Crested Butte Magazine - Winter 2011-2012 by CrestedButteMagazine

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WINTER 2011 | 2012

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Contents

Long story short A DOUBLE DEBUT Through the Crested Butte Film Festival, Charlotte Barrett and Sean Fallon brought their movie back to the place where it was written. by Sandy Fails

BEYOND BINDINGS Paul Elkins’ innovative snowskates let the faithful skateboard and surf on snow. by Dawne Belloise

HEALTHY MAKE-BELIEVE A new exhibit at the Trailhead Children’s Museum uses dramatic play to teach wise eating.

THE ART OF THE TEASE The tantalizing entertainment of burlesque finds a home in Crested Butte. by Dawne Belloise

A WORK OF ART Translating 3,500 images from 700 artists into one great Arts Festival is a creative feat in itself.

THINKING GLOBALLY After a successful first season of snowcat skiing, CS Irwin expands the vision.

CALENDAR/PHOTO ALBUM

ROLL ON, FREEDOM The spirit of Crested Butte – on four wheels. by Luke Mehall

98 102 106 112

THE LAST REBEL OUTPOST Those year-round Irwinites haven’t lost their feistiness. by Dawne Belloise

PHOTOS THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT : Xavi Fane, Rebecca Weil, J.C. Leacock, Raynor Czerwinski, Nathan Bilow, Rebecca Weil, John Holder, Shayn Estes

by Sandy Fails

KIDS ON SKIS…WITH GUNS Crested Butte’s middle school biathlon team adds a little firepower to Nordic skiing.

Perspectives 88

HERE TODAY… In this land of extremes, the dance of scarcity and abundance keeps life edgy and precious.

by Molly Murfee

96 4

LODGING GUIDE DINING GUIDE PHOTO FINISH

Winter 2011 | 2012

Features 28

ON THE TRAIL OF PIRATES Crested Butte alum Barry Clifford enlisted several local adventurers in his celebrated discovery of the Whydah pirate ship. by Sandra Cortner A LOFTIER CUP OF JOE How to take your coffee to greater heights. by Alissa Johnson

BIG-AIR AARON Freeskiing teen Aaron Blunck is flipping, twisting and jumping his way to the Youth Olympics in Austria. by Brooke Harless

WHAT’S IN YOUR CLOSET? In the Alley Loop and the Al Johnson Uphill/Downhill, skis are for racing – and for accessorizing your get-up. WORKING OUTSIDE THE BOX Wonder, danger, freedom: the nonmonetary riches of the mountain guiding life. by Sandy Fails

FROM COAL TO CULTURE Train whistles have given way to concerts, potlucks and weddings at Crested Butte’s historic Depot.

by Sandra Cortner

MOTION PICTURES What’s the opposite of hibernating?

HAPPY VICTIMS OF THE LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION Brice and Karen Hoskin: distilling rum, crafting sleds and savoring the journey. by Laura Puckett

EL JUGO BONITA Crested Butte’s high school soccer team gets a futball lesson in El Salvador. by Coach Than Acuff

Crested Butte Magazine

Vol. XXXIII, No. 2 Published semi-annually by Crested Butte Publishing & Creative

Publisher Steve Mabry Chris Hanna

Editor Sandy Fails

Advertising director MJ Vosburg

Layout & graphic design Keitha Kostyk

Writers Than Acuff Dawne Belloise Sandra Cortner Sandy Fails Brooke Harless Alissa Johnson Luke Mehall Molly Murfee Laura Puckett

Photographers Nathan Bilow Trent Bona Sandra Cortner Raynor Czerwinski Dusty Demerson Shayn Estes Xavi Fane Alex Fenlon Paul Gallaher Braden Gunem John Holder J.C. Leacock Wouter Van Tiel Brooke Warren Rebecca Weil

Cover photo The Royal Has-Beens in the April Flauschink parade Photo by Alex Fenlon

Online www.crestedbuttemagazine.com

E-mail happy@crestedbutte.net

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Advertising 970-349-6211 mj@crestedbuttemagazine.com ÂŠ 2011 Crested Butte Publishing No reproduction of contents without authorization by Crested Butte Publishing & Creative.

Winter 2011 | 2012

A note from the editor Twentysomethings, ponder a moment before mailing this magazine to your parents. Especially if they have corporate-ladder aspirations for you. I had dinner recently with my son and his former college buddies who now live in Crested Butte. These three are poster boys for the concept of “emerging adulthood,” which psychologists have proposed as a new official stage of life, sandwiched between the teen years and full-on adulthood. It’s described as a sort of lifeshopping phase, during which you try on lots of things to figure out what fits and feels good before committing to a major purchase. Crested Butte makes a delightful place to do this; some of us have been “emerging” for decades now. But it’s a dangerous place if you’re expected to quickly grow out of it and buy into the materialistic rat race. Crested Butte is full of people who are playing a different game. I’ll admit I never loved playing Monopoly. I could go round and round the board for an hour or so, buying and developing properties and making play money off of other people. But then it grew tedious. The more I “won” by driving other people out of the game, the more counterintuitive it seemed: the “losers” were then free to pursue livelier fun while I was trapped at the table obsessing over pieces of plastic and bits of printed paper. Despite my impatience for capitalism as encapsulated by Monopoly, I do love certain elements of the American Dream. Being a mom is one of my greatest joys; I was instilled from toddlerhood with a hefty work ethic; I believe in responsibility, financial self-sufficiency, and reaching for high standards. But I’m glad the culture of Crested Butte Crested Butte Magazine

encourages playing for stakes beyond bits of printed paper. “The good life” here has less to do with collecting worldly goods than with being healthy, open, true to oneself, and connected to nature and neighbors. This issue of the Crested Butte Magazine showcases people who play for different stakes. For the mountain guiding story, I interviewed Steve Banks, who, like many of his compatriots, gave up a lucrative business that didn’t make him happy to pursue a lower-paying, higher-risk profession that satisfies and engages him. It was a good trade – as long as you don’t think “winning” is just about money. Then there’s underwater treasure hunter Barry Clifford, a Crested Butte alum who swam around sharks and skeptics to discover the legendary sunken pirate ship the Whydah. And Coach Than Acuff, who ventured to El Salvador – with his high school soccer team in tow. I know plenty of wonderful people, in Crested Butte and beyond, who like to play Monopoly, enjoy reading balance sheets, and take satisfaction from traditional lifestyles. It’s not necessary to be poor or underemployed to be honest, good-hearted and happy. But I do find that people tend to be more honest, good-hearted and happy when they are driven as much by living rich lives as by creating rich bank accounts. I’m not sure how things like openness, neighborliness and pursuing what you love would translate into a board game. Even if competition were the point (which I doubt), how would you quantify and score those game-of-life elements? Which is perhaps why society can ignore or 7

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undervalue them, especially societies that really like to quantify things. As I was editing this issue, I came across a New York Times column by David Brooks in which he reviews research about happiness. It shows, not surprisingly, that money can affect our contentment, but not as much as people assume and not as much as other factors such as relationships and social trust. Brooks concludes, “Most of us pay attention to the wrong things. Most people vastly overestimate the extent to which more money would improve our lives. Most schools and colleges spend too much time preparing students for careers and not enough preparing them to make social decisions. Most governments release a ton of data on economic trends but not enough on trust and other social conditions. In short, modern societies have developed vast institutions oriented around the things that are easy to count, not around the things that matter most. They have an affinity for material concerns and a primordial fear of moral and social ones.” It’s been said many times: Crested Butte can be a tough place to make a living – but a fertile place to make a life. Beauty, community, nature, authenticity… we’re inadvertently pinging the top of the chart in things that do a better job of creating happiness than does money alone. My young dinner guests from that night are not squandering their “emerging adulthoods.” They are working, but they are also doing meditation retreats, climbing to ever more adventurous reaches, traveling to mind-bending places, volunteering, reading, thinking and exploring. Eventually they may leave Crested Butte as they find paths that intrigue and impassion them. But as they go, I hope they take with them a part of Crested Butte – the part that reminds them to pay attention to what matters most. -- Sandy Fails, editor Winter 2011 | 2012

Winter 2011 | 2012

Long story short

Beyond bindings

PAUL ELKINS’ INNOVATIVE SNOWSKATES LET THE FAITHFUL SKATEBOARD ON SNOW.

Kurt Reise

by Dawne Belloise

Neither snowboard nor skateboard… it’s Andrew Buergin on – and off – his snowskate.

Paul Elkins came to the valley as a ratty snowboarder looking for a new place to play and get paid for it. But he ended up designing a new way to ride on snow. A competitive snowboarder living near Kirkwood, California, in the late 1980s, Paul was paid by sponsors like K2, Rip Curl and Scott Goggles to ride all over the world: “Canada, New Zealand, Alaska, Chile… all the big mountains,” he said. After winning the 1997 Snowboarding Extremes in Crested Butte, he realized that Colorado “was the epicenter of snowboarding at the time,” he recalled. So he hucked himself into an industrial technology program at Western State College, not far from the slopes of Crested Butte. His course work “revolved around construction, fabrication and design,” which eventually led him to venture into uncharted territory with a new company, Fuse Snowskates. Though there are various kinds of snowskates, they generally ride like skateboards on snow. There are no bindings; gravity and balance hold the rider on. “Back in the late ‘90s when I’d been a boarder forever, I always thought about how you could do something without bindings to enable skateboard tricks on snow,” Paul said. Crested Butte Magazine

“After looking at different things, i.e. a snowboard without bindings, I came up with the Fuse Snowskate, which became known as the 4X4 Snowskate. It has four little skis on skateboard trucks (there are two trucks on skateboards that hold the wheels), so there are four skis instead of four wheels. This is my baby, I have a patent on it.” He smiled proudly. “It doesn’t edge... you lean. You’re turning because of the trucks, using your weight, leaning one direction or the other. I was trying to make something you could ride in a pipe, to enable tricks like flipping a skateboard, free-footed tricks, things you can’t do on a snowboard.” With his reputation in boarding and his connections with other top athletes like Chris Engelsman, Paul got the support he needed to create and develop his line. “I got my friends to ride and endorse,” he said. About three years ago, he noticed another kind of snowskate being developed, with a single ski under the skatedeck. It seemed to be a good time for Fuse to expand, so he created the Fuse Double Deck and called it the 1X1. “They perform differently,” he said. “You can ride the 11

Josh Jackson

chair lift all day on these. You can go anywhere skis or boards can go. You have one single ski that is controllable like a snowboard edge, whereas the 4X4 is trick specific.” Still a competitor, Paul now enters Tahoe slopestyle snowskate contests. “It’s quite a scene out there,” he said. “I want to do the same here.” Working with Paul, Crested Butte Mountain Resort has agreed to host the Fuse Snowskate Derby on February 11, 2012. Although misunderstood at first, snowskates are now allowed on the mountain, thanks to Paul’s efforts and the resort’s foresight. For all-mountain use, a longer style of snowskate works in powder, steeps and jumps. The Colorado Boarder offers snowskate demos for people curious about joining the freedom ride. Paul sees a dedicated snowskate following, with technique growing alongside the (sometimes wobbly) evolution of the equipment. “You get all kinds of crazy toys and weird things that are developed by marketing groups and not by individuals who dedicate their whole lives to a sport,” he said. On the Snowskate Facebook page, one fan described them as “a fresh expression…the perfect marriage between skateboarding and surfing on the snow.” Another person commented, “Bindings are now officially obsolete. Snowskating... you can ride that thing anywhere. Don’t need boots, don’t need bindings, don’t need a resort. I hope in my lifetime people on the hill will look at bindings and ask, ‘What the heck is that?’” With the sport getting more popular in Tahoe and the Pacific Northwest, the bulk of skaters and contests are there. But Crested Butte has always been on the cutting edge of snow sports, so it’s only a matter of time before more local snow fiends come unbound.

Winter 2011 | 2012

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Winter 2011 | 2012

Healthy make-believe A NEW EXHIBIT AT THE TRAILHEAD USES DRAMATIC PLAY TO TEACH WISE EATING.

Nathan Bilow

The darkroom at the Trailhead Children’s Museum: building healthy kids, too.

Children have been happily playing grocery store for decades. Now the Trailhead Children’s Museum is using kids’ natural affinity for make-believe to teach healthy habits through play. The museum, located in the Outpost building at the ski area base, opened its Garden to Grocery Healthy Living Exhibit in early winter. By visiting the Gunnison Valley Ranch section of the exhibit, children learn that food doesn’t just come from the grocery store. At the make-believe ranch, they can plop down on a stool to pretend-milk the ceramic cow, fetch eggs from beneath the chickens, and pick play fruits and vegetables from the field. A miniature transport vehicle then delivers the food to the Mountain Town Market, a play store where the little consumers can “buy” healthy groceries and learn about different types of foods and how they nourish the body. When the young shoppers work up hearty imaginary appetites, they can then visit the Pizza Café, using components from various food groups to build wellbalanced pizzas. “We can use dramatic play and playscapes, so children learn by having fun,” said Katie Mueller, executive director of the Trailhead. “And parents can go through the exhibit with their kids and perhaps get some ideas for healthy meals and snacks.” Museum supporters raised $10,000 to create the Crested Butte Magazine

exhibit, with support from the Mountain Roots Food Project and contributions from individuals, local businesses including Trailsource.com, local governments, the Gunnison Valley Community Foundation and Gunnison/ Hinsdale Early Childhood Council. Matt Ventura, a tradeshow exhibit builder from Gunnison, constructed the exhibit space, which was designed by Kelly Frimel, the Trailhead’s creative and operations director. “We tried to incorporate the feel of our town, to play off our strengths. We are a healthy town,” Katie said. Next summer the Trailhead staff plans to plant a garden outside so children can harvest the edible fare. The staff also wrote a grant to the Town of Crested Butte to do health and nutrition programming for school-age children. Children’s museums around the country are using grocery store exhibits to encourage healthy eating and combat childhood obesity, Katie said. Locally, the exhibit idea came from Kara Miller, who founded the Trailhead, “but all of us are super passionate about it,” she said. The Trailhead combines learning, make-believe and play in other exhibits as well, including a dig pit, indoor climbing playset, darkroom with translucent building blocks, puppet theater, pirate ship theater, nursery nook, art bar, Trail Lab experiment station, train table, mystery painting puzzle and smaller activities like a whirligig, pegboard and wedgits. 15

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A creative feat in itself TRANSLATING 3,500 IMAGES FROM 700 ARTISTS INTO ONE GREAT ARTS FESTIVAL.

Art pros study photographs during the intensive two-day jury process for the Arts Festival.

In early March, Diana Ralston sets up the borrowed projection equipment in a Denver conference room while five people meander in – most of them strangers to each other. But they share a mission and a connection to art; they are perhaps gallery owners, working artists, museum curators or art professors. As Diana watches them make introductions and take their seats, she knows that in two days they will be a cohesive and slightly bleary-eyed team. They will have sorted through more than 3,500 photographic images multiple times in their quest to create the perfect Crested Butte Arts Festival. When visitors and locals stroll the Arts Festival (slated for August 4-5, 2012), they see 175 high-caliber art booths representing a dozen categories – from fiber to photography, painting to pottery – plus culinary demos, live music, a food court, art auction and kids’ interactive art alley. Few realize the festival’s creative process starts each year in a darkened room while the snow is still falling outside. “The five jurors, including two from the Gunnison Valley, change every year. We select people who are active professionals in the art world,” said Diana, the Arts Festival director. “The process is daunting. We get more than 700 applicants for the festival and they each submit five images. The jurors take the process seriously; they know this is someone’s livelihood.” Crested Butte Magazine

Gunnison Valley assemblage artist Beth Marcue, who served on the panel two years ago, said, “It was exhausting but super fun. I loved the experience.” In a well-organized process, the jurors would narrow down the candidates, then go through again and look at them a little differently. Each juror brought his or her own expertise, point of view and personal tastes, and the discussions grew more detailed and difficult as the art was winnowed down. “I found it phenomenal that we could do all that in less than two days,” Beth said. “And it was absolutely amazing to see all that art.” Diana added, “When you go home and try to sleep, you see images of art work flash across your eyes.” The art is judged on excellence and the unique use of materials, and panelists try to select a diversity of price points and a balance among art categories. Each juror gets one “wild card” to invite an artist whose work he or she particularly loves. As per the industry standard, the five jurors go in “blind”: they don’t know which artists are locals or repeat festival participants. “Some people think that Gunnison County residents should get a leg up, but I like the clean process,” Diana said. “Every year a number of local artists get juried in, so the valley is well represented. And local artists have the Paragon Gallery, the People’s Fair and AWEfest [hosted by Artists of the West Elks].” Each year 17

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AWE also gets a double booth in the Arts Festival where members can display and sell their work. During the jury process, Diana doesn’t vote or influence the scores. “When I was hired as the director, I made it clear that I don’t have an art degree and don’t feel qualified to select the exhibiting artists. By hiring professional jurors, we’re able to create a balanced, quality show across all media.” The tough part for Diana comes after the selection, when she sends out letters to the artists who got accepted… and a far great number who did not. “It’s so hard, because art festivals are so competitive now, and people do this for a living,” she said. “I try to remind them that the selection process is subjective in nature; next year it could change completely.” The year she served as a juror, Beth also acted as a judge during the Arts Festival itself and loved seeing the artists in person. Surrounded by the bustling crowds, unique art and festive atmosphere, the 3D manifestation of the jury’s painstaking labor, her thought was, “What a fun thing to be part of.” The $30 application fees and $300-375 booth fees go into an Arts Festival granting pool. That fund has supported the Alpenglow concerts, Crested Butte bus-painting program, Dansummer scholarships and other local arts organizations and efforts. The festival art auction, added two years ago, raised $16,000 in 2011, which is earmarked for art outreach in the Crested Butte and Gunnison schools. The Crested Butte Arts Festival has been voted by its participating artists as one of the best in the country. While that draws more applicants and makes the jury process more competitive, it also keeps the festival fresh and the quality high, Diana said. “We’re working with the Arts Alliance to put the valley on the map as an arts destination, and presenting the very best visual artists at the festival is a great way to do that.” Winter 2011 | 2012

Long story

Kids on skis ... with guns

short

CRESTED BUTTE’S BIATHLON TEAM ADDS FIREPOWER TO THEIR NORDIC SKIING.

Photos by Wouter Van Tiel

Middle-school biathletes and coaches: ski hard, then shoot straight.

How do you get a bunch of adolescents excited about Nordic skiing? Try giving them guns. The strategy worked for Crested Butte’s middle school biathlon team, started last year by Randy and Joan Swift. “Our son Benjamin loves to Nordic ski, but he didn’t have any peers doing it with him,” Joan said. “After talking to Roger Sherman, who had looked into forming a biathlon team, Randy decided to try it to get more kids interested in Nordic skiing.” The Swifts talked with the U.S. Biathlon Association, learned the basics at a training in Minnesota, and ordered a handful of pellet guns (safer than the .22 rifles that are traditionally used in biathlon competition). The biathlon is an Olympic sport in which Nordic athletes ski laps, which requires strength and aerobic fitness, and then shoot at targets, which by contrast requires steadiness and concentration. “You have to control your breathing… that’s the whole idea,” Joan said. Last year Crested Butte’s middle school biathlon team attracted nine athletes, ages 12-14. The coaches expect more kids this year. And, sure enough, some of the biathletes have caught the ski bug and intend to join the Junior Nordic Ski Team when they hit high school… even though no firearms will be involved. “Biathlon is fun because I love skiing – and the shooting makes it more of a challenge,” Benjamin said. Another couple, Chris and Joe Matyk, helped the Crested Butte Magazine

Swifts coach the biathlon team last year, though the four had little prior experience with guns beyond some time hunting. The team met three afternoons a week. Half the kids skied with Chris and Joan or Junior Nordic Team coach Duncan Callahan while the others practiced shooting with Randy and Joe in the roped-off target area outside the Nordic Center. The youngsters eagerly learned how to position themselves on mats on the snow, hold the guns steady and aim through the sights. “From day one to the end of the season, the improvement was amazing,” Joan said, even though the coaches had to “cram the practice in quickly” between school and the mid-winter sunset. Though a few other biathlon teams exist around the state, there’s no organized middle school competition venue. The team last year attended a citizens’ competition at Snow Mountain Ranch, and this year the coaches may try to organize a Colorado contest or take the kids to other areas with biathlon teams, like Yellowstone. The biathlon evolved from winter hunting and warfare training in Norway centuries ago, and it became an Olympic event in 1960. The Gunnison Valley boasted an Olympic biathlete, Josh Thompson, in the late 1980s. But Joan and Randy have no Olympic aspirations for their young athletes for now; they’re just happy to entice the young people onto Nordic skis. 19

A double debut THROUGH THE NEW CRESTED BUTTE FILM FESTIVAL, A FILM-MAKING DUO BROUGHT THEIR MOVIE BACK TO THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS WRITTEN. By Sandy Fails

Charlotte Barrett has been going to movies in Crested Butte since she was a little girl – “so it was really fun for my Crested Butte friends to see my first movie on the big screen at the Majestic Theater,” she said. “Virgin Alexander,” written and directed by Charlotte and her husband, Sean Fallon, showed twice during the inaugural Crested Butte Film Festival in October, once at the Center for the Arts and once at the Majestic. Charlotte and Sean wrote most of the screenplay for “Virgin Alexander” in 2009 while staying at the Crested Butte home of Charlotte’s mother Mary. The film, released last spring, has since collected awards and kudos — from winning the audience award and best film honor at the DC Independent Film Festival to its prestigious selection as the opening film for the 2011 Orlando Film Fest. 20

After Mary read in a local newsletter about plans for a new Crested Butte Film Festival, Charlotte and Sean contacted festival creators Michael and Jennifer Brody, who invited them to submit “Virgin Alexander.” The selection committee chose the unusual comedy for the Crested Butte kick-off of the festival, so the two couples debuted their respective projects in Crested Butte on the same evening. Charlotte grew up in San Antonio, but Crested Butte stars in some of her fondest memories. She visited often with her family, learning to ski here as a youngster and later working for the kids’ ski school. “I begged my parents to let me attend the Crested Butte Academy,” she said. No dice. Charlotte headed to Middlebury College, where a film class captivated her, combining her fascination with photography, storytelling and movies. She transferred to the acclaimed Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, where she met Sean on the first day of a film production class. The two fell in love while collaborating on a film project. After school, they both worked in the page program for “David Letterman,” then moved to Los Angeles to be near the heart of the film biz. Charlotte worked as a dog-walker and Sean did movie marketing while they honed their scriptwriting skills. The premise for “Virgin Alexander” came to them after they moved to a town outside of Las Vegas (“as far away from Los Angeles as we could get and still go in for meetings”). Las Vegas was hit hard by the foreclosure crisis, which turned into a creative prompt for Charlotte and Sean. “We’d ask ourselves, ‘What are the most terrible ideas to get yourself out of a fix like that?’ We talked for weeks and threw out a lot of ideas.” The one that stuck became the film’s plot: to avoid foreclosure, a trash hauler (who also happens to be a virgin) attempts to run a brothel out of his house. Though the set-up sounded like a commercial “teen sex comedy,” they wanted to give it more realism and emotional range. Charlotte and Sean spent the summer of 2009 in Crested Butte, working intently on “Virgin Alexander.” “It’s such a calm and peaceful place to write,” Charlotte said. Local gallery owner/closet writer Teresa Rijks read and offered suggestions on the drafts. The couple’s previous scripts had placed well in several contests, and “Virgin Alexander” caught the fancy of Winter 2011 | 2012

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Winter 2011 | 2012

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Hunter Hill, an Austin man eager to try movie producing. So he agreed to produce the film, and Charlotte and Sean cast, directed and edited it. They shot “Virgin Alexander” in Sean’s hometown of Saratoga, New York, attracting a talented pool of actors despite a limited budget. “My favorite part was being on the set with the cast, actually shooting,” Sean said. He and Charlotte worked seamlessly during the filming; “we’d already had our fights during the writing,” he said. Since the completion of “Virgin Alexander,” the writers and their film have traveled the film fest circuit, with consistent audience feedback. People laugh, grow silent, feel sadness, laugh some more and applaud. “It’s been gratifying,” Charlotte said. “We wanted there to be a sincerity that’s not seen in lots of movies right now.” Sean added, “We take our characters seriously. There are some over-the-top moments, but we never make fun of our characters.” The two and their sales agent are now working to “build buzz” and find a distributor for the movie. Meanwhile, they’re writing their next screenplay. “We want to spend the rest of our lives making movies together,” Sean said. They also intend to continue spending time in Crested Butte, which they find a productive retreat for writing. “After seeing the film, maybe now our friends know why we’re practically shut-ins when we come here,” Sean said. Meanwhile, Michael and Jennifer Brody are already screening films for the second Crested Butte Film Festival next October. “This first festival exceeded any expectations we might have had,” Michael said. “I loved opening night at the Center for the Arts. I looked up at Red Lady, saw the aspens ablaze in light and people streaming in to watch the movies. We had pulled it off with exactly the right timing. The volunteers and staff made this happen in a great way, and the community responded.” Winter 2011 | 2012

Long story short

The art of the tease

THE TANTALIZING ENTERTAINMENT OF BURLESQUE FINDS A HOME IN THE BUTTE. By Dawne Belloise

Brooke Warren

The founder of the Ruby Blue Syndicate, Fanny DuVine, waits for her entrance.

Imagine mixing a young Mae West with the Gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello and a touch of Cirque de Soleil. Then transplant the sexy, feathery spectacle to Crested Butte’s oldest saloon. Using the moniker Ruby Blue Syndicate, a local burlesque foursome high-kicked, twirled, sang and seductively enchanted a sold-out audience during their inaugural show at Kochevar’s last summer. They’ll be back to heat up the winter as well. The troupe, conjured from Crested Butte ingenuity, talent and flair for adventurous theater, is headed up by Miss Fanny DuVine, a local gal raised on a Gunnison ranch. Fanny earned her B.A. in theater dance from the University of Northern Colorado in 2005 while picking up a B.S. in business... and she can dance and sing like nobody’s biz. “I moved out to Phoenix to get a real job in marketing and wound up joining a burlesque show there,” she croons. She moved back to Crested Butte in 2009 determined to start a burlesque company here. Ruby Blue’s July debut and subsequent shows have been smashing successes. Classic burlesque was born of vaudeville and is never pornographic. Originally, burlesque was a parody of the ruling classes in England in the 1800s, making a travesty Crested Butte Magazine

of popular songs, opera arias and other music that the audience would easily recognize. As burlesque developed, the shows depended on comedy and a variety of acts, including titillating strip teases that really didn’t show much, but hinted at plenty. The entertainment form gained its sleazy reputation decades after arriving in America, as “Burley-Q” went into decline in the 1930s and house managers depended ever more on nudity to draw crowds. Some artists maintained the true color of burlesque during that dark era, Fanny says. “It was a way for people, in the Great Depression for instance, to enjoy a form of entertainment when there wasn’t much to be happy about. They could go into vaudeville shows and be entertained for fairly cheap. It put a smile on people’s faces.” She grins, emphasizing her impeccable cheekbones. “Burlesque is about the art of the tease, not about showing all the goods. It’s about being a woman and the way our bodies are beautiful and the power we have over men when we show a little shoulder.” She giggles. “We see both men and women at our shows. It’s empowering for the women in the audience, because burlesque shows a variety of feminine body shapes. We have the voluptuous and the skinny and girls with small and big waists or bigger 23

derrières, and it’s all about celebrating the female. A burlesque show can draw more women than men. I think the men are somewhat intimidated because they don’t want the women in their lives thinking they’re going to a strip show. Really, it’s derived from the classical strip show, but it’s become more of a performance art — and art is the key word. We incorporate a lot of dance.” In fact, people encounter more skin walking down a city street in summer than they’ll see in a tantalizing dance on the burlesque stage. “They have to use their imagination, and it’s exciting for them that way,” Fanny says, her warm voice a blend of innocence and pouting allure. She is the madame of the show, a sultry, almost motherly, character for her girls, who use names like Gypsy Twigs, Rubia Royale and Charessa McPanties (who’s completing the quartet since Sweat Pea Chanel ran off to college). True to burlesque tradition, the girls outfit themselves in a “dazzling” array of feathers, sequins and jewels. Fanny uses her experience to help the girls with their choreography. She asks them to develop their stage characters, using various feminine aspects, from seductress to pixie. Befitting Crested Butte’s historic ambiance, the show hints at the Wild West days, where saloon girls were never lewd. “I wanted to bring something different to town, something reminiscent of the days of vaudeville,” Fanny says. “It’s different from the things people do every night… go to bars, watch movies, see live bands.” She plans to expand the show with guest artists, musicians, comedians, jugglers, magicians, pyrotechnics and other dance styles, from hula-hoops to aerials. In recent years small communities like Crested Butte witnessed the unbridled, kitschy antics of the Yard Dogs Traveling Road Show, a vaudevilleburlesque troupe that performed to full houses and whose rapt fans showed up with painted faces, bustiers and bowler hats. Here, local mountain men prepped for the show by grooming their curled mustachios for weeks, while women browsed online Frederick’s of Hollywood catalogs. We might be ready for our own burlesque syndicate.

Winter 2011 | 2012

On the trail of pirates

Winter 2011 | 2012

Crested Butte alum Barry Clifford enlisted several local adventurers (including his children) in his celebrated discovery of the Whydah pirate ship. By Sandra Cortner Barry Clifford finds plenty to treasure in Crested Butte: memories, adventures, his daughter Jenny and son Brandon. But the treasures that made him famous emerged from his home waters of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where in 1984 he discovered the 300-year-old pirate ship the Whydah Gally, the first known pirate ship ever found along U.S. shores and the subject of books, documentaries and a huge museum exhibit. Barry’s search for the Whydah was rooted in his boyhood. His Uncle Bill enchanted him with stories of the hundreds of pirate ships, laden with gold coins, silver pieces of eight and bags of gold dust, wrecked off the Massachusetts coast. In 1717, weighted with the booty stolen from 50 other ships, the Whydah ran aground on a sandbar, capsized and broke up in one of the fiercest storms ever to hit Cape Cod. Her undiscovered treasure trove was local folklore, and adventurous Barry dreamed of finding her remains. First, though, a football scholarship awaited Barry at Western State College in Gunnison. After arriving in 1966 and driving up the road to Crested Butte, he “fell in love” with the town. In addition to skiing, he enjoyed exploring old ghost towns in the area. After graduating in 1969 with degrees in history and sociology, he married, settled in Crested Butte and had two children, Jenny and Barry, Jr. Following his divorce in 1974, Barry brought his kids back to Cape Cod to raise them, not an easy task. “They were just toddlers then. I taught them how to change each other’s diapers,” he said.

Back in Martha’s Vineyard, Barry worked construction, did underwater salvage, taught school and coached football, eventually remarrying and fathering a third child, Brandon. All the while, the Whydah siren song of his boyhood echoed in his ears. Remembers Jenny, who’s lived in Crested Butte since 1990, “He was always trying to find it when I was growing up. He studied charts, old journals, anything he could find about the wreck. I would come downstairs early in the morning and find him still at his desk poring over maps. He was always out diving around Martha’s Vineyard.” His obsession grew, and his marriage to Birgitta, Brandon’s mother, hit the rocks, as did his business. At last, he got a mental kick in the rear from a chance conversation at a friend’s house with newscaster Walter Cronkite, who asked, “When will you start looking for the Whydah?” In the summer of 1983, Barry raised $250,000 from investors, purchased and outfitted a vessel, the Vast Explorer, and filed claim papers with the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archeological Research. His study of the history had pointed him toward the Marconi Beach area in Wellfleet Bay. Crew members included Crested Butte friends and college buddies. Who wouldn’t want to get rich finding a pirate-treasure shipwreck? At first, they hoped the Whydah would be laying on the bottom for the taking. They figured wrong. The porous sand, combined with years of hurricanes and currents that had shifted whole beaches, had swallowed the Whydah and her rich cargo. The hunt wouldn’t be as simple as just diving

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A young Brandon Clifford with a silver piece of eight. Photo courtesy of Barry Clifford.

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overboard. After first steadying the boat by dropping seven anchors, they used a magnetometer to detect metal below the waves. With special devices called “mailboxes” held over the propellers of the boat to direct the backwash, they blew hole after hole into the sandy ocean floor. But they found only practice bombs and pieces of armament from World War II exercises that had taken place in the military test firing range. By the following summer, Barry’s checkbook balance had dwindled to a few hundred dollars. The crew, once so buoyant, grew despondent after repeatedly coming up empty. Finally, on July 20, 1984, a diver surfaced with a coin dated 1688, a cannonball, and word that he’d spotted three cannons, proof to Barry that he’d found the Whydah. Of the hundreds of wrecks in the area, only Winter 2011 | 2012

TOP LEFT : A diver with the gold coins from the ballast pile of the Fiery Dragon. The wreck is littered with rare Chinese porcelain. Photo courtesy of Barry Clifford. TOP RIGHT : Conservator Scott Herber and Shevak Graham with twelve fully restored cannons from the Whydah. In the background are the tanks used to soak off the concreted mixture of sea salt and minerals. BOTTOM RIGHT : Diver Jeff Spiegel, Barry Clifford (seated) and Brandon Clifford, with two concreted cannons recovered in August from the pirate shipwreck. Photos courtesy of Whydah International, Inc.

the 300-ton Whydah was carrying gold and silver from that era. His hours of research had convinced him of that. Now he had to convince the rest of the world. An NBC television crew happened to be filming that day. Word spread quickly. Barry had salvaged ships in the past and competitors figured he must have an inkling of exactly where the Whydah lay. They filed claims on either side of his. “It was like Sutter’s Mill during the gold rush,” said Barry. “A New York Times front page story said it was worth $400,000,000 in treasure.” News of the discovery enticed more investors, even though Barry warned them that they might not see a payback for years, if ever. To complicate matters, it took a lawsuit against the State of Massachusetts to win full ownership of the Whydah’s treasure. Artifacts started pouring in from the holes. But it wasn’t until the discovery of the ship’s bell in 1985, inscribed “The Whydah Gally 1716” with Maltese crosses separating the words, that his detractors were silenced. The bell was Crested Butte Magazine

absolute proof he had discovered the first fully documented pirate shipwreck and treasure in the world. For Barry the lure of discovering shipwrecks isn’t in the gold and silver coins hidden beneath surf and sand. He is passionate about the history— of the ship, its pirate crew, the captain, relics and the time period. “It’s not what you find, it’s what you find out.” What he was finding out, he wanted to share with the public, and he planned from the start to keep his prize in one place. First, he hired an archeologist and historian and outfitted a conservation laboratory to clean the recovered items and keep a detailed inventory of where each was found. Then he built a 3,000-square-foot museum at the end of the wharf in Provincetown, Massachusetts, to house the more than 200,000 artifacts. As they grew up, the Clifford children, Barry, Jr., Jenny and Brandon, spent time on the Vast Explorer. Jenny remembers picking out gold flecks that were clogging the grate of the sifter used to bring up the gold dust in some of 31

the sediment layers around the wreck. “People thought my father was rich, but sometimes we had trouble paying the phone bill. I can remember it being turned off. He never sold a coin,” she said. Throughout the years, the children moved in different yet parallel directions. Barry Jr., the oldest, lives in California, pursuing a career as a writer, actor and artist. Jenny moved to Crested Butte when she was 19—having never forgotten

the wildflowers she’d seen as a toddler—and worked as a snowboard instructor and rock mason and at Irwin Lodge, among other jobs. Now she is a faux-finish artist. Brandon, seven years Jenny’s junior, was born on Martha’s Vineyard. “I came to Crested Butte as a kid and visited my sister. I thought it was the coolest place in the world.” At 18, he chucked his fledgling college career in Oregon and went to work on the Vast Explorer for his father. Now 33 years old and living in Crested Butte, he has become his dad’s “righthand person.” Brandon is an underwater videographer and part of a rotating team where each person brings different skills and does a bit of everything, including all the chores on the boat. Brandon has recruited some of his Crested Butte friends to work on the Whydah project: Alex Eaton, Nate Nash, who spent 11 years with Crested Butte’s Matchstick Productions, and Andris Zobs, now director of Crested Butte’s Office of Energy Resources (ORE). Andris kept the technical and mechanical aspects of the Vast Explorer running smoothly and was the magnetometer expert; he was fascinated by the ancient nautical instruments they uncovered. Nate’s specialty was cinematography. Said he, “It’s an amazing feeling to hold the artifact and think about its story and the fact that it sat on the ocean floor for hundreds of years.” The Whydah’s remains are scattered in a rough area of the Cape in about 40 feet of water and under 10 feet of sand. Waves, currents, wind and cold temperatures conspire to

Winter 2011 | 2012

create difficult and sometimes treacherous diving conditions. “One day, I couldn’t see more than one inch in front of my face. We have surface tubes that pump hot water from the ship into our wet suits. It’s like diving in bathwater,” explained Brandon. The divers can spend up to four hours at a time in the ocean if they are in shallow water and supplied with air from a tube. After four days, the Vast Explorer returns to port to restock with food and water. Brandon’s most exciting find four years ago was the “caboose,” the ship’s cookstove. In 1860, author Henry Thoreau wrote in a book about Cape Cod that he could “see the caboose sticking up off Marconi Beach after a big storm at low tide.” Brandon explained that the wreck was in shallow water closer to shore at that time. Barry describes his youngest son as one of his best divers. Brandon’s keen ear and persistence helped the team make a major find this past summer. Explained Barry, “We went back to an area we’d already worked in 1984 and 2007.” Each time they dug, Brandon could hear a tone on the remote sensing equipment that indicated more treasure lay below. “Deeper, deeper,” he’d insist. Barry recalled, “He saw the tip of an enormous magnetic anomaly.” Cannons, captured from other ships, were stored in the Whydah’s hold as ballast, and when the ship capsized, the cannons broke through the decks above. Cyprian Southack, who was sent by the Massachusetts governor in 1717 to salvage the cargo, made detailed notes and maps as he

watched the wreck break up. “Riches with the guns would be buried in the sand,” he concluded. Barry thinks that Brandon has found these guns. “The English trial records of the surviving pirates indicate that 50 pounds sterling was added to every man’s share, there being 180 men, and put in bags into chests stored between the decks—‘the riches with the guns.’ With luck, we’ll find out next season,” he said.

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The weather limits the divers to two or three months a year of recovery. This past summer’s first trip was July 8. “Hurricane Irene at the end of August and lots of white sharks put an early end to the season. It’s the most dangerous place I’ve ever worked. The weather changes so quickly. I’m never not spooked at night,” he confessed, ever mindful that the Vast Explorer could mimic the Whydah’s fate. In the fall, the explorers recover artifacts from shipwrecks in the Caribbean. This year Barry returned to Haiti to continue the search for Christopher Columbus’ ship, the Santa Maria. Barry also thinks he has found Captain Morgan’s ship, the Oxford.

Brandon and a team headed to Madagascar to recover several wrecks, including Captain William Kidd’s flagship, the Adventure Galley. Several years earlier, Barry identified the Fiery Dragon. Diving from shore in an old harbor on Ile Sainte-Marie, the team is also exploring the Soldato and the Mocha Frigate, which Brandon terms “the most successful ships in world history. They were rolling in treasure and had piles of it on the beach. We need artifacts to help clearly identify a wreck even though we are pretty sure of which one it is.” The artifacts will be donated to a small museum on Madagascar. In the winter, Brandon returns to Crested Butte with his wife Oriana and young daughter Tallulah. New challenges await here: one winter he climbed and then skied off of 28 14,000-foot peaks. His hobby is kite skiing, a relatively new sport here—like kite surfing, but over snow instead of water. Brandon also owns a website design company, newinteractivedesign.com. Barry satisfies his mountain craving as well, spending a couple of months skiing in Colorado and visiting his children and grandchild. In the meantime, he and Margot, his wife of 15 years and an underwater photographer, live in their apartment above the Provincetown Museum surrounded by the water that has spawned his career, and where they are, no doubt, planning new adventures.

Winter 2011 | 2012

Barry Clifford’s early research and later his study of

the Whydah Gally’s artifacts revealed a ship that originally held more than 300 Africans packed into its bowels, destined for Caribbean slave markets. Her soon-to-be-captain, Sam Bellamy, a poor young sailor, was in love with the daughter of a prosperous farmer in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Seeking to gain his fortune and win her hand in marriage, Bellamy threw his lot in with a pirate crew. The Whydah Gally was much prized for her speed and cannons. “Gally” is common spelling for that era and refers to the ship’s streamlined body. After her 1717 capture, pirates removed the forecastle and remnants of the slaves’ quarters, leaving an open fighting platform as well as sleeping area. Her arsenal was also increased by the addition of cannons from other vessels. The booty was more than the 20,000 to 30,000 pounds sterling received from the most recent slave sale. Household supplies, utensils, pistols, plates, clothes, tools, food, water, liquor, maps, sails and rigging were also coveted. This story of discovery and recovery, entitled Real Pirates: The Untold Story of the Whydah—from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship, is the subject of a three-year, 20,000-square-foot, traveling exhibit backed by the National Geographic Society. It spent the past six months at the Denver Nature

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and Science Museum, drawing record crowds. A busload of Crested Butte fifth graders and parents explored the displays of artifacts like gold doubloons, cannons, sabers and other weaponry, anchors, rigging, four-inch-thick rope, photos and text. Barry gave a private tour and slide show to more than 200 Western State College alumni and friends. Newly named to the college’s list of the top 100 outstanding alumni, he has joined the WSC Foundation Board of Directors. Barry said he plans to bring a smaller exhibit of the Whydah treasures to WSC. The exhibit is now in Phoenix, Arizona, for six months. Throughout his nearly 30 years of maritime exploration, Barry has written seven books and garnered numerous honors. His work been featured in National Geographic specials and is the subject of many television programs, documentaries and articles. The History Channel this year will air a documentary on the Madagascar expedition.

Winter 2011 | 2012

SECRETS TO TAKING YOUR COFFEE TO GREATER HEIGHTS.

By Alissa Johnson Al Smith loads up the Camp 4 roaster. Photo : Braden Gunem

Winter 2011 | 2012

WHEN THE ALARM WENT OFF AT 4:30 A.M., I ROLLED OVER IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK AND PULLED THE BLANKET OVER MY HEAD.

Why not hit snooze until 5:00, then get up to climb Mt. Sneffles? But my boyfriend clambered out of the truck, pulled the gate down and dragged the water jug across the bed of the truck. “What are you doing?” I muttered. “Making coffee.” And there it was: the rich, dark fragrance as he poured the grounds into the French press. I sighed, threw back the blanket and reached through the dark for my jacket. The olfactory call was irresistible. Coffee, like mountains, goes with adventure. It eases the transition from toasty sleeping bag to cold mountain air, and it warms us down to our toes after an early-morning ski. There are four specialty coffee shops in Crested Butte alone—a town of roughly 1,600 people. And plenty of those people have perfected their personal java brewing at home. But coffee, like people, changes with altitude. The thin air that makes a skier feel light in the head can make coffee weak in the brew. It can take a few tricks to find the perfect cup when adventure starts at 9,000 feet.

NO WIMPY BREWS

When Al Smith, owner of Camp 4 Coffee in Crested Butte, got into the coffee business in the ‘90s, he didn’t bother with drip coffee. It just didn’t work here. At sea level, water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit; at 9,000 feet, most calculations place that temperature at 196 degrees. Smith has never measured anything higher than 186 degrees. Either way, coffee is brewed just below boiling, which means it’s brewed at a lower temperature at elevation. “You’re basically cooking with relatively cold water, so it doesn’t cook as fast. If you just pour water through the beans, you get cold, weak coffee,” Smith said. There are ways around that. Rumors Coffee and Tea House owners Danica Ayraud and Arvin Ram played around with the amount of beans until landing on a cup of joe that tasted right. Grinding the coffee beans finer slows the water down (though as Smith warns, watch out for overflow as the grounds expand), and newer, programmable drip machines also make it possible to brew stronger coffee. But the relationship between elevation and coffee goes well beyond the temperature of the water. Arvin Ram serves up the classy caffeine at Rumors Coffee & Tea House.

THANK YOU, BIG RED

Every day, Smith enters his roastery and thanks Big Red—the afterburner that sits behind the drum roaster that rotates coffee beans under very high heats. Big Red and the roaster are surrounded by buckets of unroasted and roasted coffee beans, boxes of bagged coffee and piles of burlap sacks, also filled with coffee. The afterburner prevents the smell of roasting coffee from spreading to the neighboring homes in Crested Butte South. Both Big Red and the roaster get finicky in thin mountain air. “The problem is trying to get that thing to light,

because at altitude there’s not as much air pressure and there’s not as much oxygen. That tends to soot up the machine, and eventually it won’t light at all,” Smith said. At that point, he tears the whole thing apart and cleans it. It’s an issue the manufacturer seldom sees, since most customers roast at lower elevations. When the roaster is doing its job, the aromas of cinnamon and chicory float through the air, and popping and crackling fill the room. When coffee is roasting, it behaves like popcorn. The beans go into the roaster small and green, each bean one of two pits found in the coffee plant’s fruit, often called the cherry. The “popped” coffee

39 39 Winter 2011 | 2012

FOR YOUR SINCE MOUNTAIN 1973 LIFESTYLE

that comes out is nearly twice the size. The roasting process wakes up residual moisture in the bean, so it changes size and color over time, from green to canary yellow to cinnamon to brown. The bean becomes satiny, then shiny, and finally charcoal-like. “We try not to go there,” Smith said. All the while, the heat is breaking down proteins in the bean into carbohydrates and starches. The heat caramelizes these sugars, and halting the process at various points brings out different flavors. Stopping short creates citrusy and sour flavors, and roasting longer brings out more caramel, chocolate and smoky flavors. All of that translates into the flavor profile, or the aroma, body and brightness that make a particular coffee unique. Joe Benson of Buena Vista Roastery, which supplies beans to Bacchanale A.M. and Crested Butte Mountain Resort, explained,

“When you sip a cup of coffee, you experience body and brightness. Body will be what’s coating the tongue, and a darker coffee will coat it more. A lighter roast will give a taste of citric acid at the top of the mouth, and the flavor leaves quickly.” Benson believes roasting at elevation leads to a better flavor profile. He has observed that “drop temps,” or the temperature at which beans get pulled out of the roaster, are different at elevation; it’s a slower roast. The sugars caramelize differently, which reduces the configuration of acids that can affect coffee drinkers’ stomachs. He credits that slow roast to BTUs—or the energy it takes to heat a pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. “It depends some on the type of roaster you have and the profiles you’re looking for, but we don’t have the BTUS up here,” Benson said.

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The trick, whether you’re at sea level or elevation, is to start with a bean you like. But your “good bean” might be different from mine, and tastes vary by region, too. “If I go to Italy and order espresso, they’re probably gonna be drinking it super mild—I would think bland—but to them it would be super smooth,” Smith said. “That same espresso, if you poured it in water? You wouldn’t taste it.” Smith has observed that in Crested Butte, the dark to medium beans far outsell the European-style blends. The same is true in the northwest United States, where coffee tends to be smokier and better suited to specialty espresso drinks. “You want a bean that is going to stand up and punch through all that milk,” he said. But go south, toward New Orleans, and the coffee becomes more bitter. In the northeast, with its coffee made for drinking with donuts, Smith finds the brew to be sour. It’s all a matter of personal taste, and the guideline, like my favorite rule for wine, is: If you like it, drink it. But if you’re making your own coffee, make sure you brew it right.

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Braden Gunem

SEEKING THE PERFECT BEAN

FINE TUNING THE BREW

“Weakness is a function of what you brew and how you brew it,” Benson said. “A lot of people will not put enough grounds in the coffee or don’t have the right grind or don’t have the right temperature. You don’t want the water boiling, but you also can’t have it too cold. Up in Crested Butte, especially way up at Paradise Warming House, we had to work to get the brewer right.” Coffee is like tea; you don’t boil water and pour it on a tea bag because it damages the flavors. With water’s lower boiling point at higher elevation, the temperature setting on the brewers had to be adjusted. The grind of the beans is equally important. Some cheap grinders are inconsistent, Benson said, producing a combination of chunks and powder that release flavors at different rates and create conflicting flavors. Coffee shops carefully watch the grind of the bean, even for an espresso shot, which forces water through tightly packed, fine grounds. “The grind can change on an hourly and daily basis,” Ayraud said. Barometric pressure—or air pressure—influences how fast the water flows through the grounds. If it’s too fast, the espresso is weak; if it’s too slow, the brew tastes bitter and burnt. In the mountains, barometric pressure changes

quickly; the same storms that chase adventurers off the mountain can take a toll on their afternoon espressos. “If the weather’s sunny, and a storm comes in fast, we have to adjust it,” Ayraud said. Water that was passing through the espresso in 20 seconds before the storm could move much faster afterwards, requiring a finer grind to slow the water and restore the flavor profile of the pour. Whether you savor the subtleties of cinnamon and chicory or just like a good strong cup of joe, elevation needn’t mean weak or bad coffee. “Coffee should be excellent,” Benson said. “And your shots of espresso should be excellent. Don’t settle for bitter or disappointing taste.” If you’re a home-brewing coffee connoisseur, experiment to hone your high-altitude technique. Until then, do as the savvy visitors do: sit on a bench in the morning and wait for the locals to stumble out of their houses with empty coffee mugs; they’ll lead you straight to the Butte’s java hot spots.

Winter 2011 | 2012

BREWING BETTER COFFEE AT HOME

The

Studio

Art School

The

Studio

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Buy beans that were roasted two or three days before you purchase them. Beans release gases and continue to change after roasting. Freshly roasted coffee might smell bland. Give it a whiff a few days later and perhaps find a rich, bold scent.

Store coffee in opaque, airtight containers; air and light affect taste.

Order a varietal of coffee made for the kind of brew you’re making. Don’t expect great espresso from a French roast designed for drip coffee makers. Some blends have been designed for both, so ask.

Try something other than drip; a French press lets you steep the beans as long as you like.

Experiment. Try different beans and grinds until you find your favorite.

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Winter 2011 | 2012

By Brooke Harless

FREESKIING TEEN AARON BLUNCK IS FLIPPING, TWISTING AND JUMPING HIS WAY TO THE YOUTH OLYMPICS IN AUSTRIA. 45

Photo by Alex Fenlon

Winter 2011 | 2012

without jumping or spinning,” Lisa said. “He told me I needed to get control of that child! “Aaron was around two when we took him skiing on a leash, and he would just jump and jump. He didn’t care about learning to stop, he just wanted to jump and jump and jump – here and there, wherever he felt like it.” Aaron has similar memories: “When I was little, basically if there were any jumps I would always find and take them.” He laughed. “Then I’d get stuck and my dad would have to come pull me out of a snow bank.” As Aaron got older, his dad and elder brother Nolan began touring big-mountain terrain. Aaron found new avenues for jumping and began taking risks and

Alex Fenlon

He favors flat-billed Colorado Freeskier hats and is rarely seen without one. He has a serious fear of snakes, his favorite cereal is Golden Grahams, and at 5’ 7” he weighs 125 pounds. He’s 15 ½ years old, and he’s won more than 80 freeskiing competitions in the last seven years. Selected to compete at the first-ever Youth Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria, Aaron will be the only male representing the United States in skier halfpipe. He is reportedly the highestranking athlete of his age in freeskiing. Aaron was born into a Crested Butte skiing dynasty. His grandfather, Robel Straubhaar, founded Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s ski school in 1962 and directed the program until 1985. His parents, Lisa and Michael, are also avid skiers. Lisa, recalling her pregnancy with Aaron, said, “I could tell he wasn’t going to wait. He pushed and kicked so hard that I went into labor two weeks early.” Like most of the progeny of our community, Aaron began skiing with his parents at the young age of two. “I learned on a little pair of wooden skis – the same ones my mom and all my uncles and my brother learned on,” Aaron said. “They’re made in Switzerland, which is where my family roots are.” One of Aaron’s first skiing memories was in Switzerland. “I think I was three or four, and we went with all my family up into the Alps, where we met up with my great-grandpa, who was around 90 at the time and still skiing,” Aaron said. “He died at 99 but was still skiing…at 99! I think that’s pretty awesome to say.” Aaron was a boisterous jumping-bean of a kid who leaped and tumbled through his toddling years. “His grandfather [Robel] used to get mad at him because he couldn’t walk across the living room

Winter 2011 | 2012

incorporating tricks into his skiing. “I remember my dad taking us down Psychedelic Rocks, and something changed in me,” he said. Aaron’s desire to ski bigger, badder runs became insatiable. “My brother was always with me. It’d be icy and cold, and we’d just be out there all day, hitting everything we could.” While he sharpened his edges on big-mountain terrain, Aaron’s skiing style also became more fluid and daring as he pulled off tricks in the terrain park and halfpipe. His skiing began to loosen and expand as he transitioned to what is now called freeskiing. Freeskiing is a day-glo, trickedout hybrid of newschool skiing and terrain park acrobatics. The sport evolved in the late ‘90s when freestyle skiers — shut down by restrictive laws placed on the sport by the International Ski Federation (FIS) — began trying their tricks in what were at the time snowboard-only terrain parks. Early newschool skiers were encouraged by the explosion of style, attitude and attention the sport of snowboarding received, and they brought their own version of that style to skiing. Early in the sport’s history the FIS freestyle skiing events were governed by restrictive, unpopular rules. Such rules included a ban on inverted tricks in mogul runs, a limit on the number of flips in aerial competitions, and a lack of ski park or pipe competitions. The “newschool” movement was a breakaway faction of the freeskiers who were unhappy with the FIS. Born at the right time (1996), Aaron slipped into this movement with natural talent and a genetic predisposition for snowsports. With Swiss blood coursing through his veins, Aaron launched his freeskiing career early - winning his first competition, the Profurious Park and Pipe Comp, at age eight. There were six competitions in that series and Aaron won every single one. At age ten he moved into the open class division to see how he would fare vying against skiers in their twenties. In his first season as a contender in Crested Butte Magazine

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open class, Aaron dominated, winning most of the comps at the USSA Rocky Mountain Free Style Competition. “Competing against older guys gave me more of an adrenaline rush to hit the next level. To this day I don’t really get nervous, I just get really excited. When there are other really good people, I try to rise to their level of skiing,” said Aaron. At 11 and in the sixth grade, Aaron began traveling to compete. His coach, Woody Lindenmeyer, taught him to visualize himself competing, a practice intrinsic to successful athletes. “My coaches encouraged me to picture myself doing a trick with a grab and other stuff. It really helped me imagine my run and put it together,” said Aaron. Practicing hard every day and visualizing clean lines and solid performances, Aaron continued to excel, adding new tricks to his hearty bag of park and pipe fodder. Freeskiing tricks are as complicated and nuanced as their names suggest. “I have a lot of favorite tricks, like the

Cork 9, Switch Rodeo 5 and Switch 10. In the pipe it’s Switch 9 without a doubt,” said Aaron. Dizzying to watch, these acrobatics are a series of 180s, flips, grabs and twists creating a kaleidoscope of “steeze.” As Aaron’s finesse in the park and pipe earned him more and more time at the podium, his young ego, understandably, began to swell. “I used to be kind of a little punk. I got a little cocky, but my dad really taught me to be thankful. He said, ‘The path you’re taking in life is really amazing and with it comes responsibility.’ My parents taught me so much about honor and respect and not taking things for granted. They’re the reason I’ve succeeded and I am who I am,” said Aaron. “When you go to comps, a lot of people can be straight-up cocky. I’ve just learned to be thankful by working with people like Ben Somrak, my brother Nolan, Gabe Martin, Hans VonBriesen, Woody Lindenmeyer and all the amazing coaches I’ve had.

Winter 2011 | 2012

They’re such humble guys who coached me and taught me so much. I wouldn’t be here without them.” With his ego in check, Aaron was unstoppable. Some highlights from his lengthy resume include: third place in open class in the 2010 Halfpipe Winter Gatorade Free Flow Tour in Vail; second place in halfpipe, first in slopestyle, third in skiercross and overall national champion in the 12-15 category at the 2010 USASA Nationals; third in the U.S. Halfpipe Nationals; second in open class at the USASA Halfpipe Nationals. Here in Crested Butte, Aaron has taken the win at the Big Air on Elk event for the last two years. One of his favorite events, the spectacle features skiers and boarders being towed by high-speed snowmobiles from Second to Third Street along Elk Avenue before hitting a jump that launches them into a series of tricks, with a landing zone in front of the Company Store. Judges score each competitor, and for two years they unanimously gave Aaron the highest marks. Aaron hopes to continue pushing the limits of freeskiing and doing what he has always loved – jumping. While he’s

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optimistic, he also understands how competitive the sport has become. “The level of skiing is just crazy. I think I have the drive to continue…as long as I can stay healthy and stay away from bad things, I think I can remain at this pace,” he said, explaining the “bad things” as “alcohol, drugs and trouble.” “So far I’ve done really well with that. I’ve learned to say ‘no’. I just hope I’m never pressured into anything and can always make my own choices. My ultimate goal is to be the best and dominate in comps, but also dominate huge lines in Alaska and Whistler. I want to go to college, but I might take a year off. I’ll definitely go because skiing isn’t forever.” Aaron is spending this school year in Vail so he can train year-round at the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy. He’s still visualizing himself skiing perfect lines and preparing for the Youth Olympic Winter Games in January, where he’ll make history as the first youth to represent the U.S. He’ll most likely continue to make history in Crested Butte as well; if he follows the lead of his forebears, he’s got another eight decades of skiing to go.

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Winter 2011 | 2012

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WORKING

OUTSIDE THE BOX 56

Winter 2011 | 2012

Wonder, danger, freedom and the other riches of a mountain guide’s life. By Sandy Fails

LEFT: Skiing above the fjords in Lofoten, Norway. Photo: Mike Bromberg TOP RIGHT: Crested Butte Guides Johnny McKinnon and Chris Benson on White Mountain, Crested Butte. Photo: Jayson Simons-Jones

Mountain guiding can mean relentless weeks on Everest, treading the thin line that separates life and death there. Or it can mean picnicking with a family beside Oh-Be-Joyful Creek, watching awe-struck as a spotted fawn teeters from willows to water. Perhaps a dozen people in this valley make all or part of their livings as mountain guides. Each has shaped the job to fit his or her own style – from Jean Pavillard scaling the globe’s most formidable summits to Ian Hatchett urging a client to walk in sacred silence through Crested Butte’s wild backyard. On its best days, mountain guiding lives up to its mystique: exploring magical reaches with fellow adventurers who pay you to share the wonder. But then there are those other days: spending long hours with a reluctant teen or a peak-bagger who scarcely notices the splendor around him; risking your life to protect a client during a fluke lightning storm; or reporting to your second job as night janitor to make ends meet. “The job is rarely as sexy as the job title,” said Ian, who has guided around Crested Butte for more than two decades. So why do people do it? After 33 years as a mountain guide, Jean said, “For me, it is about a sense of freedom. You are in charge, making decisions, sometimes in the middle of nowhere.” There’s no office cubicle, time clock or corporate ladder. There is, instead, “fear and hazard, this intensity, where your temperature rises, your heart pumps, your senses explode. Maybe we get kind of addicted to that. But we also live in an incredible world, with these amazing moments. Like encountering four mountain goats with babies just an arm’s reach away. You’re either made for it or not.” Other guides are inspired by the power of connecting people with nature. Ben Pritchett, owner of Colorado Backcountry, used to go door-to-door on behalf of the Sierra Club. Now he honors his environmental ethic through leading

Mike Bromberg

IFMGA Guide Eric Lidecker on the Frendo Spur, Chamonix, France.

people to wondrous encounters with animals, plants and beauty. “Guiding is a natural and unprompted way for me to make sure nature becomes something people are passionate about,” he said. Steve Banks, who lives in Crested Butte but also guides in the Alps, said, “What I’ve found rewarding is bringing people into the mountains and a world that’s new to them. Helping them climb even a small peak, or just cross a glacier and look at the landscape they might not have been able to reach otherwise, makes me feel good.” In the realm of the mightiest mountains, Jean said, “It’s a great moment when you reach the summit, and this hard-core man takes you in his arms and starts crying — and you know you made that happen for him.” 58

CAREER PATH VERSUS SUMMER JOB

In Europe, mountain guiding is an esteemed profession with a long history, defined credentials and respectable pay scale. In the U.S., where the profession is in its adolescence, guides make less money and hike a rockier path. Gaining permits to guide in public lands is frustrating in many places (see box). Fewer people here, from public land managers to recreationists, understand the value of mountain guides as instructors, risk managers and stewards. “In the U.S. guiding is seen more as a summer job, or something to do until you grow up,” Steve said. His brother Jeff, who guided and coached Nordic skiing in Crested Butte for years before moving to Chamonix to guide full-time, cited a common saying: “What’s the difference between an American mountain guide and a large pizza? A large pizza can feed a family of four.” The situation is slowly changing, with more recreationists venturing outdoors and a higher percentage of them hiring guides, said Ben, who does avalanche training for most of the new guides in our region. “The guiding industry as a whole is growing.” Margaret Wheeler, president of the American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA), noted, “It’s becoming more of a profession. We have an international technical standard, we have robust training programs, and guides are gradually changing the way they view themselves. Emphasis on gradually. We have new waves of young, talented and motivated guides going through our programs who are trying to figure out how to build their careers, and this changes the landscape of guiding.” Still, to make a living solely as a mountain guide, most find it necessary to earn the AMGA’s internationally recognized certification and travel across the ocean at least occasionally for higher pay and more consistent work. Most of those who remain in the valley year-round either supplement their guiding with other jobs or quilt it together with related work such as avalanche forecasting, teaching courses and ski patrolling. “In Chamonix, I’m a professional mountain guide; here I cobble together jobs,” Steve said. “On paper, it doesn’t make sense to live here and be a guide. But it’s like anyone else who lives here. It’s home, so you make it happen.” Winter 2011 | 2012

HUMAN FACTORS

The same aspects that make guiding difficult also make it compelling: the natural hazards, complex decision making and human interactions. “I can’t imagine a job that’s more multi-dimensional and challenging – except maybe being an astronaut. And I need glasses, so that’s out,” Jeff joked. Guides deal first with the everchanging elements of nature, like terrain, weather and snow conditions. Just as critical are the human factors – assessing a client’s fitness, agility and skills and predicting how he or she will react as risk and exposure increase. “It takes an honorary degree in psychology,” Jayson said. “You run the gamut from putting the reins on somebody to keep them safe to helping someone else push further.” Steve noted that clients run into psychological limits more often than physical ones. A young woman from Dubai who hired him to help her climb a glacier near Chamonix had never before seen snow falling from the sky. “Everything was mind-shattering for her,” he said. “She alternated between ‘I want to do this’ and ‘I absolutely can’t.’” Based on her goals and her mental barriers, Steve adjusted his plan for the day and led, coaxed and cheered her across a section of glacier. “That slope was a big summit to her. She called me a few names, but in the end she said it was the coolest thing she’d ever done.” The human connections can be one of the biggest rewards of the job. “You spend intense time with interesting people,” Jayson said. “It becomes a partnership in an endeavor. It roots through the BS; you see people for who they are.” Jean commented, “The clients I meet are my education. They are often powerful, intelligent, educated and involved in fascinating things.” He has known many of his clients for 20 years or more, forming bonds that are almost like family. Crested Butte Magazine

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Steve Banks

Herd of Crested Buttians led by Steve and Jeff Banks on the Silvretta Traverse in the Austrian Alps last April.

THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TOLL

The romantic image of mountain guiding takes a pounding in reality. The profession can be tough on a guide’s body, family and psyche. Even without a serious injury, years of hiking, climbing, skiing and hauling take a physical toll. This year Ian will have surgeries on his hip, knee and ankle. The danger of guiding far surpasses the danger of venturing alone into the mountains because you are responsible for keeping someone else safe, Ian said. “You sometimes have to put your life on the line, because you have a duty of care to protect them.” The guiding life can also put a strain on the domestic front. “It’s a challenge to manage your family life when you’re always on the go,” Jean said. “My daughters turned out okay, but it wasn’t always easy for them. The sense of extended family in Crested Butte helped. It’s hardest when you’re gone to dangerous places, and the kids hear about other mountaineering deaths.” Ben has watched several relationships crumble under the stress of guiding, either from a crisis like an affair or the ongoing emotional drain that can come with the job. “You can put so much emotion into connecting with people, you can pour out so much energy to make sure they have a great experience, that you come home and just want to relax,” Ben said. “I try to be conscious of that, to come home and listen and be patient with my family. It takes a conscious effort to make relationships work.” 60

The biggest strain for many guides is the mental one. On a climb, ski tour or alpine ascent, the guide’s mind is always monitoring – the building clouds, the terrain ahead, whether to rope up, how the clients are feeling. Jayson loves the problem solving, but said, “When you’re working a lot, especially in a treacherous environment, you have to consciously keep your focus; you’re dealing with people’s lives.” On longer expeditions, both the timeline and the stakes increase. “It gets mind-boggling,” Jean said. “It’s not just your muscles getting tired. You have to have a high tolerance for mental tension.” The trick is to maintain a big-picture awareness, but concentrate on the small task at hand. Likewise, he said, “You visit the worst-case scenario in your mind, but come back and enjoy this moment.” You know theoretically the whole slope could slide, but you’ve done your analysis and made your decision, so you pull your attention back to the smile on your client’s face. Risk and reward interconnect in mountain guiding – whether you are leading people to a summit above the clouds or showing them a hidden hummingbird’s nest. As Jean said, “Once you’ve been there, you cannot be the same.” “Guiding is an incredible profession,” Margaret said. “Guides take people to places they would not or could not go on their own, out of their comfort zone, into new skill sets, into the wilderness. As life rushes by in a clamor of demands and devices, I think this has real value and real meaning.” Winter 2011 | 2012

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The professor, the mystic and the alpinist HOW A FEW LOCAL GUIDES HAVE SHAPED THEIR WORK TO THEIR LIVES.

Jean Pavillard After growing up and apprenticing as a guide in Switzerland, Jean started Adventures to the Edge (now Crested Butte Mountain Guides) here in the 1980s. He promoted the guide concept, recruiting apprentices and installing yurts to create ski-touring circuits around Crested Butte. For years he balanced his guide work with directing Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s ski school, then eventually sold his local business and began guiding around the world. As Jean’s daughters grew up, he got his family’s permission to tackle the big summits. He has now guided the tallest mountains in the world, including Everest. This year he will begin a campaign to lead a female client to the tops of the Seven Summits, his second time to climb the highest peaks on the seven continents. Now internationally known, Jean helped shape the training curriculum and examinations for the American Mountain Guide Association. He still calls this valley home, but travels so much that he “keeps life simple” here; his house is a trailer at the Mesa RV in Gunnison. Jean’s specialty, big-mountain expeditions, are often “less technical but more adventurous. Nothing is certain,” he said. He might find himself in the middle of nowhere in Papua New Guinea, unraveling an argument in an unfamiliar language with porters for whom “money is not so tangible. And they all have machetes… You have to be willing to enjoy that part of the expedition, too.”

Jayson Simons-Jones A rambunctious skier-athlete in upstate New York, Jayson hit tough emotional times in college after a close friend died. Watching his buddies enjoy a winter survival course while he wrestled with his classes, he changed his major from physical therapy to outdoor education. Spending time outside and then teaching for Outward Bound “was such a profound experience, it gave me direction,” he said. For years Jayson lived out of his truck, traveling to guiding jobs and outdoor education work; one year he collected twelve W-2s for his tax file. After Crested Butte captivated him, he began working for Crested Butte Mountain Guides, eventually scraping together the money to purchase the business. He still does some of the guiding, but also spends time behind the desk. “Now I can make a living without trashing my body,” he said. Jayson isn’t destined for the cover of Forbes any time soon, but he now lives under a real roof. 62

Ian Hatchett Ian’s life “has been predicated on the natural world” since he was a youngster in Australia. After moving to Crested Butte in 1987, he was recruited as one of Jean’s first guide apprentices “in the oldfashioned Swiss tradition.” Guiding became his summer focus, supplemented for several years by running the ski area’s rental shop in the winter. Ian brings a “mystical philosopher” approach to guiding. His greatest satisfaction is watching clients undergo transformations from encounters with sacred places. One multimillionaire client “leads a frenetic life glued to his cell phone.” Finally Ian told the man he could no longer bring the cell phone if he wanted Ian to continue as his guide. After an indignant rebuttal, the client agreed, and their relationship now includes a spiritual component. “Now we set a goal for the day: to walk in total silence. Or to walk as a meditation, thinking of each step as precious instead of just marching to some goal. I’ve seen this client undergo a major spiritual change in the time we’ve spent together,” Ian said. Although guiding requires “the machinations you’d put into any job,” he said, it doesn’t dilute his sense of wonder. For refueling on days off, “There are still so many secret gems out there.”

Pemba Sherpa Pemba became a porter for the expeditions near his village in Nepal at 13. Over the years he worked his way through the ranks to become a respected expedition guide, as was his father. Pemba guided in the Everest region and all over Nepal, Tibet and India. He reached the top of Everest twice and also climbed Annapurna (the most technically difficult peak) and more “trekking peaks” than he can count. Pemba and his family, endangered by the Maoist conflict in Nepal, fled to the United States. After several years in this country, during which Pemba traveled back to his homeland to guide, they settled in Crested Butte and opened the Sherpa Café. Pemba’s small company, Alpine Adventure Intl., specializes in leading “ordinary fit people” to some magnificent but accessible Himalayan trekking peaks. Pemba also gives his clients an inside look at life in Nepal. Winter 2011 | 2012

Steve and Jeff Banks The Banks brothers learned early how to get out of scrapes in the mountains. Skiing, biking and climbing in Vermont, “we got ourselves into some mini-epics,” Steve said. When a family friend was badly injured in an avalanche, “I suddenly became aware that the mountains could have consequences. I realized the importance of being well trained and prepared and having a cool head when things didn’t go as planned.” As they polished their alpine skills, Jeff and Steve decided to earn the internationally recognized mountain guide certification. Steve spent six years

Ben Pritchett

From Ben’s adventures, ski tours

for the Crested Butte Nordic Center and work for Crested Butte Mountain Guides, the backcountry has become his extended backyard. He knows the land so well he often uses elk trails rather than human-traveled ones. With his keen eye and understanding, Ben and his clients almost always encounter wildlife – bears, elk, eagles, dwarf pocket gophers, even a full-curl ram. He once discovered a tiny hummingbird nest and returned over time to watch as the jellybean-like eggs hatched and the moth-sized birds grew to adulthood.

“Summits don’t mean much to me,”

Ben said. “It’s about experiencing what’s around you. My professor once referred Crested Butte Magazine

and an estimated $30,000 for the rigorous course work, field experience and examinations. Back then, less than three-dozen American guides were fully certified. “At the time I owned a lucrative contracting business,” he said. “But I felt like I was doing the grind every day. Instead of making money and then being able do things and go places, it seemed more important to do what I wanted day in and day out.” With certification, Jeff and Steve can guide in Europe’s precipitous Alps, where the pay, prestige, client base, vertical relief and risks are all dramatically bigger. Jeff said, “Crested Butte is the sweet girl next door; Chamonix is the super model who will chew you up and spit you out.” Jeff now lives and guides full-time in Chamonix. Steve joins him to work during the spring ski-touring and summer climbing seasons, then returns to Crested Butte. Here he’s been a snowcat ski guide for CS Irwin, ski patroller, CBMG guide and Avalanche Center executive director. “Each year I can shape it differently; it’s nice to have that flexibility,” he said. to guides as ‘mountain pimps,’ which laid down a challenge for me. To teach people about ecology and connect them to nature is hugely important to me.” Ben, a biology grad from Western State College, and his wife Janae, a Yale geology grad and high school science teacher, a few years ago bought a small guiding business, now called Colorado Backcountry. Their intent wasn’t to build a big company, but to acquire permits so they could lead summer outings (which now keep them busy all season). In winter, Ben travels to almost every mountain range in the country as an avalanche expert, doing programs and industry training, writing avalanche course curriculum, and training instructors for the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education.

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THE PERMIT QUANDARY One obstacle to mountain guiding as a viable profession in the U.S. is the difficulty of getting permits to guide on public land. The landuse agencies (Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service) have inconsistent procedures and policies. In the Gunnison Valley, a few “concessionaires” like Crested Butte Mountain Guides hold all available mountain guiding permits, so individuals can’t legally work here except under their auspices. Land managers typically aren’t inclined to make changes unless there’s a demonstrated public need. Few want to move completely to the European system, in which a certified guide can work anywhere with no permit; permitting helps protect the land. But the American Mountain Guide Association would like to see a reasonable number of permits available here for IFMGAcertified guides. As an interim solution, a new

Certified Guides Cooperative is working to obtain permits for some public lands; those would then be available to the co-op’s 35 members. Mike Bromberg of Crested Butte serves as the CGC vice president. “The United States does not yet support the career guide,” he said. “Now the majority of American certified guides are practicing their profession in the Alps, which is unfortunate for the American guest.” As demand and respect rise for guided recreation, and land managers acknowledge the stewardship, education and safety value of guides, then perhaps the public land agencies will re-examine the permitting system. “Guides are part of the solution to the land managers’ problem of connecting the public with the wilderness while preserving and protecting it,” said AMGA President Margaret Wheeler. “Guiding is so limited by the permit system in many places that we can’t serve as the resource we should be.”

Winter 2011 | 2012

Raynor Czerwinski

Story and photos by Sandra Cortner

TRAIN WHISTLES HAVE GIVEN WAY TO CONCERTS, POTLUCKS AND WEDDINGS AT CRESTED BUTTE’S HISTOR IC DEPOT.

As Ruth Kapushion, her daughter Nettie and I walked through the Depot a few years ago, Ruth puzzled over which room had been her bedroom 65 years earlier. However, she vividly recalled peeking out the upstairs window as a young woman to watch a handsome man “riding down the main street on a big white horse.” That man, Tony Kapushion, would later become her husband. At the time of our tour, I was working on a renovation grant for the Depot, and Ruth’s memories were invaluable. When I heard last January that she had passed away, I was even 65

Winter 2011 | 2012

Nettie Kapushion and her aunt, Mary Sayre, at Tony Mihelich’s birthday party in 1993.

more grateful that I’d written down her Depot stories. Built in 1883 for $3,000, the “combination depot” included a passenger waiting room, freight warehouse, Railway Express Agency and office, plus living quarters on the second floor for the station agent and his family. In the 1940s, that family was Ruth’s mother and father, Charles T. and Ina McCandless, who moved here when he was hired by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (D&RGR) as the agent and telegrapher. The Depot once anchored the east end of Elk Avenue on the Seventh Street block. Until the building boom of the 1980s brought new homes to the neighborhood, only fences and pasture surrounded one of the largest and most distinctive buildings in town, with its graceful curving eaves and wide overhangs. Its gable faces feature a sunburst motif with Queen Anne-style, fish-scale shingles — fancy for a simple coal-mining town. In 1944, Ruth transferred from the University of Denver to Western State College. She lived in the dorm, coming home to Crested Butte on weekends to see the trains come and go from the east side of the Depot… and watching for the man on the white horse. Her father was the last in a long line of Depot agents, dating back to when the D&RGR first arrived on November 21, 1881, and began serving as Crested Butte’s economic lifeline — bringing in supplies and taking out coal. Between 1890 and 1929, 75 to 100 cars of bituminous coal, dug from mines all around the area, left Crested Butte daily. Extra cars were sometimes added to accommodate passengers for occasions such as basketball games against 66

Ruth Kapushion in 1986.

archrival Gunnison High School. By about the time Ruth’s family arrived, the railroad carried only coal and freight, no passengers. As the telegraph operator, Charles sometimes had to trudge uptown to deliver the tragic news of a local son killed in action during World War II. Coal production peaked during the war, then prices fell, and Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. closed the Big Mine in 1952. In 1954, the narrow gauge railroad was abandoned and the tracks removed. The Depot continued its lonely vigil, devoid of trains and tracks, as families fled town looking for work. Even the long boardwalk that had connected the Depot to the center of town disappeared. The McCandless family purchased the Depot and its six lots in 1955 from the D&RGR. They divided the waiting room and office into bedrooms and a sitting room, then added bathrooms upstairs and down to replace the outdoor privy. The freight room became storage. By the time the train whistles that Ruth so loved were stilled, she and Tony were raising two daughters on his ranch up the street. Her brother Ralph moved into the upstairs of the Depot with his wife Adele and their son Steve; their parents lived downstairs. When Charles McCandless died, Ralph and Adele inherited the property. In recalling her childhood visits, Nettie Kapushion said, “It seemed like forever to walk down there. There weren’t any houses, only the stock pens, which was where my Dad was headed on his white horse when Mom saw him.” In 1972, Ralph and Adele sold the Depot and moved to Canon City with Nettie’s grandmother Ina. Billie and Winter 2011 | 2012

Ina McCandless in 1976.

Ralph Clark, who lived across the street, eventually acquired the property and gifted it the following year to the Crested Butte Society. Before the Society took possession, the Clarks upgraded the Depotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mechanical systems, restored the original floor plan, and attached a neighboring section house that became a cozy parlor and kitchen, with a connecting passageway housing two powder rooms. The log floor of the freight room was so marked with wear that it was hazardous to walk on, so oak flooring was laid atop. The Clarks were railroad buffs determined to preserve the Depot. Ralph visited the office of the D&RGR in Denver and obtained copies of the old silk tracings, consisting of eight, detailed elevation drawings of the Depot. He even found the job number and name of the company that had produced the paint for the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exterior so he could match it exactly. Their efforts paid off in 2001 when the building was named to the National and Colorado Registers for Historic Places. The Depot exterior looks pretty Crested Butte Magazine

The Depot in its prime. Rendering courtesy of artist Wilferd Duehren’s family and the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum.

much as it did in the 1950s. Inside, steps worn with use lead up to the freight room and down to the basement. Ruth’s bedroom, once the station office and later my office as the art festival director, still has the pass-through window where passengers purchased their tickets. Caretakers continue to live upstairs. When the remodel was completed, Nettie said she felt odd at first visiting her grandparents’ old home. She regularly took her Crested Butte School students to the library in what was originally the passenger waiting room and is now the High Country Citizens Alliance headquarters. “My sister and I used to sleep here in a featherbed with a chamber pot underneath that our grandma would take back and empty into the outhouse,” Nettie told the students.

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Over the years, the Depot has hosted art classes, exhibits, wedding receptions, meetings, a Mountain Theatre production of “Romeo and Juliet” and Dance in the Mountains; the dance directors affixed mirrors and a barre to the walls in the freight room and held performances outside in the back. Before the Center for the Arts was built, Alpenglow musical concerts were staged at the Depot, with the performers on the deck where passengers once waited, and the audience on blankets on the lawn. In 2005, the Society donated the building to the Town of Crested Butte, which is now gathering $600,000 in grants and private funding for another renovation. Several years before her death, Ruth graciously wrote a letter supporting the Society’s restoration efforts. “When my daughter Nettie told me about plans to renovate the Depot, I was so happy. I have many memories from my childhood living there. Of course, so much has changed since I lived there. It’s a wonderful building. If you could help restore it, I would be very grateful.” Nettie assured me she would be as unwavering today.

Crested Butte Magazine

Grants to help fund Depot restoration Work will begin next summer on the first phase of rehabilitating Crested Butte’s old train depot. A grant of $97,604 from the Colorado Historical Society (CHS) will help restore the shingled roof and eaves. According to Molly Minneman, Crested Butte’s historic preservation coordinator, the grant will also fund engineering plans and blueprints for a complete restoration, which could cost $600,000. “We are finishing a historic building assessment,” explained Molly. Local architect Andrew Hadley is identifying problems and determining the condition of different portions of the building. By April the town will submit a second grant request to the CHS, which, among other things, would pay for stabilizing and repairing the foundation, re-grading to direct water away from the foundation, new footer pads, decks, windows and other insulation. If that grant is awarded, construction will begin in the summer of 2013. The Colorado Department of Transportation has promised $150,000 and the town council has earmarked money for a 25-30% cash match for the total project. Molly noted that the Historic Society looks for the backing – financial and otherwise – of a town’s residents when deciding on grant requests. She said, “If you have letters of support or stories of your experiences using the Depot, e-mail them to mollym@ crestedbutte-co.gov.”

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Happy victims of the liberal arts education BRICE AND KAREN HOSKIN: DISTILLING RUM, CRAFTING SLEDS AND SAVORING THE JOURNEY.

Brice and Karen Hoskin with the Montanya staff in Crested Butte (top) and traipsing around the globe.

Crested Butte Magazine

By Laura Puckett It takes courage – or flat-out audacity — to transplant two successful businesses, two children, and a handful of other families from the remote hamlet of Silverton to the slightly-less-remote hamlet of Crested Butte. Yet Brice and Karen Hoskin did just that, with aplomb. Their businesses, Mountain Boy Sledworks and Montanya Distillers, have settled nicely into the Crested Butte landscape. Their sons Nathaniel and Will, aged 13 and 11, were gallivanting about making friends before school even started. For their part, Karen and Brice are calm and excited, surefooted and agile, investing in their new place while stretching their horizons. The two have always been courageous. After meeting in their senior year at Williams College, Karen and Brice joined forces permanently in 1991 thanks to a torn slip of paper Brice sent to San Francisco with the simple message, “I just got a new apartment, and there’s plenty of room for two….” Karen needed no more invitation than that to uproot her life as an activist for women’s rights and reproductive health and move to Flagstaff, where Brice was working as an environmental consultant. That kind of flying-by-the-seat-of-their-pants attitude appears repeatedly in their lives, but it’s only the surface of their story. Take, for instance, Karen’s arrival in Flagstaff. She moved to 75

be with Brice, but then she made one of her long-time dreams come true by working as a Hot Shot firefighter with the Forest Service. “I loved being out in the woods all the time,” she says, her voice measured, choosing the words carefully, as if embracing them. “I loved putting myself to a physical test. I loved carrying a saw and cutting down trees.” She would use her sawyering skills later in life when they had to chop their own firewood or build their own houses (first in Flagstaff, then in Silverton), but at the time her plan was to remain flexible while she explored her new relationship with Brice. At the end of the year, settled in her new life, she wanted work that challenged her mentally as well as physically, so she returned to her work for women’s health. Somewhat in spite of herself, a career started to take shape for Karen during the next six years. She played different roles, but worked consistently at an active Planned Parenthood clinic in Flagstaff and found the work

Winter 2011 | 2012

enormously fulfilling. It led her to earn a masters degree in public health. With newborn Nathaniel in their life, the risks of donning a bullet-proof vest and weaving through picket lines to get to work became too much. She then reinvented herself as a graphic designer, which supported

Crested Butte Magazine

the family well into their time in Silverton. “But that’s my split personality,” she says. “I don’t want to ‘be’ anything, and I struggled with that for years. What do I want to be? What do I want my career to be? Meeting Brice made me realize I don’t have to go there. Brice has never had that ‘I

Imagesmith Photography

have to have a career’ identity. He’s the ultimate entrepreneur.” Brice portrays his life off-handedly, attributing his accomplishments to luck and stubbornness. Yet Karen’s observation rings true. During their ten years in Flagstaff and ten years in Silverton, Brice’s work easily morphed from one thing to a very different other. After surviving the 100-degree heat while moving endangered tortoises to make room for a housing development, and then putting in time as a desk jockey writing environmental impact statements, Brice left environmental consulting. With little knowledge of construction besides an innate interest in building things, he started a construction newsletter comprised of condensed articles from broader news sources. In that pre-Internet age, he simply saw a big industry with a need for information. “What Brice won’t tell you,” Karen elaborates, “is that it was a wonderfully successful concept.” The job allowed him to work only two weeks a month, leaving time to care for his new family while Karen worked more than full time. Plus, for Brice, drab compiling in a stale cubicle would never do. Instead, he took on projects like gutting a 1970s trailer, placing it atop a volcanic cinder cone behind their house, and outfitting it with solar panels and a wood-fired hot tub. He had the willingness to try new things, vision to see what the market needed, and the persistence and intelligence to make a new venture successful. In 2002, when the Hoskins moved to Silverton and he sold the newsletter, Brice was poised to take a year off. “I wanted to be a ski bum,” he says, a grin in his piercing blue eyes. “That lasted about 10 minutes,” Karen responds with a smile. “He’s not very good at being idle.”

Winter 2011 | 2012

Imagesmith Photography

So when Karen came home invigorated from a night out on kick sleds in the streets of Silverton and asked Brice if he could make one, he said, “Sure, I can figure that out.” By the end of the winter one sled had become thirty, and Mountain Boy Sledworks was born. With sales figures hovering around 13,000 sleds a year, Mountain Boy has surpassed the million-dollar mark and become nationally distributed by big-name toy and outdoor retailers. Brice continues to earn the title of “sledmaker” in his workshop in Riverbend. Glowing sleds of curly maple and flame birch line the walls in varying stages of construction. All these “Elegant Flyers” are built in Crested Butte by Brice and Fernando Prieto, who moved with them from Silverton, but they are only part of the product line. To make the business profitable, Brice works with a factory in China, where other sled models are built. His travels around China and Tibet at age 18, a bachelors degree in Asian studies, and fluency in Mandarin have come in handy after all. Like the circuitous path that led Brice to Mountain Boy, the roots of Montanya also began long before the distillery bottled its first rum. Karen had an aversion to most alcohols, so early on she developed a love of rum and a flair for concocting inventive rum cocktails. She and Brice had also paid attention when the micro-brewing trend hit in the nineties, drawing up a business plan for a brewpub in Flagstaff. Although they never acted on that dream, it helped lay the groundwork when the micro-distilling wave started to crest. By then, they were settled in Silverton with their kids in school and they had more access to capital, so they jumped on board. They served their first Montanya rum less than six months after

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sitting on a Belize beach in April 2008 and deciding to start a distillery. They had toured distilleries in Guatemala, made rum on their stovetop, and, as with most their other projects, simply figured it out with experimentation and dogged problem solving. Montanya now distributes rum in 24 states and has won 12 gold and silver medals for quality. The ever-changing business keeps Karen busy and growing, which is key to her happiness. “I like to have projects,” she says. “If I have to do the same thing every day, my eyes start to roll back in my head.” Brice compares their lives to hiking. “I’ve always thought, ‘I’m going to find a really cool spot and sit down and enjoy it.’ I finally realized I don’t want to sit down and enjoy it! I want to walk right through it!” He turned to Karen. “You don’t want to ‘get there’; you want to stay in motion. You don’t want to ‘be’ something; you want to be on your way somewhere.” It’s an apt observation. The two have traveled from China to the Himalayas, Germany to Central America, returning to their carefully built homes to roost. “I’m not a climber,” remarks Karen. “I can’t stay in the same little gorge and focus on the itty-bitty details of getting up that small thing. I have to have the 80mile stretch and the ability to put it all together over time.” Brice and Karen quip that they are “victims of the liberal arts education,” but they in fact seem to be masters of it: founding various businesses, building their own homes, traveling the world with their children, and taking time to skate ski on a snowy Sunday morning. They may have reinvented their careers time and time again, but they are essentially the same curious, creative, persistent people who made the last venture successful. Re-establishing themselves in a new town is one more tale in their greater story about having ideas, looking at each other and saying, “Sure, we can do that.”

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o t i n o B a Jog CRESTED BUTTE’S HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER TEAM GETS A FUTBALL LESSON IN EL SALVADOR. By Coach Than Acuff “Coach, can we take the team to El Salvador?” asked Luis Aguirre, a player on the Crested Butte Community School soccer team. “Yes.” I didn’t even hesitate. Then I started to think. “Where will we stay?” “My grandmother’s house,” Luis responded. “Sounds great.” Done and done. How hard could it be? Take the high school soccer team, the Titans, to El Salvador for a taste of Joga Bonito, “the beautiful game,” local culture and, ultimately, the taste of pupusas. And, maybe, just maybe, the team would form a bond that would carry into the fall season. As a coach I have a set of credos, one of which is: “Soccer is Life, but there’s more to Life than Soccer.” A 81

trip to El Salvador would nail it. The wheels started spinning, as did my head, over the next eight months. Numerous phone calls, emails and meetings later, 13 Titans were in for the trip of a lifetime, with assistant coach Mike Martin and me in charge. Remarkably, parental concern about safety was minimal – even after random acts of anarchy brought public transportation in San Salvador to a halt two days before we were set to arrive. Nevertheless, on the morning of June 20, 13 Titans and two coaches boarded a plane in Grand Junction and landed that night in San Salvador, the country’s capital city. Thanks to our connection with Luis’ family, the Francos in El Salvador, we were met by two vans and piled in for the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Nueva Concepcion. Near the Honduran and Guatemalan border, Nueva Concepcion is similar to Gunnison in size and feel. Imagine standing in Gunnison, but looking around to see hills and mountains draped in dense jungle. Crops cover the valley floor and climb up the hillsides. We were welcomed into the Franco household, Winter 2011 | 2012

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introduced to the family and given the tour of our accommodations for the next 10 days. It was the real deal, and the hospitality was unbelievable. The house was already full with Señora Toña, the grandmother, and Señor Hermiño, the grandfather, two uncles, one of whom was married with a kid, and countless geese, chickens, cats, turkeys and a dog that doubled as a garbage disposal. Yes, it was already a full house, and they shuffled rooms, beds, furniture, etc., to make room for 15 gringos. We would be sleeping two to a bed, with one person in a hammock hung from the walls over the beds – and the Titans took it all in stride. This alone, I thought, should bring team bonding to a new level. We were given three hot meals a day, all the soda and water we could want and fresh coconut milk from the coconuts hanging in the tree growing in the middle of the house. We had the freshest of eggs gathered from the courtyard and the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted. And plenty of coffee. El Salvador’s two major crops are sugar cane and coffee, and I love coffee. I was happy. Don’t get me wrong; there were challenges, specifically those turkeys. A new Tom was introduced to the courtyard gang our second day there and proceeded to establish himself among the others all day and, yes, all night. The Titans took it all in stride. Granted, it was a slower stride than Winter 2011 | 2012

The Titans rally for their daily dish detail.

Nueva Concepcion locals took the Titans to a secret swimming hole.

usual. So slow that our team name was changed from the Titans to the Tortugas (turtles), and it showed in our first international match of the trip. That would also be my first major lesson in coaching. Let me just say: when in doubt, do as the locals do. We rolled into a small village about 30 minutes outside of Nueva Concepcion called Aldeita to face a local powerhouse soccer club. The town rang a bell and blew whistles to alert the locals to the soccer match. I, being a coach from the mountains of Colorado, thought the team needed to warm up for the match, even though it was in the high 80s â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in temperature and humidity

â&#x20AC;&#x201C; at 1 p.m. As we ran through our pre-game ritual in the heat of the day, our opponents sat in the shade drinking water and watching. They emerged into the sun only when the referee blew the whistle for kick-off. Over the course of the 80-minute match, our players were almost crawling off the field and collapsing in the shade. As our numbers dwindled, Mike and I were called into action, throwing on uniforms and hitting the field to keep the numbers even. Like I said, do as the locals do. Heat exhaustion and the microbiological culture of El Salvador ran their course through the Titans for the next

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two days, and several times Mike and I wondered whether to take a teenager to the local hospital. Fortunately, I had the help of the Franco family, and the worst of it was relieved over the next 48 hours. The “bug” would eventually make its way through 13 of the 15 Titans. But the Titans and coaches persevered, with the help of two days and three nights at the beach. On days between matches we cruised town, painted a local school, attended Sunday mass and picked up trash in the neighborhood near the church. The locals all came to their doors to see what these mountaintown gringos were up to when we walked the streets. Neighbors and friends of the Franco family would pile us into the back of their trucks for forays into the hills and, on one occasion, a school bus drove us to a secret swimming hole for some much needed relief. We closed the trip winning two matches, including a shootout win on our final day. Sure, there might be some semblance of civil unrest in Central America, but thanks to the Franco family and their friends in Nueva Concepcion, all was bueno. So…the wheels are already spinning again. Honduras, Mexico, Brazil? Or, maybe, with the help of the Sherpa family living in Crested Butte, Nepal? I can’t wait. Oh, and pupusas? A traditional Salvadoran dish, a pupusa is a corn tortilla but thick like a pancake, served with every meal. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great; but even some of the biggest eaters on the Titans team were at their gastronomical limit by day six. As for team building, the proof is in the practice, and the Titans hit the fall preseason en fuego. Enthusiasm during workouts was at an all-time high, and the Titans made it to the finals of an early-season tournament for the first time ever. Did El Salvador help? Tough to say, but it certainly didn’t hurt. That is, as long as we don’t forget our Hep A booster shots in five months. Winter 2011 | 2012

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Alex Fenlon

By Sandy Fails

It’s easy to think big at Irwin, surrounded by big mountains, big snow and big stories. And the folks at CS Irwin like to think big. After an “awesome” inaugural snowcat ski season in 2010-2011, Administrative Director Kyra Martin said, CS Irwin is announcing plans to go yearround and global. “We had a much busier first season than we’d expected,” she said. “Irwin [formerly home of the Irwin Lodge and one of the largest, snowiest snowcat ski operations in the country] is truly a legend in the ski world. Just because it’s been dormant for seven years doesn’t mean people have forgotten it.” Last winter’s epic snowfall fueled the legend. When the snowcats stopped running in mid-April, Irwin had posted 738 inches of snow for the season; by the end of April, the tally had pushed 800. “We had several amazing, 20-inch powder days,” Kyra said. The company successfully targeted markets like Aspen and recruited “boy groups and corporate retreats,” Kyra said. “California and New York were big areas for us. And we got a good number of locals. We want to get the locals up here.” Several Crested Butte businesses held employee parties at CS Irwin, and the company dropped its prices when Crested Butte Mountain Resort closed for the season. National and international media also paid attention. CS Irwin was featured in the Robb Report and this year will be in 5280, Skiing, Travel and Leisure, SNOW, Sunset and Outside. Customer feedback was universally positive, Kyra said. “Many people said it was the best skiing of their lives.” 86

The snowcats were about 60% booked last year, and the company predicts much higher percentages this winter. CS Irwin guests are picked up in downtown Crested Butte to ride “perhaps the nicest snowcats in the world,” with leather seats and flatscreen televisions, up to Irwin. There they transfer to different snowcats to access the famed powder slopes, which accommodate intermediate to advanced skiers. Lunch is served in the log Movie Cabin. After skiing all day in the middle of nowhere (outfitted, if they want, on Wagner Custom Skis designed specifically for the Irwin terrain), guests ride the plush snowcats back to town in time for dinner. That convenience, along with the level of luxury and abundance of snow, sets Irwin apart, Kyra said. This year CS Irwin opened the Scarp Ridge Lodge (remodeled from its Crested Butte Club incarnation), an allinclusive, seven-bedroom luxury lodge with a media center and indoor pool. Also, the company added a “powder cat” during snowstorms heavy enough to quickly cover the skiers’ tracks, said Director of Operations Alan Bernholtz. With 72 hours notice, fewer frills and a lower price, the storm cat deal should attract locals and powderhounds who can make last-minute plans. In November (on 11-11-11), the company also unveiled a “global adventure company” called Eleven, with sites all over the world. The Irwin location will partner with Crested Butte Mountain Guides, Crested Butte Anglers, Scenic River Tours and Fantasy Ranch to offer climbing, mountain biking, boating, fishing, hiking, whitewater rafting and horseback riding. Winter 2011 | 2012

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In this land of extremes, the dance of scarcity and abundance keeps life edgy and precious. By Molly Murfee This frigid January could chill the radiant warmth of even the lustiest maiden. It clamps its icy claw around my ribs, squeezing me until I shiver down to my marrow. I run for cover behind closed doors, peeking wild eyed from behind down blankets, wondering at the stupidity and sustainability of a species that chooses to live at 9,000 feet in the winter. Preparation for this chill begins in summer. Beneath Julyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sun, I stand in the middle of Hasley Basin. Like a chipmunk with cheeks full of seeds, I am storing up for January. Around me, every square inch of earth is in

bloom. Copious amounts of snow from the preceding winter have inspired the entire hillside to explode with gleaming yellow aspen sunflowers, so high they tickle the bottoms of my ears. The fiery scarlet of the Indian paintbrush and the regal, refined purple of the monkshood are illuminated from behind by the bright, mid-summer sun. Life is buzzing with bees and hummingbirds and all this sexy pollinating. Each bloom vibrates, pushing the air around it out into reverberating concentric circles. I cannot stare at this field intensely enough, cannot

Winter 2011 | 2012

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immerse myself deep enough, cannot stay long enough. I want to swim through all of that color, washing it over me like a shower until it soaks into my pores. I open my arms like a solar panel and breathe as deep as I can, pulling the air down to my toes, all that color rushing through me, pooling somewhere in my mind to draw from later. Silly me, hopelessly addicted to a season that lasts only weeks, psychically dependent on a place that is covered in snow more than nine months of the year. The fraternal twins of winter and summer are a feral frolic of extremes. A desperate pairing of opposites always crashing into the other. The mountains that puncture the sky with their peaks and ridges pull and swirl their own dramatic weather. The depths of shocking cold. The searing sun of summer. Those moments when it seems your skin evaporates and all that is pulsing through you is life, the beauty in front of you so overwhelming. Yin and yang. Our tiny sliver of summer is a season bulging with its lavishness of color and shape. Volumes of cold snow feed this volume of fiery wildflowers. These extremes of nature are mirrored by our lives, our careers, our personalities, our relationships. In our rich lives, we face scarcity of jobs, scarcity of money, scarcity of time because we work so hard to make so little. We live among a dichotomy of feast and famine, boom and bust, frost and fire. The crazed coupling of winter and summer sends us into hedonistic frenzies. The manic bursts of hiking and biking to capture every perfect July day. The hunger with which we attack that flawless February powder morning that seems to buoy us into the air, choking on snowflakes. We surge like the seasons, wearing ourselves out to grab a piece of the fleeting beauty. So much abundance, so little time. It creates a cycle of panic, of maniacally feeding on what is here, now. Like the wildflower with only weeks to live, we push out every ounce of life that is in us. Then, like the bear in winter, we collapse in utter abandonment. We ride a roller coaster of absence and so much presence it makes us ache. 90

Winter 2011 | 2012

J.C. Leacock

Fecundity is equated with fertility, fruitfulness and bounty. In the plant world it is a method of survival; abundant flowers mean abundant seeds. On the other end of the spectrum, scarcity implies shortage. Wars have raged because of resource scarcity. When food or water is in short supply, neighbors can turn on neighbors, hoarding and defending. Indeed, sometimes standing in the lift line on an exceptional powder day, or waiting for a rope to drop to open untracked ski terrain, feels like war, each one of us clawing to find the rare untouched line through the fresh, bottomless snow. Are we only playing out our animal instincts of violence in the face of insufficiency? For all of their insanity, these bipolar experiences feed our souls. These places and their rhythms are necessary for the survival of our psyches. To reconnect. To forget. And to remember. The seeds those wildflowers eventually disperse are like intentions for the future. As we stand in their Crested Butte Magazine

brilliance, what does this scarce moment of fecundity, like the powder day, teach us? What seeds are we planting in this experience, to be sown in our future? How do we balance our own extremes of hedonism and responsibility? While beauty and land seem to abound here, as a whole these places exist in all too few locations in the world. Their borders are constantly shrinking. Slowly being eaten, or under constant threat of voracious consumption, they are dwindling. Like the grizzly that once roamed the mountains from Alaska to Mexico, now extinct from the Southern Rockies. The buffalo so plentiful as to sustain entire villages and peoples, now gone from our plains. What do we do with this knowledge? Does abundance also breed complacency and irreverence? How do we protect this rarity of place, of resources? Certainly when something is scarce, it also becomes precious â&#x20AC;&#x201C; like the singular sundew on the side of Red Lady tucked into the mossy folds of its equally precious iron fen. 91

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The more uncommon something is, the more we tend to cherish it. The words hearken to gems – rubies, sapphires, diamonds. And indeed, as I stand in this brilliant field of wildflowers, I feel that I am standing in something even more precious than gems. For gems may be set in rings and necklaces for adornment, but the second you pick a wildflower it begins to shrivel. I have seen fields of luminous sunflowers fade in a matter of days. Likewise the snow eventually melts. I catch the glinting diamonds on the surface of the ephemeral new snow, the burgeoning beads of rain drooping like emeralds on blades of grass, the tiny, sticky rubies that glint on the tips of the sundew. There is no rare gem in the world that could replace this experience of standing nose to nose with such astounding beauty – however minute or extravagant in size. And so what we seek in this place of extremes – really, is beauty. We endure the economic scarcity, the vast absences, so we can slowly gather precious moments in precious places, linked together like a string of pearls. Beauty is not just superficial prettiness. It is something so extraordinary that it demands our complete attention; it empties our minds until our focal point becomes that thing. We are not occupied with finances, with relationships, with what we will do with our lives; rather, we are immersed in the airlessness of a ski turn, the captivation of a bloom, the blush of the sun on a vermilion peak. Beauty pulls us, sometimes forcibly, into the present, into the physical — to look with eyes wide open at our surroundings, that which gives us food, gives us air, gives us our spirit. We become in that instant a part of our world because we are so fully engaged in a deep gaze with the planet. Nothing else exists. This is what we as a human race so desperately need.

Winter 2011 | 2012

Roll on, Freedom THE SPIRIT OF CRESTED BUTTE – ON FOUR WHEELS. Our vehicles make statements about our lifestyles, and here in Crested Butte we have quite the diversity in modes of transportation. From the high-class Hummer SUV to the old Subaru station wagon that checks in well over 200,000 miles, the cars we drive can be dead giveaways to the activities we pursue. I often wonder what strangers think of my car, a 1988 Mazda spray-painted red, white and blue, most commonly known as the Freedom Mobile. Ever since I saw the classic 1969 American road movie “Easy Rider” with Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson, I’ve wanted to paint a vehicle in the colors of our country. I’ve always sensed that we mountain folk are living out our own version of the American Dream up here in the Gunnison Valley, and my car is representative of our unique culture. Adding to the mystique, I also wanted to feature the OM symbol, to show that the East and West can come together, and to show that I am a proud American who has been heavily influenced by the ancient, Indian-based art of yoga. Reactions to the Freedom Mobile have been mostly positive since I graffiti-ed it up with my friend, artist Nathan 93

Story by Luke Mehall, photo by Braden Gunem

Kubes, three years ago. I can count on children smiling and pointing at it, supportive nods from people on townies crossing Elk Avenue, and my fellow climbers saying “I love your car!” at various locales across the West. The most predictable responses, however, are from hitchhikers as I slow down to pull over. Their greetings, accompanied by glimmers of hope in their eyes, are generally something to the effect of “I knew you were going to pick me up.” I’m proud to drive a vehicle that elicits such a response. It took some time to get to this level of pride, though. The very next day after we painted the car, I was pulled over by a policeman, saying something about my headlights not working properly. I thought they were working fine and wondered if I’d just set myself up for getting pulled over all the time. It took a while getting used to driving a car that attracted such attention. A couple months later I had a first date, at the Almont bar of all places. (It seemed a good midway meeting point, since the woman was living in Crested Butte, and I was living in Gunny.) I had the usual first-date butterflies, and as Winter 2011 | 2012

I walked out to get in my car for the drive, I wished to the heavens that I hadn’t painted my car in such an outlandish manner, so I could just present myself in a somewhat normal way. She ended up loving the Freedom Mobile, though, and I learned an important lesson. Our inner freak is usually a beautiful thing, and we should not hide it; if someone is a kindred spirit, they’ll love what is inside you. I never dreamed I’d take my aging, spray-painted Mazda on a major road trip, but the Freedom Mobile ended up carrying me across the western United States. I’d just lost my full-time-with-benefits job in Gunnison due to the downturn in the economy and broken up with the first woman I’d ever been in love with. I needed to get out of the valley, and I’d made plans to move to Durango for a fresh start. In the interim, my friend Dave and I would take a month-long rock-climbing road trip. It would be one of those coming-of-age journeys to do something exciting and forget about the tribulations of the past. At the last minute, Dave’s truck broke down, so our adventure relied on the Freedom Mobile. With nothing to lose, I decided to take Freedom on the trip. We drove to Red Rocks in Las Vegas, Nevada, down to Joshua Tree, California, up to Yosemite, to Vegas again, and finally to Durango. There were many moments of pure bliss, and the country’s reception of the Freedom Mobile was incredible. At one moment as we were driving in southern Utah, a woman sitting shotgun in an old truck, with oxygen hooked up to her nose, pulled up next to us and gave us two thumbs up and the biggest grin I’d ever seen. Later that same day, as we rolled into a gas station in the Middle of Nowhere, Utah, some good ol’ boy mechanics were staring us down. We were slightly defensive until they started talking: “Nice car. It looks like something Evel Knievel would drive.” Durango embraced the Freedom Mobile; that town has more spray-painted cars per capita than any other place I’ve been in Colorado. Work ended up being scarce in Durango, as it is many places in our country these days, and when the

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spring ended, I returned to this sacred valley for the summer. The Freedom Mobile made its first appearance in Crested Butte’s Fourth of July parade this summer, and somehow I managed to recruit 16 of my friends to spell out “The Freedom Mobile” in body paint across their stomachs and chests. The wildest incident, though, came in the fall, as the deadline for this piece was approaching. I’d teamed up my friend, Braden Gunem, to do a photo shoot for this article. He rigged up a camera on the front of my car, with all sorts of lighting inside, including a small rag in a bottle that he wanted to light on fire to add a wild touch to the photos. While we were keeping our eyes peeled for the police (I wasn’t sure how legal our shenanigans were), I looked through the last rays of daylight to see a major townie takeover headed our way. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was the Brick Oven Pizzeria’s softball team, dressed in their signature red, yellow and green tank tops — and hairnets. Thirty of them paraded their townie bikes down the middle of Crested Butte’s main street, followed by a police officer. As we watched, wondering what was going to happen, the police officer ended up giving the Rasta Hairnet townie takeover an official, cordial police escort down Elk Avenue. Only in Crested Butte! With the police busy escorting the wild Brick Oven crew, we commenced our unorthodox photo shoot. I never know what’s around the corner for the Freedom Mobile, and l like it like that. It’s headed back down to Durango for the winter, so it won’t be rolling the streets of Crested Butte when the snow falls. The spirit of Crested Butte lives in the Freedom Mobile, though, wherever it may go.

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The last rebel out post THOSE YEAR-ROUND IRWINITES HAVEN’T LOST THEIR FEISTINESS. Story and photos by Dawne Belloise

Irwinites may seem relatively normal, but don’t be deceived... there’s a steely pride and tenacity in there, driven by survival hardiness. At 10,000 feet, the dozen or so full-time Irwin dwellers know that winter is always either here or impending. Summer is an intermission just long enough to chop more wood, fix windows, maintain snowmobiles and grade driveways before blizzards and sub-zero temperatures swoop back in and leave them snowbound once again. Irwin has long been a community of people dependent on each other in outwitting the elements, yet respecting and enjoying their individual solitude. Long-time Irwinite Ruta Martell notes that when they need something, like an ice pick or chop saw, they hit up their neighbors rather than make the trip to town. John Biro, a 33-year full-timer and unofficial mayor of Irwin, says, “Yeah, it’s a fairly tight-knit community that borrows and trades out building materials. If you need to borrow something desperately, you leave 96

a note like, ‘Hey, I took the last of your coffee.’” But the poaching from each other’s stash of goods has mellowed somewhat. “It’s nothing like when the old Irwin Lodge was open and people would siphon the gas out of your snowmobile.” Only accessible by snowmobile through a treacherous, ten-mile, avalanche-prone climb, Irwin in winter might as well be in the far-flung reaches of the universe. There are no land-line phones, and cell phones didn’t work until about three years ago with the arrival of an antenna and signal amplifier. Some residents, though still off the electrical grid, now have satellite TV and computer access. This past year saw even more changes for this last vestige of valley rebels. CS Irwin, owner of the now-defunct Irwin Lodge perched on the mountainside above the lake, also owns about 150 acres of beautifully situated steeps and leases additional Forest Service land to total more than 1,000 acres. The company has cranked up big, luxurious Winter 2011 | 2012

been outweighed by the positives…like the daily groomed trail from town as the big snowcats head out of Crested Butte for the 45-minute ride up to the ski terrain. They cut an easier trail for the Irwinites’ snowmobiles to follow. “Both in town and in Irwin, CS Irwin has given opportunities for so many people to make a living here and stay. People are so uncomfortable with change. They don’t like it.” Ruta is thrilled that she never even sees the cats as they rumble through on the other side of the lake from the cluster of Irwin homes. “They don’t go through the townsite,” she says. Although there’s no longer public access to some of the most beloved snowmobiling areas on Scarp Ridge, CS Irwin has continued to allow summer hiking access for now. Biro was surprised by the lack of protest after the winter closure. “But there are thousands of acres to go play in elsewhere... the Anthracites, Kebler Pass, Ohio Pass, Lost Lake, Bracken Creek.”

Lake Irwin at rest after the summer bustle. RIGHT: Facebook off the grid: Irwin’s bulletin/message center.

snowcats full of skiers headed for that pristine powder. Irwinites aren’t so alone any more, though CS Irwin touts a wholly backcountry experience for those willing to pay the $450/day price tag. The company dishes up a mighty fine treat for skiers and riders far from the madding crowds and in white fluff that averages about 600 inches a year. The operation doesn’t necessarily mean the taming of the Irwin mavericks. While some long-time residents see it as an invasion, others see it as an inevitability and welcome the amenities. Ruta, who has lived with the Irwin winters for more than ten years, feels, “We’ll always be confined by the elements. CS Irwin is always going to be battling the elements and county regulations just like all of us who live up here in the watershed. But there’s a beauty in being here. There are rewards from the hard work, like seeing a blizzard move in and how it blankets everything like a tapestry of crystals. It’s a magical place.” For Ruta, the possible negatives of CS Irwin have so far Crested Butte Magazine

Will life change drastically for the self-sufficient Irwin clan? “Not much,” Biro predicts. “As a matter of fact, things were crazier in the 1990s when the Irwin Lodge was in full swing and full of rowdy employees and guests. There were 25 rooms up there and a bar and restaurant off and on for 30 years. Now the guests get on a snowcat in downtown Crested Butte and go up the lake road to the Movie Cabin and go skiing, and we never see them or hear them.” Biro believes the townsite and the lodge will continue to operate off the grid primarily because of the costs involved. “Why dig an extremely expensive trench through solid rock from the trailhead to the lodge when a generator can meet their needs cheaper? And the modern generators are quiet. We never even heard the antique ones that ran the old lodge.” Biro does hear concerns from both winter and summer Irwin residents that their isolated paradise will turn into a playground for the wealthy. “Our neighbors are mysterious 97

John, Gwen and young Tucker Biro with wilderness cat Milo.

and elusive.” He shrugs. “Besides that, it’s no big deal. It’s at times disturbing thinking about having an amusement park a mile away. But I can live with the changes.” He chuckles, adding that if things got too disrupted, he’d probably sell his house and move “anywhere warmer that I can drive home to.” At the moment it’s comforting to Biro to have emergency access in and out via the daily snowcats. “It’s nice to know that if something happened, it would be easy to get help now.” This compromise between independence and security shows the changed perspective of a father whose toddler will have a new sibling this February, when winter storms can trap Irwinites in their homes for a week. Perhaps no one appreciates the deepness of winter as much as those who choose to live out its hardships in return for nestling in its powdery wilds. Summer brings magnificent fields of wildflowers, but also endless trekkers parading through Irwin’s backyard – noisy campers, ATVs, dirt bikes, kids and city dogs, sending a curtain of fine dust to block the sun, and speeding their SUVs around hairpin curves as though they’re late for something. The quiet white beauty of winter is a sigh of isolationist relief. One seasoned Irwin revolutionary said, “There are no laws above 10,000 feet.” Perhaps this stems from a collective past-life memory dating 98

back to an even wilder era. Back in the 1880s, when Irwin was a rowdy settlement of 5,000 people, a grand plot was hatched to kidnap former President Ulysses S. Grant after he visited to experience the excitement of a mining camp. When kidnapping proved to be too complex, the wouldbe abductors decided it would be easier to just kill Grant. The attempt was foiled by a local actress who told her miner boyfriend, who told the mayor, who hated Grant but didn’t want the dirt on his hands. That original Irwin and its ruffians enjoyed a brief heyday; people bolted with the silver crash of 1892, leaving the town to fall victim to massive avalanches and intense winter storms. Little of the silver mining remnants are visible today, but that feisty character has somehow been passed on to Irwin’s present-day residents, who began repopulating the townsite a few decades ago. Time will tell if the new hustle and bustle near Irwin will change the resilient year-rounders or send them farther into the hills. One can only hope Irwin will remain the belligerent little red-headed stepchild it has always been. Dawne Belloise is a freelance writer, photographer, traveler and musician living in a tiny cottage on an alley at the end of the road in Crested Butte. A feature writer for the Crested Butte News-Weekly and music editor for the Mountain Gazette, her musings and photography have been published in numerous mags and rags around the planet.

Winter 2011 | 2012

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

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.

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

1.888.349.6184 oldtowninn.net email: info@oldtowninn.net AD PAGE 103

Management & Sales Rental Homes PO Box 2023, Crested Butte

1.888.909.7325 peakcb.com email: kat@peakcb.com

Rustic Cabins 2094 Cement Creek, South of CB

970.349.5517 pioneerguestcabins.com pioneerguestcabins@gmail.com AD PAGE 105

AD PAGE 105

PR PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

THE RUBY OF CRESTED BUTTE

WEST WALL LODGE

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

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

One to four bedroom residences. Each condo offers a fireplace, balcony, fully equipped kitchen, spa tub in the oversized master bathroom. Underground heated parking, on-site ski valet, Alpine Club with a fitness center and guest bar/lounge, four season outdoor pool, hot tub and fire pit.

Rental Homes 350 Country Club Drive 110A, Crested Butte

Luxury Bed & Breakfast PO Box 3801 624 Gothic Avenue, Crested Butte

1.800.285.0459 prproperty.com

1.800.390.1338 therubyofcrestedbutte.com AD PAGE 104

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AD PAGE 92

Luxury, Slopeside Condominiums PO Box 1305 14 Hunter Hill Road, Mt. Crested Butte

970-349-1280 westwalllodge.com

AD PAGE 2

Winter 2011 | 2012

Yoga Rocks the Butte: CLASSES, CONCERTS, CELEBRATIONS While yoga helps a person tap into inner beauty and peacefulness, it doesn’t hurt to have beauty and peacefulness outside, too. And perhaps a little skiing as well. That makes Crested Butte an apt setting for Yoga Rocks the Butte, a celebration of yoga, music, consciousness, activism, families and winter fun Feb. 10-12, 2012. World-famous yoga instructor Shiva Rea will headline a “best of the best” lineup of teachers; and musicians like David Stringer (pioneer and master of the new American “kirtan” or mantra-chanting music) will bring a spiritual sound track to the weekend, said Monica Mesa, festival organizer and founder of Crested Butte’s Yoga for the Peaceful. Renowned in the world of yoga, Steve Gold, Govindas and Rahda, Micheline Berry and others will blend world music, dance, chanting and meditation into the classes and concerts. “It’s an incredibly impressive gathering of teachers, musicians and scholars,” Monica said. A master trainer for Shiva Rea and veteran of many yoga festivals, Monica wanted to bring two unique elements to Yoga Rocks the Butte: a winter-playground setting and activities for everyone in the family. Youngsters,

Crested Butte Magazine

teens and adults will all have events tailored for them. “As a mother, I think that’s important,” Monica said. Each day of the festival will start with early meditation sessions and yoga classes, which will wrap up before lunchtime. The late afternoon and evening will bring more classes, concerts and programs. In between, participants can ski on the mountain, Nordic ski, snowshoe, do other outdoor or cultural activities, or attend workshops on specific topics such as the Mayan calendar. Yoga Rocks the Butte will be based at the Elevation Hotel, adjoining the ski slopes, but gatherings will also draw people to downtown Crested Butte. Monica hopes to attract 500 people to the festival this year and build it into an annual event. Proceeds will go to Yoga World Reach, which extends yoga outreach and help to third-world countries. “I love and believe in our town,” Monica said. “I want to bring world-class yoga here to draw a little attention to Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte, raise money for a wonderful organization, and raise awareness about yoga, meditation and global activism.” Yoga for the Peaceful, she noted, has “become an anchor in town,” an alcohol-free center for yoga and also workshops, discussions and programs on spiritual, creative and philosophical topics. “It’s a safe place for people to grow, heal and try something new,” she said.

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Perfect Vacation Rental

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

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

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

View cabins inside and out at

pioneerguestcabins.com 970-349-5517 OPEN YEAR ROUND

Pooches Welcome Crested Butte Magazine

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Dining options

BRICK OVEN • 349-5044 Pizza-by-the-slice, deep dish, thin crust & specialty. Fresh subs, appetizers, burgers, largest salad bar in town. 24 beers on tap, high end tequila, spirits and wine. Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. FREE DELIVERY. BrickOvenCB.com

Ad pg. 108

EASTSIDE BISTRO • 349-9699 435 6th Street, Downtown

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

Brunch / Dinner

AVALANCHE • 349-7195

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

Just steps from the lifts, the Avalanche is a family friendly eatery and sports bar with a large, diverse menu. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner all winter and lunch and dinner all summer. Daily specials and happy hour. A locals favorite, join us at the Avy!

Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner

Elevation Hotel, Mt. Crested Butte

Base area, Mt. Crested Butte

Ad pg. 111

DJANGO’S • 349-7574

223 Elk Avenue, Downtown

Lunch / Dinner

9380 PRIME • 251-3030

Ad pg. 108

DONITA’S CANTINA • 349-6674

Courtyard of Mountaineer Square, Mt. Crested Butte

4th & Elk, Downtown

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

Dinner

Ad pg. 48

THE ICE BAR AT ULEY’S CABIN • 349-2275

Located mid-mountain, base of Twister Lift Serving gourmet lunches daily inside and exotic 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 serving a gourmet dinner. Call (970) 349-4554 for reservations.

Lunch / Dinner

Ad pg. 107

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

Dinner

Ad pg. 110

LAST STEEP • 349-7007 208 Elk Avenue, Downtown

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

Lunch / Dinner

Ad pg. 109

LIL’S • 349-5457

LOBAR • 349-0480

MAXWELLS • 349-1221

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

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

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

Dinner

Dinner + Late Night

Dinner

321 Elk Avenue, Downtown

Downstairs at 3rd & Elk, Downtown

Ad pg. 108

Ad pg. 107

226 Elk Avenue, Downtown

Ad pg. 110

MCGILL’S • 349-5240

PITA’S • 349-0897

RYCE • 349-9888

Old-Fashioned soda fountain. Malts, shakes, sundaes, banana splits, libations, home-cooked breakfasts and lunches prepared to order. Historic locale, casual atmosphere.

Gyros, kabobs, fresh made hummus and baba gannoush, pita nachos and a soup-bar. Greek and tahini salads, spanokopita and curly fries. Outdoor dining. Happy hours specials. Serving everyday.

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

Breakfast / Lunch

Lunch / Dinner

228 Elk Avenue, Downtown

3rd and Elk, Downtown

Ad pg. 110

SLOGAR • 349-5765

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

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WEST END PUBLIC HOUSE • 349-5662

2nd & Whiterock, Downtown

Dinner

120 Elk Avenue, Downtown

Ad pg. 111

2nd and Elk, Downtwon

We offer “elevated” comfort food at affordable prices. Dine with us in two different dining rooms, at our large comfortable bar, or on one of our two outdoor patios. We serve fresh oysters, lamb sliders, fish & chips, great salads, steaks and one of the best burgers in town.

Lunch / Dinner

Ad pg. 108

Ad pg. 109

WOODEN NICKEL • 349-6350 222 Elk Avenue, Downtown

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

Dinner

Ad pg. 42

Winter 2011 | 2012

Crested Butte Magazine

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

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

Dine-In • Take-Out • FREE Delivery

223 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte brickovencb.com

fine cuisine • spectacular views • Eclectic American Cuisine with Global Influences • Dinner Nightly 5 - 10pm Intimate Dining • Private Parties • Patio Saturday & Sunday Brunch 10am - 2pm 435 Sixth Street • (970) 349-9699

eastsidebistro.com

NEW LOCATION!

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

creekside & patio dining Private Dining Rooms large parties Weddings

201 Elk Avenue 970.349.5662 www.westendpublichouse.com

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SOUP BAR • KABOBS • GYROS HAPPY HOUR 4PM-6PM • TAKE-OUT AVAILABLE VEGETARIAN & VEGAN OPTIONS • KIDS MENU

OPEN EVERY DAY SERVING LUNCH AND DINNER * NEW LOCATION * THIRD + ELK AVENUE • 349-0897 Winter 2011 | 2012

Rum recipe (can be served over ice or as a martini) Martini Glass/Almond rim/mix in shaker on ice

1.75 oz Vanilla infused Platino 1.25 oz Oro 2 oz half and half .5 oz simple syrup Splash Orgeat syrup Strain into glass, garnish with almonds

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

“We’ll meet ya’ at the Steep.”

Friday, Saturday 11:00AM - Midnight

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

off season late hours subject to change

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

Crested Butte Magazine

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Winter 2011 | 2012

Rum:

NDERED…

U WO IN CASE YO

Family Style Chicken & Steak Dinners Your Dinner Menu:

Assorted Relish Tray Fresh Baking Powder Biscuits Savory Sweet & Sour Cole Slaw Homemade Mashed Potatoes Whole Kernel Corn in Cream Sauce Hearty Chicken Gravy Honey Butter One-half Skillet Fried Chicken or Grilled Steak Entree Home Style Ice Cream Coffee, Tea or Milk

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

ted om fermen it distilled fr ir ice, sp ju a e is n m ca Ru se sugar u n r ca It . e molasses o sugar can sugar cane , p t ru o sy g e ’s n it t sugar ca ducts, bu cane bypro other sugar cane. to be sugar

HOW IS RUM MADE? The first step is fermentation, which utilizes yeast to convert the sucrose in sugar cane to alcohol and water. Alcohol is lighter than water and has a lower boiling point, so distilling it involves boiling this concoction and collecting the alcohol vapor that rises first. These raw spirits are then aged in oak barrels that once held whiskey or bourbon.

TAPPING THE ADMIRAL The story goes that Admiral Nelson died at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805, and to preserve his remains on their voyage home to Britain, the sailors entombed him in a cask of rum. As the journey went on, the sailors got parched and eventually drilled a hole in the aforementioned cask and siphoned off the rum with a straw, so that when the admiral arrived home the cask was dry. Although it’s accepted that Admiral Nelson was sent home in a barrel of “refined spirits,” the end is conjecture. The idiom “tapping the admiral” has come to mean taking furtive sips of a strong drink. The Royal Navy allotted its sailors a daily ration of rum until 1970, and to this day if the Queen orders them to “splice the mainbrace,” a special ration flows anew.

HISTORY Fermented sugar cane drinks date back to ancient India or China. Marco Polo recounts drinking a “very good wine of sugar” in what is modern-day Iran. Distillation probably began in the Caribbean in the 17th century, with recorded accounts of “Rumbullion” appearing in Barbados in 1651. Rum became a critical piece of the triangular trade between the Caribbean, Europe and Africa that imported slaves to work the sugar plantations and exported sugar (often for making rum). Since rum took hold in different places at different times, there is huge variety in the modern iterations of rum thanks to geography and tradition. Crested Butte Magazine

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Photo finish

Nathan Bilow

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Winter 2011 | 2012

snow day winter ale is brewed by new belgium brewing fort collins co

When it comes to Snow Days and philanthropic ways, the more the merrier. Every time you enjoy New Belgium beer you’re giving back through our $1 Per Barrel Brewed Program. Since 1995, we’ve donated more than $4 million to good causes. This year, we’re gonna pile it on and let you choose the good cause with every glassware gift pack you purchase.

Give, drink, and be merry at newbelgium.com