5280 Magazine December 2019 by 5280magazine

WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW WHO TIM GILL (REALLY) IS BY JAY BOUCHARD

A LOCAL CHEFâ€™S RECIPES FOR YOUR HANUKKAH FEAST PAGE 84

THE LONG-FORGOTTEN VIGILANTE MURDERERS OF THE SAN LUIS VALLEY BY ROBERT SANCHEZ

THE DENVER MAGAZINE

Winter

Escapes The Best Places To Cross-Country Ski In Colorado

Grand Mesa In Western Colorado

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Features

DECEMBER 2019

XC: THE ULTIMATE BEGINNER’S GUIDE Everything you need to

know to fall in love with cross-country—Colorado’s other style of skiing. BY LINDSEY B. KING

JOY OF COOKING A Hanukkah feast by

Ash’Kara chef Daniel Asher unites friends, family, and the flavors of the Middle East. BY DENISE MICKELSEN

WHO IS TIM GILL? Twenty-five years after

the tech millionaire turned philanthropist started giving his money away to promote LGBT rights, what do we actually know about one of the country’s most influential social and political figures? BY JAY BOUCHARD

WHAT REMAINS We dug into Centennial

State museum collections to discover what some of their most treasured artifacts reveal about Colorado’s past. BY SPENCER CAMPBELL

112

THIS LAND IS MY LAND How history forgot two

brutal Colorado Territory killers—and the story behind their vigilante murders. BY ROBERT SANCHEZ

| 5280 | DECEMBER 20 19

Aaron Colussi; Prop styling by Natalie Warady; Food styling by Victoria Escalle

100

Depts.

22 DIALOGUE A letter from the editor about the disenfranchisement faced by Hispanos in Colorado’s past—and the president’s racist rhetoric today...readers sound off on grocery store beer sales...and remembering the Balloon Boy Hoax.

25 COMPASS From legal weed to more diversity in the state Legislature, the Mile High City’s decade in review...the superintendent of Denver Public Schools reflects on the teacher strike that defined her first year and her priorities for the future...Gravity Haus in Breckenridge aims to serve those who want a second home in the mountains but can’t afford it...and why the Farmers’ Almanac has ominously dubbed this winter the “Polar Coaster.”

33 ADVENTURE Otherworldly ice caves, doughy pierogies, and Zen hot springs are just a few reasons to take a trip to the Rifle area...how a local couple quit booze and is finding new highs in the mountains...and a trio of Coloradans is bringing touch-screen ski area trail maps to a lift near you.

41 CULTURE Meet three Centennial Staters who bring the Star Wars

galaxy (normally far, far away) closer to home with Lucasfilmapproved droids, paintings of AT-ATs on Hoth, and more...give the gift that keeps on spritzing with scents from area perfumers...and why you should hit up the city’s museum stores on December 1.

49 EAT & DRINK You won’t even miss meat at zero-waste, plant-based Somebody People...a dine-in fish market in Westminster brings a taste of the beach to our landlocked state... our ultimate winter warmer (read: whiskey) picks for your favorite drinker’s stocking... and 5280’s new assistant food editor waxes poetic on culinary generosity as a form of love.

54 RESTAURANT REVIEW From a striking space on the 16th Street Mall, elegant LeRoux struggles to realize its fine-dining ambitions. BY SCOTT MOWBRAY

COLUMN 62 FILM

The Never Not Collective set out to make a movie about women climbers—not to navigate gender politics. But as the trio of Western producers has discovered with its new film, Pretty Strong, you can’t do one without the other.

BY ELISABETH KWAK-HEFFERAN

41 44

LISTINGS 120 CALENDAR

This month’s can’t-miss events.

126 DINING GUIDE Where to eat in and around town.

ON THE COVER Photograph by David Clifford

BACKSTORY 184 ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH Breakfast Club– esque stereotypes for six ski resorts. 5280 (ISSN 10826815) is published monthly by 5280 Publishing, Inc., 1675 Larimer St., Suite 675, Denver, CO 80202. Subscriptions are $16 for one year (12 issues). Back issues are available for $5.99 plus tax and shipping by visiting shop.5280.com. Periodical postage paid at Denver, CO, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS (see DMM 707.4.12.5). NONPOSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: Send address corrections to 5280 Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 37270, Boone, IA 50037-4270. Canadian Post Publications Mail Agreement No. #40065056 Canadian Return Address: DP Global Mail, 4960-2 Walker Road, Windsor, ON N9A 6J3. 5280® is a federally registered trademark owned by 5280 Publishing, Inc. 5280 also owns trademark registrations for TOP OF THE TOWN, DENVER’S TOP DOCTORS, DENVER MAGAZINE, and COLORADO PARENT. © 2019 5280 Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.

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ART DIRECTOR

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A modern approach to Denver real estate. Let Jessica Northrop guide you home.

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7007 Daniels Park Road | Sedalia $7.6M | 5 Bed | 6 Bath | 13,665 SF

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, CALENDAR & DINING GUIDE Letters to the Editor must include your name, address (both of which can be withheld upon request), and a daytime phone number. Letters may be submitted via regular mail, fax (303-832-0470), or email (letters@5280.com). Calendar events should include a basic description of the event; its time, date, place, and cost; and a phone number that readers may call for more information. Send calendar submissions to events@5280.com. To have a restaurant considered for our Dining Guide, contact us by phone or email (dining@5280.com) to receive a submission form. We also encourage you to contact us if your experience at a restaurant differs significantly from our listing. Information for these sections should be submitted at least six weeks before the issue’s cover date. WRITER’S GUIDELINES Writer’s guidelines can be found online at 5280.com/writers-guidelines. To suggest a story idea, email us at news@5280.com. ADVERTISING 5280 offers businesses the most costeffective way to reach Denver’s upscale consumers. Information about advertising is available on the web at 5280.com/ advertising. Call 303-832-5280 to request a printed media kit. SPONSORSHIPS 5280 actively supports organizations that make our city a better place to live and work. Submit sponsorship proposals to Carrie Horn, senior marketing director, at sponsorship@5280.com.

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ted â€™ s b i s on br i s k e t

T E D S M O N TA N A G R I L L . C O M

Dialog ue

stores only sell the macros, New Belgium, and maybe one other craft brew,” writes Brent Newman. “So when I want a beer, I go to a distributor or the brewery itself—like God intended.”

[ F R O M T H E E D I T O RI A L D I R E C T O R ]

Wild West

hen Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president, he notoriously called Mexicans and Mexican immigrants “criminals” and “rapists,” and his relentless calls for a border wall and bigoted rhetoric unleashed a long-hidden strain of prejudice in America. Trump’s racist views, of course, are not without precedent in this country’s history. Indeed, as 5280 senior staff writer Robert Sanchez describes in “This Land Is My Land” (page 112), when the Colorado Territory absorbed part of New Mexico in the 1860s, the government treated its new citizens—most of whom were Hispano—“as a necessary nuisance.” Sanchez continues: “It’s difficult to overestimate the level of disenfranchisement the valley’s Hispano residents felt in the early days of Colorado’s existence...the white Protestants now immigrating into the territory were akin to an invading force.” As pioneers used territorial law to take over the Hispano residents’ lands, a series of brutal murders terrorized the region; white settlers began turning up shot, mutilated, and sometimes beheaded. Sanchez tells the remarkable story of Felipe and Vivián Espinosa, the presumed assailants, who sought to avenge the mistreatment of their families—and perhaps of an entire people—through a series of vigilante killings that have largely been relegated to the margins of American lore. Sanchez’s piece, which at times reads like a Quentin Tarantino script, seeks to reframe these murders in an unromanticized version of frontier history that provides important context and lessons at a time when Mexicans and Mexican Americans are facing aggressive tactics from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and continued, ugly verbal attacks from the president of the United States.

is i

r is in g

GEOFF VAN DYKE

Ha tE Despite its laid-back vibe, Colorado isn’t immune to the fierce, noisy, and increasing levels of vitriol that have come to define the latter half of this decade in America. In fact, hate crimes, hate groups, and other measures of bias in the state all are on the rise. What’s behind the hostility—and what can be done to stop it?

By Kasey Cordell

106

Photo illustration by Joan Wong

| 5280 | NOVEMBER 201 9

NOVEMBER 20 19 |

5280 | 107

“HATE RISING” November 2019

Considering Colorado’s laid-back reputation, it’s not surprising that features editor Kasey Cordell’s

investigation into the growing number of hate crimes, hate groups, and other measures of bias in the state shocked many. A week

after November’s “Hate Rising” hit newsstands, for example, Philip Vander-

| 5280 | DECEMBER 2019

nail—the mayor of Fraser, a small town in Grand County—called Cordell to express his horror that his county registered as a hotbed for radical right web searches. An openly gay man, the mayor planned to talk to community leaders about how they can combat hate there.

Matthew Noe thinks it starts from the top: “The president of the United States helps condone and instigate this behavior and hatred.”

“ARE GROCERY STORE BEER SALES KILLING COLORADO’S LIQUOR STORES?” October 16, 2019

Coloradans are passionate about their beer, and—judging by the responses to this 5280.com article—their beer stores. “The owners of independent liquor stores said, out loud, [that] beer sales were 80 percent of their profits,” Bill Eye wrote. “Bonus horrible side effect: It’s killing small packaging breweries as well. This was seen a mile

away by anyone paying attention or not blinded by greed.” Independent stores do have one advantage, according to readers: “Grocery

“WE WENT TO WITNESS A PRESCRIBED BURN—AND IT BECAME A WILDFIRE” October 17, 2019

The escalation of the Elk Fire, which 5280.com covered, left one reader confused.

“What I don’t understand—at all—is why they would continue with the burn on a day where the wind was blowing steadily in the teens and the humidity was in the teens,”

“COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THAT FIASCO. I WAS SO FLIPPIN WORRIED ABOUT THAT KID!” @wendybrocktv’s reaction to “Up In The Air,” 5280’s October feature that, 10 years after the bizarre episode, solved the Balloon Boy Hoax

Jane Clifton wrote. “It’s counterintuitive, poor management, and pisspoor stewardship.” CORRECTIONS

In November’s “The Republican Response,” we reported that 37 percent of registered Republicans voted in the 2014 election. In fact, 37 percent of all Coloradans who voted were Republicans. We also incorrectly stated that the GOP showed up to the polls at a lower rate than both unaffiliated voters and Democrats in 2018. Actually, fewer total Republicans showed up to the polls than both unaffiliateds and Democrats. Finally, we reported that in 2010, 15 percent of Coloradans ages 18 to 34 cast votes, and eight years later, 22 percent voted. In actuality, about 15 percent of all Coloradans who voted in 2010 were in the 18-to-34 demographic. Eight years later, that figure rose to 22 percent. We regret the errors.

Send email to letters@5280. com or mail your feedback to Letters, 5280, 1675 Larimer St., Suite 675, Denver, CO 80202. Please include your name, address, and telephone number. Letters and posts may be edited for length and clarity. You can also follow us and join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest (all @5280Magazine).

From top: Sarah Boyum; David Williams

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From top: AAron Ontiveroz/the Denver Post via Getty Images; Photo illustration by Sean Parsons. Source photos: Getty Images (plane, marijuana, Union Station); Steve Neuf/the Denver Post via Getty Images (Vince Lombardi trophy); Jeff Gross/Getty Images (Missy Franklin); Rok Rakun/Pacific Press/Alamy Live News (Mikaela Shiffrin); Rod Lamkey/Getty Images (Tom Sullivan); Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images (Joe Neguse); Jack Andersen/Getty Images (beer); Courtesy of Denver Art Museum (Denver Art Museum); Marvin Anani (Beloved Village Community)

School daze: DPSâ€™ superintendent on the lessons she learned during her rough first year. PAGE 28

Compass HIGH TIMES

Between gold rushes and oil strikes, Denver has experienced its fair share of booms. But the 2010s might have been the most promising and transformative era in the history of the Mile High City. To bid adieu to the decade so many of us will be sad to see end this month, we looked back at 10 major trends that defined the period of prosperity. â€”SHANE MONAGHAN

DECEMBER 20 19 |

5280 | 25

CITY

A Decade In Denver –

2010 2019

SUNNY WITH A CHANCE OF APOCALYPSE Four of the six warmest years in Colorado history occurred between 2012 and 2017, and the state is in a near-constant state of drought. Add in a rash of Hollywood-type events—the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire, the 2013 Front Range floods, the 2019 bomb cyclone—and it’s apparent weather in Colorado has gone from “unpredictable” to “un-f@*%ing-believable.”

WE ARE OFTEN THE CHAMPIONS The Colorado Rapids started the decade by claiming their first MLS Cup in 2010; the Denver Broncos added to the winning in 2016 with a Super Bowl 50 victory; and the University of Denver sprinkled in national championships for men’s lacrosse (2015) and men’s hockey (2017). But swimmer Missy Franklin’s four gold medals at the 2012 Olympics and skiers Mikaela Shiffrin’s and Lindsey Vonn’s general badassery on the ski hill proved the journey to title town is quicker if you travel without baggage (i.e., teammates).

CULTURE VULTURES

WELCOME TO A MORE COLORFUL COLORADO

CEASE FIRE

Crisanta Duran (first Latina speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives), Jared Polis (the state’s first openly gay governor), and Joe Neguse (the Centennial State’s first black congressman) made Colorado politics more vibrant. Plus, the most diverse Colorado General Assembly ever was sworn into office in 2019; it includes a record number of female, African American, Latino, and LGBTQ lawmakers.

BREW BOOM In 2011, Colorado was home to 136 craft breweries. By the end of 2018, we had a whopping 396 (producing everything from Dry Dock Brewing Co.’s Apricot Blonde to Wynkoop Brewing Company’s Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout)—more than any state except California.

RAGS TO RICHES Colorado limped into the 2010s with an unemployment rate of 8.9 percent. Today, it’s down to 2.7 percent, and we’ve posted the best economy in the country the past three years, according to U.S. News & World Report. And while Colorado is producing more crude than ever, the state’s financial wellbeing is no longer reliant on just oil and gas; the tech sector recently attracted outposts from giants like Slack and Gusto, and the booming outdoor recreation economy generated $62 billion for the state in 2017.

HOME SOLUTIONS GREEN BACKED

BUILDING INSIDE THE BOX Denver added more than 100,000 people during the 2010s, sparking development that resulted in lauded revitalization projects like Union Station in 2014. Unfortunately, the building barrage also gave rise to slot homes and escalating rent and home prices that accelerated gentrification.

| 5280 | DECEMBER 2019

In 2014, Colorado became the first state in the country to implement recreational marijuana sales. Since then, the Centennial State has made more than $1 billion in tax revenue and added around 44,000 cannabis-related jobs—proving that crime may not pay, but legal drugs certainly do.

 Find more decade in review coverage on 5280.com.

In both 2016 and 2017, Denver’s homeless population grew by more than 10 percent. The middecade spike led to a debate about how to best handle homelessness, with the city enacting camping bans, funding tiny homes, and, in 2019, creating the Department of Housing and Homelessness.

Twelve people were killed and 70 more injured due to gun violence at an Aurora movie theater in 2012. The following year, Centennial State leaders passed five gun control measures. And in 2019, state Representative Tom Sullivan, whose son was murdered during the Aurora shooting, successfully led an effort to make Colorado one of the first states to approve a red flag bill.

Clockwise from top left: Angela Auclair/Getty Images; Dpa Picture Alliance Archive/Alamy Stock Photo; Getty Images; Marvin Anani; Getty Images; Sarah Boyum; Courtesy of Crisanta Duran

The opening of acclaimed venues such as the Clyfford Still Museum, the History Colorado Center, and the Mission Ballroom eviscerated any lingering perception of Denver as a hayseed cow town. The Denver Art Museum, meanwhile, only got better by hosting worldrenowned exhibits, including blockbusters featuring Star Wars, Dior, and Monet.

High-alpine runs, open bowls and steep chutes for the best. Spruce forests, groomers and rolling terrain for the rest. Legendary skiing close to Denverâ€”see whatâ€™s new at A-Basin.

Q&A

derstand, plan on, and use to help earn more over their lifetimes. The other aspect was: What voice do teachers have? How are teachers treated? How do we create an environment where their contributions are as important as district leadership’s contributions? I believe the pathway forward is doing a better job of collaborating.

The leader of Colorado’s largest school district reflects on a turbulent first year in charge.

usana Cordova took over as superintendent of Denver Public Schools (DPS) a year ago this month—just in time to lead the district through its first teacher strike in 25 years. What started with educators pleading for a higher base salary that wasn’t tied to a complicated bonus system turned into tense negotiations, which eventually devolved into a three-day walkout in February that drew national attention. With the tumultuous moment behind her, the 30-year DPS veteran—a district alumna who rose from teacher to principal to administrator— can now focus on actually running the 15,000-employee, 90,000-student system. To mark the beginning of her second year, Cordova spoke with 5280 about what she learned from the strike, school safety, and how she plans to better integrate classrooms. —CHRIS OUTCALT

| 5280 | DECEMBER 2019

5280: What was it like to immediately step into negotiations with the Denver Classroom Teachers Association? Susana Cordova: I wasn’t prepared for the level of discord and strife we experienced in the negotiations. We had a phenomenal mediator who helped us. During the second all-nighter to finish the strike, I asked her, “How often have you been involved with [a strike] like this?” I thought she was going to tell me it’s pretty common. She was like, “Oh, this is a once-in-alifetime event.”

Any other moments from the negotiations that stand out to you? I would have to steel myself to walk into a room of 200 or 300 people [where] many are really unhappy. I bumped into my daughter’s former social studies teacher, whom I loved. We stop and have a little moment, and I take a few more steps and run into the woman who was the gym teacher where I was an elementary school principal. These are people I have deep relationships with. When I think about the impact they’ve had on my children’s lives, it changes what you think the goal is. How do you feel about the final deal? I think it’s a really good contract. I think it values what so many of our teachers said they wanted: a salary schedule they can un-

A recent Denver Post investigation found that more than half of DPS schools are effectively segregated. Would ending the district’s schoolchoice program help integrate them? We’ve been looking at how we use the school-choice system to promote integration. We’ve already got several schools that are prioritizing free- and reduced-lunch students for their choice seats, which is a way to promote school demographics that look like the district demographics. As we get closer to the 2020 census, it will be an important time to look at boundaries around the city. Denver has really changed in the past 10 years, and that’ll give us some good data.

From top: AAron Ontiveroz/the Denver Post via Getty Images; Courtesy of Denver Public Schools

The Rookie

Denver Public Schools superintendent Susana Cordova

The other headlinegrabbing incident during your first year was the districtwide lockdown related to the anniversary of Columbine, which led to some confusion. Our communication system to give parents information took far too long. We realized the technology was not up to the standard that we needed it to be. So we are getting ready to roll out a brand-new system so we can communicate much more quickly.

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Obtain the Property Report required by Federal Law and read it before signing anything. No Federal agency has judged the merits or value, if any, of this property. All elements, designs, features and finishes, plans, renderings, amenities, prices, and any other information presented hereon are for informational purposes only, are not guaranteed, and are subject to change or elimination without prior notice. Maps, depictions, floor plans, and models are not to scale, and all measurements, including square footage numbers, are approximate. Views are not guaranteed. Verify all items before purchasing. Summit Sky Ranch is a registered trademark of Maryland Creek Ranch, LLC and Maryland Creek Ranch Builders, LLC. Warning: The California Department of Real Estate has not inspected, examined, or qualified this offering.

TRENDING

in the

AIR Things To Discuss This Month…While Avoiding Creepy Carl And His Roving Mistletoe

Will the Galvanize co-founder’s newest big idea work?

A rendering of Gravity Haus’ lobby in Breckenridge

im Deters admits that he sometimes refers to Gravity Haus as Galvanize, and to be fair, the two concepts are similar. Galvanize is a company Deters co-founded in 2011 as a hub for tech entrepreneurs. Gravity Haus, which Deters will debut in Breckenridge this month, also aims to be an epicenter, but for the outdoorsy set. The other big difference? Deters believes he’s learned enough from Galvanize’s failures to ensure that Gravity Haus succeeds. A coding school, co-working space, and startup incubator, Galvanize has grown to eight locations around the country, raised more than $167 million in venture capital, and currently employs 336 people. As Galvanize took off, Deters didn’t hide his ambitions: In May 2017, he told the Denver Business Journal it could become “the people’s MIT.” Just four months later, however, trouble emerged when the company announced it would lay off 11 percent of its workforce. At the same time, the board of directors asked Deters to step down as CEO. Since leaving Galvanize, where he’s still a shareholder, Deters has started a gym called Dryland Sports Co as well as Unravel Coffee, both in the Virginia Village neighborhood. Gravity Haus, though, is his return to big ideas. “What Galvanize was to democratizing access to skills,” Deters says, “Gravity Haus is to democratizing access to the Colorado lifestyle.” Housed in the former Village at Breckenridge Hotel, Gravity Haus has a Dryland gym, an Unravel coffeeshop, a spa, a restaurant, gear storage and rentals, and a co-working space. Anyone can book one of the 60 rooms or order a latte at Unravel. But Gravity Haus also offers tiered memberships, such as the “Breck Haus,” which begins at $1,200 annually and provides lodging discounts, first tracks at Breckenridge Ski Resort, a dedicated ski locker, unlimited access to the co-working space, and other perks. It’s targeted to those who want—but can’t afford—a second home in the mountains. Deters says he won’t push Gravity Haus to grow as fast as Galvanize did: He estimates Galvanize hired 300 people in 14 months—a pace he says damaged the company’s culture. (“We’ve been much more intentional with our hiring and our onboarding,” current Galvanize CEO Harsh Patel says, “and have charted down a path of growing in a way that I believe is sustainable and profitable.”) This time, Deters is funding Gravity Haus with his own money and doesn’t intend to tap venture capital. “I’m not trying to chase some crazy goal other than to build something special,” he says. Still, Deters’ team is designing a second hotel for Winter Park, scheduled to open for the 2020-’21 season—so it’s unclear what, exactly, his speed limit is. —ANGELA UFHEIL

| 5280 | DECEMBER 2019

Survival experts. Fossils discovered by Denver Museum of Nature & Science researchers in Colorado Springs shine light on how mammals came to rule the Earth post-dinosaurs.

“I’M NOT TRYING TO CHASE SOME CRAZY GOAL OTHER THAN TO BUILD SOMETHING SPECIAL.”

The need to buckle up. The Farmers’ Almanac predicts Colorado—and much of the country— will face a winter of extreme temperatures, one it’s dubbed “the Polar Coaster.”

Self-deprecation. Nick Offerman (aka Parks and Recreation’s Ron Swanson) pokes fun at both the character and himself during his All Rise tour, playing at Denver’s Paramount Theatre on December 12.

Clockwise from top left: Courtesy of Gravity Haus; Courtesy of Colorado Department of Transportation; Andrey Atuchin/Courtesy of Denver Museum of Nature & Science; Getty Images; Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images; Courtesy of Tommy Joyce

Jim Deters 2.0

The Magic Ski Bus. Bustang, the Colorado Department of Transportation’s regional bus network, begins runs from Denver to Arapahoe Basin and Loveland Ski Area this month.

We ﬁght cancer from all sides

The most important factor in beating cancer is ﬁnding it early, when it’s easier to treat and has higher cure rates.

OCS D P O 81 T

Kaiser Permanente Colorado’s approach to cancer is three-fold: • We get out in front of it with screening rates that are recognized as some of best in the state. • After a diagnosis, our highly skilled doctors, informed by the latest research, use high-tech tools and state-of-the-art treatments to provide care that is noted for its medical excellence. • We provide easy access to resources and care coordinators so that patients can live as normally and productively as possible — without having to worry about coordinating their own care. Learn about cancer care at Kaiser Permanente Colorado from some of our patients at kp.org/cancercare/co.

kp.org/specialtycare/co

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How a Denver couple quit booze and found new highs in Colorado’s mountains. PAGE 36

Adventure

TURN THE PAGE

From top: Sarah Boyum; We Who Roam

to discover more ways to explore the Rifle area.

VEILED WORLDS

If the abominable snowman pulled a curtain of ice across the entrance to his cavernous home, it might look something like Rifle’s greatest winter wonder. Each November, water trickling down Rifle Mountain Park’s limestone walls freezes into crystalline ice caves. To see two of them, start down Koper’s Trail, an easy hike through a narrow, twisting canyon. In the first chamber (pictured), located near the trailhead, the sun filters through waves of icicles hanging from the ceiling. The second cavity sits a half-mile farther—and the soft blue shade of its northern wall is well worth braving the cramped quarters. Come equipped with crampons or microspikes to safely walk on the slick floors, or, for an extra dose of adrenaline, bring ice-climbing gear to conquer the outer walls, no permit needed. 13885 County Road 217 —LILY O’NEILL

DECEMBER 2 019 |

5280 | 33

TRAVEL

can splash about and order pizza from the Sopris Cafe—which also serves a delightful hot sangria made with Decadent Saint wine from Boulder. From $20 for adults and $14 for children, 281 Centennial St., Glenwood Springs

WHISTLE PIG COFFEE STOP & CAFE

The lone independent coffeeshop in Rifle, Whistle Pig sources beans from in-town True Brew Beverage Services, a roaster of strong Arabica varieties. Plus, owner Samm Young specializes in house-made desserts and breads including a savory everything bagel, the foundation of the Timmy special: a bacon, egg, cheese, and habanero cream cheese sandwich named in honor of Young’s father. 121 E. Third St.

Skip ski resort mayhem for a weekend in Rifle, where nearby hot springs, icy waterfalls, and a funky inn reveal a more serene—and fantastical—side of winter. RIFLE FALLS STATE PARK

Don’t spend too long reenacting scenes from Frozen in the Rifle Mountain Park ice caves (previous page). On your way back to town, you’ll want extra time to stop at this state park. There, waterfalls flow year-round, kicking up mist that coats the surrounding vegetation in white icing. $8 per vehicle, 9859 CO 325

POLANKA

Marzena “Marzy” Bednarz emigrated from Poland to the United States in 1988 when she was 10 years old. But—as evidenced by the homey fare at her downtown Rifle restaurant, which opened in 2018—Bednarz hasn’t lost touch with the traditional dinners of her youth. Scarf down stuffed cabbage,

| 5280 | DECEMBER 2019

doughy potato and cheese pierogies, and tangy sauerkraut—all from cherished family recipes—that Bednarz and her husband make fresh upon order. 309 Railroad Ave.

RIFLE GAP STATE PARK

Here, the 360-acre reservoir’s frozen surface can become 17 inches thick during the winter. Beneath that shell hides some of the best ice-fishing in the Centennial State. A diverse population—trout, pike, bass,

and yellow perch—provides anglers a range of potential trophies. On the off chance the bites don’t come, the park allows snowmobiling and cross-country skiing, and there’s a snowshoe trek along the perimeter of the reservoir. $8 per vehicle, 5775 CO 325

A jetted tub at Iron Mountain Hot Springs

Defending Winterfell with the Starks. Wreaking havoc alongside Batman villain the Penguin. Sneaking into Area 51. This peculiar inn brings you a step closer to such fantasies. After nearly 20 years of running the Elk Creek Mining Company Bar & Grill, John Webber transformed the 130-yearold New Castle building’s upstairs apartments into five suites with pop culture

IRON MOUNTAIN HOT SPRINGS

Defrost from your outdoor adventures in naturally heated soaking pools overlooking the Colorado River in nearby Glenwood Springs. Each of the 16 pools offers a different mode of relaxation: Pebbles at the bottom of the reflexology pools massage your feet, for example, while the rush of the Moonstone basin’s waterfall drowns out your brain’s restless chatter. Outside the enforced quiet zone resides the 100,000gallon family pool, where kids

themes. Take the Jurassic Pok room, a mashup of the 1993 film and video gaming (it features a mural by local artist Ariel Seltzer that depicts Mario and Pikachu battling dinosaurs). A video game console with 412 playable 1980s classics doubles as a cocktail table, rounding out a room sure to inspire interesting dreams. From $105; 502 W. Main St., New Castle —LO

Clockwise from top: Jack Affleck/Courtesy of Iron Mountain Hot Springs; Courtesy of Cody Isaman Photography; Courtesy of Polanka

Magical Mystery Tour

ORE HOUSE INN

A Colorado couple battles addiction by replacing alcohol with an all-consuming pursuit of summits.

uring the summer of 2016, Alyson Kirk started having recurring nightmares. She and her husband, John, were on a mission to ascend every peak of at least 12,000 feet in Colorado, and Turret Ridge near Ridgway, known as the state’s most difficult “twelver,” loomed next on the list. “It’s a mass of decomposing volcanic tuff where every handhold is subject to coming out,” Alyson says. But while the prospect of scaling a mountain that only two to three people summit every year haunted her dreams, she believed reaching its pinnacle would help her and John keep a much more important commitment. John, 43, and Alyson, 36, began struggling with alcohol addiction when they were teenagers: Alyson was raised by alcoholic parents, while John built his high school identity around getting drunk. Both got sober during their 20s, and before meeting, each started exploring the Colorado wilderness because the disconnection from daily life made it easier to forget about booze. Mutual friends introduced the pair in 2011 on a hike, sparking a romance centered on bagging peaks instead of ordering rounds. The Morrison couple first ascended the 1,000 tallest mountains in Colorado and— after getting married atop Ulysses S. Grant Peak near Telluride in 2012—turned toward ever-more-challenging goals. By 2017, they’d conquered every 12,000-footplus mountain in the Centennial State, and they are in the midst of scaling every twelver or higher in the Lower 48. They’ll likely finish summiting every peak of at least 10,000 feet in Colorado by early next year. “Both of us are really hardwired to be

| 5280 | DECEMBER 2019

Different mountains the Kirks have climbed together

super obsessive,” John says, “so redirecting that addictive personality to the outdoors is a good thing.” While it might seem as if the Kirks are trading one addiction for another, Christian Hopfer, a substance abuse expert at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, says it’s good they’ve found healthy habits to replace time spent drinking. “When people quit using [drugs or alcohol], they often find they have a lot of time on their hands,” Hopfer says. “You have to fill it doing something else, and it has to be rewarding.” For the past eight years, the Kirks’ calendar has been plenty full: On weekdays, they’re at their jobs— Alyson owns Alpine Air, which prepares used cars for resale, and John works in finance—but they spend much of their spare time mapping their next routes. Come the weekend, they’re often off to a trailhead or Denver International Airport for an evening flight that gives them enough time to reach a far-off locale, sleep, and then rise and climb. During the summer and early fall, this unrelenting regimen allows them to summit as many as 11 peaks per day—a remarkable tally that’s about much more than bragging rights.

—MEREDITH SELL

Sarah Boyum

Peak Therapy

3,000

PROFILE

REAL LIFE REQUIRES REAL BOOTS.

Christopher Van Tilberg — Medical Director, Crag Rats Search & Rescue — Danner.com/GoThere

OUTDOORS

H RA AP IPLYS T

WHAT WE’RE EXPLORING THIS MONTH

Silver Dollar Lake Trail DRIVE FROM DENVER

56 miles

Screen Time

A Colorado company aims to keep skiers better informed with digital displays for chairlifts and gondolas.

llustrated maps that fold in 55 directions and messy dry-erase boards have long been ski areas’ preferred methods of announcing trail locations and conditions. But in 2014, three Colorado friends decided those analog resources weren’t the best means of conveying real-time information. In other words, they were tired of making their ways over to midmountain lifts only to find them closed and annoyed with wrong turns that led them to become accidental obstacles on slalom courses. The trio—which includes an aerospace engineer, a Marine veteran, and a Harvardeducated virology Ph.D.—formed Centennial-based Alpine Media Technology and spent two years developing screens for gondolas and chairlifts. (The key was creating a now-patented electrical system that keeps its power in freezing temperatures; essentially, the apparatus recharges itself as it winds around the bullwheel at the bottom of the lift.) The company’s monitors are roughly the size of an iPad and scroll through details about, say, which runs have been groomed and which ones are closed; they also relay mountain happenings, like the start time for a concert in the main village. Alpine launched a pilot program at Winter Park Resort last year and will likely expand to 10 more locales (Telluride Ski Resort included) this season. In an effort to keep the new technology from jacking up the price of your already expensive lift ticket, Alpine gives the devices to ski resorts for free. However, the company’s willingness to share may have one potential drawback for skiers looking to fully immerse themselves in the outdoors: Because a good chunk of Alpine’s revenue comes from advertising, your powder days now come complete with banner ads. —MAYA CHIODO

| 5280 | DECEMBER 2019

Alpine Media Technology’s screens at Winter Park Resort

—ANGELA UFHEIL

From top: Courtesy of Alpine Media Technology; Sarah Boyum

WHY WE LOVE IT

For screenfree snow time, venture to this four-mile out-and-back snowshoe route near Guanella Pass, where cell service struggles to follow. The gently sloped beginning weaves through conifers until steepening above treeline, where panoramic views from Murray Lake, the turnaround point, may just tempt you to break the noscreens rule to snap a photo.

THIS IS A REHAB? • Suites from 350 to 700 sq. ft. • Room service • Movies on-demand • Spa facilities – including steam room and sauna • Fully equipped business center • Twice daily housekeeping with turndown service • Refrigerated private refreshment center • Indoor/outdoor pools and hot tubs • Yoga, Pilates and gym access • Mountain views from every room • AND MUCH, MUCH MORE

Without question, All Points North Lodge has one of the most progressive addiction treatment programs in the world, including a renown team of clinicians focused on eradicating the effects of past trauma, which is often at the center of addictive behavior. We draw on a wide variety of technologies and methodologies to custom curate the most effective program specifically for you. But we go far beyond that. Once treatment is completed, our Accelerator track keeps you moving forward through ongoing life and career coaching, with the option to return for a variety of immersive workshops. We also offer an Executive Health and Wellness track for concierge medical care and prevention initiatives to ensure maximum wellness. All of this means we help you achieve and maintain your peak level of mental, physical, and emotional health. Our goal and yours is your sustainable wellness, fulfillment, and joy. So, we don’t consider ourselves a “rehab”. This is so much more. Think of us as your personal peak performance center for life.

We take most PPO insurance, call now for a free verification of your insurance benefit at 833.276.5634.

ALL POINTS NORTH LODGE We believe in you.

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Colorado perfume is the gift that keeps on spritzing. PAGE 44

Culture TURN THE PAGE

From top: Paul Miller; Courtesy of Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum and AAA Colorado

to learn more about the leading roles Coloradans have played in the Star Wars galaxy.

THE DROIDS YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR

If a robot bleeps, chirps, and twists its dome like R2-D2, is it R2-D2? Only if Lucasfilm, the production company responsible for the Star Wars franchise, says so. And this Colorado-based R2-D2 has earned the Lucasfilm seal of approval to stand in for the legendary droid at events such as premieres and comiccons. Built by Jim Shima—an electrical engineer who lives in Superior—the handmade, motorized R2 is fashioned from wood, fiberglass, and aluminum and exactly mimics the original’s dimensions and sound effects. (He’s made a stunning BB-8, too.) Shima’s R2 has even been methodically weathered with paint and clay to look like it’s fresh from Tatooine. That attention to detail caught the eye of Lucasfilm, which recruited Shima to start making publicity appearances in 2016, nearly a decade after he completed the droid. Thankfully, you don’t have to wait that long to get your next R2 fix. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens on December 20. —DALIAH SINGER DECEMBER 20 19 |

5280 | 41

FILM

Before the latest trilogy wraps with the release of The Rise of Skywalker, meet three Coloradans who’ve brought the galaxy far, far away a bit closer to home.

STAR PAINTER

To Christopher Clark, the landscapes and portraits captured by masters such as Claude Monet aren’t that different from settings and characters in the Star Wars universe. So the oil painter begins each piece of fan art the way he does any other tableau: identifying beautiful locales within the galaxy, then applying his technical skills to bring light and precise detailing to every image. Impressed by Clark’s work, Lucasfilm signed the now 41-yearold Denver resident to make officially licensed fan art, meaning his 18-andcounting Star Wars prints

| 5280 | DECEMBER 20 19

can be sold at Disney theme parks. From $125; incredibleartgallery.com

Behind The Scenes:

George Lucas loves Clark’s portrait of Yoda so much, he bought the original.

SHIP SHAPE

The Death Star. The Xwing. The TIE fighter. These and more iconic Star Wars ships emerged from the mind of one man: Colin Cantwell. After working on graphic design for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 2001: A Space Odyssey, he showed some of his spacecraft ideas to George Lucas, who hired him on the spot. Although Cantwell sketched concept art and built early models for A New Hope, the franchise’s first film, he declined a full-time position with Lucas’ visual

effects company, Industrial Light & Magic. Consequently, his ties to the saga remained under the radar for decades. It wasn’t until 2014—when his partner of 16 years, Sierra Dall, found his original art and models in his Boulder basement and encouraged him to take his rightful spot in the Star Wars origin story—that Cantwell’s contributions gained wider recognition.

Behind The Scenes:

Cantwell was inspired to design the Rebel Alliance’s X-wing starfighter after watching patrons throw darts in an English pub.

JEDI MASTER

That exhilarating moment when Kylo Ren ignites his lightsaber and you see the red glow reflecting off his robe and hear that vrummmm reverberate through

Behind The Scenes:

Colin Cantwell poses with his Star Wars concept art.

Shima helped restore an X-wing that resides at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum; he even added lights and sounds, so when you sit in the cockpit, it feels (almost) like the real thing. —DS

Clockwise from top: Lucasfilm (“Dawn at Hoth” by Christopher Clark); Courtesy of Sierra Dall; Courtesy of Incredible Art Gallery

The Force Is Strong With Them

“Dawn at Hoth” by Christopher Clark of Denver

your body? You can thank Jim Shima for the goose bumps. For the first six movies, techs had to add in the saber’s sheen frame by frame after shooting, a time-consuming task. Shima invented a wireless module that generates sounds digitally and a theatrical saber that glows with ambient light; in short, the gleam appears on set, in real time, and creates recordable sound effects. Shima spent 15 years developing the technology, which Disney bought to use in the latest trilogy. Plus, Shima’s Superior home is a fan’s dream: He’s constructed stormtrooper costumes outfitted with voice changers, dozens of replica props, BB-8, and two R2D2s (see “The Droids You’ve Been Looking For,” page 41).

Bring on the Christmas “Spirit” 5 CHRISTMAS COCKTAILS FROM THE BRECKENRIDGE DISTILLERY

Season cheer is in the air...and in your cocktail. Billie Keithley has crafted some very “spirited” Christmas cocktails perfect for your holiday parties or, if you are feeling creative, the perfect gift. [Tis The Season Fizz]. So bring on the holiday cheer.

TIS THE SEASON FIZZ 1 1/2 oz Breckenridge Pear Vodka 1 oz cranberry, pomegranate, blackberry shrub Top with soda. Garnish: cranberries.

MERRY FLIPMAS

MULETIDE

1 1/2 oz Breckenridge Spiced Whiskey 1/2 oz nut liqueur 1 oz crème of coconut 1 oz toasted almond milk 1 egg

1 1/2 oz Breckenridge Pear Vodka 1 oz cranberry juice 1/2 oz Colorado honey simple syrup* 1/4 oz fresh lime juice 2 dashes cranberry bitters

Shake all ingredients with ice well. Strain over ice.

Top with ginger beer. Garnish: lime and cranberries.

Garnish: grated nutmeg and cardamom sugar.

*Make the honey simple syrup: over medium heat, add 1 cup water, 1/2 cup honey & 1/2 cup sugar. Stir until dissolved.

BLOOD ORANGE BLISS

FA, LA, LA, LA NOG

1 1/2 oz Breckenridge Vodka 1 oz blood orange juice 1/2 oz agave nectar 1/2 oz lime juice 1 dash cranberry bitters

2 oz Breckenridge Bourbon 4 oz egg nog 1/2 oz vanilla liqueur 3 dashes walnut bitters Shake all ingredients with ice. Served up.

Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain and serve over crushed ice. Garnish: blood orange slice and mint

Photography by Breckenridge Distillery

Garnish: sprinkle of vanilla bean sugar.

B R E C K E N R I D G E D I S T I L L E R Y. C O M

970.547.WSKY

ST KT Y L E

Lasting Impression Perfumers layer their wares with ingredients that unfold over time, creating a scent whose personality changes throughout the day. In other words, one of these Colorado-born aromas is a gift you—or a loved one—can unwrap again and again. —GEORGIA ALEXIA BENJOU

EARTH EAU DE TOILETTE

NUR La Fleur by Livvy, from the Tales of India collection $125 for 50 ml, lafleurbylivvy.com Award-winning natural perfumer Olivia Larson creates plant-based fragrances like this new jasmine- and saffron-tinged offering in her Grand Junction workshop.

Zents $71 for 50 ml, zents.com Overly potent, synthetic aromas give Zents founder Cord Coen headaches, which is why his Denver studio makes subtle scents such as Earth, infused with fir needle and sandalwood.

DEAD SEX Y EAU DE PARFUM

I FIORI BEL CANTO DSH Perfumes $210 for 15 ml, dshperfumes.com Boulderite Dawn Spencer Hurwitz’s love for fragrance design through the decades led to this tuberose and orange blossom bouquet, inspired by Greek-American opera singer Maria Callas, a tabloid darling during her career.

| 5280 | DECEMBER 20 19

TokyoMilk by Margot Elena $110 for 100 ml, margotelena.com Centennial olfactory artist Margot Elena’s limited edition, rose-patterned bottle with an embossed skull is almost as compelling as Dead Sexy’s vanilla, orchid, and ebony notes.

P H O T O G R A P H BY PA U L M I L L E R

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Your short list of Colorado’s coolest December events.

DEC. 16– MAY 24

—KIM HABICHT

PLAY IT AGAIN

DEC. 8 AND 14

AGED TO PERFECTION

Before the Little Nell became Aspen’s only ski-in, ski-out hotel—with luxurious offerings that regularly attract A-list guests including Kim Kardashian, Elton John, and Jack Nicholson—the site hosted one of the community’s funkiest dive bars. To help celebrate the 30-year anniversary of the hotel’s Cinderella-like transformation, the Little Nell is going retro during its free Party Like It’s 1989 bash at the on-site Chair 9 bar on December 14. Attendees are encouraged to don vintage ski attire as they sip discounted throwback cocktails, such as fuzzy navels and amaretto sours, and nosh on free hors d’oeuvre like sliders and truffle fries. The 92-room lodge’s treelighting ceremony in the courtyard next to Chair 9 on December 8 is also free, so you’ll have two opportunities to fete the exclusive, opulent Little Nell without having to pay as much as your Ikon pass cost for a room. thelittlenell.com

DEC. 20–22

NEW SPINS ON A CLASSIC

After performing the Nutcracker for eight straight years in the 2000s, ballerina Deena Marcum Selko grew weary of the same old Sugar Plum Fairy doing the same old pirouettes every show. Now the founder and artistic director of Denver-based performing arts company Moth Poetic Circus, Selko is updating the classic ballet by adding acrobatics, contortion, and aerial dancing. During Nutcracker Circus ($35) at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts, attendees will see familiar characters like Clara and Mother Ginger. But instead of standard ballet moves, they’ll be swinging off trapezes or doing handstands on the backs of other gymnasts. Don’t start protesting just yet, Nutcracker purists: Even with the extravagant flourishes, Selko’s crew stays mostly true to the original plot and leaves Tchaikovsky’s score unchanged. Some things are too good to remix. thenutcrackercircus.com

| 5280 | DECEMBER 20 19

On December 1, gift shops at some of Denver’s finest creative institutions— including the Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art and the Clyfford Still Museum—will celebrate Museum Store Sunday by offering discounts on decorative scarves, frameworthy prints, and a multitude of other items perfect for the art lover on your list. museumstore sunday.org

Find more events in the Calendar on page 120 and online at 5280.com/ events.

DEC. 7

THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS PAST Studies have shown that nostalgia peaks during the holidays. (Maybe it’s the reruns of It’s a Wonderful Life.) In that spirit, the 1940s White Christmas Ball ($75), a celebration of both the era and the 1954 Bing Crosby–Danny Kaye film, will satiate your wistfulness with time-turning activities like swing dance lessons. Academy Award– winning actor George Chakiris, who worked as a dancer in the musical, will also be at the Hyatt Regency Downtown to talk movie-making some 70 years ago. 1940sball.org

Clockwise from top: Jeremy Swanson/Courtesy of the Little Nell Resort; Courtesy of Colorado Symphony; Yann Ropars/Courtesy of Moth Poetic Circus

THE ART OF GIVING

Today, musicians are lucky if their songs stay atop the charts for more than an hour. It speaks volumes about the excellence of Ludwig van Beethoven’s oeuvre, then, that the Colorado Symphony will spend five months commemorating the composer’s tunes at Boettcher Concert Hall. Throughout All Beethoven—250th Birthday Celebration (tickets start at $15), the 80-person orchestra will perform different pieces from the German composer every month, starting on December 16 with arguably his most famous arrangement, Symphony No. 5. coloradosymphony.org

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Three local whiskey distillers are making holiday wishes come true. PAGE 50

Eat Drink

Sarah Boyum (top)

VEGGING OUT

Clockwise from top: Sunflower seed hummus; beets with hazelnut purée; roasted and pickled cauliflower; funghetto with carrot Bolognese

P H O T O G RA P H BY S A RA H B OY U M

Three-month-old, plantbased Somebody People is breaking the Denver restaurant mold in a variety of ways, including turning Sunday night into the hottest dinner service of the week. There and then, you’ll find a packed house of hungry hipsters, all reveling in the South Broadway spot’s retro Palm Springs vibe and its $25-per-person Sunday Supper. Five seasonal vegan dishes will grace your table over the course of the feast, from the likes of fat grilled Castelvetrano olives in rosemary-scented oil to luscious wild mushrooms, also grilled, sitting in a pool of tangy chimichurri spiked with Calabrian chiles. Roasted cauliflower florets and pickled stems may arrive as a stunning crescent on the plate, donned with pistachios, pomegranate arils, and mint. Servers will refill colorful, reusable cotton bags of caraway-studded sourdough from Reunion Bread Co—all the better for swiping through fluffy sunflower seed hummus with za’atar, sumac, and basil oil. Then comes hand-extruded semolina pasta (no eggs!) with, say, carrot Bolognese (oat milk gives the sauce body) and a dessert. Tip: Zero-waste Somebody People doesn’t do disposable to-go containers, so unless you feel like adding a metal tiffin carrier ($14) to your order, it’s eat up or BYO Tupperware so you can take your leftovers for lunch on Monday. —DENISE MICKELSEN

DECEMBER 2019 |

5280 | 49

WHAT’S HOT

Happy hour sips and snacks at American Elm in West Highland

STOCKING STUFFERS

Delight the drinkers on your list with these sure-to-please local bottles of the ultimate winter warmer.

The restaurants, dishes, and drinks on our radar. —PATRICIA KAOWTHUMRONG & DENISE MICKELSEN

NEIGHBORHOOD HANGOUT

DINE-IN FISH MARKET

TRIPLE THREAT

American Elm West Highland

Big Mac and Little Lu’s Westminster

Carboy Winery/Logan Street Capitol Hill

The craft cocktails and elevated fare at four-month-old American Elm aren’t meant to intimidate you. Just the opposite: Thanks to reasonable prices, friendly staff, and the warmth of owner Bob Reiter, who cruises the floor regularly to check in with his guests, the West Highland restaurant (in the Way Back’s former space) makes you feel like a regular. Chef Brent Turnipseede’s imaginative, seasonal bistro menu enlivens the familiar, with steak frites rendered as a tender rib-eye cap steak with bone marrow butter, fries, and an arugula salad. There are more casual bites, too, such as lollipop chicken wings and three-cheese artichoke dip. All of it pairs nicely with a $5 happy hour old fashioned or Pimm’s Cup (4 to 6 p.m. on weekdays). On dry winter evenings, get even comfier under a warm blanket on the patio beneath the graceful boughs of the ancient tree that gave the restaurant its name.

When Miami native Paul Brock relocated his family to Colorado in 2011, his daughters, MacKenzie (Big Mac) and Delaney (Little Lu), complained about the lack of fresh seafood. So, in 2012, Dad did something about it by opening a fish market, which has evolved into West 120th Avenue’s Big Mac and Little Lu’s restaurant and seafood counter. Brock drives to DIA several times each week to collect fish sourced from friends in the Bahamas and the Florida Keys. Mahi mahi, snapper, conch, and other Atlantic creatures—along with mussels, clams, and shrimp from places such as Massachusetts and Oregon—star in tacos, po’boys, pastas, and more. (You can also take home the marine bounty to cook yourself.) Complete with island decor and rum cocktails, it’s a beachy retreat in our landlocked paradise.

The team behind Littletonbased Carboy Winery and Angelo’s Taverna have brought new life—well, three new lives—to the space at Seventh and Logan streets that housed Govnr’s Park Tavern for the past four decades. As of September, it’s a bright, spacious Carboy taproom where you can nosh on charcuterie boards and sip the winery’s draft offerings. It’s also a retail shop where 750-milliliter bottles and oneliter carboys can be carried out for $45 or less (for inspiration, you can taste any five wines for $12). And it’s Logan Street, a relaxed, perpetually buzzing Mediterranean-inspired restaurant where chef Rebecca Weitzman cooks seafood, meats, flatbreads, and veggies in a wood-fired oven. Her rich lamb cannelloni with fontina fonduta is an early favorite, but the prices mean we’ll return to sample more: Nothing on the dinner menu costs more than $25.

| 5280 | DECEMBER 2019

Golden Moon Distillery took home a gold medal from the 2019 San Francisco World Spirits Competition for its silky Gun Fighter 13 Tennessee Bourbon–Orphan Cask ($99). The cowboy on the label is based on owner Stephen Gould during his 1970s stint as a stuntman. goldenmoondistillery.com

FOR THE LOCAVORE The gold rush year Carboy Winery refers to with its Vin ’59 ($32), being released this month. The rich red blend of Grand Valley Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Petite Pearl honors the fortune hunters who flocked to Colorado roughly a decade after the run on California.

Family Jones’ October release of Atticus Jones Colorado Straight Rye Whiskey ($50)—crafted from Colorado rye, corn, and malted barley—lingers with notes of cacao and warm spices. It’s basically the holidays in a bottle. thefamilyjones.co

FOR THE REBEL

Distillery 291’s line of Bad Guy Colorado Bourbon Whiskey debuted a limited edition in October: Batch #5 ($115). Only 1,257 bottles were filled with its rich blend of corn, malted wheat, malted rye, and beech-smoked barley mash, which, at 123.3 proof, is a surprisingly soft spirit with notes of leather and earth. distillery291.com — DM

Sarah Boyum (2)

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ESSAY

Sharing Is Caring

As the holidays approach, 5280’s new assistant food editor reflects on culinary generosity as a form of love.

hen my mother and I cook together, we wear the red aprons we’ve had since I was a little girl. She narrates every move for me, like a seasoned Food Network star guiding a wide-eyed guest. “Make sure to keep stirring the noodles as they cook,” she says, while expertly doing so in a wok set over her outdoor camping stove. (Ingredient prep happens inside, but most of the magic takes place in the backyard, a common Southeast Asian custom that keeps heat, smoke, and cooking smells out of the house—yes, even during Colorado winters.) I try to commit to memory every word so that someday I’ll be able to make char siu bao and crispy chow mein noodles as effortlessly as Mama does. It wasn’t always this way. During my early 20s, I took my mother’s culinary shows of affection for granted, letting containers of her Hainanese chicken rice and spicy tom yum soup languish in the fridge for days without thought. We didn’t cook together very often when I was growing up, either; my parents worked long hours at our family’s gas station in Wheat Ridge. But since she retired nearly two years ago, I’ve become Mama’s kitchen shadow, exploring and gaining a deeper appreciation for the flavors of my heritage—Chinese and Thai tastes and traditions Mama has worked so hard to preserve. (Her parents emigrated from Shanghai to Bangkok before she was born; Mama came to Denver when she was 34.) Christmas, in particular, is a special time for us. That’s when I help Mama serve a 15-pound prime rib for dinner…but not as the centerpiece. Nope, the roast is merely a side dish, as are the steamed king crab legs, egg noodles laced with garlic oil, assortment of dim sum, and Chinese broccoli slathered with oyster sauce, all presented buffet-style. The main course is actually hot pot, a nod to my mother’s Chinese roots. Every year, with enough food on the table for at least 30, our group of 10 settles in—Dad never fails to ask when the other 20 guests will arrive—around two portable burners set with pots full of bubbling broth. A dozen plates of raw ingredients rest within reach, ready for dunking into the soup: homemade pork-scallion dumplings; marinated slices of pork, beef, and chicken; butter-

| 5280 | DECEMBER 2019

You can find more dispatches from Kaowthumrong’s culinary journey—and Mama’s hot pot recipe— on her personal blog. bravelittle asian.com

flied shrimp; strips of squid; and leafy Napa cabbage. Everyone gets a bowl, a giant soup spoon, a wire strainer for cooking their chosen ingredients, and a dish of vinegar dipping sauce spiked with Thai chiles, garlic, and lime. Mama doesn’t cook like that every day, but she has earned a reputation for bulk shopping and food production. Her recipes are built for a crowd, so there’s enough to share with family, friends, and even the employees at her local Costco, who watch Mama leave with an overflowing cart only to return with trays of fried rice and pad thai for them days later. Since I became 5280’s assistant food editor in July, my colleagues have been reaping similar benefits: I’ve already lugged in barbecue pork buns from one of Mama’s large-scale baking experiments and a giant container of fruit salad when I made far more than my husband and I could comfortably consume. I’m excited to share my culinary passions with you, too, on these pages and via Instagram (@whatispatty eating). For my mother—and for me—cooking and sharing isn’t a chore, but rather an expression of love. —PK

Sarah Boyum (portrait); Getty Images (hand); Photo illustration by Amanda Croy

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REVIEW

Comme Ci, Comme Ça From a striking space on the 16th Street Mall, elegant LeRoux struggles to realize its fine-dining ambitions. BY SCOTT MOWBRAY

eRoux claims to be a European restaurant serving nouvelle cuisine, which strikes me as a bit odd. “Nouvelle cuisine” is vintage terminology these days, as relevant to modern French chefs as “office casual” would be to staffers dressing for work at Google. “European,” meanwhile, reminds me of starchy restaurants serving a bit of this and a bit of that from over there. In fact, to me, LeRoux’s menu is haute-ish French, with an American accent and a tendency toward reinvention. On the one hand, it offers a straightforward foie gras mousse; on the other, there’s a mille-feuille-esque appetizer featuring many thin sheets of succulent mushroom instead of laminated pastry. Onion-crusted short rib with panko topping seems pretty New American, and occasionally you’ll taste Mediterranean or Germanic touches, such as feta and mint in a salad, merguez sausage and caraway cabbage appearing on a plate with slow-cooked pork, and spaetzle accompanying a chicken roulade. This mix of old and new, near and far makes sense when you know chef and co-owner Lon Symensma’s background. He cooked for star chefs in several European countries, making his bones in Denver with Pan-Asian ChoLon, located beside LeRoux on the 16th Street Mall. In 2017, Symensma opened eclectic New American Concourse Restaurant Moderne

| 5280 | DECEMBER 2019

LEROUX 1510 16th St. 720-845-1673 lerouxdenver.com

THE DRAW:

Sophisticated bistro vibe, fine wines and cheeses, a few standout dishes

THE DRAWBACK:

Underwhelming delivery of ambitious ideas

DON’T MISS:

Cheese service, wagyu tartare, foie gras mousse, pistachio ParisBrest dessert

in Stapleton, and in early 2019, with executive chef Jeff Stoneking at his side, Symensma debuted LeRoux, saying it was time to honor the European side of his ledger. (Stoneking left three months ago.) Successes at LeRoux are notable, but they often appear as components on the plate rather than fully realized dishes. A sweet corn custard served with a veal chop this past summer was splendid, like an American corn pudding that matriculated at the Sorbonne. The uni-enriched aïoli on

Matt Nager (2)

From left: The bar area at LeRoux; foie gras mousse with basil gel

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REVIEW

| 5280 | DECEMBER 2019

Matt Nager

Sweet Treat

toast served with Pistachio Paris-Brest bouillabaisse-style with caramel mussels was a thoughtful twist on tradition, as was a Meyer-lemon-infused meunière sauce served with steamed lobster. Cauliflower crème brûlée, complete with an ultra-thin, shattering sugar crust, was faultlessly smooth. Saffron zing in pickled watermelon rind made a tomato and melon salad intriguing, while delicately candied walnuts and soft, semisweet strawberry preserves were perfect counterpoints on a cheese plate. Indeed, as any French-inspired restaurant must, LeRoux gets its cheese and wine fundamentals right. There’s a cart whose selections (three, five, or seven cheeses for $18, $28, or $38) make a lovely meal-ender, perhaps with a glass of Champagne if you’re feeling wellfinanced. The cheeses I tasted there were in perfect bloom, which is no small feat. For those who like tableside ritual, don’t miss the wagyu beef tartare, which arrives under an enormous smoke-filled cloche. The server lifts the glass dome to reveal a Gehry-like tower of twisting waffle-cut potato chips over layers of caviar, chopped raw beef, and a sort of dense egg salad. Also, if it’s still on the menu, score an order of the Paris-Brest: a ring of impeccable, light choux pastry filled with rich pistachio cream and a brisk, salty caramel. That dish was as close to selfactualized as LeRoux’s food came. The wine list takes a Pan-European tour that dips into Switzerland, Greece, and Portugal and then lingers in France and Italy. It’s not a bargain list, with many bottles over $60 and a hefty selection in the hundreds, but there’s variety in grape, style, and region. One night, our server was deeply informed (and not in a bor-

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| 5280 | DECEMBER 2019

ing way) about the virtues of a semi-dry Lucien Albrecht (Pfingstberg) Grand Cru Pinot Gris ($80). Another night, a bottle of Weingut Carl Ehrhard Pinot Noir ($48) was served exactly as cool as it needed to be and was the sort of wine— modest, delicious, neither over-oaked nor over-fruited, nor too expensive—I always enjoy drinking. The restaurant’s design mostly works. LeRoux is a fairly small spot with a handsome bar, dark paneling, blue tufted leather banquettes, black-and-white tile, tall white tapers, and other elements of bistro typology. I would note, though, that the closer you sit to the bar (if not at it), the better: The tables near the sidewalkfacing windows are jolly, but a small, windowless interior dining room has a Siberian feel if it’s not full. The trouble comes when you consider LeRoux’s dishes as a whole. Over two dinners (with drinks) costing more than $100 per person, the consistent through-line was inconsistency. The lovely corn pudding mentioned earlier was marred by a

Got Milk? too-rare, gristly veal LeRoux’s roving chop. The sautéed cart delivers spinach under my lovely cheeses. wife’s lobster was over-salted. The sauce with the slow-cooked block of beef short rib was piercingly concentrated and over-reduced; eating it felt like sucking on a bouillon cube. Fried capers, pine nuts, golden raisins, and roasted cauliflower florets bullied the delicate flavor of the cauliflower crème brûlée, and mustard seeds, pickled corn, and a piquillo-pepper gastrique did the same to the wondrous mushroom terrine. I adored LeRoux’s silky foie gras mousse but found the blobs of tangy basil goo that came with it weirdly off-pitch. And the seared scallops with beurre blanc arrived

Matt Nager

Here, you can master your future.

REVIEW

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| 5280 | DECEMBER 2019

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REVIEW

under clouds of briny foam. (Concerning foam: Non, merci.) The above were mistakes of composition or judgment, but there were plenty of unforced culinary errors, too. All four of us who tasted the French onion soup agreed that the broth was oversweet and lacking beef-bone depth (although its cap of molten cheese and sopping bread was just right). A croque madame at lunch was more of an eggs Benedict deal, doused with a Mornay sauce that my French dining companion— a superb cook—pronounced too heavy on the mustard, while the Banyuls-laced aïoli alongside oddly seasoned french fries was, in fact, a saccharine mustard dip. Lateseason heirloom tomatoes were mushy; a thinly sliced peach was underripe. Dark chocolate pot de crème wasn’t dark enough, and a baked Alaska refused to ignite, resulting in two dousings of bourbon and insufficient meringue char. My service experience at LeRoux involved an attentive revolving cast; at least five servers visited our table one night, and each was in top form. But pacing is an issue: There was an overlong gap between courses during my first dinner, and on another night, our lead server delivered a snooty admonishment about the kitchen’s preference concerning orders. We bent to her will, ordering the mains at the same time as the appetizers. Ironic, really, because thereafter the kitchen rushed our first course, sending it out well ahead of the arrival of our too-sweet cocktails. Lately, I’ve been puzzling over the ups and downs at Denver’s finer restaurants. For every rock-steady Mercantile Dining & Provision or Tavernetta, another spot begins strong, then fades. I ate all of my meals at LeRoux well after the dining that led this magazine to include it on 2019’s 25 Best Restaurants list. (I don’t put together that list, but I almost always agree with it.) The challenge for chefs who run multiple restaurants is maintaining quality in each as they focus on the next opening—or closing. As I was dining at LeRoux, Stoneking and general manFind our Dinager Dani Craig were ing Guide, departing, and Conan extensive course was rebooting list of area restaurants, as a second ChoLon. on page I can’t imagine the 126 and complexities of such online at empire-building, but 5280.com/ I can, however, report restaurants. on the casualties. m

FILM

Cliffhangers

Colette McInerney films Maria Fernanda Rodriguez Galvan as she climbs in Mexico.

Rock Stars

ne sunny day not long ago, Maria Fernanda Rodriguez Galvan exhaled audibly, braced her left leg against the rock wall she was perched on, and stretched her left arm to grasp a knobby hold. She clipped into an anchor—and screamed. The primal sound echoed through the canyons of Mexico’s El Salto climbing area as she pounded the cliff with her palm and then let go, howling as she swayed in midair in her harness. She’d just “sent”—or successfully completed without falling, in climber-speak—a route that had been thwarting her for a week. The moment was about more than an athletic achievement, though. It was the Mexican climber’s triumphant return to the rock after a multiyear hiatus, and it had all been captured on camera. Rodriguez Galvan’s jubilation would not have been memorialized for the world to see had documentary filmmakers shooting the climbing movie Pretty Strong, due out next month, not encouraged her to chalk back up. When they came knocking, she realized she needed to remind herself that she could get back out there—and she was happy to have cameras around when she did. Rodriguez Galvan wasn’t the only athlete on the filmmakers’ radars. A slew of

| 5280 | DECEMBER 20 19

elite climbers—including Nina Williams, Katie Lambert, Hazel Findlay, Jessa Goebel, Isabelle Faus, and Anna Liina Laitinen—had stories and talents to share. However, the threesome behind the Never Not Collective, a production company with Colorado ties, knew the athletes’ exploits would likely never have been committed to digital reel without their persistence. Not because their feats on rock weren’t worthy. Or because their narratives weren’t compelling. But because they’re all women.

COLETTE MCINERNEY, JULIE ELLISON, and Leslie Hittmeier didn’t plan to make a “women’s climbing film”—at least, not one of the isn’t-it-cute-that-these-girls-are-playing-outside iterations that too often plague outdoor media. But as the women behind the Never Not Collective discovered, nailing the perfect balance between celebrating inspiring climbers who happen to be female and also downplaying the potential relevance of their gender requires just as much finesse as sending any of the routes featured in their film. Fortunately, McInerney (who spent part of production in Estes Park but now works from the road in her van), Idahobased Ellison, and Wyoming-based Hittmeier were well

Courtesy of Leslie Hittmeier

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prepared for the attempt. All three are thought. Ellison had similar notions. “My climbers who’d worked as filmmakers, phodad told me that women’s achievements tographers, or journalists. Furthermore, shouldn’t be raised up because they’re done producing an all-female climbing flick was by a woman,” Ellison says. “They should an agreed-upon goal from the early days be raised up because they’re achievements. of the group’s founding in 2017. Although That’s always stuck with me.” Never Not has paid the bills through comWhen the fledgling production company mercial work for Black Diamond, REI, and took to Kickstarter for funding, however, it KOA, Pretty Strong remained a key project, changed its tack. The movie’s female-forone that made sense for two reasons. First, ward tag line—“All your favorite climbing McInerney had already amassed many hard chicks in one film”—and the emphasis on drives’ worth of footage over the previous the Never Not Collective’s female protwo and a half years on her ducers (itself a rarity in own. And second, they were filmmaking) signaled that motivated: Amid a boom the marketing of the film in climbing that’s bringing wouldn’t shy away from the more and more women issue of gender. Even the to crags and indoor gyms, film’s name is a direct nod women remain notably outto discrimination at the crag. numbered in most climbing “It’s an insult when a man media. That anecdotal obsertells a woman she’s ‘pretty vation had long rankled the strong,’ ” says Boulder-based trio, who craved seeing more climber Nina Williams, one females in the spotlight. of the featured athletes—as “Women climb, too,” Ellison in, pretty strong for a girl. says. “We do rad shit, and it’s Ultimately, the Never Not not being shown to us.” Collective had decided the So they fact-checked important thing was getthemselves by reviewing the ting the movie made—and high-production climbing that meant strategic marfilms of the past 20 or so keting. “We needed the years, and they were right. hook,” Ellison says. “That’s Of the 91 segments conhow these conversations tained in the movies they start: ‘Hey, there are no watched, only eight featured transgender people in sucha female main character. Of and-such media.’ In the six narrative-style feature beginning, you’re going to films, none starred a woman. have to be talking about the Inequality issues aside, the fact that they’re transgender. omission felt like a missed Eventually, it’s just a person The Producers From top: Leslie Hittopportunity. The climbingdoing something cool.” meier, Julie Ellison, and focused Reel Rock tour Their bet that others were Colette McInerney draws more than 150,000 just as hungry as they were people worldwide every for more gender equality year, and over the past five years, the finanin climbing media paid off: They received cial and critical successes of films like Meru, $79,383 from 1,481 people. That figure was The Dawn Wall, and Free Solo have proven nearly $30,000 more than their goal. that even mainstream audiences get stoked W I T H M O N E Y I N T H E bank account, the on climbing stories. What’s more, recent women set out to make the movie. When all-female films in the similarly malethe cameras cued for action, though, the dominated skiing world—such as 2014’s Never Not team was adamant about Pretty Faces and 2018’s All In—opened to showing their chosen athletes as climbers, cheers. As such, an all-female climbing film not female climbers. No interview questions felt like a no-brainer for Never Not’s first about feeling objectified. No talking about feature-length project. “We were like, ‘Why getting your period on the wall. In fact, no should we wait for someone else to make mention of what it’s like to be a woman this film?’ ” Ellison says. “ ‘It’s not going to and a climber at all. Instead, dramatic bighappen. We need to do it.’ ” wall ascents, novel bouldering problems, McInerney’s original vision was to and finger-bloodying holds on sport climbs sidestep gender concerns almost entirely. dominate the intimate, close-enough-toLet the level of climbing speak for itself, she

| 5280 | DECEMBER 20 19

From top: Courtesy of Colette McInerney; Calder Davey; Courtesy of Leslie Hittmeier

FILM

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FILM see-the-chalk-fly imagery. Along the way, viewers also get a glimpse into each athlete’s personality and story. “We’re really interested in introducing these athletes to the greater climbing community,” Ellison says, pointing out that even the best female climbers in the world can be largely unknown. “It’s, ‘Look how badass she is,’ but also, ‘Look how silly she is.’ ” That, of course, is documentary filmmaking 101. Personalities—whether big or quirky or serious—are the lifeblood of this nonfiction cinematic tradition. Pretty Strong took shape as the team contacted climbers they found most intriguing, aiming for wall-scalers who represented a mix of climbing styles, cultures, and ages. They figured out who was healthy, who was available during the shooting timeline, and who was willing to let a camera crew follow her around for weeks on end. In some cases— such as during the segment about Williams teaming up with California’s Katie Lambert to attempt a 5.13b (read: Spider-Woman territory) route on Yosemite’s Middle Cathedral—Never Not simply tagged along on their stars’ previously planned objectives. In others, they took a stronger hand

trick: By featuring 10 women, in orchestrating the story, like nobody sticks out as the token when they set up West VirginWhere To See It Pretty Strong will premiere female. They’re just climbers. ia’s Goebel and British-born at the Boulder Theater David Weingarden, director Findlay on a climbing excuron January 10; it will then tour nationwide through of concerts and programming sion meets cultural immersion partnerships with brand for the Boulder Theater, where road trip across Appalachia sponsors, climbing gyms, and outdoor stores. Visit Pretty Strong will premiere and the South. nevernotcollective.com next month, predicts the film Although a handful of segfor dates and showtimes. will attract a large audience— ments—including a big-wall men included. When the speed ascent at Colorado’s theater screened the ski flick Pretty Faces Black Canyon of the Gunnison National several years ago, “plenty of men came out,” Park—didn’t make the cut, a viable structure he says. “It totally sold out, beyond everyemerged. The crew divided Pretty Strong one’s expectations. To have something of a into five stand-alone vignettes, with three similar vein with the rock climbing crowd longer narratives and two shorter, more will be really special.” stylistic pieces. Audiences get to know the In some ways, the filmmakers wish they characters through small moments: Goebel could just focus on their project without getsips a beer while belaying Findlay at Kenting into gender politics at all, but they’ve tucky’s Red River Gorge, and Isabelle Faus accepted that shooting this kind of groundattacks the same bouldering problem in breaking climbing movie will necessarily Colorado’s Clear Creek Canyon despite call attention to itself. They just hope their fall after fall. Maybe most important, as the larger goals—to introduce their favorite climbers cling to sheer cliffs and scamper climbers and to inspire all viewers, gender be up walls barefoot, nobody will be thinking, damned—don’t get lost along the way. m Oh, that’s pretty good—for a girl. In fact, once seated, audiences will likely disregard the fact that this is a so-called women’s film. Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan is a Montana-based And therein lies the filmmakers’ neatest writer. Email her at letters@5280.com.

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TRUST THE REAL EXPERTS Jim Chalat talks about skier and snowboarder safety and what to do when the worst occurs. The injury rate for recreational skiers and snowboarders is approximately 1.37 per 1,000 skier/snowboarder visits. In Colorado, this translates to about 25,000 injuries, from minor to severe, each ski season. Snowboarders and skiers suffer different types of injuries, but their statistical likelihood of an injury is equivalent. Despite common misconceptions, snowboarders are neither more dangerous nor more likely to be injured than skiers. About 5% of all skiing injuries are due to collisions. The uphill or overtaking skier (or rider) has the primary duty to avoid the skier who is downhill. When entering or crossing a trail, a skier must yield to skiers already on the trail. Skiers must maintain a lookout and ski in control and within their ability. And, what should be obvious, do NOT drink alcohol or smoke pot and ski. Following these rules would prevent most skier collision injuries and in severe cases, deaths.

Chair. J.P. identified himself as an expert snowboarder. He started his morning with a mimosa. After Jim and Mike got off their chair, they pushed off down Columbine. Mike clicked record on his Go-Pro. In the video, you can see as Mike and Jim skied on Columbine past several SLOW SKIING signs. They crossed under the Rocky Mountain Super Chair probably just moments after J.P. had unloaded and turned down Columbine himself. 200 yards further down Columbine, just as it comes to the top of Duke’s run, Mike’s GoPro video shows J.P. come into view, riding much faster than any other rider on Columbine and passing Mike. The video then shows J.P., as he quickly overtakes Jim S., and crashes into him from uphill.

Jim fell hard on his left side, severely fracturing his left hip and shoulder. He clutched at his hip in pain, as Mike’s Go-Pro video continued its recording. Ski patrol evacuated Jim off the mountain and he was transported to the hospital The Colorado Ski Safety Act for emergency hip surgery (with requires all parties to a collision hardware). Two days later, his to stay at the scene and give shoulder was surgically repaired. their name and current address Jim’s medical expenses were nearly to ski patrol. We recommend J.P. COLLIDES INTO JIM S. a quarter million dollars and he lost that you never ski or ride alone. over a hundred thousand dollars It’s important to carry your cell of income as he recovered. His doctors told him his hip and phone and a trail map so you can call for help and provide your shoulder would never work the same again. Jim hired our location on the mountain. If there is an accident, stay calm. law firm to get compensation for his injuries. After discovery Keep the injured person warm and don’t move them. At a large and before trial, Jim S. accepted a policy limits $1,500,000 ski area on a busy holiday weekend, it can take time to get help. settlement. It was paid by J.P.’s homeowner’s insurance that he carried on his house in the Dallas suburbs. The at-fault skier’s The Ski Act also provides that an injured skier can sue for homeowner’s insurance typically covers cases like these. damages if he or she is hurt by an out-of-control skiier. Skiing is not a contact sport. Jim doesn’t ski anymore. He walks with a limp and his left shoulder doesn’t work as well as it did pre-accident. But, Jim A good case study is that of Jim S., of Illinois. doesn’t let his injuries keep him down. He puts his energy into It was President’s Day weekend 2017. Clear skies. Good snow. charitable projects, including, Concern Worldwide US; and of Big crowds at Breckenridge. course he spends a lot of time with his family. For years, Jim had been an Epic pass holder. He began skiing Ski and ride safely this season. If you need more information, as a teenager. He was in excellent condition—sixty-three years go to SKILAW.COM, or call our team directly at 303.861.1042. old, six-feet tall, 175 lbs. On the third day of his trip, he met up with Mike, a friend of his from Illinois. Mike was wearing a Go-Pro camera. At about 11:30, they were in the lift-line for the Colorado Super Chair. Jim was wearing black ski pants, a blue parka and a black helmet. Meanwhile, a 39-year old snowboarder from Texas named “J.P.” was close by in the lift-line for the Rocky Mountain Super

Jim Chalat

Attorney/Partner | jchalat@chalatlaw.com

Ken Posen

Hannah Safari

Lori Abbey

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In a town of roughly 1,640 people, Crested Butteâ€™s Nordic center boasts 1,200 season pass holders.

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CROSS-COUNTRY

T H E U LT I M A T E B E G I N N E R’S G U I D E

Everything you need to know to fall in love with Colorado’s other style of skiing. EDITED BY LINDSEY B. KING

It’s a truism that seems downright ridiculous when one considers Coloradans’ outsize love for so many hardcore outdoor pursuits. Besides, perception simply isn’t reality in this case: Crosscountry skiing isn’t nearly as difficult as one might think. Indeed, anyone who regularly backcountry camps, climbs fourteeners, hikes in the foothills, or runs laps around Washington Park probably already has the baseline fitness—and, presumably, the disposition—to enjoy this less vertical version of schussing. Furthermore, if XC skiing did have a team of marketing professionals dreaming up slogans for I-70 billboards, they’d have plenty to tout. There’s the not standing in long lift lines thing, the not paying $989 for a season pass thing, the not fighting for parking thing, and the not hitting a tree going 20 miles per hour thing. And that’s to say nothing of the upsides that don’t start with a negative, like a relatively quick learning curve; a full-body, low-impact workout that incinerates calories; and, maybe most compelling, a less manufactured, more humble way to experience winter in Colorado. Finally, the pursuit of parallel tracks means venturing into some of the Centennial State’s lonelier terrain— much of which rivals even the most Insta-worthy resort runs for stop-andstare beauty. Still not convinced skinny skis are for you? Keep reading; we think you might just change your mind.

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GLOSSARY

FOREIGN LANGUAGE

XC skiing may trace its roots to Scandinavia, but even in English some of the terminology can be unfamiliar. Allow us to translate. C A M B E R The bowlike flex in the architecture of a cross-country ski that allows only the tip and the tail to touch a flat surface, enhancing the glide; skiers must depress the middle of the ski, forcing it to touch the snow, to move forward. C L A S S I C S K I I N G A style of crosscountry skiing in which your skis remain parallel as you kick and glide across the snow. C L A S S I C T R A C K The double parallel grooves laid into snow plied by classic XC skiers; these tracks are often made by a grooming machine. G L I D E The phase of motion when a person’s skis are sliding over snow. GRIP ZONE

Found directly under the foot on the base of a classic ski (skate skis do not have grip zones), a part of the ski that attains traction on the snow either by using a sticky wax or, if the skis are waxless, by employing a built-in imprint that grabs the snow.

KICK

The phase of motion when a person pushes down and back against the ski, depressing the flexible camber, to move forward.

POLING

Using lightweight, (often) carbon composite poles—held in each hand—to aid in forward motion and balance. In classic skiing, the first-gear technique is the diagonal stride, in which your arms move in opposition to your legs (essentially how they would when running). Classic skiing also has “double poling” (planting both poles at the same time and propelling yourself forward) and “kick double poling” (which inserts a kick). In skate skiing, there’s “V1” (used for climbing steep hills), “V2” (for flatter or slightly uphill topography), and “V2 Alternate” (mostly for gradual terrain).

S K A T E L A N E The wide section— usually groomed into a smooth

corduroy—of a Nordic trail meant for skate skiers.

S K A T E S K I I N G A style of Nordic skiing that uses shorter skis than classic and employs a kick out to the side, similar to ice skating. WA X

A substance—of which there are different iterations for different uses—applied to Nordic skis. Everyone’s got an opinion about wax, but the fundamentals follow that all cross-country skis—whether they’re called “waxless” or not— need glide wax. Glide wax is lube for skis. “Kick wax” (also called “grip wax”) is a sticky substance applied to the grip zone of classic skis to provide traction.

W A X L E S S S K I S Classic crosscountry skis that do not require the use of kick wax because they have integrated methods—fish scales or skins—for grabbing the snow. WEIGHT TRANSFER

When a skier transfers weight from one ski to the other to depress the ski into the snow so the skier can push against it. This happens in classic and skate skiing.

Previous spread: Xavier Fane. This page, from top: Xavier Fane; Courtesy of Swix Sport

n a state that peddles alpine skiing and snowboarding as the adrenalinelaced, epic-as-it-gets, be-all-and-end-all methods for enjoying its stellar snowpack, cross-country skiing faces a bit of a PR problem. But a lack of fancy advertising campaigns and clever tag lines isn’t the only reason XC rides back seat to its better-marketed cousin. “Honestly,” says Hennie Kashiwa, general manager at Boulder Nordic Sport, one of the few cross-country-specific retail shops in the country, “there’s a perception that it’s just too hard.”

XC FOR BEGINNERS

GEAR

There’s no doubt that the powerful, athletic, fluid movement of skate skiing has serious sex appeal. After all, it just looks…so…good. Classic cross-country is, of course, beautiful in its own way. “Each technique has its place,” says Boulder Nordic Sport’s Hennie Kashiwa. “Classic is great on cold days when the snow is slow and squeaky. Skating is more fun and preferable when the snow gets warmer and more slippery.” Unfortunately, the gear is different for each discipline, which means you’ll want to rent until you decide which pursuit is best for you. In the meantime, we asked Kashiwa to help us break down the setups for you.

Skis should always be sized relative to the skier’s weight—but helpful sizing tables can be found online that estimate ski length based on weight.

As with classic skis, skate skis should be sized relative to the skier’s weight. A good sales associate can help with ski selection.

Beginners should be fine on most classic skis, but skis with less flex and camber and with greater width (but not wider than 62 millimeters, lest they become too wide for typical parallel tracks) can be helpful.

Skate skis are generally shorter and stiffer than the classic iteration; beginners will want a medium-flex ski with a moderate camber.

Kick wax is applied to the grip zone for traction—that is, unless the skis are “waxless” and have a scale pattern printed into the ski that creates friction. Purchase bindings—specific to classic skiing—at the same time you buy your boots. Shopper’s note: Not all bindings are compatible with all boots. Pole height should be between the armpit and top of the shoulder. Boots should have ample room in the toe box (so the foot can slide forward slightly while striding) and excellent heel security (heel movement leads to blisters and miserable days).

SKATE 

CLASSIC 

From left: Courtesy of Fischer Sports; Courtesy of One Way; Courtesy of Rossignol; Courtesy of Salomon; Courtesy of Swix Sport; Courtesy of Rossignol

Selecting your preferred skinny skis—classic or skate—should be more about predilection than popularity.

Skate skis do not have a grip zone; skiers rely on setting edges to create forward motion. There are several binding systems for skating—New Nordic Norm and Salomon Nordic System among them—but they are not interchangeable. Your boots must be compatible with your bindings system. Pole height should be between the mouth and nose. Boots for skate skiing should fit snugly but comfortably with good lateral security and with the skier’s toes close to the ends of the boots but not touching.

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T H E P L A C E : If you’re a Coloradan who cross-country skis, you’re probably familiar with Devil’s Thumb Ranch’s 120 kilometers of classic- and skate-ready trails that wind through the bucolic Ranch Creek Valley near the base of the Continental Divide. For sheer distance, trail variability, and views, few Nordic systems in Colorado rival the one at this 81-year-old resort.

V I B E : Decidedly upscale, yet somehow still casual and family-friendly. Zach’s Mercantile serves as a rental shop, convenience store, retail zone, and general meeting place for anyone clipping in, and the trails are buzzing—but not overcrowded— with both hardcore athletes and families pulling chariot sleds with toddlers.

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UNIQUE FEATURE:

Not very many cross-country ski trail systems rest adjacent to a luxurious day spa. If you’re smart (and flush), you’ll book a massage at Ranch Creek Spa to cap off your workout.

R E N T A L S : Gear is $25 for ages 13 to 64; $15 for 65-plus; $10 for ages 12 and younger

B E S T B E G I N N E R T R A I L : Broken

F E E S : Trail passes are $25 for ages 13

Barn. From the Nordic center, take Meadow to reach two-kilometer-long Broken Barn. It’s a steady climb on the trek out, but the trail takes you far enough away from the lodge to feel like you’ve accomplished something and goes past a—you guessed it— broken-down barn (stop for a selfie). The trip back is pure cruising.

to 64; $15 for 65-plus; $10 for ages six to 12; kids five and younger are free

I F Y O U G E T B R A V E : Blue Extra combines some decent length (it’s a 12-kilometer loop), rolling terrain that encourages a bit of speed, a fair

amount of climbing, and gorgeous views of the valley.

A P R È S O P T I O N : On-property, Heck’s Tavern has a spacious bar with comfy stools and easygoing barkeeps who will pour you a cold one—and keep ’em coming without you having to ask. Off-property, Tabernash Tavern is a nearby locals’ joint with strong drinks and hearty dinner entrées. tabernashtavern.com

W H E R E T O S T A Y : If you’re not

Courtesy of Devil's Thumb Ranch

TABERNASH

D E V I L’ S T H U M B R A N C H NORDIC CENTER devilsthumbranch.com

XC FOR BEGINNERS

E S S AY

staying at Devil’s Thumb Ranch (which, despite the high prices, you totally should), then you could consider its less-spendy sister property, Vasquez Creek Inn, located right in downtown Winter Park.

IF YOU HAVE ANOTHER DAY T O S K I : Just down the road

Clockwise from top left: Courtesy of YMCA of the Rockies; Illustration by Lars Leetaru; Courtesy of Tobias Albrigtsen

from Devil’s Thumb is one of Colorado’s other XC skiing gems: Snow Mountain Ranch (pictured below). With more than 100 kilometers of terrain (some of which is dog-friendly), helpful staff (one of whom chased us outside to deliver more appropriately sized skate skiing poles), and an atmosphere devoid of any pretension, Snow Mountain Ranch really is worth a full trip on its own. snowmountainranch.org

CLASSIC SKI 101

THE RHYTHM IS GONNA GET YOU

Classic skiing always felt too stiff to me; then I tried skate skiing.

oe made it look so easy. His heels didn’t seem to be slipping off the sides of his slender skis. He didn’t look at all off-balance. Hell, he could actually do it backward. Of course, it made sense that Joe was a good skate skier; he was, after all, a professional ski instructor at Devil’s Thumb Ranch in Tabernash. His task on that early March day was to teach me to be good at it, too. OK, good might’ve been a stretch. Competent was probably a better goal—yet even that didn’t seem within reach during the first five minutes of the lesson. I’d fallen twice—while mostly standing still. I had scheduled the hourlong private instruction because, in truth, I’d never really liked Nordic skiing. The classic version had always felt more like trudging than skiing to me; there was no flow. It was entirely possible I simply wasn’t doing it right, but I felt like I was missing something. Turns out, I was right: I’d been craving the dynamic movement of skate skiing. That didn’t mean I was going to be great at it, but after roughly 20 minutes of guidance, I started getting into a rhythm. First, Joe had explained that the motion was more like ice skating. Forward locomotion comes from a leg push that goes out to the side, instead of the straightback kick in classic XC. He also had me practice the stride without poles at first. This teaching method is widely used—experts say it helps with setting up good fundamentals—but adding the poles aided my balance and somehow helped me grasp the cadence. I surprised myself when I was able to ski approximately 150 feet without too many balance checks—and without crashing—by midway through the lesson. Joe was surprised, too, letting out an audible whooooop! and then yelling, “She’s got it!” I promptly fell, but I blamed the slight downhill I’d encountered and gave Joe a goodnatured ribbing for not yet having taught me how to stop. (Quick tip: It’s a modified snow plow.) Even though I was dusting snow off my rear end again, I knew this iteration of Nordic was more my speed—literally. Yes, it’s a more challenging—borderline anaerobic—way to slide across snow, but the brisk pace and unfettered movement felt more natural to me. The drudgery was gone; I was floating. By the end of the hour, Joe had taught me different poling techniques, showed me a trick for strengthening my weaker side (place your strong leg in the parallel track, then skate using only your weaker leg), and demonstrated the best way to tackle a steep uphill section. Then it was Joe’s turn to surprise me: “I think you should hit the trails. You’re good to go.” I know he wasn’t actually telling me I was good, but that’s exactly what I heard. —LBK

“Although it’s often described as a powerful walk, classic skiing is so much more than walking or running on skis. The ultimate goal of the classic technique—called the

DIAGONAL STRIDE—is to have a powerful kick from one leg that allows the skier

to glide for a few seconds on the other leg between strides. Take time to practice ski-

ing without poles at first to get a good feel for how to get the most out of kicking and THE EXPERT

Hennie Kashiwa, Boulder Nordic Sport

gliding. Shuffle a few steps, and then glide on one foot. Shuffle again, and then glide

on the other foot. It takes time to perfect it, and it’s actually less intuitive than it looks; lessons can be the best way to make sure you have fun.”

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FREE PASSAGES

Throughout the state you’ll find dozens of cross-country trail networks maintained by nonprofit organizations dedicated to enhancing Nordic skiing in Colorado. Unlike the pay-to-play experiences at Nordic centers, trail systems managed by Nordic councils typically don’t require a day pass (although it’s good form to slip $10 into the donation box). Be forewarned, though: These snowy labyrinths are often isolated and only sometimes come outfitted with an on-site rental shop. Bring gear—and a sense of adventure—to three of our favorites.

GRAND MESA NORDIC COUNCIL NORDIC TRAILS

Rising more than two miles above sea level, Colorado’s 11,332-foot Grand Mesa is the world’s largest flattop mountain. It also has a highland climate that delivers astronomical amounts of snow (almost 500 inches fell this past winter). This pairing—a mostly horizontal landscape and a snow-prone weather pattern—is nirvana for Nordic skiers, so it’s no wonder the all-volunteer Grand Mesa Nordic Council employs three part-time groomers to pave 38 kilometers of path on the Skyway, County Line, and Ward trail systems atop the monolith. As you navigate your vehicle along the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway, which will no doubt be lined by 10-foot-tall walls of snow, you can pull into any of the trailheads’ generous parking lots, clip in, and set off into the snow-globe-like terrain. B E S T B E G I N N E R T R A I L : The Dog Loop in the County Line network is an easy threekilometer trek that starts right from the parking lot yet still affords skiers views of both wide-open meadows and stands of frosted trees. BEST TRAIL FOR SCENERY: The 3.2-kilometer (one way) Overlook Trail in the County Line network proffers unrivaled panoramas of the San Juan Mountains.

R E N T A L S : The closest shops are the Board and Buckle (boardandbuckle.com) in Grand Junction or Mesa Lakes Lodge (mesalakeslodge.com) on top of the Grand Mesa. A C C E S S : Trailheads for the Skyway, County Line, and Ward networks are located off the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway, which is plowed throughout the winter months. I N F O : gmnc.org

Atop the Grand Mesa and tucked up the road behind the Forest Service’s visitor center on Baron Lake Drive, Thunder Mountain Lodge’s 10 red cabins—bedecked with pine-log furniture and itty-bitty yet well-stocked kitchens—huddle into the deep snow adjacent to the marked (but mostly ungroomed)

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paths of the Ward trail system. After a few hours of kicking and gliding, we suggest you put on your coziest slippers, make a cup of hot chocolate, and watch the snow fly from these adorable abodes.

Credits Tk

Thunder Mountain Lodge thundermountainlodge.net

This spread, from left: David Clifford (2); Whitney James

WHERE TO STAY

XC FOR BEGINNERS There’s no denying the Grand Mesa is remote, but its XC trails are worth the drive.

R A B B I T E A R S PA S S

Winter comes early to Rabbit Ears Pass, where 10,000-foot elevations wring snow from passing storms and the gently rolling meadows and forests lend themselves to humanpowered travel. As soon as the powder starts accumulating, volunteers from the Steamboat Nordic Council begin grooming Bruce’s Trail, a five-kilometer circuit consisting of an upper loop and a longer, hillier lower loop. The grooming ends once Steamboat’s cross-country trail centers open for the season, leaving Bruce’s Trail to become a backcountry skier’s delight. —Kelly Bastone BEST BEGINNER TRAIL: Bruce’s Upper Loop avoids sharp turns and extended hills, making this an ideal option for newbies, flatlanders, and families.

BEST TRAIL FOR SCENERY: On a clear day, skiers can see peaks located in the Flat Tops Wilderness—45 miles away as the crow flies—from portions of West Summit Loop 1A.

R E N T A L S : In Steamboat Springs, Ski Haus rents classic and skate equipment. skihaussteamboat.com A C C E S S : U.S. Forest Service trailheads are located along Rabbit Ears Pass’ west side. From Steamboat Springs, follow U.S. 40 east for 12 miles to the 1A trailhead; Bruce’s trailhead is two miles farther east. I N F O : steamboatxcski.com

ASPEN SNOWMASS NORDIC TRAIL SYSTEM

People may call Crested Butte the Nordic Ski Capital of Colorado, but a little place called Aspen has one of the largest free groomed crosscountry skiing systems in North America. With 90 kilometers of terrain maintained by the nonprofit Aspen Snowmass Nordic Council, skiers enjoy a full menu of kick-and-glide options. Trails swirl around and through—and in some cases, connect—the towns of Aspen, Snowmass, and Basalt. —Tracy Ross

Credits Tk

BEST BEGINNER TRAILS:

R E N T A L S : The Ute

Novices will find eight kilometers of rolling terrain surrounding the Aspen Nordic Center and an easy two-kilometer circuit at the North Star Nature Preserve.

Mountaineer operates both the Aspen Cross Country Center and the Snowmass Cross Country Center and offers classic and skate ski packages.

B E S T T R A I L F O R B O O Z E : You can diagonal-stride your way along the Rio Grande Trail from Aspen to Woody Creek, where you should grab a margarita at Woody Creek Tavern. Burn off the tequila during the 9.5-kilometer ski home.

A C C E S S : Download the Aspen Snowmass Trail System Map from the council’s website to locate parking, bus stops, and trailheads. I N F O : aspennordic.com

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XC FOR BEGINNERS

BRECKENRIDGE B E S T B E G I N N E R T R A I L : Take

of groomed XC trails skirt the Peak 7 and Peak 8 base areas of Breckenridge Ski Area. Although there are more blue squares and black diamonds than green circles on the trail map, there are ample beautiful views for everyone.

Troll Forest, accessible right from the Nordic center, to Gold Digger to Baby Doe—which makes for a smallish loop and takes you through picturesque glades. The roughly one-kilometer circuit is short and gentle—perfect for newbies.

V I B E : The rough-hewn-log Nordic center has that parkitecture-slash-ski-lodge ambience, complete with a fireplace, bar, tables for lunch, and the faintest scent of sweat. Everyone here looks like they could compete in both the skiathlon and the Super-G come Beijing 2022, but rookies will fit right in. UNIQUE FEATURE:

On Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, try a Nordic snowcat adventure—which includes a stop at Josie’s Cabin for hot chocolate— at 2 p.m. or 4 p.m. for $75 per person.

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IF YOU GET BRAVE:

Do the full 3.5kilometer Troll Forest loop, which, although designated green, requires a bit more control on downhills and funnels skiers under the road via a tunnel.

R E N T A L S : Classic: $23 for adults, $18 for seniors and older kids, $10 for kids seven and younger; skate skis, $28 F E E S : Trail passes are $25 for ages 13 to 64; $20 for 65-plus; free for kids 12 and younger

A P R È S O P T I O N : You could certainly head to downtown Breckenridge (we like the cocktail menu at Modis, modisbreck.com), but the bar inside the Nordic center has a full liquor license, wine, and beer—and you don’t have to put on your shoes to get there. W H E R E T O S T A Y : Slated to open this month, Gravity Haus is a 60-room, hipas-it-comes, ski-in, ski-out property at the base of Peak 9. gravityhaus.com I F Y O U H A V E A N O T H E R D A Y T O S K I : Despite the fact that they’re located on a golf course, the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center feel much more rural and isolated than those at Breckenridge Nordic Center. An added bonus for beginners: There are 13.7 kilometers of rolling green-rated terrain. breckenridgerecreation.com

Courtesy of Breckenridge Nordic Center

T H E P L A C E : More than 30 kilometers

BRECKENRIDGE NORDIC CENTER breckenridgenordic.com

XC FOR BEGINNERS

LOCAL-ISH GEAR

Colorado-made Nordic equipment is nigh impossible to find, but Broomfield-headquartered Dæhlie delivers XC-specific clothing we love.

Born and raised in Norway but with its North American headquarters in metro Denver, 23-year-old Dæhlie has evolved from a purely technical ski brand into an active lifestyle apparel label selling handsome yet hardcore duds made precisely for kick-and-gliders. New for the 2019-’20 ski season, the Skill Jacket ($180) offers medium warmth (courtesy of a merino blend lining) and great rangeof-motion flexibility (ideal for beginning XC skiers who aren’t quite coordinated yet). If you’re also in the market to keep your caboose warm, the company’s Clockwise from left: Courtesy of Daehlie (2); Illustration by Lars Leetaru; Courtesy of Terri Stright

Pro Pants

($150) perform well through wind, rain, and (ideally) snow.

HOW DO THEY MAKE THOSE TRACKS? Meet the spellbinding PistenBully 400.

E S S AY

SNOW BOND

Our family is as alpine-obsessed as the rest of Colorado, but it’s Nordic, not downhill, that brings my son and me closest together.

t’s the middle of February during a banner ski year, and my teenage son, Scout, and I are climbing a hill at Eldora Nordic Center. Scout’s far ahead of me, as usual, but I notice when he stops abruptly. Another skier is approaching from the opposite direction—and I wait for it to begin. When the lanky skier in a Birkebeiner jacket reaches my 17-year-old, Scout waves, flashes a smile, and practically shouts at the man, “What a day, huh?!” And “What about this snow?” And, “How’s your wax?” Scout’s yellow-lab-esque exuberance on the trails is just the tiniest bit like fingernails on an ice-covered windshield to my senses, probably because I’m more of an extroverted introvert. I know it well because I’ve lived with it for several seasons. The unbridled enthusiasm wasn’t always there, though, because Scout didn’t always love Nordic skiing. When he was younger, I’d often lure him with promises of Sour Patch Kids if he could just…keep…moving. But even then, he’d ski a few strides, stop, and stare into space. Despite his reluctance, I kept taking him out because I love XC deeply and because I believed one day Scout would love it with me. And, eventually, he did. Scout fell hard and fast for kicking and gliding when, as a high school freshman, he realized his newfound aptitude for cross-country running might translate to XC skiing. We started going out together, and soon, something happened: Scout would power himself over the hills of white and wax poetic about the monasterylike quiet of the trails. A cardio junkie, he also loved how a Nordic ski session had the ability to give him “an even better runner’s high.” As a parent, I was experiencing a different kind of high. The benefit of Scout’s teenageonset obsession with my favorite winter sport was that it brought us together for extended periods of time in some of Colorado’s most majestic and remote (read: cell-service-less) places. There was no texting. No Instagram. No distractions. It was just us. And I loved it. The nature of our ski dates has varied over time. Sometimes we do fitness intervals; sometimes we ski in silence. My favorite—and his, I think—is when we ski slow enough to chat. It’s one of the great benefits of XC over alpine. You can actually enjoy your company and the activity simultaneously. Scout talks about his life, telling me long stories about a girl he likes or an essay he’s writing in school. Because he’s sweet enough to ask, I tell him long, dramatic stories about a publication that won’t pay me or a story I want to pursue. Before we know it, we’ve skied for two hours. We’ve worked our bodies and cleared our minds. Best of all, we’ve done it together—me and my teenage son, whose exuberance, now that I think about it, might actually be his best quality. —TR

It might seem like perfect corduroy and sharp parallel tracks magically appear after Mother Nature delivers a layer of white frosting, but benevolent snow fairies are not responsible for breaking trail for the XC skiing set. Instead, the pathways we ply are often created by snow charmers of a different sort: groomers behind the controls of mesmerizing dozers, like the PistenBully 400. “It’s a pretty serious snowcat,” says Terri Stright, president of the Grand Mesa Nordic Council, which purchased one for $350,000 in 2016. “It’s a big operation to groom 30 kilometers of trail, but with all the attachments—like one for making parallel tracks—it gets the job done. It’s fun to watch it work, too.” It might not be pixie dust, but the results are equally bewitching.

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XC FOR BEGINNERS

CRESTED BUTTE In Crested Butte—a town of more than 1,600—cross-country is life, as evidenced by Crested Butte Nordic’s 1,200 season pass holders. The nonprofit, which maintains 50 kilometers of trails that encircle the city, is the scene’s heartbeat.

VIBE:

Everyone is welcome. On these trails, you’ll encounter elite skiers training for their next races; members of the Gray Hares 50-and-up club; parents hauling infants in ski chariots; and complete novices. Pro tip: Lessons are free every Wednesday.

UNIQUE FEATURE:

All of the town’s trails are searchable on the free Crested Butte Gunnison Trails app (search for CBGTrails) via an interactive map. You can download sections of the maps to use while offline; this is important since some trails don’t have cell reception.

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BEST BEGINNER TRAIL:

Hop on the West Side trails from Butte Avenue. Try 2.3-kilometer (one way) Mike’s Mile (access it via Pooch’s Paradise from Butte Avenue or from the Gronk lot on Peanut Lake Road) for an out-and-back trek with knockyour-ski-socks-off views along the Slate River Valley.

I F Y O U G E T B R A V E : Try the appropriately named 4.6-kilometer Magic Meadows double loop for rolling terrain. Along the way, you’ll encounter the Magic Meadows Yurt, a warming hut that every Sunday transforms into the Backcountry Bistro serving coffee and pastries. (On scheduled winter evenings, try the yurt’s ski-in finedining experience: $135 per person includes a ski pass, gear, and a five-course meal.)

R E N T A L S : Adult packages, $20 per day; kids gear, $10 FEES:

$20 for adults; $16 for seniors; kids younger than 17 and those 70-plus are free; dogs are welcome on some trails for an extra $5

A P R È S O P T I O N : For a warm-your-core hot toddy, head to Montanya Distillers. The tasting room’s inventive seasonal cocktails will take the sting out of those aching poling arms. montanyarum.com W H E R E T O S T A Y : If you’re here to ply XC paths, you’ll want to stay in downtown Crested Butte—not in the resort village—to be closer to the trails. We like the Public House Lofts, located above the pub by the same name. publichousecb.com —Cheryl Meyers

Xavier Fane

THE PLACE:

CRESTED BUTTE NORDIC cbnordic.org

XC FOR BEGINNERS

ALL-INCLUSIVE RESORTS

Three Colorado destinations where access to XC trails— and gear—is part of the deal.

L AT I G O R A N C H

WHERE: 30 minutes from the town of Kremmling WHAT: An all-inclusive hospitality ranch offering fly-fishing and packtripping in the summer and fat biking, sledding, and crosscountry skiing in the winter XC TRAILS: 50 kilometers of trail groomed for both classic and skate skiers BOOK IT: Winter rates start at $200; latigotrails.com

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS

LAKE C ATA M O U N T TOURING CENTER steamboatxcski.com

T H E P L A C E : Undulating ranchlands surrounded by the rounded peaks of the Park Range deliver fantastic beginner ski terrain—and a pastoral escape from the congestion in town (the trail network sits 10 miles south of Steamboat Springs).

V I B E : Decidedly unhurried. Relaxed retirees cruise the flat lakeshore, while Nordic marathoners undertake lengthy afternoon workouts by stitching together all 27 kilometers of trails.

U N I Q U E F E A T U R E : Monday through Thursday, certain trails (totaling nearly 10 kilometers) are open to off-leash dogs ($3 per pooch). Latigo Ranch

V I S TA V E R D E G U E S T R A N C H

WHERE: 40 minutes from Steamboat Springs WHAT: A luxury dude ranch with cozy, hot-tub-equipped cabins, a serious focus on equestrian activities, and a welcoming-butnot-too-chummy staff XC TRAILS: 15 kilometers of mostly beginner paths for classic and skate skiers BOOK IT: Winter rates (threenight minimum) start at $1,650; vistaverde.com

From left: Bryan Rowe; David Epperson

C LAZY U RANCH

WHERE: 15 minutes from downtown Granby WHAT: One of Colorado’s veteran—like, more than a century old—guest ranches that knows how to split the difference between hoity-toity and down-and-dirty XC TRAILS: 6.5 kilometers of groomed trail that winds through sweeping high meadows and atop beautiful mesas BOOK IT: Winter rates start at $450; clazyu.com

B E S T B E G I N N E R T R A I L : Roughly 50 percent of Lake Catamount’s trails are rated for beginners, but the totally flat five-kilometer Heritage Trail skirts the cattail-lined banks of Lake Catamount and delivers Imax-size views of the surrounding peaks.

W H E R E T O S T A Y : The private Catamount Ranch & Club only allows public access to its acreage during the winter XC ski season and offers no nightly accommodations. Bunk in Steamboat instead at the four-room, bed-and-breakfast-style Mariposa Lodge, where morning meals feature ranch-raised edibles and afternoon snacks include house-baked muffins and breads. steamboatmariposa.com I F Y O U H A V E A N O T H E R D A Y T O S K I : Closer to town, Haymaker Nordic Center (pictured) grooms 10 kilometers of easy classic and skate trails that meander across the gentle fairways of the city-owned golf course with views of Emerald Mountain and the Steamboat ski area. Small hills block the sight of (and most of the sound from) nearby U.S. 40 and make this cross-country network feel surprisingly secluded. steamboatxcski.com —KB m

I F Y O U G E T B R A V E : The Connector Loop (nearly eight kilometers round trip from the Nordic center) crosses County Road 18 to explore the network’s hinterlands, where sharp-tailed grouse conduct flamboyant mating dances in early spring. Otherwise, solitude is virtually guaranteed as you tackle the network’s hilliest route. R E N T A L S : $22, classic and skate ($12 for kids) F E E S : $22 for adults; $12 for seniors and youth (18 and under); kids six and younger ski free

A P R È S O P T I O N : Adjacent to the Nordic center, the Lake House Grille serves delectable turkey pot pie and offers plenty of beer options. DECEMBER 20 19 |

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Credits Tk

Root vegetable latkes

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Joy OF COOKING

A Hanukkah feast by Ash’Kara chef Daniel Asher unites friends, family, and the flavors of the Middle East. BY DENISE MICKELSEN

•

RECIPES BY DANIEL ASHER

PHOTOGRAPHY BY AARON COLUSSI • PROP STYLING BY NATALIE WARADY FOOD STYLING BY VICTORIA ESCALLE

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JOY

For Daniel Asher, Hanukkah is synonymous with his mother’s cooking. “My mom is amazing in the kitchen,” says Asher, the chef at year-old Middle Eastern–inspired restaurant Ash’Kara in LoHi. “And Hanukkah was always a time when she would embrace her love of feeding us with reckless abandon.” But reminiscing about childhood holidays is bittersweet for Asher these days: His brilliant, hard-working father, Maximo, died in August. “The only times when my father would pause and be present were when we were at the table,” Asher says. “Hanukkah has always symbolized a time when we were together and connected.” So, despite the increased levels of activity that restaurants (and their chefs) experience at this time of year, Asher makes sure to commune with his family—his wife, Steph; their children, Fletcher, Judah (pictured at left), Morgan, and Tulsi—and friends around the table during the Jewish Festival of Lights (December 22 to 30). Here, he shares a menu of lamb, latkes, carrots, jam-filled doughnuts, and more, based on the meals that his mother, Sheila, prepared when he was growing up— enhanced with the contemporary Middle Eastern flavors Asher is known for. “Food is my mother’s love language,” Asher says, “and it became mine, too.”

MENU Serves 6 to 8 • Recipes begin on page 148 Root Vegetable Latkes Moroccan Noodle Kugel Roasted Carrots with Saffron Yogurt Brisket-Style Braised Lamb Challah Fruit Salad with Tahini & Orange Blossom Water Sufganiyot Miracle Punch

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At the head of the table, Ash’Kara chef Daniel JOY O wife, F CSteph O O Abramovici, KING Asher sits to the right of his and is flanked by their children (from left) Morgan, Judah, and Tulsi. Guests include Ash’Kara partner Juan Padro, on Abramovici’s left; Taj Cooke, a chef at Asher’s Mother Tongue eatery, and his wife, Danielle (second from left and far right, respectively); and friend Amanda Kendrick.

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JOY OF COOKING

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JOY OF COOKING

MODERN CLASSICS Kugel, an Ashkenazi noodle dish (sometimes sweet, sometimes not), is a mainstay on Hanukkah menus; Sheila, Asher’s mother, typically made hers sweet. Asher’s version is a mix of styles, with sugar, cottage cheese, ricotta, milk, and raisins adding creamy sweetness and spices, including the Moroccan blend ras al hanout, lending a savory note.

H O L I D AY TRADITIONS “My mom would begin cooking for Hanukkah a week ahead of time,” Asher says, “and I’d help her. It was always a feast, combining my dad’s Eastern European favorites, traditional Ashkenazi Jewish dishes, and a bit of a Sephardic influence, as well.” Roasted carrots were a staple at their celebrations, but here, the chef channels a popular Ash’Kara menu item by adding ginger, coriander, pink peppercorns, and a saffron yogurt sauce.

C O M M U N I T Y TA B L E “For me, the spirit of Judaism—and the basic principle of being a thoughtful human—is about taking care of one another,” Asher says. Feeding the ones he loves is part of that ethos. No Hanukkah table is complete without latkes, enjoyed here (from left) by Levi and Mason Dinar, sons of Asher’s restaurant partner Josh Dinar, and Asher’s son Judah. Asher’s mother always made them traditionally, with potatoes and onions, but Asher’s root-vegetable pancakes are what he imagines she’d have made if she let loose.

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JOY OF COOKING

E X T E N D E D FA M I LY Friend Kate Erin Chambers and Ben Higgins, an Ash’Kara coowner (and onetime star of ABC’s The Bachelor), raise their glasses at the holiday table.

SYMBOLIC SIPS A savvy host like Asher knows that a make-ahead punch recipe (courtesy of Ash’Kara) and drink-mixing assistance free him up to complete lastminute kitchen tasks such as frying latkes and carving lamb. This citrus-and-spice-scented Miracle Punch is named for the Jewish story in which a small quantity of oil, used to light a menorah in Jerusalem’s holy temple, lasted for eight days instead of one.

OLD MEETS NEW Asher’s mother braised a beef brisket for every Hanukkah meal he can recall, but for this menu, he put a Colorado spin on the dish by marinating a local leg of lamb and then braising it in pomegranate juice, red wine, and tamari. Root vegetables, mushrooms, and dried fruits cook with the lamb, giving the resulting jus a rich, complex flavor.

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JOY OF COOKING

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JOY OF COOKING

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JOY OF COOKING

BEARING FRUIT This colorful dessert salad, drizzled with creamy tahini and flavored with fragrant orange blossom water, is an homage to Asher’s father, Maximo, who snacked on fresh fruit every night after dinner while drinking a cup of chamomile tea.

HELPING HANDS Jam-filled fried doughnuts, or “sufganiyot,” are a Festival of Lights classic that represent the miracle of the oil. When Asher was young, he helped his mother fry doughnuts; today, six-year-old Judah (pictured above) is in the kitchen with his father. “Cooking with my mom for Hanukkah was all about the joy of the family being together,” Asher says. “Now, it’s a time for me to be present and to cook for—and with—my family. For me, cooking is the greatest expression of care for others.”

RECIPES & MORE Recipes begin on page 148 and continue, along with a shopping list, prep timeline, and personal story from Daniel Asher, on 5280.com. DECEMBER 20 19 |

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WHO

There’s seemingly no problem tech millionaire turned philanthropist Tim Gill can’t solve. But 25 years after the Denverite created the Gill Foundation and started giving his money away to promote LGBT rights, what do we actually know about one of the country’s most influential social and political figures? BY JAY BOUCHARD

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY BENJAMIN RASMUSSEN

TIM GILL? > tim gill pushes his chair back from a confer-

ence table, faces the cluttered whiteboard behind him, and grabs a blue dry-erase marker. He’s at home in this room—in the Cherry Creek headquarters of his latest technology startup, a voice-activated home-automation company called Josh.ai—but he’s grappling with a hypothetical: How many people in Colorado know who Tim Gill is? It’s a question the very private man hasn’t spent much time considering, so he doesn’t really know how to answer. Still, as with most matters small and large, he starts by drawing up an equation. “I have so little data on which to do the math,” Gill says. “Let’s figure this out. How many people are in Colorado? Five million?” It’s actually a little higher, but that doesn’t matter much. He writes 5,000,000 on the board, then pauses for several seconds. The marker hits the whiteboard again, squeaking now as it draws a smaller figure below the first. “It seems utterly reasonable to me that 5,000 people know me, as the lower bound,” he posits. Gill’s vocabulary is precise, the jargon of a mathematician. “I probably have 500 to 700 people who are friends,” he says. “And then you add in politicians, who I think probably pretty much all know me. A few media people. Some businesspeople.” He then subtracts the outliers—children who are too young to know his name and older people who may have forgotten it. “I’m not sure I could even get to one percent,” he concludes, adding, “50,000 people know who Tim Gill is? That seems outrageous.” To the tall and lithe 66-year-old, who is still wearing workout clothes this Monday morning in September, the idea that 50,000 people in Colorado know his name is clearly absurd. But if you were to actually consider what he’s done in and beyond Colorado, it’s somewhat confounding—unfair, even—that there wouldn’t be at least 50,000 people who know who he is. Gill made hundreds of millions as a technology entrepreneur, and he’s giving much of it away. He transformed the publishing industry. He upset a political ecosystem, and he forever altered the gay rights movement in America. You could argue he’s had a broader impact than the current occupant of the governor’s office and the previous governor, too. So how is it possible, by Gill’s calculations, that less than one percent of Colorado’s population actually knows who Tim Gill is?

IN AUGUST, AT T H E H EA DQUARTER S of Josh.ai, two young coders who are dressed like extras from a Silicon Valley episode compare the Mile High City to California’s tech hub. “Dude. There’s something about the altitude,” one says. Nearby, Gill is oblivious, deep in his own world. It’s unclear what he can hear. He doesn’t notice anyone leaving or entering the room. Aside from a still-packaged Honey Stinger energy chew, pieces of disassembled computer hardware, and a small bowl of dog treats, his unremarkable white desk is no different from the ones at which

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more than a dozen young coders sit nearby. Gill stares at his computer monitor with a singular focus. His left index finger, perpetually extended, works in a cycle, moving from his keyboard up to his chin and out to the monitor, where it isolates a line of code before returning to the keyboard. His right index and middle fingers, equally alert, don’t waver from their ready positions. “What?” he whispers to himself. Moving closer to the screen, his face scrunches: “Is that even possible?” He pauses. His fingers peck at the keyboard. He pauses again and seems satisfied: “OK,” he mutters before moving on. He repeats this barely audible process for half an hour as he solves more Josh.ai bugs. The technology is based on Gill’s childhood wish to be able to talk to his home—and to have it perform tasks in return. Now, he’s coding lines that will, say, direct blinds to lower on the east kitchen window. Or dim the lighting in the living room. Or tell the TV to play a snowboard film. (Gill is an avid boarder and logs over 30 days each season.) Gill’s interest in solving problems and writing code started early. He was born in Indiana in 1953, but his family moved to the Denver area when Gill was in third grade. His father, a plastic surgeon, and his mother, who stayed home with Gill and his two sisters, raised the kids in Applewood, a yet-to-be-developed area that offered plenty of opportunities for exploration. He loved science fiction, in all its forms, and experimentation (he froze grasshoppers and tried to bring them back to life). And he dreamed of one day talking to his house. He also excelled at math. In 1971, as a high schooler in Jefferson County, he’d already taken college-level calculus classes, so when his senior-year math teacher handed out the entire semester’s worth of homework, Gill took it home and completed it in one weekend. The idea, of course, was for students to gradually tackle the assignments over the course of several months, but Gill wasn’t like most students. At one point, demonstrating more prowess than apathy, he laid out an assignment completely backward, each word and digit assembled in reverse, right to left. “I had been practicing writing backward anyway, because kids do weird things,” he says. “So, the question became: Can I do an entire math assignment backward?” It made no sense for a burgeoning mathematician like this to sit in a class for which he’d already finished all the homework, so his teacher arranged for Gill to spend his course time on Wheat Ridge High School’s computer, an ASR-33 Teletype terminal located in the second-floor physics lab. Not only would it serve as a foundation for everything he’d one day build, but it also was the perfect way to corral a precocious young mind. Having learned basic programming skills, Gill set off in the fall of 1972 for the University of Colorado Boulder before transferring

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to CU Denver, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in applied mathamazing process in Tim Gill’s life.” In the early 1990s, the spark was ematics. Meanwhile, he worked at a number of tech startups and lit by Will Perkins. But even then, it took a man named Fred Ebraultimately landed a job at Hewlett Packard in Fort Collins, where himi to persuade Gill to do more. he was employed as a coder throughout the late 1970s. Eventually, Gill hired Ebrahimi in the early 1980s to help run Quark. While he joined another tech company but was laid off when the enterprise Gill focused on what he enjoyed doing (coding and managing the lost money. product), Ebrahimi assumed the role of CEO and ran the sales and It wasn’t until 1981 that Gill started his own software company, marketing departments. Working closely with Gill, Ebrahimi helped which he named Quark. Within a decade he would revolutionize grow the business into a corporation worth hundreds of millions. the publishing industry. Before the introduction of QuarkXPress Ebrahimi, Gill says, also pushed him into philanthropy. After in 1987, Macintosh programs like Aldus PageMaker were able to Amendment 2 passed, Ebrahimi told Gill to publicly announce he combine text and images into layouts for simple publications such as was going to devote $1 million to teach people that discrimination office newsletters, but not much more. was wrong. Gill would go on to do just that, and more. At the time, Gill’s technology proved that desktop computers could replace Gill was no grant-maker. He was a coder, a tech executive trying to the high-end typesetters and color-separation systems then required keep Quark at the top of a competitive market. He didn’t actually to produce professional-quality magazines and newspapers. It was a know how to endow a foundation, how to infuse and fortify the gay game changer. By the early 1990s, QuarkXPress was being used by rights movement with his wealth. Though the Supreme Court would many of the world’s major publishers. ultimately overturn it, Amendment 2 was a variable Gill hadn’t It’s the type of accomplishment that warrants a Wikipedia page accounted for, and it had changed the equation. and earned the developer the kind Around the same time that he of cash that could buy several called Norwest, Gill also made a Gill, in 2019, speaking at his foundation’s biennial conference yachts or erect self-aggrandizing speech at a Quark users conference monuments. For Gill, solving a in which he revealed his intention problem for the publishing world to fund efforts to promote equality was just the start. He would find and LGBT rights. It would prove another use for his money. to be strategic. Those attending the conference were primarily media G I L L WAS A NG RY— SO H E MADE A CALL. professionals, and when Gill finIt was 1992 and Colorado voters ished speaking, a reporter from the had just approved Amendment 2, Los Angeles Times approached him. a ballot measure outlawing special The paper published a story, and protections for the lesbian, gay, and word began to spread. bisexual community in any public In 1994, after more than a year arena, which meant municipalities of giving away money to nonprofits and state agencies could not crewith little planning or structure, he ate nondiscrimination policies for filed papers to incorporate the Gill those groups. The amendment Foundation. After he sold Quark was the brainchild of Colorado for a reported $500 million to Ebrafor Family Values, a conservative himi in 1999, Gill gave more than activist group led by Will Perkins. $200 million of it to his foundation. The Colorado Springs car dealer seized on the growing evangelical “Once he made that announcement [in 1992], every existing and movement in his hometown, and he rallied conservative voters who nascent LGBT organization in the country started wondering: Who believed homosexuality was akin to moral deviancy. is this Tim Gill guy? and wanted to get a check from him,” says KathPerkins pushed Amendment 2 to victory, earning Colorado the erine Pease, the inaugural executive director of the Gill Foundation. “hate state” distinction and galvanizing anti-gay movements in places To date, 25 years after the Gill Foundation was established, it has such as Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California. But the amendgranted more than $360 million to organizations around the country, ment’s passage had an unintended effect. It spurred Gill to action. primarily to gay rights causes. But it also has funded broader efforts: Gill called Norwest Bank Colorado, which held about $20 milto curb payday lending, to launch STEM labs in Colorado schools, lion of Quark’s cash and Gill’s personal wealth. He wanted to know and to support an endowed professorship for HIV research at the if the bank’s gay employees were protected by an internal policy. They University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. In total, Gill were not. Gill made a threat: If Norwest didn’t get a nondiscrimihas donated more than $500 million of his own wealth (Gill won’t nation policy on the books, he’d withdraw all $20 million. Within disclose his personal net worth) over the past quarter century. He is weeks, the bank complied, and then 39-year-old Gill realized his now the largest individual donor in the history of the LGBT movewealth could influence more than technology markets. ment. But as his political opponents from the past decade know well, This is a pattern in Gill’s life. When his community—when his it hasn’t all been charity. very identity—is attacked, it pierces him. He is not often brought to PERCH ED A M IL E AB OV E S EA L EV EL , Colorado’s state Capitol buildanger, but, as his husband, Scott Miller, explains today, that changes ing looks colossal from the outside. Inside, though, the basement when gay rights are threatened. “We’re actually really quiet people,” rooms—where committee hearings are held to determine which bills Miller says. “But—excuse the language—if you fuck around with the die or thrive—are tiny. They’re meant to hold a few dozen people. LGBT community, you will face Tim Gill’s wrath.” Certainly not a few hundred. To be clear, Gill is not a millionaire motivated purely by exacting In March 2004, then 50-year-old Gill was quasi-retired. With revenge and inflicting pain on those who attack him. As Miller puts some free time, he had built a social networking site for the LGBT it: “[Anger] is just the catalyst. Anger is the spark that starts a pretty

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Courtesy of Christian David Films

TIM GILL

Courtesy of Ken Missbrenner Photography

TIM GILL Knoedler remembers. “It was very scary. They were saying things community called connexion.org (similar to early iterations of about me that I didn’t believe to be true. They were implying that I Myspace and Facebook). It never really took off, but it had helped was just a bad person.” Gill create an online community of more than 100,000 people. Though Knoedler pulled off a narrow victory, he was one of the This was bad news for the Republican Party in Colorado and, few. Using tactics like those employed against Knoedler, the Gang specifically, for state Representative Shawn Mitchell. The legislator of Four succeeded in helping Democrats take control of both chamwas sponsoring a bill that would, in essence, ban the discussion of bers of government in 2004. Today, Knoedler says he holds no ill will gay and lesbian issues in schools statewide, which pissed Gill off. against the people who went after him—if anything, he is impressed So, he started a movement using connexion.org to get “a couple by what he saw—but Wadhams believes Gill and his allies were too hundred of his closest friends” to storm the Statehouse when the aggressive. “They made Matt into this right-wing nut job,” Wadhams bill went before committee. says. “I really think they went too far with a lot of that stuff.” The plan worked. The hearing was moved to a larger room The Gang of Four mostly dissolved by 2006 (Polis pursued elected upstairs and, ultimately, Mitchell amended the bill with less severe office on his own), but the precedent was set. Having seen what could language. But Gill didn’t see that as a complete win—he’d heard be done in his home state, Gill led a charge nationwide in subsetoo much anti-gay rhetoric during the debate. “Shawn Mitchell is quent election cycles. He isolated legislators in places like Iowa who really who got me into politics,” Gill says. “Before that, I was just were threatening LGBT rights and worked to oust them. He helped doing minor political contributions.” efforts to legalize gay marriage in places like Massachusetts, Iowa, Gill’s foundation work would continue, but at the urging of Demand Delaware. And he formed what was called the Gill Action Fund, ocratic lobbyists like Ted Trimpa, he’d funnel his personal wealth in a a political giving organization sepanew direction. Over the next several rate from the Gill Foundation. months, Gill was connected with From left: Scott Miller and Gill exchanging vows in 2009 Before long, national publicathree key allies in Colorado, all of tions like the Atlantic were chroniwhom, like himself, were wealthy, cling his work, because Gill was ambitious Democrats: current unlike most political donors in Governor Jared Polis, Pat Stryker, the mid-2000s. “He was motivated and Rutt Bridges. The supergroup by something specific,” says Rob would later be dubbed the “Gang Witwer, a former Colorado state of Four” for its role in altering Colrepresentative who detailed the orado politics and transforming Gang of Four’s strategy in his book, political strategy across the country. The Blueprint, co-written with Adam In the summer of 2004, before Schrager. “His agenda was not just anyone really knew what they were about beating Republicans, but up to, they made a plan. They would beating anti-gay Republicans.” identify seats in the state House and Witwer argues Gill ushered in a Senate they wanted to flip and direct new era of the philanthropic donor. vast sums of money to help elect “He wasn’t giving money to be a their preferred candidates. They big shot and get invited to blackalmost always supported Demotie dinners and pass bills that would crats, but in particular, the group help his company,” Witwer says. targeted Republicans like Mitchell “He had big-picture beliefs, and he wanted to change society.... He who they thought stood in the way of their progressive priorities. decided to change the world through legislatures.” Rather than throw their wealth into big-ticket races at the national level, they focused on Colorado with the hope of getting “ N IN E M IN U TES ,” G IL L SAYS . a bigger return on their investment. They formed tax-exempt 527 That’s precisely how long it took Gill and Miller to complete the organizations. They deployed their money in such a calculated manNew York Times crossword puzzle on Monday. It’s six days later, a ner—creating a network of donors almost impossible to trace back to Sunday night in September, and the couple is having dinner at a the source—it would be years before state Republicans understood Cherry Creek restaurant, where they are regulars. Dinner together— what had happened to them. “It was probably the most sophisticated without the distraction of smartphones and technology—is a daily political machinery in any state at that time,” says former state Repreritual, as is completing the Times’ crossword. Gill and Miller are a sentative Matt Knoedler, a rare Republican who was targeted by the little less forthcoming about how long it took them to complete the Gang of Four and still won in 2004. Sunday puzzle that morning. Knoedler felt confident about his odds of victory against Demo“Two hours and twenty-two minutes,” Gill finally admits, as a suncrat Pete Mazula. But then, in September, he found out that power dae melts in a bowl on the small table between them. It’s a full 46 brokers in the Democratic Party had targeted his race. Over two minutes longer than their Sunday average. The couple can be forgiven if weeks, his opponent received $70,000 from the Gang of Four, about they weren’t firing on all neurons that morning. Over the past months, twice as much as Knoedler raised in his entire campaign. “The finanthey’d been grappling with two compounding losses. Gill’s dad had cial advantage that Tim Gill and his allies put behind candidates been suffering from complications related to diabetes, and on August happened almost overnight,” says Republican strategist Dick Wad29, he died at age 93. In July, their nine-year-old Bernese mountain hams. “It caught Republicans totally off guard.” dog, Phipps, died after nearly a year of intense chemotherapy. (The Mailers arrived in mailboxes in Knoedler’s district painting him as couple spent thousands of dollars trying to keep her alive; they crea callous conservative extremist. One of the mailers, he recalls, sugated a makeshift veterinary clinic in their home, administering IVs and gested he was opposed to people receiving health coverage for cancer. CONTINUED ON PAGE 156 pumping fluid and air from her lungs.) “I was personally prepared for it, but I’m not sure my family was,” DECEMEBER 20 19 |

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY MAT T NAGER

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THIS COLLECTION OF ARTIFACTS, ALL HELD BY COLORADO MUSEUMS, REVEALS A HISTORY THAT’S AS COMPLICATED AS IT IS AMERICAN. BY SPENCER CAMPBELL

HOW THE WEST WAS WON AMERIC AN FL AG 1861

With the U.S. Navy blockading his shipping channels, Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, dispatched the Texas Mounted Volunteers in 1861 to head toward California, where the rebels might find friendlier seas. They were met by the 1st Colorado Infantry, who carried this four-by-nine-foot flag, in March 1862. Although the South claimed victory, a Union force led by Major John Chivington destroyed the rebels’ supply train, ending the South’s lone attempt at a Western invasion. Chivington’s legacy, though, was far from heroic: Two years later, the former preacher ordered his 3rd Colorado Cavalry to attack a peaceful camp of Arapaho and Cheyenne, killing more than 200 in what today is known as the Sand Creek Massacre. FIND IT: History Colorado Center, Denver

W H AT R E M A I N S

PIONEER DAYS KIT C ARSON ’S BUCKSKIN JACKET 1850s

Getty Images (compass and leaf engravings)

Chances are you’ve passed by this coat (or a version of it) without realizing it: In 1911, sculptor Frederick MacMonnies reportedly modeled the towering bronze horseman in Civic Center Park’s “Pioneer Monument” after Christopher “Kit” Carson, who first earned fame by serving as a scout during the covert mission to conquer California during the Mexican-American War. Dime novels seized on the diminutive frontiersman’s adventures, casting five-foot-four Carson as everything from a vicious fighter of Native Americans to the discoverer of California’s gold. There was some truth to the former: During the 1860s, Carson directed a ruthless strategy to starve Navajos in the Four Corners region and force them onto a reservation. Hundreds— maybe thousands—died. Although Carson didn’t profit much from the quasifictional tales, his purchase of this coat, likely from a store in Las Vegas, suggests that he attained a relative degree of wealth. At the time, most clothing in the West was sewn by hand. The maker of this jacket used machine stitching, an expensive novelty, to thread elaborate turquoise and coral designs that have since faded—unlike Carson’s personal legend, which still remains vivid 151 years after his death. FIND IT: History Colorado Center, Denver

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The sword and scabbard Zebulon Pike, the Army officer who in 1806 led the country’s first official expedition into the Front allegedly shot while protecting her three-year-old son, Ernie. Greeley History Museum ///// The final show outfit worn by Buf-

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SNOW MAVEN A N N B O N F O E Y TA Y L O R SKI OU TFIT 1940s

1960s

U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division veteran Pete Seibert deserves credit for founding Vail Ski Resort in 1962. But it was Ann Bonfoey Taylor who transformed the quiet tract of ranch country into the glittering court of trendsetting elegance Vail is today, says Dana Mathios, curator of the town’s Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame. By the time she arrived in Eagle County in 1963, Bonfoey Taylor had already trained pilots during World War II, served as an alternate for the U.S. Olympic ski team, and launched a clothing line. Her manor became the social nexus of Vail, entertaining the likes of Truman Capote. More important, the socialite tapped her fashion connections, such as Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, to publicize Vail’s growing glamor. She was more than happy to prove that style herself by posing for Life, Town & Country, and Harper’s Bazaar, which honored her as one of its “One Hundred Great Beauties of the World” in 1967. This mostly handmade ensemble, built around a fur leotard, was one of 30 garments gifted to the Colorado Snowsports Museum following her death in 2007. The museum re-cataloged the clothing archive in greater detail in 2018, and Mathios’ resulting exhibition, 100 Years of Ski Fashion and Function Featuring: The Ski Couture of Ann Bonfoey Taylor, will run through November 2020. FIND IT: Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame, Vail

Range, was carrying when he died. El Pueblo History Museum ///// The flapper-style dress Kate McHale Slaughterback fashioned from 53 of the 140 rattlesnakes she falo Bill Cody, the iconic Wild West showman who died in Denver in 1917. Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave, Golden DECEMBER 20 19 |

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TRANSPORTATION INNOVATION 104

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A restored Overland mud wagon that ferried people between Wolcott and Steamboat Springs during the early 20th pass in the country. Moffat Road Railroad Museum, Granby ///// Manufactured by Englewoodâ€™s Alexander Aircraft Com-

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When Spencer Penrose (along with 50,000 others) traveled to Colorado Springs to find his fortune during the 1890s Cripple Creek gold rush, the streets teemed with horse-drawn T H E B ROA DM O O R wagons. Three decades later, the mining baron’s 1918 Pierce-Arrow harnessed the power of 125 1918 ponies to roar to the top of Pikes Peak. “The Penroses,” says Sarah Rogers, curator of the Penrose Heritage Museum in Colorado Springs, “saw the evolution of transportation, from carriages to race cars.” More than most, Penrose understood the role cars would play in shaping 20th century American society. In 1916, two years before he opened the Broadmoor Hotel, Penrose built a 19-mile highway to the top of Pikes Peak and started the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, a race to the summit that is still held annually, to draw publicity to the region. He also purchased a fleet of 1912 Pierce-Arrow touring cars to chauffeur visitors around the scenic landscape—although he bought this newer one for himself. Modified into a race car, the Broadmoor Special, aka the Yellow Devil, ran the hill climb eight times. It never won, but thanks to a 2016 overhaul, Penrose’s ride still looks as if it could. FIND IT: Penrose Heritage Museum, Colorado Springs

HAUTE WHEELS SPECIAL

century. Tread of Pioneers Museum, Steamboat Springs ///// A 1928 ticket for the first passenger train that passed through the Moffat Tunnel, then the longest underpany, a 1926 Alexander Eaglerock biplane, a model that became popular among traveling salesmen. Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum DECEMBER 20 19 |

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In October 1962, with the country in the panicked grip of the Cuban missile crisis, U.S. Strategic Air Command moved into DEFCON 2—the second-highest threat alert possible—for the first time. Suddenly, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), an organization based upon a strategic partnership between the United States and Canada, was staring down the exact type of NORAD TELEPHONE in-bound, doomsday attack it had been created five years earlier to prevent. Headquartered at nowdecommissioned Ent Air Force Base in Colorado Springs (NORAD wouldn’t move to the Cheyenne 1959 Mountain Complex until 1966), NORAD deployed 155 interceptor planes to 20 bases within five hours and 40 minutes. It also stationed 140 fighters in the eastern Gulf Coast region. Moreover, should American forces have needed to invade Cuba, the military tasked NORAD with escorting paratrooperfilled planes to a staging area in the Florida Keys. To direct these logistics from Ent, NORAD employed 22-inch-tall, high-security telephones to connect its defense units across North America. Although the U.S.-Canada coalition ultimately wasn’t called upon to show its full strength, it proved to both our allies and our enemies what it could do. FIND IT: Connections Museum Denver

CALLS TO ARMS

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An 1884 telegram from the Colorado Coal & Iron Company announcing that 61 people had died in a mine explosion. Crested Association. History Colorado Center, Denver ///// The Onlooker yearbook published by students of Amache High School, located

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Spaniard Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and his army of explorers were probably the first Europeans to wander into what would become Colorado, likely crossing the Eastern Plains during their 1540s quest to locate the mystical Seven Golden Cities of Cibola. (Spoiler alert: They didn’t find them.) It wasn’t until the Adams-Oñis Treaty of 1819, however, that Spain’s northern border was firmly estabG E R VA C I O N O L A N lished at the Arkansas River and Sabine River Mouth—which became Mexico’s northern border after L AND GRANT it won independence two years later. Mexico feared Manifest Destiny–crazed Americans would push into the largely unpopulated territory, so the New Mexico governor promised free land to citizens who 1843 would settle it. This legal document afforded Gervacio Nolan, a French Canadian turned Mexican citizen, half a million acres stretching from near Pueblo to Trinidad. Unfortunately for Nolan’s descendants, the land was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican-American War. Despite the terms of surrender guaranteeing property rights to Mexican landowners, U.S. Congress reduced Nolan’s claim to 48,700 acres. Battles over a different grant, the Sangre de Cristo, lasted until 2002, when the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the descendants of its original owner were entitled to grazing and other rights on a ranch that had since been purchased by a North Carolina millionaire. FIND IT: Pueblo City-County Library

BORDER WAR

Butte Mountain Heritage Museum ///// A letter written by Susan B. Anthony in 1893 to Ellis Meredith Stansbury, leader of the Colorado Non-Partisan Equal Suffrage at the Granada Relocation Center concentration camp for Japanese Americans, during World War II. Auraria Library, Denver DECEMBER 20 19 |

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Few artifacts encapsulate a culture’s values better than this headpiece. Its 35 eagle feathers pay homage to a sacred Ute animal that represents honor and strength; U T E WA R B O N N E T it’s threaded with horsehair, a tribute to the tribe’s most valuable possession; and 1950s four white ermine skins symbolize strength and purity. “This is what’s called a war bonnet,” says Chip Colwell, the senior curator of anthropology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. “It was only supposed to be worn by those people who’d achieved true status as warriors in their society—men who received honor and respect from their peers.” Colorado’s longest continuous residents, the Utes gained a reputation as adept fighters following their 16th-century introduction to horses, brought to the Southwest by Spanish explorers. They became skilled horsemen and used their new capabilities to expand from their traditional lands in Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico into Texas and Oklahoma. In the mid-19th century, the Utes found themselves outnumbered by settlers migrating west, and they signed a series of treaties that forced them onto reservations. Today, the Northern Ute Indian Tribe resides in northeast Utah, while the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes are based in southwestern Colorado, where this ceremonial war bonnet was made in the 1950s. FIND IT: Denver Museum of Nature & Science

WARRIOR STORY

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The Yeager-Badger Creek partial vessel, an example of the earliest known pottery of the Woodland Plains people who lived & Science ///// A portrait of Buckskin Charley, chief of the Southern Ute tribe from 1880 until his death in 1936. Center of

W H AT R E M A I N S

in Eastern Colorado from 700 to 1150. Fort Morgan Museum ///// The Folsom Point, a spear tip used during a bison hunt some 10,000 years ago. Denver Museum of Nature Southwest Studies, Durango ///// Knee-length moccasins worn by Comanches who roamed north to the Arkansas River. El Pueblo History Museum DECEMBER 20 19 |

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Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Jones’ heels took her down the aisle at her wedding, to African American league baseball games, and to meet friends at the park after a long week of teaching English at a Kansas City high school. One place they couldn’t carry her, though, was across the graduation stage at the University of Colorado Boulder. In 1918, Buchanan, the daughter of emancipated slaves, became the first LU C I L E B U C H A N A N ’ S African American woman to earn a degree from the school, but the administration barred her from walking during the commencement ceremony. Compared to other states, Colorado was relatively progressive 1926 in the early 20th century. Many black residents—such as hair-straightening impresario Madam C.J. Walker, whom the Denver Star hailed as “the richest Negro in America”—owned businesses, and by 1938, nearly 40 percent of African Americans in Denver were homeowners. “Colorado didn’t have Jim Crow laws,” says Polly McLean, a CU Boulder media studies professor and author of Remembering Lucile: A Virginia Family’s Rise from Slavery and a Legacy Forged a Mile High, “but there was racism and colorism in the state.” Some blacks, including Buchanan, never found opportunity here. CU Boulder finally honored Buchanan during its commencement events in 2018, a century after her groundbreaking academic achievement and nearly three decades after her death at age 105. FIND IT: Museum of Boulder —Kim Habicht

MADE FOR WALKING

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SHOES

The dog collar worn by Queen, who in 1902 prevented a train from crashing near Boulder by alerting her owner that a bridge was train by the 10th Mountain Division during World War II. History Colorado Center, Denver ///// Tom’s Baby, mined in 1887, which, at

W H AT R E M A I N S

Some 5,000 years ago—around the time construction began on Stonehenge—the owner of this sandal entered a cave in present-day Franktown. He had made the footwear out of Colorado’s yucca plant, threading its fibrous leaves together to construct what’s essentially a prehistoric Birkenstock, and wore it while walking the state in search of bison, deer, seeds, and berries. He likely returned to YUCC A SANDAL this central Colorado fissure for shelter during the winters and to pick up supplies his tribe had stowed there, but at some point, he left the sandal behind after wearing through the toes and heel. The cave 3342 B.C. to 2880 B.C. kept the piece remarkably preserved for five millennia—until University of Denver archaeologists started excavating it in 1942. DU’s work at the Franktown site until 1957 resulted in perhaps the most preserved archaeological plot in eastern Colorado, and while we don’t know what exactly befell those inhabitants, DU archaeologists did discover that different tenants moved into the cavern 4,000 years later. Their relics, combined with tribal characteristics such as linguistics, allowed researchers to trace their lineage to the Athabaskan tribes of Alaska. Moreover, they seem to only have stopped temporarily in Franktown on their way to southern Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, where they became better known as the Apache. FIND IT: University of Denver Museum of Anthropology

FOOTSTEPS OF HISTORY

on fire (it will be back on display in January). Colorado Railroad Museum, Golden ///// A bottle of extra dry French Champagne confiscated from a Nazi officers’ supply 6.4 pounds, is still the largest gold nugget ever found in Colorado. Denver Museum of Nature & Science m DECEMBER 20 19 |

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â€”

How history forgot two brutal Colorado Territory killers and the complicated story behind their vigilante murders.

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THIS LAND IS MY LAND BY ROBERT SANCHEZ

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+ Pistols, now in the History Colorado Center’s collection, allegedly used by the Espinosa brothers

dispatching their victims at the edge of America’s frontier. One murder became two, then five, then eight, and then drifted higher into double figures. Seemingly each month in the new Colorado Territory, another man was found shot or mutilated. On March 16, 1863, 58-year-old Franklin Bruce was first in the string, shot near his sawmill outside Cañon City. One month later, five men were murdered near the gold mining settlement of Fairplay; one was shot in the arm before being chased down a hill and shot again. When residents discovered his body, the man had been stripped and attacked with a tomahawk. All of the victims were white men, settlers who’d arrived from elsewhere in North America. Residents speculated on the killers’ identities—they were Confederate guerillas spreading havoc across Union-controlled land, perhaps, or Native Americans defending their territories. Early on in the spree, no one had survived to identify the attackers. One afternoon in late April, Edward Metcalf was leading a team of oxen over a mountainous trail near Fairplay when a bullet struck him in the left breast. Metcalf recoiled but didn’t fall: The bullet was stopped by a bundle of mail and a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation that Metcalf had tucked into his jacket. The oxen bolted at the sound of the weapon, sending Metcalf ’s wagon careening over the trail. A second shot was fired, but the wagon struck a rock, and Metcalf was bounced out of the way. At the echo of gunshots, a nearby resident grabbed a rifle. He saw two men as they scrambled away. When news of the shooting reached town that night, a group of at least six men tracked down the injured man. They found him with a cut on his forehead. “The people are scared nearly to death here [and] none but the bravest dare go out at all,” a private in the 1st Colorado Cavalry wrote in his journal the next day. Though Metcalf didn’t get a close look at his would-be murderers, he and the man who rushed to his aid saw enough to create a rough description. One of the shooters was taller than the other. Both were darkskinned—people of Mexican descent, they assumed. It wasn’t much, but it was something. The West’s most feared killers had finally been seen.

The Colorado Territory

in 1863 was a merciless place. Just five years earlier, though,

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Aaron Marcus/Courtesy of History Colorado Center

THE KILLERS MOVED WITH VICIOUS EFFICIENCY,

it had been a land of possibilities. When two men discovered gold in a placer deposit along Little Dry Creek (possibly in present-day Englewood) in 1858, it sparked excitement unlike anything seen since the California gold rush a decade earlier. Tens of thousands of prospectors traveled from their homes on the East Coast and in the Midwest, crossing the plains to reach the Rocky Mountains. The new residents built cabins and sawmills and encampments with names like Denver City, Colorado City, Golden City, Tarryall, and Gold Hill. By 1860, an estimated 43,000 residents were living within the territory, of which the vast majority were white men. All of them were hopeful they’d soon be rich. The promise of wealth was short-lived. Rocky Mountain winters were harsher than anticipated; travel was treacherous and time-consuming. Food quickly ran out. Gold never materialized in the quantities the settlers expected. Just three years after the Colorado gold rush began, it was over. By 1861, with the Civil War beginning to rage, nearly 10,000 residents fled the territory, abandoning the land they’d thought would be rich with gold and returning to their former homes broke and broken. Life at the southern edge of the Colorado Territory was hardly easier. In the high-elevation San Luis Valley, about 7,000 Hispano settlers had built dozens of “plazas”—small villages of adobe and thatched-roofed structures—along the Conejos and San Antonio rivers that flowed east into the Rio Grande. The communities were named after Catholic saints (San Jose, San Judas de Tadeo, San Rafael) or geographic identifiers: Los Brazos (arms), La Isla (the island), Mesitas (little tables). The residents often raised crops and goats and cattle, but even by frontier standards, many families lived in poverty. The Hispano men and women—residents of the Southwest descended from Spaniards who lived in the region before annexation—arrived in what’s now Colorado as early as the 1840s, many from Taos County in New Mexico. They took advantage of Mexico’s communal land grants that encouraged northward expansion. The new settlers both traded with and fought against Native American tribes; some even bought and sold a small number of indigenous slaves. Between the 1820s and the 1840s, governance of the valley shifted from Spain to Mexico to the United States—each country with its own laws and taxes. In 1848, after the Mexican-American War ended, most of the men and women within this Hispanic heartland became American citizens and residents of New Mexico, with a language and culture that connected their plazas to the territorial capital in Santa Fe. That changed in 1861, when the U.S. government handed over a patch above the 37th parallel to the new Colorado Territory. The reasoning was mostly aesthetic: Straight borders looked better on maps. Almost immediately after assuming control of the land, Colorado’s government regarded its new citizens as a necessary nuisance. With the addition of the San Luis Valley, Colorado gained badly needed population numbers—an important distinction if the territory wanted to achieve federal support for statehood—yet the cultures failed to mesh. It’s difficult to overestimate the level of disenfranchisement the valley’s Hispano residents felt in the early days

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of Colorado’s existence. Life as New Mexicans had given them a safety net—language and religion chief among the cultural touchstones—but the white Protestants now immigrating into the territory were akin to an invading force. Adding to their unease was the construction of Fort Garland, an Army outpost created in 1858 to protect new Anglo settlers from Native American bands in the valley. Hispanos couldn’t help but think the garrison was also a warning to them. After the borders were redrawn, Hispanos and their Anglo counterparts began battling over land rights. Mexican property law had been based on generational caretaking and was often sealed with handshake deals. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed in February 1848, the American government promised to honor those historical Mexican settlements, but American laws soon threw ownership to territorial officials who most often ruled in favor of white settlers. As more property fell into the hands of the pioneers, longtime communal grazing land was suddenly cut off. Confusion mounted: Taxes were levied in the valley without explanation. Hispano men had their names recorded for potential conscription into the Union Army. In 1862, a count was taken of weapons and ammunition among plaza residents, escalating distrust among the Hispano population. Food and livestock were recorded for potential seizure by Army soldiers. During the Colorado Territory’s first legislative session in Denver, the government did not initially provide a translator for the valley’s Spanish-speaking representative, ensuring the residents wouldn’t be part of important early territorial decisions. After bills were passed, government officials refused to translate those laws into Spanish, arguing that printing costs were prohibitive and that the Hispanos in the region weren’t American citizens, so the government shouldn’t have to provide translations for them. Almost overnight, Colorado’s southern border became the epicenter of discontent within the territory. Residents didn’t understand why the government was collecting certain taxes and why their land rights were now in disarray. White settlers could feel anger growing toward them. “Mexicans of Costilla and Conejos counties are holding secret meetings and organizing for an armed resistance to the collection of taxes,” the Rocky Mountain News Weekly reported in August 1862. At an August 17 meeting between several Hispanos and Adolph Mayer, Fort Garland’s new commander, plaza residents gave the Army major “every assurance—in words—that they were loyal citizens, and anxious to render every aid in their power for the Union cause. All of which I do not believe,” Mayer wrote to his superiors. The Rocky Mountain News erroneously reported that a company of soldiers had been ordered to Fort Garland to stop any “emergency” in the valley. Should there be

a fight, the article read, Anglo settlers and Army soldiers were prepared to flatten the plazas. On November 6, 1862, Fort Garland soldiers seized two muskets from a Hispano resident who allegedly complained about the American laws at a community meeting. A month and a half later, during the attempted arrests of some plaza residents by a deputy marshal, two Hispano sheriffs refused to help. Four men were eventually arrested. “The Utes have been growling considerable about their annuity, and the Greasers a great deal more about the taxes,” the Rocky Mountain News editorialized, using a derogatory term for the region’s Hispano residents. “It is said that some…Greasers…have sworn to pay their taxes with the rifle.”

A map showing parts of Mexico that became a section of the Colorado Territory

In January 1863, 10 soldiers and two officers were dis-

patched from Fort Garland and made their way 35 miles southwest to a plaza on the southern bank of the Conejos River. One of the officers dismounted his horse and walked to a home. He was there to arrest two men: Felipe Espinosa and his younger brother, Vivián. More than a century and a half later, the exact reason for the military visit is unclear, and little is understood about the Espinosas and their lives within the San Luis Valley at the time. Primary sources tell the brothers’ story—and the story of southern Colorado’s Hispano residents—almost exclusively through the lenses of the territory’s white settlers, government officials, and military officers. Essential facts are processed through contemporary biases, translated by nonnative Spanish speakers, and muddied through generations of retelling. Stories are confused; narratives have been exaggerated for dramatic effect. What we do know is this: Felipe and Vivián Espinosa each had a wife and several children and lived among extended family. Both could read and write. At the time the soldiers arrived at their plaza (named in a newspaper DECEMBER 20 19 |

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ankle. Soldiers followed the Espinosas into the San Juan Mountains but eventually gave up. With at least one Espinosa home burned, the Army and a marshal confiscated the family’s belongings, including 11 cows and oxen, one steer, four beds, one trunk, and two water buckets. The decision to seize virtually everything left the Espinosas’ wives, children, and extended families destitute. The incident also likely incited the brothers to their murderous rage. Within two months of the plaza assault, dead settlers began to turn up across the central Rockies. Felipe Espinosa wrote letters and poems in which he asked for protection from the Virgin Mary and from various Catholic saints. Among his writings, he drafted a letter to John Evans, Colorado’s territorial governor. Americans, Espinosa is said to have written, “ruined our families—they took everything in our house; first our beds and blankets, then our provisions…. These were the reasons we had to go out and kill Americans—revenge for the infamies committed on our families…. Pardon us for what we have done and give us our liberty so that no officer will have anything to do with us, for also in killing, one gains his liberty. I am aware that you know of some I have killed, but of others you don’t know. It is a sufficient number, however. Ask…if any other two men have killed as many men as the Espinosas. We have killed thirty-two.”

Two days after Franklin Bruce was murdered outside his sawmill near Cañon City in March 1863, Henry Harkens was gunned down. James Addleman was killed sometime after Harkens, near Wilkerson Pass, about 50 miles west of present-day Colorado Springs. On April 8, 1863, outside Fairplay, Jacob Binkley and Abram Nelson Shoup were executed at a temporary encampment along a road to Denver. Binkley was shot in the back. Shoup was stabbed three times before he ran 400 yards down a gulch, where he collapsed and died. On April 25, Bill Carter was shot and killed northwest of Fairplay. On April 26, two men, Frederick Lehman and Sol Seyga, were murdered, this time northeast of town. Rumors circulated that a crucifix had been cut into the chest of one of the victims; another had his head crushed with a rock. Each killing seemed to be an act of blood lust more than outright robbery. “All, from the first, have been marked with a peculiar singularity—the most fiendish and diabolical atrocity,” a Rocky Mountain News article read. “In some cases, the amount of money, or valuables, has been so trifling that it seems incredible that it should excite the cupidity of the most black-hearted murderer to commit such a terrible crime.” After the murders of Lehman and Seyga, a group of men dispatched themselves and located several campsites. The next morning, May 9, eight men went out on horseback and discovered a trail that led into a canyon along Four Mile Creek. They entered a valley where they spotted two horses, both of which had hobbles tied around their ankles to prevent them from wandering off. As the posse flanked both animals and waited, Vivián Espinosa emerged from a thicket and began removing the hobbles. At that moment, one of the posse’s members was ordered to shoot. He hit Vivián on his left side, knocking him on his back. Vivián rolled onto his elbows, pulled out

Courtesy of the author

James Addleman’s grave near Fort Carson. Addleman was allegedly murdered by the Espinosa brothers.

report as San Rafael, but more likely the plaza of San Judas de Tadeo, based on government records), Felipe would have been 39 years old and Vivián 26. Vivián was perhaps five-foot-six; Felipe was a little shorter. The pair first show up as boys in a Mexican provincial census from 1845, then later in an American head count of territorial New Mexico in the 1850s. The brothers and their families appear in an 1860 U.S. census and then on federal rolls from the weapon and ammunition count two years later, when five firearms and two-and-ahalf pounds of ammunition were found in the entire San Judas de Tadeo plaza. Felipe owned one carbine—a short rifle—and a half-pound of ammunition. Vivián is recorded as having neither weapons nor ammunition. Sometime in 1862 or early 1863, a priest from Taos reported to New Mexican military authorities the robbery and beating of a freight runner named Juan Flugencio Gonzales. According to one story, Gonzales was hauling goods for the priest when he was stopped on a road by masked thieves, beaten, and tied to his wagon. The robbers then took the horses and the wagon’s contents. After Gonzales was found, he implicated the Espinosa brothers and a third unknown person in the crime. The priest sent word to Santa Fe about the attack; military officers at Fort Garland were, in turn, notified, which triggered Lieutenant Nicholas Hodt and a company from the 1st New Mexico Cavalry to be sent to the Espinosas’ plaza sometime in mid-January 1863. When Hodt spotted Vivián Espinosa, he asked if the two could talk. In an effort to arrest the brothers peacefully, Hodt concocted a reason for his visit: With the Civil War now entering its second year, he would tell the Espinosas that this was part of a military recruiting trip. Vivián asked Hodt to return in the morning. It took five days for the soldiers to return to the plaza. By then, any pretense of military recruitment had disappeared: Hodt and a deputy marshal named George O. Austin found the brothers at home and held them in a room. Hodt left to gather his men. When he returned, the brothers had broken through a wall and “procured arms, guns, pistols and bows and arrows, and commenced firing the arrows from the doors and windows,” Austin—writing under the pseudonym “A”—reported in a letter to the Rocky Mountain News. The lieutenant at some point ordered the home to be set on fire. In Austin’s newspaper report, the Espinosas “made a rush out of the door, discharging a shower of arrows.” The aftermath would have been a comedy of errors had it not been so serious. (One soldier was killed during the fight.) Hodt, according to Austin, fired “all the charges from one pistol” but apparently didn’t hit anyone. He drew a second weapon, but it wouldn’t stay cocked. Frustrated, Hodt threw the gun, which discharged when it hit the ground. The lead ball struck Hodt in the forehead, wounding him. Austin chased the Espinosas across the frozen Conejos River, but his horse slipped and fell, breaking Austin’s leg above the

Ken Wiedemann/Getty Images

a pistol, and fired several shots. One of the posse’s members returned fire with a rifle, hitting Vivián in the face and killing him. After Vivián’s death, Felipe appeared on a ledge above the men. He fired two shots but missed, and then disappeared. The Espinosas’ campsite became a free-for-all: The posse rifled through the possessions and eventually took the plunder to Cañon City, where it was “laid out for examination...and a large and excited crowd gathered round and examined it till a late hour,” the Weekly Commonweath and Republican reported. The belongings included “[a]rticles of clothing, trinkets, and personal effects” of several of the Espinosas’ victims, leaving the Commonweath to conclude that “these demons” had murdered at least 12 men.

For more than a century, the Espinosas’ story was mostly forgotten, showing up every decade or so in newspapers or magazines, though less as historical scholarship and more as a period curiosity. One story in True West magazine from 1960 includes a drawing of the brothers, both of whom are wearing sombreros. In nearly all of the histories, the brothers are simply Spanish-speaking, sociopathic killers without an origin story—or, at least, not one based entirely on facts. In one tale, Felipe and Vivián Espinosa’s parents, grandparents, brother, and sister were killed in the March 1847 bombardment of Veracruz, Mexico, by American forces. As that narrative went, Felipe thought he received an order from the Virgin Mary to kill 600 Americans—100 for each of his dead family members. In another example, the Espinosas pledge allegiance to the Penitente Brotherhood, a sect of lay Roman Catholics who operated “moradas”— meetinghouses—unaffiliated with the local church. It’s unclear if the Espinosas were Penitentes (later generations of their relatives have claimed a connection), but there’s no doubt Anglo settlers and soldiers in southern Colorado—many of them Protestant—would have viewed any Catholic meeting as a threat to American sovereignty. A narrative that included Spanish-speaking Catholics supporting a pair of Hispano murderers may have rung true among Anglos, furthering the belief that the valley’s residents were anti-American. Hispano lives in the San Luis Valley were often treated as irrelevant to the development of the rest of the Colorado Territory. It was a place of “Mexican and half-breeds,” the Rocky Mountain Directory and Colorado Gazette opined to readers in 1871. “[T]he class of inhabitants…are not particularly noted for enterprise and thrift; hence very little has been accomplished in the way of development.” That ignorance about and malice toward Hispano frontier life is reflected in the news coverage of the Espinosas’ murders, too. Names, dates, and circumstances of the killings differ. Details are fantastical and biased, incited by nascent media intent on selling newspapers. The January

plaza visit that seems to have sparked the Espinosas’ rampage, for example, appears to be an incomplete retelling. Based on the Rocky Mountain News Weekly account from the marshal, there’s room to wonder whether the brothers—in addition to the alleged robbery—also might have been agitators against Anglo settlement and American laws that had confused their communities and led to earlier Hispano arrests. Bringing a unit of Army soldiers to the Espinosas’ plaza would also seem to show that authorities worried about a revolt if the brothers were detained. It seems those concerns were warranted: In the Rocky Mountain News Weekly account, family members rushed to the Espinosa home and passed weapons to the brothers. Eventually, the marshal worried that American troops would be overrun by the plaza’s residents. A deeper understanding of the Espinosas’ motivations doesn’t exist in these retellings. Contemporary Colorado historian Frank Hall once claimed he had the brothers’ memorandum book but had lost it. The judge, historian, and journalist Wilbur Fisk Stone—who covered the murders for the Rocky Mountain News and other publications and helped translate the Espinosas’ letters (but didn’t keep a translated copy for himself )—hardly mentions Colorado’s Hispano border communities in his five-volume, nearly 5,000-page History of Colorado that was published in 1918 and 1919. The Espinosa brothers are not included at all. Ultimately, with so little after-the-fact attention paid to the Espinosas and their plaza neighbors, it’s worth wondering: Were Colorado’s Hispanos deemed so unimportant that even their vigilante killers were mostly forgotten?

An illustration of Fort Garland, which was established in 1858 to protect white settlers in the Colorado Territory

“All is quiet in the country in regard to jayhawkers and murders, especially since the capture and summary execution of the Mexican Espinosa near Cañon City,” the Weekly Commonwealth reported after Vivián was killed. “The one who escaped has not yet CONTINUED ON PAGE 160 DECEMBER 20 19 |

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Wild Breed, Acrylic, 36” x 48” © Karen Roehl

Roehl Western Inspirations

Upcoming Show: 2020 CoorS WeStern Art exhibit & SAle JAnUAry 7 -26, Denver, Co WWW.CoorSWeSternArt.Com www.karenroehl.com

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Calendar

Our curated guide to the best local events in December.

BEST BET DEC. 20–22

Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical

INSIDE 120 Performing Arts

122 Music

120 Arts & Exhibits

124 Special Events

120 Culinary

124 Sports & Recreation

122 Kids & Family

ARTS & EXHIBITS

PERFORMING ARTS DEC. 3–8 Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole

DEC. 5–7 Holiday Pottery Sale Winter calls for

Christmas! The Musical Dr. Seuss’ green Christmas goblin has been imagined in various forms: the original book; Jim Carrey’s over-thetop interpretation in 2000. Now, you can see yet another iteration of the grumpy character in this touring musical. New York–based actor Philip Huffman will play the antihero who tries to ruin Christmas for a cheerful community. Whimsical sets designed by Tony Award–winner John Lee Beatty and eccentric costumes, such as the Grinch’s Kelly green suit, will bring Dr. Seuss’ quirky vision to the stage. Tue-Sun, times vary. Buell Theatre, 14th and Champa streets, 303893-4100, denvercenter.org. $35-$105.

DEC. 5 A Drag Queen Christmas Call-

ing your family’s holiday celebrations a drag might be an insult, but the word takes on a different meaning for this exciting event. Seven elite queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race, including Shuga Cain and Nina West, will perform monologues, belt out sultry holiday tunes (including “Santa Baby” and Ariana Grande’s “December”), and discuss the importance of supporting drag queens. Their attentiondemanding voices and dances will

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Nutcracker Circus After performing The Nutcracker for eight straight years, ballerina Deena Marcum Selko grew weary of it. So, she’s updating the classic ballet by adding acrobatics, contortion, and aerial dancing. Audience members will see familiar characters like Clara and Mother Ginger swinging off trapezes or doing handstands on the backs of other gymnasts. Fri-Sun, times vary. Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave., 303-871-7720. $35-$38. Visit thenutcrackercircus.com.

steamy hot cocoa, cider, and warm cocktails— and, of course, the perfect mug to sip them from. This pottery bazaar is where you’ll find your new favorite drinking receptacle, made by members of the Arapahoe Ceramics Guild, as well as other handmade wares like animalshaped vases, striking statement necklaces, and brightly colored serving dishes. Each creation is shaped, glazed, and fired using special techniques including horsehair firing, which results in lightninglike one-of-a-kind lines on the pottery’s surface. Thu-Fri, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Arapahoe Community College, 5900 S. Santa Fe Dr., Littleton, 303-797-4222, arapahoeceramicsguild.com. Free.

DEC. 6–8 Telluride Fire Festival There’s no need

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to trek more than 1,000 miles to the Nevada desert for a mind-blowing Burning Man–esque experience; the Centennial State has its own firethemed visual and performing arts bash. Like its cousin in the Black Rock Desert, this pyromaniac’s paradise centers around an oversize fire-breathing sculpture—a steel mask created by Atlanta-based artist Ryan Mathern. Throughout the three-day event, you can see flame-wielding dancers and aerialists as well as a mountaintop

sculpture garden with three large creations by artists like Denver-based creator Keith D’Angelo. Fri-Sun, times vary. Transfer Warehouse, 201 S. Fir St., Telluride, 970-708-1059. Ticket prices vary. Visit telluridefirefestival.org.

DEC. 14–15 Firefly Handmade: An Inspired Indie

Artisan Market Black Friday shopping trips might result in the best deals, but if you prefer a more relaxing (and stampede-free) consumer experience, head for this eclectic market. Not only will your hunt for presents probably be successful—hundreds of booths stocked with wares such as Yummy Lotus’ hot pepper jams and Knots’ hand-carved wood charcuterie boards mean you’ll find something for everyone—it’ll be free of frenzied maniacs looking for fleeting deals. Local bands, such as alt-rock outfit Food for Bears, will play live music, and the smells of local food vendors will ensure your excursion is a gift unto itself. Sat-Sun, times vary. Folsom Field, 1951 Colorado Ave., Boulder, 303-492-7931. Free. Visit fireflyhandmade.com.

CULINARY DEC. 14 Holiday Chocolate Festival For foodies

who have a serious sweet tooth, this chocolate-centric summit boasts more than 100,000 types of sugary treats. Visitors can taste an assortment of cocoa-laden truffles, bonbons, cupcakes, cakes, and pastries from regional confectioners such as Colorado Springs’ Scratch Sweets and Albuquerque-based Elixir Boutique Chocolates. Once you’re satisfied, head over to the craft booth to paint ornaments while you let your appetite build back up for the chocolate pudding eating contest. Sat 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Colorado Springs Event Center, 3960 Palmer Park Blvd., Colorado Springs, 303-347-8252, coloradospringsevent center.com. $10. Visit cochocolatefests.com.

DEC. 24 Duck the Halls Instead of setting off the

fire alarm because you burnt the ham, let Beast & Bottle cook Christmas Eve dinner for you. During an intimate dinner, chef Paul Reilly will deliver a menu for two, including succulent honey-lacquered duck breast, star anise confit duck leg, and festive poultry-centric sides, such as duck bacon sticky buns and red beet barbecued duck gizzard. Paired with offerings, such as a cocktail made with Ela Family Farms cider, from the Uptown eatery’s drink menu, the cuisine will make you question why you ever attempted cooking holiday feasts in the first place. Tue 4:30-9 p.m. Beast & Bottle, 719 E. 17th Ave., 303-623-3223, beastandbottle.com. $99.

DEC. 31 Tavernetta New Year’s Eve Party

Though New Year’s Eve is often a time for thinking about the future, this retro party

Courtesy of Denver Center for the Performing Arts

have you wishing every Christmas celebration was this boisterous. Thu 8-10 p.m. Fillmore Auditorium, 1510 Clarkson St., 303837-1482, fillmore auditorium.org. Ticket prices vary.

WORLD-CLASS EVENTS 20 19 – 20 20

NOVEMBER 2019 Beaver Creek Mountain Opening Day

November 27

World’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Competition

November 27

39th Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony

November 29

DECEMBER 2019 Birds of Prey Men’s World Cup Races Beaver Creek Extraordinaire presents Cheer

New Year’s Eve Celebration

December 5–8 December 21–31 December 31

JANUARY 2020 Beaver Creek Extraordinaire presents Cheer

Snowshoe Race Series

January 1–4 January 5

Beaver Creek Winter Culinary Weekend

January 23–26

FEBRUARY 2020 Snowshoe Race Series

February 2

Beaver Creek Extraordinaire presents Spangled

February 14 –17

Talons Challenge

WEEKLY WINTER EVENTS Beaver Creek Fun Fest December 7, 14, 21, 28 January 4, 11, 18, 25 February 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 March 7, 14, 21, 28 April 4, 11 Thursday Night Lights December 19, 26 January 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 February 6, 13, 20, 27 March 5, 12, 19, 26

February 22

MARCH 2020 Snowshoe Race Series

March 1

Beaver Creek Extraordinaire presents Bloom

March 7–28

APRIL 2020 Beaver Creek Mountain Closing Day

April 12

For full events calendar, please visit BeaverCreek.com/Events

CALENDAR encourages attendees to look toward the past. Revelers can dress in throwback attire (from shimmery flapper dresses to corduroy bellbottoms) and groove to nostalgic tunes from the past half-century. Once they’ve worked up a sufficient appetite, partiers will be treated to classic Italian bites, such as “spiedini” (skewered meat pinwheels stuffed with red sauce and breadcrumbs). The Italian outfit’s bartenders will also be dishing out bubbly, mixing festive cocktails, and serving up a Frasca & Blackberry Farm Brewery collaboration beer all night long. Tue 9 p.m.-1 a.m. Tavernetta, 1889 16th St., 720605-1889, tavernettadenver.com. $125.

KIDS & FAMILY DEC. 7 Frozen Fun Open House Santa may be

the season’s foremost celebrity, but for those under 13 years old, Frozen’s Anna and Elsa are close seconds. At this meet-and-greet, kiddos will get the chance to visit with the stars of one of Disney’s most popular flicks, see them perform musical numbers—such as “Let It Go” and “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”— and hear them read a selection of princessthemed books. In honor of the movie’s leading man, Olaf, kids can also build paper snowmen while enjoying an array of sugary treats, like cookies, candy, and holiday punch. Sat 10 a.m.-midnight. Sweet Celebrations Spa, 631

N. Weber St., Suite 100, Colorado Springs, 719-225-2110, sweetcelebrationspa.com. $10.

DEC. 13 Reindeer Games Thanks to this Yuletide

event, Santa’s workshop is coming to Colorado this holiday season. Kids can prance through a multilevel obstacle course—complete with hurdles, a bean bag toss, sack races, and holiday-themed hopscotch—in the hopes of winning a special prize, such as a stuffed Rudolph. The wonderland also includes a real reindeer petting zoo, a photo op with Santa, cookies and hot chocolate, and a ride on the children’s Winter Express train, which will loop your little elves one mile around expansive Philip S. Miller Park. Fri 3-6 p.m. The Millhouse at Philip S. Miller Park, 1381 W. Plum Creek Pkwy., Castle Rock, 720-724-1381, crgov.com. Free.

DEC. 17 PJ Masks Live! Save the Day! Not all

superheroes wear capes; in fact, some, including the protagonists of this live experience, prefer to stay comfortable in their pajamas. Inspired by the animated Disney series PJ Masks, this live-action adaptation features six-year-olds Conor, Amaya, and Greg, who, after dark, transform into the PJ-wearing superheroes Catboy, Owlette, and Gekko. Watch the three performers as they discover their playground has been vandalized and seek to defeat the villains who’ve committed the crime. Tue 7 p.m. Pikes Peak Center, 190 S. Cascade Ave., Colorado Springs, 719-477-2121, pikespeakcenter. com. $35-$55.

History Colorado

Women’s Vote Centennial // Speaker Series

Bold Women. Change History.

Join the Conversation

Scholars, Authors and History-Makers Dolores Huerta // December 12, 2019 Civil Rights Activist & Community Organizer

Susan Helms // January 9, 2020 Pioneering Woman Astronaut

Carol Anderson // February 12, 2020 Human Rights Advocate

TICKETS ON SALE NOW Complimentary childcare available

H-co.org/BoldWomen

Media Sponsor

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A collaboration led by History Colorado and the Colorado Women’s Vote Centennial Commission.

MUSIC DEC. 5 Hanson The teenybopper brothers who

brought us “Mmmbop” now have beards and their own brewing company—but that hasn’t stopped them from delivering more catchy tunes. During their 15-stop Wintry Mix tour, Oklahoma-born siblings Zac, Isaac, and Taylor will showcase a selection of fan favorites like “Weird” as well as holiday classics (think “Winter Wonderland”). Even fans who’ve been with the band from the start will hear something new— the group is set to perform never-before-heard singles as a preview of their new album, which will be released next year. Thu 7 p.m. Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Ave., 303-832-1874, ogdentheatre.com. $40-$45. Visit hanson.net.

BEST BET DEC. 16 All Beethoven—250th Birthday Celebration Today, musicians are lucky if their songs stay atop the charts for more than an hour. It speaks volumes about the excellence of Ludwig van Beethoven’s oeuvre, then, that the Colorado Symphony will spend five months celebrating the legendary composer’s tunes at Boettcher Concert Hall. To commemorate Beethoven’s 250th birthday, the 80-person orchestra will perform a different piece from the German composer every month, starting on December 16 with arguably his most famous arrangement, Symphony No. 5. Mon 7:30 p.m. Boettcher Concert Hall, 1000 14th St., 303-6237876, coloradosymphony.org. $15-$89.

A SPARKLING WINE FOR EVERY OCCASION WWW.NINETYPLUSCELLARS.COM

CALENDAR DEC. 20 Railbenders Consider the old-timey sound of this outlaw country band your antidote to this season’s onslaught of cheesy holiday tunes. The Denver-born band has country chops— they’ve played at Stagecoach Country Music Festival—and now, they’re back in the Mile High City with favorites like “I-70 Westbound.” They might perform a few Christmas songs, but only in their trademark hard-hitting country style, so you can trade in jingle bells for the click of these cowboys’ spurs. Fri 9 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., 303-377-1666. $20-$25. Visit railbenders.com.

SPECIAL EVENTS BEST BET DEC. 7 1940s White Christmas Ball Studies have shown that nostalgia peaks during the holidays. In that spirit, this ball, a celebration of both the era and the 1954 film, will satiate your wistfulness with time-turning activities like swing-dance lessons. Academy Award–winning actor George Chakiris, who worked as a dancer in the musical, will also be at the gala to talk movie-making some 70 years ago. Sat 3:30 p.m.12:30 a.m. Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center, 650 15th St., 720-924-1945. Ticket prices vary. Visit 1940sball.org. BEST BET DEC. 14 Party Like It’s 1989 Bash Before the Little Nell became Aspen’s only ski-in, ski-out hotel, the site was one of the community’s

funkiest dive bars. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of its transformation, the hotel is going retro. Attendees will don vintage ski attire, sip throwback cocktails, and nosh on hors d’oeuvre like truffle fries. The lodge’s tree-lighting ceremony in the courtyard the next day is also free, so you’ll have two opportunities to fete the iconic hotel. Sat 3-9 p.m. The Little Nell, 675 E. Durant Ave., Aspen, 970-920-4600, thelittlenell.com. Free.

DEC. 31 White Rose Gala When you read The

Great Gatsby in English class, you might’ve wondered if you’d ever have the chance to attend a Jay Gatsby–esque affair. This extravagant event is your chance: Partiers can jive to the music of local band Swing Je T’aime with professional flapper dancers and ballroom-style performers. As confetti and Champagne help you ring in the new year, you might just wonder to yourself: Is it 2020 or 1920? Thu 9 p.m. Ellie Caulkins Opera House, 1385 Curtis St., 720-865-4220. $79$129. Visit newyearspartydenver.com.

SPORTS & RECREATION DEC. 4 Campfire Sessions: Happy Feet & Choosing the Right Sock After undertaking a few fourteeners, most hikers realize that sturdy socks are the only thing standing between their toes and gnarly blisters. At this educational event, REI footwear experts will teach outdoor adventurers how to pick the perfect pair, including how to

decide between ankle- or calf-height and how to determine the right fit for your favorite sport, from biking to trail running. Afterward, you’ll get a 23 percent off coupon to use on a bevy of REI-branded products, including sleeping bags, backpacks, and—yes—dozens of socks. Wed 11:30 a.m. & 2:30 p.m. REI Boulder, 1789 28th St., Boulder 303-583-9970, rei.com. Free.

DEC. 5–8 Birds of Prey The Winter Olympics only

happen once every four years, but luckily for admirers of perfectly executed snowsports, the world’s best skiiers gather annually at Beaver Creek Resort. Nab a front-row seat to faceoffs between the globe’s top male athletes—who will compete in downhill, super-G, and giant slalom—including Colorado native River Radamus. After the competitions, catch live music from local cover bands while sampling suds from Great Divide Brewing and Ballast Point Brewing Company. Thu-Sun, times vary. Beaver Creek Resort, 26 Avondale Lane, Avon, 970-777-2015. Ticket prices vary. Visit bcworldcup.com.

DEC. 21 Skate with Santa Winter wouldn’t be complete without ice-skating and a visit from Santa, and this kid-friendly celebration combines both. Families can carve loops into Greeley’s 200-by85-foot indoor rink, and Santa will lead a group lesson to boost wobbly mini skaters’ confidence. Warm up with hot chocolate while jamming out to classic Christmas tunes. Sat. Noon–1:30 p.m. Greeley Ice Haus, 900 Eighth Ave., Greeley, 970350-9402, greeleyrec.com. $6.

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Donate blood and help transform lives this season. Take just an hour out of your day to help patients in need. Donation opportunities are available seven days a week. Find a donation location near you at vitalant.org. Appointments preferred, walk-ins welcome. Bonfils Blood Center is now Vitalant.

GIVE BLOOD

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Dining Guide Our directory of where to eat in Denver and beyond. Avanti Food & Beverage $$ Highland / International Current tenants of this hip food hall include Street Feud, Meta Asian Kitchen, Brava! Pizzeria Della Strada, Quiero Arepas, the Rotary, and Bistro Georgette. 3200 Pecos St., 720-2694778. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

NEW Indicates a restaurant featured in 5280 for the first time (though not necessarily a restaurant that has just opened).

25 BEST

Indicates inclusion in our annual list of Denver’s best restaurants, released each October. These selections are at the discretion of 5280 editors and are subject to change.

Spanish wine and food. Order a charcuterie board or the paella mariscos to share. Reservations accepted. 2900 Larimer St., 303-816-3300. Dinner, Brunch

$$$ $16 to $25 $$$$ $26 and higher

25 BEST Barolo Grill

A 25 BEST 12 at Madison $$ Congress Park / American With a menu offering 18 small plates meant for sharing (plus one large-format dish meant to feed two to four people), Jeff Osaka’s cozy restaurant is ideal for dining with a small group. Don’t miss the French dip. Reservations accepted. 1160 Madison St., 720-216-0190. Dinner

25 BEST Acorn RiNo / New American Contemporary American

cuisine with Southern and Moroccan notes is served from an oak-fired oven and grill at this mainstay inside the Source. Don’t miss the bar’s inventive cocktails. Reservations accepted. The Source, 3350 Brighton Blvd., 720-542-3721. Lunch, Dinner

American Elm $$ Berkeley / American Elevated American fare and classic cocktails anchor the menu at this neighborhood spot, where you can get $2 oysters and $3 shrimp cocktail every day. Go for the lollipop chicken wings or the steak frites. Reservations accepted. 4132 W. 38th Ave., 720-749-3186. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

25 BEST Annette $$$ Aurora / American Acorn’s former sous chef, Caroline Glover, brings a warm dining experience to Stanley Marketplace with Annette. Enjoy a family-style menu featuring seasonal salads and wood-grilled fare. Reservations accepted. Stanley Marketplace, 2501 Dallas St., Ste. 108, Aurora, 720-710-9975. Dinner, Brunch

25 BEST Arcana $$$$ Boulder / American This charming Boulder restaurant aims to explore the roots of American heritage through food. Pair a cider with the Colorado lamb or the farmer’s cheese toast. Reservations accepted. 909 Walnut St., Boulder, 303-444-3885. Dinner, Brunch

126

| 5280 | DECEMBER 20 19

Visit our online listings at 5280.com/ restaurants.

Barcelona Wine Bar $$ RiNo / Spanish This trendy wine bar specializes in

PRICE KEY ( Average Entrée ) $ under $10 $$ $11 to $15

LOOKING FOR MORE DINING OPTIONS?

$$$$ Cherry Creek / Italian Dedication to authenticity translates to the food and extensive wine menu at this elegant eatery focused on the cuisine of northern Italy’s Tuscany and Piedmont. Reservations accepted. 3030 E. Sixth Ave., 303-393-1040. Dinner

Basta $$$ Boulder / Italian This wood-fired eatery offers bold flavors and interesting wine. Try the lasagna with seasonal ingredients. Reservations accepted. 3601 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-997-8775. Dinner

25 BEST Beast & Bottle $$$$ Uptown Area / Seasonal A sustainable-sourcing mantra permeates a menu featuring everything from local lamb to cod collars. Reservations accepted. 719 E. 17th Ave., 303-623-3223. Dinner, Brunch

25 BEST Beckon $$$$ RiNo / Scandinavian Chef Duncan Holmes brings an elevated, intimate dining experience to Larimer Street. The Scandinavianinfluenced menu changes seasonally, and excellent, thoughtful wine pairings are available. Reservations required. 2843 Larimer St., 303-749-0020. Dinner

Big Mac & Little Lu’s $$$ Westminster / Seafood Big Mac &

Little Lu’s brings the Florida beaches to the Centennial state with carefully sourced seafood and thoughtfully paired beverages. Reservations accepted for parties of eight or more. 2851 E. 120th Ave., Westminster, 303-404-2722. Lunch, Dinner

Biju’s Little Curry Shop $ Berkeley / Indian This fast-casual curry shop brings traditional plates from southern India to a cozy dining room. Reservations not accepted. 4279 Tennyson St., 303-975-6886. Lunch, Dinner

The Bindery $$$ Highland / Contemporary Linda Hampsten Fox’s eatery, market, and bakery offers worldly fare inspired by her travels. Settle in for the smoked rabbit pecan pie with mustard gelato or the tamarind barbecue octopus. . Reservations accepted. 1817 Central St., 303-993-2364. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Bistro Vendôme $$$ LoDo / French This romantic spot on Larimer Square conjures up Paris with crusty bread, excellent coffee, and a tranquil patio. Reservations accepted. 1420 Larimer St., 303-825-3232. Dinner, Brunch

PRO PIE Because a crispy crust reigns supreme, the pies at five-month-old Fringe Pizza, inside Golden’s Tributary Food Hall & Drinkery, are served whole with a side of scissors. Cutting slices as you eat ensures the moisture from the sauce and toppings doesn’t sabotage the crust’s texture. Order the Canadian, with mango-jalapeño barbecue sauce, pork, jalapeños, pineapple, and goat cheese. These listings are in no way related to advertising in 5280. If you find that a restaurant differs significantly from the information in its listing or your favorite restaurant is missing from the Dining Guide, please let us know. Write us at 5280 Publishing, Inc., 1675 Larimer St., Suite 675, Denver, CO 80202 or dining@5280.com.

Sarah Boyum

SYMBOL KEY

Bittersweet $$$$ Washington Park West / American Chef Olav Peter-

Brightmarten $$$$ Belcaro / American Go to this neighborhood joint

son’s restaurant has its own 600-square-foot garden. The constantly changing menu takes classic dishes and gives them a fresh twist. Reservations accepted. 500 E. Alameda Ave., 303-942-0320. Dinner

(with its own in-house butchery program!) for elevated comfort food. Try the pork schnitzel with warm fingerling potato salad. Reservations accepted. 730 S. University Blvd., 720-541-7696. Dinner, Brunch

Black Cat Farm Table Bistro $$$$ Boulder / Seasonal Diners can be assured that the

British Bulldog Pub $$ Five Points / Pub This pub serves up a mélange of fare

produce, dairy, and meats served in the cozy dining room are sourced from executive chef Eric Skokan’s Boulder County farm. Reservations accepted. 1964 13th St., Boulder, 303-444-5500. Dinner

from English shepherd’s pie and fish and chips to Pakistani curries and all-American burgers in a casual setting. Reservations not accepted. 2052 Stout St., 303-2957974. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Café Marmotte $$$$ Washington Park / French This modern-yet-cozy spot in the heart of Washington Park transports diners to the heart of Paris with traditional French bistro fare. In the new year, Italian dishes will make an appearance. Reservations accepted. 209 S. Downing St., 303-999-0395. Dinner, Brunch

Carmine’s on Penn $$ Speer / Italian This family-style Italian restaurant serves huge platters of hearty food on a year-round patio. Don’t miss the seasonal gnocchi or risotto. Reservations accepted. 92 S. Pennsylvania St., 303-777-6443. Dinner

25 BEST Blackbelly $$$ Boulder / New American Chef Hosea Rosenberg’s

Broadway Market $$ Capitol Hill / International This sprawling marketplace

25 BEST Cattivella $$$ Stapleton / Italian Chef Elise Wiggins offers rustic,

meaty menu focuses on charcuterie, small plates, and daily butcher specials. Try the crispy pig ears with red pepper jelly. Check out the butcher shop and grab-andgo market, Blackbelly Butcher, located next door. Reservations accepted. 1606 Conestoga St., Boulder, 303-247-1000. Dinner

is home to nine food concepts, a central bar, a selfserve beer wall, and two retail options. Drop in to dine on offerings from Royal Rooster, Glazed & Confused Donuts, Pizzeria Coperta, Mother Tongue, and many more. 950 Broadway, 720-390-7132. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

wood-fired Italian fare from a sprawling chef’s counter. Go for grilled oysters, seasonal pizzas, and fresh pastas. Reservations accepted. 10195 E. 29th Dr., Ste. 110, Aurora, 303-645-3779. Lunch, Dinner

Blue Bonnet Cafe and Lounge $$ Baker / Mexican Killer margaritas, homemade chips and salsa, and chiles rellenos make this fun, casual spot a favorite. Reservations accepted. 457 S. Broadway, 303-778-0147. Lunch, Dinner

Bonnie Brae Tavern $$ Washington Park / American This tavern has been dishing up all-American eats, including fried chicken, since 1934‚ but it’s most famous for its golden-crusted pizza. Reservations accepted. 740 S. University Blvd., 303-777-2262. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

GO BIG

C Cafe Brazil $$$ Berkeley / Latin American This colorful South American restaurant specializes in seafood and potent rum cocktails. Go for the grilled Spanish manchego with fresh salsa verde or one of the hearty stews. Reservations accepted. 4408 Lowell Blvd., 303-480-1877. Lunch, Dinner

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Cherry Cricket $$ Cherry Creek / Pub This popular neighborhood hangout offers excellent green chile and great burgers. Customize your burger with toppings such as baconjalapeño jam and grilled pineapple. Also try the Ballpark location. Reservations not accepted. 2641 E. Second Ave., 303-322-7666. Lunch, Dinner

ChoLon $$$$ Downtown / Asian This contemporary restaurant serves modern twists on Pan-Asian cuisine. Try the French onion soup dumplings or the Wagyu beef skewers with Hong Kong steak sauce. Reservations accepted. 1555 Blake St., 303-353-5223. Lunch, Dinner

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Chook Platt Park / Contemporary Chook specializes in

Australian-style, charcoal-grilled rotisserie chicken and fresh veggie sides. Try the Colorado mashed potatoes with shallot butter and gravy and the charred broccoli salad. Reservations not accepted. 1300 S. Pearl St., 303-282-8399. Lunch, Dinner

Chow Morso Osteria $$$ Downtown / Italian The team behind Barolo Grill brings hand-rolled pastas and comforting Italian plates to LoDo. Try the veal-stuffed agnolotti with sage-butter sauce or the gnocchi with braised mushroom ragu. Reservations accepted. 1500 Wynkoop St., 720-6394089. Lunch, Dinner

City, O’ City $$ Capitol Hill / American This meat-free zone features pizza, vegan pastries, and a full bar. Try the chickenfried cauliflower and waffle or the udon noodle bowl. Reservations not accepted. 206 E. 13th Ave., 303-8316443. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

25 BEST Comal Heritage Food Incubator $$ RiNo / Latin American You’ll find family recipes from Latin America and Syria at this restaurant, which has a rotating menu and provides job training to local women. Reservations not accepted. 3455 Ringsby Ct., Ste. 105, 303-292-0770. Lunch

Coperta $$$ Uptown Area / Italian Tuck into comforting Italian fare at this restaurant, which celebrates the cuisine of Rome and Southern Italy. Try the pollo alla diavola or the rigatoni carbonara. Reservations accepted. 400 E. 20th Ave., 720-749-4666. Lunch, Dinner

25 BEST Corrida $$$$ Boulder / Spanish Housed on the rooftop level of the PearlWest building, this elegant Spanish steak house offers stunning Flatiron views and fabulous cocktails and wines. Splurge on the Japanese wagyu or opt for a locally sourced steak. Reservations accepted. 1023 Walnut St., Ste. 400, 303-444-1333. Dinner, Brunch

Cuba Cuba Cafe & Bar $$$ Golden Triangle / Latin American Don’t miss the mojitos at Denver’s authentic Cuban restaurant. Multiple locations. Reservations accepted Mon-Thu for parties of six or more. 1173 Delaware St., 303-605-2822. Dinner

D NEW Daughter Thai $$$$ Highland / Asian This upscale Thai restaurant serves beautifully plated dishes and inventive cocktails with an elegant ambience to match. Reservations accepted. 1700 Platte St., Suite 140, 720-667-4652. Lunch, Dinner

Denver Central Market $$ RiNo / International This marketplace features 11 vendors with dining options ranging from ceviche to ice cream. Take your pick from Crema Bodega, Culture Meat & Cheese, High Point Creamery, and more. 2669 Larimer St. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

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Denver Milk Market $$ LoDo / International Bonanno Concepts’ 16-venue collection of bars and restaurants has everything from fresh pasta to poke bowls to charcuterie. Don’t miss the the fried chicken sandwiches at Lou’s Hot and Naked. 1800 Wazee St., 303-792-8242. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

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25 BEST Dio Mio $$ RiNo / Italian One thing you can count on at Alex Figura and Spencer White’s fast-casual Italian eatery: perfect pasta. Try the cacio e pepe or the squid ink fusilli with blue crab. Reservations accepted for parties of eight or more. 3264 Larimer St., 303-5621965. Dinner

Domo $$$ Lincoln Park / Japanese Enjoy authentic country-style Japanese foods in a traditional setting. Create your own Donburi rice bowl or try a selection of marinated seafood from chef and owner Gaku Homma’s Wanko sushi menu. Reservations not accepted. 1365 Osage St., 303-595-3666. Lunch, Dinner

Dry Storage $$ Boulder / Cafe Savor coffee and carbs galore at this innovative cafe and retail grain mill. An exquisite selection of pastries, breads, and sandwiches are made from scratch daily. Try the tuna sandwich on Pullman toast. Reservations not accepted. 3601 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 720-420-0918. Breakfast, Lunch

E El Jefe $$ Sunnyside / Mexican Farm-to-table Mexican fare will lure you to this welcoming Sunnyside haunt. Order the Colorado beef barbacoa tacos and save room for the churro ice cream sandwiches. Reservations accepted. 2450 W. 44th Ave., 720-389-7615. Dinner

El Noa Noa $$ Lincoln Park / Mexican Authentic Mexican food with top-notch margaritas. Reservations not accepted. 722 Santa Fe Dr., 303-623-9968. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Elway’s $$$$ Downtown / Steak House This sleek restaurant named after the Broncos great serves classic steak house fare in upscale environs. Multiple locations. Reservations accepted. 1881 Curtis St., 303-312-3107. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Euclid Hall Bar & Kitchen $$ Downtown / Pub This historic hall has been transformed into an expansive two-story bar and kitchen. Innovative and high-quality international pub food is on the menu, including house-made sausages and poutine. Reservations accepted. 1317 14th St., 303-595-4255. Lunch, Dinner

F Finn’s Manor RiNo / International The indoor bar serves a wide

(including nods from the James Beard Foundation). The Friulano cuisine always wows. Reservations accepted. 1738 Pearl St., Boulder, 303-442-6966. Dinner

French 75 $$$ Downtown / French Mizuna’s younger, more casual sibling features approachable French bistro fare. Try the half-rotisserie chicken served with buerre fondue and pommes frites. Reservations accepted. 717 17th St., Ste. B, 303-405-7575. Lunch, Dinner

Fruition Restaurant Country Club / American James Beard Award-

$$$

winning chef Alex Seidel’s tiny kitchen focuses on seasonal dishes that are big on flavor. Many ingredients come straight from Seidel’s farm. Reservations accepted. 1313 E. Sixth Ave., 303-831-1962. Dinner

G Gaetano’s $$$ Highland / Italian This comfy neighborhood hangout

selection of cocktails, while food trucks offer diverse variety of bites, from fried chicken sandwiches to Puerto Rican fare. 2927 Larimer St., 303-353-2340. Dinner

25 BEST Frasca Food and Wine $$$$ Boulder / Italian Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson and master sommelier Bobby Stuckey’s fine-dining mecca has racked up scores of accolades over the years

features old-school favorites, such as chicken Parmesan. Reservations accepted. 3760 Tejon St., 303-455-9852. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Guard and Grace $$$$ Downtown / Steak House Chef Troy Guard’s modern steak house offers a chic setting for his innovative fare, which includes a raw bar and delicate salads. Try the flight of filet mignon. Reservations accepted. 1801 California St., 303-293-8500. Lunch, Dinner

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H Highland Tap and Burger Highland / American Pick the patty, bun, and

premium toppings for your burger. Also try the Sloan’s Lake location. Reservations accepted for eight or more. 2219 W. 32nd Ave., 720-287-4493. Lunch, Dinner

25 BEST Hop Alley $$$ RiNo / Chinese From Tommy Lee of Uncle, this neighborhood hangout serves dishes rooted in Chinese tradition with a touch of distinctive flair. Try the dan dan mian. Reservations accepted. 3500 Larimer St., 720-379-8340. Dinner

Il Posto $$$$ RiNo / Italian Sample Andrea Frizzi’s imaginative Italian cuisine in sleek, urban environs. Don’t miss the seasonal risotto or the the Berkshire pork bolognese with oyster mushrooms. Reservations accepted. 2601 Larimer St., 303-394-0100. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

India’s Restaurant $$$ Hampden / Indian This spot serves traditional fare, including flavorful dishes like tandoori chicken. Reservations accepted. 8921 E. Hampden Ave., 303-755-4284. Lunch, Dinner

Izakaya Den $$ Platt Park / International Ultra-fresh sushi, sashimi, and creative small plates are on the menu at this local favorite. Reservations accepted. 1487-A S. Pearl St., 303-777-0691. Lunch, Dinner

J Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar $$$ Downtown / Seafood Enjoy sustainable seafood in an upbeat atmosphere. Specialties include the raw oyster bar and seasonally composed plates. Multiple locations. Reservations accepted. 1539 17th St., 303-292-5767. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Jerusalem Restaurant $$ University / Middle Eastern You can’t beat this spot’s tasty, affordable, and traditional Middle Eastern fare. Go for the slow-cooked stuffed lamb or the falafel sandwich and save room for the fresh-baked baklava. Reservations accepted. 1890 E. Evans Ave., 303-7778828. Lunch, Dinner

Jovanina’s Broken Italian Downtown / Italian This gorgeous LoDo eatery

$$$

expands on traditional Italian fare by incorporating unexpected, seasonal ingredients. Reservations accepted. 1520 Blake St., 720-541-7721. Dinner

25 BEST Julep RiNo / Southern This isn’t your typical Southern

restaurant. Chef Kyle Foster serves sophisticated dishes inspired by the flavors and techniques of the South, such as barbecued snails and pork and oyster sausage. Whatever you do, don’t miss Foster’s exemplary biscuits. Reservations accepted. 3258 Larimer St., 303-295-8977. Dinner, Brunch

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K Kachina Southwestern Grill $$ LoDo / Southwestern Located in the Dairy Block, this spot specializes in southwestern fare, such as Navajo tacos. Also try the Westminster location. Reservations accepted. 1890 Wazee St., 720-460-2728. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

The Kitchen $$$ Downtown / Contemporary This community bistro

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features consciously sourced ingredients and a raw seafood bar. Don’t miss the comforting tomato soup. Also try the Boulder location. Reservations accepted. 1520 16th St., 303-623-3127. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

L La Cour $$$ Platt Park / French This funky bar and Parisian-style bistro displays a wide range of local art and offers a fantastic patio and live music. Reservations accepted. 1643 S. Broadway, 303-777-5000. Dinner, Brunch

La Cueva $$ Aurora / Mexican You’ll find excellent chiles rellenos and refried beans at this spot, plus a nice wine list and more than 120 types of tequila. Reservations accepted. 9742 E. Colfax Ave., Aurora, 303-367-1422. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

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La Loteria $ Speer / Mexican Former food truck La Loteria’s brickand-mortar shop serves up fresh Mexican dishes inspired by chef/owner Edgar Silvestre’s family recipes. Reservations not accepted. 42 S. Broadway St., 720-389-9055. Lunch, Dinner

Le Bilboquet $$$$ Cherry Creek / French An offshoot of the more than 30-year-old New York City establishment, Le Bilboquet serves upscale French fare in a posh setting. Reservations accepted. 299 St. Paul St., 303-835-9999. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

REAL SIMPLE Friendly service from the co-owners (Potager veterans) and straightforward, scratch-made griddled tacos, burgers, and sandwiches make Little Beast Street Food on East Colfax feel like it’s been a part of its new ’hood for far longer than the five months it’s been open. You can’t miss with the concise menu, but the fried chicken sandwich, a juicy marvel, is a must-try. Get it with a side of impeccable skin-on fries.

25 BEST LeRoux $$$$ Downtown / French Lon Symensma’s upscale, European-inspired eatery features table-side preparations and a roving cheese cart. Don’t miss the Paris-Brest dessert. Reservations accepted. 1555 Blake St., Ste. 102, 720-845-1673. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Linger LoHi / International Set in the former three-story

Olinger Mortuary’s parking garage, this restaurant takes you around the world with a menu of small plates. Reservations accepted. 2030 W. 30th Ave., 303-9933120. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Little Beast Street Food $ Congress Park / American This casual joint has juicy brisket burgers, inventive sandwiches, and griddled tacos. Reservations not accepted. 2730 E. Colfax Ave., 303-399-4137. Lunch, Dinner

Logan Street $$$ Capitol Hill / Mediterranean From the owners behind Carboy Winery, Logan Street serves wood-fired fare, house-made pastas, and flatbreads that pair well with the house-made libations. Stop by the wine bar and tasting room next door. Reservations accepted. 400 E. 7th Ave., 720-617-9410. Lunch, Dinner

Lola Coastal Mexican $$$ LoHi / Mexican The flavors and beachy vibes of Mexi-

Los Chingones $$ RiNo / Mexican Los Chingones offers shareable Mexi-

Mas Kaos $ Berkeley / International Mexican meets Italian in this

can cuisine with distinctive style. Find a menu marked by ceviches, funditos, and tacos. Multiple locations. Reservations not accepted. 2463 Larimer St., 303-2950686. Lunch, Dinner

hybrid between two South Pearl favorites, Kaos Pizzeria and Uno Mas Taqueria y Cantina. Reservations accepted. 4528 Tennyson St., 720-638-2100. Lunch, Dinner

Luca $$$$ Capitol Hill / Italian Convivial hospitality and classic

Max’s Wine Dive $$$ Speer / Southern Max’s Wine Dive features a casual

Italian dishes greet you at this spot. Don’t miss the house-made burrata cheese. Reservations accepted. 711 Grant St., 303-832-6600. Dinner

Lucile’s Creole Café $$ Speer / Breakfast Lucile’s offers Cajun and Creolestyle breakfasts and lunches with great service. Multiple locations. Reservations not accepted. 275 S. Logan St., 303-282-6258. Breakfast, Lunch, Brunch

M Mango House $$ Aurora / International This immigrant- and refugeeled food hall is home to six outstanding culinary concepts, including Urban Burma, Jasmine Syrian Food, Golden Sky Sushi, and Nepali Mountain Kitchen.

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The hospitality is as warm as the food is delicious. Reservations not accepted. 10180 E. Colfax Ave., 303-900-8639. Lunch, Dinner

environment, solid wine list, and Southern comfort food with an upscale twist. Try the famous fried chicken. Reservations accepted. 696 Sherman St., 303-593-2554. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Mehak India’s Aroma $$ Cherry Creek / Indian There’s not a buffet in sight at this upscale Indian restaurant, where everything from chicken korma to lamb vindaloo is on the menu. Reservations accepted. 250 Steele St., Ste. 100, 720638-9350. Lunch, Dinner

25 BEST Mercantile Dining & Provision $$$ Downtown / New American Award-winning chefs Alex Seidel and Matt Vawter offer contemporary farmto-table fare. Mercantile also features counter-service dining for breakfast and lunch, as well as a marketplace of locally sourced foodstuffs. Reservations accepted for dinner. Union Station, 1701 Wynkoop St., Ste. 155, 720-460-3733. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Sarah Boyum

co’s Baja California Peninsula shine at Lola. Order the charred octopus. Reservations accepted. 1575 Boulder St., 720-570-8686. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Mercury Cafe $$$ Five Points / Contemporary Enjoy live music and plenty of vegetarian options, as well as pasta dishes, Colorado fish, and grass-fed bison, lamb, and beef. Reservations accepted. 2199 California St., 303-2949281. Dinner, Brunch

Mizu Izakaya $$ LoHi / Sushi This contemporary Japanese restaurant offers an impressive bar and a hip atmosphere. Order items from the binchotan (charcoal grill) or the raw bar, or give appetizers like the cream pork kimchi a try. Reservations accepted. 1560 Boulder St., 720-372-7100. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

25 BEST Morin $$$ Downtown / French Chef Max MacKissock serves imaginative French fare at this elegant eatery. Sip a sophisticated cocktail, mocktail, or a glass of natural wine from the extensive list while enjoying a platter of raw oysters. Reservations accepted. 1600 15th St., 303-623-0534. Dinner

N Narrative $$$ Cherry Creek / American Chef Paul Nagan serves gussied-up versions of American favorites such as shrimp and grits with Tabasco butter and caesar salad deviled eggs at this sleek eatery. Reservations accepted. 222 Milwaukee St., 720-571-8080. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Valid 12/31/19 only, subject to availability. Guests must be 21 years of age to attend party. Restrictions may apply.

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New Saigon $$ Athmar Park / Vietnamese This spot serves an extensive menu featuring delicious rice paper wraps, crispy soft shell crabs, soups, salads, and much more. Reservations accepted for five or more. 630 S. Federal Blvd., 303-936-4954. Lunch, Dinner

O Old Major $$$$ LoHi / American Go for owner Justin Brunson’s bistrostyle, seasonal cuisine with an emphasis on locally raised heritage meat. Reservations accepted. 3316 Tejon St., 720-420-0622. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Ototo $$$ Platt Park / Japanese Sushi Den’s Toshi Kizaki serves his Japanese robata-style tapas, ramen, and seafood in a casual setting. Reservations accepted. 1501 Pearl St., 303-733-2503. Dinner

Pho Duy $ Westwood / Vietnamese Slurp down delicious bowls of noodle soup at this popular Vietnamese mainstay. Reservations not accepted. 925 S. Federal Blvd., 303-937-1609. Lunch, Dinner

Phoenician Kabob South Park Hill / Middle Eastern This quiet

restaurant serves a solid menu of Middle Eastern and Lebanese fare. Try the sabanekh, pastries stuffed with spinach, onion, and pine nuts. Reservations accepted. 5709 E. Colfax Ave., 303-355-7213. Lunch, Dinner

The Plimoth $$$$ Northeast Metro / American An emphasis on locally farmed and foraged ingredients results in an ever-changing menu of seasonal dishes, like confit heirloom potatoes and cauliflower-turnip gratinée. Reservations accepted. 2335 E. 28th Ave., 303-2971215. Dinner

Pony Up Downtown / Contemporary This casual bar

serves fantastic French dip sandwiches (try the smoked mushroom or Italian beef varieties) and craft cocktails. Reservations not accepted. 1808 Blake St., 720-710-8144. Lunch, Dinner

P Park Hill Sushi Co. $$ Park Hill / Sushi This quick-service sushi spot specializes in made-to-order hand rolls. Order a temaki (hand roll) set and choose from a variety of fresh fillings. Multiple locations. Reservations not accepted. 4900 E. Colfax Ave., Unit A, 303-953-9581. Lunch, Dinner

Post Oak Barbecue $$ Berkeley / Barbecue Texas barbecue wood-fired with post oak from Austin, Texas, is the draw at this spot on Tennyson Street. Don’t miss the certified Angus prime brisket and the house-made sausage. Reservations 4000 Tennyson St., 303-458-1555. Lunch, Dinner

JOIN US FOR DENVER’S GRANDEST NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY. The celebration that has it all. Enjoy open bar with premium pour, buffet dinner, champagne toast at midnight, party favors and balloon drops galore. Featuring four separate areas of entertainment for non-stop dancing. Prices start at $159/person. Overnight packges also available. Visit denver.grand.hyatt.com/nye or call 303 295 1234.

Holiday

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ELEMENT One-of-a-kind, hand-blown glass creations by Corey Silverman at The Furnace Glassworks: $25-$35

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DOG SAVVY Fa La Llama: $23 Lester Mouse: $23

AILLEA Tata Harper Daily Essentials, Natural Antiaging Skincare Discovery: $75

JOHN FLUEVOG SHOES Attic Elita black and gold tall lace-up boot: $619

VICTORIANA 18 karat white gold engagement ring, madeto-order by Beverley K: $1,500-$10,500

TIMBUK2 Hero laptop backpack: $89 GUSTERMAN’S Black Tahitian pearls accented with faceted black spinel beads: $750 Black Tahitian pearl drop earrings on silver french hooks: $150 Oxidized cuff bracelet: $460

STETSON Women’s Stetson Arrow Boots Snip Toe, Handmade: $349

SCARPALETTO Secrid wallets: $90–$135

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Q 25 BEST Q House $$$ City Park West / Chinese Enjoy a modern take on Chinese cuisine executed by chef Christopher Lin, an alum of Momofuku in New York City. Try the braised pork rice. Reservations accepted. 3421 E. Colfax Ave., 720-729-8887. Dinner

R Rioja $$$$ Downtown / Mediterranean James Beard Awardwinning chef Jennifer Jasinski creates high-end Mediterranean-influenced cuisine. Try the artichoke tortelloni. Reservations accepted. 1431 Larimer St., 303-820-2282. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

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River and Woods $$ Boulder / Contemporary Chef Daniel Asher’s eclectic menu features community-sourced comfort cuisine. Reservations not accepted. 2328 Pearl St., Boulder, 303-993-6301. Dinner, Brunch

Root Down $$$ LoHi / Contemporary Located in a refabbed 1950s service station, this hip restaurant serves globally inspired cuisine, with a focus on veggies and sustainable meats. Order the lamb porterhouse. Also try the DIA location. Reservations accepted. 1600 W. 33rd Ave., 303-993-4200. Dinner, Brunch

Rosetta Hall $$ Boulder / International The tenants of Boulder’s first food hall include Petite Fleur, Folsom Foods, Confit, the Ginger Pig, Jacaranda, La Tigella, Tierra, and Boxcar Coffee Roasters. 1109 Walnut St., Boulder, 720-3235509. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

S 25 BEST Safta $$$ RiNo / Mediterranean Acclaimed chef Alon Shaya Member of: • American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry • American Dental Association • Colorado Dental Association

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brings modern Israeli fare to Denver. Start with the creamy hummus and pillowy wood-oven pita before moving onto tabbouleh salad, charred cabbage, and halloumi. Reservations accepted. The Source Hotel & Market Hall, 3330 Brighton Blvd., Ste. 201, 720-4082444. Lunch, Dinner

Smok $$ RiNo / Barbecue Find delicious, modern barbecue at chef Bill Espiricueta’s fast-casual Source Hotel eatery. Reservations not accepted. The Source Hotel & Market Hall, 3330 Brighton Blvd., Ste. 202, 720-230-0792. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Somebody People $$ Overland / Mediterranean A standout pasta program and dishes that celebrate seasonal bounty make this zero-waste vegan restaurant great for herbivores and omnivores alike. Reservations accepted. 1165 S. Broadway, Suite 104, 720-502-5681. Dinner

The Source $ RiNo / International This industrial-sleek food hall is home to a variety of hip eateries, bars, and shops, including Acorn, Grabowski’s Pizzeria, Reunion Bread Co., Caffe Figurati, and more. 3350 Brighton Blvd., 720-443-1135. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

FRIDAYS – SUNDAYS

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DEC. 16-22

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25 BEST Spuntino $$$ Highland / Italian Enjoy the locally sourced menu at

25 BEST Super Mega Bien $$$ RiNo / Latin American Chef Dana Rodriguez of Work

this Italian-inspired spot. Try the seasonal pasta or any dish with Southern Indian influences. Don’t miss the house-made gelato for dessert. Reservations accepted. 2639 W. 32nd Ave., 303-433-0949. Dinner

& Class offers a combo of large-format items and PanLatin small plates, the latter served from roving dim-sum-style carts. Reservations not accepted. The Ramble Hotel, 1260 25th St., 720-269-4695. Dinner

Stanley Marketplace $$ Aurora / International Formerly the Stanley Aviation building, this site is now home to a sprawling, foodcentric marketplace. Stop by and check out the offerings from Yellowbelly Chicken, Stanley Beer Hall, Annette, Sweet Cow Ice Cream, and many more. 2501 Dallas St., Aurora, 720-990-6743. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Sushi Den Platt Park / Asian Sushi Den offers fresh, vibrant

$$$

seafood flown in twice a week from Japan and a hip, lively scene. Sit at the bar and watch the masterful sushi chefs, led by Toshihiro Kizaki, as they work their artistry. Reservations accepted for five or more, except Friday and Saturday. 1487 S. Pearl St., 303-777-0826. Lunch, Dinner

T 25 BEST Tavernetta $$$$ LoDo / Italian The team behind Boulder’s acclaimed Frasca Food and Wine offers the same attention to hospitality at their more casual Denver restaurant. The charming space is home to dishes from across Italy and a deep wine list. Reservations accepted. 1889 16th St, 720-605-1889. Lunch, Dinner

NEW Tessa Delicatessan $ South Park Hill / Deli This modern all-day eatery from Vince Howard, formerly of Del Rey Deli in Los Angeles, has hot and cold sandwiches and salads. Reservations not accepted. 5724 E. Colfax Ave., 720-746-9138. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Tributary Food Hall & Drinkery $$ Golden / International Golden’s first food hall boasts nine culinary options, including Generous Coffee, Kona Bowls Superfoods Café, Woodgrain Bagels, Mr. Miner Meat & Cheese, Fringe Pizza, SurMesa Taqueria, and more. 701 12th St., Golden. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

U 25 BEST Uchi $$$$ Curtis Park / Sushi James Beard Award-winning chef Tyson Cole combines unexpected flavors for his unique take on Japanese food. Try the sake toro aburi or the foie gras sushi. Reservations accepted. 2500 Lawrence St., 303-444-1922. Dinner

Uncle LoHi / Asian A sleek, contemporary atmosphere

defines this bustling modern noodle house. The selective menu includes dishes such as Chinese-style steamed buns and, of course, noodles. Also try the Speer location. Reservations not accepted. 2215 W. 32nd Ave., 303-433-3263. Dinner

NEW Urban Village $$$ Lone Tree / Indian This cozy seasonal restaurant serves classic and contemporary dishes from regions across India, including a great selection of vegetarian specialties. Reservations accepted. 9234 Park Meadows Dr., Ste. 700, Lone Tree, 720-536-8150. Lunch, Dinner

Come and experience why everyone has fallen in love with our food “BEST INDIAN RESTAURANT” - 5280, EVERY YEAR SINCE 2002

“BEST INDIAN & LUNCH BUFFET” - WESTWORD, PAST 17 CONSECUTIVE YEARS

W 25 BEST The Wolf’s Tailor $$$ Sunnyside / Contemporary Basta chef Kelly Whitaker fuses Asian and Italian techniques and ingredients at this hip Sunnyside eatery. The results, such as 7x brisket braised in dashi and red wine and house-extruded mafaldine pasta with koji tomatoes, are unique and delicious. Reservations accepted. 4058 Tejon St., 720-456-6507. Dinner

★

ESTABLISHED 1998 Takeout, Catering & Delivery Available

★

Gluten Free Menu

FOLLOW OUR FOOD TRUCK!

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DECEMBER

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DEC 1 SUN 2:30

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Barber Piano Concerto performed by Olga Kern JAN 10-12 FRI-SAT 7:30 n SUN 1:00

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute

DEC 7 SAT 7:30

Mandolin Orange with the Colorado Symphony

Celtic Woman: The Best of Christmas Tour

JAN 17 FRI 7:30

DEC 8 SUN 5:00

A Tribute to Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops

All Beethoven – 250 Birthday Celebration th

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Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 JAN 24-26 FRI-SAT 7:30 n SUN 1:00

Handel’s Messiah — Awakening

Gilbert & Sullivan: The Pirates of Penzance

Holiday Brass DEC 22 SUN 1:00

A Night in Vienna DEC 31 TUE 6:30

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JAN 18 SAT 7:30

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5280 Wellness Boost Pop-Up Events NOW–JANUARY At 5280, we’re big believers in living well in the Mile High City. That’s why we’re excited to bring you 5280 Wellness Boost Pop-up events—a FREE curated set of classes that will allow you to sample the best in health and fitness around Denver. Sign up for the 5280 Wellness Boost List to learn more at 5280scene.com.

Colorado Parent Summer Camp Meet & Greet FEBRUARY 22, 2020, 10 A.M.–2 P.M. Empower Stadium at Mile High. Colorado Parent will bring together dozens of summer camps and experiences for you to have one-on-one, quality conversations to plan the perfect summer tailored specifically for your child. Information at 5280scene.com.

The 5280 Brunch Event MARCH 2020 Indulge in a sweet and savory menu from the top brunch restaurants in Denver, fun cocktails, photo booths galore, and much more. Join the Scene List for first access to tickets at 5280scene.com.

Fetch Holiday Markets 2019 NOVEMBER 30–DECEMBER 1, DECEMBER 6–8, DECEMBER 13–15 Denver Sports Castle. ‘Tis the season to be shopping! For three weekends this winter, Fetch is bringing the holly-jolly fun— with festive drinks, activities, hundreds of local makers, artists and more! Brought to you by the team behind Denver Flea and the Union Station Holiday Market. Information and tickets at fetchholiday2019.eventbrite.com.

Colorado Ballet’s The Nutcracker NOVEMBER 30–DECEMBER 29 Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Audiences simply can’t get enough of Colorado Ballet’s acclaimed production of The Nutcracker, presented by Occidental. Returning for its 59th season, this beloved holiday favorite sells out every year. Experience this whimsical trip to the Sugar Plum Kingdom where magical dances come alive. Secure your seats early for this holiday tradition as most performances fill up prior to opening night. Information and tickets at COLORADOBALLET.ORG.

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Santa Claus & Paws at Cherry Creek DECEMBER 1 & DECEMBER 8, 7–9 P.M. Cherry Creek Shopping Center. Bring your fur babies to pose for a special photo with Santa! Dogs and cats large and small are invited to get their photo taken with Santa in Grand Court. Don’t miss this annual, treasured event for pet lovers! Information at shopcherrycreek.com/events.

DECEMBER 6, 8 P.M. & DECEMBER 7, 6 P.M. Civic Center Park. The Downtown Denver Partnership is pleased to produce the 44th Annual 9NEWS Parade of Lights. The two-mile parade route is the stage for Colorado’s brightest holiday tradition. The FREE holiday spectacular features marching bands, ornate floats, and, of course, a special appearance by Major Waddles the Penguin and Santa! Information at denverparadeoflights.com.

Colorado Gives Day 12.10.19

DECEMBER 10 Unite with Coloradans across the state to support local nonprofits on Colorado Gives Day. Support your favorite local nonprofits or support new ones online. Donate on Dec. 10 or schedule your donations in advance. Information at coloradogivesday.org.

Red Carpet Reception UPCOMING

JANUARY 7, 5:30 P.M.

National Western Complex. Opening gala for the Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale. Experience one of the finest exhibitions of contemporary realism of the Western United States. Featuring an eclectic mix of styles and mediums, local and international artists. Tickets on sale now. Information at coorswesternart.com.

artma 2020 UPCOMING

FEBRUARY 8,2020, 6–10 P.M.

Denver Design Center, 575 S. Broadway, Denver. Be a part of the city’s most funky and fabulous art auction. Enjoy great food and drink from Denver’s best restaurants. artma is an event that benefits The Morgan Adams Foundation, an organization that raises money to help fund kids’ cancer research. Tickets on sale now! Information and tickets at artmaonline.org.

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South Boulder Road Liquor

Evergreen Liquors

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Knock One Back Liquors

Sportsman’s Liquor

Fairground Liquors

Libations Wine and Spirits

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Fishers Liquor Barn

Lowry Liquors

Super Liquor Mart

Golden Wine

Lukas Liquor Superstore

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Governor’s Wine & Spirits

Mayfair Liquors

Teller Arms Liquor

Big Bear Wine & Liquor, Pueblo West

Great Vines Liquors

Mile High Wine Cellars

The Big Liquor Warehouse

Hampden Crossing Liquor

MK Wine & Liquor

The Denver Liquor Barn

Bruin Spirits

HB Liquors, Costco Riverpoint Parkway

Monument Cork’n Bottle

The Liquor Store

Monument Village Liquors

Thorobred Liquors

Newton Fine Wine and Spirits

Total Beverage Thornton

Outback Liquors

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Twins Wine & Liquor North

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Prime Liquor

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Volume Rate Liquors

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JOY OF COOKING

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 93

R O O T V E G E TA B L E L A T K E S

If there are latke leftovers, use them as the base for a Benedict the next morning, reheating the pancakes in a low oven.

Makes about 20 3-inch-wide latkes

4 medium waxy red potatoes

1 small beet, peeled

1 medium sweet onion, halved through the root and peeled

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2 Tbs. sea salt, plus more to taste

2 large eggs, beaten

1 Tbs. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. herbes de Provence

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Grapeseed or rice bran oil, for frying

Apple butter

Crème fraîche

Set a large colander over a large bowl. Use the large holes of a box grater to grate the potatoes, onion, beet, zucchini, fennel, and sweet potato into the colander. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of salt over the grated vegetables; mix with your hands until the salt dissolves. Let the mixture sit for 15 minutes, squeezing the vegetables once or twice to remove liquid. Meanwhile, add enough oil to a heavyduty 12-inch skillet, preferably cast iron, to measure ¼ inch deep. Heat over mediumhigh until a vegetable strand or two dropped into the oil sizzles vigorously, about 350°. Heat the oven to 150° and put a papertowel-lined rimmed baking sheet on the center rack. Transfer the vegetable mixture to a large piece of cheesecloth or a thin kitchen towel and squeeze out as much liquid as you can; discard the liquid. Transfer the vegetables to a large bowl and, using your hands, add the eggs and herbes de Provence; mix to combine. Sprinkle the flour evenly over the mixture and gently mix by hand until combined. Slowly lower heaping tablespoonsful of the latke mixture into the oil, immediately pressing down on the center of each with the back of the measuring spoon to form a relatively flat, 3-inch-wide pancake; the edges will be lacier and thinner than the centers. Fry in batches, flipping once, until each latke is deep golden brown on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Transfer the

JOY OF COOKING latkes to the sheet in the oven, sprinkling each with a tiny pinch of salt. Repeat. Serve the latkes with the apple butter and crème fraîche.

1 medium lemon

1 cup full-fat Greek yogurt

M O R O C C A N N O O D L E K U G E L

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

4 large eggs, at room temperature

3 Tbs. ras el hanout spice blend

1 cup raisins

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 Tbs. Madras curry powder

Heat the oven to 350°. Lightly butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the noodles and cook until al dente, 1 minute short of the package

3 Tbs. olive oil

1 Tbs. sea salt

directions. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk the butter, milk, cottage cheese, ricotta, eggs, sugar, ras el hanout, curry powder, and a pinch of salt; it will look like, in Asher’s words, a “super-runny mess.” Fold in the noodles and raisins until coated. Spoon the noodle mixture into the baking dish, cover with foil, and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until golden brown around the edges, about 30 minutes more. Cool completely before serving. ROASTED CARROTS WITH SAFFRON YOGURT

Serves 6 to 8

For the yogurt sauce:

1 Tbs. crushed coriander seeds 1 tsp. crushed pink peppercorns

1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced

8 large carrots, trimmed, peeled, and cut into large chunks To serve:

2 Tbs. wildflower honey

2 Tbs. pea shoots (optional)

Make the yogurt sauce: Zest the lemon into a medium bowl, then halve the lemon and squeeze 1 tablespoon of juice into the bowl. Add the saffron, stir, and let sit for 15 minutes to bloom. Add the yogurt, cilantro, and parsley; season to taste with salt. Cover and refrigerate for up to one day. Cook the carrots: Heat the oven to 400°. Combine the oil, coriander, salt, pepper-

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Aaron Colussi; Prop styling by Natalie Warady; Food styling by Victoria Escalle

12 oz. wide egg noodles

¾ cup whole-milk ricotta, at room temperature

Sea salt

1½ cups full-fat cottage cheese, at room temperature

Sea salt

For the carrots:

6 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan

2¼ cups whole milk, at room temperature

1 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley

Serves 8

6 saffron threads

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JOY OF COOKING corns, and ginger in a large bowl. Add the carrots and toss to combine. Transfer the carrots to a large rimmed baking sheet, arrange in a single layer, and roast, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 30 minutes. Let cool until warm or room temperature. Serve: Stir the yogurt sauce to loosen, then spread in a thick layer on a large serving platter. Arrange the carrots over the yogurt, drizzle with honey, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, and garnish with the pea shoots, if using. BRISKET-STYLE BRAISED LAMB

You can repurpose leftover jus as the base for stew or nontraditional French onion soup.

Serves 8 to 10

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6 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

½ cup stone-ground mustard

10 medium cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbs. fennel seeds

2 Tbs. light brown sugar

2 Tbs. dried mint

2 Tbs. ground cumin

2 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper 2 tsp. za’atar

1 large sprig rosemary, leaves picked and chopped

Sea salt

6 lbs. boneless leg of lamb, tied 2 Tbs. unsalted butter

1 medium sweet onion, peeled and diced

12 baby turnips, trimmed and halved

6 assorted mushrooms, stemmed and coarsely chopped

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1 large parsnip, peeled and diced

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 cup pomegranate juice

½ small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and diced

1 cup dry red wine

½ cup tamari

18 dried mission figs

Transformation Starts Here.

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Aaron Colussi; Prop styling by Natalie Warady; Food styling by Victoria Escalle

14 dried apricots

JOY OF COOKING 12 pitted prunes

nuts on the paper towels. Repeat. Let the doughnuts cool completely. To fill the doughnuts, spoon the jam into a pastry bag fitted with a large plain piping tip. Insert the tip of a chopstick or reusable straw into one side of each doughnut, wiggling it to create a pocket for the jam but not making a hole on the opposite side. Insert the tip of the pastry bag into the opening and gently squeeze 1 to 2 tablespoons of the jam into the center. Dust the filled doughnuts with powdered sugar before serving.

2 dried bay leaves

In a large bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the oil with the mustard, garlic, fennel, mint, sugar, cumin, pepper, za’atar, rosemary, and 2 tablespoons of salt; coat the lamb on all sides. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator overnight. Remove the lamb from the refrigerator 1 hour before cooking. Heat the oven to 325°. Heat the butter and 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large roasting pan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring often, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the turnips, mushrooms, parsnip, squash, and a big pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes more. Remove the vegetables from the pan using a slotted spoon; set aside. Using paper towels, remove as much of the marinade from the lamb as you can. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in the roasting pan over medium, then sear the lamb until browned on all sides (including the ends), about 10 minutes total. Raise the heat to medium-high. Return the vegetables to the pan, then add the remaining ingredients, stirring to distribute the vegetables and fruits evenly around the lamb. Bring the liquid to a simmer, then cover tightly with aluminum foil and cook for 1 hour. Remove the foil and continue to cook until a digital thermometer inserted into the center of the lamb registers 130° (for medium), about 30 minutes more. Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the lamb to a carving board to rest, at least 20 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetables and fruits to a platter; keep warm. Tilt the roasting pan gently so the braising liquid pools in a corner; the fat should rise to the surface. Dip a spoon into the liquid just enough to allow the fat, but not the jus, to spill into the spoon; discard the fat. (Alternatively, degrease the jus using a fat separator.) Transfer the jus to a gravy boat. Cut the lamb into ¼-inch-thick slices and arrange with the vegetables on the platter. Drizzle with some of the jus and serve. S U F G A N I Y O T ( I S R A E L I J E L LY DOUGHNUTS)

Take note that the doughnut dough needs to be prepared a day ahead of frying. Feel free to use any jam or jelly flavor you like, but Asher recommends Denver-based RedCamper’s whiskey-peach or blueberry-gin.

Makes 8 to 10 doughnuts

½ cup whole milk, at room temperature

3 Tbs. granulated sugar

1 large egg, plus 1 yolk

2 tsp. active dry yeast 3 Tbs. sour cream

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

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From right: Daniel Asher with his sister, Ariella; his father, Maximo; and his mother, Sheila, in 1997

¼ tsp. sea salt

¼ tsp. vanilla bean paste or ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

Zest from ½ medium blood orange plus 3 Tbs. juice

Grapeseed or rice bran oil

Powdered sugar

12 oz. (2 ²⁄ ³ cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

1 to 1½ cups jam or jelly

Mix the milk, 2 teaspoons of the sugar, and the yeast in a small bowl; set aside somewhere warm. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the remaining sugar with the egg and yolk on medium speed until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the sour cream, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, orange zest and juice, and the yeast mixture; mix well on low speed. With the mixer running, gradually add the flour. As soon as a dough forms, remove the paddle and attach a dough hook. Mix on medium-low speed until the dough is soft, smooth, and elastic, about 5 minutes, adding more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, if the dough is too sticky. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with oiled plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper. Brush a thin layer of oil onto the paper. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a ½-inch-thick round. Using a 3-inch round cutter, cut out doughnuts, arranging them on the paper-lined sheet with at least an inch of space between them. Reroll the dough once and cut out more doughnuts. Let the doughnuts rise at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, add 2 inches of oil to a deep pot. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pot and heat the oil over medium until it reaches 350°. Line a large platter or baking sheet with a few layers of paper towels. Working in batches, fry a few doughnuts at a time, taking care not to crowd the pot. Fry until golden brown on one side, about 1 minute, then flip and continue frying until golden brown on the second side, about 1 minute more. Drain the dough-

F R U I T S A L A D W I T H TA H I N I A N D O R A N G E B L O S S O M WA T E R

Asher recommends buying orange blossom water at Arash International Market in Denver or Mediterranean Market & Deli in Boulder. Leftover fruit salad is delicious for up to two days.

Serves 8 to 10; yields about 14 cups

4 small oranges (navel, blood, or a combination)

1 small pineapple

1 lb. red grapes

1 Tbs. orange blossom water

1 medium, ripe melon (honeydew, cantaloupe, Harper, or muskmelon)

2 cups blackberries

¼ cup fresh mint leaves, sliced into thin ribbons ¼ cup tahini

Slice one of the oranges into thin rounds; set the rounds aside for garnish. Zest the remaining three oranges (a rasp-style grater works best) into a large bowl. Slice off the blossom and stem ends of the zested oranges. Stand the fruit on one of its cut ends and slice off the outer skin in strips, following the natural curve of the fruit from top to bottom. Try to remove all of the bitter white pith without sacrificing too much of the flesh. Working over the bowl to catch the juice and holding the orange in your palm, carefully slice between the membranes to cut the orange segments free, letting each one fall into the bowl as you go. Peel and core the pineapple, cut the fruit into 1-inch chunks, and add them to the bowl with the oranges. Seed and peel the melon, cut it into 1-inch chunks, and add them to the bowl. Add the grapes, blackberries, and orange blossom water; gently toss to combine. Marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes. Transfer the fruit to a serving bowl or rimmed platter, drizzle with the tahini, sprinkle with the mint, and garnish with the orange rounds before serving. m ON THE WEB For a shopping list, food prep timeline, the Miracle Punch recipe, and a personal story from Daniel Asher, visit 5280.com.

Courtesy of Daniel Asher

½ cup dried currants

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 99

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Together, the two spent the summer grieving. Miller left his job as a consultant with Joe Biden’s presidential campaign in Philadelphia so he could be with his husband. Both losses were expected, but the couple is still healing. Gill, for instance, made the mistake of attending a 30th anniversary showing of Steel Magnolias, in which Julia Roberts’ character dies from diabetes complications. “That was not good. It brought up Dad, it brought up Phipps,” Gill says. “As Oprah would say, I had a very ugly cry.” Gill’s relationship with his parents had taken years to evolve and repair. When he arrived in Boulder for his freshman year of college in 1972, something happened that couldn’t be solved with an algorithm or simple arithmetic. Gill had a boyfriend, and he feared telling his parents. He remembers their response when he called on a weekend in December: “We knew when you went to college you’d be more susceptible to that kind of thing.” Gill and his parents went through “several years of trauma” around the issue (they made him see a psychiatrist), but eventually his mom and dad softened. His mother even went back to school to better understand it all, earning a master’s in psychology and accepting her son’s sexuality. When Gill met his future husband about three decades later, that kind of thing was a nonissue for the family. The origin of Gill and Miller’s romance is disputed by the couple to this day, but it goes something like this: Miller had never heard of a man named Tim Gill when, at age 23, the Western Slope native walked into a Denver coffeeshop in 2002. As Miller tells it, a good friend recognized Gill and introduced Miller to a tall, handsome man 26 years his senior. Miller was struck by the interaction. Gill has no recollection of it ever happening. Two months later, on Thanksgiving night, the men met again, chatted briefly, and made plans to get coffee on Friday morning. On Sunday, the two attended a matinee showing of Mamma Mia! at the Denver Performing Arts Complex— something Miller recalls fondly as being “as gay as it gets.” In 2009, after dating for seven years, the couple exchanged wedding vows in

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TIM GILL Massachusetts, where then Governor Deval Patrick administered the ceremony. Soon after, the newlyweds purchased the 33,000-square-foot Phipps Mansion from the University of Denver. The couple lives at the 6.5-acre estate, where they’ve only recently started hosting events. One of the first was a September fundraiser for Biden’s campaign. Despite occupying one of the grandest mansions in the city, Gill and Miller don’t want to be defined by their home or their wealth. They’re private people. They admire each other. They support each other. They protect each other. The work they’ve done and the money they’ve spent have made them targets, and when they receive death threats—as they have in the past—Miller gets rattled. After all, he’s often the gatekeeper of Gill’s private life and the architect of his public image. He doesn’t want Gill’s name sullied—or worse. Gill, though, mostly looks past the threats and negative rhetoric. He’s got enough competing for his attention already.

BAC K I N T H E J O SH .A I conference room this September, Gill puts the blue marker aside.

He doesn’t really care how many people know his name anyway. Doesn’t he think about his legacy? Gill says no to that question. But surely there’s something he hopes people will remember about him, right? Gill pauses. “I think what is uncommon is that I contributed such a high percentage of my wealth to philanthropic and political causes,” he says. “When you make it super big in tech, you don’t need the money that you’re given. Yes, you could go out and buy yachts. But any way I can inspire the next generation to take over and make massive contributions from the money they’ve made, that would be a great legacy.” Arguably, Gill’s already done that. He’s built a community of philanthropists through his biennial OutGiving conferences—where, since 1996, hundreds of people, like billionaire philanthropist Jon Stryker (Pat Stryker’s brother), have learned how to support the LGBT community. And it’s not as though his work has gone unnoticed. Entire book chapters are devoted to telling his story. In October, Polis gave him the Governor’s Citizenship Medal for Vanguard Legacy—the highest honor he could bestow upon his old friend.

Some of the most important figures in LGBT history even consider Gill among the movement’s leaders. “The impact of Tim and his foundation has been profound,” says Mary Bonauto, who served as lead counsel before the Supreme Court when Massachusetts legalized gay marriage. “He’s absolutely altered the direction of the movement.” If people don’t recognize him, it’s likely because Gill doesn’t give a damn about being recognized. It’s a calculation he’s used to making: Getting credit simply isn’t worth the time or money spent on self-promotion. “Notoriety has its uses sometimes, but I don’t need to be artificially built up,” he explains. “I’m not going to spend any money trying to make [my legacy] one thing or another.” What he doesn’t say, though, is that he already has. He’s given more than $500 million to make the world a place where gay people can live without being persecuted. And he’s not going anywhere. When gay people are attacked, he shows up. He funds nonprofits and bankrolls candidates, and as long as his foundation exists— it’ll last another 10 or 15 years before the money is gone—his impact will be felt across the country. For that influence to be noticed, no one actually needs to know his name. One of Gill’s closest friends, investor and former Gill Foundation board member Gregory Craig, explains it like this: “He wants to accomplish a goal. He’s not doing this because he wants Tim Gill’s name out there stamped in granite for the next 300 years.” And the Gill family knows something about that. Gill’s great-great-uncle, William H. Gill, once had his name engraved on almost every public building in a town he plotted along the Union Pacific rail line, about eight miles east of Greeley, in 1909. The namesake town is still there, but it isn’t much to behold these days. Tim Gill himself hasn’t been back to the place for decades. A yellow bus sits rusting in front of the boarded-up school. There’s an active Hispanic church, La Iglesia Del Dios Vivo, which advertises twice-weekly services, and an empty Lions Club community center. Barely 100 years after the buildings went up in this town, there’s little to say about William H. Gill’s legacy, just that once upon a time there was a man named Gill. But towns like that wither away. Buildings crumble. Weeds and then trees reclaim their rightful places. Tim Gill, on the other hand, has ensured his legacy will endure. m Jay Bouchard is 5280’s digital associate editor. Email him at letters@5280.com.

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been taken or heard of.â€? On June 9, 1863, the 3rd Judicial District in Pueblo mistakenly identified Felipe Espinosa as the man whoâ€™d died, issuing an indictment against â€œBivian Espenosaâ€? and asking that the deputy marshal find the bandit in preparation for a September trial. Felipe returned to his familyâ€™s plaza several times, bringing small trinkets for his wife and perhaps hiding with the help of relatives and his former neighbors. While he was in the plaza, Espinosa would have seen the devastation that had been brought upon his family. He may also have dropped off letters implicating himself in the murders and threatening more violence against Anglos. At some point shortly after ViviĂĄnâ€™s death, Felipe recruited a new accomplice: his sisterâ€™s son. If little is known about the Espinosa brothers, thereâ€™s even less information about Felipeâ€™s teenage nephew. He might have been 14, and his name could have been Jose or Julio or Julian. Ultimately, itâ€™s unclear why Felipe asked the boy to join him. Had he recruited a killer to take his brotherâ€™s place, or did Felipe need a trail assistant who could help set up campsites, care for horses, and cook meals? Whatever the explanation, a number of murdersâ€”including one Hispano manâ€”were recorded across the southern portion of the Colorado Territory over the next several months, but itâ€™s impossible to know whether Felipe and his nephew were responsible. By early fall 1863, at least 11 killings in southern and central Colorado had been attributed to the Espinosas. Sometime around October 11, 1863, a carriage carrying a Hispano woman and an Anglo driver was ambushed in an area near present-day La Vetaâ€”halfway between present-day Walsenberg and Fort Garland. The attackers were â€œbarefooted and called each other brother,â€? according to a Hispano eyewitness. One of the menâ€”presumably Felipeâ€”identified himself and his companion as the fugitive Espinosas. After the driver escaped to get helpâ€”â€œWhere is the gringo?â€? one of the Espinosas is said to have askedâ€”the Espinosas â€œtook the lines off the harness and tied the woman hand and foot and abused her disgracefully,â€? according to a contemporaneous account of the incident.

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Thomas Tobin, the tracker, trapper, and mountain guide who killed Felipe Espinosa and his nephew

a mythologized version of the American West—of Manifest Destiny, the movement that was said to set America and Americans apart from every society in human history. That ideal, perhaps, was most glorified in Colorado, with its emphasis on the hardliving settlers who managed to tame the West and its inhabitants. If the Espinosas were bogeymen who confirmed every Anglo settler’s worst stereotypes, then the brothers eventually found an equally mythic place within Latin-American culture. The Chicano Movement of the 1970s gave rise to a new narrative, reimagining the pair as Hispano protagonists fighting on behalf of an oppressed people. Songs and at least one screenplay have been written about the pair. The Vendetta of Felipe Espinosa, a novel published in 2014, sought to untangle the brothers’ faith and familial past as a way to understand their murderous motivations. Wild West Exodus, a British tabletop game, includes a version of the brothers, with Felipe described as a “rogue, desperado, thief, mariachi, and to many, a bold freedom fighter.” Historians have finally begun to examine that record, investigating the plight of civilizations wiped out or marginalized by settlers. “These citizens were made to feel like they were foreigners, and the historical record traditionally treated them that way,” says Virgina Sanchez, a genealogist and historian who has studied life within southern Colorado settlements and is the author of Pleas and Petitions: Hispano Culture and Legislative Conflict in Territorial Colorado. “The Espinosas are an important part of that history if you’re using them to understand the deeper, day-to-day hardships and prejudices that faced non-Anglos trying to survive within their own country.”

Nick Saenz, an associate professor of history at Adams State University who has studied Hispano settlement in southern Colorado, argues that while the Espinosa brothers are “like folk heroes” within the San Luis Valley—if not outright celebrated, then happily accepted—it’s a disservice to history if the narrative focuses only on the murders. “This is really the story of two distinct groups of people, with different languages and cultures and ideas of what this land should be, and they find themselves smashed together in the same place at the same time,” Saenz says. “More than anything, this is a story of survival. Ultimately, one side got to tell that story.”

One morning this past summer,

James Peterson punched a code into a wallmounted pad and pressed open a door to the fourth-floor archive at the History Colorado Center in downtown Denver. He flipped a light switch. Amid the concrete walls were 48 rows of 12-foot-high shelving that contained evidence of more than 12,000 years of human existence. It’s a collection that began when the Colorado Historical Society started gathering artifacts near the turn of the 20th century, initially as a way to protect the legacy of pioneers who settled the state. Today, under the History Colorado moniker, the group stores some of the state’s artifacts inside a $100 million, 200,000-square-foot behemoth. Among the millions of items—everything from a paleoindian spear point to a chairlift from the original Aspen ski slopes—is likely the largest repository of Espinosa-related items in the world. On this day, Peterson, History Colorado’s assistant curator for artifacts, was cataloging Espinosa-related guns from the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. He had at least a dozen weapons on plastic tables stationed near the metal shelves, ranging from typical frontier-type revolvers to single-shot muskets to something that might fit inside a woman’s purse. Each weapon was cradled with a foam pad in its own light blue box, set atop white Tyvek paper. Near the end of one table was a Colt Model 1861 Navy revolver. At some point, the gun may have belonged to one of the Espinosas. Much of the barrel and the cylinder gleamed steel gray. The wooden grip was chestnut-colored and had the slightest bit of wear. The revolver was given to the society in 1943 as part of a trove, found inside a trunk, that included Spanish spurs, moccasins, and a pair of chapellets,

Denver Public Library/Western History Collection (Thomas Tobin artwork by Herndon Davis)

News of the ambush quickly reached nearby Fort Garland. With the killers now at the fort’s doorstep, it was time to strike. Thomas Tobin, a well-known tracker, trapper, and mountain guide, was called from his nearby ranch and outfitted with a group of about 15 soldiers. In mid-October, on their third morning hunting the Espinosas—reportedly somewhere near La Veta Pass—Tobin and his men found oxen tracks. They found one ox on the trail and suspected that the Espinosas had taken the other to kill and eat. As Tobin and three other men walked and crawled through the forest, one of them saw “a number of crows” flying overhead, indicating that the men had killed the second ox. More trackers joined Tobin’s group, and they eventually saw a campsite “in a spot almost inaccessible from all sides and commanding a view of the entire surrounding country,” according to the Weekly Commonweath and Republican. The men cocked their weapons. Tobin watched Felipe carve a piece off the dead ox, put it on the fire, and sit against a log. Felipe had a scar on one of his cheeks, a black beard, and long fingernails that curled inward, Tobin later reported. As he rested, Felipe heard a snap—possibly a branch breaking—and reached for his gun. Tobin fired his rifle and shot Felipe in the chest. “Jesus, por favor!” Felipe cried out, according to Tobin’s account. Felipe yelled for his nephew to run, but when the boy appeared, Tobin shot and killed him. Felipe, meanwhile, began crawling across the forest floor, then braced himself against a tree. One of Tobin’s men advanced. Felipe raised his weapon, fired, and missed. The other men unleashed a volley of bullets, striking Felipe multiple times. With Felipe dead, Tobin walked to the fugitive, grabbed the man by the hair, and cut off his head. The teenage boy was also decapitated. Among the items at the campsite were a Colt Navy revolver, two rifles, one sidesaddle, one pair of small shoes, one memorandum book, a pen holder, a knife, and several letters. In the letters, according to a translation that appeared in the Weekly Commonweath and Republican, Felipe wrote that he was “blessed with the milk from the breast of the Holy Mother Mary! I am covered with the cloak of the Holy St. Salvador! I am defended by the sword of the Holy St. Paul! I am looking after animals and my enemies. They have hands and cannot touch me; They have feet and cannot catch me; They have eyes and cannot see me; They have ears and cannot hear me.”

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all of which were alleged to have belonged to “the notorious San Luis Valley Espinosa bandits of the 1860s,” according to History Colorado’s records. Whether this is true is a matter of debate. The trunk’s artifacts were given to the society by a man whose father had collected them. How that man—who lived in central Colorado in the 1880s—came to own the items is unknown. Two other revolvers—a Colt Army Model 1860 revolver and an 1858 Remington New Model Navy revolver—were supposedly found with Felipe and his nephew when they were killed by Tobin’s crew. The Colt was given to the society in 1897, and the Remington arrived in 1929. (Both are part of Zoom In: The Centennial State in 100 Objects—a downstairs display at History Colorado that includes a ski suit from the 10th Mountain Division and former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb’s New Balance sneakers.) The authenticity of those two revolvers has also been disputed. Author and historian James E. Perkins, who studied the murders as part of a 1999 biography of Thomas Tobin, writes that each weapon was made in New York in 1863, meaning neither gun had much time to make it to Colorado and then find its way to the Espinosas. Also, it’s not difficult to imagine that an accomplished tracker like Tobin would have recognized the value of new revolvers and perhaps kept them for himself. The item with the best documented provenance is a black copper pot that had been stored at an off-site archive and is now at History Colorado for further study. The pot was taken from the site of Vivián Espinosa’s May 1863 death, possibly somewhere near present-day Westcliffe. The pot later was donated to the society by one of the posse members’ granddaughters. The Espinosa brothers were said to have been boiling beaver meat in it when they were ambushed and Felipe escaped into the wilderness. Regardless of their origins, it’s impossible not to feel a bit of romanticism about the items—even if they once might have belonged to vigilante killers. “Wouldn’t that be neat if it were, though?” Peterson asked as he stood over the lone Colt revolver on the table. Light from overhead danced along the edges of the brass trigger guard. “That’s the funny thing about history,” Peterson said. “The more you learn, the more you find out so much of it might be wrong.” m Robert Sanchez is 5280’s senior staff writer. Email him at letters@5280.com.

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Parker | $547,900 This home sits on a quiet cul-de-sac with a stunning backyard perfect for entertaining. This home features five beds, four baths, and a three-car garage.

Erie | $535,000 Beautiful ranch-style home in Vista Ridge on the 15th fairway of the Colorado National Golf Club. 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, and finished walkout basement. Golf course and mountain views.

Brett Kennedy 303.881.8000 brett.kennedy@coloradohomes.com

Kylie Rupert 303.842.8205 kylie.rupert@coloradohomes.com | luxurycoloradorealty.com

Denver | $529,000 5br/3ba completely remodeled home backs to the High Line canal. Newer features offer a fireplace, appliances and more. Kitchen w/quartz counters. Complete w/oversized 2-car garage.

Denver | $528,800 Rare 4-story rooftop terrace featuring spectacular city and mountain views with Tesla solar! Yes, the utility bills are $0 for this sophisticated corner urban row home with 3 bedroom, 4 bath, awesome great room, study, fantastic kitchen, dining and more.

Lynne Ross 303.520.8800 lynne.ross@coloradohomes.com | lynneross.com

Kimberly Austin 303.360.6400 kimberly@anotherjustsold.com | anotherjustsold.com

Denver | $525,000 Fabulous Uptown 2br/2ba penthouse unit. Open floor plan with a large wraparound balcony. Spacious master suite w/en suite 3/4 bath. Complete w/2 garage spaces and storage unit.

Parker | $515,000 Incredible south facing 2-story backing to open space with mountain views! This gorgeous home features extensive hardwood flooring, an updated kitchen and a finished walk-out basement.

Janie Stoddard 303.408.0738 janie.stoddard@gmail.com | janiestoddard.com

The Rowley Group 303.717.5613 info@therowleygroup.com | therowleygroup.com

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Strasburg | $500,000 Spacious home on 2.96 fenced acres, 3br/5ba and partial finished basement. Great room opens to a large eat-in kitchen and formal dining room. Complete w/covered front porch and covered back patio for outdoor enjoyment. 4-car attached garage.

Aurora | $499,000 5br/4ba home w/3-car garage features sound proof finished basement, wood floors, new carpet, kitchen island sink, ss appliances, granite counters, office, laundry room, porch & patio.

Mike Greeley 970.215.3002 mike.greeley@coloradohomes.com | yournocorealtor.com

Mike Desmarais 303.594.4100 michael.desmarais@coloradohomes.com | denverrealestatepros.com

Denver | $489,000 This gorgeous townhouse built in 2018 has many custom upgrades, designer finishes and shows like a model home. An inviting south facing front porch is at the entry along with a full size laundry, storage and 2-car garage.

Thornton | Price Upon Request Your search for the perfect home is over! 5br/4ba offers a 3-car garage, vaulted ceilings and a finished basement. You will love the main floor master suite. Enjoy the delightful yard and mere moments from everything we love about Colorado.

Kat Zoefelt 303.881.5684 kat@coloradohomes.com | katzsellsdenver.com

Kris Hansen 303.956.6068 kris.hansen@coloradohomes.com

Frederick | $470,000 4br/3.5ba home w/open floor plan. Family room w/fireplace. Kitchen w/granite counters, huge island and stainless steel appliances. Upstairs w/master suite. Complete w/unfinished basement.

Golden | $465,000 Updated 4 bedroom, 2 bath ranch in coveted Golden. Highlights include custom painted kitchen cabinets, stainless steel appliances, gas stove & new paint. Remodeled bathrooms, newer electrical, windows, carpet & paint. Offers a 2-car garage, RV parking & patio.

Christy Hepp 303.910.5393 christy.hepp@coloradohomes.com

Lynn Hodges 303.913.0166 lhodgesrealtor@hotmail.com | lynnhodgesco.com

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Firestone | $465,000 5br/4ba home includes a kitchen w/granite, a family room, a loft, a master w/a five-piece bath and a finished basement. This home also has hardwood floors, plantation shutters, a laundry, a 3-car garage, new exterior paint, a new roof and a patio.

Westminster | Price Upon Request 3br/3ba home with an open concept plan features an updated kitchen with newer appliances, lots of counter space & an eat-in kitchen, a formal dining, a wet bar, a master w/walk-in closet & bath, an unfinished basement and an oversized garage.

Cybyske Home Team 303.980.1177 bryan.cybyske@coloradohomes.com

Sarah Bowles 720.837.2724 sarah@chdagent.com

Aurora | $450,000 Spectacular 4 bedroom, 2 bath ranch home perfectly located on a west-facing premium corner lot featuring a welcoming entrance, fantastic kitchen open to the dining area and great room, amazing private backyard, 3-car attached garage and more.

Littleton | $450,000 4br/3ba home w/an open concept. Kitchen w/stainless steel appliances and a large island w/bar seating. Finished basement w/rec room, a 3/4 bath and bedroom. Complete w/fenced backyard.

Kimberly Austin 303.360.6400 kimberly@anotherjustsold.com | anotherjustsold.com

Jan Bollhoefner 303.947.3095 janb1001@aol.com

Highlands Ranch | $450,000 Pottery Barn perfection in central Highlands Ranch! This three bedroom, three bath home is ready for your enjoyment.

Westminster | $449,000 4br/4ba on quiet cul-de-sac in the Ranch golf course community. Eat-in kitchen w/newer appliances. Family room w/vaulted ceiling, exposed beams & wood burning fireplace. Master suite w/5-piece bath. Large yard with mature trees & covered patio.

Jewel Brown 303.886.9441 jewel@jewelsofcolorado.com | jewelsofcolorado.com

Tina Ford 303.717.7871 tina.ford@coloradohomes.com | tinafordco.cbintouch.com

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Broomfield | $445,000 4br/3ba home in cul-de-sac with open great room concept, eat-in kitchen and main level master bedroom. Finished lower level with custom bath, 2 additional bedrooms and family room.

Castle Rock | $440,000 3br/3ba w/open concept living & views on corner lot. Kitchen w/stainless steel appliances, large walk-in pantry and granite counters. Large laundry on same floor as bedrooms & master suite.

Jonathan Scott Kay 720.486.7715 jonathanscott5347@gmail.com | jonathanscottkay.cbintouch.com

Taylor Carpenter 303.909.2108 taylor@scottpaulkgroup.com

Westminster | $439,900 3br/3ba townhome offers granite, tile, cherry wood floors, ss appliances, laundry, kitchen, dining room, living room, finished walk-out basement with family/theater room & 2-car garage.

Castle Rock | $419,000 4br/3.5ba boast an open floor plan w/9' tall ceilings, kitchen w/white cabinets, granite counter tops, black appliances & granite center island, master w/granite double sinks & a rock embedded shower. An ideal beautiful low maintenance exterior.

Sarah Buch 303.378.3659 sarah.buch@coloradohomes.com

Mike Hanrahan 720.404.6651 mh7204046651@gmail.com | mikeh.cbintouch.com

Denver | $409,900 Former model home – 3br/3ba Lowry townhome with main-level master, great room w/12' vaulted ceilings, open dining room, kitchen w/slab granite & stainless appliances, private back patio & 2-car attached garage. Simply amazing Lowry home! Kimberly Austin 303.360.6400 kimberly@anotherjustsold.com | anotherjustsold.com

Littleton | $405,000 3br/2ba home located on a corner lot offers 9,888 sqft. lot, 2 parking spaces a covered patio & porch, a fenced yard, utility shed, hardwood floors, a kitchen w/ss appliances, living area, a lower level entertainment area, vinyl windows and AC. Susan Sharnas 303.475.3096 Tyler Westcott 303.619.4817

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Aurora | $385,000 4br/4ba home in the Crestridge neighborhood features 2 living areas, formal dining room, open kitchen w/eat-in area and a fully-fenced backyard w/covered patio. This home located near Century Elementary School has easy access to I-225, DTC and DIA. Amanda Snitker 303.204.8240 amanda@amandasnitker.com | amandasnitker.com

Lakewood | $375,000 3br/2ba ranch home in the Cloverdale West, Lakewood neighborhood w/2 family rooms and spacious kitchen. Master bedroom w/updated 3/4 bath. Complete w/2-car detached garage w/extended driveway. Located near Belmar's exclusive shopping and dining area. Shannon Byerly 303.919.2611 yourfreshstartrealty@gmail.com | yourfreshstartrealty.com

Arvada | $370,000 2br/2.5ba, 2018 townhouse. Upgraded flooring, accent wall w/fireplace & built-ins, kitchen w/ss appliances, master w/4-piece bath, upstairs laundry & 2-car garage. Near Arvada Reservoir, hike/bike trails, light rail.

Morrison | $370,000 3br/2ba home features an open floor plan, kitchen w/ss appliances & pantry, great room w/built-in storage, a fireplace & new carpet, master suite w/a walk-in closet & private bath, a laundry room, a 1-car garage & deck & a Colorado home warranty.

Josette Montgomery 303.901.8027 josette.montgomery@coloradohomes.com | 15476w64thloopd.com

Kim Damion 240.620.5811 kimdamion@gmail.com | denverpropertyguide.net

Broomfield | $350,000 3br/3ba home in Westlake Village backs to open space and features an open floor plan, new carpet, new interior paint, living room w/vaulted ceilings, family room, deck, 2-car attached garage w/workbench, newer roof & situated on a cul-de-sac. Cybyske Home Team 303.635.1100 bryan@cybyske.com | cybyske.com

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Denver | $350,000 This brick rancher home offers 3 bedrooms on the main floor, potential for 2 additional bedrooms in the basement & 2 baths. This home offers lovely hardwood floors & additional storage. There is a covered back patio & garden area. Susan Sharnas 303.475.3096 Tyler Westcott 303.619.4817

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Colorado Springs | $335,999 3br/3ba home w/vinyl plank flooring throughout main level. Custom kitchen w/stainless steel appliances, granite, a large pantry and an island. Master bedroom w/en-suite bath w/custom tiled shower and large walk-in closet. Large patio with pergola.

Longmont | $335,000 3br/2.1ba bright end unit condo. Open concept w/patio off dining area. Great cathedral ceiling, hardwood floors and fireplace. Laundry on upper level & unfinished basement to make your own. Close to golfing, hospital, reservoir & swimming pool.

Angela M. Smith 719.210.8878 angela@angelasmithrealty.com | angelasmithrealty.com

Marie Raines 720.334.5337 marie.raines@coloradohomes.com

Idaho Springs | $325,000 Mountain retreat with far as the eye can see views. Sunlight filled open floor plan with vaulted ceilings and wood stove. Easy access to hiking, snowshoeing and more. Three bedrooms, two baths, including en suite master all this and public utilities. Cindy Sahli 303.588.2399 cindy.sahli@coloradohomes.com

Denver | $280,000 Hurry to view this super cute ranch style townhome in the up and coming West Colfax neighborhood! Two bedrooms, one bath, front and rear courtyards, convenient to Denver, light rail & more! homecb.com/1430julianstreet-denver Kathleen Surges 303.981.6170 Michael Surges 303.981.7872

Denver | $269,999 2br/2ba penthouse w/an open floor plan, vaulted ceiling and large windows. Family room w/a fireplace. Kitchen w/newer stainless appliances. Master suite w/a custom walk-in closet and updated bath. Complete w/a private deck overlooking mature trees.

Aurora | $230,000 JUST SOLD: 2br/2.5ba, 2-story townhome in Cherry Creek School District featuring updated kitchen with new appliances/countertops, and bedrooms with vaulted ceilings. Offers natural light, new interior paint, a fireplace and outdoor patio.

Shannon Byerly 303.919.2611 yourfreshstartrealty@gmail.com | yourfreshstartrealty.com

Dan DeBacco 720.955.6111 dan.debacco@coloradohomes.com | debaccorealestate.com

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Reality begins as a dream found at your fingertips.

ColdwellBankerHomes.com

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Frederick | $439,000

Westminster | Price Upon Request

Colorado Springs | $415,000

Immaculate home offers covered front porch, gourmet kitchen, 2-sided fireplace, master suite with sitting room, upstairs laundry, extended patio, 3-car garage, and storage shed.

3br/3ba home. Updated kitchen w/quartz countertops, tile backsplash and stainless appliances. Home w/vaulted ceilings, fireplace & hardwood floors. Complete w/unfinished basement.

2br/2ba home in 55+ community w/2-car garage, 1,715 sqft. Open floor plan, gourmet kitchen, master retreat with walk-out. Located near shopping, entertainment, and I-25.

MacDonald-Weathers Team 303.915.6126

Debbie Cooper-George 303.944.8494

Camellia Coray 719.359.0014

Colorado Springs | $400,000

Parker | Price Upon Request

Parker | $389,000

4br/3ba home located in Wolf Ranch. 2-car garage. 2,544 sqft. Hardwood floors and vaulted ceilings, gourmet kitchen, main level master suite, and finished basement.

Beautiful remodeled home on a quiet cul-de-sac in the coveted Bradbury Ranch neighborhood.

3br/3ba remodeled home w/vaulted ceilings. Family room w/custom fireplace. Master suite w/his and hers closets, double sinks and French doors. Fenced in backyard w/custom patio.

CC Signature Group 719.550.2547

Brett Kennedy 303.881.8000

Denver | $379,000

Littleton | $375,000

Parker | $365,000

3br/2ba condo is the only 1st floor unit. Newer baths, kitchen w/formal dining, living room & office. Covered patio w/beautiful view down 9th Avenue, just blocks from Cheesman Park.

3br/2ba home on a cul-de-sac offers an open floor plan, vaulted ceilings and living room with fireplace. Finished basement, stainless appliances, solar, and large yard with deck.

Views of Pikes Peak, privacy with trees and backs to open space. End of cul-de-sac property. Create your own masterpiece of this beautiful home site in the Timbers at the Pinery!

Gail Wheeler 303.726.7202

Kylie Rupert 303.842.8205

Jeff Kloenne 303.884.9830

Golden | $348,500

Northglenn | Price Upon Request

Aurora | $345,000

2br/2ba updated, modern mountain home w/mountain views! New flooring, living room fireplace, fresh paint, 3 decks, fenced yard, shed & landscaping. Remodeled master bed & 2 baths.

3br/2ba home w/new paint & gorgeous finishes throughout. Remodeled kitchen w/stainless steel appliances. Complete w/ gorgeous details & a backyard. Near restaurants & shopping.

3br/3ba home in Sterling Hills featuring vaulted ceilings, living room w/fireplace, an open floor plan, laundry room w/washer & dryer & deck. New water heater, furnace & AC!

Elise Waldron 303.250.2771

Lindsey Sampier 970.214.9715

Hallie Rand 720.810.2931

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Thornton | $345,000

Arvada | $335,000

Peyton | $330,000

3br/2.5ba open floor plan home with a gas fireplace and a finished basement. The kitchen offers newer granite countertops and custom cabinets. Complete with a fully fenced-in backyard.

In the last six years windows, furnace, roof, sewer & paint have been replaced and renewed. Features a full appliance package, hardwood floors, covered patio & front porch.

3br/3ba 3-car garage, 2,748 sqft. home. Double-sided gas fireplace, brand new appliances in kitchen, master suite with adjoined 5-piece bath, landscaped front and backyard.

Osmirelly Kidwell 303.862.0809

Barry Tucci 303.520.5478

Camellia Coray 719.359.0014

Littleton | $329,000

Aurora | $325,000

Brighton | $324,800

Enjoy this spacious home with vaulted ceilings, and a granite kitchen, stainless steel appliances, and washer and dryer included.

3br/2ba home in a friendly neighborhood. Outside w/fenced in yard and maintenance free siding. Kitchen w/stainless steel appliances. Complete w/1-car garage, newer AC and paint.

Beautifully updated 3br/1.5ba home with an open floor plan, vaulted ceilings, and fireplace. Adams 5-star schools. Within minutes to HWY access. Why rent when you can own?

Jan Bollhoefner 303.947.3095

Brett Kennedy 303.881.8000

Heidi P. Martinez 303.717.1870

Thornton | $315,000

Colorado Springs | $315,000

Lakewood | $300,000

Remodeled ranch home on a beautiful tree-lined street, close to shopping & parks, and 20 min from downtown. New roof, storage shed, exterior & interior paint, kitchen & bathrooms.

5br/4ba 2-car heated garage, 2,483 sqft. located minutes from Academy and Powers Corridor. Corner lot, landscaped front and backyard. Spacious kitchen.

2-story condo w/kitchen cabinets, quartz countertops and vaulted ceiling. Living room w/fireplace. Massive loft w/exterior door! Complete w/huge living area, sitting deck and 2 garages.

Anastasia Bates 720.360.7050

CC Signature Group 719.550.2547

Cheryl Lohuis 303.522.6161

Thornton | $300,000

Loveland | $300,000

Denver | $269,900

All brick ranch in Thornton with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. Three seasons room w/potential for an extra living space. Complete w/a workshop attached to the carport and a fenced yard.

Open concept ranch (Snowmass model) paired home is ready for you! South facing, bright and airy with room to grow! 3br/2ba as well as a full unfinished basement.

2br/3ba 1-car attached garage, 2,166 total sqft. in Windsong. End unit offers new furnace & AC, some new flooring, new carpet, popcorn ceilings removed. Does need TLC for instant equity.

Lorrie Groth 720.745.9290

Dawn Mathis 970.481.5263

Joni Jagger 303.437.3046

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Highlands Ranch | $269,900

Colorado Springs | $262,000

Denver | $249,000

2br/2ba, 1-car garage features new light fixtures, faux-wood flooring, a patio and an updated kitchen. The master has a walk-in closet and four-piece bathroom with garden tub.

3br/2ba, 2-car garage Claremont Ranch, 1,160 sqft. Landscaped front and backyard, open concept, main level living, updated kitchen, family room with gas fireplace.

2br/2ba condo w/new flooring, freshly painted as well as new electrical panel and fixtures. Condo is in highly desirable location in DTC area close to light rail, shopping and restaurants.

Jennifer Zurzolo 720.315.5497

Camellia Coray 719.359.0014

Norma Adair 720.291.3300

Wheat Ridge | $244,000

Highlands Ranch | $241,000

Westminster | $222,500

2br/2ba condo in Wheat Ridge features covered patio, pool, tennis courts & club house. Near Wheat Ridge & Old Town Arvada & minutes away from Colorado Mills. Near park & bike trails.

Fantastic townhome in the heart of Highlands Ranch. Walking distance to Town Center featuring shopping, restaurants and farmer's market.

Cozy 2br/1ba condo in Cedar Bridge. Open living space w/fireplace & 2 patios. Well maintained throughout. Great location near shopping, dining, community pool, parks & trails.

Sandi Simpson 720.273.4625

Sean and Janet Willcox 303.903.5255

Nicole Wolf 303.898.5816

Denver | $210,000

Denver | $175,000

Hartsel | $10,000

Golf Course 2br/2ba condo w/eating bar/peninsula & open lanai in coveted 55+ community of Winter Gardens. Garage & free standing adjustable office desk/shelving included. Call now!

Cozy studio in the heart of Governorâ€™s Park w/friendly floor plan. Plenty of cabinet space in kitchen and breakfast bar. Boutique building with vintage character in a fantastic location.

Lot surrounded by mountain ranges, the south Platte river, between Spinney and Antero Reservoirs. Eleven Mile State Park, one of Colorado's largest reservoirs is a draw for anglers.

Cheryl Lohuis 303.522.6161

Nita Kolarsick 303.250.8280

Janice Hodson 719.337.7986

more giving Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage independent agents donâ€™t just sell homes here - they live here, and are more committed to making a positive difference with donations to nonprofits throughout our region. No other real estate company gives you more.

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52 80

BackStory

FAST TIMES AT ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH

Centennial State ski areas have been getting cliquey lately, pairing off under different ownership groups and lift passes in a way that feels like, well, high school. In that spirit, we assigned Breakfast Club–esque stereotypes to six Colorado ski resorts—because if we remember anything from our teenage years, it’s that pigeonholing people (and places) using only their most superficial attributes is always a good idea. —SHANE MONAGHAN

THE HIPSTER

THE RICH KID

THE TEACHER’S PET

If Colorado’s Vail Resorts–owned properties are H&M-wearing, Post Malone–listening sheep, then Loveland Ski Area is the loner rocking unwashed flannel and espousing the merits of Neon Indian. (It’s a New Age chillwave group.) While almost every other resort is racing to join the Epic or Ikon passes, Loveland never tries to run with the in crowd—it just started its 82nd year as an indie.

Aspen Snowmass resides in one of the top 10 most expensive zip codes in the country, meaning it’s a favorite of Gucci-clad skiers who fly into town on private jets and spend the night in 26-room ski-in, ski-out mansions. Basically, it’s the grown-up version of the kid who threw ragers every weekend at his parents’ supervision-less vacation home…which was probably in Aspen.

In recent years, Beaver Creek Resort has tried hard to excel at school: The 2018 opening of a new beginner area, Haymeadow Park, gave the ski area more dedicated learning terrain than any other Colorado resort. Its efforts to get good marks have benefits for the rest of the class, too, including free freshly baked cookies served everyday at 3 p.m. in Beaver Creek Village.

THE POSER

THE PROM QUEEN

THE JOCK

There’s always one tween who thinks he’s cool enough to hang with an older crew. And it’s useful that 14-year-old Echo Mountain has a bunch of terrain parks— just like it was useful that the middle schooler down the street had a new Xbox. But take away its toys, and Front Range– situated Echo doesn’t feel as mature as resorts west of the Continental Divide.

From Condé Nast Traveler to Sunset, it seems no magazine is capable of making a “Top 10 Skiing Destinations” list without honoring Vail Ski Resort. Like any exalted being, though, the mountain inspires plenty of contempt (or are they just jealous?). For evidence, look no further than the “Vail Sucks” T-shirts Aspen ski shops have been selling for years.

Copper Mountain’s varsity jacket might not be big enough to fit all of its patches. The U.S. Ski Speed Center, a downhill course on which skiers regularly clock speeds of 80 mph, debuted at the resort in 2016. The separate 20,000-square-foot Woodward Barn features foam pits and trampolines, making it the perfect playground to practice high-flying, X Games–style stunts.

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| 5280 | DECEMBER 20 19

I L L U S T R AT I O N S BY J A S O N S C H N E I D E R

“I TRUSTED ORTHOCOLORADO HOSPITAL TO GET ME BACK TO RUNNING AGAIN.”

Kelly Spine Surgery 2019

Raphael Courtois-Bond, CST

Hi, I’m Kelly.

I’m a busy woman! I work hard, and I’ve run more marathons than I can count. I don’t have time to slow down. So when back pain left me walking with a cane, I couldn’t wait around for things to get better. I trusted OrthoColorado Hospital to help. The worldclass doctors and care team at OrthoColorado gave me my life back. Now I’m working, hitting the gym, and running again – pain free.

Michael Drewek, MD Spine Surgeon 5280 Top Doc - 2019 Corinne Brownlee, RN

Trust OrthoColorado Hospital to get you back to the life you love. To learn more, visit www.orthocolorado.org