SneakPEAK - January 23, 2014

Thursday, January 23, 2014

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

FREE, WEEKLY, LOCAL... Only the good stuff!

THE FINAL ISSUE

When the quality of service matters...

inside 5 | Letter from the editor 7 | Undie Run fundraiser 8 | VVP Success Awards 9 | SneakSPORTS BEST OF 11 | My Brother’s Keeper 12 | John Donovan Q&A 13 | BC’s Talons Challenge 14 | Freeskier Taylor Seaton 16 | Magustos in Minturn 18 | Sights of summer 19 | Sights of winter

look back at the best articles, photos and P10 | Aramblings from the past three years

20 | Tawnya Godinez 21 | Snowskating

Bollinger of Pepper P4 | Bret talks pot before the band’s Agave show

P6 |

SneakPEAK Vail is a locally owned arts, entertainment and lifestyle magazine, published weekly throughout the year for the Colorado mountain communities of Eagle County. Following the final issue, visit Sneakpeakvail.com for regular coverage of all things Vail.

An insider’s guide to BC Wine and Food Weekend

{ the boss }

{ the words }

{ the glue }

{ the look }

Erinn Hoban publisher

phil lindeman editor

Shana larsen office manager

kristina johnson marketing & design

THE CREW Contributors Writers John O’Neill | Laura Lieff | Michael Suleiman | Patrick Whitehurst Felicia Kalaluhi | Andy Jessen | Chris McDonnell | Elizabeth Escobar Photographers Kent Pettit | Katie Fiedler-Anderson | Ryan McCombs Charles Townsend Bessent | Björn Bauer

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

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The kona boys are back

Shortly after releasing their first new album in five years, reggae trio Pepper leaves the sun-drenched beaches of Hawaii for a low-key tour of landlocked ski towns. Interview by Phil Lindeman.

Every once in a while, even beach bums need to cool off.

For the past two months, bassist Bret Bollinger of ska/reggae/alt-rock heavyweight Pepper has spent the days surfing, sunning and basically living his lyrics.

Now he’s ready for a taste of high-country powder.

Along with lifelong bandmates Kaleo Wassman (guitar/vocals) and Yesod Williams (drums), Bollinger is a self-professed surf fanatic – just listen to the trio’s entire second album, “Kona Town” – and finds an unlikely second home in the mountains. Not only do towns like Vail and Breckenridge promise the frostbitten equivalent of surfing, they also tend to attract the sort of folks Pepper embraces as fans: laid-back, openminded and more than willing to share a joint or two.

As with any act, hop-scotching across the U.S. can take a toll. The band spent the past several years touring exhaustively, headlining everything from music festivals like Warped Tour to one-off shows on college campuses and at Red Rocks. The three took a break in early 2012 to hit the studio for their sixth album, a

self-titled collection released a few weeks back, and one of the best. found time away from the road rejuvenating. It’s their But now it’s back to reality, or at least the sort of first new album in five years and, for Bollinger, easily reality that allows for playing in a new ski town every night. When Pepper comes to Agave – a venue fit for just 250 people – the trio brings a slew of new material, along with revamped versions of longtime favorites like ‘Face Plant” and “Give It Up.” What: Pepper with opener Lionize Before the show, SneakPEAK spoke with Bollinger When: Thursday, Jan. 23 at 9 p.m. from his second home in SoCal to get his thoughts on Where: Agave, Avon leaving the ocean for snow, the evolution of Pepper’s Cost: $18 to $20 live act and how legalized marijuana is just the beginSorry, youngsters – entry is 21 and ning of something much, much larger.

IF YOU GO

older only. Tickets are available online or at the door. To buy tickets or find out more, see agaveavon.com.

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To read an extended version of the interview with Bret Bollinger of Pepper, go to SneakPeakVail.com.

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

SneakPEAK: I hate to go with the obvious question right off the bat, but I will anyway: Is this your first visit to Colorado since retail pot was legalized?

Bret Bollinger: Absolutely not. We have been enjoying the new setup, the new protocol as far as marijuana laws go. Colorado is so productive and forward thinking – it’s one of our favorite states, if not our absolute favorite state in the great old U.S.A. For us, see[See PEPPER, page 22]

So it goes

A final letter from the editor, Phil Lindeman.

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As a malleable, freshfaced student at Colorado State University, an Intro to Newswriting professor laid out a dozen or so journalistic clichés to avoid.

Along with citing Webster’s Dictionary or alluding to nonexistent sex, PHIL LINDEMAN drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, { the words } one of the most grievous mistakes was to begin an article with a quote. After all, what’s lazier than using someone else’s words to express your own, particularly when talking about a house fire or car accident or bank robbery? (Journalism, it turns out, can be depressingly dour.)

Although it was never spoken, the prof made another implication: The only thing worse than beginning with a quote was recognizing the cliché, explaining it away in a long, meandering intro, then falling back on a quote anyway. Come to think of it, long-meandering intros in general were on another list of journalism no-no’s.

But you know what? F*** it.

Like clichés themselves, good quotes become good quotes because there’s an inkling of truth behind their glossy, overused exteriors. Unlike the majority of hard-news journalism, they try to capture the eternal and the meaningful in a few well-chosen words. The best tend to succeed without question, while the worst are up for debate. It’s all a matter of taste.

Truth is, my staff and I deal in quotes.

They’re the skeleton of every article or interview you’ve read between these pages, and so dedicating my entire final column to quotes is fitting. You could view us as archaeologists, unearthing the bones and arranging them into meaningful shapes, then fleshing them out with skin, meat and guts to create something vibrant and alive. Without your words, we have nowhere to begin.

But I can’t downplay the craft of skillfully interpreting quotes and, by extension, the context around them. That craft shone through in every piece of writing we published, from Laura Lieff’s insightful personality profiles to Michael Suleiman’s off-kilter reporting to John O’Neill’s hands-on coverage of all things athletic. Even first-time writers like Nicholas Van Dyke and Elizabeth Escobar grew with each piece (see their articles in this week’s issue for proof). Along with occasional articles from other freelancers, you can track Nich and Elizabeth’s growth as they continue writing for our website, covering Vail’s arts, entertainment and music scene in a way this area still sorely needs. The print magazine is gone, but the writing will stay the same.

What quote, then, do I use for the final issue of SneakPEAK? After all, the print publication was only around for three years. In the grand scheme of things that’s a blip on the radar, particularly in a place where the majority of the reading public lives elsewhere 50 weeks per year. This isn’t like the Rocky Mountain News going bankrupt.

Should the quote reflect my frustration?

SneakPEAK may not have the legacy of a major newspaper, but it’s still disappointing to see the print version disappear. I can’t speak for the rest of our staff, but the past few months have been exhausting. Under the careful guidance of our design guru, Kristina Johnson, the publication went through a major overhaul between August and November. The look, feel and overall vibe of the magazine were never better, and our small yet passionate team of full-time employees was the best possible. We cease publication with a product that’s attractive and approachable, the sort you take home to mom. (With any luck, you’ve already invited this issue into your home. Hopefully it stays there.)

But anger and frustration are fleeting, and since I’ve already spent a few paragraphs waxing philosophic about the place of quotes in writing, the proper final quote shouldn’t be bogged down by weepy exaggerations.

The quote I keep returning to, then, is the understated thesis of Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five.” It’s short, simple and succinct, the latter of which I’ve personally struggled with since my first book report. It’s also melancholy in a beautiful sort of way, with just enough remorse to hint at the inherent danger of overanalyzing any person or venture or belief. Finally, some 700 words after my opening sentence, I get to the quote: “So it goes.”

In the book, those three words are a philosophical refrain for the Tralfamadorians, a race of aliens who (that?) have no concept of time, which in turn means they see death and life as occuring on parallel planes at all times. Everything that happens just is. Erinn Hoban, my longtime publisher and the first boss to fully trust my editorial intuition, eloquently voiced this sentiment in her final letter last week.

As I see it, the Tralfamadorians (and Vonnegut and Erinn) make peace with the fact all things, good or bad, must come to an end. Or, perhaps more accurately, that all things must change. We’re in charge of giving that change heft or meaning or purpose.

And so it goes.

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Beaver Creek Wine and Food Weekend 1.23-1.26.2014

APPETITE The SLOPESIDE KITCHEN The annual Food & Wine Weekend returns to Beaver Creek for four days of mouth-watering dishes and libations.

By Elizabeth Escobar.

Higher elevations and days spent playing in powder are sure to work up anyone’s appetite.

They’re also ideal conditions for Food & Wine magazine’s annual Food & Wine Weekend, which takes place in none other than Beaver Creek. Between Jan. 23-26, the weekend offers everything that food and wine connoisseurs (who happen to double as skiers/snowboarders) could hope for. From interactive cooking demonstrations to gourmet wine pairing dinners – even a downhill skiing race between chefs – there’s something for all foodies to enjoy.

With ten major events over the course of four days though, it can be overwhelming to try and decide which ones cater to your particular tastes. To help combat the process, SneakPEAK highlights a couple of the happenings (and the culinary talent behind them) so that you can make the most of your time and money and focus on the good stuff.

the snow-covered Rockies. Hosted at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort &

Chef Kirk Weems (left) of Allie’s Cabin in Beaver Creek will be a part of two dinners at the Food and Wine Weekend.

Photo special to SneakPEAK.

Spa, guest Chef Tim Love, along with resident Chef Christian Apetz, will be cooking up a massive spread of pastas and sandwiches to accompany the roast pig and lamb. There will also be about 20 different kinds of toppings – pickles, salsas, homemade tortillas – for guests to add to their meal, as well as tropical drink concoctions to try out. Says Chef Love of the evening: “It has a really cool après-feel to it. Lots of fun and fresh ingredients.”

In the kitchen: Chef Kirk Weems, Executive Chef at Allie’s Cabin, Beaver Creek Chef Weems is busy. He splits his seasons and What: Food & Wine magazine brings In the kitchen: Chef Tim Love, Texas recipes between the Rendezvous Club Restaurant in veteran chefs and hungry guests together Though he’s a southern guy – originally from Texas the summer and Allie’s Cabin in the winter months. to create amazing food and enjoy equally great drinks and attended school in Tennessee – But before he held either of these prestigious posiWhen: Jan. 23 to Jan. 26 Chef Love is also part Coloradan. Having lived in tions, he wasn’t sure what lay in store for him here.

Where: Beaver Creek (check events for Breckenridge for five years, the annual Food & Wine “The ‘real world’—or however you want to say it— specific locations) Weekend makes for a perfectly legitimate excuse to wasn’t agreeing with me, so I moved out here [BeaCost: Varies depending on the event get back to the mountains he misses. “I get to ride ver Creek] to ski for a couple of years,” tells Weems. again and hang out with all the chefs. We have a treA classic Colorado ski bum story, he started out as a For a complete list of chefs, events, mendous time—the camaraderie is just awesome.” dish washer and prep cook at SaddleRidge to make locations and pricing, see Chef Love will get to combine his love of both ends meet, and was on the grill station full time withbeavercreek.com. the slopes and cooking as he competes alongside in a year. As he discovered his passion for cooking, other chefs in the Celebrity Ski Race and Brunch on he refined his skills through years spent working his way up the ranks of line cooks—such as his stint as a sous chef at Beano’s Cabin. Sunday. Returning as last year’s champion of the race, Love is hoping to bring “Cooking is just something I love. And there’s nothing I enjoy more than to home another win for his charity, Burgers 4 Babies. The charity contributes to help other people be happy and to enjoy an evening out. So I get a very heartfelt the NICU Helping Hands foundation which directly helps out families whose children are born prematurely. joy out of what I do—it’s something I feel very fortunate for.”

It’s Love’s Texas roots that helped him get to where he is today. In addition to Weems also feels lucky to be moved out of his comfort zone each time the Food & Wine Weekend comes to town. “We’re kind of a closed facility, so we starting a charity, Love is also the owner of several restaurants in his home state. don’t normally get out in the public eye a whole lot. I really enjoy having that “I grew up on a farm in Texas and we raised all kinds of animals. It was always just chores. But then when I started cooking to pay for my college, I realized how change with the festival.” much I knew about food.” He explains that when he combined what he knew of Event: Après –Tiki w/ Guest Chef Time Love, Friday- Jan. 24, 3 food with the energy of working in a restaurant, he couldn’t help but to fall in love with the work. p.m., $50/person Beach meets mountains with this night of palm trees and hula dancing among

IF YOU GO

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

Locals take on the annual Cupid’s Undie Run in Denver

HAPPENINGS No pants, no problem

A dedicated group of locals braves the cold for the Cupid’s Undie Run, a fundraiser for conditions like neurofibromatosis.

By Phil Lindeman.

Every February, right in the heart of winter, Vail-area transplant Steph Merritt and a handful of close friends strip down to their underwear and run through the streets of Denver.

In honor of Brandon Merritt, sisters Steph and Jennifer started B the Difference, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing NF sufferers and their families to the Vail area. The nonprofit also raises money for the Cupid’s Undie Run over Valentine’s Day weekend.

To donate or find out more, see Facebook.com/BtheDiff.

The gentle giant When talking about Brandon, both Merritt and Hardy refer to him as a “gentle giant.” At 6 feet even, he was energetic, talkative and never ashamed of his condition.

But symptoms weren’t easy to hide and the Florida native struggled to find a solid group of friends and supporters. His family had taken trips to the Vail area since he was young, and like many visitors, he fell in love with the mountains and snowboarding. After graduating from high school, he wanted nothing more than to live in Colorado.

“Brandon had it tough growing up,” Merritt says.

“But snowboarding was really good for him. Once his feet were on that board, it didn’t matter if he had a limp or anything else. He could just enjoy himself on his own terms.”

Due to Brandon’s condition, Merritt and her younger sister, Jessica, followed him to Vail. It was nice to be close to their brother, but Merritt claims he truly found a community that accepted him, working at Beaver Creek

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in the winter and local golf courses in the summer.

“We figured it was better to live with your sisters than your parents, especially when you’re 19 years old,” Merritt says. “Dealing with something like NF can either break you apart or bring you together, and we found such a wonderful support system.”

More often than not, Brandon built those support systems from little or nothing. He soon became a regular at Pazzo’s in Avon and a staple at Beaver Creek. Hardy met him during training for guest services, and right away the two bonded over a mutual love for University of Miami football. Although the two only knew each other for a few months, she joined the Undie Run team soon after he passed.

And Brandon continues to influence the valley. Merritt, who’s the taproom manager at Crazy Mountain Brewery, asked the owners to partner with the Undie Run and supply beer for the Denver event. She and her sister have also raised more than $1,000 each for the run through their memorial foundation, B the Difference.

“Just the amount of money the run generates every year is incredible,” Merritt says. “They’ve gone from $50,000 that first year to a million now. I’ll see random friends of mine on Facebook who say they’re heading out. People just want to come together.”

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

sneakPEAKvail.com

Support the run

Left: The Undie Run crew (from left) Steph Merritt, Kate Goldstein, Christi Kana, Lindsay Hardy and Kara Lowe.

Right: Brandon Merritt.

Photos special to SneakPEAK.

Find the stories you love at

The tradition would be odd if the crew wasn’t joined by thousands of others braving frostbite for the Cupid’s Undie Run, an international fundraiser for The Children’s Tumor Foundation. This year, Denver is one of 30 cities in the U.S. and Australia participating in the event. The goal: Raise $3 million, all while shivering for a cause close to Merritt’s heart.

“This condition is way more common than anyone knows,” says Merritt, whose brother Brandon was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis (NF) at birth and passed away due to tumors at 25 years old. “They know Huntington’s disease because of ‘House’ or Lou Gehrig’s disease because of Lou Gehrig, but this is a condition without a face or spokesperson. Something like the Undie Run can make all the difference.”

This Valentine’s Day weekend marks the third time Merritt and a group of about 10 teammates have taken to the cold, frozen streets in their skivvies. The run isn’t painfully long – just about a mile or so from start to finish – but as Merritt says, it has helped raise awareness for common yet largely unknown conditions like NF. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, roughly one in every 3,000 to 4,000 people in the U.S. is affected by the disorder, which causes tumors to grow along nerve endings. Although Brandon was diagnosed at birth, NF can develop over time and range from small, almost unnoticeable spots on the skin to extreme tumors in the eyes, brain and spine.

Those outward signs make the Undie Run more than an eye-catching fundraiser. For Lindsay Hardy, who met Brandon while working with guest services at Beaver Creek, it’s a reminder of the hardships people with NF face daily.

“It’s an interesting thing that we can go run in our underwear, but people with NF often have these scars that draw attention,” Hardy says. “It gets the word out in an unusual way.”

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Honoring the valley’s own A look at the Vail Valley Partnership’s Annual Success Awards and what to expect for this year’s celebration. By Nicholas Van Dyke.

In the Vail Valley there has always been an abundance of businesses – big and small – that allow the valley to operate in the wonderful way that it does.

Every business has its own attributes that make it special and allow it to stand out among its competitors. People in the valley notice these attributes, and thanks to the Vail Valley Partnership there is a way to award the businesses when they stand out in a positive way.

The Vail Valley Partnership and Eide Bailly, LLP are hosting the 11th Annual Success Awards on Friday, Jan. 31. The ceremony will take place at the Vilar Performing Arts Center from 6 p.m. to 8:30 pm, with an after-party at the Met from 8:30 p.m. to midnight.

The awards are “like the Oscars of the business community,” says Jennifer Weintraub, the Partnership’s events and membership manager. The Vail Valley Partnership supports more than 800 businesses in total and this is the organization’s biggest event of the year. The awards are designed to recognize the accomplishments of the valley’s businesses and pay tribute to the businesses that have stood out in 2013.

Categories for the awards include Young Professional of the Year, Nonprofit of the Year and Most Uniquely Vail Valley. New categories this year include Best Place to Work, Health & Wellness Leadership Award, Hospitality Professional of the Year and special recognition of an individual member by VVP’s Board of Governors.

Finalists for this year’s awards include businesses such as Weston Snowboards, Ski and Snowboard Club Vail, Sonnenalp Hotel, Colorado Mountain Express, Bonfire Brewing and many other fantastic local businesses.

“The partnership does an excellent job fostering relationships among all members of the community,” says owner of Bonfire Brewing Andy Jessen. “They promote what the valley has to offer in a professional and consistent manner, and we’re

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

The Minturn storefront of Weston Snowboards, nominated for the “Most Uniquely Vail Valley” award.

Photo special to SneakPEAK.

The back patio at Eagle’s Bonfire Brewing, a frontrunner for “Small Business of the Year.”

Photo special to SneakPEAK.

IF YOU GO What: The 11th Annual VVP Success Awards, sponsored by Eide Bailly, LLP Where: Friday, Jan. 31 from 6 p.m. to midnight When: Vilar Center and The Metropolitan, Beaver Creek Cost: $79 per person Tickets are available by calling 888.920.ARTS (2787) or in person at the VPAC Box Office in Beaver Creek. A discounted group rate is available for groups of eight or more attendees.

proud to contribute as a member of the organization.”

Bonfire Brewing is a finalist for Small Business of the year along with Active Energies and All Mountain Technologies.

“Being a finalist for Small Business of the Year is quite an honor in a valley full of innovative entrepreneurs,” says Jessen. “We’re in excellent company with our co-finalists–Active Energies and All Mountain Technologies, and hope we can continue to grow and contribute to the partnership and the valley as a whole.”

The awards aren’t all about competition, but instead help bring the business community together to celebrate the success they have experienced in the previous year.

Businesses can nominate themselves or be nominated by their peers. Some businesses are even nominated by their peers without knowing it and find out after the nomination is announced.

The awards will kick off with a cocktail reception from 6-7 p.m. prior to the actual award ceremony. Heavy appetizers, beer and wine will be served to the guests.

The fun doesn’t stop when the awards are over–instead it continues on into the night with an after party at the Met. The party will include food, drinks, music and hopefully a little dancing. Go Photo Booth will even have props set up to take pictures and make sure the night of fun is never forgotten. The after party is included in your ticket price, so make sure to stop by if you’re attending the awards.

“It’s a great way to celebrate the business community, nominees and winners,” says Weintraub.

The party also allows for attendees to congratulate winners of awards personally and celebrate with them properly–something everyone enjoys doing.

“This is our first time participating and we plan to attend the party, win or lose, to cheer on our fellow businesses,” says Jessen.

The Success Awards are a great way to show local businesses your support and recognize the great things that they do.

Without local businesses, this great valley we live in wouldn’t exist.

Breaking down two very different (yet very similar) Super Bowl QBs

SNEAKSPORTS

Stay Classy, football fans When I grow up I want to be like Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson.

Even though my dreams of leading the NFL in every passing category, scramPatrick Whitehurst bling around like Fran Tarkenton (for the younger readers in the audience, he was Johnny Manziel beMinturn-based sports lover Patrick Whitehurst fore every kid pretended to be Johnny Football) and writes for fanrag.com. unleashing 60-yard rockets Tune in weekly for his with impeccable accuracy musings on the wild and never materialized, there is complicated love affair plenty to love about each between American fans and their most cherished quarterback as they prepare to lead their respective pastimes. teams to a wonderful Super Bowl matchup.

He can be contacted As the top pick in the through fanrag.com. draft and the son of a former Pro Bowl quarterback, high expectations were placed on Peyton Manning from day one. Over the course of his career, Manning has exceeded those lofty expectations and transformed into one of the top five quarterbacks in the history of the game.

The knock on Manning has always been that he only has one Super Bowl win to his credit. Fair or not, that’s how quarterbacks’ legacies are judged in this team game. He’s already joined Kurt Warner and Craig Morton as one of just three signal callers to lead two different franchises to the big game, but if Denver wins Super Bowl 48, Man-

ning will become the only quarterback to win a ring with different teams.

The Seahawks took what many considered to be a flier on Russell Wilson in the third round of the 2012 draft. Countless scouts and “experts” said Wilson was too small to play in the NFL, and although he’s mobile, he lacked the elite arm strength to make up for his physical limitations.

People said the same thing before he enrolled at North Carolina State and again when he entered a graduate program at the University of Wisconsin (Wilson graduated NC State in three years) to conclude his college eligibility. As a result of his work ethic and leadership, Wilson was named a Badgers team captain before training camp even began.

In Seattle, most people believed Wilson would be a backup to the recently acquired free agent Matt Flynn, or if he were to see the field, it would be in a limited role as a wildcat-type of player.

Russell Wilson had a different goal in mind: His intentions were to become the Seahawks starter and lead the team to a championship.

The two Super Bowl quarterbacks go about their business in vastly different ways, but the end result is the same: their teams win. Each knows the importance of a solid rushing attack and preparation. Neither player would be where he is today without dedication and persistence. Peyton Manning never had the arm strength of Jeff George and Russell Wilson is nowhere near as fast as Michael Vick, but both quarterbacks worked hard at their crafts and welcomed the chance to improve every day, every possession, and every snap. Wilson and Manning are not only tremendous quarterbacks and leaders – they embrace the opportunity to become positive role models for their fans and in their communities.

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Manning put together the greatest statistical season in the history of the NFL, yet after each game (win or loss) he gave credit to his teammates, coaches, front office and fans. He didn’t downplay others’ roles as less important than his own (even though that was usually the case) and he routinely showed respect to his opponents, even if they had previously disrespected him.

Listen to any of Wilson’s interviews or watch him play on the field and one word keeps coming to mind: poise. Reporters and shock journalists can’t bait him into saying something controversial. Wilson doesn’t get rattled when he makes mistakes. He doesn’t shy away from placing the blame on himself when he plays poorly, and he always put the team first.

Win or lose on Super Bowl Sunday, each quarterback will accept the outcome with the kind of classy professionalism that has become all too rare in this self-promotional age. They will offer congratulations to the other and be engaging while being honest with the impending media blitz.

Win or lose, Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson will enjoy the experience while playing their hearts out. Win or lose, Wilson and Manning will get back to work shortly thereafter with the goal of improving their skills and making it to Arizona for Super Bowl 49.

SneakPeak Super Bowl prediction: Denver wins!

It takes awhile for Peyton and company to adjust to the wintery conditions in New Jersey, while the Seahawks’ physical style will give the team fits in the first half. Marshawn Lynch is held in check, Demaryius Thomas catches the winning touchdown against Richard Sherman and one of the all-time greats announces his retirement at the conclusion of the game. Relax, Broncos fans – this will be Champ Bailey’s (not Peyton’s) last game.

Broncos 27, Seahawks 23 Follow @Pat_Whitehurst on Twitter for much more on the complicated love affair between Americans and the sports fan inside us all.

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The best of

bus or at Loaded Joe’s.

If I had the time and an infinite budget - that’s the rub, isn’t it? - the final issue of SneakPEAK would be 80 pages long. (In a way, it will be that and much more when we transition to web-only coverage). I’d love to On one hand, readers inherently crave the showcase every article and every photo our act of physically reading a paper. They thumb group of freelancers has produced over the through the thin, slightly inky pages to find past three years. Together, those pieces would that one little blurb to carefully cut out and create some kind of strange, gorgeous colpost on a workplace bulletin board or atlage of what it’s like to live and play in Eagle home refrigerator. It’s the spiritual godfather County. of Facebook, and in a small mountain town, But that’s not the case. The following words it somehow feels more authentic than idly and images are a handful of SneakPEAK’s finbrowsing search engine results. est, culled from our online and print archives.

On the other hand, paper is cumbersome.

Most were produced in the past year, but all There are only so many inches to fill, and the touch on the people, places and stories that nature of the business means that precious made covering this tiny slice of Colorado endwhite space is often crowded with ads and oth- lessly intriguing. They more than deserve the er distractions. Printing itself is also insanely paper they’re printed on. wasteful, particularly for a weekly magazine Enjoy. most readers discard after a quick read on the

In the rapidly shrinking world of print news, paper is a publication’s best friend and worst enemy.

Vail Mountain at dawn.

Photo: Anthony Thornton.

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

A chat with My Brother’s Keeper and John Popper

BEST OF: TUNES MY BROTHER’S KEEPER

Hard-rocking locals and big-name guests keep old-school rock alive for Shakedown Bar’s house band - the only one in Vail.

Interview by Phil Lindeman.

Editor’s note: This interview with Scott Rednor ran in the June 20, 2013 edition of SneakPEAK. As frontman of My Brothers’ Keeper and owner of Shakedown Bar, Rednor and a rotating roster of musicians (including John Popper) play free shows on Thursday and Saturday nights during the ski season.

When Vail transplant Scott Rednor opened Shakedown Bar late last year, he knew it could rival the oldschool rock clubs he loved as a burgeoning musician.

The New Jersey native was weaned on bluesy, guitar-driven tunes by nowclassic groups like Tom Petty, The Band, Led Zeppelin and Stevie Ray Vaughn, and he wanted that sound to have a home in Vail Village. Soon after local bar/ venue The Club went out of business, Rednor moved into the intimate, theaterlike space and began turning it into an East Coast club with a Rocky Mountain vibe.

But as with any legitimate rock bar, the first step was building a house band.

Luckily, Rednor isn’t just a rock lover – his personal ties run deep into the genre, from recurring winter gigs with Vail favorite Phil Long to national tours supporting Blues Traveler.

Thanks to these connections – not to mention a reputation for rootsy guitar work – Rednor founded My Brother’s Keeper with fellow pros John Michel and Michael Jude. In less than a year, the three have fine-tuned a brand of rock ‘n’ roll to fit the bar he envisioned.

Rather than stick with covers, though, the group is busy writing original songs for an untitled full-length album, set for a September release on Rednor’s new label, Shakedown Records. It’s part of his plan to cultivate a scene around the bar, even as he invites eclectic acts like England’s The New Mastersounds to the Vail stage.

Between recording in Memphis and playing out-of-state shows, My Brother’s Keeper has made regular appearances at Shakedown Bar. Every Tuesday and Saturday night during summer, find Rednor, Michel, Jude and a cadre of guest musicians play originals with a mix of classic, high-energy covers.

While setting up for a gig in his home state, Rednor – along with raucous bandmates – spoke to SneakPEAK about building a house band, the future of rock ‘n’ roll, and the many uses of duct tape.

SneakPEAK: My Brother’s Keeper is nearly a rock ‘n’ roll super-group, at least by local standards. How did you gather such an accomplished group of musicians?

Scott Rednor: I had played the gig at Red Lion with Phil Long for a while, so I asked him to put me in touch with the best rhythm players in the area. When you get into the mountains – going above 8,000 feet – there aren’t a whole lot of musicians to choose from. This is where I live, though, so I wanted to find guys who were nearby.

Wait, hold on, John wants to say something quick.

John Popper: These f***ing guys just picked me up off the side of the road,

My Brother’s Keeper with John Popper at Vail’s Shakedown Bar. Photo: Zach Mahone.

and now we’re god-knows-where. I just wanted a ride down the street – these motherf****rs have kidnapped me. Help! Help!

SR: (Laughs) That’s John.

SP: Who? SR: John Popper, from Blues Traveler. He’s our harmonica player.

SP: That was unexpected – how did he join the band?

SR: He and I toured together for a bit in the mid-‘90s, when I opened for Blues Traveler, so I knew him from our time together there. He’s part of the band for this album.

SP: Is it easy to work with musicians who play in side projects, or even their own bands, like John?

SR: It can get in the way on occasion. We have a lot of work to do with this band, so we have to make sure we’re making this band our priority. Obviously, Blues Traveler is a well-known band, so John makes it out to play with us when he can. The four of us, the core of the band, have really been doing all we can to make this succeed – everyone is committed, and now that the record is coming together, it’s starting to take off. We’re glad to be making some great rock ‘n’ roll music in an age when there isn’t much of it.

SP: Is there a growing market for classic, roots-style rock ‘n’ roll?

SR: I’d like to think so. This is authentic rock ‘n’ roll that music fans all over the world are starved for these days. We’re recording in Memphis, where Zeppelin III was recorded, where Stevie Ray Vaughn and ZZ Top all recorded.

There is so much of the rock ‘n’ roll spirit that has been lost to technology, and we’re just trying to stay true to what we know and love as rock ‘n’ roll.

And John has one last thing to say.

JP: This really is kind of a homecoming for me, playing with My Brother’s Keeper. Jono Manson is one of the first people I played with in New York, so it’s like my world colliding. It’s a very neat thing to reconnect with all these guys from Fox County and New York and New Jersey – I really think rock n roll is alive and well. It’s an evolution of this scene that has gone unbroken since the mid-’80s. Oh, man – Scott just threw a beer at Jono. It really is like old times.

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Looking back at Vail’s rough and tumble early years

BEST OF: ORAL HISTORY

The john donovan interview Catching up with Vail’s most memorable bartender, garbage man and jack-of-all-trades.

Interviewed by Phil Lindeman.

John Donovan outside of Vendetta’s in Vail Village, a longtime ski patrol hangout and former site of his popular bar.

Photo: Kent Pettit.

Editor’s note: This article ran in the Jan. 17, 2013 issue of SneakPEAK and was part of a winter-long local interview series for Vail’s 50th anniversary. Those chats with longtime locals and former hell-raisers like Donovan sparked the Oral History Project, another feature series that will continue throughout this winter on Sneakpeakvail.com.

John Donovan knows just about everyone in Vail.

On any given afternoon during ski season, the Chicago native and longtime Vail resident can be found on a bar stool at Vendetta’s. The employees call him by name – one simply says “Daddy-O” – and he gleefully greets them in turn before telling servers to work harder.

It’s as if old habits die hard. Vendetta’s, housed in one of Vail Village’s original buildings along Bridge Street, was called Donovan’s from 1965 to 1983. It was the town’s version of Cheers, a place for ski patrollers, ski instructors and other locals to watch Notre Dame football and claim their “raise,” the free beer that patrollers still enjoy today.

Like his old bar, Donovan is something of a Vail institution. After reading a 1962 Sports Illustrated article on the fledgling resort, he left his job as a stock trader and came to Colorado with hardly any time on a ski hill. He and a friend, Phil Lamantia, opened a small deli in March of 1963, and the two worked together until Donovan bought the bar across the street.

In a time when everyone did a little of everything, Donovan was no different: He helped ski patrol with night searches, ran the ski school for a stint and served on the town council for nearly 15 years. When Donovan was forced to sell the bar – the landlord thought he was too much trouble – he turned his garbage business into a full-time gig.

As he has for 40 years, Donovan still lives with his wife, Diana, on the fourth hole of the Vail Golf Course. His children followed in his footsteps: Matt runs the garbage company, John is a bartender and Kerry is on the town council. SneakPEAK found Donovan at his usual haunt to chat about his first impressions of Vail, the joys of owning a ski-town bar and how he accidentally won a seat on the town council.

maybe the second year – I forget. It was heavily Mexican at the time, because you had Gilman Mine and Climax Mine still open. Actually, I have a story about Gilman: Phil Lamantia and I were working over at the Vail Village Inn when we first got here, and there was a kid who was supposed to show up for work but never did. We went to his house, and he’s lying in bed with an empty bottle of pills next to him. The kid said he took 50 pills to kill himself. We threw him in the back of the truck and took him to see Dr. Stanley at Gilman – he was the only doctor around back then – and Stanley says, “Son, you’re gonna die.” The kid says, “No, please, don’t let me die!” and the doctor kept telling him that.

Finally, Stanley says, “Ok, you’re going to be fine.

But if you ever interrupt the ‘Ed Sullivan Show’ again, I’ll let you die.”

SP: Donovan’s was the de facto local’s hangout for almost two decades. How would you describe the atmosphere there?

JD: I used to have a yellow sheet of paper, like the legal pads lawyers use. Sometimes I didn’t have much business – matter of fact, the first May I was open, I did just $500 or so for the entire month. For the month! So I would leave that yellow pad on the bar, and I’d go play golf or screw around from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., and people would come in and write down their order: two Buds, one Coors, that sort SneakPEAK: Describe the Vail you encountered of thing. Then they’d sign their name and pay me in 1962. What’s your most vivid memory of those back later. I had the same thing at the delicatessen, early years? because why not? Why sit out the bar when I could John Donovan: If you’ve seen photographs from go out and have some fun? the 1960s, you’ll see there ain’t s*** here. None of these buildings were around: Pepi’s, Gorsuch, none SP: As owner of Vail’s fifth official business, you of it. When I got married in 1967, there were still obviously wanted the town to grow and succeed, dirt streets in Vail. I got married in Minturn and in- but you also had to look out for yourself when monvited half the county. ey was lean. Were you cutthroat?

JD: There was not a person in this town who was SP: Was there any tension between the newcom- cutthroat. Everyone was for everyone else – you ers at Vail and the residents of old railroad towns say cutthroat, when it’s more like I’d cut someone’s like Minturn and Red Cliff? throat for a friend. You wouldn’t believe how much JD: I actually lived in Minturn the first year, we wanted this all to work. I mean, look at Earl Ea-

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ton: He was a goddamn cowboy. That’s all he was, a cowboy who could ski a little bit and wanted to start a ski area.

SP: While running the bar, you had at least three other jobs, including a seat on the town council.

What drew you to local government?

JD: There was just no one else around. I was the young kid with all these big-shots – Pete Seibert, Bob Parker, the guys who really owned the town – and little old me managed to get on the council. I actually finished eighth in voting, but a guy named Mitch Hoyt ended up moving away, so I replaced him. I must have done something right because I was there for a long time.

SP: Long enough that the town named a park after you in West Vail. So, what was your biggest contribution to the council?

JD: I guess somebody had to fight for the poor boy, and I was the poor boy’s fighter. A lot of the stuff that goes into making a town – like the realestate transfer tax – no one even knew how to approach it. But I read up on the tax, and this town would really be in the rat hole if it didn’t have that real-estate transfer tax. It helped buy everything we ended up building. You want to hear something funny about that? We put it out for an election, and it got beat 80 votes to 20 votes. Six weeks later, we passed it without an election, and the town is better for it.

SP: Looking at Vail Resorts, can you think of anything you’d change about the company over the last 50 years?

JD: Oh, they’ve made some mistakes, but I can’t think of anything big. We have a hell of a mountain and it’s run damn well – that’s all I need to say.

The businessmen from New York can just stay the hell away and let us run things. They don’t know anything when it comes to running a mountain. I’d rather be a trash man in Vail than a banker in New York, and that’s the truth.

BEST OF: HAPPENINGS

What happens when a boarder tackles BC’s bumps

A Dose of Masochism (and reality) at talons challenge One writer learns to embrace bumps and lose his ego during the burly, day-long trek across Beaver Creek’s 14 toughest trails.

By Phil Lindeman.

Skiers pick their way through bumps off of Larkspur Bowl during the Talons Challenge.

Photo: Swieck, Beaver Creek Resort.

Editor’s note: This piece first ran in the March 6, 2013 issue of SneakPEAK. The Talons Challenge returns this spring on March 1, and chances are Phil will take it on once more, hopefully alongside Bill Burns. Registration is available online at Beavercreek.com or in-person the day of the event.

It’s funny how supposedly noncompetitive contests can bruise your ego.

Take something relatively benign, like eating hot wings. You sit in a comfy restaurant and pay hard-earned money, only to spend 30-some-odd minutes scarfing down chicken chunks drenched in a devious sauce more fit for removing rust than being consumed by humans. If you “win,” you come away with indigestion and the completely intangible reward known as bragging rights. If you lose, you feel completely deflated, like your self-worth was destroyed in a flurry of burning lips and tear-stained eyes. And definitely don’t bring friends along – years down the road, they’ll still remind you of the time you couldn’t handle a few measly chicken parts.

In the end, these noncompetitive events – whether they involve eating hot wings or shooting skee-ball or comparing vertical feet on Epic Mix – are all about masochism: How much suffering can you endure for an activity with little or no reward? How hard can you work to destroy that other intangible, your ego?

This brand of controlled masochism is often enormously fun, but roughly halfway through last weekend’s Talons Challenge at Beaver Creek, I realized my intense desire to “win” was getting in the way of an otherwise gorgeous day on the slopes. It was the sort of early-spring Saturday Colorado is famous for, with a few inches of fresh snow from the night before and nearly balmy weather.

Before I dig further into this very, very mellow crisis of competitive conscience, a bit of background: At 10 years old, Talons Challenge has become the resort’s marquee on-mountain event, held every March when moguls are at their most intimidating. For $40, skiers and boarders get a plastic punch card listing 14 black and double-black runs accessible from the Larkspur, Grouse Mountain and Birds of Prey lifts. As viewed from Red Tail Camp, the three peaks form a sort of talon (cute, right?), and the bird-themed trails are easily the resort’s most punishing and alluring sections of terrain. They’re long, steep and packed with bumps – the perfect place to take out-of-towners who think Beaver Creek is all escalators and bunny-hill gondolas. To put things in perspective, if après loungers flock to the heated cobblestones for food festivals and wine tastings, the Talons Challenge is for people who visit a ski resort to, you know, actually ski.

It’s not a race… or is it?

Back to my tiny problem. As I was riding up the Grouse Mountain chair, I kept nervously checking my punch card. It was 11:30 a.m., and although I got a late start at around 10 a.m., I’d only managed to tackle five of the 14 trails.

There was Screech Owl (my go-to trail on powder days), Lupine (a quick and breezy black), Shooting Star (ditto), Loco (a bit longer, but equally manageable) and Ruffed Grouse. I had yet to hit a double-black, let alone Bald Eagle or

Falcon Park, the two on the list I’ve never rode before.

Before I sound like a total downer – you know, that local who complains about only clocking 50 days in a season – I’d enjoyed myself on each run, but riding the chairlift gives you an inordinate amount of time to think about anything and everything, including how I still had a nagging feeling that I was somehow losing this challenge. To make matters worse, the emcees at Red Tail Camp had just announced the first finisher of the day, some mogul-killing Superman who tackled the whole thing in two-and-a-half hours and was probably starting round two, just for fun.

I kept blaming all sorts of things for my pathetic run count: a front binding that wouldn’t stay tight, the ever-growing lift lines, an ill-fated strategy to begin with runs I knew well, a skier who supposedly fell off the lift and delayed the line for a whopping five minutes. (The story quickly became urban legend among Talons participants.)

To take my mind off these worries, I started chatting with the three skiers next to me, and that’s when my ego took its first major blow. The day before, the Louisiana natives had drove 19 hours from New Orleans to Beaver Creek, where they were enjoying a quick pit-stop before continuing on to their new home of Salt Lake City. Rather than take a day to leisurely stretch their legs on a few greens and blues, they decided to gear up and head full-bore into the challenge. Better yet, none of them had been to Beaver Creek before, let alone confronted its vaunted blacks.

“We’re just loving this,” JJ Lewis says to me, pausing momentarily to whoop for a skier doing his best Jeremy Bloom down the middle of Ptarmigan. “This mountain has been a blast. It’s tough, with a lot of bumps, but we’re going to be mogul masters after today.”

I felt immediately sick about my self-defeating inner dialogue. Lewis and his friends had only skied three runs since 9:30 a.m., but they were having a blast – they were already talking about returning next year. When I asked if he was worried about not finishing, he just laughed.

“Since we’ve never been here, we’re not really nervous about anything,” Lewis says, then went on to talk about the group of elementary-aged kids he saw cruising down Osprey. Ego blow number two, but his energy was infectious, and I made a conscious decision to ease up on myself.

Finding my inner Bill Burns In more than a few ways, the Talons Challenge reminded me of the Tough Mudder, the 12-mile obstacle race that has quickly become Beaver Creek’s most popular on-mountain event in summertime. Both are highly physical, and both are sold as noncompetitive – simply finishing is the reward, along with a free beer and some logo-laden swag. Yet when I ran the Tough Mudder last summer, I started with the same gung-ho mentality, a tiny voice that kept lashing out when another competitor passed me up. In that case, I made it to mile six before taking a deep, relaxing breath, followed by a firm talking-to with my competitive self. After that, it was all fun, mud and cattle prods.

My encounter with Lewis and his crew had the same calming effect. I talked with a skier about the best iPod playlist for a day in the moguls – he went with ‘80s glam rock, I stuck to East Coast punk – and a snowboarder about the best tactic for getting through the hellish middle section of Bald Eagle, where the fresh snow was slowly sloughing off to reveal rocks and bushes.

Around 1:30 p.m., I clocked my last run – a celebratory lap of the bullet-hard Golden Eagle downhill course – and cruised into Red Tail Camp for my complimentary brew and bratwurst. I had finished in just under three-and-a-half hours, which massaged my ego like a glass of milk after downing a dozen hot wings.

And that’s when I heard about Bill Burns. The 64-year-old local has attempted – and completed – the Talons Challenge nine of the past ten years, usually joined by a longtime friend from Seattle who’s the same age. Despite recent surgery for a fall he took while skiing in Norway, Burns started at first chair and finished right around the same time as I. Along the way, he made friends with a man and his young son, who had trained religiously for the event and was ecstatic when he earned his final punch. The four sat together on the sun-drenched patio, basking in the glow of a win they didn’t realize was part of the challenge.

“This is the sort of event that gets passed down year to year, family to family,” Burns tells me later over the phone. “As for me, I felt fantastic the next day.

I actually went to Vail and skied a bit – I just can’t miss good snow.”

After Burns and I talked, I decided to go riding on Sunday, even though my knees were still a bit stiff. Only a day before, his story would’ve annihilated my ego. I just hope to find my inner Bill Burns in time for next year.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

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BEST OF: ATHLETICS ABOVE the DECK

Taylor Seaton has always done things his way, and his way has him positioned for a possible Sochi Olympic spot.

By John O’Neill.

Editor’s note: This profile first ran as the cover article on Nov. 14, 2013. Seaton hasn’t yet been nominated to the U.S. Olympic Team (Vail transplant Aaron Blunck earned one of just three coveted spots) and isn’t on the roster for X Games Aspen. From a peek at his Facebok page, it looks like the 23-year-old is content to spend winter filming.

THIS PAGE Taylor Seaton during a training run last season.

Photo special to SneakPEAK. OPPOSITE PAGE Seaton in Vail Village before the beginning of his Olympic run.

Photo: Anthony Thornton.

Local freestyle skier Taylor Seaton doesn’t look like a probable Olympian.

With pale skin and blonde hair, the occasional white goatee and green eyes, his coach calls him a “dark horse.” He rides his pants low, wears baggy jackets and has a vocabulary that includes “homies” and “wack.”

Then he starts talking business. He mentions World Cups. He talks about X Games strategy, seasonal prep and training. He might let slip his third place finish at the New Zealand Freeski Open in halfpipe last August or his 11th place finish at X Games halfpipe in Aspen in 2012. Then, if you check FIS Ski Halfpipe world rankings, you’ll see Seaton positioned at third. In the world.

His Olympic dreams suddenly don’t seem so far-fetched. They seem likely.

His story, like so many training in Vail, starts with weekend trips to the mountains as a kid. But as his ski career was growing, his story takes an odd parallel between an Olympic-caliber athlete and an athlete who revels in the free spirited environment that first brought him to freestyle skiing.

While proclaiming fame in the terrain park, Seaton walks through Vail, his home, with near anonymity. His story is precarious.

Subtle beginnings Graduated in 2008, Taylor Seaton, now 23, would leave Battle Mountain High School with quick goodbyes to a small group of friends who’d wish him good luck. He’d jump a plane to New Zealand, a van to Mt. Hood or Whistler, a flight to Europe. He’d be back for class the following week.

While his classmates thought of him as a guy who wore baggy clothes, did okay in class and made ski movies, outside of Vail he was begged for autographs, greeted by fans and toeing a list of competitors top-ranked in the world.

The disconnect didn’t bother him.

While his fellow high school athletes were busy grabbing state titles or league championships, and the headlines that go with them, Seaton was skiing. Further, while others were sending out their college applications, Seaton was carving a niche in professional freestyle skiing and setting his efforts on making it a

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“I knew I wanted to be a skier when I was younger. Looking up to guys like Tanner Hall, CR Johnson and Boyd Easley,” Seaton says. “I knew what I wanted to be.”

Before he found the halfpipe, Seaton raced. He skied moguls for Ski and Snowboard Club Vail. He even tried aerials. But when coaches wanted him to be taking laps on Cookshack – SSCV’s bump-training run off of Vail’s Chair 2 – Seaton would gravitate toward the halfpipe.

Eventually he gave up the bumpy side of the mountain, opting for full-time halfpipe training. This defiance to normal ski training marked a prelude for his future.

Shortly after he began full time in the park, his career started to kick in high school. Coming off two broken heels, he entered the Big Bear Open as a confident but unranked competitor. Then he won it.

“That’s what told me this is it,” Seaton says. “It took a lot of pressure off me.

I sort of had made it. Or at least started making it.”

Then the invitations to X Games started coming in. He was offered guest coaching spots at Woodward in Copper. Those guys whom he used to admire?

Tanner Hall? Those guys now come to train with Seaton.

On his website, TaylorSeaton.com, he has a results list that would make other athletes bow. Since that win at Big Bear, it has been X Games Aspen, X Games France, Dew Tour, European Open in Switzerland, North American Championships in Whistler. There is a media section with videos covering Seaton’s unique flowing style in the halfpipe. If you Google his name, you’ll see his ESPN com-

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

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How Vail native Taylor Seaton is bucking the freeski system during an Olympic season petitor’s profile.

Yet, at Northside Café in Avon, he sits down without many locals taking notice.

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Olympics “As soon as I found out about the Olympics,” Seatons says, voice trailing before picking up again. “It’s been my main goal.”

Seaton used to dream of medaling at the X-Games. He says he hasn’t had the run to make that happen just yet and that goal will be ever-present until it happens. But this season, with Sochi less than 100 days away and qualification on his desk, the goal is the Olympics.

Qualification for the Olympics starts this November. There will be five events awarding points to top finishers. All past results and points have been wiped from competitors. All halfpipe skiers in the country have the same opportunity to qualify in these events.

Right now Seaton is getting on the hill for training. He hits the trampolines at the WECMRD Field House in Edwards. He knows how competitive it will be to make the U.S. team.

“The top four skiers for the US will be the top 10 in the world,” Seaton says.

“The top four in the U.S. could end up being the top four in the world. The guys in the U.S. are the best. There are maybe four guys from Canada and four or five guys from France that are really good. Then there are like 20 guys from the U.S. that are really good.”

You, Only Better

The … team?

It isn’t until Seaton’s coach/manager/technician, Dano Bruno, walks in that conversation between the two starts to turns the heads of ski enthusiasts sitting near by.

“Did you talk to Tanner (Hall)? Apparently they’re coming here?” Bruno says to Seaton.

“Oh yeah. He called me last night like ‘Yo dude, the snow sucks in Tahoe. We’re coming to Colorado,’” Seaton returns.

And so the conversation goes. Discussing their wait on bindings, getting over feeling low from flu shots, figuring out a place to stay, where to ski, when to train - the conversation seems unorganized yet always moving forward.

Seaton and Tanner Hall are two of Bruno’s athletes. There is reluctance to call them an organized team; rather, they say they lean on their relationships with one another to excel in their particular endeavors.

Bruno serves as the ski tech and pseudo manager.

He started teaching at 16. Now he’s 49 and his expertise is something that Seaton and Hall depend on when they stand at the top of a halfpipe. As athletes, Hall leans on Seaton for a solid guy to ski and film with for his latest project, Inspired Media Concepts.

Seaton leans on Hall’s years of experience and progressive nature for guidance.

Their crew is held in a different light than some of the other USA halfpipe hopefuls. Out in Park City, Utah, at a funded facility deemed the “Center for Excellence,” there is a group of supported halfpipe skiers who stick to regimented training routines. These athletes pour money into their careers and design their training with robotic method, says Seaton.

Bruno’s crew is different. Sticking with the free spirited life of freestyle skiing, Bruno’s crew trains, follows the snow, adopts fluid movement in their routines and focuses on pushing the sport into new territory.

Thus, a difference in halfpipe skiing is born.

“There are five or so guys on the U.S. Halfpipe Team who train at the Center for Excellence,” Seaton says. “They’re doing shows with NBC and are getting sponsored by Kellogg’s. When they go out skiing, one guy does one trick and then all of them try to do that same trick. They might try to add an extra 180.

It’s robotic.

“I still live a real life for sure, you know? I am constantly fixing my car. Nothing is getting handed to me. Skiing is my main focus but isn’t my only focus.

I still have to make it through everyday. If that means I have to work a job,

I do that. I’m always doing little things to make money or to get to my next competition. When I go out skiing with Tanner (Hall) it’s all about skiing. It’s about having fun and doing things that haven’t been done before. My goal is still to make the Olympics and those guys who are at the Center (for Excellence) don’t stand any better chance than I do.”

Bruno started working with Seaton when he was 14. He started working with Hall when he around the same age. With Hall’s new media concept and Seaton’s Olympic aspirations, Bruno speaks proudly of their relationship over the years and how they have positioned themselves to be confronted with the opportunity of success.

“From the first time I got to watch him (Seaton) ski, I knew he was one of those guys that can do it,” Bruno says. “I remember seeing him stand in his boots and thinking, ‘This kid can obviously ski.’”

He says with Hall it was something of the same thing.

“People ask me all the time why I stuck with Tanner Hall and this crew,” Bruno says. “People say he’s a loaded gun. But these guys are skiers first and foremost. There aren’t any politics or dramas. It’s skiing.”

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BEST OF: APPETITE The mustachE Bar

With a laid-back vibe and free beer, Magustos in Minturn has slowly built a reputation as a local favorite.

By Michael Suleiman.

Editor’s note: This article was first published in the March 6, 2013 edition of SneakPEAK. Magustos is still going strong today, thanks in part to free beer every Friday night from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. When writer Michael Suleiman is in town, you’ll likely find him posted up at the bar. Perks of the job.

Free beer.

That’s right, you read that correctly: On top of the free beer for everyone of age, Minturn’s Magustos Restaurant has some incredible specials on some of the best affordably priced food in the Vail Valley. It’s a combination that is helping the restaurant earn a spot as an iconic Minturn location.

Magustos hasn’t always been what it is today. In actuality, the restaurant had a tricky start getting off of the ground its first year and is only now gaining momentum as a local’s spot. The ambitious and hard working Eric Cregon opened Magustos in April of 2011 after owning Mango’s Mountain Grill in Red Cliff for a number of years.

Cregon has been working in restaurants his entire life, starting in a pancake house in South Carolina at the age of 12 and moving his way up. At the age of 14, while washing dishes at a seafood restaurant in Florida, he was presented with the opportunity to cook on the line when another cook didn’t show up. After working and running a number of restaurants he moved out to Colorado in 1997 and bounced around a few different Vail Village restaurants. When the opportunity came about to become a partner at Mango’s, Cregon jumped on it and moved up to Red Cliff. But when the economy took a nosedive in 2008, Red Cliff was hit hard, and Cregon decided some change was in order. After some serious thought and a night with a notepad, Magustos

was born.

“I used to sit with a yellow note pad up at Mangos and write down ideas. Honestly, it would usually be the stupidest things,” says Cregon with a chuckle.

“One night I would be designing random belt buckles and the next it would be restaurant themes. One night I was looking at a bottle of Captain Morgan and couldn’t stop thinking about mustaches for a restaurant theme. I came up with the name Magustos because I thought about how it would sound when someone would answer the phone. Magustos,” he says in a deep voice with an accent synonymous to that of Nintendo’s Mario. “I could just see the facial expression of the customer on the other line and a funny look on their face like, ‘Who did I just call?’”

He looked up what magustos meant, and turns out it fittingly meant “celebration” in Portuguese. His original plan for the restaurant actually called for waitresses to draw on mustaches at the beginning of the night. It should also be noted that Cregon also sports an immaculate mustache almost identical to that of Captain Morgan.

A location with history After searching for different restaurant locations, Cregon discovered that the Chili Willy’s building was for sale. Local resident George Esparsen, who has lived in Minturn his entire life, says Minturn was different when he was growing up, albeit still with a very relaxed atmosphere like today.

“I used to go to the elementary school here in Minturn, and on Fridays we would come down to this building (Magustos). At the time it was called William’s, The Chilly Bowl. As the years went by, it changed hands a few times and eventually shut down. Then it reopened as Magpie Pizza for a while, and after that it became Chilly Willies,” says Esparsen. “Here we are 40 years later, and I still come

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A typical wintertime scene outside of Magustos, a favorite stop for skiers and boarders who just finished the Minturn Mile.

Photo: Phil Lindeman.

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Magustos: Free beer and a mustache theme in funky small-town Minturn The mustache wall at Magustos.

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down to the same location, which is now Magustos. A lot of people come down here to play pool, darts, pingpong, and foosball. The pizza and burgers are great, and I see this place sticking around for quite some time.”

Magustos slow start helped Cregon learn exactly what would be the right fit for the town. The restaurant first opened as an Italian joint, and the opening date was ill timed as well.

“I’ll be honest with you, it was a disaster. The food was pretty good, but we couldn’t pull in customers. We had like three customers in two weeks or something crazy like that. So we knew we had to switch gears. I found a pizza oven in Denver and after months of tweaks and adjustments to the dough, we came up with the perfect recipe,” Cregon says.

Late-night eats and free beer Last season the restaurant started getting noticed, but it wasn’t until this season that Magustos really started taking off.

“A lot of our business comes from deliveries. We deliver our entire menu until 2 a.m. every night. There are very few businesses that can say that around here. We even deliver all the way out to East Vail.”

Then, of course, there’s the free beer.

“Well, every Friday night we have free beer from five until seven. The free beer night started this past summer when we felt like we needed a push on Friday afternoons. Our free beer night just keeps growing and growing so I don’t

Cafe Milano

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$

think we will pull the plug on it anytime soon. After free beer night, we have a foosball tournament that starts at eight,” says Cregon.

After talking with the regulars, shooting a few games of pool, and checking out the mustache pictures hanging on the wall, it was time for the taste test.

Magustos is known for a few different items, one being the Gorgonzola bacon burger. After tasting the juicy all natural beef from Boulder, you understand why this burger is a classic. With all of the appropriate sides and toppings on this burger converted a taste tester who was never fond of Gorgonzola into a full-blown believer.

Another unique option is the pulled pork pizza. With barbecue sauce, homemade pulled pork, chilled coleslaw and pickles, this pizza has customers thinking they are eating a pulled pork sandwich from a famous southern barbecue joint. The hot and cold on this pizza sounds odd, but give it a try. The flavors and temperature gradients on this pie work together incredibly well.

The yellow note pad has not been retired since Eric has started Magustos and new ideas are in the works, including a behemoth of a pie. Although not yet technically on the menu, Magustos already makes a 28-inch pie that is bigger than a lot of bike tires. He is currently in the process of finding the right manufacturer for boxes to deliver the beast. There is almost no way to conquer this pizza alone, so bring in a few friends after skiing the Minturn Mile for assistance. Also, if you have an awesome mustache and are of drinking age, make sure to let the bartender get a good look at your masterpiece.

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summer |

From yoga and biking to a lumberjack showdown, summer in Vail is surreal. Our shutterbugs captured the best (and oddest) of the dog days.

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1. Man of the Cliff photo shoot at the Bonfire Brewing taproom in Eagle.

Photo: Ryan McCombs.

2. Wounded Warrior participant and activeduty Army liaison Michael Smith preps for his first ride down Vail Mountain.

Photo: Kent Pettit.

3. Vikki Hobbs, founder of the annual Crawlin’ to a Cure Event, behind the wheel of her massive rock crawler.

Photo: Ryan McCombs.

4. Baptiste Power Vinyasa instructor Rachel DeLong near Brush Creek Pavilion, site of the first Eagle Yoga Fest.

Photo: Ryan McCombs.

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5. A lab leaps for gold at the GoPro Mountain Games’ popular Dock Dogs comp.

Photo special to SneakPEAK. 6. Wowing the crowd on the slackline at GoPro Mountain Games.

Photo: Zach Mahone.

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7. The Vail Rec District’s new cyclocross camp, held outside of Minturn in Maloit Park.

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

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winter|

Vail was built on the promise of vast, untouched fields of powder, but skiing is far from the only diversion.

A photographic glance at all winter has to offer.

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1. Aaron Blunck, one of three U.S. skiers recently nominted for the Olympic freeski team, at the Ski and Snowboard Club Vail training facility in Minturn.

Photo: Anthony Thornton.

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2. Skinners wait out an early-season storm outside of Vail.

Photo: Bjorn Bauer.

3. Model Amy Chadwell in Bloom Outerwear, a Boulderbased outerwear company founded in Vail.

Photo: Anthony Thornton.

4. Local dancers prepare for the annual performance of “The Nutcracker” at the Vilar Center.

Photo: Katie Fiedler-Anderson.

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4 6 8

9 5. Amy Chadwell wearing an outfit from Arriesgado in Lionshead.

Photo: Anthony Thornton.

7. Snowmaking houses thawing out at Vail Mountain’s Snow Central.

Photo: Anthony Thornton.

6. Local skier James Currey charges through powder in Mushroom Bowl, found in East Vail.

Photo: Bjorn Bauer.

8. Yogis find their balance during the first-ever indoor stand-up paddleboard yoga class at the Avon Recreation Center this winter.

Photo: Anthony Thornton.

9. Dave and Dieneka Manzanares, owners of Sweet Leaf Pioneer medical marijuana dispensary, inspect plants at their Eagle storefront. Over the past two years, the couple have been the face of an ongoing battle between activists on both sides of the medical marijuana battle.

Photo: Anthony Thornton.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

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A day at the skatepark with Tawnya Godinez

BEST OF: CULTURE Skate like a girl

From winter to summer local Tawnya Godinez shows up the boys while teaching local up-and-comers how to ride.

By Laura Lieff. the only female competitor.

“It felt amazing to win that contest,” she remembers. “It was a great feeling, knowing that all the hard work I had put into skating was finally paying off.”

Nothing has changed since Godinez moved to Colorado -- she has been the sole female in every Colorado contest she’s competed in since 2009, and she has placed in all of them. She points out that the competition in Maine and the Vail area are similar in terms of competitiveness, and love for the sport, but that the most significant difference is money.

“Colorado is not only known for its resorts, but it is also rich in skateboarding history as well,” she says. “There isn’t enough money back home to build nice concrete parks, so I barely had a skate park back home growing up. I guess that’s why my skate style is very ‘street influenced.’”

Editor’s note: This article was first published in the June 20, 2013 edition of SneakPEAK. To this day, Godinez is still the only female athlete sponsored by The Stash in Avon, and she can regularly be found taking laps through the Beaver Creek terrain park.

While Vail is clearly an extremeand-outdoor sport driven town, not everyone takes their hobbies to the next level. But local skateboarder and snowboarder Tawnya Godinez is not your average athlete.

Originally from Maine, Godinez moved to Colorado in 2009 at age 20 to begin a new life for herself and see the place her cousin described as a “winter wonderland.” Although she learned to skateboard at Giving back age nine, she learned to snowboard just four years In an effort to keep her competitive edge sharp, get ago when she moved to the area. She got the bug, her name out there and earn some extra money, Godiand now she averages about 120 days of skating each nez consistently participates in skate and snowboard summer and more than 100 days of snowboarding Local skateboarder/snowboarder Tawnya Godinez contests some of which are charity events. every winter. Four years later, she is considered one at the Edwards skatepark.

“It’s important to give back to the community, beof the top female riders and skaters in the area, and Photo: Sara Striegl. cause a great community is based upon the people is the only female sponsored by local sporting goods within it,” she says.

“If everyone contributes and helps one another, it makes it a shop Transition Sports/The Stash. nicer place to live.”

“Tawnya has been involved with both The Stash Skate and Snowboard team Godinez also give back to the community by teaching local kids. Each sumfrom the beginning,” says shop owner Stafford Turner. “Her abilities on her boards mer, when she’s not working as the assistant manager at Rimini Beaver Creek, and attitude off of them make her a perfect candidate for both teams.” she coaches the next generation of skaters, ages three to 14, as part of the Western Although snowboarding and skateboarding are still considered male-dominated Eagle County Metropolitan Recreational District (WECMRD) skate camp. As an sports to a certain degree, Godinez sets herself apart by letting her skills speak for instructor, Godinez helps her campers learn new tricks, progress to the level they themselves. Soft-spoken and driven, she hopes to eventually skate professionally want to achieve and, most importantly, ensures that they have fun. Since she began and at bigger competitions. instructing in 2010, she has earned rave reviews.

“Growing up, not many of the local boys were too stoked that a girl was skate“The feedback I receive from parents has been nothing but positive,” she says. boarding,” says Godinez. “With that certain criticism, I told myself from that day “They like the idea that I’m the only girl they’ve seen skateboarding, and they like on that I would dedicate all the time towards skateboarding.” when their kids come home from skate camp and are happy and stoked on what Skating with the boys In 2005 in Maine, Godinez won her very first skate competition – and she was [See TAWNYA GODINEZ, page 22]

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

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Free your boots, free your mind with snowskating

BEST OF: CULTURE SNOW DECKS

Snowskates bring a new sport - and entirely new energy - to the slopes of Vail and Beaver Creek.

By Laura Lieff.

Cruising through Beaver Creek on snowskates.

Photo: Mikie Farias.

“What’s so cool about snowskating is that it is in its infancy,� Russell says. “Anyone who can snowboard can snowskate, and people are starting to shred strapless more and more. I’m really excited to see the progression.�

While some of the people in the group had been on a snowskate over a decade ago, for others, the demo day they dubbed “Snowskate Sunday� was their first time. “It’s always fun to ride in a big group, especially when you’re trying something new and all learning together,� Eisenman says. “It’s a sport you can have fun with and try new things, and everyone has a blast. It makes us all remember what it’s like to learn from scratch.�

New and improved

Editor’s note: This article was first published in the Feb. 13, 2013 edition of SneakPEAK. Snowskating is still allowed at Vail and Beaver Creek, and both resorts have instructors trained to help beginners learn to ropes. For more info, see Vail.com or Beavercreek.com.

Beaver Creek and Vail have a new winter sport that’s here to stay: snowskating.

The sport’s unofficial debut took place recently when a group of approximately 20 curious snow lovers – including snowboard instructors, members of the Beaver Creek park crew, former pro snowboarders and local shredders – spent a day earlier this season trying out a new sport with new gear.

With less than average snowfall this year, riders have been looking for ways to keep the mountain interesting, which is why Beaver Creek Ski and Snowboard School Manager Mark “Spike� Eisenman invited Dan Russell of Hovland Snowskates to Beaver Creek. “Now that snowskating is legal at Beaver Creek, a lot of instructors were interested in upgrading to a newer version,� Eisenman says. “I looked into companies that would have availability to help out our staff. Dan was very accommodating, offered to help us and could deliver the goods.�

Snowskates resemble a skateboard in size, and in that they have no bindings.

They also have a ski underneath the top deck and a leash like a surfboard. The snowskates used on Snowskate Sunday featured a 9x36-inch top deck and a 42inch sub deck. Without the element of bindings, snowskaters can wear snowboard boots or simply regular snow boots, sneakers or skateboarding shoes.

According to former pro snowboarder and longtime local Brian “Wookie�

Fleming, Beaver Creek allowed snowskating over 10 years ago for just a few weeks. Then the sport disappeared as quickly as it arrived. “The older snowskates that came out were more similar to a traditional skateboard because they were smaller,� he says. “But now they’ve been upgraded, and they are bigger, wider and much easier to control. Finding the proper size was the key.�

Some might be concerned about a sport that uses equipment without bindings on the slopes, but Russell says he does not foresee any problems. “Ski hills were concerned about snowskating at first because of foot traffic on the lifts,� Russell says. “As resorts get acquainted to it, they realize it’s a nonissue. Snowskating is as safe or more so than skiing or snowboarding. It’s nice to not be strapped in.�

According to Eisenman, many of his private lesson guests have asked to try snowskating. “I appreciate Vail Resorts thinking outside the box and allowing more varied snowsports,� he says. “It’s great to see locals getting out there, always trying something different and having fun no matter what the conditions. I recently found that it helps with a family day on the mountain, too, as my seven year old is entertained trying out snowskating while my two-year-old learns to ski.�

Fleming points out the reappearance of snowskating at Beaver Creek and Vail is beneficial for both the resorts and the snowskaters. “Vail and Beaver Creek need snowskating because both mountains need another reason for people to be on the mountains,� he says. “People are still paying for Epic passes and lift tickets, and these venues should be used more and allow more options.�

Fleming says the sport was a great alternative to riding or skiing on poor-condition days. The sport has potential, he says.

[See SNOWSKATES, page 22]

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21

PEPPER

[From page 4]

ing what’s already happened with marijuana is kind of a natural progression of what’s his catalogue to unearth songs he completely forgot about. After touring for so long, has Pepper done the same? going to happen, and if Colorado is going to be the trendsetter, then so be it.

BB: Absolutely. We really listen to everything we’ve written, and that’s the beautiSP: Where do you think it goes from here? Are you worried Colorado could fall flat, ful thing about it. We’ve also taken to social media to open the floodgates to our fans.

When we’re off tour, we can always communicate with the fan base. I can’t tell you or a few sketchy businesses will ruin the legitimate ones?

BB: People should take pride in everything they’ve done, but weed is just the begin- how awesome that is. Before, you really had to dig in and search for those people. We ning. For me, it’s more about open-minded people being consistent and fighting for would wake up, go surfing or go snowboarding or grab lunch, and find out what’s hapthose things they need and want. Colorado is that trailblazing state, a place stuck right pening in the local scene. That was our only connection. We still do that when we’re on in the middle of the U.S. that’s also dealt with some large, horrible tragedies. It’s a very tour, but now we can stay in touch with people from across the world. They pay attenpivotal state, and I think it calls out to the sort of person who’s committed to living tion to what we’re doing, and that’s been very inspiring to us. That’s a fuel for our fire. their life and being happy and spreading that to everyone else. I’m hopeful.

SP: What’s a B-side or forgotten track you’ve fallen in love with all over again?

BB: I could tell you 10 different songs that we’ll have at sound check we haven’t SP: Enough about weed. Pepper has played a huge variety of venues, but I guess these ski runs tend to be mostly small venues like Agave. What do you enjoy about played in a while. We actually start nerding out – it’s ridiculous. There’s one off our first album, one called “Dry Spell,” that we really love playing. We’ve done so many having a few low-key venues on the tour roster?

BB: It’s just fun. We get to try out new material, unreleased stuff. It’s just a blast to things to it over the years, just like our other songs. We’ve come up with entire sets do that. All of 2013 we promoted our first full-length album in five years, and that re- where we don’t even have a written plan – we just point to the crowd and say, “Give ally refreshed and recharged our batteries. A lot of great things came together that year. us a song.” Sometimes we change those songs so much that we forget how they start (laughs). There are a few moments when we look like matadors, just staring down a SP: When I interviewed Matisyahu back in December, he said one of his favorite bull. parts of being around for a decade is redoing hits in an unusual way and going through

TAWNYA GODINEZ

[From page 20]

they learned that day. If the kids are happy, the parents are happy.”

Turner, of Stash, says that parents are often pretty impressed when they see the instructor skate.

“I look forward to any chance I get to see Tawnya ride or skate because she never ceases to amaze,” he says. “Countless families that have attended WECMRD skate camps come into the shop and rave about how great their instructor Tawyna was.”

she receives when it comes to snowboarding and skateboarding.

“I think a lot of the locals and my friends would love to see me excel and get to the next level,” she says. “Most of them think I’m a great role model, and they dig my positive attitude. My friends and the community like my attitude and how I represent myself and the sport.”

Godinez credits skating and snowboarding for making her the person she is today.

“These sports have taught me perseverance, dedication, etiquette, pain and love Local support all at the same time,” she says. “Being able to express my art through these sports is One of the main reasons Godinez enjoys living in the Vail area is the local support something I will always cherish.”

SNOWSKATES

“It was exciting being part of a big group – it was like being a kid again,” he says of Snowskate Sunday. “I could even see people doing snowskate birthday parties.

It also provides a new way to experience terrain you’ve been riding for years.”

Beaver Creek Adult Private Supervisor Dave Hryckowian, who also helped organize Snowskate Sunday, thinks that the sport is here to stay. A few years ago, Vail Resorts heads decided snowskating should be allowed at either all or none of its resorts.

“They have been legal at Breckenridge for a couple

[From page 21]

of years. So legalizing snowskating at Beaver Creek and Vail was a no-brainer,” he says.

Hryckowian also said that Beaver Creek Ski and Snowboard School is working on putting together a program that would allow instructors to teach snowskating in the future – maybe as soon as next season.

“I think we’ll see more people trying it as people are always looking for a new adventure,” he says.

By all accounts, Snowskate Sunday made enthusiasts out of everyone who participated, and you may see more people toting snowskates with them to the mountain, along with their snowboards, on a more regular basis.

“Snowskating is next and it’s starting,” Russell says.

The future of snowskating “People are skeptical but if they try it, they love it. EvWhile Eisenman doesn’t think snowskating will be in ery time.” the Olympics anytime soon, he does think that the sport will continue to gain popularity.

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

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Located on your left as you step out of the Covered Bridge.

For reservations visit russellsvail.com • 476-6700

$12.75

476‐5847 • Vail • Open lunch & dinner Next to the Pirate Ship Park

We wish everyone at sneakPEAK good luck, excitement and happiness in your next endeavor!!!

HAVE YOU EVER FELT RUG LOVE? Come to Ruggs Benedict & fall in love with a rug.

Check out rugs like library books - Come to our store and choose some rugs you like. If needed we will deliver them to your home in the Vail Valley for free. See how they look in your home, then keep the ones you love.

1000 beautiful area rugs in stock - Our selection of imported, hand made rugs is unmatched. Over the past 25 years, we have built relationships with the best rug makers around the world. We buy direct and sell directly to you at wholesale prices.

200 choices under $200 - We have area rugs to fit any room and any budget. Stop by and check them out!

“The right rug can make the room.”

Mandy & Roger Benedict

Serving the Vail Valley since 1972 Ruggs Benedict - Voted 2009 Business of the Year

810 Nottingham Road, Avon • 970-949-5390 • www.ruggsbenedict.com Thursday, January 23, 2014

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FROM GONDOLA TO GOURMET Experience delectable dishes, alluring atmospheres, superlative service and vibrant views at Vail’s premier on-mountain dining restaurants. Access these truly unique restaurants via Gondola One (The 10th) or the Eagle Bahn Gondola (Bistro Fourteen and Game Creek Restaurant) for lunch, après or dinner.

THE 10TH

the10thvail.com | 970.754.1010

BISTRO FOURTEEN

vail.com | 970.SKI.VAIL (754.8245)

GAME CREEK RESTAURANT

gamecreekvail.com | 970.SKI.VAIL (754.8245)

Devoted To The Craft

Check out www.vailalehouse.com for all upcoming events.

Thursday Night: FREE Live Music w/ DJ Logic featuring Jake Wolf & Scotty Stoughton on drums. 10pm. $3 Colorado Native Drafts and $3 Fireside Whiskey!

Friday Night: Live Music w/ The Fox Street Allstars. 10pm. Tickets available at the door.

Saturday Night: Live Music w/ DJ Biz Markie brought to you by Winter Soul Fest. 10pm. tickets available online at wintersoulfest.com Saturday & Sunday: Open at 10am serving Brunch. $4 Mimosas & $5 Kettle One Bloody Marys.

Sunday Night: Industry Night, 1/2 OFF Your Entire Tab after 10pm and FREE POOL DJ Koncept

Check out www.VailAleHouse.com for upcoming evnets 2161 N.Frontage Rd. West Vail • 970-476-4314 24

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Thursday, January 23, 2014