsibilities: the first of which was to preserve and the second to research and understand. The preserving was easy compared to the understanding. There were images that were simple to comprehend, like the Elk Mountain House. This four-story clapboard building was built in 1881 and managed by Howard F. Smith, one of the founders of the Town of Crested Butte. At the time, it was one of the largest structures in town, being 50 feet across on its Elk Avenue front and nearly 100 feet along the side facing Fourth Street. And, according to geologist John Hallowell, the Elk Mountain House was one of the best-appointed hotels in the region. Yet, there were other glass-plate images that perplexed me, like the image inset to the right. At first, the scene didn’t even appear to be in Gunnison County. However, after some research, I found the image to be that of the Good Hope Mine, located in the Vulcan Gold Mining District south of Gunnison, on the way to Lake City. (My gratitude for B. L.

A view of the Floresta area west of Crested Butte from a road that no longer exists.

The Good Hope Mine between Gunnison and Lake City.

Winchell’s Colorado’s Gold, 1896, and Duane Vandenbusche’s The Gunnison Country, 1980.) The image was taken around 1895, at the height of the Gunnison Gold Belt period, and the Good Hope was one of the Vulcan District’s best gold producers. In the mid 1890s, all roads between Gunnison City and Lake City involved Vulcan. Today, most of us drive through the district via Colorado Highway 149 and have no concept of the industry that once flourished in the area. All we see are several mounds of waste-rock here and there. No miners. No towns, such as Vulcan, Iris, Spencer and Dubois. Not even the train. And then there are the images I’ve yet to identify, such as this large photo above. It appears to be Floresta, perhaps around 1881-1882, when the area was known as Ruby-Anthracite. Again, it’s the perspective here that’s so much different from what we’re used to seeing. Today, we

travel up Kebler Pass and drive by the Floresta area, unwittingly, on our way to McClure Pass; hardly noticing a sign of the great coal-mining activity that once took place here or the town that once housed the miners and their families. This view was taken from another road now long disused. As I researched, one aspect of life in the early 1880s that soon became evident was the toll road. Such roads appear in many of these photographic images, not as a subject, but more as the subtle yet vital transportation route that made it possible for a place to exist and people to populate it. There were so many in the region at the time that there’s not enough space here to list them all, but here are several examples: the Crested Butte and Gothic Toll Road; Saguache and San Juan Toll Road; Poncha, Marshall and Gunnison Toll Road; Pioneer Toll Road (between Crested Butte and Irwin); Aspen, Maroon Creek and Gothic; Taylor River and Gothic; Aspen, Ashcroft and Taylor Grange Toll Road; Crystal City Toll Road; Schofield and Sheep Mountain. Private toll roads were often the only way to finance and maintain passages through the steep and rugged Elk Mountains. One of the Western Slope’s most significant figures, Otto Mears, made his name planning and financing such vital thoroughfares, even though they were costly and often believed impossible to complete. Since the government of Gunnison County in the 1880s was either unable or unwilling to cut roads through the heavily wooded, often streamrivuleted and always boulder-laden Elk Mountains, private enterprise had to do it if individuals wanted to pass through an area or move equipment, food and other supplies to the latest mineral rush. Toll roads were an accepted form of commerce back then, necessary to the development of both mining and agriculture. Photographers used 45

Town of Hidalgo, near the confluence of Slate River and Poverty Gulch

them like everyone else and captured images that are no longer visible from the roads we travel today. The industry of the toll-road companies, as well as the productivity of various gold and silver mining camps, throughout northern Gunnison County quickly motivated the opening of what was once the Ute wilderness. Since the mountains were so difficult to navigate and tolls were often expensive, mining camps, hamlets and villages were established in remote locations near the mines. Miners expended so much energy in their daily labors they preferred not to travel long distances back to their homes, so they built settlements around their places of work, as seen in the above image of the Hidalgo Mine. In 1881, a small village was established around the Hidalgo property at the confluence of the Slate River and the foot of Poverty Gulch. Toll roads werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t built just so a financier could levy a charge. There had to be compelling reasons to advance capital on such ventures, and for northern Gunnison County, the main motivating factors were gold and silver. Tin Cup, known as Virginia City in 1879, was reached over several different toll roads: the Chalk Creek and Elk Mountain Toll Road; Cottonwood and Roaring Fork; Virginia and Roaring Fork; and the Pitkin and Virginia City Toll Road. Tin Cup was one of the first gold mining camps in Gunnison County to actually produce significant amounts of valuable ore. However, 46

Tin Cup, an early gold-mining camp formerly known as Virginia City.

gold production in the Quartz Creek District soon overwhelmed that of Tin Cup; and in the early 1880s, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad were in a race to reach Pitkin first. Otto Mears sold his Poncha, Marshall and Gunnison Toll Road to the Denver & Rio Grande in 1881 for $13,000. That business deal allowed Gunnison County, and especially Pitkin and the Quartz Creek Gold District, to be directly connected with the Eastern Slope and its smelters in Pueblo and Denver. The Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad purchased the Alpine and South Park Toll Road so its rail line headed from Buena Vista, over Williams Pass, and into the town of Pitkin. Between 1878

The bustling downtown of Ohio City in 1890.

and 1882, the entire area changed rapidly. Toll roads were still built. But it was more practical to move heavy mining equipment and ore lots over the rails. Once again, perspective in the Elk Mountains was in flux. Small mining companies either built their own roads or subcontracted to have roads built. The country was viewed either by the rail or the toll road one traveled, so each voyagerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experience was colored by the route he or she chose. After 1882, the railroads dominated freighting and travel; and once again, the perspectives of Gunnison County changed. With the arrival of the railroad came civilization and all its trappings. Tourists By 1900, trains like this Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad engine, were bringing investors, tourists and settlers to the mountain West.

soon became almost as prevalent as miners. Accommodations strived for luxury. The variety of food served at restaurants held nearly as much significance as concentration mills and ore reduction processes. Stagecoaches and express companies gave way to railway freight cars. And the financial interest in coal deposits began to reach toward the levels of gold and silver mines. Most views of the environment were now seen through the windows of railcars. By the mid 1890s, more and more people were sharing railroad travel and thus experiencing similar views of the surrounding environment. Rutted and rocky toll roads had passed with the age of the pioneer and prospector. Where there was once the stagecoach for the wild-cat investor and roust-about, the train now made travel into the â&#x20AC;&#x153;wildsâ&#x20AC;? safe for presidents like Ulysses S. Grant, conservative investors and day-excursionists. From their train seats, the road to the Gunnison Country blended into a homogenous, tame view. The West was no longer a remote unknown. Marshall Pass, the Curecanti Needle and Crested Butte Mountain were now familiar to most everyone, even in the East. Native American trails had all but vanished under overgrown vegetation. Populations not on rail routes began agglomerating in larger towns. And soon any mountain hamlet without convenient transportation either found new ways to attract commerce or disappeared with the collodion glass-plate negative. Brian Levine owns Mt. Gothic Tomes & Reliquary and harbors a mountain of stories and facts from the history of the West.

unplanned retirement community By Beth Buehler

Neal Manecke and Kim Walter add adventure, art and serendipity to their retirement game plan.

Photos by Rebecca Ofstedahl

Finding an

Neal Manecke and Kim Walter aren’t typical retirees. They wrapped up successful careers before the typical age; Neal worked in construction sales and owned a cabinet and casework business, and Kim capped her three-decade corporate career as a marketing executive at General Mills. After selling his business, Neal set out on a two-month tour of ski towns so the couple could eventually relocate. At the end of the trip, he landed in Crested Butte and had a “Eureka!” moment. “A great number of interesting people come here from all walks of life and geographic areas and with different talents,” Neal said. He doesn’t mind that the bosses for his work as a part-time ski instructor and volunteer bike patrol at Crested Butte Mountain Resort are a fair bit younger than his recently celebrated sixty years. “If you want to have a controlled, planned retirement experience, go to Sun City West. But if you want to continue to learn and be face to face with diversity—in age, athleticism, haves and have-nots, all of it—this is where you go. Crested Butte is the unplanned retirement community,” Kim added with a chuckle. While living in Minneapolis, Neal and Kim were weekend warriors on the slopes, with Neal serving as assistant ski school director for Welch Village more than 60 miles away and Kim as a volunteer instructor for the Courage Alpine Skiers adaptive program. In seeking a new mountain home, they rejected more urbanized towns like Aspen, Breckenridge and Park City, and Neal liked the athleticism of the Gunnison-Crested Butte valley. Neal is part of a men’s mountain bike group that rides on Tuesdays and Thursdays,

and he skis more than a hundred days each season. Kim relishes time spent with Team Tuesday, which started as a group of women who are age 55 and over, all high-level skiers but not drawn to ski the extremes. Their winter adventures have happily bubbled over into hiking mid-level trails in summer and fall. After Neal’s initial trip, the couple purchased a lot on Maroon Avenue near the library. They were reviewing architectural plans during a Thanksgiving 1999 visit when they saw a new listing for a lot on Aspen Hill Road just above town. They liked the trees and the flexibility of building up to 3,750 square feet on the property, so they purchased the new lot, sold the old one and re-envisioned plans for a three-bedroom, three-bath home. Local architect Andrew Hadley went with the flow and created a new design to look like a collection of turn-of-the-century miners’ buildings connected by a gallery. An architect from Minneapolis designed a contemporary interior with the couple’s art collection in mind. Meanwhile, Kim and Neal also purchased the funky string of buildings and a small apartment behind the Crested Butte post office. Neal and Kim don’t just collect art; they’ve begun creating their own. A shoulder injury prompted Neal to move from making pottery to shaping the welded sculptures that now dot their wooded lot. After taking a workshop with Denver artist Judith CasselMamet, Kim began art journaling, expressing all sorts of imagination and emotion on the page in the art studio above their garage and Neal’s workshop. She also has used the technique to document her travels and assemble “inspired words” collected over the years.

Kim and Neal at home and at play, and Neal with one of his sculptures in their wooded yard.

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Looking back on time spent in cities, Kim and Neal note the large buffer there between humans and natural surroundings. The urban work ethic can also be excessive, pushing out precious time to embrace life. “Forty-six hours is the average work week in Minneapolis,” Neal noted. By contrast, Kim said of Crested Butte, “People choose this place for recreation and work. They aren’t going to sacrifice to make more money. There is no buffer here, just fun, experiences and meals—food, food, food.” Both savor memorable culinary moments and time with friends, who often gather at each other’s homes, especially during the busy times in town. People also connect around common interests. “It’s easier in small towns to form groups around affinities,” suggested Kim, who is part of a craft club that focuses on mind, spirit and body as well as learning new art techniques. “Churches also are a big thread of activities here, especially for part-time locals,” she said. “It’s easy for those sixty-plus to be part of a comfortable, safe, lively and social setting.” Although Kim has served on the council at Union Congregational Church, she prefers hands-on volunteering such as making a meal for someone in need or working with the homeless or supporting Paradise Animal Welfare League, a natural fit since they adopted their cats, Barclay and Abby. Kim also attends nearly all Crested Butte Mountain Theatre productions. In addition to serving on the volunteer

Favorite places... TO RELAX: our house, the patio at the Club at Crested Butte and the Smokehouse patio at Three Rivers Resort in Almont. TO SOCIALIZE: our house, Montanya Distillers, Princess Wine Bar, Wooden Nickel, Ginger Café and Ryce. FOR SCENERY: Live! From Mt. Crested Butte concerts with views of the West Elks, the patio of anyone’s house who lives along the East River in Crested Butte South, biking Taylor Canyon, hiking on Budd Trail toward Paradise Divide and Dillon Pinnacles that overlook Blue Mesa Reservoir.

Zipline Tour Snowcat Driving Experience Sleighride Dinners

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bike patrol, Neal enjoys helping with the USA Pro Challenge on years when the valley is on the race route. He racks up around 2,000 miles biking annually, including forays with Kim on their tandem bike. His skills as a craftsman have become well known, so he’s occasionally asked to help fix or install things for friends. Not content to keep things familiar, the pair wants to try stand-up paddle boarding on Lake Irwin, and Neal has started skinning up the mountain at Crested Butte Mountain Resort once a week. Other favorite pastimes include Live! From Mt. Crested Butte concerts on summer Wednesdays, ArtWalk Evenings, the Crested Butte Farmers’ Market, and day trips and occasional overnights to nearby places like Paonia, Lake City, Saguache, Salida, Pagosa Springs, Montrose and Grand Junction. Both marvel at the serendipity of Crested Butte, where unexpected happy occurrences happen frequently—whether at the post office, a restaurant or the theater. Kim gave an example: “I went to pick up take-out at Ryce to go home and have a quick lunch. A table of friends there said, ‘You must have lunch with us,’ and they ended up coming back to our house for an art tour.” A summer gathering of friends around a campfire up in the mountains also had that “meant to be here” feeling, she recalled. “Being at the top of Washington Gulch at 11:30 at night with all the stars…we couldn’t believe the magic of it all.”

Guided Uphill Tours Backcountry Trips From getting into the backcountry Guided Snowmobile Tours to getting a backAdventure massage, Park Tickets the Mountain Concierge can book all Snow Tubing (lift-served) valley-wide activities year-round. Nordic Skiing Yurt Dinners

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Shutters, skis and shenanigans

Fritz Kochevar at Frank and Gal’s, 1968.

By Sandy Fails

Sandy Cortner has photographed Crested Butte through half a century, from post-mining town to mountain resort. All photos copyright 2015 from Crested Butte Stories… Through My Lens or Crested Butte…Love at First Sight.

Sandy Cortner first visited Crested Butte half a century ago, when coal dust filtered onto the sidewalk and visitors were a novelty. Particularly visitors like Sandy, then a petite, redheaded teenager zipping around with a borrowed Pentax camera. Back then Sandy had no idea that she and this half-deserted town would share so many transitions, some hard, others near magical, or that her photos would eventually become part of Crested Butte’s visual archives. She and her family began spending summers in Crested Butte in 1964 (the year she graduated from high school) so her then-stepfather could attend the Law-Science Academy. It was one of the few glimmers of summer tourism in the town, which had shrunk to a few hundred people after the closing of the mines by mid century. The ski area bolstered the winter economy a bit but was still in its infancy. During their summer visits and then winter vacations, Sandy and her family jumped into all the activities they couldn’t do back home in Tucson: fishing, skiing and maneuvering their Land Rover up the rough back roads. Sandy explored the town as well, Pentax in hand. On breaks from college, she began photographing the townspeople, fascinated by their features and the character

etched on their faces. Many were third- or fourth-generation Crested Butte residents whose forebears had emigrated from southern Europe to work in the mines. “The old-timers accepted us. We were new blood. I was just some freckled young girl running around taking photos for no particular purpose,” she said. She captured on film Crested Butte’s retired miners, ranchers and shopkeepers as they relaxed among life-long friends in the bars that served as community gathering spots. The portraits, many of which now hang in the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum, owe their charm part to artistry and part to circumstance. “I didn’t own a flash,” Sandy said. “So I had to use the soft light filtering in through the window at the end of the bar.” To photograph the women, Sandy had to go looking. She found them making biscuits, doing housework, taking care of each other and their families. Though the women were ever modest and reluctant to pose for the camera, they greeted Sandy and other newcomers with open doors, helpful advice and loaves of fresh bread. Sandy grew to love the people she was photographing. “I admired the old-timers: their work ethic, their sense of right and wrong, their 57

Students line up for teacher Nettie Kapushion on the first day of school, 1973.

Tommy Sneller hefts the giant puffball mushroom he found, 1979.

Morning dawns quietly on Elk Avenue, 1980.

honesty,” she said. “You knew where you stood with them; you could be straight with them; you didn’t need to put on some veneer.” Also straightforward and direct, no fan of veneers, Sandy felt a kinship with the oldtimers unexpected of a city girl. In that era before social media, the few 58

young residents in the remote town looked forward to the “summer people” arriving so they could see the latest fashions. In her perennial t-shirt and sneakers, Sandy might have been a disappointment as a fashionmonger, but she made easy friends. When she transferred from the University

of Arizona to the University of Colorado, she asked to room with Crested Butte native Nettie Kapushion. (Luckily for Sandy, Nettie’s friend and intended roommate Darlene Cobai had just opted out of college to marry sweetheart Fred Halazon.) With dreams of becoming an opera star, Sandy majored in Italian and also studied journalism at CU. After graduating, she packed up her Volkswagen bug and joined her mom, by then a loyal summer resident and ski area shopkeeper, in Crested Butte. Over the next few years, Sandy worked various jobs, from helping in her sister Kathleen’s pottery shop to skiing the slopes as one of the resort’s three “snow hostesses” (a.k.a. “the cupcakes”). Her favorite job was getting paid to take photos. She worked for the Crested Butte Chronicle and the Gunnison Globe, which eventually morphed into the Gunnison Country Times. Over the next four decades, Sandy worked under eight local mastheads, including this magazine. One of those mastheads was her own. With her first husband Bill Hickok, Sandy started the Crested Butte Pilot as an advertising flyer, which developed into a small (four-page) weekly newspaper. Bill did the distribution and books; Sandy took charge of

words, photos and ads. “It didn’t bode well for our relationship,” she said. She eventually sold the paper but continued writing and photographing for valley publications. Though fond of the old-timers, Sandy was closer in age and background to the young people moving to town in the 1970s. From that unique perspective, she watched Crested Butte’s transition from post-mining town to mountain resort. In the early days of the ski area, many of its employees were Crested Butte natives, who welcomed the jobs and the breath of excitement. As the ski area drew more young people to Crested Butte, the old-timers at first welcomed them as well. But some of the “hippies” challenged that hospitality, arriving with what the old-timers might have considered a serious lack of work ethic and personal hygiene. Looking back, Sandy realizes what a special time Crested Butte enjoyed in its early transition years, the late sixties and seventies. It still had a caring, tight-knit community anchored by the old-timers, which was overlaid by young people full of ideas, creativity and energy. Many innovations came from that era: the Crested Butte Mountain Theatre, Arts Festival, community sculpture in Totem Pole Park, mountain biking, telemarking, even the town’s far-sighted “low Victorian” architectural guidelines. Though Sandy wasn’t drawn to the drug use that was part of some young people’s experience, she joined the sparkly energy of the times. Her photos document such antics as the Gelandeklunk beer cup competition created during 1977’s almost snowless “Winter of UN”; the notorious, 100-foothigh “F--- AMAX” (mining company) light show spelled out in flares on Mt. Emmons by several anonymous monkey-wrenchers; and the colorful succession of Red “Ladies” at the annual Red Lady Salvation Ball (including transplanted Texas rancher Mary Sue Koontz, councilwoman Linda Powers and chimney sweep Bill Smith). Instead of seeking opera stardom, Sandy acted and sang in Mountain Theatre productions and danced with eager partners at Memorial Day polkas. Though often manning her camera, she set it down long enough to earn the title of Miss Grubstake in 1979. “Those were wonderful days to be in Crested Butte,” Sandy said. “Nobody was rich, but we had enough for food, rent and beer. We were rich in other ways.” Eventually the balance between old and new tilted, and the “newcomers” dominated town government and businesses. Some tried 59

Ski & Ride School

The award-winning Ski & Ride School is a PSIA/AASI Certified Member School.

Private Lessons Group Lessons Beginner Adventure North Face Guides

Tom Stillo

Sandra Cortner

Nathan Bilow

Camp CB KIDS’ SKI & RIDE SCHOOL PRIVATE & GROUP LESSONS for ages 3 – 17

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EVENING PROGRAM Kids’ Night Out (4 p.m. – 8 p.m.) Kids enjoy dinner and Adventure Park activities.

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to incorporate and work with the old-timers; others less so. Still something remained, a sense of values and caring that Sandy credits to Crested Butte’s long-time residents. “Did the old-timers teach us ‘community’? I think so.” Except for a hiatus in 1983 to attend a prestigious acting school, Sandy settled into her old log home near Fifth and Sopris, tending her prolific poppies, hanging laundry on the clothesline, and riding her bike around to photograph the town’s doings. She married ski patroller Greg Payne in 1989, and the two built an energy-efficient home on a wooded hillside above Roaring Judy Ranch. From her vantage point as a “middletimer,” Sandy in 2006 published a collection of photos and writings called Crested Butte Stories…Through My Lens. A companion book, Crested Butte…Love at First Sight, came out this fall. While the first book highlights her old-timer portraits and stories, the second focuses on the transition era. Still honoring Crested Butte’s mining and ranching families, this volume also tells of the shenanigans that characterized the sixties and seventies. The book is available at local bookstores, retailers and the museum (or see crestedbuttestories. com). “It’s part memoir, part photo book and part tribute to a special place and time,” Sandy said. Sandy has watched scores of Crested Butte children grow into parents and watched the hellions of the sixties mellow into Crested Butte’s new elders. She’s now the approximate age of the old-timers she photographed as a teenager, and her face is gathering the character she saw in theirs. But even after all these decades, she still has her direct manner, slender build and fondness for sneakers.

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OVER ITS THREE DECADES, THE ALLEY LOOP HAS BECOME A COMPETITIVE NATIONAL NORDIC SKI RACE, BUT FOR MANY IT REMAINS A GIANT COSTUME PARTY ON SNOW. By Rachael Gardner

Nathan Bilow

One of the Alley Loop’s creators, Gary Sprung, racing in 1987.

Sandra Cortner

Every February

the town of Crested Butte turns itself into a cross-country ski course complete with staging grounds, beer gardens and the most outrageous costumes ever to slide on snow. Silly on the outside but serious on the inside, the state’s largest cross-country race showcases Crested Butte’s trademark zeal and kookiness. Wax your skis and grab your wig – this winter brings the 30th Alley Loop! All winter the townspeople of Crested Butte spend countless hours removing snow from streets, alleys and sidewalks. Most years, there’s so much snow it has to be loaded in dump trucks and hauled out of town. But for 24 hours in February, we ask our public works crew to turn those trucks around. Come blizzard or sunshine, snow must be spread and track must be set through alley and meadow as racers descend upon Crested Butte for the only intown Nordic race of its kind. I’ve never worn an Alley Loop bib, but I’ve been a spectator for years. The atmosphere is infectious: the laughter, the costumes, the merriment. Looking back through local newspapers, I was relieved to see a quote from race creator Gary Sprung validating the act of spectating. “We especially want parties and people cheering along the track,” he stated in an effort to get residents excited about this new 70

Nathan Bilow

event back in 1987. Gary’s vision has certainly materialized, and the event has kept its fun and friendly atmosphere while growing into something quite noteworthy among those on the Nordic race circuit. The inaugural Alley Loop took place on Valentine’s weekend in February 1987. The call to action in that week’s edition of the Chronicle and Pilot was: “Just show up at First and Elk on Sunday morning well before 11:00 a.m. Bring your best spirits and prepare to get high on skiing!” Thirty years later the message hasn’t changed. Long-time participant Glo Cunningham summed up the evolution of the Alley Loop: “It’s one-third big deal and two-thirds Crested Butte fun.” The Alley Loop was created to bring

awareness to the outstanding Nordic opportunities Crested Butte has to offer. The first Alley Loop consisted of 10- and 30-kilometer races with a 2K for those under 13. In honor of the Valentine’s holiday, organizers also offered a free couple’s race. In its early days, the committee hoped 100 racers would show up. Since then the event had grown six-fold. Today’s Alley Loop offers races in six distances: 1.5 and 3 kilometers for kids; 5 and 10 kilometers in freestyle; 21 kilometers in classic, skate and freestyle; and a 42-kilometer marathon in classic and skate. Preparing for an event of this magnitude always presents challenges, and when you add Mother Nature to the cast of characters, you’re really rolling the dice. Jerry Deverell reminisces about preparing the course in the

Alex Fenlon

Jerry Deverell, perennial Alley Loop skier and on-course bartender.

Alley Loop’s early years: “The track setting wasn’t really elaborate. We didn’t have fancy machines. Maybe we rented a snowcat from the ski area or they lent us one of their smaller ones to set the track, and one year I think we broke it. Race day was panic several times because of things like that.” Today, the equipment barn is better stocked, and the event runs like a well-oiled machine. But it takes monumental effort on the part of the Nordic Center to coordinate 80-plus volunteers, more than 600 racers and a mess of locals who can’t access their alleys for two days. Past and present Alley Loop organizers agree that beyond the weather variable, the most difficult challenge is finding enough volunteers. So, if you’re looking for a middle ground between racing and spectating, volunteering is a great way to get involved. For all participants, this race is fun, but for many, the results are important. The Alley Loop is now an American Birkebeiner qualifier race. This is significant because the Birkie, as it is commonly known, is one of the longest and most famous cross-country races in North America, with distances of 51 kilometers freestyle and 55 kilometers classic. Further, the Birkie is a member race of the Worldloppet Ski Federation, which only allows one member race per country. Being a gatekeeper to the pinnacle of Nordic racing is high praise for Crested Butte’s Alley Loop. Don’t let these facts chase you off the track. Many Alley Loopers aren’t skating 72

in search of points. Instead it’s a winter tradition bringing together family and friends year after year. Many of the fondest memories are made during costume preparation and side parties. Some of these side parties have become such mainstays I can’t imagine the race without them. One such tradition is JD’s Bar and Grill, serving up “brats and bloodies” on-course to racers and spectators alike. Jerry Deverell claims he’s slowed down in his mature years; while he still races, he picks a shorter loop so he can get back to his alley and assist his niece Shelly in what has become a tradition loved by all who ski the alleys. Local residents Nathan and Sierra Miller each participated in the Alley Loop at the ripe old age of four. For Nathan, now 13, participating in the Alley Loop piqued his interest in the sport. This winter, Nathan begins his third year as a member of the Crested Butte Nordic Team, and he’s been competing since the fifth grade. Younger sister Sierra doesn’t have an interest in the Nordic Team as of yet, but she can get quite serious about the Alley Loop. Mom Kara, who doesn’t consider herself a winter aficionado, says Sierra starts planning her costume in the fall. With all the Nordic excitement around the house, Kara has taken her children’s lead and now participates in the Alley Loop as well. Other local siblings who enjoy the Alley Loop are the Buck Sisters, also known as Molly Eldridge and Jessica Rutherford. Molly claims 2014 as her favorite year, because it was a classic bluebird day and she was able to ski with her sister the entire time. With race volunteers being down one course marshal, there was a bit of confusion that day resulting in a wrong turn and an extra mile of skiing, but the ladies didn’t mind: “That just made for a good story!” Having lived in the valley since 1997, Molly finds the Alley Loop special because of the variety of participants. “I love the fact that you have really serious skiers who have trained a long time for the 42 kilometer or the 21 kilometer, and I love the people in the group costumes who really just ski from party to party. I can’t imagine skiing in some of the things they put together!” Kate Seeley, local artist and costume queen, echoed that sentiment. “I love the dichotomy of hooligans and serious athletes on the trail at the same time. The interaction is priceless, even when it’s not good – but it mostly is!” Kate’s fondest memories came from

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years when the race fell on her birthday and friends gathered to create extraordinary group costumes and celebrate on skis. Kate and company have won the Alley Loop’s Best Costume award three times in the last ten years. First, their herd of spring fairies toted a sled bearing a dear friend diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Next, they skied as a lounge full of cigarette-toting, martinidrinking lizards (even though they really weren’t smokers). Last but not least, they took to the course as a band of gnomes sitting on a garden wall. For Kate, half the fun is spending time with friends creating these elaborate costumes. Rumor is that during a stressful race moment, Nordic Director Keith Bauer turned to see the gnomes skating around the corner and his face lit up. “This is what the Alley Loop is about,” he said. A resident since 2000, Paul Mack participates in the Alley Loop 10K every year. Now in the masters division, Paul isn’t a costumer, but he appreciates the carnival-style fun the outfits add to the event. He loves racing hard down the cool old alleyways, passing costumed people taking photos and generally having a blast. Primarily a bike racer, Paul rushes back from the Vuelta Puerto Rico in late January just in time for the Alley Loop. “It’s fun, lovely, sweet and crazy,” he said. “There’s not another race like it!” Clearly, the Alley Loop is a quintessential Crested Butte event. It’s gone from a quirky awareness-raiser to the Nordic Center’s biggest fundraiser, supporting programs that benefit residents and tourists alike. While rising in prestige, the Alley Loop has remained as lighthearted and fun as it ever was. It’s a signature piece of what it means to live in this crazy little valley at the end of the road, where we get serious stuff done without taking ourselves very seriously at all.

CRESTED BUTTE NORDIC:

MEANDER, RACE, LEARN, EXPLORE AND DINE How can Crested Butte claim to be the Nordic Ski Capital of Colorado? Part of that claim lies in abundance: the 50-plus kilometers of groomed trails for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing that branch out from town and wind into the backcountry—and the vast alpine terrain beyond that’s waiting to be explored. Consider also the many programs offered by Crested Butte Nordic: • Kids Ski Free, with free passes and rentals all season for youngsters 17 and under; • Ski 4 PE in conjunction with the RE1J School District; • Crested Butte Nordic Team, affordable after-school programming for ages five and up; • Masters Training Group, with fast, technical workouts for those in training; • Gray Hares, a diverse, informal group of retired or semi-retired professionals and amateur athletes; • Learn to Ski for Free, skate ski clinics the first Thursday of every month during the winter season; and • Magic Meadows Yurt dinners, bistro days and private parties.

Crested Butte Nordic also hosts events throughout the winter—the Thanksgiving Camp, monthly Alley Loop Race Series, Alley Loop, Gothic Mountain Tour and Grand Traverse—plus the summer’s Grin and Bear It trail run/race.

DINNER OR BISTRO AT THE YURT

This year the Nordic Center’s Yurt Dinner Experience is an all-inclusive backcountry-dining package. Guides meet

diners at the Nordic Center to line up cross-country ski or snowshoe equipment, arrange transportation to the trailhead and escort diners to the Yurt, about a onemile ski or snowshoe from the parking area. At the solar-lit, wood-stove-heated yurt, diners enjoy specialty cocktails from Montanya Distillery, wine, beer or other beverages, live music, and a five-course meal by chef Josephine Kellet.

At the end of the evening, guides escort dinner guests back to the trailhead. On Sundays, skiers head to the Backcountry Bistro: coffee, tea, pastries and good company on the sunny deck or inside the cozy yurt (a comfortably furnished, canvas-walled cabin). People can rent the Magic Meadows Yurt for private events as well, with setup and support provided by Crested Butte Nordic.

cbnordic.org 75

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Automotive engineer Doug Reich in his Crested Butte office, with his bike, skis and dog Molly at the ready for recess. 78

Tom Stillo

you want to dress in a business suit, wear high heels or gather around the company water cooler to socialize with your co-workers, working from home in Crested Butte might not be your glass of water. But a growing number of people now work with their computers from their home offices, dressing in sweats, wearing slippers and creating their own support systems. Many of these unseen professionals, at least 25 that I know of, live full time in Crested Butte. They are educators employed by online schools, editors, engineers and a surprising diversity of other professionals. They may be among our most creative residents since they get to live here while enjoying big-city paychecks – some in the six figures. Eight of these home-based employees met over cups of coffee at First Ascent to share their stories. As we talked, all agreed they had to get past their colleagues’ jealousy of their situations. Their co-workers sometimes teased them about wearing their PJs all day and not really working. Though several at our meeting said they have to keep a schedule set by their employers, most set their own workday hours. But that doesn’t imply laziness; remote workers often have to toil harder to prove themselves to their bosses and co-workers. There certainly wasn’t a slacker among our eight. Patrick Wallace, director of marketing for a Boulder company, can take a mountain bike

new water-cooler experience Remote workers blend big-city occupations with mountain-town lifestyles. By Kathy Norgard

Nathan Bilow

Clockwise from top left: Mathematician Bob Goettge in one of his company lunchrooms. Kay Gentry, dentist turned global environmental compliance manager and hiker. Pat Wallace directs the marketing of a Boulder company from his Crested Butte home office. Electrical engineer Deidre Witherell working VERY remotely from her sailboat in the Caribbean. Tom Tatman designs software from his Mt. Crested Butte home office. The reason Natacha Knight brought her â&#x20AC;&#x153;e-commerce channel consultantâ&#x20AC;? job to the mountains. 80

ride or go skiing in the middle of his workday. His Crested Butte home office window affords a spectacular view of surrounding mountains. In the summer Pat often eats his lunch outside in his garden. Over the eight years he has worked remotely via computer and Internet, he has had to train his drop-in friends that even though he is home most days, he is working. Pat’s job requires him to travel to Boulder twice a month for face-toface meetings, which help him stay connected with others in his company. Natacha Knight works remotely for a large national bank with the job title of “e-commerce channel consultant.” Like the others around the table, she is totally dependent on good Internet and phone service. Natacha explained that it is vital for her to stay “visible” with her colleagues and boss. “Whenever I’m at a meeting with others, I make sure to touch base with as many people as I can. And I had to learn to deal with the solitude of working solo. I think I labor harder than I did in the corporate office since I want to continue to be seen as valuable.” Deidre Witherell and her husband, Bill Oliver, visited several towns and created a spreadsheet before deciding to move to Crested Butte. They wanted to live near a national forest, be in a small town without a highway running through it, be among well-educated people, and have more annual moisture than they had living in New Mexico. Deidre, an electrical engineer, could take her job anywhere, and she chose Crested Butte. “I miss bouncing around ideas face to face with other people in my field. I have to stay on my toes to avoid becoming obsolete. I belong to several professional societies, read journals and stay abreast with technology,” she said. “I pay for two Internet services just to be certain I never have an outage.” Reliable Internet service is central for these solitary workers. One person recalled, “I had to bundle up in my down jacket and warm gloves to avoid freezing one morning sitting outside the Old Rock Library (before the library opened) to use their 24-hour Internet service. My own server went down.” Everyone chuckled and admitted frequenting local coffee shops to use Internet service or just to break the solitude of a workday. Bob Goettge, a mathematician who founded and directed four software companies on the Front Range, loves working remotely. “It’s the best job I ever had. No commuting or traffic jams. I get to live in one of the most beautiful places in the whole 81

Beth Hamilton, organizational innovation consultation, traded the rat race for days like this.

world in a very interactive community.” Beth Hamilton, organizational innovation consultant for a large company, looks forward to retirement within a few months. She smiled as she recounted, “I chose to live in this wonderful community, breathe clean air and enjoy the outdoors during my three years working remotely. I don’t miss the rat race of city life.” Tom Tatman designs software from his home office in Mt. Crested Butte. He meets regularly with colleagues on WebEx, a commercial online meeting service. “We represent an existential change to what Crested Butte used to be when most people worked for a local business, like the mines, a long time ago. We are trend-setters,” he said. Tom has worked remotely for three years and loves it. Kay Gentry came to Crested Butte 22 years ago to rock climb. “I fell in love with the place,” she said. “I decided to start a dental practice here. After I retired, I began working distantly for my family’s business as their global environmental compliance manager. I can schedule a tennis match or take a hike when I want to, since I set my own schedule.” Doug Reich labored many years as an

automotive design engineer in Detroit to establish his credibility. “My wife Deb and I bought a second home here and visited often. When Deb retired, we moved here full time because we love this place. I just brought my work along.” Now a freelance consultant, Doug often has his eyes glued to four computer screens in a co-working space he created and now shares with four other remote workers from different disciplines. Doug’s dog Molly usually joins him at the office. None of these folks got his or her first job working from home. They were acculturated into their companies and created their own niches, so they were trusted and relied upon by their employers. As pioneers in long-distance employment, they’ve had to continually prove themselves. By bringing their jobs, expertise and paychecks to Crested Butte, remote workers are slowly broadening the area’s economic and social makeup. They add a new dimension to our community, meeting their employers’ needs remotely and enjoying our vibrant, small-town lifestyle up close and in person. They are creating a new kind of water-cooler experience right here in Crested Butte.

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Radio is considered a “legacy media” because it existed before the Internet. The label implies that old-school technology is being elbowed aside for brighter, better, faster and shinier. But at KBUT Community Radio, old school and new school live happily together. The little radio station at the heart of Crested Butte wears its legacy badge with pride, boasting a vibrant past that’s now being shared with a new generation. It all started in the late 1970s with Earth Station cable radio. “Steve Glazer brought cable to Crested Butte, which was one of the first communities in Colorado to get cable,” said Bonnie Chlipala, one of KBUT’s early DJs and general managers. “We had HBO before Denver.” Chlipala, her sister Lynda Jackson, Bob Brazell and Jim Michael honed their radio chops as employees of the cable venture. When Earth Station died in 1984, the silence was deafening. Michael and another original board member, Jan Murdock, ponied up their own cash to hire a grant writer from Telluride to secure the initial funding for a community radio station. The group’s first big fundraiser, to pull in matching funds to qualify for that first grant, was Motown Night 1984. “That

evolved into Soul Train Night,” said Michael. “That was before we even knew what our call-letters would be. The King and Queen of Soul—I’m pretty sure that was Bonnie’s idea.” Many business owners were skeptical of a publically funded station rather than a commercial endeavor, Michael recalled. “The sentiment was, ‘These people can’t pull this off.’ Then the government gave us $90,000 and everything changed.” In 1986, Crested Butte Mountain Educational Radio was born: KBUT. “In the beginning, we had four-hour shifts. Jim, Bonnie, Lynda and I all did multiple shows,” said Brazell. “In the early years, we frequently went on the air together. Back then, I hosted ‘The Lonesome Bob Show’ on Friday afternoons, and Lynda hosted ‘The Happy Hour Show’ after mine. In between, we’d do ‘The Bob & Lynda Show,’ or if you ask her, it was ‘The Lynda & Bob Show.’ We just ad-libbed. There are some people who are just on your wavelength. Lynda and I had on-air chemistry.” Michael served as KBUT’s first program director. Chlipala ran the station from 1991 to 1996, taking over after KBUT had five station managers in five years. Her first order of business: bringing National Public Radio

(NPR) programming to KBUT. “We did it within a year,” she said. KBUT’s first location was above the bus barn at the southeast edge of town. A gravel and mud parking lot, rumbling with buses spewing black smoke, spanned the space between the studio’s single window and the town’s sewage treatment plant. Jackson recalls plenty of escapades from the bus barn days. “I once had Erin Garcia on the air. She was writing a book with Marcie Telander. Marcie kept calling me in the studio and correcting what Erin was saying. Five minutes after Erin left, Marcie was at the studio, pounding on the door. I wouldn’t let her in.” Sisters Chlipala and Jackson both have radio voices with a sultry smoothness, voices sexy enough to elicit propositions from strangers. Telling stories together, they alternate sentences, stacking them to complete a scene. “The great thing about Crested Butte in those days,” said Jackson, “was that whatever you wanted to do, whomever you wanted to be, you could be.” “You could say you were a writer or a photographer and be one, even if you’d never done those things before,” added Chlipala.

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“Instead of just listening to DJs,” said Jackson, “I could be one.” Summer or winter, the tiny bus barn studio across from the sewage treatment plant was hot and stuffy. As a DJ or producer working in that space, you had a choice: swelter with the window closed, or open it to let in cool air and be assaulted by diesel and other fumes. “In the beginning, the sign-off show was party time,” Michael said. “That’s where our expression, ‘It smells like jazz in here,’ came from. There were a lot of drugs after eleven o’clock. When I would come in for my Friday-morning show, the place was always a mess. For some reason, the chair would always be taken apart. I started bringing in a wrench every week so I could put it back together.” Jackson also recalled a DJ who barricaded himself in the studio after losing his DJ privileges and being asked to leave. “He wanted to stay on the air.” In addition to the original Earth Station jockeys, there’s an impressive list of longtimers who joined soon after and are still on the air: Dan “Double Down Danno” Carson, Les “El Chino” Choy, Henrietta Raines, Pete “Luigi” Basile, Karah “Special K” Cunningham, Angie “DJ Touch” Hornbrook, Tricia “Trish the Dish” Seeberg, Josephine Kellett, Andrew Hadley, Yvette Maes, Pat O’Neill, Kevin Hartigan, John “The Sandman” Hopper, Craig McManus, Kristy McFarland. All these DJs go back to at least the bus barn days, with decades of allegiance to KBUT. Brazell has his own set of KBUT memories. “One year we borrowed a 22-footlong truck from Henrietta’s husband at the time, local contractor Albert Maunz. We used it for KBUT’s float for the Fourth of July parade. People decorated it with crepe paper and covered it with old 45s. It looked beautiful. In those days, when the parade was over, water was everywhere, mostly from water balloons and squirt guns. If you didn’t want to get wet, you had to run for it. That year, the water got out of hand. It was the year the Super Soaker came along. Those things are basically assault rifles that shoot water. I’d driven trucks before, but never one that was 22 feet long.” Turning from Belleview Avenue onto Third Street on his way to the parade, Brazell “scraped the hell” out of a car parked along the curb. “In every other place in the world, that’s where you park. But not here.” (In Crested Butte, street parking is on the high side of the curb.) The parade was about to

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start, so they left a note and rolled on to Elk Avenue. Already frazzled from sideswiping the parked car, Brazell drove nervously, worried about the small children darting in front of him. A child with a Super Soaker approached the truck, and his dad picked him up. Brazell had the window open just a few inches. “Pow! The kid got me right in the eye.” Brazell maintained his cool, no kids were squished, and the float joined the parade up Elk Avenue. On his way back down, Brazell noticed somebody was missing. “Where’s Henry?” he yelled. “We lost her,” came the reply. A parade spectator had blasted Henrietta Raines with a Super Soaker, “and she was pissed,” Brazell recalled. “So she dove into the crowd after him.” Back on Third Street after the parade, the KBUT crew passed pieces of broken records from their float littered all around the car Brazell had hit. “The people just stood there, bewildered, going, ‘What happened?’” In 1999, KBUT moved to its current location, three state-of-the-art studios plus office space in the old middle school building near Town Hall, a space they share with the Crested Butte marshal’s office. Kim CarrollBosler, Eileen Hughes, Shawna Claiborne and Graham Ulrich ran the show during the transition to the new digs, Michael said. “That was a pretty effective team.” “I originally hired Eileen to do the news,” said Chlipala. “Then she became program director.” Eileen left KBUT’s staff for a while but has hosted “The Dirt Farmer’s Revenge” since 2006. She returned as captain of the radio ship in 2012. Chad Reich, Tyler Lucas, Julia Brazell and Bonnie Gollhoffer round out the current staff. Part of KBUT’s legacy is how its loyalties now span multiple generations. “My son Jackson [Petito] went to middle school in what is now the KBUT building,” said Lynda Jackson. From age 14 to age 18, Petito hosted “The Psycho Teen Show” every Monday. He left Crested Butte for college, law school, marriage and a baby. Now he’s back home in Crested Butte, hosting a new show, “Monday Midnight Mixed Tape,” and as of press time he was set to become KBUT’s program director. “When I was pregnant with Jackson, I was on the radio,” said his mom. She suggested that early exposure made an impression on the kid, especially his musical taste. “He’s like me; he likes everything.” With a tear and a smile, Brazell recalled bringing his daughters to the studio when

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they were young. “When we went on the air in ’86, Julia was four years old and her sister Robin was two. They used to come in and do shows with me and read the cards.” Now Julia Brazell is KBUT’s membership director, web diva and assistant operations manager. Like Petito, she left town to attend college, chalked up years of valuable nonprofit career experience in the big city, then returned home. “I’d return to CB and mention that my dad was Lonesome Bob and people would treat me better,” she said. “The same was true when I met people from Crested Butte in other parts of the world. I’d mention my dad, Lonesome Bob, and people’s eyes would light up, and they’d say, ‘You’re kidding! I love Lonesome Bob. I listen to him every Friday afternoon.’ Then they’d start quoting their favorite lines from his iconic sign-off, like, ‘I love it how he says to be the kind of person your dog thinks you are.’” DJ Kristy McFarland’s daughter Allie now hosts “The Siren’s Shore” on Tuesday nights, and Tim Boulding’s son also did a show for a while. Brazell has hosted the “Lonesome Bob Show” since KBUT’s beginnings, except for a stretch in the mid nineties when he was 92

Alex Fenlon

As a child, Julia Brazell played in the KBUT studio while her dad, “Lonesome Bob” Brazell, did his show. Now she’s the station’s membership director and assistant operations manager.

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recovering from a serious illness. Gunnison native Russ Lallier “sat in for me for over a year and kept my seat warm,” Brazell said. Michael has gone off the air several times, but he always returns. “He’s never been fired,” noted Chlipala. “No, he always leaves on his own terms,” said Jackson. “And he always comes back.” “It was always over censorship,” Michael said. “I’ve come to realize that’s a battle I can’t win. I naturally rebel against authority, which is why I didn’t do well in a position of authority.” What Michael does do well is DJ. Known for his expertise in rock and jazz, Michael meticulously prepares each show, creating themes, weaving in music history and anecdotes about the artists. Lonesome Bob, now well into his third decade on the air, still plays his beloved, underground FM rock, reminding us every Friday afternoon that we are “way, way up in the mountains.” He advises us to “double up” to stay warm (“You know what I’m talkin’ about”) and on occasion invokes “the mysterious Linda Wortheimer.” “When we got NPR, Bob’s show was cut from three hours to two, and moved to two o’clock,” said Michael. “So he started making fun of NPR’s Linda Wortheimer.” “That’s a twisted Jim Michael memory.” Brazell chuckled and shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong. Jim and I have been friends for 35 years. I just made fun of Linda Wortheimer because she seemed so prim and proper.” Julia Brazell keeps her dad’s radiolegend status in perspective. “It can be a bit intimidating, but I don’t really think of what I’m doing as following in his footsteps. I’m just overjoyed to be part of something as special as KBUT and so grateful to be making a difference in an organization and a community that I love so dearly.” Many who care about Crested Butte can’t imagine this place without its heartbeat, KBUT Community Radio. The station will celebrate its 30th anniversary in the fall of 2016. But being a “legacy media” doesn’t imply it is dusty and outdated; KBUT is on the Internet now, with listeners streaming it all over the world. The station thrives way, way up in these mountains, thanks to the loyalty of its venerable founding members, crew of seasoned DJs and microphone greenhorns, steadfast staff, and residents and visitors who support KBUT because of all it does for them.

ONE WOMANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S FIGHT FOR HER LAND

How Ernestine Eastman Spann battled a 1972 plan to turn her ranchland into an airport. By Cara Guerrieri

J.C.Leacock

Ernestine (back row), Gerrie Lou, Audrey and Aubrey Spann with Marge and Joe McDermott at the family’s almost-anAirstream trailer, circa 1940.

Ernestine and Aubrey Spann early in their marriage and in the mid 1960s.

On those special summer weekends in the 1960s when I got to stay in Crested Butte with Grandma and Grandpa Spann in their almost-an-Airstream camper, Grandma and I would walk down the hill and go fishing while Grandpa was out irrigating. She’d pack a picnic lunch and after we fished a while, we would eat the simple fare (she’d rather fish than cook). Then we’d look up at the puffy clouds over the ranch and she’d ask, “Do you see a bear or a dragon? An alligator or a princess?” After I made my choices, she’d say, “Now what do you suppose they’re doing up there? Tell me a story.” I’d try my best, and with stories and laughter and adventure, my glorious weekends sped by. By 1972 I was a busy teenager and wasn’t spending much time on Grandma’s land, and she wasn’t feeling up to fishing 98

anyway. That was the year the Crested Butte Town Council, lured by the promise of private funding and a 28% federal share in the project, voted to begin condemnation proceedings on her property south of town for a municipal airport. I think the council underestimated the love my grandmother, Ernestine Eastman Spann, had for the land she bought in 1943 using an inheritance from her mother. She was horrified at the thought of an airport scarring the meadows. Besides, she had plans for the property. A progressive thinker, she believed that women should have their own assets. She held the land in her own name and planned to leave the place to her female

grandchildren. In spite of a heart condition that left her feeling tired and short of breath, she vowed to fight the condemnation. For nearly a year prior to the council vote, she and her husband Aubrey had been resisting the “sweet talk” of politicians, developers and businessmen trying to convince her to voluntarily sell the land for the airport. The money Ernestine was offered was nowhere near what the family felt was its value. When the Spanns rejected the monetary offer, promises were made that “Spann” would be included in the official airport name. Ernestine was not swayed in the least, and instead the family hired an

attorney and sprang into action. Aubrey’s calendar from that year lists the many meetings he attended, presenting the case for rejecting the airport. He recorded the names of local pilots, county commissioners, neighbors and fellow ranchers with whom he had private conversations. For her part, Ernestine, along with her daughters, contacted congressional representatives, questioning the need for an airport when one existed close by in Gunnison and asking for clarification as to the federal government’s interest. Ernestine also worried about what would become of the land if something happened to her. She met with the attorney and changed her will, strengthening the language to indicate her wish to keep the land intact for her heirs. Meanwhile, engineers mapped out the thirty-acre parcel for the airport, and it was located smack dab in the middle of the Spann ranch. The dimensions were typical for small airports: 4,000 feet long, 500 feet wide, with a 2,000-foot “free zone” around that. Big enough to be utilized by small commercial flights and by privately owned planes, it was also being eyed by the military for training use. Early in 1973, the Spanns requested a special meeting of the town council for the purpose of public input. In advance of the meeting, Aubrey composed a letter and delivered it up and down the valley. In it, he describes that on at least seven occasions in their marriage, “the demands of modern civilization have caused local government agencies to request land which was not for sale from us.” Beginning in 1941 the Spanns had been asked to relinquish property for roadways in Crested Butte and Gunnison, for the Crested Butte sewer plant, to establish an abandoned car lot in Crested Butte, to expand a bridge in Crested Butte, for the Crested Butte and ski resort fire district, and finally for an airport. Five times, Aubrey wrote, they “reluctantly conceded because we thought the general public could be served.” When it came to the airport, however, he said, “We feel that this would not be for a benefit to the general public, but only for a small portion. We also believe that having an airport on our land would create an environmental impact on our little mountain valley that would be hard to live with.” In a letter to the editor, their daughter Audrey (Spann) Szallar asked local citizens to “accept that the most valuable possession left to a valley and area is some open space

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to just stand and breathe and observe the beauty in quiet serenity.” She implored Crested Butte to “set an example for other small mountain communities to follow” by retaining the natural beauty of the countryside. The Spanns’ efforts paid off on the bitter cold evening of February 14, 1973, when 70 community members spent Valentine’s Day evening at the Crested Butte schoolhouse expressing their thoughts about the airport. For over two hours, one by one, ranchers, nature lovers and townspeople testified in opposition, describing the disruption to ranching and wildlife that the airport would cause. Members of the Spann family came ready to speak but stayed silent after their skilled attorney, Pat Carrico, summed up their feelings when he challenged the councilors, “Do you want to preside over the premeditated destruction of one of the most beautiful valleys in the state?” The mood in the chamber was vociferous enough that one council member waited through the testimony before taking his place to create a quorum. According to the Crested Butte Pilot, when at last he came forward, he apologized to the Spanns, but explained that he had waited in order to avoid “a pie-throwing contest.” The Crested Butte Town Council later voted unanimously to suspend the airport condemnation effort. The official reason given was that the feasibility study could not be completed in time to receive federal funds. The work of delaying the project to such an extent can be credited to Grandma Spann, her family and the forward-thinking citizens of the valley. Together they stood up to big business, developers and federal interest to save a piece of agriculture land long before it was popular to do so. Ernestine Eastman Spann died in 1975, and her property passed to her female heirs as planned. Today, when you drive toward Crested Butte and look to the east across what is now called Hidden River Ranch, you’ll still see timothy grass, meadowlark and grazing cattle instead of asphalt, airplanes and hangers. When you look toward the high mountains of Teocalli, Double Top and Crested Butte, your vista will be unimpeded by air traffic. And when you see fluffy white clouds floating by, perhaps the shapes will remind you of a certain determined woman who loved this valley enough to fight for it.

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By Zach Guy, director of the Crested Butte Avalanche Center

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Xavier Fané

Avalanches come under the media’s spotlight every winter, often under tragic circumstances. Our community has lost loved ones and visitors who were recreating in our winter wonderland but got caught or buried in moving snow. Colorado has a notoriously dangerous snowpack that takes more lives on average than any other state in the country. This can prompt the media or others to question the pursuit of winter backcountry recreation altogether: “Why partake in such a risky endeavor?” As someone who is intimate with the risks of backcountry travel and yet spends almost every winter day outside, I’d like to explain why I backcountry ski and why I encourage my friends and family to recreate in the backcountry as well. First of all, traveling in the backcountry isn’t a game of Russian roulette. It’s an activity with calculated risks and thoughtful decision-making. The interaction between uncertainty, snowpack and terrain allows every person to adopt strategies for their own risk tolerance, in the same way we do when we go driving. This challenge requires thought and focus but is also rewarding. When it comes to assessing the avalanche danger, there’s always some level of uncertainty, but we can generally default to more secure terrain to manage that uncertainty. Many tours in and around Crested Butte offer up powder stashes or alpine splendor or good exercise and pose zero avalanche risk: e.g. low-angled terrain, dense trees or ridgelines. And many times during the winter or spring, the lowered avalanche danger allows us to venture into more aggressive or exposed terrain. The Crested Butte Avalanche Center issues a daily avalanche bulletin, which rates the avalanche danger as well as the expected frequency, size and distribution of avalanches for a given day. We also offer travel advice, which can range from “Avoid the backcountry today” to “Be cautious of windloaded slopes” to “Stay away from slopes steeper than 30 degrees during this afternoon’s warm-up” to “Use normal caution.” Statistically speaking, driving a car in our country is more likely to end in tragedy than recreating on skis, snowboard, snowshoes or snowmobile in the backcountry. When we drive our cars, we take certain precautions to reduce and manage the risks, and we should bring this same mindset to our backcountry endeavors. We take a driver’s ed class. (So take an avalanche class!) We check road conditions, read warning signs and speed limit signs. (So check the current avalanche advisory at www.cbavalanchecenter.org!) We stay alert to changing conditions, such as icy patches or gravel roads, and adjust our driving accordingly. (So watch for signs of instability, such as recent avalanches, collapsing snow, cracking snow, rapid warming, heavy snowfall or wind103

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loading, and adjust your route accordingly!) We use industry standard safety equipment like seatbelts and airbags. (So bring a shovel, beacon, probe and partner!) And we bring emergency equipment like a spare tire and cell phone. (So travel well prepared, with extra layers, nutrition, maps, first aid kit, headlamps and cell phones!) With the right tools and a conservative mindset, the risks of touring in the backcountry are quite manageable and acceptable, just like driving a car. But backcountry skiing is NOT driving a car. It is EUPHORIA. Nowhere better does the quote “A life not lived is a life not worth living” apply than skiing cold smoke powder in the wilderness. Yes, I could stay home and watch TV or check Facebook and my only concern might be catching a virus, but I would be missing out on an amazing day full of camaraderie, beauty, adventure, serenity and challenge! Many of my most cherished and memorable days have been spent with close friends ski touring in our Elk Mountains. For some, climbing into the mountains brings them a spiritual experience closer to a higher being. For others, the tranquility of the backcountry is an escape from the stresses of everyday life. Maybe it is quality time spent on a journey with friends, or healthy exercise, or maybe it is the adrenaline rush of floating through pristine powder, over pillows and through steep trees. Whatever it is for you, I encourage you to get educated, read our avalanche advisory, grab a friend and glide off from the trailhead in search of backcountry bliss. You’ll have no trouble finding it here in Crested Butte. For resources and information about avalanche safety, visit: www.cbavalanchecenter.org.

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Stunning new finds from underwater explorers Barry and Brandon Clifford, a Western grad and his Crested Butte-based son.

Coins recovered from the pirate ship.

By Dawne Belloise Note: The Crested Butte Magazine began following Barry and Brandon Clifford with the article “On the trail of pirates” in the winter 2011-2012 issue. Since then, their discoveries have shaken the world of underwater archeology even further, with the possible discovery of Christopher Columbus’ flagship, the Santa Maria, and perhaps the ship of notorious British pirate Captain Kidd. The finds have not only recovered a wealth of artifacts but have also reshaped our understanding of history. Here are the Cliffords’ latest revelations from the deep. Pirate captain “Black Sam” Bellamy and his crew believed all men were equal, so upon capturing the slave ship Whydah, he freed the slaves aboard who were all bound for trade. Captain Bellamy, an Englishman, had started out by looking for shipwrecks in Florida to salvage but eventually turned to the more lucrative profession of piracy. His girlfriend, Maria Hallett, was tried as a witch and exiled to the tip of Cape Cod. It’s rumored that Bellamy had gone to visit his love 107

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Hallet, the so-called Witch of Wellfleet, in 1717 when he perished with the Whydah during a raging Nor’easter storm, which took the lives of his 143-member crew and the ship’s treasures of silver and gold. After the ship’s demise, many searched for the Whydah’s watery grave, seeking its riches. Barry Clifford, a Western State Colorado University graduate, found it in 1984 off the coast of Cape Cod after years of exploring and researching. The history it unfurled was even richer than the treasure in its hold. The Whydah was the first documented pirate shipwreck ever found, verified by its bell which read “Whydah Gally 1716.” Although it’s still being excavated, its treasure has been stunning: more than 200,000 artifacts, including 60 cannons, over 10,000 coins and 400 pieces of Akan gold jewelry. It also has altered the understanding of pirates, who, at least on this ship, weren’t so scruffy. Fancy shoe buckles and jewelry were worn by these somewhat dandy pirates. Because its pirates raided ships from every port and country, the Whydah’s artifacts are an unparalleled cross-cultural collection from more than 50 looted ships. But Barry Clifford is not a treasure hunter; he’s an explorer, learned underwater archeologist and conservator, and he shares his passion and finds with the public. In 1996, he established Expedition Whydah Sea-Lab and Learning Center at the Whydah Pirate Museum in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The collection, entitled “Real Pirates: The Untold Story of the Whydah From Slave Ship to Pirate Ship,” is being toured throughout the U.S. by the National Geographic Society. Clifford’s Western ties and return visits to the valley led his daughter Jenny Clifford to move to Crested Butte, and her brother Brandon soon followed. Brandon, who was raised in Martha’s Vineyard, essentially grew up on his father’s exploratory boat, watching him search for the Whydah (pronounced “Widda”) off the coast of Cape Cod. In the spring of 2014, news of the possible discovery of the shipwrecked Santa Maria splashed all over the Internet, newspapers, television and social media. The flagship of Christopher Columbus, along with the Niña and Pinta, had set sail to the Americas in 1492, but on Christmas Eve the Santa Maria hit a reef and went down off the coast of Hispaniola. For centuries people searched for it—most recently Barry and Brandon Clifford, along with a crew that included Nate Nash, Andris Zobs and other Crested Butte explorers. The shipwreck they

located off the coast of Haiti hasn’t yet been verified as the Santa Maria, but signs point in that direction. As the wreck rested in about 15 feet of water, Brandon was the first to survey it and photograph its rare Lombardy cannon. Since at the time they had Haitian permits only for surveying, not excavating, the crew left the cannon in place, and it was later looted by treasure seekers. If the cannon is found, it could be a major factor in identifying the wreck. The Cliffords hope to resume their research when the Haitian government issues the needed permits for actual excavation. The Lombardy cannon was very specific to the Santa Maria era, Brandon said. “It looks more like a tube, eight inches wide. It’s different from the cannon on the Whydah. I was the first to dive on the wreck and took lots of photos of it. Those pictures are the only record. There are many ways to identify a shipwreck. Archeologists can identify the stones (from the ballast), which is what they’ll be working on next. They can ascertain if the stones are from a particular place in Spain, and they can carbon date the wood. When the actual exploration resumes, the next step will be working with University of Indiana archeologist Charles Beeker, head of the Underwater Archeology Department. He’ll be conducting the archeological part of the project and identifying it.” Columbus kept a detailed diary, and Brandon said the searchers analyzed the time frame and Columbus’ description of how the Santa Maria was stripped and everything possible was salvaged after it wrecked on the reef. In Columbus’ account of the Santa Maria’s sinking, he wrote details about the winds, the seas, the proximity of the land and the nearby fort. Brandon explained, “In over 500 years, the geology changes and the shoreline changes. So you look at the modernday shoreline, maps as close to that time period as possible and Columbus’ account of where his ship went down. He gives bearings off different points. It’s a matter of looking at different layers of clues. Then you go there and you see the shoreline, you see where the reefs are; maybe you have aerial photos of the reefs.” The crew was working in Cap Haitien Harbor, “like a highway for shipping through history,” Brandon said. The seabed holds wrecks from the seventeenth century through modern times. Brandon described his father as “basically self trained, but he has this amazing intuition, and he thought through the events, having read Columbus’ diary.”

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Petar Dopchev

Brandon Clifford in between underwater investigations near Cape Cod.

Brandon, Barry and their crew work toward the same goal: to preserve the shipwreck and underwater cultural resources. If this is indeed the Santa Maria, “a cornerstone of history,” the artifacts will be preserved for Haiti and for the rest of the world to see, which could bring much-needed tourist revenue to the country. “The shipwreck in its entirety is much more valuable than if it’s split up. The benefit to Haiti would be to have the wreck intact, because if you build an entire exhibit around it and it travels the world, people would flock to see it and it would benefit Haiti. A place like Haiti is so rich in history with amazing cultural sites, and you’re preserving Haiti’s culture,” said Brandon. Also ongoing are archeological survey projects off Ile a Vache in Haiti that have, so far, identified four shipwrecks associated with the pirate Henry Morgan, including Morgan’s flagship Oxford. Meanwhile, the Indiana Jones of underwater archeology made international news again this year with the discovery of a 110-pound silver ingot believed to be from the nefarious Captain Kidd’s ship, 110

the Adventure Galley. The Cliffords’ crew discovered the wreck, and several others, in 2000 in a harbor at Sainte-Marie, Madagascar, off the eastern coast of Africa. They traveled back to the area several times to explore the Sainte-Marie harbor, knowing it was “a careening area” for pirate ships. A careening area was a shallow, sandy beach where the ships would be cleaned of ocean pests like barnacles and worms that were destructive to the wooden hulls. The small island was a safe haven for the pirates, because the locals were friendlier than the mainland residents. Perhaps a dozen well-known pirates spent time there because their vessels were taking on water or they captured a newer, faster ship, in which case they would intentionally sink their old vessel in the harbor in favor of the newly looted one. The island Sainte-Marie inspired many books, most notably Treasure Island. The Adventure Galley was built in England as a warship designed by Captain Kidd, who walked a fine line between his sponsored privateering and actual pirating. Though Kidd was successful and married to a wealthy widow, he was drawn to the sea

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921 County Rd 317 3 Bed | 3.5 Bath | 3,171 SqFt | 17 Acres Between Town and the Mountain Home and Acreage for $1,695,000

17300 State Hwy 135 2 Bed | 2.5 Bath | 1,300 SqFt | 40 Acres South of Crested Butte Home and Barns for $1,850,000

269 Fairway Drive 5 Bed | 4.5 Bath | 4,786 SqFt Skyland Golf Community Home for $989,000

Gary Huresky 970.209.2421 Gary.Huresky@SothebysRealty.com

CrestedButteHomes.com 112

and driven by adventurousness and greed. As a privateer, Kidd was commissioned by the British to fight against the French in the Caribbean and capture pirate ships that were threatening the powerful East India Trading Company. He was the first privateer paid to capture French ships and pirates. Kidd intentionally sunk the Adventure Galley in 1698 when his crew mutinied, took the sails and jumped ship to join Captain Culliford, a brutal pirate but respected and feared by his peers. Although there wasn’t supposed to be much onboard, the Cliffords’ scan sonar survey revealed quite a bit of material still there. Captain Kidd was secretive, tough, literate and wealthy; his fortune was legendary and to this day is mostly unaccounted for. Kidd made headlines during his time and had the eleventh biggest heist in pirate history. He gave lavish gifts, such as the bags of jewels he bestowed on governor’s wives. There was discrepancy with a couple of vessels that had French papers but carried some English cargo. He also crudely murdered one of his crew with a bucket. He was already pushing the envelope of respect by not lowering his flag and topsails when passing the Royal Navy ships and sailing away from the British Navy when he was supposed to hand over crew. Perhaps he felt like he was above the law. Kidd hadn’t slept onshore for a couple of years for fear of being arrested, but in trying to disprove piracy accusations, he turned himself into Boston’s Lord Belmont, the governor of Massachusetts at the time. The governor threw him in chains. Convinced he could clear his name since he had proof of his actions, Kidd stayed even though he could have fought his way out, returned to his ship and vanished. He was thrown into a stone prison for months. He had paperwork that proved the ship he had captured was French, but those papers mysteriously disappeared. Officials sent a ship from England to bring him back to trial, but in the winter seas the ship sank, so they sent another one. They put him in solitary confinement in the worst conditions to make an example of him, since pirates were an ongoing problem for the East India Trade Company. Kidd was convicted and hung, his body painted in tar and put in an iron cage gibbet that was displayed next to the River Thames in London as a deterrent to pirates. Barry was working on a square-meter test pit on the Adventure Galley site, looking for evidence to identify Kidd’s ship, when he

Petar Dopchev

Brandon Clifford

found the heavy silver ingot with markings and numbers inscribed on it. The following day the crew brought it out of the water and presented it to the president of Madagascar, with the U.K. and U.S. ambassadors and the president’s ministers in attendance. A History Channel team was filming to create an eightpart series, which began airing in September 2015. The Cliffords employed about a hundred Malagasky locals to transform a historic building into a museum and lab. But the two ran into obstacles before finishing their work on the Adventure Galley and other projects off the coast of Madagascar. “We’d like to finish our survey, the museum, conservation, films and all the rest,” Brandon said, referring to the delicate and arduous process of obtaining permits from governments that might be in political changeovers or upheavals. Although his career started with the Whydah, Barry has since led expeditions around the world to search for other shipwrecks. Along with Brandon, he’s also identified important terrestrial sites associated with “the golden age of piracy.” Not only do their continued discoveries rewrite history; they also benefit the countries where the Cliffords work. “We use the cultural resources to help the impoverished people of these countries,” Brandon said. “Finding and conserving to help the people—that’s always been our drive.”

be brilliant

clothing jewelry lingerie gifts 310 elk avenue crested butte 970 349 2107

milkywayboutique.com

Crested Butte expert with 10 + years in real estate and native Colorado kid. Let me make your dreams come true!

MEGAN CLARK megan.clark@sothebysrealty.com

970.209.3537 113

Winter events 2015-2016

NOVEMBER 14

Opening day, Crested Butte Nordic Center (CBNC)

Warren Miller film “Chasing Shadows” at Center for the Arts

KBUT Fall Bingo

Opening day/ski free, Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR)

Ute Exhibit opens at CB Mtn. Heritage Museum

26-29

Thanksgiving Nordic Ski Camp with CBNC

Winter Kick-Off Party with CBNC

Alley Loop Race Series with CBNC

Santa visits the CB Mtn. Heritage Museum; crafts and cocoa

DECEMBER 3

Canvases & Cocktails at the Red Room with the Art Studio

Alley Loop Race Series with CBNC

Santa Ski and Crawl, skiing Santa day at CBMR

Light-Up Night in Mt. Crested Butte

16-20

Rock on Ice ice-carving festival, Mt. Crested Butte

Film Series at the Center for the Arts (CFTA): “Citizenfour”

18-20

Grand Traverse Skimo Academy

19-20

Rocky Mountain Nordic Junior National Qualifier

21, 23, 26 Yurt Dinner Experience with CBNC

Nick Schley

Torchlight Parade down the slopes, CBMR

24, 25

Christmas Eve Sleigh Ride Dinner at Uley’s Cabin

Torchlight Parade and Fireworks, CBMR

New Year’s Eve Yurt Dinner Party with CBNC

ArtWalk Evening at galleries and studios

JANUARY 3

Chris Robinson Brotherhood at the Center for the Arts

Magic Meadows 7 Nordic Ski Race

9, 13, 20 gO Skimo Camp ski mountaineering series

Dusty Demerson

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13-17

Mountain High Music Festival

Crested Butte Nordic Team Fundraiser at the Yurt

Alley Loop Race Series

ArtWalk Evenings at galleries and studios

Full Moon at Ten Peaks, ski or snowshoe to dinner, CBMR

gO Skimo Camp ski mountaineering series

28-31

Fat Bike World Championships

CB Unplugged: Apréspalooza concert at Butte 66

Trent Bona

FEBRUARY TBD

Miner’s Ball at Kochevars for CB Mtn. Heritage Museum

MARCH 4-6

USASA Boardercross and Skiercross, CBMR

5, 6

30th annual Alley Loop Nordic Ski Race

Crafted: tastings of beers, spirits and food from Colorado

6, 20, 27 Yurt Dining Experience with CBNC

5, 12, 19 Yurt Dining Experience with CBNC

6-7

IFSA Junior Regional Freeskiing Competition, CBMR

11-13

IFSA Junior Nationals Freeskiing Competition, CBMR

ArtWalk Evenings at galleries and studios

K Club Party at the Kimball Cabin, CBNC

13-14

US Ski Mountaineering Championships

ArtWalk Evenings at galleries and studios

Valentine’s Yurt Dinner with CBNC

Skitown Breakdown spring concert, CBMR

18-21

USSA Dan Prater Memorial Cup ski race

Al Johnson Telemark Race, CBMR

Gothic Mountain Tour backcountry challenge with CBNC

Full Moon at Ten Peaks, CBMR

24-26

Elk Mountains Grand Traverse

2 Star Freeride World Qualifier, CBMR

Easter Egg Hunt in Mt. Crested Butte

CB Unplugged: Apréspalooza free concert at Butte 66

27-28

4 Star Freeride World Qualifier, CBMR 115

Winter events 2015-2016

Dusty Demerson

APRIL 1-3

Flauschink celebration flushes out winter

Volunteer Appreciation Day with CBNC

Pond Skim, Slush Huck at CBMR

CB Unplugged: Apréspalooza free concert at Butte 66

Closing day, CBNC

Closing day with live music, CBMR

7-10

Ultimate Snowmobiler and Winter Terracross, CBMR

Crested Butte Pole, Pedal, Paddle

For more information, see gunnisoncrestedbutte.com/events.

Alex Fenlon

Statement to the Community

The new facilities at The Center for the Arts and the Biery-Witt Center are being planned and built to fully meet the cultural and economic development needs of this community. • The Center for the Arts is a true community arts center, situated in the heart of Crested Butte Town Park. • The Biery-Witt Center will be a multi-purpose conference, convention and performing arts center in Mt. Crested Butte, located to provide access to lodging for meeting and event attendees. These two facilities will provide fundamentally distinct services to the community. • The new facility at The Center for the Arts will provide studios, classrooms and rehearsal space for youth and community education programs; visual arts galleries; an intimate theater for dance, theater and musical presentations; and a home for numerous other local nonprofit arts organizations. • The Biery-Witt Center will allow Crested Butte Mountain Resort and other local businesses to host large meetings and conferences that attract visitors and create economic consistency/stability, while providing space for special events (e.g. weddings). Its significant performance hall will host the Crested Butte Music Festival and larger name touring acts. The Center for the Arts and the Biery-Witt Center have come together to FInd the means and methods for establishing the optimal operating collaborative. • Representatives of the organizations’ boards and staff currently are joined with community leaders to explore significant financial, managerial, marketing and space utilization synergies that will build sustainable operations for both organizations.

www.CrestedButteArts.org | MCBPAC.org/BWCCFTA-Cooperation 116

“Special events”

that happen every day

For a small town, Crested Butte has big doings—in the arts, history, fitness, discourse/learning, adventure and kids’ activities. For visual/performing arts fans, the Center for the Arts brings in exceptional performers (from comedians to pianists to modern dancers) and showcases local talent on its stage and in its gallery. Its Art Studio holds non-intimidating, fun-spirited art classes. The Center partners with the Crested Butte Dance Collective on aerial dance classes and performances, and with the Crested Butte Film Festival on a monthly Film Series. The Center will be complemented by the Biery-Witt Center, a state-of-theart performance/conference facility to be constructed in Mt. Crested Butte. Among its many roles, that facility will house the worldclass Crested Butte Music Festival. Crested Butte is home to many galleries and artists, who collaborate on monthly ArtWalk Evenings. The Crested Butte Mountain Theatre stages productions at the Mallardi Cabaret, including themed tenminute plays written and produced by locals. If history intrigues you, peruse exhibits at the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum or take its walking tour of town. Children find worlds to explore through Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s Camp CB and the interactive exhibits of the Trailhead Children’s Museum. Even the Old Rock Library buzzes with activity: children’s story times, family film nights, Socrates Café discussions, Novel-Tea book talks, Coloring and Conversation for Adults and other gatherings. Crested Butte, of course, specializes in alpine skiing, snowboarding and Nordic skiing, but people play in the snow with sleds, snowshoes, ice axes, fat bikes, skates, dog sleds, snowmobiles, hot air balloons and alpine touring gear. Find equipment, guides and ideas through Crested Butte Nordic, the Chamber of Commerce, Crested Butte Mountain Guides, Crested Butte Mountain Resort and other local businesses. You don’t have to be an athlete to enjoy snowy Crested Butte. The historic downtown invites guests to shop, dine, toast the day with a cocktail, catch a movie or some live music. For relaxation and wellbeing, check out the area’s spas, yoga/fitness studios, massage therapists or other healing modalities.

UNCOMPROMISING ATTENTION TO DETAIL satisfied clients come from meeting schedules and budgets, communication and honesty

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LODGING

Kevin Krill

ALPINE GETAWAYS Vacation Rentals 510 Elk Avenue Crested Butte

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

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

CRISTIANA GUESTHAUS

AD PAGE 61

AD PAGE 119

IRON HORSE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

OLD TOWN INN

From small cabins to luxury slope side homes, Iron Horse has the perfect property for your next family vacation. Let our staff arrange everything so you can focus on fun. Expect more when you stay with Iron Horse! 1.888.417.4766 ironhorsecb.com

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 119

Vacation Rentals PO Box 168, Crested Butte

AD PAGE 63

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

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

AD PAGE 119

PEAK PROPERTY MANAGEMENT & SALES Vacation and Long-term Rentals PO Box 2023, 318 Elk Avenue

Crested Butte’s premier provider of vacation rentals, long-term rentals, property management services and real estate sales. Specializing in one to four bedroom private vacation rentals in historic Crested Butte, the mountain and the Club at Crested Butte. Call or email us today. 1.888.909.7325 info@peakcb.com AD PAGE 84

PIONEER GUEST CABINS Cabins 2094 Cement Creek, South of CB

Established in 1939, inside National Forest, only 12 minutes from town. 8 clean and cozy cabins, with Cement Creek running through the property. Fully equipped kitchens, comfy beds, fireplaces and more. Dog friendly, open year round. 970.349.5517 pioneerguestcabins.com pioneerguestcabins@gmail.com AD PAGE 119 118

John Holder

A Distinctive, Unique, Historic Inn Downtown Crested Butte

800.374.6521 ElkMountainLodge.com

The warmth of a family inn...

...the value and convenience of a hotel Complimentary WiFi and continental breakfast Hot tub • Designated pet-friendly rooms • Non-smoking

(888)349-6184 • www.oldtowninn.net A TripAdvisor GreenPartner and 2013 Certificate of Excellence winner 119

DINING 9380’ • (970) 251-3000

Elevation Hotel, Mt. Crested Butte Spirits and food with altitude.

A contemporary spin on the ski lodge. Serving something for everyone, all with subtle twists to intrigue your palate and keep you coming back for more. The large deck with its slopeside fire pit and outdoor bar is the perfect location for an après drink.

Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner

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BRICK OVEN • 349-5044

BUTTE 66 ROADHOUSE BAR & GRILL 349-2998

223 Elk Avenue, Downtown

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

Treasury Building, Ski Area Base

Lunch / Dinner

Ad pg. 126

Hand-crafted smokehouse specialties, hearty salads, roadhouse-style burgers. Delectable milkshakes for adults and for the whole family. Serving daily 11 a.m. Slopeside Treasury Center.

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DONITA’S CANTINA • 349-6674 4th & Elk, Downtown

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

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THE ELDO • 349-6125

ELK AVENUE PRIME • 349-1221

THE ICE BAR AT ULEYS • 349-2275

Crested Butte’s only brewery and music venue! Happy hour daily from 3-7pm. Free wifi. Lunch and happy hour specials. Please check our website eldobrewpub.com for current entertainment schedule and pricing.The Eldo- a sunny place for shady people.

Downtown Crested Butte on Elk Ave. Serving U.S.D.A. Prime Steaks, fresh seafood, wild game and more. Come watch the game on the biggest HD screen in Crested Butte. 16 draft beers and the largest wine selection in the valley.

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.

Lunch / Dinner / Late Night

Dinner

Lunch / Dinner

215 Elk Avenue, Downtown

226 Elk Avenue, Downtown

Ad pg. 122

Ad pg. Back Cover

LAST STEEP • 349-7007

LILS • 349-5457

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.

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

208 Elk Avenue, Downtown

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MCGILL’S • 349-5240

PITA’S IN PARADISE • 349-0897

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.

Breakfast / Lunch

Lunch / Dinner

3rd and Elk, Downtown

Ad pg. 126

UMBRELLA BAR AT TEN PEAKS On Mountain at top of Painter Boy Lift skicb.com

Our newest addition! Listen for the alphorn as it welcomes you to our 35 ft umbrella bar and large deck with spectacular 360 degree views. Take in the scenery while you get a bite to eat, tip back a Bavarian beer, and soak up the sunshine. Top of Painter Boy Lift.

Lunch

Ad pg. 123

Mid-mountain at the base of Twister Lift

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MARCHITELLI’S GOURMET NOODLE • 349-7401

321 Elk Avenue, Downtown

228 Elk Avenue, Downtown

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Lydia Stern

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411 Third Street, Downtown

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

Dinner

Ad pg. 127

SOUPCON . 349-5448

Off Elk Avenue on Second, Downtown

Romantic, petite bistro featuring traditional French technique using local ingredients married with the finest cuisine from around the world. Open seven nights a week. Two seatings nightly. Reservations recommended.

Dinner

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WOODEN NICKEL • 349-6350

WOODSTONE GRILLE • 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. Reservations accepted.

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. 38

The Grand Lodge, Mt. Crested Butte

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Lydia Stern

Aprés-ski: the PARTY at the end of the slopes

Aprés-ski performer Bill Dowell.

By Dawne Belloise, seasoned après-ski vocalist

You just shredded every possible stash of new powder, so après-ski brews, grub and the exchange of grandiose snow tales are in order. A little music wouldn’t hurt either. Lucky you: après-ski drinking and music are synonymous around the Crested Butte slopes as well as a few bars in town. Ever since there’s been après-ski, there have been musicians trying to book gigs at it. On stage for the past decade or three are many of those same musicians cranking out many of the same tunes for so long they’re back in vogue. Performers can play the same music every afternoon because the majority of the faces change every few days. Order up another beer, because these timeless troubadours can make you look cool

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Lydia Stern

and lyric-savvy with their songs to which everyone knows the words. Some venture beyond the island genre of Jimmy Buffett, and apparently it doesn’t matter whether there’s a beach involved or the H²O is frozen because it’s all about vacation mentality. People on vacation tend to be more tolerant of different types of music, even if it’s not their style, as long as it’s played well. The majority of resort bars prefer a smorgasbord repertoire since their guests range from young families to mezzo-centenarians to the college crowd, with requests shifting from Taylor Swift to Willie Nelson to the theme song from “Frozen.” Bill Dowell has been playing après-ski gigs since he landed in Crested Butte in 1982, when there were more venues. As an acoustic soloist, he covered a lot of Jackson Brown, Dan Fogelberg and Cat Stevens. Since most of the tourists were, as they still are, from Texas, Oklahoma and points south, he fielded lots of requests for classic country. “Back then they loved to hear ‘Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw.’” Bill verified the aprés need for anything Buffett, performed with a country twang, to get toes tapping and people feeling good. Tastes haven’t changed all that much, Bill said. “People like the stuff they’ve listened 122

On Mountain Dining

Trent Bona

to for years, but there are a lot of younger kids whose parents, while those kids were growing up, listened to the Beatles, the Stones and other now-classic rock. Those kids recognize and appreciate that music as the foundation for the music they’re listening to today.” Many bands and solo musicians cover the required eclectic music from jazz to bluegrass, classic rock to classic country. But one of the most requested songs from eight-year-old kids seems to be “I Love this Bar,” rather puzzling but a good thing, since long-time bar guitarist Steve Snyder happens to play that very tune. For many years, Steve Snyder was a staple at the mountain joint called Casey’s. Although it was demolished years ago, Casey’s was THE locals’ preference for aprés stomping, and the place attracted many tourists as well who wanted to sample real Buttian wildness. Snyder recalled, “All the lift operators and a lot of the ski school would be there daily. It was the local hangout on the mountain back in 1989 to around 1999, until they closed down.” The music scene was thriving, so much so that Snyder quit his day job at a property management company to work five nights a week playing après-ski. “Bill Dickerson had just taken over Casey’s, and they stayed open until 2 a.m. The ski school would have their employee parties there, and I played for most of them. Bill Dowell turned me on to the gig. When I went into Casey’s the first time, Dickerson said to me, ‘I’ll tell you what, come up and play Thursday, and if we like you we’ll hire you; if not we’ll tell you to get the hell out.’” Snyder grinned and added, “I played there for ten years.” Snyder used Dickerson’s line about hiring his partner Jim Sandy when the keyboardist approached him about teaming up. The two have been playing together for 25 years now, and their duo is known as Don’t Panic. Snyder said they got a lot of requests in the early days for “outlaw country kind of stuff.” You can still see Snyder perform; catch him solo or as part of Don’t Panic at the Talk of the Town most Fridays for happy hour “aprés-aprés ski”; he starts the show there “whenever I’m damn good and ready.” Those who caught local talent and multi-instrumentalist Ted Bosler’s band, Whiskey Crate Warriors, in the 1990s will remember his bluegrass-flavored antics at the various aprés-powder bars like the Firehouse, Saloon (now the Brown Lab) and Rafters. But more notably, Bosler, along with a few other innovative musicians, created their own unique venues. “I used to play in the lift lines;

ULEY’S

SLEIGHRIDE DINNER Memories are made on this starlit ride in a snowcat-drawn sleigh to our charming cabin & in the woods. Enjoy a handcrafted five course dining experience, well-chosen wines and spirits, and impeccable service in the elegance of our alpine cabin.

Ice Bar

DAYTIME DINING The creative cuisine and cozy atmosphere has made lunch at Uley’s Cabin a favorite destination. Don’t miss the legendary bar made out of ice serving our signature drinks. A Crested Butte “must do”! BOTTOM OF THE TWISTER LIFT

LUNCH & DINNER RESERVATIONS: (970) 349-2275 skicb.com/uleys

Our newest addition! Listen for the alphorn as it welcomes you to our 35 ft. umbrella bar and large deck with spectacular 360˚ views. Take in the scenery while you get a bite to eat, tip back a Bavarian beer, and soak up the sunshine. TOP OF THE PAINTER BOY LIFT

Casual mountain dining in the heart of the Rockies with grill, pasta and salad stations, a huge sun deck, great music and a lively bar. BOTTOM OF THE PARADISE LIFT

skicb.com/dining

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Steve Snyder

Trent Bona

Base Area Dining

Hand-crafted smokehouse specialties, hearty salads, roadhouse-style burgers. Delectable milkshakes for adults and for the whole family. Serving daily from 11 am. SLOPESIDE TREASURY CENTER (970) 349-2999

Fast, friendly counter service Pizza & Deli. Try out the new “Grab & Go” menu featuring creative wraps and salads when you’re on the move. TREASURY CENTER UPPER LEVEL

(970) 349-2998 Relaxed après spot with fireside seating & outdoor patio. LOBBY LEVEL – THE LODGE AT MOUNTAINEER SQUARE

Freshly made Mexican fare & Margaritas. MOUNTAINEER SQUARE BREEZEWAY (970) 349-4450

skicb.com/dining

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Come enjoy our alpine menu and new look. Featuring custom stone oven pizza, pasta and signature grill items. Play some billiards on our open table! NEW cocktail service to the swimming pool and hot tub. Serving breakfast, après & dinner daily. GRAND LODGE (970) 349-8030

Dusty Demerson

we talked Crested Butte Mountain Resort into letting us play during Ski Free because the lines were so long. So we were up there to entertain and distract while everyone was waiting in line at the Paradise lift. We’d take the fiddle and a washboard, and we could only do it when it was warm enough, which was about eight days out of the year. We got a ski pass and free lunch at Bubba’s (in Paradise Warming House) out of the deal, and we made tips. I’d yell, ‘Okay, give me all your money; we’re healthy people, but we’re not doing this for our health!’ And, yeah, they’d give us all their money! It was the best pass job ever.” Bosler’s rotating roster of band members through the years included, to drop just a few names: Paul Lee (the Bluegrass Nazi); Michael Kang, who plays mando with String Cheese Incident (SCI); Keith Mosley, the bass player for SCI; and Billy Nershi, also with SCI. Bosler’s best and most lucrative aprèsski gig was unofficially and spontaneously playing the Mountain Express bus that ran between the mountain and downtown. “We’d give them a little spiel: ‘Welcome to the musical bus. We’re playing a few songs for your listening enjoyment, and at the end you will give us all your money!’ And then we’d play a couple of songs and at the end we’d stand at the door with our hat and they’d give us all their money.” He laughed

Killing ‘em Softly Two Seatings Nightly. Reservations Required. 970.349.5448

Lydia Stern

incredulously. “We tended to tell the same jokes and play the same songs over and over, so some of the bus drivers were not enamored with us. We’d tip them out a little bit, though. The tourists loved it; they thought we were hilarious.” Bosler doesn’t play publicly any more since his energy now goes into brewing beer for the Eldo downtown, but he confesses, “I miss the energy, but I did my time. It was fun.” Kind of like the nineteenth hole in golf, après-ski activity is often a major consideration for vacationers booking their trip. The post-shussing of the slopes after the lifts crank to a halt originated in the Alps as skiers would stop at bars on their last run of the day, still in their snow gear. Most musicians love the après-ski gigs... there’s no pressure, everyone’s elated about a fine day on the mountain, and it’s great fun to watch the crowd get happier as the brews flow, the ski clothes come off and everyone’s down to dancing in boots and long johns. So catch some of the best local entertainers at the various watering holes and shake those post-ski bones of yours, because although the French may have invented the phrase, Crested Butte perfected the party. Dawne Belloise is a freelance feature writer, photographer and vocalist who has performed more après-ski gigs in Crested Butte and around the Colorado Rockies than she can recall.

SoupconBistro.net 970.349.5448 CB, CO 81224

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LUNCH + DINNER EVERY DAY OPEN FROM 10 A.M. ‘TIL 10 P.M. DAILY

D I N E - I N • TA K E - O U T DOWNTOWN CRESTED BUTTE

970-349-5044

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CB’S ONE AND ONLY SUSHI BAR Dinner Nightly 5:30 Happy Hour at the Bar and Sushi Bar 5:30 - 6:30 Patio Happy Hour 4:30 - 5:30 (starting June 27 until End of August) 321 Elk Avenue | 970.349.5457 | l i l s s u s h i b a r a n d g r i l l . c o m

Trent Bona Photography

SUBS, APPETIZERS BIG JUICY BURGERS HUGE SALAD BAR STUMPTOWN COFFEE TEQUILA, SPIRITS, WINE + HDTVs

AMERICAN STYLE BISTRO CUISINE WITH SPECIALTY MARTINIS AND COCKTAILS Open Monday thru Saturday 5:30 Happy Hour Daily 5:30 - 6:30 Late Night Happy Hour Thursday thru Saturday 10:00 - Midnight 122 W. Tomichi Ave | Gunnison | 970-641-4394 | B L A C K S T O C K B I S T R O . C O M

• io • Pat or tdo Ou

BAR & GRILL 302 ELK AVENUE 970.349.0897

Sunny Sports Bar • H AP P Y HO U

: ay 3 yD er Ev

00-6:00 pm • Odell’s

1:00 am to 9:00 AILY 1 D EN pm P O •K • p id s Ta

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Bowls • Wraps • So • Rice s up a Pit •

970.349.7007

208 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte

www.TheLastSteep.com

The Last Steep Bar & Grill

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PHOTO FINISH

John Holder

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LET US SHOW YOU THE

B RAVE NE W WO RL D OF LEGAL MARIJUANA Locally Grown

Locally Owned

2014 CB BLAZER’S BALL

2014 BEST BUDTENDER

2015 BEST NEW BUSINESS

2 Place Concentrates, People’s Choice

Crested Butte News Best of the Butte

CB/Mt. CB Chamber of Commerce

Prime Dry Aged Steaks, Steakhouse, Fresh Seafood, Large Groups and Weddings Welcome

226 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte 970 . 349 . 1221 elkaveprime.com