Steamboat Magazine Outdoors Edition 2023

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Celebration of the Yampa

DEPARTMENTS

16 Publisher’s Note

18 Letters

20 Contributors

Linden Butrym, Katie Carroll, Noah Wetzel

24 Genuine Steamboat

John Fielder shares river images from Routt County and beyond

36 Music

Bluegrass Redefined – by Sophie Dingle

39 Arts & Culture

The renovation of the Julie Harris Theater

– by Katie Carroll

Local art hangs in the new Health and Human Services building – by Linden Butrym

is a big “dill” in Steamboat Springs

The local rise of the country’s top-growing sport – by Lisa Schlichtman

42 History

The mountain soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division – by Dan Greeson

The Case of the Steamboat Sting

– by Tom Martin

46 Community

Boaters take a day hike to a cave at Dinosaur National Monument and spell out “YAMPA.” This

A local couple provides aid in Ukraine

– by Lisa Schlichtman

48 In the News Happenings East and West of downtown Steamboat

76 Media

Summer stories – by Jennie Lay

79 Crossword Puzzle

Where Did I See... ? – by Victor Fleming

80 Why Stop at the Last Page?

The last page is only the beginning: continue the journey with Ski Town Media’s online offerings

features a shot by Noah Wetzel called Midnight Cascade, which was taken at the middle fork of Fish Creek. Read the story behind this shot and four others on page 50.

by Noah Wetzel.

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Outdoors 2023 – Volume 45, Number 3

PUBLISHER

Deborah Olsen

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Sophie Dingle

SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR

John Sherwood

ART DIRECTOR

Melissa VanArsdale

DIGITAL DIRECTOR

Trey Mullen

MEDIA EDITOR

Jennie Lay

OFFICE MANAGER/STAFF WRITER

Casey Hopkins

STAFF WRITER

Suzy Magill

PROOFREADER

Christina Freeman

CONTRIBUTORS

Linden Butrym

Erin Campbell

Katie Carroll

Victor Fleming

Dan Greeson

Tom Martin

Lisa Schlichtman

PHOTOGRAPHERS

John Fielder

Molly McCormick

Noah Wetzel

Steamboat Magazine is published by Ski Town Media, Inc. The Ski 2023-24 edition will be published in November 2023. For advertising rates and subscription information contact info@SkiTownMedia.com. Steamboat Magazine, P.O. Box 880616, Steamboat Springs, CO 80488. Phone: 970-871-9413. Subscribe: www.SteamboatMagazine.com Single copy mailed first-class $9.50. No portion of the contents of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the publisher. © 2023 Ski Town Media, Inc. All rights reserved – ISSN 2164-4055.

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Editorial Advisory Board

Katie Brown

Steamboat Resort

Amy Charity SBT GRVL

Rory Clow

Western Centers, Inc.

Samantha

Coyne Donnel

Steamboat Mountain School

Scott Engelman

Carl’s Tavern and Truffle Pig

Sarah Floyd

Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club

Betse Grassby

Steamboat Art Museum

Jennifer Grathwohl

Steamboat Symphony Orchestra

Larry Mashaw

The Resort Group

Lisa Popovich

MainStreet Steamboat

Lindsey Reznicek

Yampa Valley Medical Center

Ray Selbe

Selbe Farms

Susan Stempel

The Stempel Group

Debacles on the Yampa

Thisedition didn’t start out with a special river theme. It just happened that way, thanks in large part to legendary Colorado photographer John Fielder, whose love and concern for the Yampa River led him to partner with Tread of Pioneers Museum to present “Lens on the River: A Photographic Journey on the Yampa River.” He also graciously lent us images from the exhibit for this appropriately named Outdoors edition.

At the same time, local river guru Eugene Buchanan relentlessly pitched “The Case of the Steamboat Sting,” the abridged version of which appears on page 44. It is sure to leave you wanting more (in)famous river tales, which you will find on page 60.

I’m sorry I don’t have my own deliriously happy river stories to share with you. While I love the Yampa River on an almost sacred level, it has brought mostly misadventure to me. There was the time I got such a bad sunburn tubing the Yampa that I had to wear dresses for a week – an outlandish idea in Steamboat Springs. Lesson learned: better to look dorky in long sleeves on the river than to glow in the dark for a week.

Then there was the time I took a beginner kayak lesson with my family and bashed my 10-year-old son in the head after he tipped his own kayak, just a few feet ahead of me. Thank god for helmets.

My now-grown son, undaunted by my own river misadventures, took his too-small children (my precious granddaughters!) for a late-afternoon float down the river that ended in near disaster, a distress call and the girls’ vows of “never again,” which they have since recanted, thankfully.

When my dog was still a pup, I decided to teach her to swim in the Yampa. We found a secluded beach, and I cradled her in my arms while I stumbled from one rock to the next, all the way across the river. Turns out the security of being held was much less traumatic than striking out on her own. She did, indeed, learn to swim, but not that day.

Despite the debacles, the Yampa River remains the main vein of my lifelong love affair with the Yampa Valley. I hope this edition will inspire you to float, fish, photograph or run the river yourselves.

Enjoy,

Hot air balloons float above the Yampa River on the east side of Steamboat Springs.

DEBORAH OLSEN

Kudos to staff writer Suzy Magill

Suzy Magill is a recent Steamboat Springs High School graduate and newly appointed Ski Town Media staff writer. Her story “Generations of Sustainability” for the Home edition gained likes and comments on social media.

“Hurray for smart & active SSHS students”

– Tom Wither, Facebook

Margaux Shea leads the Eco Club at a Fridays for Future rally in 2021.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MARGAUX SHEA

Contributors

Linden Butrym

Linden Butrym is a Denver-based writer and editor. In her career, she has interviewed a host of fascinating subjects, including Martha Stewart and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. For this issue of Steamboat Magazine, she spoke with local artists whose work is part of a permanent exhibit in the new Routt County Public Health and Human Services building. “I loved learning about the richly diverse talents of artists in Steamboat Springs and throughout Routt County,” Linden says. “Their prints, sculpture, textiles and more will inspire everyone who walks through the door.” Read Linden’s story on page 40.

Katie Carroll

Katie Carroll has lived in Steamboat Springs for 10 years. She has her masters in literature from NYU, and works at Strings Music Festival as director of programs. She is also an adjunct English instructor at Colorado Mountain College. Her story, on page 39, explores the history and renovation of the Julie Harris Theatre at Perry-Mansfield. “Touring the new Julie Harris and witnessing the history literally on the walls was moving. I could have spent the entire tour reading all of the messages that autograph the backstage walls, all of which represented a summer of earnest growth and friendship,” Katie says.

Noah Wetzel

Noah Wetzel is an adventurer and photographer whose work has been exhibited around the world, garnering multiple international photography awards. Based part-time in Steamboat Springs since 2005, his stunning images of the Yampa Valley are awe-inspiring. On page 50, he shares the story behind five of his photographs and the dedication required to capture the perfect shot. “An unbelievable amount of experience, preparation and effort is invested within each imagery pursuit,” Noah says. “I couldn’t be more honored to share.”

deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

–Albert Einstein

Abby Jensen Photography

John Fielder Wetlands Through the Eyes of

For 40 years, John Fielder has captured the natural beauty of Colorado through his camera lens. Working to promote the protection of the state’s ranches, open spaces and wildlands, John has used his photography to influence people and legislation. “Nature is paying a high price as our rivers dry up, and alarm bells are sounding as we witness declining flows in our beloved Yampa,” he says.

Chronicling the plight of the Yampa River is among John’s most recent projects. His river images are featured at the Tread of Pioneers Museum in an exhibit called “Lens on the River: A Photographic Journey on the Yampa River with John Fielder.” John’s hope is that the exhibit will help raise awareness of the threats that the Yampa River faces and will help increase measures to protect the health and vitality of the river. John is donating his commission on the sale of the signed exhibit prints to Friends of the Yampa, a local nonprofit whose mission is to protect and enhance the environmental and recreational integrity of the Yampa River.

In June, John donated his life’s work of Colorado photography to History Colorado Center. Founded in 1879, it is the state’s primary repository for artifacts and photographs. In July, the Denver-based museum opens a 3,000 square-foot exhibit celebrating John’s life as a nature photographer.

Sunrise, Skillet Lake, Flat Tops Wilderness

The Bear River is the headwaters of the Yampa and is fed by any number of alpine lakes including Skillet. This image portrays the remoteness and solitude characteristics of Colorado wilderness.

Lake Catamount Sunrise Lake Catamount is a private 530-acre reservoir along the Yampa River that was constructed in the 1970s, when it was thought that Colorado may be hosting the Winter Olympics. Shadows and reflections define the moment.

Cross

Mountain Gorge

Lying east of Dinosaur, this escarpment treats the flow of the river with complete disregard, resulting in almost unraftable class VI rapids. The Bureau of Land Management manages this 1,000-foot-deep gorge as a wilderness study area to protect the gorge’s natural values.

Rafting Dinosaur National Monument

The canyons of Dinosaur afford a lovely combination of both fast and flat water. Rafters have time to soak up the sights before the adrenaline rush of the next big rapid.

Blanketflower, Dinosaur National Monument

The Yampa River terminates in the middle of Dinosaur National Monument, below steep canyon walls at its confluence with the Green River. The weather–wet month of June and high water provide a bounty of wildflowers for the discerning eye.

Carpenter Ranch Sunset

The Nature Conservancy manages this historic, biologically significant property as a working cattle ranch to explore ways to simultaneously pursue agricultural production and the conservation of streamside and wetland habitats along the Yampa. “I got lucky one summer’s eve as the sun set downstream,” John Fielder says.

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Bluegrass Redefined

Tyree Woods lets his fingers fall across his guitar and the opening chords of “Monday” are amplified through the cool evening air of a summer concert in Steamboat Springs. If you frequent live music shows in Steamboat, it’s a sound that you’re probably familiar with: a bluegrass twang, a rock star riff, a feelgood country melody. It’s also a sound that no band can define.

“It’s impossible to put a term to it,” says Tyree’s bandmate, Denton Turner.

Nevertheless, it’s music that has grown increasingly popular in recent years, materializing not only in Western mountain towns but across the country. While it’s often categorized under the umbrella of bluegrass because of the instruments, most bands have added elements like drums, keyboard and electric guitar to create their own sound.

Tyree describes it as rootsy, organic and not overproduced. “We can put on a show whether we have pedals and amps or if we’re in a canyon in the Gates of Lodore. People identify with the simplicity of that.”

At WinterWonderGrass last year, we noticed that the tent next to us was vibrating – the drums were banging, the bass was jamming and the crowd went wild. We made a point to secure a front-row spot for the band’s second set. It was Tenth Mountain Division, a Colorado-based band that prides itself on pushing this sound into new directions – Southern rock, ‘60s psychedelic blues and straight up rock ‘n’ roll, to name a few.

When I met them at Old Town Pub a few months later, they explained that the confusion over what type of music they play comes up a lot – people see a mandolin and they think bluegrass.

But, as many bands will tell you, the members often come from different backgrounds. For the Tenth Mountain Division guys, those backgrounds spanned from soul to rock ‘n’ roll.

“We’re meeting in the middle,” says MJ Ouimette, the band’s guitar player. “We’ve been trying for years to describe it.”

For a while, they dubbed it “ski rock.”

“A lot of bands are associated with the scenes they’re a part of,” MJ says. “We’re part of this wonderful Colorado mountain scene that likes to jam.”

Newcomers to the scene often credit bands like Leftover Salmon and Yonder Mountain String Band as being pioneers of the reinvented bluegrass band. But even Adam Aijala, Yonder Mountain’s guitar player, can’t quite put it into words.

“We really thought that we were going to be a regular bluegrass band but when we started showing each other our original songs and sounds, it sounded different because we had taken all of our outside influences and funneled it through bluegrass instruments,” he says. “So we played what was coming out and stuck with it and stayed true to that instead.”

As it turns out, this new age of bluegrass is about staying true to yourself – and call it whatever you want.

“In this day and age, with computers and tech, you can lose human connection,” Denton says. “Bluegrass brings that back to the table. It’s great to go to a show and be entertained but when the show’s over, bluegrass can still be happening on the back porch. People want that connection.”

TREY MULLEN

Tenth Mountain Division jams at Old Town Pub, sharing its version of bluegrass music.

Editor’s Note: Sophie Dingle is the editor-in-chief of Steamboat Magazine and an avid fan of “new grass.”

| BY SOPHIE DINGLE

A Theater in the Woods

| BY KATIE CARROLL

Dancers

as renowned as Agnes DeMille and José Limón leapt across the stage of the Julie Harris Theatre in Strawberry Park for decades, inspired by the forests and wildflowers that surrounded them. But that enthusiasm was limited to the short months of summer, when the open-air venue could be used. Now, after years of contemplation, the theater, on the grounds of PerryMansfield Performing Arts Camp, has been renovated for use as a year-round performance and educational space.

The renovation is the culmination of many years’ work. “[There is] big picture visioning, change in attitude and perspective that is coming from the board and staff,” says Joe Haines, executive director of Perry-Mansfield. During planning stages, Joe says the staff and board found inspiration in founders Charlotte Perry and Portia Mansfield’s vision: make students better performing artists and better human beings. “I am a steward of that vision. I take that very seriously,” Joe says.

When it came to restoring the prairie-style theater, a large part of the focus was on preserving its storied architecture. Designed by Willard Sage, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, the building’s historic nature had to be weighed against its modern needs. The results can be seen as soon as you enter: the huge, metal indoor campfire ring remains in the center of the lobby while the newly installed HVAC system abuts the chimney piece on the ceiling. The new storm windows protect the theater from the elements and were carefully installed into the tinted concrete and layered river rock walls – lost craft styles that give the building its distinctive appearance.

The theater itself was renovated with the education of theater students in mind. The stage has been expanded with an

8-foot thrust, preserving the ability for students to work in three configurations: a traditional proscenium stage, thrust stage or complete black box. A new riser along the edge of the room is flush with the edge of the stage, allowing actors to freely circle the room and interact with audience members on the tier – something to be expected in this summer’s productions.

Perhaps the most heartfelt renovation work was preserving all of the backstage walls in the theater. These walls are covered with students’ signatures, quotes and inside jokes from years past. “Dustin Hoffman’s autograph is somewhere in this theater,” Joe says. “I haven’t found it yet.” It’s nearly impossible to determine how many alumni have left their mark in the famous theater. As the construction crews moved through the theater, adding bathrooms and refurbishing dressing rooms, each autograph wall was carefully removed, stored, and then reinstalled when the work was completed.

History collided with the present, as now there are new signatures backstage from the first community production post-renovation: Cabaret, Steamboat Creates’ annual fundraiser. Cabaret is the first of many community productions that Joe hopes to present in the year-round space. This new, inclusive approach is directly inspired by Charlotte and Portia. “I think that part of the vision of Portia and Charlotte was to be engaged in the community and partners in the community,” Joe says. “When it’s done right and it’s done with the idea of being inclusive, it brings lots of people together with diverse backgrounds and diverse points of view for a common idea.”

The theater renovation draws on Perry-Mansfield’s rich history and vision for the future.

A Sense of Place

| STORY BY LINDEN BUTRYM | PHOTOGRAPHY BY TREY MULLEN

As the folds of the new work by Steamboat weaver Wendy Kowynia unfurled in the stairway of the new Routt County Public Health and Human Services building, excitement peaked. “Having lived here for 30 years and being a working artist here, opportunities that feature local artists are few and far between,” Wendy says. “When they exist, it’s so exciting for local artists.” Works by 10 local artists, plus an installation by a group of fifth-grade students, now have a permanent home in the new 16,000 square-foot space. The building, on the corner of Sixth and Oak streets, was designed by local firm Mountain Architecture Design Group. Talk of installing a permanent art exhibit started in the fall of last year, when the county, along with Steamboat Creates, began exploring ways to inspire visitors and showcase the creative talents of Steamboat artists.

“This project in particular,” Wendy says, “to specifically choose local artists and also to look for more contemporary and abstract work – they really went out on a limb.” Meant to reflect the human condition, the art relates to the clean, modern building. “Community, place and artists have an intimate relationship,” says Kim Keith, executive director of Steamboat Creates. “Having thought-provoking art by local artists in a building that serves their community, further connects one to the other.”

Drawing on the building’s purpose – to enhance the wellbeing of community members – the exhibit’s theme became “The Human Condition.” It celebrates self-expression, belonging and, with a playful nod to nature, explores how people interact with and observe the world around them. The artists’ call was met with a response from men and women throughout the county, who submitted contemporary works in various mediums. Ultimately,

10 finalists plus a group of fifth-grade students from Steamboat Springs elementary schools were selected.

Wendy took her love of water and translated it into 12 14”x24” panels woven from silk and paper yarn, dyed in natural Japanese indigo, and painted with watercolor pigment. The work, titled “Sea of Clouds,” softly cascades down a stairwell.

“I love water in all its forms,” Wendy says. “I love living in a place where water also exists as snow. I love the way water reflects. It’s just my element.” Although the textiles themselves don’t move, Wendy says that her work does have a calm, kinetic, water-like quality.

Jill Bergman created two series of linocuts with watercolor, “The Mother Earth” and “The Caretakers,” depicting women caring for nature and celebrating the beauty of the planet. Carving each linocut in her home studio was a contemplative process that took two weeks.

“Linocuts are made by carving into a sheet of artist linoleum, like making a woodblock print,” Jill says. “Then I inked the raised image, laid paper over it and ran it through an etching press that applies pressure. Once they were dry, I painted them with watercolor. This technique lets me make a small edition of handpainted original prints.”

“Dragonflies” by Sandy Graves and Denise Bohart Brown features bronze bodies with fused glass wings.

“Sea of Clouds” by Wendy Kowynia is made from handwoven silk, paper, indigo dye and watercolor pigment.

A longtime advocate for the environment, Jill donates $100 to a nonprofit organization each time she sells her work. “Since the Health and Human Services building now has two pieces, I got to donate to both the Yampa Valley Sustainability Council and Friends of the Yampa, two of my favorite local environmental groups,” she says.

Works by Julie Anderson, Cyndi Marlowe, Simone White, Madeleine Burrough, David Winters, Chloe Wilwerding, Denise Bohart Brown and Sandy Graves are also part of the collection, on display in public areas of the building’s interior. The

elementary schools’ “Youth Identity,” a ceramic tile installation, offers a young, vibrant perspective on living in Steamboat. Each artwork serves as a visual reminder of the importance of discovering a sense of place.

“I hope visitors feel welcome,” Kim says. “Also, curious, amused and delighted. I hope they will develop a deeper connection to this community and the people who call it home.”

more @

View a complete gallery of the artists’ work at www.steamboatmagazine.com

The ceramic tile installation “Different Drops, One River” was made by Steamboat Springs students.

Photo Credit: David Patterson

“Potting Shed” is a trompe l’oeil-style mural installation created with acrylic paint and wood, by Madeleine Burrough and David Winters.

Winter Soldiers

The Story of the 10th Mountain Division and Its Ties to Steamboat Springs

| BY DAN GREESON

WhenPresident Joe Biden visited Camp Hale in the Eagle Valley last year, he designated the area as a new national monument, in honor of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division. This group of soldiers not only played a crucial wartime role, but also in the development of Colorado’s outdoor recreation industry.

During World War II, 10th Mountain Division soldiers trained at Camp Hale, where they learned to climb, ski and navigate rocky mountain passes – while fully armed.

Steamboat Springs resident Nancy Kramer, chairman of the 10th Mountain Division Foundation board, grew up knowing very little about her father’s military service during World War II. But when she saw him revisit it firsthand on a family trip to the 10th Mountain Division Tennessee Pass Colorado Monument, the 10th Mountain Division’s story of bravery and brotherhood came to light.

“Imagine it’s pitch black, punishing cold. The mission, high in the mountains, hinged on the skill, strength and stamina that could only have been gained in a place like this. American soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division scaled that 1,800-foot cliff at night, caught the Germans by surprise, captured key positions and broke through the German defense line at a pivotal point in the war.”

– President Joe Biden, October 2022

ran maneuvers and learned their brand of alpine mountain warfare from 1942 until 1965. “This place means something,” Nancy says. “It’s a special place that visitors need to understand. If we tell the story in a compelling way, it encourages preservation of the story in perpetuity. This place is important, and its story and impact need to be preserved.”

The 10th Mountain Division has a special connection to Steamboat Springs, as many soldiers returned to Steamboat following the war. Many of them were skiers, including Gordy Wren, who coached Buddy Werner and his siblings, and brothers Rudi and Karl Schnackenberg. Rudi, a Steamboat legend, was named to the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame for his years of service as a ski instructor, coach and manager of Howelsen Hill. More than 20 10th Mountain Division veterans lived in the Steamboat area after the war.

“He was always very quiet; he didn’t talk about it growing up,” Nancy says. When Nancy’s father, William Robertson, arrived at the monument, he jettisoned out of the backseat to search the list of names for those of his friends killed in action. “He started talking about all of it,” Nancy says. “Being in that place – just knowing the impact that experience had on his life – changed my life.”

The Camp Hale – Continental Divide National Monument encompasses the ridges, peaks and valleys where ski troopers

The formation of the 10th Mountain Division during World War II was a feat of military innovation and training. “World War II caused the Army to realize they wanted to address some of their shortcomings, so they started looking into some new technologies and doctrines that the Army hadn’t pursued in the interwar years,” explains Chris Juergens, Anschutz Curator of Military History at History Colorado. The National Ski Patrol offered the U.S. Army assistance in creating a new mountain warfare division, despite skiing being a niche sport at the time and the pool of potential recruits being small. “It’s easier to make soldiers out of skiers than

10th Mountain Division soldiers, taken by Frederick Buhrmaster, a Sergeant with the 85th Mountain Infantry Regiment.

skiers out of soldiers,” noted Charles Minot Dole, founder of the National Ski Patrol.

“They all had to go through basic training, like any other recruit, except that they were doing that same training at a 10,000-foot elevation,” Chris says. “That already presented a few new challenges for these troops. ‘90 Pounds of Rucksack’ became the song of the division because, when they weighed their gear, it would weigh about 90 pounds.” The average World War II soldier was only around five-foot-six, 125 pounds.

The 10th Mountain Division made a late but crucial arrival to the European theater of WWII. “The division arrived in Italy in January 1945 and, despite only being deployed for three months of combat, made an invaluable impact,” Chris explains. The “ski troops” took heavy casualties but never lost a battle in their campaign. Their expertise in mountain combat culminated in the breaking of the Gothic Line, Germany’s final defense in the Italian Apennine Mountains.

“In the fall of 1944, the Allies had gotten stuck on that Gothic Line,” Chris says. “It wasn’t until the 10th Mountain Division showed up with all their specialized gear and skills, that they were

able to scale the backside of Riva Ridge in the middle of the night and surprise the Germans from behind.”

“Just imagine the courage, the daring and the genuine sacrifice they all made,” noted President Biden at the monument’s dedication. Following the war, the 10th Mountain Division played a pivotal role in developing the outdoor sports industry in the United States, taking on roles as leaders in the skiing and mountaineering communities. Veterans taught skiing and worked in management at ski areas, while also making innovations in climbing gear and outdoor clothing. “Roughly 65% of the ski industry was directly influenced by 10th Mountain Division veterans,” Nancy says.

The 10th Mountain Division’s bravery and innovation continue to inspire generations of Americans. Today, the division remains an integral part of Steamboat’s heritage, and Camp Hale’s designation as a national monument will ensure that this heritage is protected for future generations to experience and appreciate for many years to come.

more @ www.SteamboatMagazine.com to read the full story and see the full list of local 10th Mountain Division veterans.

President Biden signs the documents to make Camp Hale a national monument in October 2022.

SUSAN GILL JACKSON

JOANNE ORCE

SANDY GRAVES

TIBBY SPEARE

JENNIFER BAKER

SUSAN ERNST CORSER PAULINA M. JOHNSON

MISSY BORDEN

SANDI POLTORAK

JILL LEESON

JILL BERGMAN

ABBY JENSEN

DEDI KNOX

President Biden names Camp Hale a National Monument in 2022.

The Case of the Steamboat Sting

| BY TOM MARTIN

Aftertwo ill-equipped park service employees drowned in the Grand Canyon in the 1940s, the National Park Service decided to promote commercial river running and keep private paddlers out of its parks, including Dinosaur National Monument. Dinosaur Superintendent Jess Lombard then gave Bus Hatch (owner and founder of Hatch Expeditions) a commercial river-running concession, but forced private paddlers to apply for a permit, denying nine out of 10 of them. Working behind the scenes with Bus to favor commercial operations over private, Jess later wrote Grand Canyon Superintendent John McLaughlin that he faced “a heck of a problem with regard to this river running,” referencing an event from earlier in 1957 on the Yampa River involving Bus and a bunch of Steamboat Springs locals, including a rancher named Forest Worm.

Forest and company had run the Yampa in 1955 and wanted to go again but could only get away for two days. They planned to rent two rafts from Hatch Expeditions and run a day trip from Deerlodge to Mantle Ranch, WY. They would make the run after high water but with still enough of a current to make it 34 miles in one day. Renting two 10-man rafts for the day, Forest, his wife Ruth, and seven other couples met at Deerlodge, with Bus maintaining they didn’t need a permit (he was the assistant ranger he said, and would take care of everything). The equipment Bus gave them was suspect – decrepit rafts with no bailing buckets, spare oars or even lifejackets. Still, the group shoved away at 6 a.m. in good spirits.

(Dinosaur National Park, 1957)

That lasted until they stopped to scout Teepee Rapid, after which the first boat raced onward. About a mile below the rapids, the boat swamped and filled with water as the oarsman fought to get it to shore. While emptying it on shore, the boaters noticed the second boat coming along upside-down with six people clinging onto its D-rings. They scrambled back to give chase, puncturing their own floor in the process. Now flooding themselves, they began throwing heavy items overboard, including their cooler of food. Finally catching the overturned raft, they pulled the swimmers onto their own flooded boat. Two crippled crafts finally made it to shore at the base of a cliff in dire straits: the flipped boat had lost its oars, the upright boat had a hole in its floor, and neither boat had a repair kit. People were hypothermic and the river was rising.

The party tied the two boats together, loaded everyone and headed downriver. While lining up for the next rapid, bad luck continued as the “good” raft slipped through the men’s hands and took off downriver. Luckily for the stranded boaters, someone had some waterproof matches and started a fire. Forest lit a tree on fire to serve as a rescue signal; the fire soon spread up the hillside. By then it was nearly dark, and the group huddled around their fire the rest of the cold night.

At Mantle Ranch, the shuttle crew grew concerned as evening approached – especially when an upside-down boat came into view. Someone drove 40 miles to the nearest phone to call the park service, which mobilized a rescue from Deerlodge the next morning in a motorized pontoon boat piloted by two

COURTESY OF BILL WARREN

Horace Albright and Bus Hatch on the river.

rangers and a Hatch employee. When the rescue boat showed up, the rangers spotted the signal fire and angrily told the stranded boaters to put it out before loading them onto the pontoon and heading down to Mantle Ranch. Exhausted but thankful to be alive, the group then returned home to Steamboat. Later, they considered litigation against Hatch Expeditions for endangering them with false information and shoddy equipment but decided not to press charges. Meanwhile, the park service began proceedings against Bus because Forest didn’t have a permit.

That November, at a Western River Guides Association meeting, the group was told about the ongoing prosecution of a river party that had rafted Dinosaur without a permit, noting that “If the U.S. wins, it could have a bearing on cases in the Grand Canyon, and if the U.S. loses, the least said the better.” In his report to his superintendent, Grand Canyon ranger Lynn Coffin noted Dinosaur and its river operators planned to publicize the case widely. Meanwhile, Jess continued to deny other private paddlers’ permits unless the equipment was safe and the guides were competent.

Six months later, Forest’s entire group was summoned to appear in federal court in Denver, charged with boating in the

monument without a permit, and starting a fire without a permit in an unauthorized area. Maximum penalty for each person: six months in prison and a $500 fine. Forest faced an additional six months in prison, another $500 fine, and $251 to cover the rescue. In June they went to court, where they were fingerprinted and placed alongside other defendants in handcuffs and leg-irons. After hearing such cases as murder and assault, the judge read out their crime: “Floating through the Yampa Canyon without a permit.” The utterance was followed by complete silence before the entire courtroom burst out in laughter. The judge released the river-runners and the case was later thrown out of court. The group got their payback, of sorts, because one of the couples owned a dude ranch frequented by senators and congressmen. They told their guests about the incident and the biased permit system, and in 1959 Superintendent Jess Lombard was transferred without promotion to South Dakota’s Wind Cave National Monument. And that’s the story of the Steamboat Sting.

Editor’s note: The above account is modified from “Otis Marston: The Colorado River Historian” Volume 1, Book 4, by Tom Martin, available on Amazon Kindle.

COURTESY OF BILL WARREN

Forest and Ruth Worm

Called to Serve

A Steamboat Springs couple embark on multiple humanitarian aid missions to Ukraine and witness resilience, hope

| BY LISA SCHLICHTMAN

In the year and a half since Russia invaded Ukraine, Lisa Renee and Doug Tumminello have traveled twice to Kyiv to deliver combat medical supplies to frontline fighters and provide humanitarian aid to villages in the Chernobyl area north of the capital city.

The Steamboat Springs couple says their mission-focused trips to the war-torn country were in response to the human devastation they saw unfolding in the news. They couldn’t stop thinking about the people of Ukraine and felt called to offer boots-on-the-ground support.

“It had been stirring in us, wondering if there was something we could do,” Doug says. “I served in the Army during the Cold War and invasion by Russia of a neighbor is a violation of the norms that have been in place since World War II. We knew we needed to do whatever we could to help stand up to it.”

“We just went,” Lisa Renee adds.

Their leap of faith, as Lisa Renee describes it, was grounded in some key connections that helped the Tumminellos better hone their efforts.

Doug, who is an attorney and West Point graduate, had a classmate who worked for a medical technology company with an office in Lviv. Through him, Doug was introduced to a Ukrainian attorney in Kyiv who was part of a social network

known as the Dead Lawyers Society. The group existed before the war, Doug says, but after the invasion, its mission changed. Some of the lawyers were fighting on the frontlines and others started investigating war crimes.

“It was a natural fit for us to meet with them,” Doug says. And from that meeting, the Tumminellos discovered an immediate need for combat medical gear like tourniquets, clamps, chest seals and bandages.

The Tumminellos also connected with an Assemblies of God Church in Kyiv through their involvement with Steamboat Christian Center. They partnered with ICA Kyiv and traveled to the northern villages, guided by the interim wartime pastor and other church members, to hand out food, blankets, clothing, fuel, flashlights and prayers. Among the items delivered were three duffle bags-worth of new fleece jackets donated by SCC. The coats were greatly appreciated, especially since people received them during a bitterly cold Ukrainian winter.

“What you learn by being there is the people are so committed,” Lisa Renee says. “Whether it’s a church organization or the medics or the lawyers, they’re all in it together. The church is getting combat medical gear to the front lines, and the lawyers are raising money to rebuild hospitals and operating rooms. It’s very woven and phenomenal what they’re doing.”

COURTESY OF LISA RENEE AND DOUG TUMMINELLO

This multi-generational family, including several children, a mother, father and grandmother, evacuated at the outset of the invasion. Their home, pictured, was destroyed by ariel bombardment or missile fire. Remarkably, the family dog in the image was later found hundreds of kilometers away in southeast Ukraine, identified by an ear chip. The family was clearing rubble in hopes of rebuilding and was living in a FEMA-style trailer in the meantime.

How can I help?

To support the Tumminellos’ continued mission in Ukraine, individuals can contact Doug or Lisa Renee directly about providing combat medical supplies to the combat medics. The Tumminellos can facilitate this avenue of giving and each dollar and item is immediately sent to units on the frontlines. For more information, contact Doug at 303881-1392 or Lisa Renee at 720-339-6924.

People can also donate to ICA Kyiv through the Assemblies of God. To donate online, visit https://giving.ag.org/ donate/600001-845929.

The Tumminellos are pictured with another Ukrainian family whose house in Chernobyl was destroyed. They lost everything and were clearing rubble.

While there, the Tumminellos say they didn’t believe they were in undue danger, but they did spend multiple hours in the air raid shelter at their hotel in Kyiv. In line with what Doug calls the Ukrainians’ “very funny” sense of humor, when the air raid app signaled an all-clear, it ended with the notification, “May the force be with you.”

And while the devastation they encountered was 10-fold what they had seen on the nightly news, Doug and Lisa Renee say it was the stories of survival, hope, resilience and determination that touched their hearts and shouted the loudest.

“It’s easy to dwell on the destruction but they don’t, and we don’t,” Lisa Renee says.

“Part of all of it, for us, was saying, ‘hey, the world is still here, and the world sees you. Here we are.’ And so many times, they said, ‘just please tell our stories. Just please make sure that we’re not forgotten,’” Doug adds.

The Tumminellos returned to Ukraine at the end of July. With each visit comes change, and the couple has learned to be flexible. Their exact plans were still in flux at publication but their intent was to head southeast to the Kherson and/or Zaporizhzhia regions. Kherson was recently flooded by the collapse of the Kakhovka dam, and Zaporizhzhia is home to a nuclear power plant that’s currently under Russian control.

“Our hope is to engage in relief work in one or both of those regions, working through the churches operating there, many of which have been damaged or destroyed by shelling,” Doug says.

“They are resolved to survive, win and rebuild, and they have the greatest quality – hope.”

What’s Happening East and West of Downtown Steamboat

Hayden’s hopes for affordable housing

Steamboat Springs’ neighbor to the west, the town of Hayden, is seeing hope on the horizon that might help to alleviate local workers’ housing problems.

In June, the town, in partnership with Gorman & Company, secured an $8.6 million Transformational Housing Award. The funds will go toward building the Prairie Run workforce housing project, which will create 129 perpetually deed-restricted affordable for-rent housing units in apartments, townhomes and live-work unit configurations.

Gorman & Company, the project developer, works with municipalities, government organizations and nonprofits to create housing projects. Prairie Run Workforce Apartments are the result of Hayden’s Master Plan and Housing Action Plan to provide mixed-income, local housing to serve the housing needs within Hayden.

“This housing will add security to the local businesses and workers that keep our community operating and make it such a special place to call home,” says Hayden’s mayor, Ryan Banks.

Construction is expected to begin in 2024 with units available by late 2025 into early 2026.

A rendering of the Prairie Run workforce housing project.

“This housing will add security to the local businesses and workers that keep our community operating and make it such a special place to call home.”

– Hayden’s mayor, Ryan Banks

Steamboat Resort updates

Hearing helicopters this summer? It’s a sign that Steamboat Resort is hard at work on phase three of construction before the mountain opens for the ski season in November. This summer’s phase includes the construction of the upper leg of the Wild Blue Gondola, which is slated to be the longest and fastest 10-person gondola in North America. The lower leg of the gondola opened last ski season and once the upper leg is complete, the gondola will feed skiers and riders through a new mid-station adjacent to Bashor Bowl. Its final stop will be at the top of Sunshine Peak. Just over three miles long, Wild Blue will bring skiers and riders from bottom to top this season in 13 minutes.

The new Mahogany Ridge and Fish Creek Canyon expansion area will add 650 additional acres of expert and advanced terrain, making Steamboat the second largest ski resort in Colorado.

The area, previously known as Pioneer Ridge, got a name change back to Mahogany Ridge, as it used to be called, when the Scandinavian Lodge sat at the base of the mountain. According to local lore, the lodge had a mahogany bar in it, where people would congregate for apres ski. When they skied down the ridgeline to get to the bar, they called it “Mahogany Ridge.” This summer, the Mahogany Ridge Express chairlift will be installed to service the terrain.

Down at the ski area base, The Range Food & Drink Hall celebrated its grand opening in June. The Range offers four dining options including Sunshine Bowl Ramen, Pioneer Pie, Twister Tacos and Why Not Sandwich Shop, as well as a bar on each level.

Construction for mountain improvements has impacted open trails for hikers and bikers, and up-to-date information can be found at www.fullsteamahead.steamboat.com.

Part of the Mahogany Ridge Express chairlift makes its way down Lincoln Avenue towards the mountain for installation.

DEBORAH OLSEN

Noah Wetzel

Noah Wetzel is an athlete, adventurer and photographer whose art has earned international acclaim. He may have traveled to Montreal or the Dolomites to receive prestigious awards, but his heart remains in Steamboat Springs, where he makes his home for part of the year. His stunning images of the Yampa Valley do more than inspire awe; they also invite the audience to wonder: how did he get that picture? In this edition of Steamboat Magazine, Noah shares the stories of the adventures behind a few of his famous photos.

Trails of Autumn

“In the fall of 2021, I was on a big mission to shoot a ton of autumn imagery. I had this idea when I was down in Crested Butte that I wanted to light up a forest and get star trails, capturing a unique perspective that I hadn’t seen before. The aspen trees down there are so tall and clean. In Steamboat, we have beautiful aspens but they’re not quite as tall. Back in Steamboat, I drove around for a couple of days trying to find the right location. I was just driving roads and looking at every aspect of each aspen grove that I saw. I was looking for the cleaner, most aesthetically pleasing trees. I needed to find a perfect grove of taller aspen trees with clean trunks (without scraggly branches), and I would also need an opening in the tree canopy to shoot directly upwards to the North Star, capturing circular star trails.

I found this location after hours of searching, constantly looking up. It was a section of aspens near Hahns Peak that had very tall – 60 or 70 feet – clean trunks. This was captured via an 85-minute exposure. Two wireless flashes were positioned in the distant trees, aimed upward, and a third wireless flash was positioned behind the camera, illuminating the three immediate aspen’s trunks. Capturing this image at night would allow me to create a surreal perspective, mimicking daytime sunlight angles with flash positioning to illuminate the peak autumn foliage, while showcasing the contrast of the night sky. Over the course of two sleepless nights within a week, I had only two attempts per night, given the setup and capture time involved, with nearly three hours between frames.”

Fish Creek Illumination

“Fish Creek has been shot a million times and I’ve shot it a number of times, too. But I always want to capture something different – in this case, the true majesty of Fish Creek Falls. This shot was captured at night. I couldn’t see the waterfall from where I was; I could only hear it. The gold color that you see on the top of the trees is from the setting moon; the canyon itself was pitch-black.

The idea was to essentially studio light the 283’ waterfall, controlling the lighting to capture a perfect exposure. In this scenario, top-down lighting would do the trick. Strapping a powerful headlamp to a drone would allow me to paint light via the remote control toggles while the camera (positioned on the ground) exposed the image on a tripod. Light painting

is a technique used to illuminate certain areas of a photograph during an exposure. A headlamp is typically utilized during an exposure. As the individual moves the headlamp up and down, side to side, the movement resembles brush strokes and casts light on certain features within the photograph. Given three drone batteries, I’d have only three attempts, and the batteries would go quickly as drones don’t like flying with that much weight. When you strap something like that to it, it blocks a few of the sensors as well. The first time it took off, I nearly crashed it. It’s really stressful and it demands a lot of experience.

Following the first two attempts, I dialed in the frame composition and camera settings. This was a 10-minute exposure. I set it to 10 minutes because not only did it need to be long enough to expose the image properly, but it also had to give me enough time to slowly fly up the creek bed and light paint with the drone remote control. With the camera on an exposed perch, I set a 2-minute countdown timer on the camera before the 10-minute exposure started. Starting the countdown timer and a stopwatch on my phone simultaneously, I had two minutes to make it over to the launch site, and get the drone in the air and high enough so it wasn’t in the frame.

With the drone positioned 500 feet above the creek bed, the headlamp cast a powerful single beam of light into the dark inner canyon, illuminating 20 individual spots for 20-30 seconds each. Throughout the 10-minute exposure, I relied on my previous experience, trusting that I was evenly light painting each location as I counted off the seconds of the exposure under my breath. After painting the final top section of the waterfall with light, I heard the alarm from my phone stopwatch, alerting me the exposure had ended.”

“Fish Creek has been shot a million times ... But I always want to capture something different – in this case, the true majesty of Fish Creek Falls.”

Rabbit Ears Sunset

“Searching for the best vantage point is a constant for landscape and action sports photographers. I’ve shot Rabbit Ears peak a number of times. I’ve scouted, I’ve hiked through the woods, I’ve done it in the autumn, I’ve hiked through the snowfall, I’ve stared at maps to see where there might be clearings. I wanted to capture Rabbit Ears in a way that hasn’t been captured before. It’s hard to find the perfect vantage point of Rabbit Ears that showcases the prominence of the summit – that is, unless you’re shooting from a bird’s perspective.

I spent two days in a row venturing up there to get this shot. As a landscape photographer, you’re constantly looking at the weather and cloud cover. You want about 85% cloud cover, hoping the remaining 15% of clear sky will be positioned on the horizon where the sun is rising or setting to illuminate the clouds with dramatic color.

I was definitely checking the weather charts before this pursuit, and this particular evening was looking really promising. A lot of times you get skunked – you have to hike in, put yourself into

position and then … the clouds are blocking the sun and the light doesn’t pop. On this night, the charts looked great, and I got myself into position. In the last 15 minutes of daylight, the sunlight popped through an opening in the dark skies and illuminated the peak. This image was captured with a drone utilizing a 5-image stitched panoramic.

It’s so easy to talk yourself out of these pursuits. Every single shot that I’m really proud of, I definitely faced that moment where I was like ‘oh man, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to hike into

the wilderness in the dark. What happens if I get skunked and it isn’t worth it? Maybe I should do it another time. It will be a sleepless night.’ Every single time there’s a voice in my head trying to talk me out of it. The biggest thing is putting yourself in a position to succeed. Doing the work, doing the research, and trusting your gut.”

“There’s only one way to know if it will line up, and that’s to go.”

Midnight Cascade

“Over the years, I’ve realized that my best ideas come to me when I’m out in nature – hiking and skiing. When I’m outside in an environment and I see certain rock features, trees, ridgelines, the next idea immediately pops into my head.

This shot took three separate trips on the middle fork of Fish Creek. For years I’ve wanted to explore the drainages of Fish Creek and hike up or down them. There are no trails in there so it was 100% off-trail, finding the route in and out of the creek. I went on an exploratory hike with my buddy Harry, who works with search and rescue. We worked our way down into the middle fork from the top of Buff Pass and then started working our way back up to Fish Creek Reservoir. That’s when we discovered an unbelievable spot where the water cascades in sheets over red rock covered in lichen and moss. It collects in pools and then cascades 30, 40, 70 feet into another pool. It’s surreal in the sense that it feels like a different environment; not like Steamboat. It almost had a tropical

feeling to it. I immediately was like, ‘OK, I gotta come back here and shoot this location and light it up.’

In the daytime, the lighting is really harsh, but at sunset, the sun angle is really low and there’s a ton of reflection coming off the water. I couldn’t showcase the true beauty of this location unless I could control the lighting. I knew we had to shoot it at night with light from above (via aerial light painting) that would get the red in the rocks to come out.

When I was in there the first time, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to come back alone. It seemed like a place where mountain lions would be. My second trip was two weeks after the first. We heard mountain lion calls at 2 a.m. But on the third trip, we went in and it took two hours to set up the shot and get the lighting how I wanted it to be. That night we broke three drones, one of which lacerated my hand. It was an expensive night, but we captured a truly breathtaking image.”

“It was an expensive night, but we captured a truly breathtaking image.”

Burn Slalom

“For nearly a decade, I wanted to plan a winter ski expedition into this zone on the edge of the Mount Zirkel Wilderness. With talented athletes, we would be able to capture and create amazing imagery, showcasing a different side of the Zirkels. I knew this burn zone was there and I wanted to capture it from a unique perspective, an aerial perspective of skiing within a surreal environment.

The first day, we hauled all our gear in via multiple snowmobiles. From dome tents and cook tents to a generator and propane tank – we were fully dialed in for a week. One of the athletes, Willie Nelson, put on 100 miles that day shuttling stuff up. The next morning when we woke up, we had a few peaceful moments and then we were hit by the bomb cyclone. The dome tent folded in. We spent the next 10 hours building walls around the camp to try and dampen the wind. I’ve never been that terrified or on edge for that long.

communication that goes into capturing a shot like this. It’s not that you just happen to be there – it’s exactly the opposite. I knew I didn’t just want one skier for this shot; two would be more dynamic and draw the viewer’s eye into the image. Working together with Willie and Conor Pelton for years, I figured Willie had a slightly better chance of matching Conor’s opposing turns while navigating the tree corridors.

With my drone positioned downslope and out-of-sight, I instructed them to ski straight downhill in the direction of the drone. With only one chance to capture this image, Conor and Willie navigated the challenging conditions perfectly, skiing the fall-line through the frame and to the bottom of the slope.

I shoot a lot of ski imagery in other locations. I wanted to bring it back to the Zirkels and get athletes in there to showcase the environment surrounding Steamboat in a different way.

“I’ve never been that terrified or on edge for that long.”

In Celebration of the

River

Three

| BY CASEY HOPKINS

Yampa veterans share what the river means to them and why we need to keep the Yampa wild.

Kent Vertrees

Witha degree in Fisheries Management from Ohio State University, Kent Vertrees has spent decades whitewater rafting, fly-fishing and snowmobile guiding, as well as advocating for recreational and environmental water management. As a long-time board member of Friends of the Yampa, Kent exudes an unwavering and electrifying passion for the preservation and safeguarding of our untamed river.

Steamboat Magazine: What are some of your earlier memories on the Yampa?

My very first time in Cross Mountain Canyon was just an eye-opener for me. I didn’t know that part of the river existed. I had come from a boating and guiding background on the Arkansas River at the Royal Gorge where we have big whitewater. I was also guiding in West Virginia, on the Upper Gauley which is a classic class-V boating stretch. I was just enthralled that the Yampa has this big whitewater stretch only an hour and forty-five minutes away. It has all the qualities you want in a whitewater stretch and it’s our home river.

SM: Why do you think we have so many hardcore Yampa users in this part of the state?

From a recreational side, we just have to get it while we can, because we know that eventually, it’s going to dry up. Here in the West, with all our rivers being snowmelt driven, if you want to go out on wild rivers, you have to just live in the moment and get after it.

SM: How do we keep the Yampa wild?

Those who love floating rivers need to become involved. It’s an easy way to find a community of like minded people. Join Friends of the Yampa, join American Rivers, join American Whitewater as well as others. These groups are doing great work on the river. If you love getting out there, focus your passion on preserving and protecting these wild places because they may not be here forever.

“If you love getting out there, focus your passion on preserving and protecting these wild places because they may not be here forever.”

River guide Kent Vertrees shows off a baby fish.

COURTESY KENT VERTREES

Dramatic cliffs tower above rafter on the Yampa near Dinosaur National Park.

“Rivers don’t really sink into your soul until you live by one – until you have one running through your hometown just a block away from your house, whose pulse matches your own.”

River guru Eugene Buchanan pursues his paddling passion.

Eugene Buchanan

Atrue adventurer at heart, Eugene Buchanan, the former publisher and editor-in-chief of Paddler Magazine, has fearlessly ventured across the globe, immersing himself in the thrilling waters and mesmerizing landscapes of over 30 countries spread across six continents, leaving an indelible mark on every river he’s conquered and every corner of the world he’s explored.

Steamboat Magazine: How long have you been paddling?

About 40 years. I started raft guiding in college, on the Arkansas and in Alaska, and after graduating, I moved up to Alaska to manage rafting operations. I bought my first kayak from a fellow guide after we did a trip on Lodore and he sold me his gear at the takeout. Then I ran the Grand, met my wife and moved to Telluride. I became the editor of Paddler Magazine and moved it to Steamboat in 1992.

SM: How does paddling on the Yampa compare with paddling elsewhere?

The best thing about the town run of the Yampa is that it’s so accessible – you can paddle the river or some of its harder tributaries like Fish Creek on your lunch break. Having Cross Mountain downstream is awesome, as it’s such an easily accessible multi-day trip like Yampa Canyon and Lodore. It’s a great backyard river to have and come home to.

SM: What kind of role does the river play in helping shape the character of Steamboat and Northwest Colorado?

I’d been into rivers for eight years before moving to Steamboat, raft guiding, teaching kayaking and going on expeditions around the world. But rivers don’t really sink into your soul until you live by one – until you have one running through your hometown just a block away from your house, whose pulse matches your own. I think and hope that most people living here feel the same way about it. We might take it for granted, but it’s such a big part of our community and surrounding region, primarily supporting agriculture but also important fish, wildland and riparian habitat, municipalities, recreation and more. It’s the true lifeblood of the valley and needs to be protected and appreciated as such.

“I’ve learned to love the river from a variety of lenses and I think that’s true for everybody. Having the river run through town, you can see that…it’s not well known nationally, but it’s certainly sacred in this town.”

Fly-fisher Alice Tesar releases a fish back into the Yampa.

Alice Tesar

While guiding wilderness canoe trips in Northern Ontario in 2011, Alice Tesar picked up a fly rod for the first time and was immediately taken with the sport. After moving to Steamboat, Alice began honing her skills as a fly fishing guide for Steamboat Flyfisher while simultaneously forming an unbreakable bond with the Yampa.

Steamboat Magazine: What was your first experience with the Yampa and what was it that made you fall in love with the river?

During our first summer in Steamboat in 2015, my partner and I spent almost every night in the Chuck Lewis State Wildlife Area. We would get off work and fish there through dusk. Chuck Lewis alone is an example of the variety of fishable water in the Yampa. There’s deep holes, there’s ripples, there’s cutbanks, there’s downed trees – the many organizations that take care of the Yampa maintain the wildness of it too.

SM: What makes the Yampa so special? Its many stakeholders. I’ve learned to love the Yampa as an angler, but today I’ve enjoyed it as a tuber. I’ve got a whitewater canoe for the spring. I’ve learned to love it from a variety of lenses, and I think that that’s true for everybody. Having the river run through town, you can see that it’s loved and cared for by many. It’s not well known nationally, but it’s certainly sacred in this town.

SM: Why does it need to be maintained and protected?

The West’s best kept secret is the Yampa. It’s not very well known, but it has many seasons and it’s the last free-flowing river in the Western U.S. That means that most of its natural cycles are still intact, which provides for a really rich relationship.

Steamboat is a ski town and a ranching community. The river and the water cycle are important in supporting both those endeavors.

PURE RIVER Magic

After an intense experience on the White Nile in Uganda, Africa, anxiety about rivers had gotten the best of me. Having grown up kayaking, canoeing and rafting the rivers of western North Carolina, I once had a passion for whitewater. However, in my 20s, after my boat flipped, I found myself swimming in a class-VI rapid on the White Nile stuck in an underwater current, spinning in breathless circles. In that very moment, I was sure my time had come.

By the grace of the river, I survived, but I had been shaken to the core. When I got home, I sold my kayak and opted for paddleboarding on flat water instead.

Ten years later, I received an invitation to join a RiverWonderGrass trip with Adrift Dinosaur, based out of Jensen, Utah. The women-only trip (dubbed RiverWonderWomen) would be four days on the Green River and three nights of camping, starting at the Gates of Lodore in Colorado and ending at Split Mountain Campground in Utah. It sounded absolutely amazing, but was not the flat water I had grown accustomed to after my scare on the White Nile.

| STORY BY ERIN CAMPBELL PHOTOGRAPHY BY MOLLY MCCORMICK

“By the grace of the river, I survived, but I had been shaken to the core.”

Rafters float through the Gates of Lodore in Dinosaur National Monument during RiverWonderGrass in August 2022.

Excitement about the opportunity was there, but so was anxiety. With encouragement from my husband and the desire to safely get back on a river, I decided to go. Not only did I conquer my fear, but I also discovered one of the more incredible experiences I have had in life.

RiverWonderGrass owners Scotty and Britt Stoughton, who live in Steamboat Springs, have thoughtfully crafted an experience that is unique, memorable and for many, life-changing. Along with their team, they cover every angle from river safety to organic, fresh meals to environmental stewardship to simple yet stunning campground lighting that exudes river magic.

“I decided to go. Not only did I conquer my fear, but I also discovered one of the more incredible experiences I have had in life.”

A starry night sky, illuminated above the river.

Honeycomb Shades

Roller Shades

Sliding Panel Tracks

Window Shadings

It was an intimate whitewater journey through ancient desert canyons, complete with hikes to stunning river vistas, yoga, breathwork under the stars, sandy beaches and blissful dancing to bluegrass tunes on the riverbanks. As an extension of the WinterWonderGrass festival, RiverWonderGrass brings musicians on the trip. Lindsay Lou and Mimi Naja of Fruition played tunes on the raft, in the soft sand and on scenic rocks with river backdrops. These experiences were icing on the cake, but the actual experience on the whitewater of the Green was second to none. The guides were professional and skilled, but best of all, they were experts in keeping guests safe and confident along the way – even guests like me who had deep-rooted anxiety about whitewater.

Entering the largest class III and IV rapids was not easy. With flashbacks of the White Nile still with me, I put my trust in Annie, one of the most experienced guides operating with Adrift. Having scouted the rapids in advance, all the guides knew exactly how to successfully run them. I felt the river anxiety, but I also felt the

The Kitchen Dwellers play tunes from cliff.

magical way that only

excitement as we safely paddled through Hell’s Half Mile. Once through, I realized I had left my anxiety in those rapids to wash away on the Green River.

Call me a river wonder woman: now I have been on the past two women-only trips. They are intimate experiences where deep connections are made and an unwavering tone of acceptance is established. I have made new friends from all over the country – from California to Florida, Oregon to Massachusetts, Colorado to Utah. People from different walks of life and all levels of experience find a place on the river.

With the help of Adrift’s guides, the confidence that I rediscovered during the past two RiverWonderWomen trips has opened the door to new river adventures with friends and family. Reconnecting to a passion of my past has been life-changing. For many in Steamboat and beyond, river trips are one of the best parts of life. These journeys ignite the soul in a magical way that only rivers can.

Pickleball is a big “dill” in Steamboat Springs

| BY LISA SCHLICHTMAN

Search the hashtag #pickleballislife and the curious will discover people of all ages posing with small, bright-colored paddles and wide grins on their faces. Devotees of pickleball represent all age groups, not just the over-50 players who dominated pickleball when it started gaining traction a little over a decade ago. Their interest borders on obsessive – but in a good way.

Michael Marchand LaMotte is a recent convert.

The 30-year-old Steamboat Springs resident is a relative newbie to the sport but she picked up the game quickly, which is one of the reasons pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in the country. She was then able to entice a group of girlfriends to start playing, and now, the group of millennials, who call themselves the “Real Dills,” play at 6:30 p.m. every Tuesday night at the Steamboat Tennis and Pickleball Center. Their significant others, who also play, go by the name the “Big Dills.”

“It’s so simple to learn, which is like low pressure, but it’s also fast-paced,” Michael says. “It’s reflex-based, and there are these moments of exhilaration where you slam the ball down or get your paddle under the ball when it’s on the ground and you’re able to hit it back over the net. It’s just something new and exciting.”

She also likes the social aspect of playing a fun game with a close group of friends.

“It’s really starting to pick up to where more of the younger millennial generation is getting into it,” Michael explains. “It’s like this fun, new activity that we’re all discovering together. It’s an hour of just pure fun, and it’s relaxing, and we’re getting in a little extra activity and that’s awesome.”

Sport with a fun factor

The range in age and skill of local pickleball players, and the sheer number of people playing the sport, are two factors that originally drew head pickleball pro Jayson Harris to the Steamboat Tennis and Pickleball Center. It makes the mountain town unique, he says, and has helped Steamboat become home to a vibrant – and growing – pickleball community.

“You come on any given morning and evening and all the courts are packed, and people are trying to find court time. And you get all different skill levels when you have so many people to pull from,” Jayson says.

There’s a ladder that players climb as they progress in pickleball, Jayson says. At first, people play with other beginners, and then they try to get games with people who are better than them so they can become more competitive.

TREY MULLEN

Steamboat Springs is home to a vibrant and growing pickleball community –a factor that has led the Steamboat Tennis and Pickleball Center to undergo a renovation that will add 20 new dedicated pickleball courts to the facility.

“In a place like Steamboat, you’ve got this really good mix of people who want to drill, they want to take lessons and they want to play,” Jayson says. “So, the tides are rising. Everyone’s kind of getting better together, which is cool to see, and I think people really like that.

“I’m also seeing a lot of new faces each week (an average of 50 new people a week), and that’s kind of crazy,” he adds.

Pickleball’s popularity can be credited, in part, to how easy it is to learn. Give someone a paddle and a ball, and Jayson says he can have them playing a game within an hour.

“But the reason people really get hooked is because once you start playing more, you see there are a lot of nuances to the game, and that’s really fun.”

Barbara Robinson, a certified pickleball coach who also serves as the Steamboat Tennis and Pickleball Center’s social media manager, credits her daily pickleball sessions with helping her keep off the 85 pounds she initially lost as a result of a serious health scare.

She is now one of Steamboat’s biggest pickleball ambassadors.

“Every single person you ask (about why they like pickleball), the one word that comes up every single time is fun,” Barbara says. “They say, ‘that was fun,’ ‘I had fun learning’ and ‘this is my happy place.’ And that’s really what pickleball does for people. Every sport has its fun aspects but this overarching fun element that pickleball has is something I haven’t heard with any other sport.”

Barbara says the sport is also very accessible in terms of cost and time commitment. It can cost $100 a day to golf and $200 a day to ski, and pickleball, by contrast, costs anywhere from $12 to $17 for two hours of open play.

“With pickleball you can put on your court shoes and go play for 40 minutes and go home feeling like you’ve had a workout,” Barbara says.

New year-round pickleball center on the horizon

With the growing popularity of the sport, pickleball court rentals exploded – increasing more than 500% from 2017

to 2020. Loretta Conway, who serves as executive director of the Tennis and Pickleball Center in Steamboat, says the facility is now hosting three new player clinics every week, and on average, 150 people come to the facility to play pickleball each day.

This rising interest in the sport created a need for more courts and sparked an ambitious plan to build a new year-round pickleball center with 20 new dedicated pickleball courts in the same complex as the Tennis Center.

The Court Sports for Life Foundation was formed in October 2019, and as of Jan. 1, 2021, the nonprofit has contracted with the city of Steamboat Springs to own and operate the Steamboat Springs Tennis and Pickleball Center. To date, the foundation has raised over $7 million toward building the new pickleball center, new outdoor tennis courts and additional parking. Combined with a $3.5 million loan, the effort is very close to reaching its $11 million fundraising goal.

The new pickleball center will be fully erected by December 2023 – a year ahead of schedule – and more courts means a stronger bottom line for the complex, Loretta predicts.

“Our revenue doubled in the last four years because of pickleball, and we think it’s going to double again within a year of the new building being done,” she says.

Moz and Debbie Modzelewski have been key players in supporting expansion of the sport in Steamboat. Moz serves as chairman of the Court Sports For Life Foundation board, and Debbie helps with the fundraising.

The couple came to Steamboat as tennis players and now play more pickleball than tennis. They picked up the sport about six years ago. They both say pickleball is a more social game, easy to learn and faster paced.

“I timed it once, and in pickleball, you hit the ball about three times as much as you do in doubles tennis,” Moz said. “Because you’re closer to each other (because of the smaller court size), rallies tend to last longer, and it’s a little bit easier to keep the ball in play. And you only need to play pickleball for about a day before you’re having fun.”

Debbie says pickleball gives people an opportunity to play with a greater range of players. In particular, she loves seeing multi-generations of family members playing together.

“There’s one family that plays with grandparents, parents and 6- and 7-year-old grandkids,” Debbie says. “They put the kid in the middle of two adults and call it triples. It’s just so fun.”

The joy people get from playing pickleball has fueled the successful “Steamboat Relishes Pickleball” fundraising campaign, which has appealed to visitors and locals alike and attracted large and small donors. This broad support has translated into millions of dollars of donations with more than half coming from donations smaller than $1,000.

“This is energizing from a board chair’s perspective,” Moz says. “Obviously, the community is generous, but I’ve been impressed not only with the generosity with money but their generosity of time and expertise. I also think people realize this is not a hoitytoity private tennis club and so it fits in with Steamboat’s vibe.”

Taking pickleball to the professional level

If anyone needs more proof that pickleball is popular in Steamboat, they should look to the newly formed National Pickleball League. In March, the league’s first six teams were announced, and one of the teams is owned by two Steamboat Springs couples, Chris and Amanda Montgomery and Mario and Jen Boschi.

The new team will be known as the Denver Iconics, and its roster includes 18 pickleball professionals, age 50 and older, who will compete in regular league play running from June through September. The players hail from all over the country, and Mario Boschi and Chris Montgomery are members of the team.

“We’re excited to be associated with this organization and watch it grow from the ground up,” says Mario, who holds a Level II IPTPA certification and teaches pickleball in Steamboat Springs

Katie Nailling, Molly Johnson, Michael Marchand Lamotte, Juliette Murray, Christina Hensley and Jessica Whalen are a group who play pickleball together at least once a week.

COURTESY OF MICHAEL MARCHAND LAMOTTE

and Denver. “We, as co-owners and players, are given the opportunity to play against or with the top players in the world.”

“I also believe the NPL and the Denver Iconics will provide other opportunities, such as hometown pickleball events, tournaments and clinics, and giving back to communities, such as Denver and Steamboat Springs; this is something that means a lot to me,” Mario adds.

Chris’s interest in purchasing a team and joining the newest national league stems from his business background — he is the managing partner at Four Points Funding— and his sheer passion for pickleball. He’s been playing since 2014 and has witnessed the sport’s rapid growth.

“I’ve always dreamed of owning or being part of a sports team, and this is our opportunity,” Chris says. “This is a chance to be in on the ground floor in bringing team pickleball to the champions pro (over 50) scene.”

He also wants his team, with roots in Steamboat, to win and be competitive.

“In the short term, we want to prove the viability of the team concept,” Chris says. “We also want to put out a fun, exciting product and win the inaugural championship. Long term, we want to build a team that people can rally around and have fun supporting.”

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Matt Endara is a member of the new Denver Iconics pickleball team.

COURTESY OF BRAD EVENSON

Summer Stories

BOOKS, PODCASTS AND MORE TO EMBELLISH YOUR EXPERIENCE AND IMAGINATION IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS –PLUS SOME HEARTY WESTERN MYTH BUSTING FOR GOOD MEASURE.

| BY JENNIE LAY

Rocky Mountain High: A Tale of Boom and Bust in the New Wild West

| By Finn Murphy

On the tail of his bestselling trucker tell-all, “The Long Haul,” Finn Murphy is back with a humorous tale about his latest entrepreneurial adventure in the Hemp Space. (Capitalization is his, offered with a wink.) “Rocky Mountain High” is the situational memoir of a stalwart East Coast capitalist with ample cash and big dreams who moves to Colorado, scoops up a few acres of farmland in Boulder, and dives into growing legal hemp. His well-laid plan is to make millions, even though he’s never farmed a day in his life. What could possibly go wrong?

A lot, it turns out – but the chaos is both intriguing and instructional, particularly compelling at that moment when Colorado’s hemp door was first creaking open. The tale of Murphy’s business plan unfolds with infinite humor and biting social commentary as he encounters water, weather, state regulations, sketchy ag data and the lingering stigma of the war on drugs. Shading every transaction is the culture of the West, a “mythical moonshine” from which Murphy had sipped deeply back in New England. “This idea of family ranchers and farmers upholding some mythical idea of a primordial pioneer American way of life is a cancer on our national character, not least because it lets the corporate ranchers and Big Ag hide behind a picture of a ruddy man in a John Deere cap,” he writes. “It also glorifies bogus individualism at the expense of national action and community purpose. I see it every day here in Colorado.”

Meet the author | Author Finn Murphy presents a free talk at the Bud Werner Library on Wednesday, July 19.

Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future

|

By Gloria Dickie

It’s fair to say that “bear issues” have jumped into focus with some ferocity for folks in the Yampa Valley during the past few years. Around here, we’ve witnessed how fast complications arise when humans cross into black bear habitat; yet no other bear species fares as well as the ones inhabiting our Steamboat backyards. Such are the dilemmas globally as the planet’s eight surviving bear species struggle in myriad ways in South America (spectacled bears), Asia (sloth, panda, sun and moon bears), North America (grizzlies) and the Arctic (polar

bears). For “Eight Bears,” journalist Gloria Dickie has taken a deep, empathic dive into each of their paths to write a deeply researched, often heartbreaking, account of the state of ursine existence.

Human activity has put six of these charismatic species under immediate threat of extinction, but Dickie’s engaging travelogue and clear-eyed scientific curiosity introduce us to conservationists and communities who are trying to save both imperiled bears and ecosystems diminished by drought, climate change and habitat loss. Dickie spells out the science and sociology driving their struggles with accessible explanations and sparkling prose. “We have not shown much compassion to the animal we once considered our next of kin. Where humans have proliferated, bears have often declined in tandem,” she writes. Dickie’s history lessons remind the reader how bears have been mythically familiar in cultures all over the world, and why Ursidae remain among the most magnificent beasts that roam the Earth to this day – eight admirable species, each worth our commitment to saving.

Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Era of Drought and Deluge

| By Erica Gies

Water problems are persistent everywhere. Whether an ecosystem has too much or too little, pursuing “slow water” may hold some critical solutions to move toward equilibrium. In “Water Always Wins,” National Geographic Explorer, independent science journalist and 2023 Yampa Basin Rendezvous keynote speaker Erica Gies takes readers on a global journey alongside various “water detectives” in pursuit of slow water case studies. Each example showcases working with the power of water instead of against it.

Conventional modern water controls have not been largely successful for natural ecosystems. Now climate change is making the overwhelm of these controls acute. Gies leads her readers to more sustainable solutions ranging from central California’s paleo rivers to Kenya’s mountainous “water towers,” to China’s sponge cities, Iraq’s Mesopotamian marshes, Chennai’s traditional communal tanks, Peru’s highlands, Mekong Delta mangrove swamps and beyond. What becomes clear is that things like natural geology, beavers and Indigenous technologies effectively harness water’s natural ebb and flow in ways that our modern gray infrastructure does not. She offers us hope for natural solutions.

Stream the talk | Watch a recording of author Erica Gies’ 2023 slow water talk from the Yampa Basin Rendezvous at bit.ly/YRBslowwater.

Windfall: The Prairie Woman Who Lost Her Way and the Great-Granddaughter Who Found Her

| By Erika Bolstad

What does it mean to inherit mineral rights...and will they make you rich? It’s a question that award-winning climate change reporter Erika Bolstad dived into personally after the death of her mother. Her investigation starts with a North Dakota homestead and her great-grandmother’s tragic fate, moves on to an investigation of the checks that arrive from a family mineral lease, then follows generations of aspirational hope that weave through the booms and busts of the oil and gas industry. “Windfall” simultaneously disinters the intimate history of a single family and a nation with rich resources and longembedded dreams about them.

Bolstad’s compelling family saga helps lay bare the legacies of the Homestead Act and the state of modern fossil fuel extraction in the North Dakota oil patch. It’s complex stuff, but Bolstad’s personal buy-in and deep investigation bring the cross-pollinating political, environmental, bureaucratic, social and economic situations to light. This may be Bolstad’s family’s history, but in her broad setting of the table it could be any westerner’s family story. Above all it’s an honest tale about the West, windfalls, and the “toxic myths of manifest destiny.”

Meet the author | Author Erika Bolstad presents a free talk at the Bud Werner Library on Tuesday, July 25.

A Wing and a Prayer: The Race to Save our Vanishing Birds

| By Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal

In the wake of a 2019 study that documented the fact that 3 billion birds have disappeared in North America over the past five decades, retired journalists and avid birders Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal set out in their Airstream to see what’s being done to combat the staggering decline. On the road for more than 25,000 miles, they were witness to “the rescues, research, successes and failures” of biologists, conservationists, birders and wildlife officers working to boost the continent’s flocks.

Throughout “A Wing and a Prayer,” they travel through Louisiana swamps with persistent ivory-billed woodpecker seekers; into the Frozen Zoo that harbors frozen vials of hope for endangered birds as a “genomic insurance policy;” over to Hawaii for an audacious mosquito birth control scheme; and back to the luscious birdlife in their own back yard. “Birds make a vast range of contributions, some obvious, some still only partially understood,” the Gyllenhaals write, acknowledging birds as both the workhorses of natural systems and the proverbial canaries in the coal mine that is planet Earth. All along the way, the authors unveil the wonders of birdlife, underscore the urgency to protect the feathered species, and spur us to action.

The Fireballer

| By Mark Stevens

The Alison Col mystery series has earned Mark Stevens awards and accolades, but his latest novel slips into a fresh new genre: sports fiction. “The Fireballer” is a baseball story that’s ripe for summer reading. Frank Ryder is a rookie pitcher for the struggling Baltimore Orioles. His 110-mph fastball renders his hitters helpless at the plate, and MLB team owners are starting to wonder if they should change the rules to put a speed limit on pitches.

A lifelong baseball fan, Stevens says he delved into reading more than 20 baseball books, listened to podcasts and watched hours of YouTube videos as he constructed the plot. The characters and their individual struggles are fleshed out by engrossing baseball detail, a love story and the persistent ghost of Deon Johnson, a Black boy Ryder accidentally killed with a fastball when they were kids back in Atlanta. As the pitcher ponders his way toward purpose and forgiveness, his pitches gain steam and accuracy – and the story’s suspense holds tight into the last inning.

Meet the author | Author Mark Stevens presents a free talk at the Bud Werner Library on Wednesday, Aug. 9.

LISTEN

Thirst Gap

KUNC reporter Luke Runyon created this new six-part podcast about adapting to life with a shrinking water supply for 40 million people in seven U.S. states, two Mexican states and 30 tribal nations. The “Thirst Gap” stories provide a broad overview of the intrinsic problems we’re facing in light of climate change and a warmer and dryer future. Traveling the length of the Colorado River watershed, Runyon offers up historic perspective and enlightening conversations with farmers, tribes, boaters, suburban neighbors and trans-border environmentalists. Runyon set out to explore “Who will be forced to give up the most? How do we decide who gets less? And how will the region adapt to a shrinking supply as the climate warms?” Turns out, everyone is making trade-offs.

Subscribe to “Thirst Gap” wherever you get your podcasts, and catch Runyon live with Heather Tanana on Monday, July 31 at the Seminars at Steamboat talk, “Colorado River in Crisis: Learning from the Past to Protect the Future.” www.kunc.org/thirstgap

FOLLOW

Snow Raven-Suor is an Indigenous Sakha musician from Arctic Siberia, and her vocalizations of birds, wind and wildlife are nothing short of mesmerizing. Her voice is her instrument, and her “Arctic Beatbox” beats are coupled with stunning imagery and indescribable mimicry. She is fire from the land of ice, and her IG posts are guaranteed to send you looking for more. Follow Suor @snowravenofficial.

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Crossword

Where Did I See... ?

| BY VICTOR FLEMING

Across

1 Maple tree fluid, e.g.

4 Breezy

9 Born and ___

13 Fury

14 Is mad for

16 Vocal fanfare meaning “Look, I did it!”

17 Unit of una semana

18 Star at Brent Romick Arena

20 “___ meeny miney mo”

22 “I’ve ___ in this pool many a time”

23 AOL communications

24 Group for Tyree Woods and Denton Turner

29 “Four, three” followers

30 “___ we on the same page?”

31 Retired hoopster ___ Ming

33 Evokes feelings in

35 Juan’s water

39 Curse word

41 Soon, to a bard

44 Ward of Hollywood

45 “Full speed ___!”

47 Foucault’s Pendulum author Umberto

48 Word after apple, peach or pecan

51 Really riles

53 ___ Division (Coloradobased 24-Across and a World War II military unit)

57 Govt. Rx watchdog

59 “Get a load of ___!”

60 Supermodel Macpherson

61 Wendy Kowynia or Jill

Why Stop at the Last Page?

Yampa Valley Arts & Culture

Explore Steamboat Springs’ historic downtown art district during First Friday ArtWalk. On the first Friday of each month, from 5-8 p.m., join participating art galleries and other venues for a self-guided tour and refreshments as you view the latest from artists locally, nationally and internationally. Visit www. YampaValleyArts.com and follow @YampaValleyArts on Facebook for more information on arts in the valley. For updates on the Yampa Valley art scene, visit www.yampavalleyarts.com and subscribe to “the pulse,” Ski Town Media’s monthly art newsletter.

Calendar of Events

Summers in Steamboat are full of iconic events including the Steamboat Springs Farmers Market, Pro Rodeo Series, First Friday ArtWalk and the Free Summer Concert Series. Visit www.SteamboatMagazine.com, and follow @SteamboatMagazine on social media to keep up with the best events in the Yampa Valley.

Steamboat Weekly

Did you know that Ski Town Media sends weekly newsletters? Visit the “Newsletter Signup” page on www.SteamboatMagazine. com to get original stories in your inbox each week. With a different theme every Friday, you’ll find genuine Steamboat stories on art, dining, real estate and more. There’s always something happening in Steamboat and we’ll let you know about it.

Subscribe

Don’t let this page be your last page. IKON passholders are eligible for a free one-year subscription to Steamboat Magazine, beginning in January 2024. Get all four quarterly editions: Mountain (January), Home (April), Outdoors (July) and Ski (October). To collect your free sub, just scan the QR code. Belong. Be Real. Be Steamboat. www.skitownmedia.com

NOAH WETZEL

Calf roping is a popular event at the Steamboat Springs Pro Rodeo Series each summer.