Crested Butte Magazine 2010-2011 Winter

WINTER 2010 | 2011

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SEVEN HOURS, 78 PEOPLE, ONE GNARLY BANANA

by Heidi White Why giant pieces of fruit are plunging down that avalanche chute.

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DOWNTOWN THROW-DOWN

by Sandy Fails When skiers fling themselves into peril in the middle of Elk Avenue.

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A LITTLE LIFE SAVED

by Shelley Read Local medics brought toddler Gore Otteson back to life.

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BUILDING SKIS INSTEAD OF HOUSES

by Than Acuff The Weinberg brothers go big with their custom ski business.

BACKYARD FRESHIES

by Rachael Gardner CS Irwin: Snowcat skiing in the “cosmic snow vortex.”

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SNOW BIRDS

by Dawne Belloise Crested Butte’s mechanical flock can now soar above the ski slopes.

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BOYS AND THEIR TOYS

by Dawne Belloise Earth-bound pilots and their fabulous flying machines.

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THE SAUSAGE QUEEN OF CRESTED BUTTE

by Brooke Harless A taste of Loree Mulay Weisman’s Sicilian heritage.

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WINTER WEATHER LORE

by Molly Murfee How do you predict snorkel snow?

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MOVING THE BUTTE

by Shelley Read | The Crested Butte Dance Collective invites you to the dance.

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YOUNG VOICES, FRESH IDEAS

by Erin English New Youth Council taps into “the greatest kids on the planet.”

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HIGH-COUNTRY CURLING

by Laura Puckett | After the Olympics brought curling to the world’s attention, two avid newbies brought the sport to Crested Butte South.

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by Luke Mehall Western students recruit the valley for their Year of Sustainability.

ZIGGY TO THE RESCUE

by Todd Shapera | A story in photos: the Crested Butte Ski Patrol’s avalanche dogs.

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YES IN MY BACKYARD

by Erin English | Local food initiatives are planting the seeds of year-round sustainability even in our wintry home.

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by Laura Puckett | With the right preparation, ski huts offer cozy

by Brooke Harless | Threatened by turmoil in their native Nepal, the

refuge in the heart of winter.

Sherpa family finds a new mountain home in Crested Butte.

BUNKING IN THE BACKCOUNTRY

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LIKE NO OTHER A photographic tribute to our inimitable little corner of the world.

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THE TIPPING POINT

by Mike Horn | Big-mountain snowboarding queen Susan Mol

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FIFTY YEARS & COUNTLESS STORIES

by Sandra Cortner | As the ski area nears its half-century mark, its pioneers look back with laughter and affection.

THE LONGEST TREK

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FEAR AND LIVING IN CRESTED BUTTE

by Molly Murfee | Why risk-taking for some of us is as routine as breakfast.

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UPSCALING ULEY

by Sandra Cortner | How an elegant dining cabin, named for a 1900s bootlegger, replaced the much-storied Twister Warming House.

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Except for brief exceptions – like when the remains of a large gnawed-up teddy bear were elbowing their way through his digestive system – my dog Luke awakens with irrepressible delight in each new day dawning. More than a decade ago I wrote an article in the Crested Butte Magazine about Luke the puppy guru partly because of this unflappable joy. I aspired to be more like my golden retriever – except in certain questionable dietary practices.

Now Luke is a big old guy. He topped 100 pounds before we slenderized him back to the svelte 80s. He can be a noble beast when poised like a show dog, proud and alert. But lovable and goofy are more his style. Over the years, he has tolerated being dressed in my then-adolescent son’s boxers and t-shirt; taken to sleeping with his nose stuck deep in the household’s stinkiest soccer cleats; and perfected his post-swim dirt-wallow for maximum mud adherence. Our family photos depict him occasionally as noble beast, but mostly as class clown.

When my family bought the Old Town Inn in 2002, Luke became a hotel greeter, a job-personality match made in heaven.

Gentle of spirit, Luke has received the adulation of hundreds of people, including the toddlers who climb him like a jungle gym, “pet” him with hammer-fisted enthusiasm and yank out small tufts of fur. He still greets old and young, rich and poor, grumpy and sweet, conservative and liberal with indiscriminate affection.

Headed toward his 12th birthday, Luke doesn’t bounce so much any more, but he still reverts to puppy-like eagerness at the sight of a slobbery tennis ball or the sound of his treat bag crinkling, and he flops and rolls with delicious glee after each new snowfall. When the door opens for his morning walk, he still jumps to see what olfactory marvels await (at least figuratively; his bod has used up much of L33333333!"#$%#&'(%%#)*+*,-.#/012

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its literal jump). When I see my life as a list of chores, Luke

When I sat down to write this editor’s note, Luke curled

reminds me it should also be about spontaneous wonders.

up at my feet (no foul soccer cleats were available). I absent-

Admittedly Luke has it pretty darn good; nary a deadline

mindedly scratched his ears as I looked over the stories in this

nor an overdue bill mars his daily docket. But still, how many

winter’s Crested Butte Magazine. What, I pondered, do these

of us could wiggle with anticipation at the lowering of a metal

stories reveal about the people of Crested Butte? They show

bowl and say sincerely, as I interpret the language of his tail

that we’re adventurous, fun-spirited, connected to nature,

wag, “Oh sweet thrill! More of those dry brown crunchies that

strong and caring. As I stopped scratching Luke’s ears and he

I’ve had twice a day for the last 3,600 days of my life! Thank

gave me a tender reminder nudge, I realized many of those

you thank you!”

same words describe my trusty companion.

As an elderdog, Luke has mellowed into even wiser

It’s true: we are at our best when we are like Luke: joyful,

counsel. His enthusiasm is now tempered with patience. He’s

exuberant, strong, affectionate, open, positive, patient and

still a glutton for love, but he might wait until it comes to him

good-hearted. We are at our worst when we are anti-Luke:

if he’s found a particularly cozy corner of the rug. He remains

judgmental, greedy, close-minded, fearful, protective and

content and accepting no matter how harried, cranky and

negative. After all these years, Luke is still an appropriate

malcontent the world grows around him.

guru, though he wheezes like a bellows and his breath could

He’s also one tough old geezer. Last summer Luke plopped down to snooze behind the back tire of a friend’s small car,

be a tad fresher these days.

I know old Luke won’t be around forever to remind me how

moving only after the unsuspecting driver had backed the car

to be the best person I can be. So I’m paying attention, and

over him. Amazingly, the x-rays showed no broken bones and

I’m thinking: May we learn well from our dogs now so that

no serious organ injury. After a tough few days, Luke started

when they’re gone we can be that reminder for each other.

walking again, a few steps, then a few more, until he was back to his happy, “don’t rush me,” two-mile saunter.

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!:;>?N'E>:?= VOL. XXXII, NO. 2 Published semi-annually

by Crested Butte Publishing & Creative

PUBLISHER Steve Mabry Chris Hanna

EDITOR Sandy Fails

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR MJ Vosburg

GRAPHIC DESIGN Keitha Kostyk

COVER PHOTO Paul Gallaher

ONLINE crestedbuttemagazine.com

E-MAIL happy@crestedbutte.net

SUBSCRIPTIONS Crested Butte Publishing & Creative P.O. Box 1030 Crested Butte, CO 81224 970-349-7511 • $8/year for two issues

ADVERTISING 970-349-6211 mj@crestedbuttemagazine.com

Copyright 2010, Crested Butte Publishing. No reproduction of contents without authorization

by Crested Butte Publishing & Creative.

WRITERS

Than Acuff Dawne Belloise Sandra Cortner Erin English Sandy Fails Rachael Gardner Brooke Harless Mike Horn Luke Mehall Molly Murfee Laura Puckett Shelley Read Todd Shapera Heidi White

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PHOTOS

Dawne Belloise Nathan Bilow Sandra Cortner Dusty Demerson Xavier Fané Alex Fenlon Paul Gallaher Braden Gunem Mike Horn Kevin Krill JC Leacock Luke Mehall Todd Shapera James Ray Spahn Tom Stillo

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How to do good by throwing yourself down an avalanche chute dressed like a piece of fruit.

By Heidi White

ext time you ride the Silver Queen chair lift, take a gander at Mt. Crested Butte’s daunting west side. Maybe even muster the guts to venture across Peel and Flatiron to the double-black run that sweeps dramatically from the peak in every postcard picture of the mountain. As you stare down the plunge and prepare yourself for the ride of your life, just imagine plummeting down this avalanche chute over and over again… for seven hours… dressed like a piece of fruit.

The iconic, curved chute of the Banana is open to expert skiers and riders only late in the season when ample snow covers its hazardous rocks and the Crested Butte Mountain Resort ski patrol has blasted away at its steeps. Which hardly discouraged 78 souls last winter from

donning fruity suits, yellow wigs and, yes, real bananas and repeatedly throwing themselves down it for the inaugural Seven Hours of the Banana.

Ex-patroller Johnny Biggers proposed this ultimate skiers’ challenge as a fundraiser for two non-profits, the Adaptive Sports Center and Crested Butte Ski Club. “The big vertical, the big view; it’s just a powerful place,” he said.

Countless volunteer and ski resort staff hours brought the idea to fruition on February 24, 2010. Participants with skis, snowboards and various degrees of costuming lined up for a running Le Mans start in their race to rack up the most vertical feet.

Biggers set out to win the inaugural event, estimating he could do 25 laps in seven hours; that’s roughly 17 minutes to ski each lap of 2,080 vertical feet, including a nine-minute lift ride.

But freeskiing champion Wendy Fisher and a handful of local uber-athletes stood ready to take him on.

Competitors jumped on the Silver Queen lift, traversed through the trees to the Banana and charged down the skinny, knee-busting mogul run. Biggers led the yellow-clad pack most of the day. “The event is unique in that it’s lift served,” he said later. “It really relies on your skiing skills as opposed to just lung power.

You’ve got to have good technique, good stamina, and you have to be able to ski efficiently.”

It quickly became clear that Biggers would far exceed his predicted 25

six to 68 covered some serious vertical, having collected pledges for each lap to benefit the two host organizations. Some participants skied all day, while others formed teams and alternated laps.

With everyone from six-year-old Gus Bullock to former freeskiing champion Alison Gannett sharing the narrow steeps, the Banana was full of costumed camaraderie and friendly competition.

Biggers just kept smiling, even when Fisher took the lead once and for all.

“She’s a fantastic skier,” he said. “I was “She’ fine for about 25 laps, and then she just started out-skiing me.”

Fisher and Biggers both completed 31 laps – 64,480 vertical feet – on the Banana that day, with Fisher coming in first. Both their names now appear on the hefty handmade Banana trophy.

All together the participants raised more than $20,000. “It was an incredibly unique event that couldn’t have happened without the involvement of our amazing community,” said Kiley Flint, program director for the Crested Butte Ski Club, which provides scholarships for local competitive skiers and snowboarders.

Biggers, who turned 50 this year year, is already in the gym training for the March 5, 2011, Seven Hours of the Banana. If you’d like to take him on, pound your quads or put to good use your old banana costume, find out more from kiley.flint@gmail. com or emily@ adaptivesports.org.

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=DTN;<3<:?C Three locals lend their skills to an internationally celebrated medical “miracle.” employees of Gunnison Valley Hospital (GVH) – were part of a team of medical professionals who, according to Gore’s mother Amy, “did everything they needed to do.”

When Forsythe responded to the Ottesons’ 911 call on the GVH ambulance, he spotted the child lying next to the irrigation ditch across a field surrounded by his family. Forsythe had already decided not to treat the child on scene (as would be typical for a cardiac arrest case) but instead had prepared equipment in the ambulance and t a July 2010 family gathering near planned to get the patient to the hospital Gunnison, 21-month-old Gore Otteson as quickly as possible. Forsythe rushed to unlatched the cabin’s screen door and where Gore lay and scooped him up in his wandered away. arms.

Within minutes, he was discovered “He looked liked somebody who was missing and a frantic search ensued. dead,” said Fry of his grandson’s condition More than 20 minutes later, the family’s when the emergency medical team worst fears were realized: Gore’s lifeless arrived. “And, frankly, that’s what he was.” body was discovered submerged in an “The emotions triggered while crossing irrigation ditch. Gore’s grandfather, Kirk Fry, a retired orthopedic surgeon, and two that field carrying his cold, lifeless body were intense, but I didn’t really have time cousins pulled the toddler from the frigid water and began CPR while another family for them,” said Forsythe, citing the need member dialed 911. Gore showed no signs to “temporarily shelve emotions” in order to do his job. of life.

The ambulance was on scene only 47 Remarkably, this story ends happily. seconds before Forsythe and his team Despite being given a 1% chance of began working to resuscitate Gore and survival by the Children’s Hospital doctors who eventually treated him, Gore Otteson speed him to the hospital. Forsythe said his crew was able to get the toddler’s not only survived his near-fatal drowning condition “moving in the right direction but celebrated his second birthday and showing small signs of improvement” having made a complete recovery. during transport, including altering his Dubbed the “Lazarus Tot” by one British EKG flat line to reflect some “slow yet newspaper, Gore quickly became the organized electrical activity in his heart.” focus of headlines, blogs, tweets and On Gore’s arrival at the hospital, Dr. articles worldwide, including a September Sherman and his emergency room (ER) appearance on NBC’s “Today Show.”

Three long-time Crested Butte residents team took over. They worked to get a strong pulse and, in consultation with were instrumental in Gore’s “miracle” Children’s Hospital, made the crucial survival. Crested Butte Fire Protection decision not to warm his hypothermic District (CBFPD) paramedic Erik Forsythe, body. According to Sherman, Gore’s CBFPD nurse/paramedic Chris Evans and condition transformed “dramatically” Crested Butte Medical Center owner Dr. while under their care, shifting from Roger Sherman — all of whom are also

By Shelley Read

grey and lifeless to pink, breathing with assistance and having a consistent pulse.

Sherman credited the ambulance and emergency room teams as being so “well drilled in the protocols defined in advanced cardiac life support” that they were able to work through those protocols and “every step went very smoothly.”

However, as Sherman recalled, “there was no great feeling of elation” in the ER that day. “We didn’t feel positive about what the neurological outcomes would be,” explained Sherman, aware that brain function recovery from a case such as Gore’s happens in “maybe 1 in 10,000 cases” and cognizant of the associated ethical concerns. “We managed to give this child a second opportunity, but quite frankly we feared he was brain dead.”

ER nurse Chris Evans remembered an emotional scene after Gore was airlifted to Denver’s Children’s Hospital. “We all had to deal with the experience in our own way,” she said. Her way was to closely follow Gore’s progress each day on the website where his family posted updates.

Forsythe did the same. “I was just holding out a shred of hope for some sort of meaningful recovery,” he said.

News was initially grim. During his first days in the Children’s Hospital ICU, Gore showed no signs of improvement.

Doctors continued to keep the toddler hypothermic until they felt it was time to slowly warm him and determine his neurological deficits. When they did, Gore miraculously woke up.

When Evans read the announcement that Gore’s MRIs showed no signs of brain abnormality, “My mouth just dropped,” she said. “It was an amazing feeling.”

“I was elated that he had even survived,” said Forsythe. “I was waiting to see what kind of brain damage he had, and then to hear he had fully recovered… it was beyond anyone’s wildest hopes.”

Sherman echoed that sentiment: “This !"#$%#&'(%%#)*+*,-.#/0123333333346

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is definitely one of those moments in your career that you’ll look back on as a highlight.”

Much of the world-wide media coverage of the Ottesons’ story has sought an explanation for Gore’s survival--from the child’s hypothermic state, to extraordinary luck, to divine intervention. According to Sherman, the likely answer is a complex physiological response called the mammalian dive reflex. This primordial reaction can occasionally put a drowning victim from cold water — particularly a child, who is closer to primordial reflexes – in a “virtual hibernation state.” Sherman admitted this reflex is in many ways a mystery to medical professionals. “We don’t completely understand how the brain and other vital organs can shut off and not require oxygen and not be damaged,” said Sherman, “but that appears to be what happened.”

Clearly the swift, quality medical care he received gave the toddler his best chance for survival.

“Everyone involved did exactly what we needed to do. It was an honor just being part of that team,” said Evans.

“This case is a true testament to the multi-faceted effectiveness of the health care system in Gunnison County,” added Sherman.

Little Gore Otteson, whose mother describes him as “the same little boy today as he was before the accident,” will have a lasting effect on his rescuers, Forsythe said. “To be a part of a team that helps to save someone’s life, especially the life of a child, to have all of our experience and training converge and contribute to such a positive outcome…well, that’s a feeling you never forget.”

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winter,” Martin said.

“Businesses loved having 2,000 people on the street for four hours. The athletes loved it; how cool is it to be pulled by snowmobile down Elk Avenue? And the spectators loved it.

Depending on where you were, you could see the skiers take

s the snowpile rose, so did people’s eyebrows, competitors’ adrenaline levels and perhaps Gabe Martin’s blood pressure. Snowcat drivers and kamikaze skiers were shaping, testing and refining a ski jump the likes of which no one had ever seen. At least not in the middle of Elk Avenue.

It was odd enough to have Crested Butte’s main street transformed into a snowy ski-jump course, though that had been done for several Big Air on Elk events – before the hard work and galactic insurance costs put the kibosh on it. But when Colorado FreeSkier owner Gabe Martin resuscitated the event last winter, he also upped the ante: “We wanted a real jump, like the X Games or the U.S. Open,” he said.

Crews hauled in 100 tons of snow and covered Elk Avenue from Second Street almost to Fourth. In a few hours a snowmobile would pull contestants full-throttle down Elk via a water ski-type rope. At the last second, each skier (or occasional bold snowboarder) would throw down the rope and launch off the ramp while the snowmobile steered into a tunnel beside the jump.

The pile grew to 45 feet “from lip to knuckle,” Martin said, so skiers flew about 60 feet before touching snow again.

Though Martin and his wife Kyra jumped

in the first-ever Big Air on Elk, he said, “I wasn’t going to do this one. It was huge.”

Crews also extended the approach and landing for the 2010 Colorado FreeSkier’s Big Air on Elk, which Martin hoped would prevent the injuries that had haunted past events.

As passersby gawked and snowcat groomers took notes, the test skiers flung themselves off the monstrosity to find out what didn’t work. “Those guys were brave,” Martin said.

Though he had been swamped with eager competitors, Martin limited the number to 30 (and will cut it down further this year) to give each person time to “get comfortable” with the course. How comfortable can one get, bulleting 60 feet in the air down a street while thousands of people stare?

By the time the official competition began, “the snowmobilers had it dialed,” Martin said. They roared down Elk Avenue, skiers in tow, quickly reaching 38-40 miles per hour. The crowds cheered; music blared; t-shirts sold; and skiers launched, grabbed, contorted and blasted back to earth. Intact. “I had my fingers crossed the whole time,” Martin said.

Around him, Elk Avenue buzzed with people who were boggled that anyone would attempt, much less pull off, such a spectacle. “It was like the Fourth of July of

off into the air or, from the other end, see them come flying out of nowhere.”

While skiers rocketed, the Crested Butte Ski Club hosted a chili cook-off in the Paradise Café, with its front-row window view of the shenanigans. And the Crested Butte Avalanche Center, which helped create Big Air on Elk a few years ago, held its less risky and more stylish offshoot: Big Hair on Elk. Though competitors paid $20 to sling themselves into danger’s teeth, funds were raised primarily from t-shirt sales and a ticketed giveaway. Any proceeds beyond break-even were pledged to the young skiers and boarders of the Crested Butte Ski Club. Perhaps the sacrificial fodder of future Big Airs.

The jumpers were judged (by the parkster elite) on the difficulty of their stunts, variety and style. Last year’s top three winners received, respectively, skis, boots and a jacket and poles. Martin hopes to add cash prizes this year.

He also moved this year’s event to the biggest Saturday of spring break: March 12, 2011. Once again Colorado FreeSkier will bring rockin’ music to the scene, most likely accompanied by Big Hair, afterparties and general happy craziness. “We put ourselves on the line,” Martin said, “to make an event as unique as Crested Butte.” !"#$%#&'(%%#)*+*,-.#/0123333333348

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The Weinberg brothers expand their custom ski business to a new Crested Butte factory. By Than Acuff so they knew what they liked.

They built their first few skis from “a big heap of junk” in Morgan’s garage. “We had to pull my wife’s car out every time we made a pair,” he said.

More hurdles arose before they could send the first pair out for a test run. Typically, skis are made ast January Caleb and Morgan using poplar wood, but the Weinberg Weinberg clicked into the skis they’d just brothers couldn’t find any. made in Morgan’s garage and headed up “The first pair was built on what was Crested Butte Mountain. The skis would available,” said Caleb. “Aspen from either carve or explode. “It was kind of Delta.” nerve-racking,” Morgan said.

Last January’s ski trial was so successful, While the brothers have no problem the brothers located a source for poplar ripping the steep terrain Crested Butte and spent the next two months building a is known for, they were a bit more series of prototypes for friends to test. conservative in testing their home-built “I got a chance to ski a pair in the early gear. stage,” said Colorado FreeSkier owner “We skied Paradise Bowl first,” said and consummate ski tester Gabe Martin.

Caleb. “The skis could have just fallen “They were super aggressive and carved apart, but they didn’t.” really well, and they’re fat so they also float Not only did the skis hold, but they carved, floated and danced. Friends tested in powder. ” In March the brothers decided to step their prototypes and loved them. So it up and start building skis as a business Caleb and Morgan this fall opened their rather than a hobby. “The response from Romp Skis factory on Belleview Avenue in everyone who tried them was so good that Crested Butte. we decided to go for it,” said Caleb. “Take Two summers ago, as the construction the summer to build a factory and do it.” business waned, the former builders were Researching presses online, the scratching their heads, figuring out what to Weinbergs designed and built their own do with their plethora of time and tools. ski and laminate presses and tracked “No one wanted to build houses,” down other wood-working machinery as Caleb said, “so we thought, let’s build well as a sublimation printer to apply the skis.” graphics to the top sheet. They struggled The Weinberg boys grew up in New with names, ultimately coming up with the Hampshire skiing Cannon Mountain and playful Romp Skis. spent the majority of their winters on skis, 7-89- ,:9 9- ) .)?04- +53

They have six shapes to choose from, with a variety of widths underfoot, at the tip and tail, including a pintail option. They will also offer anywhere from two to four lengths with each shape. Stiffness options throughout the ski will be available as well, including carbon strips for additional stiffness, and skiers can pick various camber profiles.

They can even build skis for the little rippers.

“Powder skis for kids aren’t out there,” said Caleb. “My five-year-old son’s favorite run is the Banana; he needs powder skis.”

Alpine demo skis are available at Colorado FreeSkier and telemark demos (mounted to ski backcountry as well) at Crested Butte Sports. “[Morgan and Caleb] are right on the cutting edge of skiing,” said Martin.

“They’re not designing skis that are already out there; they’re putting all the good ideas together into one ski. I’m super stoked on the shape.”

The Weinbergs were also determined to keep the price affordable at $600.

“There are small ski companies, but most of them aren’t doing custom skis,” explained Caleb. “And a custom ski can cost $2,000.”

Every ski will be backed by a one-year warranty, and Romp Skis offers a crash replacement policy. “If you wreck our skis, and it wasn’t our fault, we’ll still sell you another pair for half price during that first year,” Caleb said.

Their goal is to build and sell 300 pairs in their debut year.

“We want to put the time and effort into each pair and get the quality we want, and what the skier wants,” said Caleb. “To come up with a concept of what you want a ski to be, build it and ski it is cool. I hope that is what we can give our customers.

They pick what they want, then get out there and ski them.”

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!D>3=YNN;<3N;3>AC3!"#$%!&#'"(&)"*+,Locals can indulge in plush backcountry powder vacations - and be home for dinner.

By Rachael Gardner

Irwin is gearing up to attract the masses, in friendly groups of ten, to a unique, all-inclusive cat-skiing experience in the snowy mountains west of Crested Butte. The terrain varies from moderate to extreme, allowing almost anyone with an adventurous spirit to participate.

I have to admit, the concept was

interesting, but I wasn’t personally sold at first. I step out my front door into a mountain paradise every morning; what would motivate me to go an extra 12 miles for more? With a little research, I easily found three factors: snowfall, convenience and affordability.

Here’s how a CS Irwin trip goes: guests check in at 330 Belleview to be briefed on the day’s adventures and choose equipment from the array of custom skis and snowboards.

They then hop a luxury snowcat, the Tucker, to the Movie Cabin above Lake Irwin. The Movie Cabin serves as home base for the day, with clients enjoying a light breakfast, gourmet lunch and après

goodies. This is also where guests board the climbing cat, the Bison, when it’s time for adventure. Skiers and boarders can expect to take eight to 12 runs in a day’s time.

At the end of the ski day, guests ride the Tucker back to town and their choice of local accommodations arranged by the CS Irwin staff. In the future, patrons can choose a swanky stay in the former Crested Butte Club, now being remodeled

by CS Irwin.

The all-inclusive nature of the experience makes backcountry skiing and riding easier and less intimidating for mountain vacationers.

But why should locals take notice?

For starters, CS Irwin is located in some strange cosmic snow vortex, blessing it with more snow than almost any other location in Colorado – an average annual snowfall of more than 600 inches. Last year, the snowfall surpassed every Colorado ski resort by at least 90 inches. It might not be snowing in town right now, but it’s probably snowing in Irwin. !"#$%#&'(%%#)*+*,-.#/012333333334P

Next, CS Irwin offers a level of convenience that allows me to enjoy the remote, pristine terrain and still make my dinner date in town. Or change into waitressing clothes for my late shift. CS Irwin is the only snowcat ski operation allowing guests to leave from town and return the same day. I can load the Tucker at 7:30 a.m., make the 40-minute trek in

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comfort and style, schuss my fill of powder, and be deposited back in town by 5 p.m.

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terrain and top-of-the-line equipment

meals, expert guide service on untouched should I leave my own board on the shelf that day.

Lastly, and perhaps more importantly, I can actually afford this adventure. The full, high-season rate, sans any local discounts, is $450 for the day (or $4,000 for the whole snowcat if you recruit a load of friends).

Bring along your local driver’s license or last pay stub and the cost goes down from there.

CS Irwin gives locals several ways to save. The absolute best deal is the “Late Rate” of $200, requiring that you book available seats between Sunday and Wednesday after 6 p.m. and before 3 a.m. the night prior. In an environment where unpredictable weather patterns rule, late booking is an advantage. Consider it a double-bonus for spontaneity.

If last-minute planning isn’t your style, bring along two guests at full price and get your entry for just over half the cost. You can show family and friends something new and get a deal yourself.

Finally, CS Irwin offers a Local Full Cat rate of $2,500, which is a 40% discount. Ten of my closest friends, a day of amazing turns, and I don’t have to drive or pack lunch?

I’m in!

Living in Paradise can come at a cost. We can be over-tired, stretched thin financially, sunburned in sub-zero temperatures and just one cheery smile from coming unglued on an unsuspecting tourist. I’m thinking my next antidote might be calling CS Irwin for a snowy local

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>AC3!"#!"$%&'#%%(3:B3!?C=>CM3'E>>C Loree Mulay Weisman capitalizes on her Sicilian heritage of food and family.

By Brooke Harless

twenty years, more members of the Mulay (originally Múle) family migrated West, including Loree’s grandfather John. Here

ne day in 1990, Loree Mulay Weisman and her husband Ward spent 12 hours listening to the Grateful Dead and stuffing homemade sausages in the old Penelope’s Restaurant kitchen. She had just returned from a visit to New York, where she tasted local sausages at an Italian street festival. Reared in an Italian kitchen, she was disappointed in the offering and vowed to make her own. Using borrowed kitchen space and her family’s century-old Sicilian recipes, she prepared to sell her links at the Crested Butte Fourth of July celebration, the town’s largest street party.

Good sausage makers are as discriminating about their ingredients as winemakers are about grapes. Loree, a gastronomical purist, began with natural, lean pork and an assortment of spices, recreating the flavors she remembered from her grandmother’s kitchen.

“We had spent weeks grinding and spicing the meat at Angelo’s old kitchen and then moved operations to Penelope’s

to stuff the sausage into casings. We had no idea it would take 12 hours,” Loree recalled.

On July Fourth, from a hand-built “monstrosity” of a booth, Loree and Ward sold sausages faster than they could cook them. Word spread and hungry throngs gathered, asking where they got the sausages. “We couldn’t believe how popular they were,” Loree said.

They sold out of sausages in a few hours, and so began their love affair with one of our nation’s most winning pairings: grilled meat and Independence Day. They’ve added their Italian panache to the event for the last twenty years and expanded Mulay’s Sausage into national distribution.

Loree’s Italian forebears came from Lucca di Sicula, a small village on the southern coast of Sicily. Her great-uncle came to the U.S. in 1870 and was sold by a labor broker to work in the Pueblo, Colorado, steel mills. Over the next

John married young Rose, also from Lucca, continuing the Mulay dynasty in Colorado.

The Slow Food Movement becoming fashionable in the West began in Italy, where life is centered on food and family. In 1986 the founder of the Slow Food Movement, Carlo Petrini, hoped to “defend gastronomic pleasure and seek a slower, more aware pace of life.”

Italians boycotted fast-food restaurants in favor of slower rituals of eating; outside McDonalds and other chains, elderly women offered free homemade pastas and meats to divert diners from massproduced food. The thread seemed to unite Italians everywhere: slowing down to enjoy food, family and friends.

Across the pond in Colorado, Loree grew up in this movement. Her family frequently gathered to cook and enjoy delicious meals together, something Loree describes as “a constant spirit of love, often conveyed through food.” Her youth was filled with relatives concocting unpronounceable dishes with tomatoes, artichokes, garlic, cheeses, eggplants, bread, wine and, yes, sausage.

“Everything was food and family.

We’d have family parties and spend the day making food and wine and sometimes plum bounce (essentially Italian moonshine) and sausage,” Loree recalled.

“Whenever there was a special occasion or family gathering, my grandparents would make sausage. It would take all day. My Nana would get out a big wooden board and my Nanu (grandfather) would spice it at a huge table by throwing in all the spices and hand mixing the meat. It was very simple and very delicious.”

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Top: Triumphant sausage-eating contest champion Ben Reaman. Bottom: Loree’s more reserved Sicilian forebears.

recorded but preserved through centuries of oral tradition. “Nana never used a written recipe. They’ve just been passed down from generation to generation with substitutions here and there,” Loree said.

The recipes have survived hundreds of years and a few trips across the Atlantic, and are now available in sausage form in nine local restaurants and grocery stores. In addition to traditional Italian variety sausages (mild, hot, killer-hot and breakfast), Mulay’s makes bratwurst and (this writer’s favorite) chorizo.

Loree and Ward no longer borrow kitchen space but have expanded process operations in Denver. They have accounts across the nation, including Alaska and Hawaii.

Loree’s Italian upbringing still lends to her joie de vivre in the culinary arts. She and Ward celebrated their 20th sausagemaking anniversary last year by holding a sausage-eating contest (won by teenager Ben Reaman) and giving away sausage merchandise, still happily working to keep up with the hungry throngs.

See recipe on page 98.

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!"#$%&'()* Crested Butte’s mechanical flock can now soar above the ski slopes.

t’s a bluebird day and you’re shredding the Peel when a large winged shadow passes. You and everyone around you stop to look up. Overhead a flock of paragliders and hang-gliders soars silently, a festive and ever more common sight since Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) opened the ski mountain to winter launching last year.

“I could take my gear up there, ski all day, and then between one and two o’clock, go set up to fly,” said Scott Yost, a relatively new hang-gliding pilot and member of the 35-year-old Crested Butte Soaring Society. “It’s a site I fly all summer, but to fly it in winter! It was cool.”

The winged skiers set up at the cat track off the Silver Queen lift, where hundreds of people ski by. “Sixty to seventy people stopped to watch us fly, and it was pretty cool to have a big crowd. I was making low passes over the Peel, and the (air) lift wasn’t that great, but everyone skiing stopped and waved. I did get over the peak, and from there I could just watch the day end.”

Scott described the magnificent bird’seye view of an early winter evening before the sky sheds its color. “It was about 4 p.m.

I watched the mountain clear out and ski

patrol do their last sweep. I really enjoyed it.”

Schlepping up to the launch area with all the equipment is a lot more work for hang-gliders than paragliders.

Hang-gliding requires a structured wing while paragliding uses a cellular canopy whose tubular pockets fill with air to transform it into a wing. Hang-glider pilots are suspended from the airframes in harnesses, flying like Superman, heads forward and bodies stretched prone behind. They shift their body weight to control the wing’s direction and head off searching for thermals – updrafts of heated air which will carry them to higher altitudes, allowing them to fly for hours.

A paraglider flies suspended in a harness below a fabric wing shaped by air pressure. Paragliding equipment is so light and compact that its pilots can ride the lifts up with their equipment, while hanggliders must be transported up on CBMR equipment.

Both types of pilots wear very short skis to get to the launch site, then stow the mini-skis in their packs.

“Last year CBMR let us come up after the lifts had closed,” Scott said. “We put our hang-gliders on the mechanic’s

By Dawne Belloise

cart and unloaded them at the High Lift shack. The next day we skied over to the launch from the chair lift and flew.” A more expensive option is loading the hanggliding equipment onto a snowcat.

This year the Crested Butte Soaring Society renegotiated the winter flying regulations with CBMR to allow flights between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., while the lifts are still operating. Launching from Monument, the pilots must stay at least 200 feet above the chairlifts.

Schussing down the slopes may keep skiers warm in the wintry air, but how do those mechanical birds keep from freezing up there? Scott swears that flying isn’t any colder than skiing. The insulated harnesses feel like sleeping bags. “But you’re not going to see people flying very much in December and January.” As days warm and lengthen, the flock will take from the slopes to the skies again.

A mid-summer day gives the most dangerous and powerful conditions for flying, with the sun heating the earth and creating strong thermals. Winter brings less dramatic conditions.

“Knowing about weather, what creates thermals and clouds, is key to powerless flight,” Scott says. “The actual flying of a hang-glider or a paraglider is not that hard. Knowing how to work that lift, how to find thermals efficiently, is the key. The winter thermals aren’t as powerful, but the denser winter air is better for our flight.

Colder air has more mass, lifting us easily.”

Paraglider Ben Eaton thanked the ski resort for permission to fly off of Crested Butte Mountain. “We’ve gone from being in the dark to being very visible on an open ski area,” he says.

Scott adds, “It’s good for the Crested Butte Soaring Club, for CBMR, for the town. The tourists love it, skiers love it, the ski patrol loves it, and it fits hand in glove with our extreme sports and nature.” !"#$%#&'(%%#)*+*,-.#/0123333333356

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@:E;<3T:N!C=U3B?C=A3NMCD= New Youth Council taps into “the greatest kids on the planet.”

ackson Melnick hardly sounds like a 16-year-old. He converses with words like “palpable” and “niche.” His interests include localizing food production and preventing the Red Lady mine. He took a semester off of school last spring to travel overseas, a trip he largely funded on his own. For a week he volunteered on the West Bank of Israel.

Melnick is one of many motivated individuals serving on the Crested Butte Youth Council, a group of communityminded middle and high school students formed last winter. The Youth Council operates under the umbrella of the Gunnison County Substance Abuse and Prevention Program (GCSAPP) and has been charged with planning fun and safe youth activities, participating in and developing community service projects, and working with town government to represent the youth voice.

The Youth Council was created after a group of local residents, including parents, business owners, Mayor Leah Williams, Brooke Harless with GCSAPP and Melissa Neuner from The Studio Art School, held a “youth summit” in the fall of 2009. They brainstormed ways of getting young people more engaged in the community and involved with healthy, productive activities.

“I mentioned to Melissa that when I was in high school, we had fraternities and 5733333333!"#$%#&'(%%#)*+*,-.#/012

sororities. We had an obligation to volunteer and we raised money. It was a good way to become a part of the community,” Williams said.

“Brooke and Melissa went with that idea and it took off.”

The council is comprised of a panel of student representatives from grade levels 8 through 12 who were formally sworn into service at a Crested Butte Town Council meeting in March, as well as a larger council body of roughly 30 students. The group reflects many segments of the student body, from the athletic to the artistic.

“We speak for the youth of the town.

Since we are talking for a lot of people, it puts us in a powerful position. People are looking up to us to put stuff together and to make stuff happen,” said senior representative Jena D’Aquila.

Already the council has made plenty of stuff happen. Thirty-five students participated in the Town Clean-Up Day in May, and members volunteered for the Crested Butte Arts Festival in August. With thoughtfully prepared scripts in hand, representatives have provided updates at town council meetings on issues of importance to local youth. The group is planning an after-prom party for this year’s graduating class and attended a two-day certified peer educator course at Western State alongside college students.

“The goal of the course was to develop good listening skills and to learn how to be a good role model and influence on other students. The program is recognized throughout the nation,” said Skylar Kraatz, who is spending her junior year in Minden, Germany, as a Rotary exchange student.

Harless beamed with pride when she recalled, “After the course was over, the trainer said to me, ‘I’ve dealt with a lot of high school students. Your group is

By Erin English

by far the most articulate, outgoing and respectful group I’ve ever encountered.’”

Harless and Neuner facilitate the casual yet productive weekly meetings at Rumors Coffee and Tea House and loosely guide the students, though the council largely forms its own goals. Youth Council members respond well to Harless and Neuner, who are neither teachers nor parents, but adults they can confide in and respect – and have fun with.

“We are so real and sarcastic with them… it all happens so effortlessly,” Harless said. “I think middle school and high school students are the greatest kids on the planet. They are energetic and full of ideas that are actually plausible.”

The council operates on funding from GCSAPP, a small local grant, private donations and proceeds from fundraisers, one of which was a wildly successful pieeating contest held at the Farmer’s Market in June. “It was one of those small-town events where everyone was together having fun and laughing at each other,” Melnick said. “That’s the spirit we want to bring to our events. We like to have fun.”

At the end of summer, the Youth Council took a two-day retreat up Taylor Canyon.

In between stoking a roaring campfire, making s’mores and swapping jokes, the students reflected on what they had accomplished in their first six months and what they wanted to do in the future (including a few “top secret” projects, according to D’Aquila). They conferred with Mayor Williams on creative ways to raise money for the town’s 2011 Fourth of July fireworks.

“To see these teenagers take on the responsibility to make a difference is huge,” Williams said.

Melnick commented, “I’d really like to see the Youth Council have more sway, impact and attention and have other communities see our council as a model.”

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Earth-bound pilots and their fabulous flying machines.

hey stand on the edge of a high mesa, clutching large triangular wings, eyes scanning the Blue Mesa Reservoir miles below for a telltale westward ripple. Finally the breeze moves up the slope and the men throw their radio-controlled gliders aloft. The sky is dotted with brightly colored wedges, diving, soaring, trying to knock each other out of the sky.

The men on the ground control the gliders darting around like swarming bees, or in World War II lingo, the “furball.”

This is a combat competition of RC EPP – radio-controlled expanded polypropylene, the foam models that can withstand impact. These aren’t flimsy balsa toy planes; their wingspans stretch beyond 48 inches and the price tag to several hundred dollars.

In combat, each pilot tries with gusto to knock the other aircraft out of the wild blue yonder. Slams don’t count; pilots get points only for a kill, when the other guy’s plane hits the ground.

Having fun by trying to destroy expensive hobby planes? “These things 7-89- ,:9 9- ) .)?04- +53

By Dawne Belloise

bounce!” Rene Defourneaux thunders over the rising wind. Rene has been flying these craft for years and is the unofficial parts man for the flying fanatics and their hardy toys. “Things fall off,” he bellows, and then explains that most RC flyers build their planes from kits – or have someone do it for them.

“And his name’s Rene!” his cohorts yell while happily trying to blast each other from the heavens.

“It’s like paragliding without the danger,” Rene says, “until one of the planes comes crashing down on you.”

There are strict rules among this clan; if your plane hits someone in its death dive, the offending pilot must buy the victim a six-pack of beer.

These slope gliders depend on wind and thermals for their flight, and their maneuvers are controlled from hand-held transmitters. A joystick, just like on video games, turns the plane by adjusting the elevon on the wings.

“The wind doesn’t happen until two o’clock or later,” Rene says from his

battle position, “but it does happen.” In between maneuvers, he adds, “Up here in the windy Rocky Mountains, you should have a wind sport. That’s our motto... the wind is your friend.”

Durable planes or not, remotecontrolled piloting is still an expensive sport, even more so if you get hooked on the motorized version of the RC glider.

“To get into winged combat will cost about $300 and your precious time figuring it all out. With electronics involved, it will set you back anywhere from $50 to $6,000,” Rene warns. “What’s great is we have such realistic flight simulators now that we can practice in our living rooms instead of destroying our planes.”

Flying RC aircraft as a hobby has been growing worldwide with the development of more efficient electric motors, lighter and more powerful batteries and affordable radio systems.

In the winter months, the local crew flies only their motorized planes, since they can’t reach the glider launch sites in the deep snow. Rene is fortunate in that one of the other local RC junkies plows a runway behind his home in Riverbend, just south of Crested Butte. “We fly in my back yard,” he says. The snow softens the landing; after a crash, “you just yank the plane out of the powder and go again.”

Many of the planes are scaled-down versions of actual aircraft, Rene explains.

“Modeling is critical to modern aircraft development”; prudent developers create models before building full-scale planes.

But for the combatants wielding their transistors with deadly intent, the focus is less science than play. “We’re like kids without their moms supervising,” Rene says.

Find out more and watch video footage at rcgroups.com, or find local video by searching snakecrew1 on youtube.com.

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Jim Barefield (970) 209-5858

www.jimbarefield.com jim@jimbarefield.com

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@1=3ZC3!D; Western State College students invite the whole valley to join their Year of Sustainability. Story & photos by Luke Mehall

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nvironmental sustainability efforts have gained such momentum at Western State College of Colorado (WSC) in Gunnison that 2010-11 has been declared the Year of Sustainability (YoS), and a new handson program, the Institute for Applied Sustainability (IAS), has been launched.

The YoS is the brainchild of two motivated students, Kirsten Olsen and Ryan Kelly. The two plan to incorporate all entities of the college into the initiative, from the administration to the students, and to pull in both the Gunnison and Crested Butte communities.

The YoS will feature guest speakers, workshops, films and events, all aimed at moving the college and its students toward environmental sustainability.

“Sustainability issues are important to both of us, and we’re looking to go into this field of work when we graduate,” Olsen said. “We want to use our enthusiasm to benefit the college.”

All WSC students are invited to propose events to receive funding. The YoS was granted $10,000 from WSC’s Sustainability Fund, which grants up to $18,000 per year for student-led projects via the Student Government Association.

“By doing this at Western, I feel like I’m investing both in my school and in my own future,” Kelly said.

Recent student efforts were responsible for the installation of solar panels on Kelley Hall (which houses the Center for Environmental Studies), expansion of the on-campus community garden and efforts to reduce and compost food waste from the dining facilities.

The Institute for Applied Sustainability offers courses to both community members and WSC students through the college’s Extended Studies program.

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included solar energy, backyard food production, food preservation and sustainable building design.

Students can earn a certificate of completion in the program by taking eight courses. Prices range from $80 to $270 per course.

“This program offers courses outside of the Environmental Studies curriculum that are hands-on and provide solutions to some of our environmental problems,” said Jonathan Coop, director of the IAS. “The program will be a place to start thinking about what we need as a society to make a transition to a more resilient and sustainable economy, and our students are very eager to be a part of that.”

He added, “Through our program, a student or community member can learn how to put solar panels on a house, grow food in their backyard, or do an energy audit of their home.” The curriculum also prepares students for a possible “green job” down the road.

Colleen Smith, a 2002 WSC graduate, took two courses related to local food

production in the fall semester. Smith also volunteers with the local Mountain Roots community garden project. “I’m taking these courses so I can grow more and buy less from the store,” she said. “To buy organic is so much more expensive, and if I can grow it I can save money.”

Like Smith, many students want handson opportunities, not just theory.

“Our students tend to be very interested in getting out and doing things related to the environment,” Coop said. “They are passionate about how, as a community, we can become more sustainable and home grown.”

WSC students, who make up the majority of the IAS enrollment thus far, will take the courses in addition to their regular course load.

To teach the various courses, the IAS pooled local experts such as Crested Butte’s Jason Pozner and Lena Wilensky of Nunatek Alternate Energy Solutions, who taught “Introduction to Photovoltaics” in the fall.

“We’re fortunate to have our own experts in these areas,” Coop said. “By using local instructors we hope those who take the classes will realize that the solutions to a lot of our environmental problems are right here in our community.”

More information on both programs can be found at www.western.edu.

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ZN;>C?3ZCD>AC?39:?C Wooly bears, fat rabbits, tall anthills : how do you predict snorkel snow? he wind begins to bite at our mornings in late August.

He feels like he’s been chewing ice cubes. Early snows shake a lacy blanket over Purple, Teocalli and White Mountain.

I search for fortune-teller signs in the frost as it melts from my rooftop in the warm fall sun. What kind of winter will it be? How deep? How long? How cold? I go on a hunt, sleuthing clues from the experts.

“If I could predict that, I wouldn’t be sitting here,” cracks John Junior Rozman, a third-generation rancher of Slovenian, Yugoslavian and Austrian descent. He’s quiet for a moment, and you can hear his grin spread over the phone, then snap back into place. “But right now the beaver dams are taller. They must’ve seen all the firewood on the porches. It must mean a deep winter.”

John, so close to the mountains his 100-year-old cabin and hay fields creep from the toes of Mount Whetstone, claims neither the cows nor the grass share their secrets if they have them. Or perhaps he just doesn’t speak enough of the language.

“If you’re short on hay it’ll be a long winter, you can at least count on that,” he concludes.

To Irwin I go, just below treeline at 10,000 feet. “If you don’t like the weather, tough shit,” bellows ornery Irwinite John “Dad” Biro from his perch of 35 years. “I say you can tell how deep the snow will be by how low the nuts on Tom Church drag the ground.” Mr. Church’s genitals were unavailable for confirmation, not that I looked.

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weather hints even more than his “city” brethren in Crested Butte. Miscalculations on his part could mean early snows burying his vehicle, avalanches sweeping him away on his eight-mile snowmobile ride home, or getting snowbound with no groceries.

“It is the earliest I’ve seen people at Irwin gathering firewood...” he proposes, digging in his well-worn smart-ass pocket.

Like Rozman and his hay, Biro says it’s sure to be a deep winter if you’re short on wood. Then he offers, “My elk was bugling at the end of August and the marmots got up early.” Pause. “But they also went to bed early.” He concludes: “After all these years I just stay ready.”

Crested Butte’s winter weather thrashes in from various directions. Mountains, the bad boys of weather influences, take pride in their unpredictability as they horde, huck and construct zonal flows, air moisture and wind speeds. Sometimes change crawls with frozen fingers from the northwest, breathing icy winds from the Arctic, Alaska and Canada. While bonechillingly cold, these storms are stingy with their powdery gifts.

Then there’s the “Pineapple Express,” extravagant storms that rollick in from the southwest, with a fancy for Hawaii and the Baja. They flood L.A., then slam into the southern Rockies, corpulent with heavy snow.

Noah Wight conjures weather predictions for TV 10 like a crystal ball for the masses. Since 1996 he’s watched the forces that press on us, like water and air currents streaming down the East River, Slate and Coal Creek valleys.

Wind speed, cloud cover and water vapor demand his attention. He holds consult with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the tribe of local forecasters. And then, he looks out his window. Rubbing his hands over the orb, one faint face surfaces – La Niña.

By Molly Murfee

La Niña waltzes over the Central Pacific, cooling the ocean surface temperatures, and turns the dominant weather pattern on its ear. The northwest-to-southeast flow has a hankering for the north and so begins her dance there, leaving us a little drier than desired.

“But,” says Noah, “that cold pool that drives the prevailing pattern can easily range up and down the Pacific Coast and shift the trajectory of the storms. If it stays a northwestern-dominated flow, we’ll see colder air from Arctic systems early with temperatures warming in the spring.

Moisture will come on the trickle-down effect with Northern Cal getting 10 feet from a system, then the Wasatch Range gets three feet, and the weakened system drips a few inches to a foot on us. But a small shift will take those ranges out of the mix, with a zonal west-to-east pattern offering a much more concentrated flow for us….”

Billy Barr, the care-and-note-taker of Gothic, thumbs through his weather observations, meticulously scribed since 1975. Low and high temperature, new snow, accumulation, depth… Not a pattern to be had.

“The swallows left early,” he ponders, and observes that sometimes an early dry winter means snow later on.

“The length of the winter could depend on your mood,” postulates long-time resident Myrtle Veltri.

The charted hieroglyphics of the Western Regional Climate Center’s data show that some of the leanest winters (like 1976-77 with only 60 inches of snow) were followed by the heaviest (the winter of 1977-78 tallied 360 inches). January typically offers the most white gold, but it was December 1983 that unleashed the most monthly snow: 126 inches.

Ultimately, John Rozman propounds, “Ask me next spring and I’ll tell you how the winter was.”

James Ray Spahn Photo

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THE RUG IS A HAND WOVEN EXPRESSION OF LIFE. a textured art form that creates the nexus between function & fashion.

From their inception, rugs have been unique in this world. Nothing of such beauty has ever been so utilitarian. Rugs have served as homes for nomadic tribesman to the dĂ&#x2030;cor of kings.

we are living in the age of a weaving renaissance.

Companies like Zollanvari, Woven Legends, Megerian, Tufenkian, and New Moon are defying the commercial paradigm and putting quality before quantity by producing small collections of exceptionally beautiful rugs with generations of life.

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The Crested Butte Dance Collective invites you to the dance.

Story by Shelley Read

7-89- ,:9 9- ) .)?04- +53

Photos by Nathan Bilow

The moment the curtains parted on the inaugural Move the Butte performance, the capacity audience knew that a new kind of dance show had come to town.

On the Center for the Arts stage, a dimly illuminated man sat reverently before immense Chinese gongs. With each of his strokes, the gongs rang out, their tones deep, low and surprisingly long, vibrating the very souls of the onlookers.

By the time Crested Butte Dance Collective (CBDC) co-founder KT Folz appeared on stage, the crowd was mesmerized. Folz opened with an inspirational spoken-word piece. Her wide blue eyes ablaze with excitement, she spoke of dance as a universal expression of the soul, dance as a language every person can comprehend, dance as life. The dancing hadn’t even begun yet, and the audience was hooked.

The spell lasted for almost two hours, covering an ambitious range of dance: modern to traditional African, aerial hoop, modern, belly and Nia. With over 50 local adult dancers in three sold-out performances, Move the Butte brought a new level of diversity and community participation to the Crested Butte dance scene.

The four CBDC founders—KT Folz, Adge Marziano, Joan

audience said it all: mission accomplished.

The March 2010 show was the culmination of a journey that began the previous September when chance and perhaps some cosmic synergy brought together the four Crested Butte dancers. Unbeknownst to one another, each had been longing for a community group where all people interested in dance could have an outlet for their passion.

“A lot of us were thinking the same thing at the same time,” says Blaser. “It was so serendipitous.”

The group gives Nicole Blaser credit for first expressing the idea of an organized dance collective, something less formal and more group-driven than the classes traditionally available in town. A fortuitous post-yoga class encounter between Blaser and Grant got the dance-collective alchemy brewing.

Grant was thrilled to find someone with Blaser’s determination who shared her vision for community dance. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is on!’ We had the very same mission, a belief that everybody should have the chance to dance. I told her ‘I’m in, and I’ll do whatever!’”

Marziano and Folz had also just held a four-hour brainstorming session, “asking each other: how do we create a community that pulls together everyone who wants to dance?”

Folz says. “Then Nicole approached me with her ideas. The timing was perfect. Nicole was the catalyst, an indomitable force. Once she gets an idea into her beautiful brain, she does it.”

As the four women began working together in earnest, they each fell into their natural roles, and each brought her unique

Grant and Nicole Blaser—had hoped this first performance

attributes and training to the endeavor. Blaser says, “The vision

would bring new opportunities for all dance enthusiasts in the

very quickly became a shared vision, much beyond what I had

valley to explore their talents, shine on stage, and create a

in mind. It grew into something way beyond me.”

heart-felt celebration of the joy of movement. As the four took their final bow, the thunderous applause from the standing

The small dance show Blaser had envisioned morphed into a grand, everyone-is-welcome production. By October, the four !"#$%#&'(%%#)*+*,-.#/0123333333368

protecting and preserving trails, scenic vistas, wildlife habitat, and working ranches

crested butte land trust

photograph by rebecca weil

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www.cblandtrust.org director@cblandtrust.org 970.349.1206

CBDC founders were distributing flyers announcing,“If you are a choreographer, dancer, performing artist, techi, volunteer, student, teacher, fan, or simply want to take a few dance classes, you are going to love what we have coming up.” Everyone in the Gunnison Valley with an interest in dance was invited to help create the Move the Butte show.

From those first November meetings until the day of the show, “the town really responded,” says Marziano. “People in this community gave us so much help and support.”

“It was nothing short of a small miracle that it all came together,” laughs Blaser.

Grant still hears praise for the performance “on nearly a daily basis.”

The experience of the show helped the four women realize their most important common thread extended well beyond dance itself. As the show was allowed to develop organically from a diverse community cross-section, the CBDC began to blossom into its larger purpose: self-discovery and community building through the joy of dance.

As Folz puts it, “The Move the Butte show was the most brilliant place to start from, a beautiful place for people to come together and find the CBDC. The show gave birth to this common entity that then became the foundation for so much more.”

“For all of us, this is about dance, but it’s not just about dance,” explains Blaser.

“The CBDC is about connecting with community, connecting with others and the self, being deeply inspired. Dance is just the mechanism for these greater things.”

“We want to give people the chance to

“The Collective is blossoming into

its larger purpose: self-discovery and community building through the

joy of dance.”

re-find dance or maybe find dance for the first time as adults.

That opportunity can be very powerful in someone’s life,” says Marziano.

This larger vision of the role dance can play led the group to pursue 501(c)(3) non-profit status and declare a mission with such diverse goals as educational outreach, community projects, classes, workshops, partnerships and performances. Above all, the CBDC hopes to promote dance as a powerful source of inspiration and celebration for all.

“We are keeping it simple for now, but our long-term visions are huge,” says Folz. The CBDC will host informal dance gatherings this winter purely for fun and present a second Move the Butte performance in March of 2011. Folz cites the

collective’s “big dreams” of working with professional dancers, local artists, school children, disadvantaged community members and local celebrations up and down the valley to “weave dance into as many places in the community as possible.”

The four founders and the foundation’s board of directors have put huge time and effort into it, Blaser says. “We want the Crested Butte Dance Collective to offer a new level of variety to our town and give everyone the opportunity to discover the many ways dancing can enrich one’s life.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT WWW.CRESTEDBUTTEDANCECOLLECTIVE.ORG. !"#$%#&'(%%#)*+*,-.#/012333333336J

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The United States Curling Association still has the matter under investigation, but the Frosty Fox Curling Club of Crested Butte may be the highest-altitude curling club in the nation, and possibly the world.

Curling? If you didn’t catch it in last winter’s Olympics, imagine a super-sized version of shuffleboard, on ice. Here in Crested Butte, locals huddled in parkas and snowboots brave the negative temperatures and dumping snow to earn this lofty accolade by playing on the outdoor ice rink in Crested Butte South. As a new sport to Crested Butte, it has a slim following, but staunch supporters Kerrie Ashbeck and her husband Norman Whitehead are working to establish curling in the Gunnison Valley.

After watching curling in the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, Kerrie and Norm decided they wanted to start the sport at home. They attended the Men’s World Championships several years in a row. In Edmonton in 2007, a Canadian man overheard Kerrie and Norm saying they’d never actually played. Baffled, he took them to the local curling club, where they had the perfect ice to themselves for four hours of personal instruction.

They were hooked.

The game pits one four-person team against another as they try to slide 40-odd-pound granite stones down a long, thin “sheet” of ice to land in a bulls-eye target called the “house.”

A player gets one point for each stone he has closer to the middle of the house than his opponent’s stones. The game involves a great deal of strategy not only to get the team’s stones in, but also to “take out” and block the other team’s stones.

One player sends the stones and one stands near the house to help with aim. The other two players use brooms to sweep in front of the rock to affect its speed and direction. Sweeping may be done lightly to keep the ice clear of debris, or with more vigor to warm the ice, creating a thin layer of water that reduces the friction on the rock and helps direct its course.

A game is divided into ten “ends.” One end is when each player from each team throws his two stones, for a total of 16 stones. Only one team scores per end. After the ten ends are complete, the team with the most points wins.

Kerrie spent the spring and summer of 2007 getting things going at home. CB South allotted ice time to the curlers, but finding stones was another matter. Curling stones are made from granite that comes from a quarry on Ailsa Craig Island off the coast of Scotland or from a quarry in North Wales.

7-89- ,:9 9- ) .)?04- +53

Pushing, sliding and sweeping takes more finesse than you would think.

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s it. And the Ailsa Craig quarry is out of service now that the island has become a wildlife refuge. To her surprise, Kerrie found out another group had started curling locally a couple of years earlier, and though the team had disbanded, the stones were still stashed in a trailer at the wastewater treatment plan. With a set of brooms donated by the distinguished Broadmoor Curling Club, Kerrie and Normâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dream was coming together.

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That is, until the Denver Curling Club members, who had loaned Crested Butte those stones, decided they wanted them back. Kerrie had spent all summer rallying interested people and was suddenly missing the key component. Out of the blue, a woman in Phoenix called to inquire about the Crested Butte club she’d seen listed on USA Curling’s website. It turned out her club had an old set of stones for sale. The CB South Property Owners Association fronted the money and with stones in hand at last, Kerrie and Norm launched the Crested Butte Curling Club in the winter of 2007-2008.

The Crested Butte club has been curling for three winters now and has adapted some of the rules to fit their unique playing arena. Bank shots off the snow are legal. Wide, 24-inch push brooms (instead of the usual 8- to 10-inch ones) to keep the ice clear of falling snow are legal.

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getting outside and having fun.

Curling is a “lifetime sport,” says Crested Butte South resident and Saskatchewan native Heather Reily, who earned a varsity letter in curling while at university in Canada. “As long as you can push a stone down the ice, you can play.”

Kerrie adds, “It can be as athletic and competitive as you want to make it, or not at all. It’s another thing you can do outdoors in the wintertime, and unlike hockey or skiing, it’s not expensive.”

The essence of the sport is really camaraderie and sportsmanship. Like the kind Canadian curler who taught them the basics three years ago, the curling community is warm and open everywhere Kerrie and Norm go.

The two have cultivated that spirit by teaching “Learn to Curl” clinics in Grand Junction, Gunnison and Mt. Crested Butte as well as Crested Butte South.

Ideally, Kerrie would like the club to grow and have solid teams that compete against each other and the other clubs in Colorado. She’d like to offer curling at the school and through the Adaptive Sports Center. Perhaps some day they could have their own roofed, or even enclosed, ice. For now their main goal is to get more people involved. They welcome first timers, tourists, locals, kids, regulars, even birthday parties. “Everybody who tries it has a good time,” says Kerrie.

Still, it’s hard to get folks out in the cold after work or skiing, so one typical 15-below night last year Norm was down at the rink practicing by himself. A fox came along and perched on the snowbank beside the rink. He watched Norm push the stones down the ice, until suddenly he chased one down. When it stopped, he stopped. He sniffed it, then returned to his post. Norm threw the next stone and the fox dashed after it again. Stone after stone the fox repeated his investigations; Norm and the fox, alone on the ice, playing together. That night after Norm came home, the club was re-baptized for their totemic animal: the Frosty Fox Curling Club. If, like the fox, you’re interested in chasing the stones, give Kerrie a call at 970-209-2794.

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nder ominous gray skies, nearly 30 residents gathered at the Community Gardens in mid August for the first annual Crested Butte Edible Garden Tour. A few hours earlier, organizer Valerie Jaquith had been poised to cancel, with heavy rain, hail and wind forecast for the afternoon. Gardeners know how to adapt to nature’s whims.

But the rain held off, and the buoyant crowd dispersed throughout the garden, examining beds overflowing with tomatoes, lettuces, radishes and broccoli and discussing the merits of various soils. They then proceeded seven blocks north to chef Dana Zobs’ house to taste herbs from her garden paired with olive oil and tomatoes, and to pluck sugar snap peas right off the vine.

In attendance was a solid showing of ‘foodies’ with a passion for growing and buying local, including Zobs, Crested Butte Farmer’s Market managers Kevin and Jennifer McGruther, Local Farms First online food purveyor Alison Gannett, and Mike Wehmeyer of the Paradise Food Project. These individuals and dozens of others are part of a local foods movement that seeks to include a cross-section of our population— from schoolchildren to low-income residents to middle-class families—in building a year-round foodshed in our community.

“The movement is coming to a critical mass now, from seeds that have been sown in previous years,” said Kevin McGruther, whose Sunday Farmer’s Market is one of the most visible efforts.

The reasons to choose locally and regionally grown and produced foods are many, including taste, nutritional value, health, energy conservation, benefits to the nearby economy, and the bigger picture of creating sustainable communities. In wintry Crested Butte, many folks wonder how such a movement can be year-round, but McGruther insists that with ingenuity and resourcefulness it can happen.

“I run into naysayers who say you can’t compost because of the bears, or the growing season in Crested Butte is too short. Well, humans have an amazing ability to adapt their environment to their needs,” he said. “I’m looking to build a community that is an icon of high-altitude extreme sustainability.”

As summer was winding down, efforts were ramping up to make regionally grown edibles more widely available. With the new school year, the Farm to School initiative (one of four programs of the Paradise Food Project) began bringing local and regional food into the Crested Butte Community School cafeteria. Its first Local Foods Day on September 8 featured spaghetti and meatballs made with Parker Pastures beef; salad with greens from the Paradise Food Project and beets from Abundant Life Farms; home-made garlic wheat bread; and fresh peaches from Delicious Orchards.

The Farm to School group intends to hold Local Food Days once a month throughout the school year, and members will work with the school’s food service director, Kathy Hecker, to source regional foods for the cafeteria’s daily menu.

The school initiative was spearheaded by Laurel Marr, mother of two and founder of Genesis Raw Foods, and Holly Conn, former yacht chef and also a mother of two. They hope to eventually bring composting, classroom education about local foods, a community garden and a greenhouse to the school.

“Every small step we take brings lasting, positive change to the health of the students, our community, and our connection to the land,” Marr said.

As the hallmark signs of winter started creeping in, Alison Gannett showed no signs of slowing down her online farmer’s market, Local Farms First, billed as “Gunnison Valley’s hub for local grub.” Gannett sets up a shop for several hours at Jaquith’s Mountain Mosaics studio every Wednesday afternoon, distributing fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, eggs, herbs, juices, baked goods and other items to customers who shop through her website. Gannett, a long-time Crested Butte resident, is now based in Paonia, where she also runs the 75-acre Holy Terror Farm with her partner Jason. Over 200 registered users on the Local Farms First website keep her busy every month of the year.

“It’s spectacular how much food we can bring over in the winter. You have to learn to eat seasonally,” Gannett said.

Well known for both extreme skiing and climate change expertise, Gannett goes months at a time without setting foot in a regular grocery store. She has maintained a “100-mile diet” !"#$%#&'(%%#)*+*,-.#/012333333337P

Chuck Shaw nosing around fresh greens in his edible garden.

for two years, eating only that which has been produced within 100 miles of her home.

“For every dollar spent on food at a chain grocery store, 86 cents of that dollar leaves our economy forever. When you buy locally, you support local families, local jobs and there’s a multiplier effect of that money staying in our county,” she said.

In addition to serving individuals, Gannett also supplies Crested Butte restaurants with farm-fresh foods. The former

Timberline Restaurant and the Ginger Café quickly embraced the local food movement, with others soon following.

Organizers of community events, including fundraising dinners, are jumping on the bandwagon as well. Revelers at September’s Vinotok harvest feast enjoyed a succulent roasted pig from Parker Pastures and tasty veggie sides prepared with food donated by the Farmer’s Market.

The last of ten gardens on the three-hour Edible Garden Tour

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was home to the Paradise Food Project, Wehmeyer cites the highlight of his the new crown jewel of community gardens summer as the time a couple picked up â&#x20AC;&#x153;EVERY SMALL in Crested Butte. By this point in the tour, a bounty of fresh produce from the Food STEP WE TAKE even the non-gardeners in the crowd Bank, wanted to learn more about where it were itching to plant seeds next summer, came from, and showed up the following BRINGS LASTING, particularly after admiring the 2,400-squareThursday to volunteer in the garden.

POSITIVE CHANGE foot garden taking over the front yard of â&#x20AC;&#x153;When people who are getting the food Richard Melnickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house at First and Gothic. are getting involved in its growing and TO THE HEALTH Spearheaded by Chris Sullivan and Mike harvesting, and getting excited about it, OF THE STUDENTS, Wehmeyer, the Paradise Food Project that is really rewarding,â&#x20AC;? Wehmeyer said.

OUR COMMUNITY, mission of providing affordable food for This fall the Paradise Food Project the community is accomplished through reorganized to encompass four programs: AND OUR four objectives: building small-scale, Farm to School, Urban Agriculture (local CONNECTION TO community-supported gardens in undergardens), Nutrition Education, and The utilized spaces, donating at least half of Living Garden (at the school).

THE LAND.â&#x20AC;? the harvest to people in need, developing At the Edible Garden Tour, Wehmeyer a work/trade program for community and Jaquith had just finished their closing members, and participating in the Crested remarks when the skies finally opened up.

Butte Farmers Market to make the produce available to the The group scattered on foot and bicycle, while row after row population at large. of vegetables in Melnickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s garden were bathed in cool rain, Perhaps the noblest accomplishment of the Paradise Food priming them for the following weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s harvest.

Project to date is creating a system where patrons of the Wehmeyer would love to see similar gardens in under-utilized Crested Butte Food Bank, operating from the basement of the spaces all around Crested Butte next summer, getting us one Oh Be Joyful Church, have weekly access to fresh vegetables â&#x20AC;&#x201D; step closer to a collective vision: being a fully sustainable deep purple beets, bright orange carrots and vibrant greens. mountain town.

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Bunking in the

SKI HUTS OFFER COZY REFUGE IN THE HEART OF WINTER.

By Laura Puckett

Backcountry

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IN CRESTED BUTTE, WE SKI. WE WAIT FOR THE ROPE DROP TO GET OUR SHARE OF POWDER TURNS AT THE RESORT. WE CLIMB RED LADY TO ANSWER HER BOWL’S INVITATION. WE SKATE OUT THE SLATE RIVER VALLEY TO FIND PEACE BENEATH THE PINES. YET WE HEAD IN EARLY, WELCOMING THE INDOORS WHEN THE SUN SETS AND THE AIR COOLS. AS MUCH AS SKIING IS THE HEART OF WINTERTIME CRESTED BUTTE, WE STAY TETHERED TO HOME. A SENSE OF HIBERNATION PERSISTS.

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Imagine a different end of the day.

One where your skis have taken you not out-and-back, but just out. Pack on your back, friends by your side. Perhaps the air is crisp beneath the bluebird Colorado sky, or perhaps it’s thick with downy flakes that obscure your path moments after you pass. Step by step you move from aspens to pines, then emerge above tree-line, surrounded by high peaks and vast fields of snow. Here is where you’ll stay the night. Here is where you’ll wake up, another day in the wilderness at your doorstep.

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GETTING THE RIGHT EXPERIENCE Nestled in the mountains across the state, snug cabins sit in silence and solitude, making overnight trips into the hills not only possible, but comfortable. With bunk beds and wood stoves, Colorado’s backcountry huts are mostly rustic accommodations, but they are cozy and sufficient—and far easier than winter camping. They are places of retreat and refuge, providing shelter from the elements and unparalleled access to the backcountry during this magical time of year.

A Colorado hut trip doesn’t fit one mold. Some cabins are palatial, others cramped. Some places are suited for crosscountry ski touring, others require burlier alpine or telemark ski gear. Some days the skiing is glorious, others it’s an impenetrable white-out. Besides the variables of weather and snow conditions, “You can only do what your skills will allow you to do,” says Norman Bardeen, the maintenance tsar on the Friends Hut board of directors.

Choosing your destination is the first step in planning a hut trip. “If you go to the right hut, you’ve got terrain that fits what you’re looking for,” says Skip Berkshire, an avid Crested Butte skier. Look at the ski in, the ski out, and whatever skiing you’ll want to do in the area. Gareth Roberts, another Crested Butte hut connoisseur, speaks fondly of trips with his kids to huts that were accessible via short, mellow trails. For groups of mixed abilities, some huts allow snowmobile traffic almost all the way to the door. Another option is for some participants

to travel pack-less while others carry their gear. You can even hire “sherpas” to help with the schlepping. Consider, too, the amenities the hut offers. Do you want a sauna or an oven? Were you hoping to bring a dog? Are private bedrooms important?

Next, plan your itinerary carefully. Skip prefers spending multiple nights in one place, allowing time to explore and relax. For more experienced backcountry travelers, “you’re only bound by your lack of imagination,” says Norm. “You can put

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together some incredible trips” by traveling from hut to hut in the depths of the mountains. Even advanced skiers need to be ready to change their itineraries given the weather and snow conditions, though. Part of traveling well in the backcountry means knowing when to go home, what to do when you’re lost, and how to wait out a storm.

“It’s a little bit of a crap shoot because weather is everything,” says Skip. “But you know what? It doesn’t matter.

Even if it’s crappy, you have a good time. You’re up there with your friends, sitting around at night. Have a nice dinner, play games, tell lies.”

Gareth concurs: “You have your group and you just enjoy yourself. Good skiing is a bonus. The ski in is a nice way to get some healthy activity. But really it’s the camaraderie.”

Every hut guarantees shelter, heat and water. Most huts are outfitted with a wood-burning stove and firewood. Water sources may include melting snow, a nearby spring or creek, even running water. Huts provide burners of some sort for cooking, along with basic pots, pans and dishes. Sleeping accommodations are simple bunks and mattresses. You’ll need to bring food, bedding, clothing, emergency gear, avalanche gear when necessary, and personal items.

A SOUTHERN ELK MOUNTAIN SYSTEM? Although there are huts scattered throughout the Colorado

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Rockies, the hut system around Crested Butte is still relatively undeveloped. The two huts at Elkton are no longer available: one burned down and the other was closed because it violated building codes. There are two huts at Gothic, and the Friends Hut sits 11 miles out East Brush Creek Road. In good conditions you can ski from the Friends Hut to the Alfred A. Braun hut system on the Aspen side of the Elk Mountains, the only hut-tohut route from town.

Gareth speculates that limited hut development is due partly to land use. We are surrounded by abundant designated wilderness areas, where new construction is prohibited. The private landholdings out Kebler Pass, the Slate River Valley and Washington Gulch also deter public hut projects (though privately owned cabins can be leased to hut systems, such as the extensive network of the Tenth Mountain Division Hut Association near Aspen).

The Friends Hut shows how huts could work in the Gunnison Valley. It was built as a memorial to 11 people from Aspen and Crested Butte who died when two small planes collided in 1980 at East Maroon Pass, near where the hut now stands. In seeking Forest Service approval, the hut committee incorporated as a non-profit to demonstrate their credibility and facilitate the permitting process. This meant forming a board and doing fundraising. Within five years they had the hut up and running.

Today, it is still owned and operated by Friends Hut, Inc. and a board of 14 members from Aspen and Crested Butte.

A CB-based hut system is possible, insists Skip. He envisions extending the current Magic Meadows Nordic trails to a potential lodge at Pittsburg. Then his imaginary route heads over Paradise Divide and Smith Hill to Washington Gulch and a new hut at Elkton. From there, why not ski to the huts at Gothic? Then the intersection of the Deer Creek trail and Middle Brush Creek Road would be ideal for a hut to connect to the Friends Hut. A southern Elks hut system would require land, money and Forest Service approval, but Skip thinks the right people could make it happen.

Until then, head into our backyard for overnight trips to the Gothic huts or more extensive expeditions to Friends or the Braun huts. Beyond our valley, dozens of huts invite exploration: the Lost Wonder Hut east of Monarch, the Hinsdale Haute Route yurts around Lake City, the Tenth Mountain Division system between Aspen and Vail. Wherever you go, be ready for what nature offers: snow and sun, rocky crags and wooded meadows, solace and solitude.

Also consider your physical fitness and skiing ability. Make sure everyone in your party can do both the ski in and the ski out with heavy packs. Some huts require substantial distances and tricky terrain; others are easily accessible.

Find the one to suit you!

One way to manage the complexities and logistics of backcountry travel is to hire a guide. Crested Butte Mountain Guides offers overnight and multi-day trips to area huts and a four-day ski traverse from Aspen to Crested Butte.

Guided trips to the Braun huts are available through Aspen Alpine Guides or Aspen Expeditions.

All the comforts of home, sort of.

A NOTE OF CAUTION Winter backcountry travel involves risk.

Have and know how to use avalanche safety and winter survival gear. A short day trip can quickly turn epic given injury, changes in weather or equipment malfunction.

Educate yourself about current avalanche conditions and the terrain where you’ll be traveling and playing. Your itinerary should be dependent on weather and snow conditions.

Routes to many huts are unmarked and unmaintained, so travelers must know how to use a map, compass, altimeter and/or GPS. Customized maps are often available through the hut booking agencies, and routes are overviewed in books such as Colorado Hut to Hut by Brian Litz and Colorado High Routes by Lou Dawson.

That said, when you’re standing in a whiteout storm with untracked snow before and behind you, it’s your navigation skills that will get you home safely.

PARAIN DISE

July 9 – 10, 2011

Kids Camp

July 5 – 8, 2011

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ALFRED A. BRAUN HUT SYSTEM This is Coloradoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s oldest ski-oriented hut system. Six cabins provide high-country lodging on the Aspen side of the Elk Mountains, though in conjunction with the Friends Hut they can be reached from Crested Butte. Closest to Friends over Pearl Pass are the Tagert and Green Wilson huts in Pearl Basin. They are about 50 meters apart so can accommodate larger groups. A new hut (awaiting Forest Service approval) planned near Taylor Pass would be a terrific link between Friends and the Braun system. All Braun huts have wood-burning stoves, propane burners for cooking, photovoltaic lighting, mattresses and pillows. Water is obtained by melting snow.

ELEVATION: 10,400 feet to 11,680 feet GREAT FOR: Advanced backcountry travelers looking for high-alpine skiing and mountaineering or traveling between Crested Butte and Aspen. Spectacular views and access to 13,000-foot peaks, with the accompanying threats of weather and avalanches. The surrounding terrain is high and exposed, so making the jump to or from Friends is dependent on conditions.

SLEEPS: Barnard, 8. GoodwinGreene, 10. Green Wilson, 8.

Lindley, 14. Markley, 8. Tagert Hut, 7.

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RESERVATIONS: Available

Thanksgiving through the end of May. The Braun Huts require a minimum of 4 skiers (5 for Goodwin-Greene, 8 for Lindley) and are each booked as a whole. Tagert, Green Wilson, Markley, Barnard and Goodwin Green are $150 per night. Lindley is $250. Call the 10th Mountain Division Huts Association at 970-925-5775. www.huts.org, www.hutski.com

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Friends Hut

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Once a booming mining town, Gothic is now home to the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory and the two huts closest to Crested Butte. The Maroon and Forest Queen cabins, part of the bustling research lab in summer, welcome guests to a quiet, snowbound ghost town in winter. The older Forest Queen is rustic and small, but has electricity, a refrigerator, wood-burning stove and small propane stove/ oven for cooking. Firewood and a five-gallon jug of water are provided. The Maroon hut is decadent, with in-floor heat, hot water, electricity, a full kitchen with running water, four bedrooms, and even a shower!

FRIENDS HUT Tucked in a grove of trees just steps away from the steep slopes of Pearl Mountain, Star Peak and Crystal Peak, Friends Hut is an amazing retreat into the high country. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got to want to get there,â&#x20AC;? says Bardeen. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a long pull from either side.â&#x20AC;? A small log cabin with a great south-facing deck and a picture window in the outhouse, Friends Hut is charming and cozy. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got a wood stove, propane burners and solar-powered lighting.

Get water by melting snow or the creek.

ELEVATION: 11,370 feet

SLEEPS: 8

GREAT FOR: Experienced backcountry travelers due to its isolation and surrounding avalanche-prone terrain. Backcountry downhill skiing and ski touring lie outside the door, but altitude and exposure make conditions variable The Friends Hut can be the first leg in a hut-to-hut trip to Aspen, linking with the Alfred A. Braun hut system.

RESERVATIONS: Available from Thanksgiving through the end of May. The hut gets booked to capacity, so if you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t reserve all beds you may be sharing with another group. Cost is $25 per person or $18.75 per person if booking the whole hut. Call the Tenth Mountain Division Huts Association at 970-925-5775. www.hutski.com

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MAROON AND FOREST QUEEN HUTS

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ELEVATION: 9500 feet SLEEPS: Forest Queen, 6. Maroon, 12 GREAT FOR: A backcountry basecamp for

downhill skiing and cross-country touring. With fairly easy access and relatively low avalanche danger, Gothic is excellent for novice skiers or backcountry travelers, though all visitors should be aware of weather and avalanche conditions.

RESERVATIONS: Available just before Thanksgiving until mid April. The Maroon Hut is rented as a whole at $217 per night. Forest Queen is rented at $18 per person. Call the Crested Butte Nordic Center at 970-349-1707.

More info: www.cbnordic.org

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SUSAN MOL

BIG MOUNTAIN SNOWBOARDING QUEEN

Susan Mol walked toward the crowd, smiling widely, wielding a gleaming sword like a gladiator princess out for revenge. People gave way as she marched on hard-pack snow from the podium and past the cheering masses, off to celebrate her victory.

It was February 2009, and she had just won the North Face Masters of Snowboarding event in front of her home crowd in Crested Butte. The sword was not a weapon, but an award given to the first-place finishers for men and women. Susan had just scratched, clawed and hucked her way down Body Bag, a run better suited to mountain goats than most snowboarding folk, to continue her quest to win the Freeride World Championships.

After the Crested Butte event, she took first in Squaw Valley, which propelled her onto the European World Tour, where she won the 2009 overall title.

Yes, Susan Mol is a snowboarding world champion. But you’d never know it by talking with her; she lets her riding speak for itself.

Susan and I meet up in early autumn for a bike ride, and this time she isn’t wielding a sword.

Hours earlier I had received a detailed itinerary via text message: “Budd Trail. Meet at 4-Way by 2 p.m. Brick Deck by 4.” Easy enough.

We pedal out the Lower Loop toward the new Budd Trail, which Susan has yet to ride. The mellow approach singletrack offers a talking pace. Susan doesn’t break her train of thought as we bounce over rocks and hop little gaps. She laughs easily. Susan is mellow and easy-going; not an egomaniac or the twitchy, agro type so frequently found in high-level competitive sports. Maybe that’s because she’s mostly in it for the fun.

“I’m not trying to make a living snowboarding,” Susan says. “It’s so much better when you’re riding without expectations.”

Photos by Tom Stillo Story by Mike Horn

7-89- ,:9 9- ) .)?04- +53

“I LIKE EMPTY SPACE BELOW ME.”

Susan did have expectations when she first decided to move to Crested Butte from Washington. To select her next home, she and a friend looked at all the ski area maps to see which ones had the most black diamonds. “It came down to Jackson and Crested Butte, and Crested Butte gave me a job interview first.” She was 22 years old, and first lived in a two-bedroom Gunnison apartment with seven people.

Now 35, Susan is a business owner— Clear View Window Washers—balancing work with competition, and play of course.

Why windows? “Well, you can’t do it in the winter,” Susan says with a laugh. “And it doesn’t take a lot of money to start.”

She adds, “It complements my climbing.

I’m up on the ladder, wondering, ‘Would I jump from here on a snowboard?’ It’s still consequential, climbing around on buildings and stuff. But I like being an entrepreneur, I like being the boss.”

Peeling off onto the Budd Trail, we put more effort into the climb and less into conversing, except to laud the work that went into building the trail. Serpentine switchbacks, perfectly navigable, take us to the top. That’s right where Susan likes to be.

“I just really like exposure in all forms.

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the benefits are huge. Worse comes to absolute worst—you die. I try to let it go to another power, so it’s not all me. I put in a request to the snow gods, the forces of nature, to get me down in one piece. It’s kind of new for me, and it’s working.”

She remembers a lesson from childhood. “Mom was right, ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’”

But for Susan there’s a difference between exposure to dramatic relief and exposure to the consequences of losing control. “Speed… I don’t like speed. I don’t like being out of control. And I don’t like to be scared. That’s what stops me from crossing that line.”

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Climbing, ladders, snowboarding… I like empty space below me,” she says.

“I’m very comfortable there. I can handle exposure and feel confident about it.

“The biggest challenge is dealing with your head,” she continues. “The older I get the better I get at it. I try to remember that the consequences seem much bigger than what they really are.”

Susan handles big exposure partly by methodically reassuring herself. “I talk to myself, ‘You can do this, you’re going to be fine.’ I’ve had two season-ending injuries (both knees). I don’t fear death, I don’t fear pain. If I fail, it becomes a huge learning experience; if I’m successful,

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Susan and friends relaxing in between runs at a grueling springtime photo shoot.

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That doesn’t stop her from charging the Budd Trail downhill, banking turns and billy-goating short technical sections, before swooping down the last few switchbacks. Watching her, I get a sense of her calm, calculated approach to the mountains. It’s that ability to break it all down that enables her to compete with the top women snowboarders in the world.

“I’ve been doing it for a long time,” she says. “I started snowboarding 19 years ago. My mom was a ski instructor at Jack Frost and Big Boulder in Pennsylvania.”

Susan grew up in Swiftwater, Pennsylvania, skiing and riding around the Pocono Mountains. She uses that

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experience and confidence to tackle big objectives, from a snowboard descent of North Maroon Peak (14,014 feet) last spring to the Cosmique Couloir in Chamonix, France. Both make today’s Budd Trail look like a walk in the park.

She of offers a look into those adventures.

“North Maroon was so steep… I had some moments. I was at the tipping point, and falling was not an option. The Cosmique Couloir was the first time I did back-toback rappels to get down into something.

That’s when I really got a taste of what I’m looking for.”

Those epics are in the past, and, lessons learned, Susan now has her eyes set on one more year of competition before “retiring.” She plans to be in Europe by mid January for another shot at the Freeride World Championship. “I think I’m done competing after this year,” she says.

“I’m ready to wrap things up and start on other projects.”

In the wake of competing, her main goal is to create a foundation that will help provide monetary support and exposure for female athletes, as a “way to give back.” After years of absorbing the myriad costs of competition, she knows, “Straight cash goes a long way.”

In the meantime, she’ll probably be where we are today, in the mountains that make up her backyard. “When I’m up on a peak but I can still see town, I know my people are not too far away. It’s the thrill of the adventure, but still close to home.”

The super modern Ski Crest Lodge in the 1960s.

AS THE SKI AREA NEARS ITS HALF-CENTURY MARK, ITS PIONEERS LOOK BACK WITH LAUGHTER AND AFFECTION.

By Sandra Cortner

Fifty years of skiing! I’ve been here for 47 of them, and Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s management has invited me and other townspeople to help brainstorm ways to celebrate this upcoming milestone. We sit around a huge table in a plush conference room, named after a pioneer who skied the mail over mountain passes 125 years ago.

To my right is Martha Walton, whose brother-in-law Bo Callaway of Georgia purchased the ski area in 1970. To my left, John Burns regales us with ski patrol stories of the 1960s, when he and his four fellow 7-89- ,:9 9- ) .)?04- +53

Above: Dick Eflin, ski area founder. Opposite page: Dismantling the Warming House to make room for the new Gothic Building, 1975. Ralph Walton shows off the new buses, 1972.

patrolmen used six crank phones on trees as their communication system.

John’s stories evoke my own memories and make me aware that most of these members of the resort’s marketing team were not even born 50 years ago. They don’t know that this hotel sits near the former pond where my little brother and his friend Andy Eflin cast in vain for trout as children.

Andy’s father, Dick Eflin, is the reason we are here. Dreaming of owning his own ski area, Dick enlisted college fraternity brother and fellow Kansan Fred Rice to help finance it. After hearing about Crested Butte, the pair came up to look, and in 1960 formed Crested Butte, Ltd. and purchased the 880-acre Malensek ranch. Two miles north of the former coalmining town, the barns, homestead cabin and corrals nestled at the foot of Crested Butte Mountain became the base of the ski area. Where cattle once grazed on the slopes, trails were cut among the trees of the adjacent Forest Service land after Crested Butte Ltd. received its permit for skiing on 1,400 acres.

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The Crested Butte Ski Area opened the 1961-62 season with two lifts: a rope tow up Warming House Hill and longer T-bar farther south. The first year “was really just to get our feet wet,” admitted Eflin.

By the next summer, construction was booming. The largest project was a 7,800-foot-long Italian Telecar Gondola with its 24 towers and terminal building at the base, constructed during the summer and fall of 1962. First Robel Straubhaar and later rancher Paul Veltri translated for the factory representative from Italy, Giacomo Perona, who was overseeing the installation.

After Perona slipped on the warming house steps and broke his leg, he shimmed up the lift tower ladders in a full-length cast, while the doctor who had set his leg would ski by, look up and shake his head.

The Crested Butte Chronicle, founded in Nov. 7, 1962, followed the activity, running photos of the crated gondola cars and the terminal building construction. The original gondola opening was set for Dec. 28, 1962, but delayed until Jan. 9, 1963, and again until Jan. 19. Townspeople, fascinated by the colorful cars, trekked up the muddy road to the ski area to view them up close in the parking lot before they were attached to the cable. One was even displayed in Gunnison.

Once completed, the gondola lift carried experts to black-

diamond trails in bubble cars of red, blue, green and yellow.

With their skis and poles in a rack outside, three skiers, sitting knee to knee, romanced their sweethearts, shared a smoke or ate a snack on the ride up. Little gondola car-shaped tickets cost $2 for one ride and $4.50 for all lifts all day.

Crested Butte Ltd. threw a three-day grand opening bash on Jan. 25, 1963, complete with fireworks shot from the top of Crested Butte Mountain and free one-ride tickets on the gondola. The First National Bank of Gunnison ran a full-page ad congratulating Crested Butte Ltd. and “all our wonderful neighbors, who have cooperated in bringing to the Crested Butte-Gunnison area the FIRST GONDOLA [in huge capital letters] in the nation.” Blissfully ignored was that Sugarbush, Vermont, had a similar lift, which gave Eflin and Rice the idea.

Dog sled rides, free beer, ice-skating, a dance, art exhibit and visiting dignitaries contributed to the festive atmosphere. Only a couple of dark notes marred the day, recalled Eflin. Father Leo McKenna blessed the gondola and sent the first car rising toward the top, but it had scarcely reached the second tower when an electrical problem shut the lift down. The gondola car had to be backed down again. Later the Father slipped in the parking lot and broke his kneecap. The electrical glitch took out all the power to the town of Crested Butte, and the poor priest reportedly spent two months in the hospital in Pueblo.

But even a week of -20 degrees and frozen water pipes downtown didn’t dampen the celebration. Back-patting and boosterism reigned — not surprisingly, as the ski area was the first major business in town since the coal mines closed in 1952.

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from high school, a J-bar had replaced the rope tow. I came to hate the J-bar, a J-shaped metal rod hanging from the short cable and placed behind one’s thighs. “Don’t sit on it,” I was told. Well, of course I sat on it, as did every other beginner, and a split second later hit the

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ski-rutted track on my rear.

Ski lessons notwithstanding during Christmas of 1964, I didn’t expect to ever ski off the top of the gondola, especially on O Be Joyful, designed by Western State College Ski coach Sven Wiik as a downhill racing run. Reputed to be two miles in length from above the top terminal of the gondola to the bottom of the T-bar, we new old-timers still call it “the Downhill,” although its official name is “International.” Only the bottom of O Be Joyful, an intermediate run, retains that name.

A round of laughter pulls my mind back from memories. John Burns is explaining how the early patrolmen reported a “wreck” to the dispatcher over a crank phone attached to a tree. “We’d look uphill and try to describe it… ‘look to the left of the stand of trees, halfway down the run’.” By the time my husband was a patrolman, there was a name for every little trail section.

In 1965, my mother mother, Genevieve Taylor, opened the Village Store next to the gondola terminal building. I helped her run it during my summers off from college. It was one of those “little bit of everything” places: sundries, sodas, snacks, milk, bread and eggs. Like the other ski area businesses, we depended on tourists. Half the Village Store was devoted to packaged liquor and mixers, since it was the only place “on the hill”

(as we called the ski area back then) where you could buy them. Ski instructors and patrolmen snapped up pints of peppermint schnapps prior to nighttime torchlight parades, for a bit of extra “warmth” during the lift ride.

Like most merchants, my mother allowed ski area employees to “charge” their purchases by tallying them in an account book, collecting the money after payday. The former Crested Butte miners who worked on the lifts usually paid in cash. When my mother left the cash register to answer nature’s call, she might return to find the charge book on the counter, open to an account where someone had carefully recorded his Twinkies and soda pop, or sometimes a note was left next to several coins or dollar bills.

“And do you remember,” John turns to me in our meeting, “how Jerry and Tena Sampson [who owned the Grubstake Bar and Restaurant] set up a long table every night and served the ski patrol and ski school family-style dinners?” Phil and Lil Hyslop, I add, started that tradition and the Sampsons’ successors continued it.

I loved summers best. Our season ski passes allowed us to ride the gondola any time we wanted, and we sometimes used the lift as a baby sitter when things were slow. We’d load my five-year-old brother and his playmate, the son of mountain manager Dave Gorsuch, onto the “‘dola,” as they called it. The lift ops on top let them out and packed them in a car going back down, keeping a careful eye on the boss’s boy and his buddy.

Just below the terminal building, the Lacy family used the old Malensek ranch corrals for their horseback riding concession. Billy Joe Lacy and his brother, in cowboy hats, jeans and chaps, heads barely clearing the Village Store countertop, counted sticky coins into my hand for their gummy bears and candy bars.

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ski area filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1966. With Larkin’s encouragement, the banks had the foresight to build the Keystone and Twister chairlifts.

Lift operator Rudy Sedmak remembered not being able to charge anything at local stores during that period. But the ex-miners working for the resort were resourceful. When some part was needed, “Dave Oberosler and John Gallowich would find the materials, and Ed Rozman would make it,” said Sedmak. Besides being a crack welder and

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lift maintenance guy (he once fixed my radiator when I pulled into the parking lot steaming smoke), Rozman was proprietor of Crested Butte Trucklines, pushing his dolly loaded with my mother’s order right to the door of the Village Store.

During those lean days of the 1960s, a handful of chalets dotted the hillsides.

We eagerly anticipated the owners’ arrivals with their infusion of cash into our collective pockets. Not only did Edie and Gar Ingraham and Rosalie and Weldon Weekly (with five handsome sons between

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them) generously buy local when tourists were scarce; they also became locals. Gar, after a career at Sears Roebuck, hired on as executive vice-president with the resort in the 1980s. The Weeklys were the major contributors to the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum, enabling its move to Tony’s Conoco in 2003.

Big changes arrived with the Callaways in 1970: multi-story condominium buildings, charter ski flights, a huge warming house and new trails and lifts, including the Silver Queen covered chair replacing the gondola. Best of all, my hated J-Bar gave way to the Peachtree chairlift. Finally, the beginners could sit down.

Bo Callaway involved his family in the ski area, naming his brother-in-law Ralph O. Walton, Jr. as president of the new Crested Butte Development Corp. Ralph’s wife, Martha, became a ski instructor.

Now, sitting beside me, she shares her own stories. “I still have my ski instructor’s sweater,” she comments with a grin. “I wore it just the other day. Ralph ran the ski area back then; I played.”

Martha puts into words the symbiotic relationship between Crested Butte and the ski area that characterized those early days. Even with our differences, we formed a single community and promoted it as such. In those early days, I was secretly ohso-proud to be from a place no one had heard of. We were special—a ski town—a mom and pop, sister and brother business.

As our brainstorming and storytelling session ends, John Burns says it best: “We were family.”

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Author of “Crested Butte Stories…Through My Lens,” Sandy (far right) is now writing more ski area tales, including her stint as a snow hostess.

Threatened by turmoil in their native Nepal, the Sherpa family finds a new mountain home in Crested Butte.

Story by Brooke Harless Current photos by J.C. Leacock

Jang Mu and Pemba Sherpa with Tshering, Kandu, and Nima in Nepal, early 1990s.

a busy Thursday night, a few of us take a table at the new Sherpa Café. Our friend Molly Diekmann orders momos, dahl, Tibetan rolls and aloo gobi in perfect Nepali. Diekmann, an epidemiologist at Gunnison Valley Hospital who has lived in Namsaling, Nepal, off and on for seven years, considers the Sherpa Café fare some of the best Nepalese food she’s tasted.

There’s a birthday party in progress at one of the back tables.

Clumps of balloons tied to chairs and thirtysomethings wearing pig noses and beer hats look a bit out of place among the Buddhist idols and Nepali wall hangings.

Our hosts, the Sherpa family (a common last name in Nepal), take their American counterparts in stride. The family of five —Pemba, his wife Jang Mu, and their three children — move around the 250-square-foot space as though entertaining guests in their living room. Conversation is light and cheery, with discussions of full bellies and to-go boxes. Pemba makes the rounds, checking on tables, smiling and clearing plates.

Someone at the next table says, “I thought Sherpas were the mountain guides who help climbers up Everest.” Yes and no.

Before Sherpas were so highly publicized by mountaineering expeditions, they were an ethnic group that originated in Tibet.

The group migrated to the Eastern Himalayas of what is now Nepal around 1500 A.D. Sherpa people, known as Sharwa in their culture, developed a unique Tibetan Buddhist culture based on trade, animal herding and agriculture. Because of the Sherpa people’s famous endurance and high-altitude skills, the word “Sherpa” is often used to refer to the guides on mountain-climbing expeditions. While many Sherpas work as mountain guides in Nepal and surrounding mountainous areas, a Sherpa is essentially anyone from that region.

Pemba, a mountain guide in Nepal for 20 years, grew up idolizing the profession. When he was a young boy, his father worked as a guide and was often gone for weeks at a time.

On his return, Pemba would put on his dad’s crampons and 7-89- ,:9 9- ) .)?04- +53

mountaineering equipment and walk around the house, swinging his father’s ice axes.

When he was old enough, he began to guide, leading clients up difficult peaks across Asia, Europe and North America. He has summitted Everest twice.

“It wasn’t too scary,” he says of Everest.

“But when the storms would roll in and we’d be on the side of the mountain, I would think I might not live through it. I thought of my family. My kids were really small then.”

Pemba looks at his children, now teenagers: daughters Nima, 19, and Kandu, 18, and son Tshering, 16. The three wear glasses and share their father’s nose and mother’s warm eyes.

“I always wanted to run a restaurant with my family. It’s taken years to get them all here,” he says.

Tucked away in the Himalayas, the Sherpa family lived in the small town of Lukla, Nepal, the starting point for treks up Everest. Though their community was largely based on mountain tourism, the family was still affected by the decadelong political unrest of the Maoist insurgency.

The Maoists, originally a group of lower-class agrarians who began throwing off the yoke of societal and political systems in India in the early 1980s, caught the attention of like-minded Nepalis, and a grassroots movement of insurgency developed to overthrow the monarchy.

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feudal establishment and archaic monarchial rule to establish the “People´s Republic of Nepal.” But the movement quickly turned into a Draconian bloodbath, with thousands of Nepalis killed over 11 years of Mao insurgency and guerilla-style fighting.

There’s now a small group of Nepalis living in Crested Butte, and each one has a story about Maoist conflict. Karma and Chimi, who run Momo’s, had to leave their successful artisan rug gallery in Nepal after Maoists demanded more and more bribes – money paid to keep their business from being burned down or family members from being injured.

Pemba was no longer able to work as a mountain guide and worried for his family’s future.

“I lost my job because of the Maoists and political climate in Nepal. They affect everything.”

Pemba then commuted back and forth to the U.S. for eight years, guiding and visiting family in Seattle, Portland, New York and Denver. His brother in-law Chumba invited him to visit Crested Butte for the first time four years ago.

“I loved it immediately. It looks and feels like Nepal and like home.”

Our mountainous enclave is similar in geography to Nepal, although it lacks the astounding topographical diversity. Tiny and landlocked, Nepal plummets from the tallest mountains in the world to subtropical tiger jungles at sea level along its southern border, all within a distance of 92 miles. Flanked by two politically diverse countries, China and India, Nepal has a difficult time reaching the outside world without the approval of its powerful neighbors.

But Nepal remains the indifferent bedfellow, maintaining

the original Nepalese calendar—it’s year 2067—and although the country is located like a saddle strapped atop India, you have to set your watch fifteen minutes ahead when crossing Nepal’s border.

Going back in time to live in Crested Butte in 2010 has been an adjustment for the family. There are no Buddhist temples here, few Nepalese people and limited opportunities for the family to visit their homeland. Kandu and Nima waited until they finished high school with their friends in Kathmandu before arriving here last February, while Tshering is a senior at Crested Butte Community School this year. The three miss their friends and the buzz and culture of Nepal. But while they struggle to find a social foothold among their peers in town, they agree that being together as a family is the most important thing.

Pemba and Jang Mu want the best for their children, and removing the family from the political unrest of Nepal will, Pemba hopes, give them more opportunities to pursue what they want out of life. The girls hope to attend nursing school in the spring, and Tshering is considering attending an in-state college after he graduates this year.

There’s something comforting about visiting a restaurant run by a loving family. With their distinctive cuisine and unrehearsed table-side manner, the Sherpas deliver food, good will and laughter. Already they have a group of “regulars” who nightly occupy the bar seats.

The birthday party begins passing chocolate cake around the restaurant as diners chat across tables, making the whole establishment one intimate party.

The family emerges from the kitchen with a white, sheer scarf, which Pemba places around the neck of the birthday boy.

“This will bring you good blessings,” he says with a bit of a bow.

The scarf, or Khatu, is a Nepalese token of blessing. “It is given to someone at the start of something new – a new baby, house or business – giving the recipient good blessing for the year and forever,” he explains.

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ALL NIGHT THE THREE MANLY-MEN SPOONED UNABASHEDLY, JAMMED IN A TWO-MAN TENT IN A FEEBLE ATTEMPT TO KEEP FROM FREEZING THEIR ASSES OFF. Camping on top of 12,400-foot Frigid Air Pass, they had dug a snow cave to protect themselves from the elements, but it became useless when the wind changed direction. In the morning they awoke in the dark to find their ski boots frozen, and so cuddled up with them like long-lost girlfriends in their sleeping bags until the plastic softened enough that they could cram their feet into the icy confines. Across the basin glared the rarely touched southwest couloir of the South Maroon Bell. Its pencil-thin stripe of snow stretched taut in the vertical crevice of the blood-red striated cliff face. These men had come to ski it.

Mickey “Mick” Cook, Craig “Bernie Downz” Burbank and Zack “Splat” Marquis don’t look like uber-athletes. And truth be told, they’re not. No competitor jerseys, no insurance, no optimizing training program. For this expedition they were not sponsored. They didn’t have to hold up their skis to show their brand when someone took a picture, because no one did.

They didn’t alert the media of their pending feat. More than likely the three of them hopped together on the one beat-

up snowmobile between them, the one without the working lights, and roared to the wilderness boundary without a word to anyone.

On the “hill” Mick is known for his beat-up leather jacket and linebacker ski style. He’s an electrician. Craig, for his equally worn blue jean jacket. He’s a stone mason. Most seasons, Zack doesn’t even hold a ski pass, appearing only occasionally to huck himself off of some ridiculous cliff in the Telemark Extremes. He never wins, as the air he sends usually plunges him into a six-foot crater at the bottom; hence his nickname.

Zack, the youngest of the three, dabbles in carpentry. They are typically unshaven, probably unshowered, and at the time, most likely hung over. They ski without turning, balls out, straight down. They are known less for their finesse than for their speed, comfort and willingness to ski with shit-eating grins down just about any verticality put in front of them.

On this April day, weeks after lift-served skiing had come to a heart-wrenching halt, they were earning their turns in what they’d hoped would be perfect spring corn snow.

Not so much.

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Local and International mountain guide Steve Banks, at home in this “land of extremes,” exploring an early-season ice chandelier in the Slate River valley.

with his “hard head”) nearly 2,000 feet to the top of the couloir, they were postholing up to their crotches. This was the couloir they would ski. Bernie cackled like an old-soul teenager jacked up on whiskey, through a two-tooth-missing grin, “I kissed every rock I touched.”

After summiting the 14,156-foot peak and breakfasting on trail mix, they stared down the narrow alleyway of their fate. Fifty-degree windcrust, only a couple of ski lengths across. And a mad right turn at the bottom, of which Mick proclaimed with his typical diaphragmbased enthusiasm, “You fall into that wall and it’s curtains.”

Not one of the triad boasts to have been free of fear that day.

So what exactly does one do when faced with such a fear and the inevitability of the next knee-knocking step?

Bernie responds to the question dumbfounded, as if in all the universe there exists but one answer: “You just ski.”

Time Magazine’s December 2008 article, “Why We Take Risks,” reported studies by Vanderbilt University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, indicating that the neurotransmitter dopamine, the brain’s “feel-good chemical,” might have a lot to do with our risk-taking behavior. Risk takers, it is theorized, have fewer dopamine-inhibiting receptors, meaning that when someone like Craig, Mick or Zack lofts into that 50° wind-scoured couloir, he maintains an extra dose of feel-good chemicals. That rush, scientists surmise, keeps risk takers coming back for more. The same can be said, by the way, of addicts.

I wonder, however, if in Crested Butte our risk-taking has less to do with neurotransmitters and more to do with our culture.

The Science of Fear, by Daniel Gardner, has some other suppositions about why some people feel fear more than others. Gardner, through expansive research of various psychological and sociological studies, explains that humans react to threats or stimuli via two avenues – Gut and Head. Our Gut is what tells us to be afraid; it is our stone-age brain accustomed to fighting for survival among lions and tigers and bears. When we are faced with fear, Gut speaks to us first. Our Head (reason) is momentarily left out of the equation.

The problem with Gut, however, is that it is sort of, well, primal. To make a lighteningquick response in the face of danger, it thumbs through its Rolodex of images and experiences to find a similar situation on which to base its next action. In most cases, the most recent, vivid and easily conjured image rises to the top and influences our “intuition.”

In the world outside of Crested Butte, a variety of images could pop up when wavering your ski tips over the edge of a rocky, narrow abyss. Avalanches. Remoteness.

Broken legs. Cracked skulls. Chewing our own arms off or eating the scat of chipmunks to survive. All the fearful sensationalism the popular media can muster.

In Crested Butte, however, we have just the opposite.

The fact is, while skiing the southwest couloir of South Maroon is a rare and awesome feat, even by Crested Butte standards, such adventures are part of the weekend norm here. One can sit at the bar at happy hour, among the dust-encrusted cultural relics and stale alcohol that has seeped into the floorboards from so many clinked glasses, and hear tale after tale of backcountry feats that would boggle the mind of your average Kansan (no offense).

This is known as the “land of extremes.” Sure we have extreme weather and extreme seasons – most mountain towns do. Sure we hold the Telemark Extremes and the Alpine Extremes (at which, armed with cowbells, fireworks and hip-slappers of whiskey, the crowd yells “Huck your meat!” to the accommodating athletes). We have terrain called !"#$%#&'(%%#)*+*,-.#/01233333333L6

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The Extremes that we ski with gleeful regularity. We also do things to extremes.

Skiing Red Lady before dawn, by yourself; ripping eight miles on snowmobile to your home through a half-dozen avalanche chutes; going on 40-mile backcountry tours just for grins; paragliding off of snowy peaks – these are part of the daily routine here. These are not untouchable athlete-celebrities from Outside Magazine.

They are our friends. They are us.

Fear-extinction comes from exposure.

So when our Gut asks us to react to some edgy cliff face, we recall the chants of the crowd, a little dopamine high, and stories of blissful powder, soul-altering wilderness jaunts and easy exits. Not avalanches, broken bodies and death.

Some postulate that fear leads to survival – those who were afraid of the right things got to pass their genes on to the future. Yet a researcher featured in Discover Magazine in 2001 suspects quite the opposite. He theorizes that those who demonstrate the most risky behavior, the behaviors that might get you killed, are the ones who forward the evolution of the species. You can sit in your grass hut and eat worms on a stick – that’s safe enough – but what happens when that rogue individual ventures into the jungle to hunt the wild beast….

In Crested Butte, our fear is not of mortal injury, but of not living life enough, of not having enough adventure, of not soaking in enough beauty, of going to happy hour and having to admit that you stayed inside all day. How embarrassing.

My sage boyfriend (as unkempt, unsponsored and non-plussed by teethchattering ski terrain as his friends) pounds his heart, eyes wild and eager, and proclaims, “Fear lets you know you’re alive.”

Mick grins and offers with both respect and nonchalance, “It’s just part of living in the mountains.”

Molly Murfee is a freelance and copy writer with articles featured in Powder, Telemark Skier, Backcountry, Mountain Gazette, Cross Country Skier and Patagonia-Japan as well as local and regional publications. mmurfee.aei@usa.net.

HOW AN ELEGANT DINING CABIN, NAMED FOR A 1900s BOOTLEGGER, REPLACED THE MUCH-STORIED TWISTER WARMING HOUSE. Story by Sandra Cortner Photos by James Ray Spahn

you weren’t looking, you might have skied right past the weathered cabin, shadowed in tall spruce trees, with a few skis stuck in the snow beside the door. Off the beaten track of tourist ski traffic, its grand opening in November 1972 was overshadowed by the unveiling of the new East River lift.

Twister Warming House, near the Twister Chairlift, became T mostly a locals’ hangout. We would ski a few non-stop, blackdiamond runs off “Freddy’s Chair” (nicknamed for its long-time lower lift operator), then stop for a beer on the sundeck or a bathroom break and go at it again. Before the age of high-speed quads, this routine could net the maximum ski mileage for the time--no lines and no chair slowing for beginner skiers.

We could buy burgers and sandwiches, hot drinks or beer and eat inside or out on the deck, sitting at trestle tables on long wooden benches. During April’s Flauschink celebration, the snowcat laden with festival royalty took a break near the deck, and we reveled in sunshine, spirits and the bitter-sweetness of the final day of the ski season.

As the years passed, the ski area management must have regarded both the lift and the warming house as liabilities in terms of financial return. In recent years, they ran the lift only on weekends and holidays.

In 2002, T Twister Warming House was upscaled and re-opened after a year’s hiatus and dubbed the Ice Bar and Restaurant.

Pretty girls in fur hats and jackets served martinis and “frou frou” drinks from a novel outside bar constructed of ice blocks.

Self-consciously, I would tromp inside, past tourists eating fancy gourmet lunches, back to the only official bathroom on the front side of the mountain. Improvements aside, the restrooms still smelled of sewer gas, no matter how many summers the crews had spent digging up the lines and trying to fix the problem.

When Diane and Tim Mueller purchased the ski area in 2004, they had a lot on their plate. The Twister project became Diane’s 7-89- ,:9 9- ) .)?04- +53

baby, and after razing Twister Warming House and spending July through November designing and building, the ski resort opened Uley’s Cabin in 2009.

Would it be different from the 2002 reincarnation? I noted one good sign as I took off my skis to look around last winter: no smell, at least not from the outside. Entering the new cabin, I noted a second good sign: the door was at deck level. In previous years I’d done many a semi-free fall down the icy wooden steps to grab the bulky door handle on the fly and slide on into the old warming house. Here, I had only to grasp an elk antler handle to step into a classy-rustic mudroom with the restrooms discreetly located on my left. Taking a peek inside the ladies’ room, I did miss the stall door basket for holding goggles, gloves and hat, but it was a cheap price to pay for the olfactory improvement.

Beyond was a small anteroom/waiting area. Hooks on the wall held bulky parkas.

Some skiers had shed their boots. I gratefully sank into a leather couch, where the host greeted me and served me a tall glass of water. I perched it atop a round of wood like the ones I used to split in my back yard for the wood stove.

I mentally applauded Diane as I took in the room and studied the photograph above the rock fireplace in a twig frame. The subject: Uley Scheer, local historical figure and bootlegger who died in 1934. Diane discovered Uley’s story with the assistance of local historian and author Duane Vandenbusche. She designed and decorated the space with relics of the early 1900s and named it after Uley.

Black-and-white photographs of deer hunters, skiers, ranchers, a logging scene and a family by their tent hang on the rough cabin walls. Wooden skis with leather bindings, her husband Tim’s mounted deer head, old plates, bottles, snowshoes, a creel, snares, traps, wooden barrels and a buckboard wagon seat contribute to the historic mountain mood.

Diane chose the lights, flooring, interior furniture and design elements. “I got some burlap-type material for the curtains,” she said. “Uley would have just hung up an old blanket. I knew I couldn’t do that, so I had the guys get me forked aspen saplings out of the woods for curtain rods.” Guests sit in simple wooden chairs at square tables with white linen and blue-and-white checked cloth napkins. The overall effect is of simple, old-timey elegance.

With the building’s footprint increased to about 2,800 square feet, the seating capacity doubled to 60 in two rooms, with wine storage, side windows and a stainless steel kitchen, where I met the chef. He showed me the lunch and dinner menus with LF33333333!"#$%#&'(%%#)*+*,-.#/012

their French-inspired Colorado cuisine and gave me a savory sample from the bar menu: smoked trout fondue with tortilla crisps.

I took the food outside to the Ice Bar, where Ian the bartender was kept hopping by the festive deck crowd. No longer a sculpted ice mass (which tended to melt in the spring sun), the Ice Bar’s wooden, plexiglass and metal support structure is topped with big ice chunks set in shallow aluminum pans, then heaped with snow. Ideal for keeping a drink chilled—and your propped elbows as well.

The wait staff retrieves orders from the open kitchen window about eight feet from the bar. And the food? A local diner gave me the word: “Fantastic! And it filled me up.”

A couple from Texas described their lunch: “The elk bourguignon was delicious and the duck was elegant. The salad was a work of art, arranged like a flower on the plate with cranberry, cheese and nuts. We remember the old warming house, but this is the best yet. When they deliver that way, you don’t think about the price. Would we come back? Certainly.”

So would I, some day day, but first, I took a run off “Freddy’s Chair” for old times’ sake.

No lines, no stops—just the way I like it.

high altitude

2011 AUGUST 6-7 175 VISUAL

ARTISTS Art Auction Artist Demonstrations Beer & Wine Pavilion Culinary Demonstrations Entertainment

SAVE THE DATE Thursday, July 21-Sunday, July 24

Join us in Colorado’s best mountain town for three days of wines from around the world, seminars, and amazing cuisine from local and nationally-acclaimed chefs.

Chef Events & Grand Tasting The Celebrity Chef Tour Benefitting the James Beard Foundation

—for tickets, full schedule and lodging specials, call—

303.809.0404 —or visit us online at—

crestedbuttewine.com

Celebrating the visual, performing and culinary arts!

crestedbutteartsfestival.com

Children’s Art Alley

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CB Nordic Center’s Thanksgiving Camp

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Learn to Skate Ski for Free, Nordic Center

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Light-up Night & Holiday Parade, Elk Avenue

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COSMIC Randonee Race, Irwin

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Citizens Nordic races

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Christmas Variety Show, CB Mountain Theatre

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Community Holiday Party, Adaptive Sports Center

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Rock on Ice, Crested Butte Mountain Resort

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Full Moon Nordic Ski/ Snowshoe to Yurt Moonlight Snowshoe Tour, CBMR

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Christmas Eve torchlight parade, ski slopes

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Holiday Brunch at the Yurt, Nordic Center event

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“Tuna Christmas,” CB Mountain Theatre

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College Ski Week

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Learn to Skate Ski for Free, Nordic Center

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Citizens Nordic races

6S

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Ski/Snowshoe Party at the Yurt

4P

ArtWalk Evening at local studios, galleries New Years Eve celebrations in town, ski area

Frozen Buns Resolution Run

Military Appreciation Week

Play-Ground Theatre Company, Center for the Arts

Full Moon Yurt Dinner Party, Nordic Ctr. event

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Backcountry Super Tour, Nordic Center

“Dive!” a film at the Center for the Arts

Randonee Rally Mountaineering Race

Brunch at the Yurt

64

Second City Improv All-Stars, Center for the Arts

Learn to Skate Ski for Free, Nordic Center

Alley Loop Nordic ski race

The Wailin’ Jennys at the Center for the Arts

46

Brunch at the Yurt, Nordic Center event

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U.S. Freeskiing Championships

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Full Moon Yurt Dinner Tour, Nordic Center

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Prater Cup youth ski competition

Learn to Ski for Free, Nordic Center

Seven Hours of the Banana

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Banff Mountain Film Festival

45

Full Moon Yurt Dinner Party

Progressive Bonfire Dinner, Jr. Nordic fundraiser

4P_5F

Matthew Sheppard Foundation Gay Ski Week

5S

Big Air on Elk

Al Johnson Uphill/ Downhill Ski Race

46

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Brunch at the Yurt

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Peter Kater, Center for the Arts

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Extreme Telemark Freeskiing Championships

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For more information visit gunnisoncrestedbutte.com/events

Elk Mountains Grand Traverse

Flauschink Celebration

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=YN_9C==!!"#$%!&&' YOU DON’T HAVE TO SLIDE DOWN SNOWFIELDS TO HAVE A BLAST IN CRESTED BUTTE.

SNOWSHOE UNDER THE FULL MOON.

Have an amicable snowball fight.

Spot eagles soaring by the river north of Almont.

Paint some pottery or take an art course.

Ride a horse-drawn sleigh to dinner.

SEARCH FOR ANIMAL TRACKS IN THE SNOW.

PULL YOUR KIDS AROUND IN A SLED.

HAVE A MARTINI AT THE ICE BAR.

ELOPE TO CRESTED BUTTE; USE THE EXTRA WEDDING FUNDS FOR NEW SKIS.

Collect dog tailings this spring as part of Poo Fest.

Ice skate on Blue Mesa or the local ice rink.

Try a new kind of massage or facial.

HOW MANY TIMES YOU CAN WEAR YOUR MULLET WIG?

GET YOUR DOG A NORDIC SKI PASS (WITH PHOTO).

Take your dog to doggie day care.

Enter the Big Hair competition in March.

SNOWSHOE OR SKI TO THE YURT FOR BRUNCH.

WATCH THE TRAIN PUFF THROUGH A MINICRESTED BUTTE AT THE MUSEUM.

Catch a lively Mountain Theatre play.

VENTURE INTO THE BACKCOUNTRY IN A SLED PULLED BY HAPPY CANINES. Create edible architecture for the gingerbread house contest.

Catch an après-ski band on the mountain.

MAKE SNOW ICE CREAM. Gaze at the heavens through the giant telescope in Gunnison.

CLIMB SOME ICE OUT CEMENT CREEK.

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Fly down the slope in an innertube.

HIT THE SLEDDING HILL AT 3RD AND BELLEVIEW. Build snowcaves and tunnels in your front yard.

Do the progressive bonfire dinner on the Town Ranch.

TRY YOGA FOR THE FIRST TIME.

TAKE AN OVERNIGHT HUT TRIP TO GOTHIC.

Ride a bike with snow tires and a bike rack.

Get pumped at a Matchstick ski film debut.

WATCH IT SNOW WHILE SOAKING IN HOT SPRINGS.

ENJOY A SHOW AT THE CENTER FOR THE ARTS.

Read a book by a local author.

Do snowmobile rodeo tricks on frozen Lake Irwin.

RESEARCH THE GREAT LOCAL RESTAURANTS FOR DINNER.

SING ALONG WITH THE HOLIDAY CAROLERS ON ELK AVENUE.

Work on your dance moves to vie for the 2011 Red Lady title.

ARM-WRESTLE YOUR WAY TO GLORY AT THE ANNUAL FACE-OFF. Try a new sport: snowboarding, curling, beer pong…

SPLASH ACROSS THE ICY POND AT THE SLUSH HUCK. Build a snowman/woman that looks like your sweetheart.

HIRE A GUIDE AND GO BACKCOUNTRY SKIING. Scope out plein-air painters on Elk Avenue.

CUDDLE BY THE FIRE WITH YOUR SWEETIE.

GET A PERMIT AND CUT DOWN A CHRISTMAS TREE.

Watch alpenglow paint the snowy mountains at the edges of the day.

Bring hot chocolate and a sleeping bag outside to watch the stars.

TRY EVERY MICROBREW IN THE VALLEY.

PLAY GOOFY GAMES IN A CROWDED CONDO.

Go ice-fishing on Blue Mesa.

Fall in love by the light of antique streetlights.

LEARN TO DRIVE A SNOWCAT.

BUILD A SNOWPIT FOR SPRINGTIME TANNING.

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LEARN TO DO A FLIP ON THE BUNGEE TRAMPOLINE.

BRING YOUR PET TO THE BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS.

Visit every gallery in town.

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Free Delivery In-Room Fitting Slopeside Service

970-349-0722

www.blacktieskis.com

ASPEN/SNOWMASS • BIG SKY/MOONLIGHT BASIN • BRECKENRIDGE/KEYSTONE/COPPER CRESTED BUTTE • MAMMOTH • NORTH LAKE TAHOE • SOUTH LAKE TAHOE PARK CITY/DEER VALLEY/THE CANYONS STEAMBOAT • TELLURIDE • VAIL/BEAVER CREEK WHISTLER • WINTER PARK

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ESTABLISHMENT

DESCRIPTION

RESERVATIONS

213 GOTHIC Rustic Log Home Crested Butte

Beautiful 7-bedroom, 8-bathroom home. An ideal vacation home and great location for the whole family. Sleeps 19.

1.970.209.6376 keithpayne@yahoo.com 213third.com

93

CRISTIANA GUESTHAUS Bed & Breakfast Hotel 621 Maroon Avenue PO Box 427, Crested Butte

Cozy B&B inn with European ski lodge charm.

Hearty homemade Continental breakfast served fireside. Hot tub with mountain views.

Private baths. Near free shuttle; walk to shops & restaurants.

1.800.824.7899 cristianaguesthaus.com email: info@cristianaguesthaus.com

94

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

Historic inn located in a residential neighborhood of downtown Crested Butte. Just two blocks off the â&#x20AC;&#x153;main street.â&#x20AC;? 19 rooms individually decorated.

Some with balconies.

1.800.374.6521 elkmountainlodge.net email: info@elkmountainlodge.net

93

IRON HORSE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT Rental Homes PO Box 168, Crested Butte

Specializing in highly personalized property management and vacation rentals. Expect more.

1.888.417.4766 ironhorsecb.com

31

THE NORDIC INN Bed & Breakfast Lodge 14 Treasury Road PO Box 939, Mt. Crested Butte

Allen (your host since 1969) and Judy Cox welcome you to this Scandinavian-style lodge. Rooms with two double beds & private baths. Within walking distance of the ski mountain.

1.800.542.7669 nordicinncb.com email: acox@nordicinncb.com

93

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

The warmth of a family inn; value, convenience & amenities of a hotel. Home-made afternoon snacks, yummy breakfast. Rooms with two queens or one king bed. On shuttle route, stroll to shops, restaurants & trailheads.

1.888.349.6184 oldtowninn.net email: info@oldtowninn.net

94

PEAK PROPERTY MANAGEMENT & SALES Rental Homes PO Box 2023, Crested Butte

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

1.888.909.7325 peakcb.com email: kat@peakcb.com

94

PIONEER GUEST CABINS Rustic Cabins 2094 Cement Creek, South of CB

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

970.349.5517 pioneerguestcabins.com pioneerguestcabins@gmail.com

94

THE RUBY OF CRESTED BUTTE Luxury Bed & Breakfast PO Box 3801 624 Gothic Ave, Crested Butte

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

1.800.390.1338 therubyofcrestedbutte.com

83

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Take Out

Catering

Televisions/Sports

Outdoor Dining

Private Parties

Live Entertainment

Full Bar

Late Night 10pm >

Happy Hour Specials

Children’s Menu

Reservations

$ !

9380 PRIME • 251-3030 Elevation Hotel, Mt. Crested Butte

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

Prime opens at night for contemporary dining.

$7-39

Breakfast Lunch Dinner

99

BACCHANALE • 349-5257 209 Elk Avenue, Downtown

Casual Italian cuisine with entrees such as veal parmigiana, fra diavolo, or cannelloni. Many meatless selections. Extensive appetizers and kid’s menu.

Happy hour with tapas.

$12-32

Dinner Bakery

99

BRICK OVEN • 349-5044 223 Elk Avenue, Downtown

Pizza-by-the-slice, deep dish, thin crust & specialty.

Fresh subs, appetizers, burgers, largest salad bar in town. 24 beers on tap, high end tequila, spirits and wine. Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. FREE DELIVERY. BrickOvenCB.com

$2 - 20

Lunch Dinner

96

BUTTE 66 • 349-2999 Treasury Building, Mt. Crested Butte

American cuisine at its finest with our classic roadhouse menu. Casual atmosphere, daily drink specials, live music and large deck with unbeatable views. Lunch, après ski and dinner daily.

$7-20

Lunch Dinner

97

DJANGO’S • 349-7574 Courtyard of Mountaineer Square, Mt. Crested Butte

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

$6-19

Brunch Dinner

44

DONITA’S CANTINA • 349-6674 4th & Elk in Crested Butte

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

$4-24

Dinner

98

EASTSIDE BISTRO • 349-9699 435 6th Street, Crested Butte

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

$10-35

Brunch Dinner

97

FIREHOUSE GRILL • 349-4666 11 Snowmass Rd., Plaza, Mt. Crested Butte

The fun place to dine on the mountain. Pizza, burgers, dinner salads, wings and specials. Come watch the game on one of our flat-screens. Happy hour everyday. Occasional live entertainment. Dine-in or take-out.

$5-15

Dinner

98

LAST STEEP • 349-7007 208 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte

Sandwiches/soup/salads. Casual family dining.

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

$5-16

Lunch Dinner

99

LIL’S • 349-5457 321 Elk Ave., Crested Butte

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

$4-28

Dinner

96

LOBAR • 349-0480 Downstairs at 3rd & Elk Crested Butte

Eclectic dining. People rave over our sushi, try our new casual bistro menu, fish tacos to crack fries!

Free kids’ meals 5-6 p.m. On weekends, Lobar transforms into CB’s only nightclub with live music, karaoke, DJs & more.

$8-32

Dinner

96

MARCHITELLI’S GOURMET NOODLE • 349-7401 411 Third Street, Crested Butte

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

$6-30

Dinner

98

MAXWELLS • 349-1221 226 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte

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

$7-31

Dinner

97

MCGILL’S • 349-5240 228 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte

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

$4-15

Breakfast Lunch

98

SLOGAR • 349-5765 2nd & Whiterock, Crested Butte

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

$16-26

Dinner

99

WOODEN NICKEL • 349-6350 222 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte

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

$7-40

Dinner

40

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

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

Dine-In • Take-Out • FREE Delivery

223 Elk Avenue, Crested Butte brickovencb.com

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Photo: James Ray Spahn

ULEY’S

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Enjoy the warm ambiance and culinary excellence of Uley’s Cabin for lunch.

Serving gourmet lunches daily inside and exotic drinks outside at our legendary bar made out of ice.

MID-MOUNTAIN AT THE BASE OF THE TWISTER LIFT (970)349-2275

SLEIGHRIDE DINNER Embark on an epicurean dining adventure. Enjoy a starlit ride in a snowcat-drawn open sleigh to a charming cabin in the woods serving a five-course gourmet dinner.

DINNER RESERVATIONS

(970)349-4554 OR VISIT THE ADVENTURE CENTER

BAR & GRILLE Experience American cuisine at its finest with our classic roadhouse menu, burgers and shakes.

Enjoy the casual fun atmosphere complemented by daily drink

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specials, live music and a large outdoor deck with unbeatable views.

LUNCH, APRÈS SKI & TWILIGHT DINNER

(970)349-2999 SLOPESIDE – TREASURY CENTER

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INGREDIENTS

• 12-oz. package of Mulay’s Original Hot Italian Sausage • 1 lb. De Cecco Farfalle (bowtie) pasta • ½ cup good olive oil • 2 tablespoons minced garlic (6 cloves) • 6 tomatoes • 18 large basil leaves, chopped • 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper • ½ tsp. kosher salt • ½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes • 1 ½ cups freshly grated Pecorino cheese + extra chopped basil and grated Pecorino, for serving

DIRECTIONS

Bring a large pot of water to boil, add 2 tbsp. of salt and a splash of oil. Mince garlic, dice tomatoes and chop basil; set aside. In a large skillet, brown sausage over medium heat (10 min). Cut sausage into quarter inch slices and continue to brown until cooked. Add the farfalle to boiling water and cook for 12 minutes, or as directed. Drain. While pasta is still warm, add tomatoes, basil, garlic, sausage and Pecorino, tossing until tomatoes begin to soften but don’t break up. Add red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste. Serve in large bowls, sprinkly with extra basil and a side of Pecorino.

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Family Style Chicken & Steak Dinners Your Dinner Menu:

Assorted Relish Tray Fresh Baking Powder Biscuits Savory Sweet & Sour Cole Slaw Homemade Mashed Potatoes Whole Kernel Corn in Cream Sauce Hearty Chicken Gravy Honey Butter

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

One-half Skillet Fried Chicken, Steak or Vegetarian Entree Home Style Ice Cream Coffee, ffee, Tea or Milk ff

SERVING BREAKFAST, LUNCH, & DINNER DAILY

A contemporary spin in both atmosphere and menu items. Serving something for everyone from fresh salads to tempura fish tacos, all with subtle twists to intrigue your palate and keep you coming back for more.

The large deck with its slopeside fire pit and outdoor bar is the perfect location for an après drink.

Italian Dining

Wild Pacific Salmon Local Organic Steaks Homemade Italian Specialties, Soups, Salads & Desserts Nightly Specials Progressive Wine List Large Groups Welcome To Go Menu & Take Away Dinner Parties NEW game room with billard table, darts, pinball & table shuffleboard {Available for private parties}

Photos: James Ray Spahn and Tom Stillo

Dinner Nightly Happy Hours 5-6 & 8-9pm NEW Morning Bakery Homemade donuts!

CB’s only fully organic espresso bar Open at 7am daily • Free WiFi for patrons!

SLOPESIDE ELEVATION HOTEL & SPA (970)251-3030

209 Elk Avenue Downtown Crested Butte 349-5257 www.bacchanale.net 7-89- ,:9 9- ) .)?04- +53

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EXPERIENCE THE LEGEND Over 600 inches in annual snowfall

Guided snow cat skiing in the untouched powder of the Irwin backcountry.

Reservations: csirwin.com PHONE # 1-866-IRWIN77 Operating under a special use permit on the Gunnison National Forest.

Irwin Backcountry Guides LLC is an equal opportunity service provider.

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