WINTER 2014
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Murphy Larsen Ranch
Little Trout Ranch
Creek Ranch
Nine lots and shared ownership of 1,500 acres plus access to the renowned Home Ranch, the Murphy Larsen Ranch is located scenic 20 miles north of Steamboat. Long views of the continental divide, new clubhouse, utilities to lots. $900,000$1,250,000
A prime hunting ranch, these 3,397 acres are located only 20 miles south of Steamboat. High mountain grazing and recreational land with varied topography, meadows and plenty of cover for wildlife. Adjoining Sand Point Ranch also available. $6,500,000
2,800-acre working ranch community located less than 20 minutes from Steamboat. Over three miles of enhanced Trout Creek, a modern lodge with wraparound porch and a barn with tack storage are available to owners. Lot 8 is ideally located an shares a long boundary with over 460 acres of BLM land. $125,000
Trout Creek Ranch
Two Rivers Cow Camp
Steamboat Lake Ranch
323 acres straddling the Trout Creek Valley located 16.5 miles from Steamboat Springs. Over one mile of Trout Creek meanders through the property. Water rights, minerals, hay production and view to the Continental Divide. $1,499,000
Bordering thousands of acres of national forest, private yet accessible with custom carriage house, guest cabin, bath house, gazebo, barn, loafing shed, corrals, 36’ round pen and spring-fed trout pond on 23 acres. $1,500,000
Hunt, ride, hike or snowmobile into Wyoming from this property bordering national forest. 125 mostly treed acres with views of Steamboat Lake and the Continental Divide. Utilities are on a year-round maintained county road. $825,000
Sand Point Ranch
Big Creek Ranch
Stagecoach Hunting Property
3,000 acres of mixed forests with open parks and an alpine stream traditionally used for grazing, hay and big game hunting. Access to national forests and easily accessible with airport, skiing, shopping, and dining nearby in Steamboat Springs. $12,950,000
5,034 acres in its own valley 15 minutes from Steamboat Springs with 85% of the perimeter boundary on national forest, five miles of Big Creek. 11,000 sq. ft. lodge and privacy that is virtually impossible to duplicate. $59,900,000
Located in the remote Silver Creek area of the Routt National Forest/Sarvis Creek Wilderness with easy access to over one million acres of public ground. Two parcels, 87 and 100 acres priced at $299,000 each
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Contents
Do as I say, not as I do: Steamboat Snowmobile Tours’ Andrew Crockett letting ’er rip.
Departments
Special sections:
9
25
Letter from the Editor
10 Quick Hits
The year of the Sarvisberry, Steamboat’s Olympic hopefuls, Front Range flood helpers, schussing on ski-bikes and more.
23
Cooking With Taco Cabo’s Kent Hall For Taco Cabo’s Kent Hall, moving from the building to burrito business has been a boon. a look inside his homemade concoctions.
53 Staying Fit
Stretching and strengthening through essentrics with Sundance Studio’s Susan mead.
72
Ross Remembers ah, the glory days of freestyle. With SSWSC turning 100, it’s easy to get nostalgic about spread eagles, daffys and a skiing era when bandana headbands stole the show.
73 Final Frames Blast from the Past Billy Kidd’s medal-winning helmet and skis
Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club 100th Anniversary Supplement memories from past members, multigenerational families, executive directors Q&a, SSWSC history & timeline and more.
Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club 1914-2014
100 years of excellence
2014 Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club 100th Anniversary Supplement | SteAmboAt living
66
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2013 Best of the Boat Results
Features 54
Guest for a Day What’s it like to be a guest in one of the base area’s newest, most visible properties? To find out, we went undercover for a night at One Steamboat Place.
56
Goosing the Throttle Steamboat’s snowmobile guides quietly crank away off the radar to give guests the experience of a lifetime.
On the cover: Carl Howelsen and another high-flying comrade en route to going “yumping,” circa 1913. Photo courtesy of Tread of Pioneers Museum (www.treadofpioneers.org). Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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MaTT sTensLand
FRoM thE eDiTOr
Suzanne Schlicht Publisher mike Polucci Magazines manager eugene buchanan Magazines editor Nicole miller assistant editor Lindsay Porter creative services supervisor Steve balgenorth circulation manager Photographers Tim Murphy, Larry Pierce, Joel reichenberger, Tom ross, John F. russell, Matt stensland
Cheesy writer: Schussing on a snow-bike (above) and posing in the Easy Rider-themed helmet worn by Billy Kidd to win the World Championships (see story on page 73).
Are you Steamboat living? blanketed in the season’s first snowfall. It’s nailing the season’s last ride on Emerald, then skate-skiing Bruce’s the very next day. It’s piling branches onto the street after the same limb-breaking storm and turning on your windshield wipers to see golden aspen leaves whip back and forth. It’s packing up the car and heading to Fruita. It’s the changing of the garage gear every fall, as ritualistic as Buckingham’s changing of the guard. It’s watching your swim-suited kids garner goosebumps atop a snowy homecoming float. It’s a friend showing up unannounced to blow out your sprinklers, a chore you had completely forgotten about. It’s skinning up the mountain in early November. It’s pressing glass after a 3-inch report, knowing full well it’s 15 up top. It’s teaching your daughter how to snowboard, yelling, “heel side, heel side!” as she takes out a ribbon of blue fencing. It’s the fact we have two Rotary clubs, each dedicated to helping the community. It’s
passing 2A. And yes, it’s not being afraid to look like a dork on a ski-bike or posing with Billy Kidd. But above all, it’s the people who call this place home, who host fundraisers for friends in need, loan you their tools and gear (I’ll get that ladder back, Bob), pull your car out of a ditch, and give you a few hours off on powder days. Each of us has our own examples of what Steamboat living means, the list growing like our snowpack each year. Like a set of powder tracks, it’s just good to look back and appreciate it every once in a while. — Eugene Buchanan
Writers scott Franz, Luke graham, Joel reichenberger, Tom ross Matt stensland advertising representatives christy Woodland, reed Jones advertising design and production seve deMarco, Lori griepentrog, chris Mcgaw Copy editors Laura Mazade, Vicky ho, sydney Fitzgerald TiM MurPhy
You may have noticed that we changed the magazine’s name a few issues back. But what exactly is Steamboat living? Let me try to sum it up with a few recent anecdotes: It’s taking your kids mountain biking down singletrack to the free Sam Bush concert one day, and then kayaking with them down to Art in the Park the next. It’s hunkering under a Spring Creek bridge during a lightning storm, your perch being devoured by the rising creek. It’s biking with your kids down the same trail, then stopping at the ponds to picnic and fly-fish for brookies. It’s having more rainbows arcing over barns than there are color combinations. It’s tubing the Yampa and scoring a Boathouse, Sunpie’s and Sweetwater hat trick. It’s rolling up your sleeves and helping with the annual river cleanup. It’s catching a fish from a paddleboard. It’s watching your dog sniff his way up Blackmer Drive and being voted Dog Town USA. It’s rolling down the Beall Trail’s first switchback in the fall and seeing the Flat Tops
editorial Intern emma Wilson
steamboat Living is published three times a year, in March, July and november by the steamboat Pilot & Today. steamboat Living magazines are free. For advertising information, call Mike Polucci at 970-871-4215. To get a copy mailed to your home, call steve balgenorth at 970-871-4232. email letters to the editor to ebuchanan@steamboatToday.com or call 970-870-1376.
Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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Quick hits
At Your Sarvis
Banner year for sarvisberries good for bears and baking
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Ribbon at the Routt County Fair for her sarvisberry jam. “It was way better compared to years past. And there were so many that we didn’t have much competition for them from bears.” That doesn’t mean Ursus americanus wasn’t as enamored with them as locals were. There were just more to go around. “The year’s berry crop provided a good native food source for the bear population, which led to fewer bear problems in and around town,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife Area Wildlife Manager Jim Haskins says. “In the long term, that leads to sows having healthy cubs that will survive the winter.” While many people were content just picking them and popping them into their mouths, others, like Kaye, procured bucketfuls at a time for baking and jams. While ventures off the beaten path produced vats of the morsels, there were plenty right out people’s backdoors, as well. “I didn’t have to go too far at all for mine,” Nelson says. “I don’t remember having another year like it for a long time.” — Emma Wilson
‘Edible Sunshine’ sarvisberry jelly recipe 5 pounds sarvisberries 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice 1 packet Sur-Jel (powdered pectin) 4 cups sugar Sterilize three 1-pint jelly jars with screw-cap lids. Cover berries with water and boil until the berries are split. Cool and pass them through a medium blade on a mouli grater. Measure out 3 1/2 cups berry pulp. Add 1/2 cup lemon juice and heat with the Sur-Jel, continually stirring until the pectin is dissolved. Add sugar and bring to a rolling boil for one minute. Pour through cheese cloth into the jars. Boil sealed jars for at least 18 minutes. Let set for a day or two. (Note: recipe cannot be doubled or tripled). — Joey Kaye and Mark Wooler Larry Pierce
ith apologies to “Saturday Night Live” character Chico Escuela, sarvisberries have been berry, berry good to Steamboat this year. Thanks to early and late season rains, and plenty of warmth in between, Steamboat’s favorite berry enjoyed a banner season, with area bushes brimming with the succulent, purple delicacies. “They were not only more abundant and larger, but sweeter than most years,” longtime sarvisberry connoisseur Irene Nelson says. “This year’s crop made watering my garden in the evening my favorite event of the day.” Sarvisberries are native to Colorado and mature to a deep purple during their threeto four-month growing season. Tasting like slightly bitter blueberries, they’re found throughout the Yampa Valley and are eaten straight off the branch and used in jams, syrups, pies, pancakes and more. Thanks to perfect growing conditions this year, locals had to dust off their recipe books a bit more than usual. “The berries were much plumper this year,” says Joey Kaye, who won the Blue
You say service, we say sarvis: By any name it was a banner year for the berries in Steamboat. 10 | Steamboat living | Winter 2014
Pie in the Sky
Quick hits
Soup and pie bazaar offers baked goodies every fall
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hat could be more heart warming on a chilly fall day than a bowl of homemade soup and a slice of freshly baked pie? That appeal forms the basis of a time-honored fundraiser held every November by the United Methodist Church of Steamboat Springs. What began as a holiday bazaar in the 1910s has evolved into soup and pie for $7 and still has the townsfolk flocking. Similar to the stone soup fairytale, ingredients come together from a variety of local kitchens combining flavors to produce pots of hearty beef or vegetable broths. The pies can be everything from mincemeat and blackberry to toffee and banana. Throughout the years, the flavors have changed, but those brought by the church stalwarts still prove to be the most popular. Growing up as the daughter of one of the bazaar founder’s, Katherine Gourley remembers her mom making 30 to 40 aprons every year to sell, plus her signature Sunblush apple pie laced
with pineapple. Gourley continues to make the same pie, which is a favorite of many, including the late Pastor Larry Oman, who always would appear in the kitchen to snag a slice. When Judy Siettmann first volunteered 28 years ago, she had the pleasure of sampling church chorister and past resident Arlene Ross’ coconut macaroon. It was so delectable she left with the recipe and continues to make it today. Current Pastor Tim Selby declares it his personal favorite. Possibly the most talked about offering of the event is local flutist Mary Beth Norris’s lemon meringue. The secret to the recipe she brought with her from Kansas in the 1960s, she says, is making the crust the day before. As well as leaving with full bellies, attendees also leave with a sense of community. Steamboat residents may be health conscious, but that doesn’t hinder the lure of a pie made to help others. — Suzi Mitchell
ToM ross
Soup’s on: Pat Zabel ladles out a bowl of special community soup during the Fall Fare at United Methodist Church of Steamboat Springs.
Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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Quick hits
Inside line
Steamboat Olympic Preview W
hen Olympians gather in Russia, it’s called the Winter Olympics. When they gather in Steamboat, it’s called Thursday.
Yes, it’s time for that familiar slogan again, this time with a nod to Sochi, which hosts the winter games beginning Feb. 7. And once again, our little hamlet at
the base of Mount Werner likely will be at the forefront. “We have a great group of athletes with the potential to make the Olympic team this year,” the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club’s Chad Bowdre says. “A lot of it will come down to how they fare in this fall and winter’s events leading up to the games. But we’ll likely be well represented again.” In 2006, Steamboat sent 22 Olympians to
the Torino games. Four years later, the town sent to Vancouver 18 athletes, who brought home seven medals. Although that number still is up for debate this year, pending the results of this winter’s Grand Prix and World Cup events, Steamboat again is assured of sharing the world’s biggest stage. And this year shows podium potential in several disciplines. Behold a look at Steamboat’s most likely showings in Sochi. — Luke Graham
Nordic combined
Come in Houston: High-flying Taylor Fletcher has his sights set on Sochi.
Where else would we start? This year’s Olympic team doesn’t enter the games with the same hype as 2010, but expectations will be the same. Gone is longtime stalwart Johnny Spillane, but back are A Team members Billy Demong, Todd Lodwick and Bryan and Taylor Fletcher. Demong, an Olympic gold medalist, and Lodwick will be expected to lead. The Fletcher brothers — Taylor was the fifth member of the 2010 team — have both seen success in World Cups, each with a podium and multiple top 10 finishes. The question may be how well the team jumps. It’s struggled on the jumping hill the past several seasons, trying to match up with new rules and designs. In the team event, the key will be finding a fifth member, similar to what Brett Camerota did in helping the team to a silver medal in 2010. Fighting for the fifth spot, all with ties to Steamboat, are Erik Lynch, Michael Ward, Adam Loomis, Brett Denney, Nick Hendrickson and Aleck Gantick, among others.
John F. Russell
Snowboarding
The Sochi games also could be remembered for Steamboat’s contributions in snowboarding. The list starts with 17-year-old half-pipe sensation Arielle Gold. Gold took the snowboarding world by storm last year, finishing on the podium in five major events, including a thirdplace finish at the X Games. She also was the overall Grand Prix winner. Last year, Gold was named to the U.S. pro team and should have a realistic shot at picking up some hardware in Sochi. Other pro team members spending time in the Yampa Valley include Matt Ladley, Benji Farrow and Maddy Schaffrick. Those on the rookie team include Taylor Gold and Nik Baden. With potentially four spots on the men and women’s side up for grabs, it will come down to five events this winter. Qualifying begins with December’s Dew Tour, followed by four Sprint Grand Prix events at Copper Mountain, Northstar California Resort, Park City and Mammoth Mountain. In snowboard slope-style, Winter Sports Club newcomer Ty Walker burst onto the scene last year and should have an opportunity in the new Olympic event. In snowboard giant slalom and parallel giant slalom, look to Justin Reiter, Mike Trapp, Mimi Wiencke and Cassie Wagar possibly representing Routt County. In snowboard cross, American Jenna Feldman and Mick Dierdorff probably have the best chance. A pair of Australians who train with the Winter Sports Club, Jarryd Hughes and Belle Brockhoff, also are great bets to make the team. Grabbing for Gold: Half-pipe specialist Arielle Gold is hoping for her namesake medal in this year’s Olympic Games.
12 12 | Steamboat living | Winter 2014
Joel Reichenberger
Quick hits
“We have a great group of athletes with the potential to make the Olympic team this year.” — SSWSC’s Chad Bowdre Freestyle moguls
The Deneen Dream: Mogul skier Patrick Deneen is eyeing a podium spot.
Bumps may provide the best chance for locals to see Olympians train before heading to Sochi. The U.S. freestyle moguls team traditionally holds its final pre-Olympic training camp in Steamboat. For some, it will be like home. It starts with returning gold medalist Hannah Kearney, who has spent parts of the past several seasons training in Steamboat and is the odds-on favorite to repeat. Steamboat’s Eliza Outtrim has a great chance to make her first Olympics, and Winter Sports Club member Patrick Deneen will be one of the top male skiers with a chance to podium. Jeremy Cota, who was on the A Team before an injury set him back last year, also should have a shot at making the team. Club members Brittany Loweree, Ryan Dyer and NorAm cup winner Sophia Schwartz also could make the jump with big seasons on the World Cup circuit.
Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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Quick hits
Flood Helpers Town pitches in to help flood victims
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We were glad to lend a hand.” The Ski Town USA Rotary Club hosted its first Texas Hold ‘em poker tournament Oct. 26 at Catamount Ranch & Club as a fundraiser. Organized by Jim Swiggart and other club volunteers, the event cost $125 to enter with the winner earning entry into the 2014 Sewer savior: Steamboat Ski Area’s Director of Lift Maintenance Kurt World Series of Poker Castor helped Sterling flush out its septic problems. Championships at linemen and executives around who had no the Lodge Casino in Blackhawk. Sponsors other way to get in to their facilities to assess included the Tennis Center at Steamboat the damage.” Springs, Central Park Management, PostNet, SmartWool, which has a 25-person design PFK and Catamount Ranch & Club, with all office in Boulder, got involved as well, donatproceeds benefitting the group’s Flood Relief ing $10,000 to the flood relief effort. It also Victims Fund. encouraged its employees to make donations “It was a great event for a great cause,” to the Foothills Flood Relief Fund, hosted says Swiggart, who oversaw a cast of voluna volunteer service day for its employees teer dealers. “Hopefully, the funds raised will and donated 500 pairs of socks to victims. help those in need.” “Colorado is not just where we run a business, it’s where we live,” President Mark Other efforts Satkiewicz says. “A lot of our friends, families John Witte and Steamboat’s Zephyr Heand employees live there, and the situation licopter Co. took to the air to lend a hand, demanded action.” providing helicopter recon services for utility, Steamboat Flood Suckers, which specialoil, railroad and other transportation compaizes in water removal, drying and deodornies with operations along the Front Range. izing flood-damaged structures, also sprang “They needed a good visual on their to action helping property owners in Boulder infrastructure,” says flight coordinator Holley clean up after the flood. Living out of hotel Gardel, who helped organize logistics for the rooms and working 16-hour days, owner Jon reconnaissance missions. “We flew engineers, Sanders sent eight of his nine employees to Boulder to help in the efforts and hired 10 more laborers to help. “I knew that people were going to need some help, and a lot of the bigger companies weren’t touching some of the smaller properties,” says Sanders, whose company worked on 57 units. “A lot of the projects were a real mess.” Other efforts were even messier, as was the case for Steamboat lift maintenance director Kurt Castor. When his brother called saying Sterling’s wastewater treatment plant was flooded and everything was shut down, he jumped to the rescue, driving to Sterling, pulling the city’s pump station motors out and trucking them to Denver’s Integrated Power Services for repair. Reinstalling them required wading around in sewage, but soon the plant was back in action. “It was quite an adventure,” says Castor, who also maintains the power plant at Stagecoach Reservoir. “I threw up several times. But the extraordinary thing was the way people reached out to help the community.” — Eugene Buchanan Rollling up their sleeves: Members of the Rotary Club lending a hand in Estes Park.
hile many people in town are protective of the Yampa’s water, they rallied in force to help out when the Front Range got too much of a good thing this fall. Following is a recap of town’s relief efforts. Steamboat’s two Rotary clubs were active in relief efforts, including Central Park Management’s Curt Weiss and Native Excavating’s Ed MacArthur facilitating a Steamboat Institute relief program by donating two 8-by-22-foot containers and trucks to carry items such as gym bags, backpacks, toiletries, diapers, clothing, food and bottled water for victims. The containers were filled quickly and soon were on their way to to the Timberline Church in Fort Collins. “The support was overwhelming,” Weiss says. “It was amazing that it all came together that well in just 24 hours.” The Rotary clubs also helped with fundraising efforts. The Rotary Club of Steamboat Springs hosted a fundraiser Oct. 8 at Laundry, the proceeds of which went to Rotary District J440 for distribution to victims. Fees and live auction items helped raise $5,000, which was matched by the club for a total of $10,000 in aid. “It was Scott Marr’s idea,” restaurant owner Rex Brice says. “Initially, we had planned to host it at Rex’s, but the Laundry was a better venue for raising that kind of money. It was a very successful fundraiser, and we were glad to help.” The club members also got their hands dirty, with more than 10 volunteers heading to Estes Park on Oct. 19 and 20 to help those affected by the flood. “The work was simple,” organizer Erik Griepentrog says. “Lift, carry, haul and dump.
14 | Steamboat living | Winter 2014
Where There’s Smoke Puff the Magic Dragon has nothing on Spike
F
rom Halloween to Winter Carnival, downtown holiday parades have been getting a little hotter thanks to a new dragon named Spike. The brainchild of retired mechanic Charlie Holthausen and his artist wife, Gail, Spike is a 20-foot, fire-breathing dragon who’s becoming a regular at special events in Steamboat Springs. Turns out, they’re the perfect surrogate parents. After moving to Steamboat in 1995 from New Jersey, Charlie took over Black Diamond Automotive while Gail started the Potter’s Wheel. Busy with their occupations and raising two children, their creative talents took a back burner. Nearly two decades later, that back burner has manifested itself in Spike. Combining Charlie’s passion for mechanical tinkering and garage sales with Gail’s artistic flair, Spike made his nostril-steaming debut on Halloween 2012. He re-emerged July 4, bigger and better after another seven months of modifications. Made entirely from recycled material, he’s made out of a junkyard Nissan truck, trampoline piping, chopped and sprayed swim noodles, garden hose, CDs, chicken wire and plywood. He’s actually road worthy despite being driven from the rooftop. “We’ve certainly had some fun get-
Here, there be dragons: Spike, the Holthausens’ hot-mouthed creation, making a cameo on Lincoln Avenue.
ting from the house to downtown,” Charlie says. So eye-catching is Spike that the Holthausens spent fall on the road after being invited to take part in Arizona’s Burning Man festival and the Las Vegas Halloween parade. And he had company in the form of another Holthausen creation. After picking up a roof vent from a ski area garage sale, Charlie turned it into a giant spin art machine. The Holthausens now attend art shows and fairs, letting people splat paint to their hearts’ content. Charlie’s tinkering also serves practical purposes at home. In 2012, a hip replacement forced him to take to his bike for rehab. Frustrated with the solitary nature of cycling, he welded his bike to Gail’s, building a side-by-side tandem that often can been seen on the Yampa River Core Trail. And no, Spike’s not simmering with jealousy — it’s yet another Holthausen-built contraption to keep him company, just like he spices up the lives of those attending parades downtown. — Suzi Mitchell
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Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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Aryeh Copa
Quick hits
Ski Bikes Hit the Mountain “It’s like mountain biking, but you can go anywhere it’s white. It’s mountain biking with choices you never had before.” — Aryeh Copa
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orget the Ski Town vs. Bike Town rivalry. If Josh Westfall has his way, Steamboat Springs will be known as Ski Bike Town USA. Type II ski bikes — not to be confused with the Type I snow bikes the resort rents, where riders wear mini-skis on each foot — are fast gaining traction, thanks to Westfall bringing a new line of Lenz Sport ski bikes to the resort last season. With short skis fore and aft in place of wheels, the bikes employ as much as 8 inches of full-suspension travel, “turning a 4-inch powder day into a 12-inch powder day,” Westfall says. “They have the same suspension as downhill bikes,” he says. “You just put your feet on the pegs and take off. They
16 | Steamboat living | Winter 2014
go anywhere.” Indeed, Westfall and his followers, including local freeskier Aryeh Copa, have taken them down nearly every run at Steamboat, including the Chutes and Fish Creek. Last year, he got 50 days in on them. Still, he admits adoption has been slow. “It’s still too new for mainstream acceptance,” he says. “Resorts aren’t quite sure what to do with them yet.” Last year was the first year Steamboat and Vail allowed Lenz’s Type II ski bikes on their mountains. The Pedal the Peaks bike shop in Durango has a fleet for use at nearby Purgatory, and Winter Park offers a rental fleet and even hosts informal biker cross and park events. In Steamboat, they’re held to the same
rules as skis or snowboards, only they’re not allowed in any park, resort spokesman Mike Lane says. Westfall — a manager at The Village at Steamboat — brought in six ski bikes last year and plans to increase his inventory for 2014. The only company making them is Fort Lupton’s Lenz Sport, a maker of downhill mountain bikes. They weigh about 30 pounds, with models including the Alpine Brawler for all-around use, the Launch for freestyle and park riding, and the Blip for kids. “It’s still in its infancy,” Westfall says. “They have a tiger by the tail.” Last year, Westfall’s personal ski bike had a sawed-off Nordica Ja Love ski with a 168 millimeter shovel. This year, Lenz is making its own line of early-rise pow-
aryeh coPa
Quick hits How they handle
I want to ride my bicycle: Westfall copping some air (left) and popping a wheelie (above).
der skis for the purpose. The sport is growing fast enough that it has a website (www.ski-bike.org) complete with a list of resorts allowing them and a call out to events held last year, including New Mexico’s Sipapu Ski-bike Rally, the Purgatory Ski-bike Festival and Hoodoo Mountain, Ore.’s Spring Fling. Their cult-like following stems from how fun and easy to ride they are. “It’s great for us old guys,” says Westfall’s dad, Don, 65. “I’ve had knee surgery, and it’s
way easier on your body than skiing or snowboarding.” And their learning curve, adds Westfall, is quicker and less painful than that of snowboarding. “Some people can turn and stop right away,” Westfall says. “It’s super easy to learn.” Copa, a lifelong skier and mountain biker, is one of several local converts. “It’s like mountain biking, but you can go anywhere it’s white,” he says. “It’s mountain biking with choices you never had before.”
To find out how they handle, we headed out with Westfall. Step One: boarding the Christie Peak Lift, lifting up the ski bike’s frame specifically designed for uploading. Then we hopped on and the fun began. The keys, we learned, are keeping your chin over the crossbar while standing on the pegs, keeping your weight on the uphill footpeg when turning, bending your elbows outward and standing slightly bowl-legged, and “buttering” your turns to scrub speed. After several runs, there were two more converts to the craze. Info: westfall.skibike@gmail.com, 970-214-3045 As for how they relate to more conventional Type I snow bikes, the ones with the tiny foot-skis, Westfall says there’s no comparison. “It’s a completely different sport,” he says. “Foot-skis have their place, but these are way more fun and capable. It’s part mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, dirt biking and snowmobiling — a total Colorado sport. In the next five years, it’s going to explode. It belongs in the X Games.” —Eugene Buchanan
Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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Steamboat Scuttlebutt You’ve heard of snow snakes. Now come “Avalanche Sharks.” No kidding. “Transmorphers’” Scott Wheeler and “Malibu Shark Attack’s” Keith Shaw have teamed up to produce “Avalanche Sharks,” a movie that will have you never skiing Wally World the same. The plot: After a horrific avalanche, the staff at Twin Pines Ski Resort receives reports of missing people and mysterious creatures moving beneath the snow. The slide has awakened huge, prehistoric snow sharks just in time for the resort’s busiest day of the year: Bikini Snow Day! As the body count piles up, management tries to cover up the situation, leading to disaster — the party ensues and the sharks start picking off snow bunnies. Cut off from help by mountainous terrain, the local sheriff makes an unlikely alliance with a motley crew of snowboarders to take down the sharks before the white hills turn red. Bonus: it stars the blonde daughter of Hulk Hogan as scientist Dr. Sandy Powers!
PowderCats First Snowfall Contest
Ski Corp. debuts total snowfall giveaway While Steamboat recorded above average snowfall in October, it was a dusting Sept. 23 that got longtime Steamboat Powdercats guest Terry Benesh excited. Of the more than 200 people who entered Powdercats’ annual Powder Prediction contest, Benesh picked the winning date and amount for the first snowfall atop Mount Werner when three inches fell before its aspens had turned color. She won a day cat ski trip for her soothsaying. “She nailed it,” Powdercats manager Kent Vertrees says, “down to the half-inch.” In other snowfall news, Steamboat Ski Area also has debuted a snowfall contest, challenging entrants to guess the year’s total accumulation (we’re hoping it’s in the 400s). It’s sponsored by, who else, but Korbel Champagne. Info: www.steamboat.com.
Moving Moving
Property manager Moving Mountains has moved. Its new, 2,900-square-foot headquarters in Wildhorse Marketplace, an increase of 40 percent, gives it more space, a more visible location, parking for its Purple People Movers and a quicker staff response time for attending to guests’ needs.
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“It’ll give our guests a convenient check-in location on the way to the ski area, complete with a complimentary Nespresso bar,” company founder Robin Craigen says. “As we celebrate our 15th anniversary, we’re excited to add to the energy of the growing Wildhorse Marketplace community.” The new office at 609 Marketplace Plaza, Suite 3, comprises two side-by-side units at Wildhorse Marketplace adjacent to Vertical Arts/Stël Home Furnishings and opposite McKnight’s Irish Pub & Loft.
Ex-local Releases Book on Mountain Towns Former local Kristen Lodge recently released a new book, “Continental Quotient: Stories from Both Sides of the Divide,” a collection of nonfiction stories about living in mountain towns across the West, including Steamboat. A former newspaper columnist in Grand County, Lodge now lives in Tucson, Ariz., but recalls her time in Steamboat fondly. “Steamboat is the ultimate ski town with an awesome downtown and great restaurants,” she says. “Plus, it has the best powder and tree skiing in the country.” Adds fellow author Ellen Wohl: “She effectively evokes the environments in which she has lived, and will likely evoke many good memories within her readers.” Info: www.homeboundpublications.com, 860-574-5847
Sell Stuff, Support a Nonprofit
That’s the premise behind Steamboat Stuff, a website designed to let locals unload unwanted gear while generating funds for local organizations. “The objective was to do something that benefits local nonprofits,” co-founder Jay O’Hare says. “It was a way to create a business that helps support the community.” The concept is simple. People list items for sale, then pledge that a certain amount will go to charity. O’Hare says that primary benefactors so far include Routt County Riders, the Scott Blair fund, Born Free and the Animal Assistance League. “A lot of people are into helping animals here,” he says. “That’s been kind of surprising.” Info: www.steamboatstuff.com
Sign of the Apocalypse That goggle tan you get from skiing Three O’Clock at 2 o’clock? Now it’s the latest rage in the fashion world. According to the UK’s Daily Mail, the fake ski tan, or “panda eyes,” is de rigueur in design circles, in part to fool people into thinking the raccoon wannabes have been on a skiing holiday. Patrons hit tanning salons wearing a mask and come out looking like they schussed the Hahnenkamm.
John F. Russell
‘Avalanche Sharks’
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“I’ve been asked to spray model’s faces on shoots when the theme has been après ski,” St. Tropez Tanning Expert Jules Heptonstall told the Mail. “It’s a great way of cheating the ski slope tan.” London’s Ski and Snowboard Show is even considering offering a spray tan service at this year’s show. At least the practitioners would blend-in in appearance, if not attitude, at the T Bar.
teen town
The Steamboat Springs Teen Council is on a roll. Recently spearheading the building of a new slackline park at Howelsen Hill and helping pass an ordinance requiring retailers to get a license to sell non-cigarette tobacco products, in October it was awarded the Columbine Award from the Colorado Parks and Recreation Association, designed to highlight best practices and creative ideas in regards to design, innovation and programming. “It’s awesome,” Teen Council adviser Kenny Reisman says. “There’s a lot of great work teens in our community are doing. These teens are looking out to do the right thing.”
Kudos for Kalmes
What a year for local rider Peter Kalmes. After sewing up his second straight Town Challenge Mountain Bike Race Series title with his record 15th win in a row, he finished fourth in the lungbusting, 50-mile Steamboat Stinger and took first overall in pro
SC SW ce! S s tion llen tula of exce a r g Con years 00 on 1
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men’s at this summer’s inaugural Enduro X race series. The Honey Stinger and Bontrager-sponsored rider also took second at the Rocky Mountain Endurance Series’ 60-mile Indian Creek race (“I got lucky — a lot of people had mechanicals”), and finished top five in several other races around the state. “It was a pretty good year all around,” he says. “It was about as good as I could have hoped for.” To stay in shape for next year, look for him skinning the mountain and hitting the backcountry before hopping back on his bike to retain his crown.
Celeb Sighting
Country music fans hanging out at the Cantina in early November were treated to an important guest along with their guacamole. Sauntering in was none other than Luke Bryan, after a day of hunting in North Routt. No word on if his hunt was successful, but for those in attendance in was no problem letting him “Crash My Party,” the name of his newest album (complete with the title track, “Drink a Beer”).
Congratulations on 100 years! Covering Winter Sports Club since day 1, we’re looking forward to 100 more! SteamboatToday.com ExploreSteamboat.com Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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COOKING WITH
Taco Cabo’s Kent Hall T
aco Cabo might be the only eatery in the country that shares a wall with a medical marijuana dispensary and has its outdoor seating area just a few feet from gasoline pumps. Oh, and none of the tables and chairs really match. That’s all fitting, though, as the restaurant’s owner doesn’t exactly come from an ordinary culinary background, either. If the food is good and the locals keep coming back for more, nothing else really matters to builder-turned-burrito-maker Kent Hall. Instead of worrying about decor, he’s striving to remember every customer’s name and passing out tastings of his latest food creations, like creamy roasted corn and roasted bacon poblano soup. And his trademark burritos, pressed on a grill before being served, keep the place as packed as his tortillas during the lunch hour. Just a few years ago, all this success was hard to imagine. The economic crash of 2008 took its toll on his construction business, hitting him right in the same place where his current customers digest his burritos. He lost most everything financially and went through a divorce. But that hardship created an opportunity to reinvent himself. There was no cooking school or shadowing cooks in a kitchen. And there was a hiccup when his first shot at opening Taco Cabo fizzled in its old location in a small stand on U.S. Highway 40. But his experimentation and cookbook reading since has
From building to burritos: Taco Cabo’s Kent Hall holding court in his taqueria. Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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paid off. “I’ve always wanted to open a taqueria,” Hall says in his office as his 7-yearold daughter, Luna, pops in for a visit. Luna, for one, clearly is a fan of her father’s cooking. “He puts great flavor into it,” she says, adding that she, too, wants to be a chef someday. Hall is breaking all the rules most other chefs follow and is the brains behind some of the restaurant’s more popular dishes. His wife, Lily, makes all the authentic Mexican food while Hall makes what he calls the “crazy stuff.” Why does Taco Cabo sell pickled jalapenos? Well, because the restaurant ordered too many, and they were about to go bad. “So we pickled them, and they’re pretty tasty,” Hall says. And how about that 4:21 burrito — with mac ‘n’ cheese, tres queso, chorizo and surprise pistachios — that everyone is talking about? Remember that the restaurant neighbors a marijuana dispensary, and there’s always leftover chorizo from breakfast. “People are usually hungry at 4:21,” Hall says, adding that there’s no science about the addition of pistachios — 20 years ago, a friend put pistachios on something and they found it delicious. “My wife wants me to go to culinary school, but I’m afraid it’s going to ruin
me,” Hall says. “My family tells me I have flavor in my hands. I’m just stupid enough that I’ll try anything.” Hall moved to Steamboat in 1978 after a man came into the Western clothing store he was working at in Iowa and showed him pictures of Hahn’s Peak and Steamboat Lake. “I told myself that when I graduated from high school, I was going on a road trip,” Hall says.
Taking advantage of his restaurant’s momentum, Hall plans to open another Taco Cabo in Fort Collins hopefully within the next six months. Then, he wants one every 25 miles along the Front Range. “If everybody is telling me my food is really good, then other people must like it, too,” he says. Info: 30475 E. U.S. Highway 40, 970-846-2307. ■
Story & Photos by Scott Franz
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970-879-1114 24 | Steamboat living | Winter 2014
Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club 1914-2014
100 years of excellence
2014 Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club 100th anniversary Supplement | Steamboat living
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2 2 | Steamboat living | 2014 Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club 100th anniversary Supplement
2014 Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club 100th anniversary Supplement | Steamboat living
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Letter from the Executive Director I am honored to have been selected as the new executive director of the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club and for the confidence and trust that the club and Steamboat Springs community have extended to me. I am also blessed that my family now calls Steamboat our full-time home after visiting here on vacations for more than a decade. The Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club has a proud, century-old tradition of enriching the lives of thousands of children and young adults. It also has a rich legacy of producing outstanding, world-class athletes and athletic and community events. It has achieved this enduring success through a committed and dedicated team of staff, coaches and community volunteers, who have a passion for developing the youths of our community through participation in winter sports. I’ve always believed that competitive sports is a fundamental part of building character, confidence and leadership skills in children and young adults, which helps them succeed in sports and all areas of their lives. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead a talented and dedicated group of individuals in helping about 1,000 kids (including my own) grow in this way every year. It is exciting to watch our athletes learn and master the competitive and life skills necessary to achieve their personal goals and to be the best they can be on and off the slopes. One of our current athletes says it best in a note she wrote this year to the club: “I learn important lessons from my coach, my teammates, my opponents and every competition or training I attend. Every time I jump, I get a little better. Life is the same; every minute I am learning something new, and every day I am learning to fly higher. ... I know that I will continue to find my wings and learn to fly in whatever I choose to do in life.” As we look forward to the 2013-14 winter season, the club and community have much to celebrate: the centennial anniversary of the Winter Sports Club and the city’s Community Olympic Celebration and Olympian Send-Off on Jan. 25. It will be a terrific way for the Club and the community to celebrate our Olympic hopefuls as well as honor the 79 Olympians from the Winter Sports Club who have had 135 Olympic appearances. While we get ready to enjoy these fantastic events, we continue to focus on improving the quality of our athletic programs and improving our training and competition venues. The celebration of the club’s centennial is truly a celebration of community collaboration and support, which come together in a unique way. Our committed staff and coaches, countless volunteers and contributors and the families who entrust their children to us are all instrumental in making the club a success. The club also enjoys tremendous support through the legacy of partnership it shares with the city of Steamboat Springs and Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. The club is interwoven into the fabric and history of the local community. These successful partnerships have truly made our community Ski Town USA. I am proud to be a part of the club and look forward to our journey into the next 100 years. On behalf of our entire team, we are excited and enthusiastic to work in partnership with our community to build upon the club’s rich history of achievement and to accelerate the strong momentum and impact the club has had on the Steamboat and international winter sports communities. My best wishes for a fantastic winter season and a successful 2014 Olympic Games, and a toast to the Winter Sports Club’s 100th anniversary and to Ski Town USA! — Jim Boyne, Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club executive director
Inside 4
By the Numbers
5
The club in a nutshell
8
A brief history of the club
12 Wednesday Night Jump Series 13 Memories 17 Family Legacies 24 Q&A with Executive Directors 26 In His Own Words w/ Johnny Spillane Eugene Buchanan Editor Emma Wilson Intern Lindsay Porter Layout Advertising Christy Woodland, Reed Jones, Mike Polucci
Published as a special section of Steamboat Living magazine by the Steamboat Pilot & Today.
Celebrating 100 years of excellence, the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club is a 501(c)3 dedicated to providing the youth of our community the opportunity to become successful individuals and achieve their personal goals through participation in winter sports.
P.O. Box 774487 (shipping: 845 Howelsen Hill Parkway) Steamboat Springs, CO 80477 Ph: 970-879-0695; Fax: 970-879-7993 www.sswsc.org
By the Numbers
79
Winter Sports Club Olympians (who have gone through the club) Steamboat Olympians (including those who live in the valley)
4 | Steamboat living | 2014 Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club 100th Anniversary Supplement
Olympic medals won by club athletes
13
96
Building Dreams he exhilaration of your first jump, the thrill of how winter speed feels on your face, the dizziness of spinning upside down in the air, the joys of reaching the top of the Poma for the first time, that unplanned fist pump, not for a crowd, not for recognition, just because you are here, in this moment among friends, coaches, competitors and teammates. This is the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, located in the heart of Ski Town USA. The club’s Olympic tradition is wellknown, having produced 79 Olympians who have made 135 Olympic appearances. At the 2010 Games in Vancouver, the Winter Sports Club sent 17 athletes to compete, and they brought home a gold and three silver medals. The club sent more athletes to the 2006 Torino games than 52 other participating countries. Our small, Western ski town has bragging rights for having produced the most Olympians per capita in the U.S. and probably the world. The Winter Sports Club is 100 years old this season, with a youth athletic program seeing more than 20,000 athletes pass through its doors. We have about 1,000 athletes ages 3 to 70 again this year training and competing in more than 54 programs. We offer programming in nine winter disciplines — including Alpine, cross-country skiing, snowboard freestyle, Nordic combined, special jumping, freestyle, freeskiing, Telemark and Alpine snowboard — with a focus on challenging athletes to give their best and reach their personal goals.
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courtesy of Tread of pioneers museum
T
In the past 10 years, the Winter Sports Club also has guided 63 Alpine athletes to successful NCAA skiing careers, another 70 to other collegiate-level programs and 23 cross-country athletes to the NCAA level. But the real story of the Winter Sports Club is youth development. Annually, our young athletes learn the power of hard
Club members Alpine racing at NCAA level in past 10 years
Individual athletes going through its programs every year
625
36
Olympians from the club sent to the past two winter Olympics (Torino and Vancouver)
work and goal setting and the ability and commitment to follow through when the going gets tough. Around Howelsen Hill, you will see signs touting determination, commitment, community, perseverance and goal setting. These represent our values and basic tenets. Balancing training hours, homework, family responsibilities, social
12 million Gallons of water used annually for snowmaking on Howelsen Hill
How many centimeters longer the average slalom ski was in the 1900s compared with today’s
40
2014 Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club 100th Anniversary Supplement | Steamboat living
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opportunities and community volunteer responsibilities is part of the life of a Winter Sports Club athlete. Such multitasking and balancing provides our athletes better preparation for life. The Winter Sports Club has been recognized as the U.S. Ski Association’s Club of the Year three times in the past 10 years and was recently voted the association’s event production Club of the Year. “The Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club is a textbook example of what we’re after in club programs,” USSA CEO Bill Marolt praises. “It offers programs in all USSA sports at the highest level and is a marvelous story of community involvement and leadership and commitment to the kids of their community to give them the opportunity to succeed.” The Winter Sports Club hosts more than 100 events each year, bringing countless competitors, as well as their families and supporters, to the community each season. Their presence contributes $3.4 million to the local community annually. Our club’s home is Howelsen Hill, operated by one of our primary partners, the city of Steamboat Springs. Howelsen is the longest continually operating ski area west of the Mississippi River, offering an array of winter sports venues including Nordic jumps, Alpine race terrain, freestyle mogul and aerial complexes, a terrain park, ski and snowboard cross areas, cross-country trails and beginner terrain. The club also has summer facilities for year-round training needs, including two green, plastic-surfaced Nordic jumps; a water ramp for freestyle athletes; and a trampoline facility, skateboard park and strength-training facility. Our other main partner is Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp., which supports our event production by supplying facilities, equipment and staff time on nationally recognized athletic complexes including Alpine
Total programs offered (49 winter, 18 summer)
67
Number of skiers going through the club from its inception until today
22,000
race trails, a mogul and aerial complex, three terrain parks and a half-pipe. Today, the Winter Sports Club is a major source of Olympian training in the West and embodies the spirit of Colorado skiing. Membership and coaching fees vary, with scholarships also available. While our membership is primarily composed of local youth, our reputation also attracts young, talented skiers from throughout the country. All Winter Sports Club athlete fees are subsidized by fundraising efforts and private donations. Only 50 percent of the Winter Sports Club’s operating budget is covered by athlete fees. Although the Winter Sports Club has produced more Olympians and world-class competitors than any other ski club in the nation, not every athlete will have a podium finish or reach the Olympics. But every athlete we coach is blessed with an opportunity to become a success story and successful individual, regardless of athletic ability. Our athletes learn life lessons, from teamwork and leadership to life balance and time management, and how to win and lose with grace. Ensuring positive behavior, sportsmanship and solid moral development while maintaining high academic and athletic performance is the major focus of the club. We aim to teach that each person has the potential to be a success on and off the hill. Every one of us has that special person, time or opportunity that changed the trajectory of our life. We also have memories of the highlights of our youth and the agony of the disappointments. These experiences are what form us as human beings. So stop by Howelsen Hill to smell the chocolate chip cookies, hear the laughter, breathe the fresh, cold air and bundle up to watch the youths of our great community developing their history and their memories to take us into the next 100 years. — Sarah Floyd
Age of oldest living Winter Carnival queen (Jean “Dody” Wegeman Downing, who received the honor in 1946)
84
Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club Mission Statement To provide an opportunity for young athletes to become successful individuals and to achieve their personal goals through participation in winter sports.
22
Club members Nordic racing at NCAA level in past 10 years
Number of Winter Carnival buttons sold in the past 10 years
We support this mission by: •
Building self-confidence, sportsmanship and the self-esteem of all athletes
•
Insuring that every child who has the desire to participate is given the opportunity
•
Maintaining the finest and most diverse training facilities in North America
•
Granting scholarship and financial assistance
•
Instilling life-long enthusiasm for winter sports and an active lifestyle
•
Requiring high academic standards
•
Building national and Olympic champions
•
Aspiring to the highest level in coaching quality and standards
•
Offering affordable programming with the help of public fundraising support
•
Encouraging athletes of all ages to grow with their sport, learning how to win, how to lose and, most importantly, how to give their best.
30
Years served by club’s longest working coach (Deb Rose, Nordic)
532 Pounds of ski wax used each year by the club
61,600
6 | Steamboat living | 2014 Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club 100th anniversary Supplement
• Adven tu re • Individual Succe s s • C o u r a ge
Excellence • Perseverance • Friendship • Fun • Goal Setting
• Character • Passion • Community •
• Personal Best • Respect • Team • Memories 2014 Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club 100th anniversary Supplement | Steamboat living
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A brief history of the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club Excerpted from “The History of Skiing in Steamboat Springs”
F
ormed in 1914 to plan and promote the first Winter Carnival on Woodchuck Hill, the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club is the oldest ski club west of the Mississippi. Throughout its history, it’s morphed from a club focused on social outings for long-skirted ladies and bewhiskered gents in the 1920s to introducing local children to the joys of the sport and training top athletes in Nordic jumping, Alpine skiing, cross-country, snowboard,
Telemark, freestyle and freeskier programs. Throughout, it’s remained a volunteer effort designed “to create, develop, educate and interest the community in the sport of skiing, ski jumping and all other winter sports.” Organizers for the first Winter Carnival were recruited from local businessmen who agreed to put up prize money. This then became a permanent club affiliated with the National Ski Association that
hosted the National Jumping Distance Championships in 1916. The Steamboat Springs Ski Club was proposed March 16, 1917, when “a small bunch of loyal boosters” agreed to create the “biggest club in the country.” During a packed meeting in the district courtroom, the club adopted bylaws, selected club colors and a uniform, and launched a membership campaign open to “any person of good standing in the community”
The high school marching band on skis debuted in 1935. courtesy of Tread of pioneers museum
8 | Steamboat living | 2014 Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club 100th Anniversary Supplement
upon payment of $1. The names of new members were published in the newspaper. The S.K.I. Club, a ladies auxiliary to the all-male Steamboat Springs Ski Club, was formed March 9, 1917, “to create, develop and sustain interest in ladies’ skiing and in all outdoor sports ... and aid and foster the carnival spirit.” It merged with the men’s club in 1927, only after President Antoinette Welton cautioned its 43 members that, “We must see to it that the women do not do all the work.” The Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club was officially incorporated Oct. 11, 1949, by Gates Gooding, Basil Hallquist and William Allen. Trucking firm president Basil Hallquist was elected the first official president and Walter Leypoldt secretary of the nine-member board of directors. Since then, the membership has annually elected three directors to three-year terms. A full-time paid club secretary was hired in 1957, during which time the club was sustained by volunteers who helped coach a junior program for 60 skiers and a school program for 150. During the 1960s, the club instituted coaching fees averaging $200 a season. The club relied heavily upon bake sales to meet its $20,000 annual budget and launched massive fundraising efforts. It sent 12 Olympians to the Olympics during the 1960s, including current locals Moose Barrows, Loris Werner and Scott Berry. The club hired Walt Evans as its first executive director in 1977 and vastly expanded its programs, including the addition of freestyle. Its annual budget increased to $50,000, and the coaching staff expanded to 15. When it became impossible for the club to finance improvements needed at Howelsen Hill, it entered an agreement with the city, which still stands today, giving the city the lodge, Poma lift, lift shack and all other equipment in exchange for $30,000. The city, which never relinquished ownership of the land, became responsible for scheduling, operation and maintenance of the complex. The club was given priority use of the hill and was required to maintain insurance, with the city receiving all lift ticket revenues. During the 1980s, the club’s budget increased to $150,000, and the coaching staff increased to 20. By 1987, the club employed 26 coaches for 260 participants and operated on a $230,000 budget, 40 percent of which was covered by fees. During this time, the Winter Sports Club sent 10 athletes to the Olympics in a variety of disciplines. The 1990s continued this success with the club sending 36 athletes to three Olympics. It also installed the Howler Alpine Slide to provide financial sup-
Fundraisers
Several fundraisers have become community traditions, including the Ski Swap, initiated in 1951 by Gordon Wren “to help parents and children get needed ski equipment without breaking the bank”; and the Ski Ball, which originated with the first Winter Carnival and is now called the Stars at Night Gala. Founded in 1974, the annual Winter Sports Club Scholarship Day is hosted by Steamboat Ski Area on the first day of each season, with 100 percent of ticket revenue donated to athlete programming fees. This Scholarship Day has contributed more than $750,000 to athletes since 1991. The Moose is Loose Golf Tournament occurs every September to offset travel expenses for junior athletes qualifying for national championship events. The tournament is organized by Moose Barrows and has raised more than $146,000 in scholarships over the years. The Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club Foundation was incorporated in 1982 to create an endowment to assist amateur skiers, promote junior skiing, train amateur teams, and provide trophies. The goal of this club is to raise $10 million to support the club on an annual basis. Currently, athlete fees at the club cover about half of the operating budget. Fundraising and donations cover the other half. The club currently has a staff of 140 and an annual operating budget of 2.2 million. The club is poised to enter its second century with strong athletic focus, solid philosophy, community support and national and international recognition in all disciplines.
SSWSC Timeline 1914 Winter Sports Club founded, first Winter Carnival, Nordic jumping and cross-country programs debut, first jump built at Howelsen 1917 First Alpine slope opens at Howelsen Hill, Henry Hall breaks 200-foot jumping distance
1915 First Winter Carnival street events 1916 First club in Rocky Mountains to join National Ski Association, hosts first National Jumping Championships 1931 Alpine racing program introduced
1932 John Steele, first Winter Sports Club Olympian, competes at Lake Placid
1935 Debut of high school marching band on skis
1936 First Lighted Man
1937 Night skiing introduced at Howelsen Hill
1938 First ski lift installed 1944 Dryland training introduced, Al Wegeman becomes first full-time paid ski coach, skiing accredited as part of public schools 1952 Six Olympians compete in Oslo 1957 Little Toots program begins, Bud Werner wins Hahnenkamm at Kitzbuhl 1960 Five Olympians compete in Squaw Valley 1968 Three Olympians compete in Grenoble, including Jim “Moose” Barrows, whose crash gets documented by ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” as “The Agony of Defeat” 1973 First Soda Pop Slalom 1974 First Wednesday night jump and Town Challenge race 1978 Freestyle program introduced 1980 Three Olympians compete in Lake Placid 1992 10 Olympians compete in Albertville, Nelson Carmichael wins bronze in moguls, Olympian Hall built 1995 Snowboard program introduced
1939 First night show at Winter Carnival 1948 Hosts first Junior Nationals, one Olympian competes in St. Moritz 1951 First Ski Swap 1956 Six Olympians compete in Cortina 1958 First Torchlight Parade 1964 Four Olympians compete in Innsbruck 1969 Barrows wins North American Downhill Championships 1972 Howelsen ski jumps burned to the ground in protest of Denver’s bid to host 1976 Olympics, one Olympian competes in Sapporo 1976 One Olympian competes in Innsbruck 1977 Walt Evans hired as first executive director 1988 Seven Olympians compete in Calgary 1991 Howelsen Hill opens first cross-country trails 1994 First World Cup Nordic combined held at Howelsen 1998 15 Olympians compete in Nagano, Shannon Dunn wins bronze in snowboarding
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1999 First half-pipe installed, David DeHaven Strength Training Center opens 2001 Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club Foundation established 2003 Water ramp complex built at Bald Eagle Lake 2004 Telemark and cycling programs begin, winter enrollment exceeds 1,000 athletes, paid coach and staff exceed 100, STAMP (strength, talent, athleticism, motivation and perseverance) slogan adopted, in memory of Ashley Stamp (1991-2004) 2010 17 Olympians compete in Vancouver bringing home seven medals, Johnny Spillane wins first U.S. Nordic combined Olympic medal (silver), club hosts first Telemark World Cup 2014 Winter Sports Club celebrates 100 years of providing area youths educational and athletic opportunities to reach their personal best in all aspects of life
2000 Howler Alpine Slide opens, freeskier program launched, athlete travel program established 2002 First Olympian send-off celebration held for 15 athletes competing in Park City, Travis Mayer wins silver in moguls 2005 Hosts Disabled World Cup 2006 20 Olympians compete in Torino, plastic installed for summer jumping 2007 Tubing operations debut to help fund programs 2012 Centennial Campaign raises funds to install plastic on second jump 2013 Club celebrates 100th Winter Carnival and seven World Championship podiums, including gold by Arielle Gold; freeskier, snowboard programs receive airbag donation; on-snow training opens on earliest date (Nov. 12)
Congratulations SSWSC
Alternative training at the Old Town Hot Springs.
port to operations. By 2000, the club began operating in the black, and it has functioned debt free since 2003. This has allowed for more extensive fundraising efforts, resulting in the building of a water ramp complex at Bald Eagle Lake and the installation of plastic on the HS 45 and 75 Nordic jumps for offseason training. During the 2000s, the club sent 40 athletes to two Olympic games, with Travis Mayer bringing home a silver medal in moguls from the 2002 games in Park City. At the Torino Olympics, it had more athletes than 52 other countries. The club also has continued to strengthen its relationship with local schools, requiring athletes to maintain schools’ eligibility requirements. — Suvera Towler
C
ongratulations on 100 Years from our family to your family!
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Hitchens Brothers Wednesday Night Jump Series P
erhaps no other activity better epitomizes the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club’s embracement of the community than its annual Hitchens Brothers Wednesday Night Jump Series, an open competition on Howelsen Hill’s 20- and 50-meter jumps that regularly brings the whole town out to channel their inner Icarus. The series got its start in 1974 when local Melvin Hitchens fi rst introduced the Old Man’s Jumping Club. A year later, it was opened to youngsters, and it’s been held ever since. That it’s here at all owes itself to the three Hitchens brothers — Calvin, Errold and Melvin — and their high-flying upbringing. Calvin was the son of Chester Hitchens, a founding member of the Routt County Cattlemen’s Association, and his wife, Jennie Cullen, whose families homesteaded Elk River ranches (Errold and Melvin had a different father, Albert). Their grandfather James was one of three brothers who left Cornwall, England, to start some of the first ranches in Routt County. Calvin was the town’s champion boy’s jumper in 1931 and Gordon Wren’s skiing
companion. Errold was the resort’s fi rst paid ski patrolman, helped build the Christie and Thunderhead lifts and helped install Howelsen’s Poma lift in 1970. He also was an active member of the sports club, riding the Saturday train from Hayden to compete on the 60-meter jump with Bud Werner. Melvin, affectionately dubbed “Steamboat’s oldest ski bum,” contributed more than $100,000 to the club since 1976, when he began billing the county for a road across his property accessing the Milner dump to help fund club operations. He was a B class competitor in high school, though he seldom finished milking cows early enough to ride a sled 13 miles to town for training. His support of jumping has continued even after his death at age 83, with the jump series funded by his estate. “His goal was to make sure that jumping could be available to all people of all ages,” Winter Sports Club Director of Athletics Sarah Floyd says. “As he grew older and his health was failing, he was faithful to the kids at SSWSC.”
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Memories
Members share reflections of participation Marsh Gooding
I practically grew up at the club. Club member from 1990 to 2006, raced for University of Vermont, World Junior Championships, multiple FIS wins, real estate/renewable energy developer/entrepreneur
Tim Magill
I practically grew up at the club. I remember spending cold fall evenings after school at Howelsen playing games on the baseball fields as the days got shorter. It didn’t feel like dryland training — it was just fun. None of us could wait for the snow to fall and begin another ski season. Between ski jumping, snowball fights, scoldings from the lift crew, spectacular crashes and endless runs, I managed to become a real ski racer. By high school, the group of serious ski racers my age had been pared down to about a dozen. We spent a lot of time on the road and had a blast. The sport took me all over the U.S., to Europe and even to South America. It was a great experience. It didn’t matter if I was half a world away from home; when I stepped in the starting gate, I knew the game and was comfortable. I developed a confidence that served me well in racing and in life. I’d return home with stories from the road and the motivation to keep improving as a racer, student and person. For me, it was about the process — enjoying the new places, the early mornings, the painful workouts, the mind-numbing cold, the piles of homework, and the thrill of putting yourself out there to measure up against the competition. I still love playing around over at Howelsen Hill. The sheer volume of kids playing hard on any night is inspiring. I love being another one of the kids out there. With any luck, my kids will have a chance to grow up as members of the club also.
John Leffler
What have I gotten myself into?
Head Alpine coach from 1975 to 1985, Quantum Sports International founder My first memory of Steamboat was looking for a place to get breakfast. The only thing moving on Lincoln Avenue was a giant tumbleweed rolling down the street. I wondered, “What have I gotten myself into?” Ten years later, the Winter Sports Club was
competitive at the national level in Alpine, freestyle, cross-country, combined and jumping. The discipline head coaches inspired one another, and the interaction of the coaches and athletes stimulated an optimum athletic environment. The likes of Mike Devecka (cross-country/combined), Walter Steiner (jumping) and Park and John Smalley (freestyle) provided unparalleled direction to their athletes. The culture that developed during these years is part of what is now Ski Town USA.
Is that ever going to be me?
Pro downhill racer, gelande jumper, speed skier, 10-year downhill coach for the Junior and Senior Nationals I joined the Winter Sports Club’s Little Toots program in 1963 at age 4. Back then, you were on one pair of skis that did it all: slalom, downhill and jumping. I basically grew up at the club and was a four-way competitor until age 12 when I had to choose. I went to Alpine mainly because I got tired of always packing the jumps. I wanted to ski. I raced through high school, made it to the Junior and Senior Nationals and earned a scholarship to the University of Wyoming. I got hooked on gelande jumping because it was a fun way to make some extra money on the weekends. I also did a couple of pro downhill races. After that, I started coaching Little Toots and was the traveling downhill coach for the Junior and Senior Nationals for 10 years. I’ve always admired those athletes who returned to coach and give back to the program, and I wanted to do the same. I also got into speed skiing, reaching 147 mph in 2006. My mom, Mary Magill, volunteered a lot for the club, as well. The club still gives the Mary Magill Skimeister Award every year to the best skier in all disciplines. The club was a great opportunity, with great peers and role models. For a sleepy little cow town, it gave you a chance to conquer the world. As a kid, you’d see the older guys come off the jump and say to yourself, “Is that ever going to be me?” Then
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one day, it is. I made lifelong friends there and in other ski towns throughout the world. It’s a magical hill and club. Seeing all those kids there today brings tears to my eyes.
Nancy Barrows Gray
We learned to love winter, snow, skiing, cold and friends.
Longevity & Perseverance Tradition of Excellence
SSWSC we salute you. Happy 100th. Collegiate racer, volunteer, ski instructor The 1950s and 1960s were wonderful times in Steamboat. Howelsen Hill was the best playground in the world. We learned to love winter, snow, skiing, cold and friends. We were exposed to competition and winning and losing, but mostly I learned a lot about life. The big kids were annoyed by the little kids, the little kids worshipped the big kids and in the end, the big kids would have risked their lives for anyone in the club. After I finished racing, I was given the opportunity to coach, my favorite job of all time. If I could afford to be a full-time coach, I would. It helped me gain a passion for competition and success. It also gave me a clearer understanding of what many adults had sacrificed through hours of volunteering to help me follow my dreams. I learned as many life skills coaching as I did racing. Hopefully, it helped me make a difference in young lives. We hear about the village that it takes to raise a child. Club members helped my children grow into athletes with a passion for their sports and the appreciation of adults that care for them. I currently help put on the Moose is Loose Golf Tournament, which helps athletes whose families can’t afford the program. This is what the club stands for: giving kids the opportunity to grow up in a community that allows them to learn about life, competition, winning, losing and a passion for the magic of winter.
Clarence and Anna Light circa 1920s
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Tammie Bowes Delaney
In kindergarten the teachers had to undo my counting skills, as I only knew how to count down: 5-4-3-2-1-Go! Former racer, volunteer, owner of Wild Goose Coffee at the Granary The Winter Sports Club was always part of my life growing up.
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Being the last of seven kids in a ski racing family, it was simply “what we did.” In kindergarten, the teachers had to “undo” my counting skills as I only knew how to count down: “5-4-3-2-1Go!” My family considered this one of the more important things to learn in life — how to race. I never considered myself much of a racer as the norm in our family was competing at nationals and beyond. Racing was more of a way to be with family, friends and tag along for the fun. My fondest memory, and what shaped my life, was the commitment my parents (Bill and Marie Bowes) had for the club. A great volunteer work ethic evolved toward Winter Sports Club endeavors. It wasn’t entitlement; if you raced, you contributed. From an early age, this meant complete family devotion to volunteering for club activities, from running the concession stand to turning our backyard into a Christmas tree sales lot (where Mom not so wisely placed the trees in the creek, freezing them frozen solid). We also undertook wreath-building as a fundraiser, turning the upstairs of our garage into a factory. This meant boxes of pine cones, evergreens, moss, rose-hips and whatever else could be wired on, collected year-round by Mom. It seemed like a bunch of elves, busily wiring Styrofoam forms into art pieces. We also sold hot chocolate at the Poma. Mom would make quite the concoction that the lift crew would sell. Dad helped build the Poma. Each family had to hand dig a tower hole, which doubled as dryland training. During the Ski Swap, Mom
would disappear for a month, planning, tagging and color dotting. Then came the housing trades, which meant sleeping on floors and couches of other families, making spaghetti dinners for 30 and becoming great friends with other racers throughout the region. The rope tow on our back hill also was a great hangout. Dad’s favorite pastime was timing us on crazy tight slaloms under lights. There was always a crowd there, which continues today with the third generation of Bowes-Beauregards. It transformed our back hill into an amusement park where my older brothers would play Michelin Man by forming trains of inner-tubers trying to take out the poor idiot stacking tubes beyond eyesight. It’s amazing anyone was able to race the next day. During the terrible snow year of 1976-77 before there was snowmaking, we pumped water from the creek onto the hill. Club members then trained gates on Homer Seepage. You could see the grass under a foot of ice. There was a lot of work, camaraderie, volunteerism, family and community involvement to make racing happen. This commitment still resides within me today as a result. It took a community to make it happen.
Ruth McClelland
Most winter weekends were spent traveling. 30-year ski instructor/ski school supervisor, PSIA board member, volunteer My family moved to Steamboat in 1955 so my father, Rudi Schnackenberg, could take over the running of Howelsen Hill from Gordy Wren. I was one of many young skiers who would walk every afternoon after school to Howelsen to ski and train with the club. During the next 10 years, most winter weekends were spent
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traveling with the family to ski races held throughout the state. As soon as I could work, it all went toward the expenses of racing. There were no scholarships. Dad, as coach, was so proud of the team when traveling to an event and the hotel and restaurant owners would congratulate him on our good manners and respect as well as our ability to race. Our group dynamics, dedication to the club and hard work were seen in such duties as locking arms to boot pack the jump landing before a big competition. The fond memories of all the hard work, cold days, lifelong friends and life lessons are still engrained in me.
Ty Lockhart
It was like the “Wide World of Sports” agony of defeat.
Former racer, volunteer, owner of F.M. Light & Sons In the 1950s and ’60s, Winter Carnival was the same celebration but much more competitive. Its races drew people from around the state as qualifiers for the Junior Nationals. They weren’t everybody-gets-aribbon events. The big hill event was one of the biggest jumping competitions in the country. The list on the wall at Howelsen shows how the North American records increased each year. The whole outrun would be filled with people cheering. My dad was in charge of the carnival for several years. One year, I got to go up in the judges’ tower and schlep papers around. I’d watch the jumpers and try to figure out how the judges awarded points. I’ll never forget when we saw a jumper come down the inrun, get out of the tracks and fly off the side, crashing way over to the side of the normal landing area. It was like the “Wide World of Sports” agony of defeat. People remembered it for a long time. There also were competitive cross-country races at the carnival. I remember it being so cold that one racer, Ted Farwell, finished with saliva and snot frozen from his nose down to six inches below his chin. This summer I talked with someone from the original 10th Mountain Division who remembered it, too. On the last night, there was always a big banquet for competitors in the old junior high gym, where the club gave out medals. With all the hoopla, it was a Sunday night to behold. I still remember my coach Gordy Wren giving the speech at one of them.
Lindsay Lockhart
Winter Sports Club made it all happen. Two-time overall Junior Olympic champion, racer for Dartmouth College, owner and manager of F.M. Light & Sons When you live in a town of Olympians, anything short of
participating in the Olympics really isn’t that notable. What is notable is the effect all of that training, hard work, competition and experiences had on me and my fellow athletes. It shaped our lives and changed us forever. Coaches like Werner Schnydrig and Rob Worrell taught us intense discipline and how to be true competitors. One of the athletes I raced with from age 6 through the NCAAs, Emmy Barr, was my maid of honor. The people I met through the club truly changed my life. Ski racing has shaped my life positively in so many ways, and the Winter Sports Club made it all happen.
Sue Beauregard Rife
When I think about the Winter Sports Club, I almost tear up. Former racer, volunteer, artist/photographer When I think about the Winter Sports Club, I almost tear up. It seems like my whole life has been part of this awesome organization. I grew up in the club, along with my six siblings, as did my own children. When you add up the coaching fees, equipment, season passes, race entry fees, lodging and travel expenses, it’s literally priceless. But in return, you get a young adult who knows how to compete in the world, how to travel, how to manage money and how to communicate and get along with others, all while attending school. A typical day involved getting up early, working out at the gym, attending school, ski training, doing homework, then going to bed. As a parent watching this schedule, I simply don’t know how they kept it up. It has to be the love of the sport and the camaraderie that lasts a lifetime. It also takes parental commitment, volunteering for fundraisers, races and events as well as becoming a taxi service for training. When our sons were 11 and 13, their father was paralyzed in an accident and suddenly our income dropped. Because of the scholarship program, they still were able to train, race and travel. We can’t thank the club enough for assisting us so they could continue their love of skiing. Now that our sons are parents, they too are enrolling their own children into Winter Sports Club programs; and again, it almost brings tears to my eyes.
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Family legacies
We all remember “All in the Family” from the Archie Bunker era. But at the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, that plays out in real life every day, generation after generation. Families’ commitments to the club are a cornerstone of its strength, with parents proud to give their children the same opportunities they had growing up in Ski Town USA. Following is a look at a few Steamboat families embodying the Winter Sports Club’s multigenerational spirit.
The DelliQuadris
When Esther and David (Dell) DelliQuadri moved to Steamboat Springs in 1970, it didn’t take them long to become involved in the club. Esther already was familiar with town from attending The Lowell Whiteman School and working on the resort’s first ski patrol, and Dell was a ski jumper for the University of Colorado, so they fit right in. So did their three young children, Terry, Winnie and Tracy. “I remember Terry coming home one day asking, ‘Mom, can I go to dryland training?’” says Esther, who was recently nominated for the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame. “That was our first introduction to the sports club.” Their involvement snowballed from there. Esther went on to run its Ski Swap fundraiser for 15 years and volunteer for a host of other duties. Dell served as board president and helped launch the Wednesday Night Jump Series and the club’s operation of the Poma lift. “The club’s a real institution here,” Esther says. “It’s a fantastic, unique program that we were very involved in.” Their kids flew the flag also. All three attended the club through high school, with Winnie and Terry racing for Dartmouth, and Terry becoming a four-time NCAA All-American and racing on two World Junior Championships teams and several World Cup races. All three have kids involved also, including Terry’s kids (Cisco, Peppi and Esther Rose), Winnie’s son (Cash) and Tracy’s children (Theo and Addison). “Dad still loves coming down to watch Esther Rose jump in Nordic combined,” says Terry, who coached at the club for five years before becoming a development director for the U.S. Ski Team. “It’s the highlight of his day. The club’s been a prominent part of three generations of DelliQuadris.” Winnie has found memories, as well. “I remember having Nancy Gray as my instructor,” says Winnie, recalling the achievement stripes she proudly earned on her ski jacket. “We were all pretty involved.”
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The Allens
For the Allen family, the club was just another seat at the dinner table. Consider its four-generation hierarchy. Their namesake clothing company was founded by Tod’s grandfather, George, and father, Bill, in 1949. Both were active in the club, with George serving as mayor of Steamboat and helping build town’s early Nordic jumps in the 1920s and Bill an avid skier and volunteer. Bill kept the tradition going with his kids — Lon, Tod and Gina — with Lon and Tod racing. A 33-year ski patrolman at the resort, Lon kept the tradition going for his children, Scott and Jenny, with Jenny racing for the University of Colorado. Lon and his wife, Eileen, volunteered extensively for the club, receiving the John Fetcher Honorary Sustaining Member Award in 2007-08. The Allens’ cousin from their mother’s side, Carol Sue Stehley, was a Winter Carnival queen in the mid-1950s. Her dad, Jack Stehley, shuttled kids ceaselessly to races and volunteered in other capacities. The family of Tod’s wife, Robin, also had a strong club presence. Her dad, Crosby Perry-Smith, moved to town after an
The Heids Perhaps no family better exemplifies the Winter Sports Club than the Heids, led by fourth-generation Steamboat native Ray Heid. Born and raised in the Yampa Valley, Ray’s father, Bob, served as president of the club in the 1950s as well as its long-time jumping judge. Bob’s wife, Ruby, was the sister of Steamboat icon Hazie Werner. Donning skis at age 3 to ride the boat tow up Howelsen Hill, Ray grew up skiing in the club with his cousins, the Werners, of ski racing fame (Buddy, Skeeter and Loris). He went on to become a four-way skier (downhill, slalom, jumping and cross-country) for the University of Wyoming before making the 1960 Olympic ski jumping team as a fore-jumper. He served as head ski coach at Wyoming before running the Sierra Blanca ski area in New Mexico. He later owned seven ski shops, four in Breckenridge and three at Sierra Blanca, before returning to Steamboat in 1985 to run the family’s 280-acre Del’s Triangle 3 Ranch near Clark. Ray’s brother, Corkey, was also a longtime club member and jumper who qualified for the 1956 Cortina Olympics and eventually headed the Steamboat ski patrol, as was Del, who skied for the University of Wyoming and later ran the resort’s lift department. Ray’s children, including daughter Hillary, now 44, and son Rowan “Perk,” 42, also are avid skiers, with Hillary becoming a Winter Carnival attendant at age 18. Her two daughters, Sawyer, 15, and
The Temples
While Jim Temple is known for founding Storm Mountain Corp., which became Steamboat Ski Area, the lifelong rancher and skier, along with his wife, Audrey, also fostered a deep commitment to the club. Working the Focus Ranch, his father and grandfather homesteaded near Slater, Wyo., he left to serve in the Navy, returned and married Audrey, and then spent several winters in Sun Valley, Idaho, as the resort’s ski patrol director. Upon returning, they became active in the club, with Audrey founding the club’s Little Toots program in 1956. “She modeled it after the similar Papoose program in Sun Valley,” son Jeff says. “She named it after a children’s book she read to us called ‘Little Toot, the Engine that Could.’” In summer 1958, Temple and a few helpers began felling trees and clearing the first trails beneath the current Christy chairlift. The trails eventually would form Steamboat Ski Area, which Jim opened in 1962 with one Poma lift. All the while, Jim watched his kids compete in the club and supplied the medals for the Little Toots program. With skiing the cornerstone of their existence, the Temples had four children — Jeff, Jamie, Lisa and Kristin — all of whom grew
Olympic ski jumping career and was the head club coach in the mid-1950s Tod and Robin’s children — Anya, Thomas and Kristopher — all raced for the club, as well. “It’s a fantastic program,” The Allen clan (left to right): Kris, Tom, Lon, Anya, Tod says. “They Tod, Jenny and Scott. keep the focus where it should be: on getting as many kids involved as possible and giving them a positive experience. That’s way more important than how many Olympians it produces.”
Bailey, 12, are also skiers in the club, with Sawyer voted a Carnival princess at age 5, making six generations of Heids carrying the club torch. Hillary’s husband, Chris, is also a regular club volunteer. “I guess you could say that the club embodied us, and we embodied it,” says Hillary. “Our DNA is pretty tied in with both racing and the club.”
Bob, Corkey, Ray and Delby Heid at the base of Howelsen Hill. Bob is wearing his club sweater and the three boys are wearing matching sweaters made by their mother, Ruby (circa 1950).
up racing in the club. Jamie joined the U.S. Ski Team as a downhiller and raced on the pro circuit, and Jeff was an All American for the University of Colorado’s four-time NCAA-crown-winning ski team and raced slalom and GS on the pro tour. Buddy Werner and Jim Temple. The tradition continues with Jeff and Kim Temple’s sons, Parker, 16, and Brandon, 14, also growing up in the program. Jeff has served on the club’s board for the past 10 years, and credits much of his success in life, from developing Steamboat’s Storm Mountain Ranch and Marabou, to his upbringing at the club. “I love the club,” he says. “It’s the backbone of the whole town. On any day of the week at Howelsen, you can see half of the town’s kids training and having fun. It’s wonderful for our kids to have such a great opportunity.”
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The Withers
Scott Wither’s great grandfather, Archibald, moved to Hahn’s Peak from Scotland in the 1880s, well before Carl Howelsen ever founded the Winter Sports Club. And you can bet that his clan used skis to get around during the long, cold winters. His lineage still continues to do so five generations later, thanks largely to their involvement in the club. Archibald’s son, Robert, was jumping the 90-meter at age 9 as a club member and was named a first alternate to the 1936 Olympics in Bavaria, Germany. He also helped build the original boat tow on Howelsen Hill as well as its first chairlift. Archibald’s other son, Pete, was also a renowned jumper and coach for the club. Running a general store in Steamboat, Robert fathered in 1942 son, Pete, who also came up through the club’s ranks, skiing with the Werner clan and racing for Western State College; and son John, yet another Wither racer. Robert’s sister, Dorothy, founded the Tread of Pioneers Museum and is the dedicatee of Sureva Towler’s book, “The History of Skiing in Steamboat Springs.” While Pete’s wife, Barbi, served on the club’s board for many years, Pete co-founded the Winter Sports Club Foundation and started the ski patrol’s fire-hoop jumping shenanigans during Winter Carnival. Cactus Beauregard, Dave Connor, Scott Wither, Scott Borden (behind Robert and his wife, Frances, as well as Pete and Barbi, were also skis), Jeff Yeager, Nick Ross (behind skis), Linus Vaitkus and Cord Such. voted the Carnival’s Grand Marshals. The Wither link to the club hardly ends there. Pete’s son Scott raced on the U.S. Ski Team for five years in super-G, GS and slalom and was a first alternate to the 1994 Olympics. He was also an old son, Owen, is in the club’s Little Vikings program. “The club is age class coach for seven years. Pete’s daughter, Tiffany, also raced great. What better activity could a kid want? It has everything. You just go over there and figure out what you love.” on the club, as did her daughters, Skylar and Sophie. Pete, who went on to run the resort’s ski patrol for two decades, “I remember when I was 11 jumping gelande off the 70-meter agrees. “It’s a great club to grow up with,” he says. “Even though I with my dad, and the announcer said we were the youngest and always came in second to the Barrows and the Werners.” oldest gelande jumpers in the country,” says Scott, whose 6-year-
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The Lockharts
When the population of a mountain town is less than 2,000, there aren’t multiple organizations composing the ski culture. And in Steamboat, that culture was embodied in the Winter Sports Club. That’s how Annabeth Light Lockhart, 91, and her husband, Lloyd Gerald Lockhart, 92, remember Steamboat and the club as they grew up. The two were born and raised in Steamboat, with Annabeth’s grandfather, Francis Marion Light (F.M. Light) moving to Steamboat in 1905, the same year he opened F.M. Light & Sons, which is now entering its fi fth generation of family ownership. High school sweethearts who married shortly before the bombing of Pearl Harbor (they were skiing on Rabbit Ears when it happened), the two credit the club for instilling skiing and life lessons. Annabeth recalls that “the ski club that jumped over at the hills” also organized day trips and ran Winter Carnival. “I was proud to be a member,” she says. “In the early ’30s, quite a few of us girls jumped, including Cleo Armstrong, Doris Harwig, Gloria Gossard, Billie Holderness and myself. Doris’ dad was president of the club. After Sunday school, he’d ski ahead with a big pot of coffee, start a fi re and have it ready when we got there. It was special to be able to tag along with the men while they were skiing.” The groups would ski up to “the reservoir” on Spring Creek, the hot springs and other places. “It was a lot of fun,” says Annabeth, likely one of the oldest club members alive. “I never would have gotten to do those things if the ski club didn’t organize them.” Lloyd, who served as president of the club in the ‘60s, recalls Winter Carnival as the biggest event of the year. “It was really necessary for the town and had to be run right,” he says. He remembers one year when kids came all the way from
Annabeth Light’s parents, Clarence and Anna Light.
Alaska and even the Air Force to compete during the fi rst year it was televised. “There was a big uproar,” he says, adding that competitors had to be housed in the local gymnasium. “It was a stormy weekend, so we didn’t know when we were going to start, but the TV crews only had a certain time slot.” He also recalls convincing the Alaskan girls that snow snakes were real and existed here. “They were quite worried,” he says. As with Annabeth, he also recalls skiing up on Rabbit Ears, but “not just cross-country,” he says. “We’d pack a hill and slalom on it.” He also has fond memories of skiing with Jim Temple, who ended up marrying Annabeth’s younger sister, Au-
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drey, and touring across Rabbit Ears Pass with him to the top of Storm Peak to decide whether to build the ski area there. “I was the fi rst one to ski down, but I had a heck of a time going through the trees,” he says. The two, who were named Grand Marshals of Winter Carnival in 2005, also remember when Hazel Light (Annabeth’s sister) skied in the fi rst Diamond Hitch Parade in 1931, an event started by the Ladies Recreation Club to give the carnival street events “some color, style, beauty and grace in skiing.” The event was judged on beauty of costumes, holding a perfect diamond, skiing form (Telemark position), and rapport between horse, rider and skiers.” Annabeth also remembers the day her band teacher said, “Everyone bring your skis tomorrow,” and the skiing band was born. Annabeth and Lloyd’s sons, Ty and Del, also were active in the club, walking to Howelsen from their house near Merritt Street. Ty started his kids, Brandon and Lindsay, in club programs at a young age, and Del’s seven kids also were active skiers (he now has five grandkids). Ty’s daughter, Lindsay, won two overall Junior Olympics titles, competed at the U.S. Nationals, and raced for Dartmouth College. “The very fi rst ribbon I won was second place for the fatherdog sled pull,” she says. “I was three, but apparently I held on well; that was my job. That’s one of my best memories growing up.” She also made sure to do the shovel race as soon as she turned 18, the year after she was voted Winter Carnival queen. “I actually had to leave training early for it, but there was no way I was going to miss it,” she says. “I had been waiting to compete in it for years.” Winter Carnival still fi nds the Light/Lockhart clan gathered in front of F.M. Light & Sons to watch the events, with the little ones in tow catching the best view from atop the horse Lightning stationed outside the store.
The Romicks
Rarely is there a family that blended ranching and racing as much as the Romicks. Moving here from Kremmling in 1966 as ranchers, Jack and Janie Romick quickly left their mark on the mountain. When not running the ranch, Jack worked as a ski patroller and served as president of the club. As active in rodeo as they were racing, their three sons — Lance, Brent and Jace — could be found at the club and on the mountain almost daily. Lance raced for the University of Wyoming, Brent took it to the elite level and Jace joined the U.S. Ski Team for five years, was the team’s highest-ranked downhiller and took eighth at the World Championships. “We basically lived on the mountain and at the club,” Jace says. “We were pretty much raised there.” The next generation also is carrying the club torch. Brent’s children, Dalton and Treat, participated in the club, as did Lance’s children, Sierra and Carly. Jace’s two kids — AJ, 9, and Addison, 7 — still are in its Alpine program, luring Jace back to coach. “It’s great because it’s gotten me more involved in the club again,” he says. “I remember standing up in front of a bunch of kids last year at Olympian Hall and Brent, Jace and Lance Romick in their telling them I was here doWinter Sports Club team sweaters.
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“We basically lived on the mountain and at the club. We were pretty much raised there.” — Jace Romick
ing the exact same thing as them 40 years ago and how they’ll remember it just like I do at my age. It’s great to giving back to it again.” Making it even more worthwhile are the number of kids he sees on any given winter day at Howelsen Hill. “When you ride up the Poma lift and see how many kids are there and the smiles on their faces, it’s truly amazing,” he says.
The Barrows
Ray and Maurine Barrows arrived in Steamboat Springs in 1950 with 6-year-old son, Jim (“Moose”), in tow rather fortuitously. “As far as the story goes, our parents basically ran out of gas and so they just stayed,” daughter Nancy Gray says. That didn’t stop them from hitting the town running, with Maurine becoming a 40-year school teacher and Ray serving on City Council. The two also became active in the club, putting Moose and Nancy, as well as their two other sons, Bob and Joe, in the club’s programs. Starting ski jumping the same year he arrived, Moose has become one of the club’s most beloved devotees. “Back then, pretty much everybody in town who skied was involved in it,” says Moose, now 70, crediting coach Gordy Wren as the club’s “czar” who did everything. “That was the norm.” Moose went on to win five Junior National Championships in downhill and slalom, and in 1967, he finished third in the first World Cup downhill. His crash at the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble, France, was documented by ABC’s “Wide World
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of Sports,” and in 1969, he went on to win the North American Downhill Championships. The U.S. Ski Team’s downhill coach from 1977 to 1980, and its Olympic coach in 1980, he’s made it his life’s mission to promote skiing, founding a scholarship fund to support local junior skiers. Inducted into the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame in 1996, Moose credits the club and Howelsen Hill as fostering his success. “Howelsen is the core of town,” says Moose, a 27-year club board member. “The fact that we have it is due to the foresight of the club.” Nancy, now 60, also has strong ties to the club, participating in the fi rst-ever Little Toots classes and going on to race for the University of Colorado. Still teaching skiing today, she also kept the club tradition going with her daughter, Jessica Gray Aldigiheri, who currently coaches cross-country in Whistler, B.C. “I’ve been involved in the club for most of my life, fi rst as an athlete, then as a coach, and then as a parent and volunteer,” she says. “These opportunities are integral
The Goods
Moose Barrows: “The club is one of the essential organs of the community.”
parts of who I am.” Adds Moose: “The club is one of the essential organs of the community and is unique anyplace in the world. For it to have Nordic and Alpine programs, as well as a host of new ones, all under the same umbrella is amazing. It teaches core values that produce great citizens and quality athletes.”
Jeff Good truly has done it all with the Winter Sports Club. After moving to Steamboat from Vermont in 1982 to follow Billy Kidd’s assertion that there was no better place for tree skiing, he has completely immersed himself and his family in the club. Starting as an athlete after being persuaded to participate in Winter Carnival’s Tequila Cup, he fell in love with mogul skiing, which escalated into a life made for Steamboat. Immersing himself in the club as an athlete, he eventually landed on the U.S. Ski Team for Nancy, Jasper, Sierra and Jeff Good. mogul skiing and then became a coach from 1992 to 1998. After have involved Jasper and Sierra in the club as traveling to four Olympics with well to learn the life skills it imparts. Jasper has the team, he settled down to become a famsettled into Nordic combined while Sierra Alpine ily man with wife, Nancy, and kids Jasper and races. Sierra. Known to ski as a family, the Goods have The family continues to ski together each taken advantage of the club’s extensive resources season and has kept the club near and dear to its from Day One. hearts. Jeff recalls standing at the base of HowCurrently, Jeff serves as board secretary of the elsen jump marking for Jasper while watching club, making him one of the few members to Sierra race down the face just across the way. have been an athlete, coach, board member and “I truly believe in what the club provides for parent, a rare accomplishment. “There’s no other the community,” he says. “It gives kids a chance club like it,” he says. “Anything that slides on to participate in a lifelong sport and learn about snow, we offer it.” themselves at the same time.” Recognizing its opportunities, Jeff and Nancy
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Q& with executive Directors A
We caught up with Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club executive directors past and present for some insight into their time as head of one of the nation’s most prestigious ski clubs.
Walt Evans (1979-1983)
What was the most successful thing you accomplished? Working with a progressive board of directors, I was able to create a year-round position with a job description and business plan for the executive director. I was fortunate to be named the first fulltime executive director in 1979. The position provided continuity for the club, enabling planning, leadership and attention to detail leading to a more focused sports club. We renovated the Howelsen Hill Lodge to create administrative offices for club and Parks and Recreation staff, we built a new
Poma lift to replace the old T-bar, we installed snowmaking on the Alpine venue and we were able to rebuild the ski jumps that were burned in protest of the 1976 Olympic bid proposal. We also hosted numerous Alpine NorAm Cups, FIS and junior events, including the first International Ski Jumping Tournee, an FIS Continental Cup event. The club launched a new program for children called the Training Squad, an introduction to different winter sports with a focus on “fun, fundamentals, fitness and family.” We also hosted the first (and last) dual night slalom at Howelsen sponsored and produced by Penthouse Magazine and developed a written agreement between the club and mountain outlining a mutual understanding of rights and responsibilities. What were some of your biggest challenges? The same as they are today at the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club: financial sustainability, staff development and retention, facilities and the athlete pool. Making vision a reality through leadership and planning was also a constant challenge.
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What was your most memorable moment? It was 1979, the worst drought locals could remember. The mountain opened on a limited base — training and racing were virtually at a standstill. The staff and I made a decision to get Howelsen operational no matter what. We were short on financial resources, but had ideas and energy. John and Jay Fetcher provided us with 10 tons of low-quality hay. Bill Bowes loaned us several hundred feet of garden hose. Then Parks and Recreation helped us install and charge four water faucets on the hill. Coaches, parents and athletes went to work in shifts around the clock for five days. We mulched the muddy hill with hay from top to bottom, and then started watering it by hand and irrigation sprinklers. We moved the handmade “snow” around with shovels, establishing a training lane made up of ice, snow and straw. We called the surface “brown sugar.” Our Alpine team had the best training and racing in Colorado that year. We were the only club in Colorado that was scheduling and conducting races for a six-week period that year.
Roy Powell (1984-1996)
What was the most successful thing you accomplished? I formally registered Steamboat as Ski Town USA from the original Winter Carnival slogan and then brought in local, national and international events that best complemented our programming. At the time, it was necessary to develop a more extensive strategic plan in fulfilling the club’s mission statement. The result was the finest coaching staff in the industry that inspired our young athletes with lifelong values, which highlights the club’s success. What were some of your biggest challenges? Funding the diverse programs involved difficult compromises, and facilities development presented complex challenges. Partnerships with the city, Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp., Steamboat Ski Touring Center, U.S. Forest Service and many private entities were greatly enhanced to meet our growth and facilities demands. It’s these partnerships that best define Ski Town USA. What were your most memorable moments? Watching the development of confidence and maturity in Steamboat’s many young Winter Sports Club athletes. We hosted five Alpine World Cups and nine Nordic combined World Cups, which brought together the best dedicated volunteers, supporters and partners. Seeing Todd Lodwick carry the American flag across the finish line in victory before thousands was one of many memorable moments.
Rick DeVos (1999-2013)
What was the most successful thing you accomplished? We were able to bring in the right leadership personnel and coaches into each of the club’s sports disciplines and bring a level of parity to them. They, in turn, were each able to reach new levels of success. Many winter sport clubs offer one or two sport disciplines, while Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club offers many options for our local youths to choose from. Add the summer programming options like cycling, and the club is in a category by itself.
What were some of your biggest challenges? The Winter Sports Club is a 501(c)(3) and must fundraise to make its budget work. Our goal was always to keep the programming as affordable as possible for local families. This required us to host many fundraising and athletic events and to do everything we could to control our expenses. There was never a shortage of good ideas on how to spend money, but with everyone’s help, we were able to balance our budget for the past 11 years. What were your most memorable moments? I most enjoyed working with the staff and athletes as directly as possible. Whether it was involvement in the after-school scene at Howelsen Hill, making snow, loading lifts, parking lot duty or working at many of the 100 events each year, this is where the club’s real heartbeat is. With almost 1,000 athletes, 150 coaches and close to 2,200 parents each year, the memories will last a lifetime. I felt lucky to have had the opportunity to lead the club. I thoroughly enjoyed participating with the athletes, parents, staff, coaches and board. The Winter Sports Club is an iconic part of Steamboat Springs and has played an important role in the lives of countless local youths over its 100-year history. A special thanks to the city of Steamboat Springs, Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp., the local business community and individuals for getting behind the effort. I encourage everyone to continue to support this one-of-a-kind organization.
Jim Boyne (current)
What do you see as the biggest strengths of the club? The rich history of the club and its 100-year legacy are clearly strengths to be built upon. We’ve developed thousands of kids and have produced more Olympians than any other winter sports club. The quality and talent of our coaches and staff, as well as the passion they bring, exemplify the best of the best in both competitive winter sports training and in youth development. Lastly, the community support and partnership we have with our volunteers and contributors, the city of Steamboat Springs and Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. are a source of significant strength that together provide a solid foundation that I believe will enable us to continue to fulfill our mission of developing kids through participation in winter sports. What are the biggest challenges facing the club? As a newcomer to Steamboat Springs and the club, I believe the biggest challenges will be our ability to continue to differentiate ourselves as an organization whose mission, and the results we have delivered over the past 100 years, are worthy of continued and repeated funding support. I have no doubt that our programs, staff and coaches are providing training and education that is invaluable to kids in competitive winter sports and in life. We need to continue to emphasize these points and continue to deliver the strong results we have historically. What are you most looking forward to as executive director? I’m excited to engage with the talented staff and coaches that we have as well as work with community supporters and partners to ensure that the club continues to succeed and excel in fulfilling its mission. The ability to influence and shape 1,000 kids in developing and mastering the competitive and life skills necessary to be the best they can be on and off the slopes will be extremely rewarding. Lastly, I’m looking forward to becoming an active and productive member of the Steamboat community and to have my children be a part of the Winter Sports Club.
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Johnny Spillane In his own words R
arely has there been a more successful or celebrated Steamboat-raised Winter Sports Club veteran than Johnny Spillane, whose three silver medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics cemented his stature among Nordic combined’s elite. Now retired and raising children Genevieve and Hadley with his wife, Hilary, he looks back on his years with the club as fondly as he does his time competing. My first memory of the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club is changing in the old trailer or “locker room” that was located where the weight room currently is. I have too many fond memories to list them all, but some of the highlights include jumping through the ring of fire during Winter Carnival and watching the Nordic combined World Cup when it came to town. The Winter Sports Club taught me to train hard and dream big. It instilled a work ethic and belief that I could achieve at any level. The Winter Sports Club is truly one of a kind. There are other places in the world I’ve seen that have similar qualities, but I can’t think of any place where all the kids in all skiing disciplines train at the same facility. This creates a unique environment that means a lot to the club’s success. What I got most out of the club is friendships that will last a lifetime — that and a few Olympic medals. The Winter Sports Club instilled a work ethic that has helped me in all aspects of life.
John F. russeLL
It is one of the cornerstones of Steamboat. It defines us as a community, and hopefully, it will continue to do so for generations to come.
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stAYiNG FiT
Essentrics essentials: Susan Mead leads the class by demonstrating the moves and delivering prompts.
Stretching and strengthening through Essentrics W
hen Steamboat Springs-based professional cyclist Amy Charity crashed midseason this past summer, it was imperative that her injured shoulder heal as quickly as possible. In addition to physical therapy, she turned to Susan Mead, who teaches Essentrics at the Sundance Studio. “She and Essentrics were really helpful in my overall recovery,” Charity says. Mead says Essentrics is not solely for rehabbing after an injury. It can be useful in preventing injuries in the first place. Oftentimes, those who strive to stay fit will go-go-go and not take the time to address the physical abuse they’re putting their bodies through. Other times, they’ll turn to massage or yoga to work out the kinks. Mead has taught yoga for 17 years, but a shoulder injury led her on a journey to Essentrics. The technique uses dynamic movements to stretch and strengthen the body safely. “You’re using your own muscles and your own momentum to keep you safe,” she says. Charity is not the only professional athlete to benefit from Essentrics. Mead says the Montreal Canadiens hockey team also incorporates Essentrics to address injury problems. If it’s good enough for them, it’s
likely good enough for the typical Steamboat weekend warrior. “The Essentrics classes I teach helped the Canadiens go from the worst injury record to the best in one year,” she says. “There’s a lot of discussion now about how doing Essentrics after CrossFit, Manic Training or other fitness classes can significantly reduce injuries and help healing from injuries,” Mead says. After warming up, Mead leads her class in exercises to lengthen the spine. She claims that yoga helped her gain a quarter inch in height. Essentrics has added another half-inch. “And that’s at the age of 55 when most people are shrinking,” Mead says. Mead leads the class by demonstrating the moves and delivering prompts. For example, she’ll tell the class to pull down on imaginary elastic bands, push a grand piano, push on imaginary walls or pull back on a bow. “We open up the upper body first, and then we work on the lower body,” Mead says. In a typical class, Mead also walks through usual problem areas. She teaches movements that will take care of issues related to working at a computer and get
rid of what she describes as “flying squirrel arms” (the flab drooping down from the tricep muscle). “We do better when we move through a stretch rather than holding it for too long,” Mead says. Noticeably absent from the workout are weights and resistance tools. “The weight of your body is a safe thing to use,” Mead says. “You arm weighs as much as a watermelon.” Hold those watermelons in the air long enough, and Mead’s students begin to feel the burn. “Our No. 1 goal is not to hurt people,” she says. Her students notice the difference even after just a few classes. “Afterwards, I noticed that my hips felt really good,” convert Jacqui Nesbitt says. “It was great to feel that opening.” Mead currently teaches her Essentrics courses at Sundance Studio, which Kristen Rockford opened in January 2013 after searching for a place to practice yoga and dance. Currently, 18 instructors use the space, but none offering the strengthening and stretching system Mead has mastered with Essentrics. Info: www.susanemead.com, www.sundance-studio.com ■ Story & Photos by matt Stensland Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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One Steamboat Place features 80 residences, a spa, fitness and motion studio, family game room, tykes room, the Truffle Pig restaurant and more.
Guest For a Day What’s it like to be a guest in one of the base area’s newest, most visible properties? To find out, we spent a night at One Steamboat Place to see what all the hoopla was about. By Eugene Buchanan
“L
et’s face it. There are a lot of hassles about taking a family ski trip, so we try to make it as easy as possible for everyone,” says Elisabeth Mullen, reservations manager at One Steamboat Place, which is owned by Carbondale’s Timbers Resorts. Her words ring true the moment my family and I drive up to the front door. Instead of trying to squeeze into Ski Time Square and then the Knoll Parking Lot only to end up back down at Meadows, we’re parking as close to the mountain as possible, meaning less carrying of kids gear while Frankensteining around in ski boots. A friendly valet staff greets us, taking our luggage and skis, which they’ll label and leave outside the front door in gondola square. It’s refreshing how smiley everyone is, especially since it’s the end of the season. The check-in goes down as smoothly as the ice-cold, lemonwedged water from a nearby glass cooler. Gotta stay hydrated in the high country, especially if you’re visiting from sea level. Decor is obviously as important as dehydration. On the wall is a framed letter from Buffalo Bill from 1918 bought at an auction tion in New York. By the elevator is another dated May 25, 1956, from Ernest Hemingway to Master Sgt. Virgil Hays, Air Force, re-
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Watch a game on the grand flat-screen TV, enjoy a drink at the bar, or play cards at the window-side tables in the Wine Room, where a climate-controlled cellar holds more than 1,500 bottles of wine and showcases owners’ private collections.
garding the use of “For Whom the Bell Tolls” in guerilla training. Its postmark reads Cuba. The twists and turns in Hemingway’s masterpiece are matched by those in the hallways. Admittedly, the layout is a bit funky, due to the real estate’s tight footprint sandwiched in at the mountain’s base. Level Four is the only floor that connects all three wings, meaning you have to attentively navigate to reach the spa, game room and gathering room — which you want to pinpoint because, as well as its comfortable couches, fireplace and salmon chandelier, hosts a daily happy hour from 3:30 to 5 p.m. To find it, head right at the giant wooden buoys toward the wine room (where they store owners’ personal bottles). After finding our residence we drop our bags and head back to the gathering room and out to Gondola Square, where our perfectly labeled skis await. An admitted rookie at such pampering, I’m not savvy enough to realize that well-appointed locker rooms are one of the amenities of the resort and I stash my shoes under the ski rack outside. A great day of skiing leads us back to happy hour, a handful of buddies in tow. We arrive just in time for a Final Four game between Louisville and Wichita State, the guests divided in their cheering. Between baskets, I browse such works on the mantle as “Catch-22,” “Cigar Style” by Nick Foulkes and Charles Dickens’ “The Pickwick Papers” and “Gulliver’s Travels.” They’re classics, matching our accommodations. We dine on gourmet apps, enjoy free beer and wine and get to know other guests and owners before heading up to our own residence for the evening. After turning the game on on our living room’s flatscreen — by now the Shockers have amassed a 12-point lead with just 13 minutes to play — I marvel at the four-bedroom unit’s museumlike motif. Its golden-hued walls impress my wife, since we just finished the relationship-testing process of building an addition of our own. I scan for imperfections in the paint, but find none. The trim detail is immaculate. Highlighting the golden walls are burgundy accents in the kitchen cabinets, pillows, rugs, leather chair tops and dining table. Interior designers Sandy Burden, of Timbers Resorts, and Hilton Head, S.C.’s J Banks Design Group obviously knew what they were doing. On one wall are 12 different panels forming an old map of Colorado. On another is a painting of Steamboat’s downtown. On the coffee table is a copy of “Cowboy Boots: The Art and Sole” and Robert Behenke’s “About Trout.” In the master bathroom are showerheads on both ceiling and wall. Even the toilet paper seems plusher than normal; I count four plies. Our daughters, Casey and Brooke, could care less about pastel combinations. They’re all about the cannonball. For that, we head down to the outdoor pool and hot tubs, located just past the spa, fitness and yoga facilities. You can see it by looking over the railing at the skier drop-off zone. There are three different jacuzzis, plus a swimming pool, which the kids quickly wreak havoc in. “Don’t know them,” I say to Todd, a dentist from Tennessee sitting next to me. Johnny Cash and Seals and Croft play from outside speakers. Even the music fits the casual, relaxing atmosphere. Unfortunately, I end the soak so relaxed that I somehow misplace my shoes. But a few minutes later, a concierge promptly delivers them to my door. While our residence’s kitchen makes my wife scowl at our own, for dinner we leave the kids inside with a pizza and head next door to the Truffle Pig. While we usually visit for its $2 Sessions happy hour, this time we’re splurging. Manager Scott Engelmann brings us a Dark and Stormy, gin Q Smash and a plate of oysters. Managed by Timbers Resorts, the restaurant is owned by St. Louis’ Dave Jones, who hired Eric Laslow from New Mexico as head chef. Its specialty is truffles, in particular black from France and alba from Italy. A hard-to-find fungus that grows in the ground below fallen trees, they’re foraged for by pigs. “You can teach a pig how to find them in a day, but it takes three years to teach them not to eat them,” says Engelmann. In 2010, the restau-
The gathering room features a custom salmon chandelier crafted by Seattle’s Scott Chambers as well as Wendy McArthur’s custom painting of the Cowboy Downhill hanging over the fireplace.
rant was the largest seller of truffles in all Colorado. Shaved into wafer thin slices, their aroma hits us before they even arrive. We also order almonds with truffle oil. Our beet salad looks like a Picasso painting. Topping it off with Lavender Crème Brulee, we finally roll ourselves out the door. There’s no time for relaxing. Before I can plant myself on the couch, Casey makes me head for the game room, complete with billiards, foosball, movies, Xbox and more. On the way back we stop in the tykes room, which has children’s books, games and even a performance stage. In the elevator, a sultry voice says, “Fourth floor,” prompting Casey to ask where the lady lives. A Homer Simpson array of Milk Run donuts await us in the wine room the next morning, as do pastries, yogurt, fruit, smoothies and fresh coffee. While our skis are waiting outside again, I pick up a pair of 2014 Kastle FX 94s next door from Fleischer Sport, whose Deep Winter program lets guests demo different skis all season. I’m the first person to ski on them in Steamboat. “One Steamboat Place guests like Kastles,” says technician Kelly Bomar. “It’s a forgiving ski, and they’re quality conscious.” One Steamboat Place also offers owners and guests personalized ski valet service through Black Tie Ski Rentals. We ski for a few hours until the kids — woe of all local parents — have to get shuttled to soccer. While owners can stay at other resorts in the Timbers Collection, from Napa to Tuscany, we’re relegated back to our own humble abode. Like clockwork, our luggage and car are waiting outside. I could get used to this, I muse, wondering if that “your-oil-waschanged” sticker was on the inside of the windshield before we arrived. — To learn more call 970-439-2453 or visit www.onesteamboatplace.com. Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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goosing the
Throttle
Putting the hammer down: Steamboat Snowmobile Tours’ Glen Hammond taking advantage of a little “nonguest” time on Rabbit Ears Pass.
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Steamboat’s snowmobile guides give guests an experience of a lifetime Story by Eugene Buchanan Photos by John F. Russell
Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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A
s far as street cred in Ski Town USA goes, ski instructors, patrollers and cat-skiing guides get all the love. But there’s another group of guides cranking away off the radar who regularly show guests the highlight of their vacations. They’re up at dawn prepping machines, greeting guests with a smile and then digging them out later, all while showcasing another world-class activity in Steamboat. Following are a few guides from Steamboat Snowmobile Tours to tip your helmet to. andrew Crockett Age: 26 Marital status: single Years guiding: 3
Don’t feel bad when the guiding season wraps up for Andrew Crockett. That’s when he begins maximizing his summers, which this year entailed hightailing it to Banff, Alberta. “I was up there traveling, hiking, camping, mountain biking and living the dream, really,” he says. “It was a nice break after the guiding season.” Crockett grew up in Belmont, N.H., where he played high school soccer, going undefeated his senior year until a double overtime loss in the state championships. But he won an even bigger prize shortly later, attending Colorado’s Outdoor Adventure Guide School, where he learned “everything you need to know about being a guide, from orienteering to shelter, first aid, wilderness safety, horsemanship and more.” Certified as a guide, he moved to Steamboat in November 2011 to work for Steamboat Snowmobile Tours. “I’d visited Steamboat about six years earlier when my brother was living here,” he says. “I’ve always loved it. I wanted to do the guiding I went to school for, saw an ad that they were hiring and jumped on it.” He hasn’t looked back since, except to see if his guests are following correctly. “I’ve felt welcome ever since I first moved here,” he says. “Everyone’s super friendly here. It’s great how it’s a town and not just a ski area full of yuppies.” As for the actual guiding, the best part of it, he says, is exposing newcomers to the sport and providing information and history about the area. “The majority of guests we have, have never been on a snowmobile before,” he says. “Nothing beats seeing their expressions and genuine happiness. It’s awesome to share something I have such a passion for and then have them say it was the best thing they’ve done here.” In the offseason, Crockett travels. Before gearing up here every winter, you can find him hunting, fishing, mountain biking, hiking, kayaking and camping — basically doing anything in the outdoors. “Really, it’s the best job in the world,” he says. 58 | Steamboat living | Winter 2014
“It’s the best job in the world”
“I work construction so I can afford this lifesytle.”
Pete miller
Age: 27 Marital status: single Years guiding: 3 You could say that snowmobiling is in Pete Miller’s blood. The 27-year-old guide grew up in Delta Junction, Alaska, where sleds were a daily part of life for recreation and transportation. “I played basketball in high school but quit my senior year so I could snowmobile more,” he says. “I’ve been riding sleds for as long as I can remember.” All that has parlayed into a wealth of experience he brings to Steamboat Snowmobile Tours. Moving to Steamboat in 2008 to attend Colorado Mountain College, Miller says he moved here “for the snow, sun and CMC.”
“I love that I can do all the things I grew up doing here, plus so much more,” he says. “Someone once asked me what I would do if money wasn’t an issue, and I told them I’d probably snowmobile every day.” That’s pretty much what his life allows now. He’s going on his fourth year guiding and is showing no signs of slowing down. As much as he enjoys riding, he also likes turning others onto his passion. “I love showing people a good time,” he says. “A lot of guests tell me that snowmobiling was the highlight of their trip. I’ve had kids tell me it was the best day of their life.” In the offseason you’ll find him hunting, fishing, hiking, climbing, camping, mountain biking, off-roading, wakeboarding, tubing and more — anything, it seems, that keeps him close to his Alaska roots. “When I’m not guiding, I work construction so I can afford this lifestyle,” he says. Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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“the biggest complaint we get is guests’ teeth are cold from smiling too much.”
John Hernandez Age: 39 Marital status: single Years guiding: 13
Guiding is a water-based juggling act for Steamboat Snowmobile Tours manager John Hernandez. He spends the winter leading snowmobile tours and the summers guiding river trips in Idaho. “It’s a nice rotation — Steamboat in the winter and Idaho in the summer,” he says. “But even after 13 years, it’s always great to come back to the Yampa Valley when the seasons change.” Hernandez still remembers the first time he drove over Rabbit Ears Pass in 1999 after a friend told him about Steamboat. He was guiding river trips on the Gauley River in West Virginia, and his friend, who had a gig as a snowmobile guide, asked him what he was doing that winter. Not sure, he loaded up his truck. “I almost went off the road trying to take it all in when I came over the pass,” he says. “The curse of the valley bit me pretty hard. Except for a season kayaking in South America, I’ve spent all but one winter here ever since.” Raised in the beach town of North Kingstown, R.I., Hernandez graduated in 1996 from Massachusetts’ Springfield College, where
60 | Steamboat living | Winter 2014
he played volleyball and earned a degree in exercise and movement sciences. He later earned his master’s degree in outdoor recreation management. “I started spending a lot more time outdoors,” he says, adding that his paddling passion led him to become a video kayaker, instructor and raft guide on the Gauley. Then came the trip to Steamboat. “The thing that sticks out about Steamboat is that it’s a real town that happens to have a killer resort,” he says. “The sense of community here is very tangible, and I have great friends and family here. Even our guests sense it. They often comment on how even-keeled Steamboat is.” His job is to make them even-keeled on a snowmobile. “I love watching the evolution people make in just two hours,” he says. “Some guests come in apprehensive but by the end are comfortable and relaxed and taken aback by the scenery and what they just did. The biggest complaint we get is that their teeth are cold from smiling too much.”
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“I like the challenges it presents...” alyssa Hartson
Age: 27 Marital status: married Years guiding: 2 Alyssa Hartson’s nickname among her guiding peers is “Crash,” but she’s not telling how she earned it. Growing up in Oconomowoc, Wis., and graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a degree in biology and environmental science in 2009, Hartson is accustomed to smalltown living and loves that about Steamboat. But as evidenced by her college research in plant systematics — and helping develop a green roof garden on the campus dorms — it’s the great outdoors that’s always been close to her heart. Since 2009, she’s worked as a glacier guide and manager at Alaska’s Mica Guides in the summer, guiding ice climbing trips and treks on the Matanuska Glacier. Any spare time she has is spent climbing, backpacking and mountaineering. At the end of each summer, she and her husband, Matt Windsor, “typically chase 62 | Steamboat living | Winter 2014
summers from the Northern to Southern Hemisphere,” often with bikes in tow. The winter before last, this involved a five-month bicycle tour through Southeast Asia. “I love biking,” she says. “When we’re traveling, we’re usually cycle touring.” Last winter was different. Thanks to fellow Mica guide Reese Morter, she landed a job guiding snowmobiles in Steamboat. “I’ve been guiding since 2009 and the activities have all been humanpowered — sea kayaking, backpacking, glacier traverses and ice climbing,” she says. “Guiding people on 500-pound machines is a completely different ball game. But I like the challenges it presents both physically and mentally.” As for where she’s ended up winter-wise, she’s happy with her home in the Yampa Valley. “We’re seasonal workers, so we never stay in one place too long,” says Hartson, who, believe it or not, counts knitting as one of her more sedentary pursuits. “We stay until the season ends then head to our other gig. But I like the fact that there are fun activities to do here all year, whether it’s mountain biking, skiing or just hanging out in the sun at a pub on the Yampa.”
Reese morter
Age: 26 Marital status: single Years guiding: 9 Even as a lifelong snowboarder, motor sports always have been in Reese Morter’s blood. Growing up in a farmhouse in Cedarburg, Wis., Morter spent his youth following his brother and sister’s off-road racing careers. “My family has always been into motor sports,” he says. “My childhood was never spent too far away from anything with an engine or that went fast. Racing was my family’s passion.” He brought that background with him to Steamboat in 2005 to attend Colorado Mountain College. “My uncle has lived here for 25 years, which helped me get started here,” he says. “I’ve been snowboarding for two decades, so prioritizing college here was easy.” After earning his associate degree in outdoor education, he moved to British Columbia to attend Thompson Rivers University’s Adventure Guide Program through the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides. “I spent two years training in rock and ice climbing, ski touring, rope rescue, avalanche rescue and
guiding leadership,” he says. “It’s given me a great background for guiding.” Guiding for Steamboat Snowmobile Tours since he first moved here at age 18, Morter also learned the tricks of the guiding trade through the school of hard knocks. “I didn’t have much guiding experience when I started,” he says. “But through years of hard work, I’ve learned what being a guide is all about. I feel very competent with clients in the backcountry.” As with Hartson, in the summers Morter teaches ice climbing in Alaska for Mica Guides, but he returns every winter to the flanks of Mount Werner. “Snowmobiling in four feet of fresh powder is an experience unlike anything else,” he says. “Snowmobiling also gives me a chance to explore endless new terrain.” His enthusiasm rubs off on his clients. “I love hearing clients say they just had the time of their lives,” he says. “I love to show people my passions in life.” One of his main passions is powder. “The quality of snow here is hard to match,” says Morter, also an avid fly-fisher. “Steamboat is an amazing place to live. It lets you experience everything Colorado has to offer and is a great family community.” You can count on him returning to Routt County from Alaska every fall, albeit with a detour or two. “This fall, I took my time road tripping back down by stopping to fly-fish for steelhead through British Columbia,” he says. “Then I headed to Yosemite for some big wall climbing. But I always love coming back to Steamboat.”
“I love hearing clients say they just had the time of their lives.” Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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Guides with Pride: (clockwise from top) John Hernandez, Reese Morter, Pete Miller, Andrew Crockett, Glen Hammond and Alyssa Hartson. 64 64 | Steamboat living | Winter 2014
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Age: 29 Marital status: single Years guiding: 10 If ever there was a homespun snowmobile guide, it’s Glen Hammond, whose great-grandparents came to town by train in 1936 and started what is now the McLaughlin Land and Cattle ranch in Clark. This means he has a multigenerational pedigree in dealing with deep snow. Born and raised in Steamboat, Hammond has kept the tradition going his whole life, skiing and zinging around on snowmobiles as a kid en route to graduating from Steamboat Springs High School and earning an Associate of Arts degree from Colorado Mountain College. Always interested in helping people, it was only natural that after a brief stint working in an ambulance in Denver, he returned to Steamboat to guide for Steamboat Snowmobile Tours in 2004. “The main reason I went to work here was so I could get better at snowmobiling for Routt County Search and Rescue,” he says. It didn’t take long for him to climb the ranks, just like his sleds climb ridges atop Rabbit Ears Pass. He worked as a guide and van driver the fi rst couple of years, then learned the administration and mechanical sides and now manages the entire operation. He couldn’t fathom a better fit. “I like how spontaneous the job is,” he says. “You can wake up and look out the window, and the weather hasn’t done anything in town, but once you reach the cabin, your whole day changes. The weather and snowfall can change in minutes.” He loves living in Steamboat, especially with its great access to the great outdoors, and wants to continue helping people, just like he does every day up on the pass. “At some point, I’d like to get back on a ambulance or maybe even become a National Park Service ranger,” he says. “They get to do a little bit of everything — search and rescue, ambulance service, fire fighting and law enforcement. But it’s also hard to beat guiding.”
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Results from the 2013 community survey.
SHOPPiNG Best Art Gallery
Best Home Decor Store
Best Liquor Store: Central Park Liquor
1. Steamboat Art Museum 2. Artists’ Gallery of Steamboat/ Wild Horse Gallery 3. Images of Nature
1. Annie’s Home Consignments 2. Romick’s Into the West 3. Ace Hardware
Best Sporting Goods Store
Best Carpet and Flooring Store
1. Ski Haus 2. Sports Authority 3. Christy Sports
1. Carpets Plus 2. Affordable Flooring Warehouse 3. The Carpet Shoppe
Best Men’s Clothing Store
1. Annie’s Home Consignments 2. Steamboat Moxie Home Consignments and Design 3. Steamboat Home Consignment
Best Clothing Consignment Store 1. Deja Vu Boutique 2. Boomerang Sports Exchange 3. Finders Keepers
John F. russeLL
Best Furniture Consignment Store
1. Allen’s Clothing 2. Zirkel Trading 3. Urbane
Best Women’s Clothing Store
Best Liquor Store
Best Jewelry Store
1. Central Park Liquor 2. Ski Haus Liquors 3. Arctic Liquors
1. Hofmeister Personal Jewelers 2. The Silver Lining 3. Steamboat Art Co.
Best Gift Shop
Best Bike Shop
Best Children’s Clothing Store
1. Lyon Drug Store 2. Steamboat Art Co. 3. All That Jazz
1. Steamboat Ski & Bike Kare 2. Orange Peel Bicycle Service 3. Ski Haus
1. Walmart 2. F.M. Light & Sons 3. Dragonflies
66 | Steamboat living | Winter 2014
1. Moose Mountain Trading Co. 2. Urbane 3. Kali’s Boutique
Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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Dining Best Coffee Shop
1. Slopeside Grill 2. T Bar 3. Rex’s American Grill & Bar
1. MountainBrew 2. Steaming Bean Coffee Co. 3. Starbucks at Sundance Plaza
Best Asian
Best Delicatessen
1. Noodles & More Saigon Cafe 2. Saketumi 3. Sambi
1. Backcountry Delicatessen 2. Steamboat Meat & Seafood Co. 3. 5th Street Market & Deli
Best Bakery 1. Milk Run Donut Cafe 2. Winona’s 3. MountainBrew
Best Bar 1. Carl’s Tavern 2. Mahogany Ridge Brewery and Grill 3. Sweetwater Grill
Best Bartender 1. Sunpie’s Bistro, Richard “Gooch” Shine 2. Harwigs/L’Apogee, Jack Doyle 3. Slopeside, Rebecca Boucha
Best Grab & Go Breakfast Spot 1. Colorado Bagel Co. 2. MountainBrew 3. Milk Run Donut Cafe
Best Sit-Down Breakfast Spot 1. Creekside Cafe & Grill 2. Freshies 3. Winona’s
Best Burrito
1. Azteca Taqueria, fish burrito 2. Creekside Cafe & Grill, breakfast burrito 3. Azteca Taqueria, breakfast burrito
Best Catering Service 1. The Drunken Onion 2. Steamboat Meat & Seafood Co. 3. Marno’s Custom Catering
Best Cocktail
1. Margarita, Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant 2. Hurricane, Sunpie’s Bistro 3. Gerry’s Berries, Sweetwater Grill
Gerry’s Berries
Best Pizza: Soda Creek Pizza Co.’s Snow in Texas
John F. Russell
Best Après Scene on the Mountain
Best Family Restaurant
1. Rex’s American Grill & Bar 2. Johnny B. Good’s Diner 3. Ore House at Pine Grove
Best Fine Dining Experience
1. Café Diva 2. bistro c.v. 3. Harwigs/L’Apogee
Best Gluten-Free Menu 1. Sweetwater Grill 2. Bamboo Market 3. Freshies
Best Hamburger 1. Big House Burgers and Bottle Cap Bar 2. Double Z Bar & BBQ 3. Rex’s American Grill & Bar
Best Italian
1. Mambo Italiano 2. Mazzola’s Majestic Italian Diner 3. Riggio’s Ristorante
Best Grab & Go Lunch 1. Backcountry Delicatessen 2. Azteca Taqueria 3. Cruisers Sub Shop
Best Sit-Down Lunch Spot 1. Freshies 2. Creekside Cafe & Grill 3. Winona’s
Best Mexican
1. Fiesta Jalisco 2. Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant
68 | Steamboat living | Winter 2014
3. Cantina Mexican Restaurant
Creekside Cafe & Grill
Best Outdoor Dining
Best Service
1. Sweetwater Grill 2. Creekside Cafe & Grill 3. Sunpie’s Bistro
1. Café Diva 2. Creekside Cafe & Grill 3. bistro c.v.
Best Pint of Guinness 1. McKnight’s Irish Pub & Loft 2. Carl’s Tavern 3. Slopeside Grill
Best Pizza
1. Soda Creek Pizza Co., Snow in Texas 2. Brooklynn’s Pizzeria, Pepperoni 3. Blue Sage Pizza, spinach-stuffed deep dish
Best Ribs 1. Double Z Bar & BBQ 2. Steamboat Smokehouse 3. Ore House at Pine Grove
Best Sandwich
1. Backcountry Delicatessen, Pilgrim 2. Backcountry Delicatessen, Fourteener 3. Cruisers Sub Shop, pork carnitas
Best Seafood
1. Steamboat Meat & Seafood Co. 2. Saketumi 3. Café Diva
Best Server 1. Daryl Newcomb at Café Diva 2. Kenny Pitts at Rex’s American Grill & Bar 3. Andrea Hukriede at
Best Place to Watch the Game 1. The Tap House Sports Grill 2. Carl’s Tavern 3. Slopeside Grill
Best Steak 1. Ore House at Pine Grove 2. 8th Street Steakhouse 3. Café Diva
Best Sushi 1. Saketumi 2. Noodles & More Saigon Cafe 3. Spostas World Sushi
Best Hot Dog 1. The Hungry Dog, Chicago Dog 2. The Hungry Dog, Chili Dog 3. The Tap House Sports Grill, Stadium Dog
Best Wings 1. The Tap House Sports Grill 2. Double Z Bar & BBQ 3. Steamboat Smokehouse
Best Vegetarian Menu 1. Bamboo Market 2. Sweet Pea Cafe 3. Freshies
cOmmuNiTY Best Artist
Best Philanthropists
1. Susan Schiesser 2. Gregory Block 3. Michelle Ideus
1. Sara and Michael Craig-Scheckman 2. Susan and Jim Larson 3. Verne Lundquist
Best DJ
Best Place to Work, more than 20 employees
1. Brian Alpart, DJ Also Starring 2. Kip Stream 3. Melissa Baker, DJ MelRae
1. SmartWool 2. Yampa Valley Medical Center 3. Steamboat Springs School District
Best Guitar Player 1. Randy Kelley/Steve Boynton 2. Jon Gibbs 3. Jay Roemer
Best Local Drummer
Best Place to Work, less than 20 employees
1. Eric Barry - Worried Men 2. Mark Walker - Loose Change 3. Pat Waters - Missed the Boat
1. Debbie Aragon, State Farm Insurance 2. Alpine Bank 3. Moose Mountain Trading Co.
Best Volunteer 1. Maggie Smith/Shannon Lukens 2. Catherine Carson/Debbie Curd 3. Alice Klauzer/Andy Kennedy
Best Free Summer Concert 1. Trampled by Turtles 2. Michael Franti & Spearhead 3. The Beatles Tribute 1964
Best Ski or Snowboard Patroller 1. Kyle Lawton 2. John “Pink” Floyd 3. Craig MacDonald
Best Coach 1. John Aragon, tennis 2. Brent Tollar, high school hockey/ Neill Redfern, lacrosse 3. Chris Adams, middle school, youth baseball
1. Grady Turner 2. Tracy Bye 3. Laura LeBrun
Best Radio Station
Best Snowboard Instructor
Best School Teacher, grades 9 to 12
1. 105.5 KFMU 2. 96.9 KBCR 3. 94.1 KEZZ
1. Abigail Slingsby 2. Tom Barr (“T-Barr”) 3. Dylan Davidson/Scott Anfang
1. Eric Nilsson 2. Larry Gravelle 3. Cindy Gay
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Wheelchairs Oxygen Walkers
1. George Morris 2. Cheryl Talbot 3. Gary Campbell
Best School Teacher, grades K to 8
Best Ski Instructor 1. Nancy Gray 2. Trish O’Connell 3. Chip Shevlin
Best Steamboat Springs Transit Bus Driver
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Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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Services Best Attorney
Best Winter Fly
1. Kris Hammond, Hammond Law Offices 2. Adam Mayo, ESQ 3. Drew Johnroe, Drew Johnroe PC
1. Pablo’s Cripple 2. San Juan worm 2. Kenny Loose 3. Bead head prince nymph
Best Auto Repair Shop
Best Summer Fly
1. Bob’s Downtown Conoco 2. Elk Mountain Automotive 3. Westside Automotive
1. Elk hair caddis 2. Pablo’s Cripple 3. Blue-winged olive
Best Bank
Best Fishing Outfitter
1. Yampa Valley Bank 2. Wells Fargo 3. Alpine Bank
1. Steamboat Flyfisher 2. Straightline Sports 3. Bucking Rainbow Outfitters
Best Bike Mechanic
Best Fitness Center
1. Brock Webster, Orange Peel Bicycle Service 2. Chris Johns, Wheels Bike Shop 3. JR Thompson, Blue Room Velo
Best Chiropractic Service 1. Rinn Chiropractic Center 2. Sanford Chiropractic Clinic 3. Liberman Wellness
Best Dental Practice 1. Pine Grove Dental Arts 2. Sunshine Dentistry 3. Avant Garde Dental
Best ER Doctor 1. Dr. Dave Wilkinson 2. Dr. Nathan Anderson 3. Dr. David Cionni
Best Internist 1. Dr. Mark McCaulley, Yampa Valley Medical Associates 2. Dr. Charlie Peterson, Yampa Valley Medical Associates 3. Dr. Kevin Borgerding, Yampa Valley Medical Associates
Best Family Doctor 1. Dr. Jim Dudley, Steamboat Medical Group 2. Dr. Brian Harrington, Yampa Valley Medical Associates 3. Dr. David Niedermeier, Steamboat Medical Group
Best Fishing Guide 1. Tyler Anderson, Straightline Sports 2. Keith Hale, Steamboat Flyfisher 3. Steve Henderson, Straightline Sports
1. Old Town Hot Springs 2. Anytime Fitness 3. Manic Training
Best Floral Shop
1. Tall Tulips 2. Steamboat Floral & Gifts 3. City Market
Best Graphic Designer 1. Karen McLane, PostNet 2. Greg Effinger, Creative Bearings 3. Todd Bischoff, 3Bischoff/Justin Hirsch, Steamboat Design Associates
Best Hunting Guide 1. Lonny Vanatta, Vanatta Outfitters 2. Dirk Vanatta, Vanatta Outfitters 3. Rowan “Perk” Heid, Del’s Triangle 3
Best Music Venue 1. Ghost Ranch 2. Strings Music Pavilion 3. Sweetwater Grill
Best Men’s Haircut 1. 10th Street Barbershop 2. Wildhorse Salon 3. Salon M
Best Hair Salon 1. Wildhorse Salon 2. Hair On Earth 3. Brio Salon
Best Hairstylist
1. Stephani Weiss, Rocky Mountain Day Spa 2. Heather Jette, Wildhorse Salon 3. Shana Thomas, Brio Salon
70 | Steamboat living | Winter 2014
Best Insurance Agent 1. Debbie Aragon, State Farm 2. Dax Mattox, State Farm 3. Brown & Brown Insurance
Best Printing Shop 1. PostNet 2. Northwest Graphics 3. Element Print & Design
Best Ski or Snowboard Best Massage Therapist Rental Shop 1. Erica Olson, Heartfire Massage
2. Ali Boehm, Kneading Hands 3. Pamela Peretz, Life Essentials Day Spa
1. Ski Haus 2. Christy Sports and Door 2 Door Ski Rentals 3. Steamboat Ski & Bike Kare
Best Nursery or Gardening Store
Best Place for Ski or Snowboard Tunes
1. Windemere Landscape & Garden Center 2. Gecko Landscape & Design 3. Kinnikinnik Lawn & Garden
1. Ski Haus 2. Christy Sports 3. EdgeWorks
Best Oral Surgeon
Best Snowmobile or ATV Mechanic
1. Dr. John Lupori, Alpine Oral & Facial Surgery 2. Dr. Scott Eivins, Dentistry of Steamboat Springs 3. Dr. Karl Heggland, Northwest OMS
1. Gary Eubank, Extreme Power Sports 2. Randy Osborn, The Motorcycle Shop 3. Terry Eubank, Extreme Power Sports
Best Optometry Practice
Best Snow Removal Service
1. Mountain Eyeworks 2. Helm Eye Center 3. Steamboat Vision Clinic
Best Pediatrician 1. Dr. Steven A. Ross, Sleeping Bear Pediatrics 2. Dr. Sheila Fountain, Pediatrics of Steamboat 3. Dr. Ron Famiglietti, Pediatrics of Steamboat
1. Native Excavating 2. Shuv-It Services 3. Mountain Roots/Schreiner, Inc
Best Spa
1. Rocky Mountain Day Spa 2. Waterside Day Spa 3. Life Essentials Day Spa
Best Veterinarian 1. Pet Kare Clinic 2. Steamboat Veterinary Hospital 3. Animal Healing Center
Best Pharmacy
Best Travel Agency
1. Lyon Drug Store 2. City Market 3. Walmart
1. Steamboat Reservations & Travel 2. Steamboat Central Reservations 3. Magic Carpet Travel
Best Personal Trainer 1. Brady Worster, Anytime Fitness 2. Sarah Coleman, FusionFit 3. Chris Voyvodic, Old Town Hot Springs
Best Physical Therapy Practice
1. SportsMed at Yampa Valley Medical Center 2. Johnson & Johnson Physical Therapy 3. Kinetic Energy
Best Wedding Planner 1. Lindsey Grannis, One Fine Day Productions 2. Jill Waldman, The Main Event 3. Nikki Knoebel, Catamount Ranch & Club
Best Wedding Reception Venue 1. Catamount Ranch & Club 2. Steamboat Ski Area 3. Perry Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp
HOmeS Best Architect
Best Interior Designer
1. Joe Patrick Robbins 2. Bill Rangitsch, Steamboat Architectural Associates 3. Brandt Vanderbosch, Vertical Arts Architecture
1. Irene Nelson, Irene Nelson Interiors 2. Lynne Bier, Home on the Range 3. Christine Loeb, CWC Designs
1. Ken Roche, Total Service PHD 2. Ken Finch, Ken Finch Plumbing 3. Jeff Herfurtner, JEFFS PLUMBING LLC
Best Landscaping Service
Best Real Estate Agency
1. Gecko Landscape & Design 2. The Lawn Lady 3. Kinnikinnick Lawn & Garden
1. Prudential Steamboat Realty 2. Colorado Group Realty 3. Coldwell Banker Distinctive Properties
Best Electrician 1. Geoff Coon, Coon Custom Electric 2. Don Kuntz, Current Electric 3. Fred Grippa, Midwest Electric
Best General Contractor 1. Fox Construction 2. Gerber Berend Design Build 3. HLCC Holmquist Lorenz Construction Co.
Best Mortgage Broker 1. Kathryn Pedersen, PrimeSource Mortgage 2. Holly Rogers, Yampa Valley Bank 3. Josh Kagan, Cornerstone Mortgage
Best Plumber
1. Cam Boyd, Prudential Steamboat Reality 2. Pam Vanatta, Prudential Steamboat Realty 3. Jon Wade, Colorado Group Realty
Best Real Estate Agent for Ranches and Land
Best Roofing Company 1. Tin Man Roofing 2. Wilson Roofing 3. Revelation Roofing
Best Real Estate Agent
1. Christy Belton, Ranch Marketing Associates 2. Shelley Stanford, Colorado Group Realty 3. Bo & Sue Stempel, Colorado Group Realty
Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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Ross remembers
Making the leap to respectability Winter Sports Club helped establish freestyle skiing as a legitimate sport
L
1977, it’s amazing that it was able to latch on to one of Steamboat’s most revered institutions at all. But then, Steamboat was wilder and woollier in the late ’70s as well. Steamboat’s Park Smalley, deservedly credited with a major parenting role in raising freestyle from its infancy to Olympic stature, says that he and his cronies pulled some wild stunts in their early days here. Imagine a competition in March 1980 at hallowed Howelsen Hill in which amped-up aerialists launched themselves off a snowy ramp and landed after countless flips and twists in a pit of muddy water. And a huge crowd roared its approval. Smalley, known internationally for making freestyle respectable, remembers that day well right up until he hit a slick takeoff and knocked himself unconscious. “I know that I was trying to swim out of there, but I was trying to swim to the bottom,” recalls Smalley, who had to be rescued from the water. Ultimately, Smalley and his brother, Jon, helped make freeTom Ross
ooking back on 25 years of moguls and flips, it’s startling to realize that freestyle has been offered for a quarter of the existence of the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club. While ski jumping got it all started, and Alpine took the club to greater international recognition, freestyle delivered the first homegrown Olympic medal, when mogul skier Nelson Carmichael claimed bronze in Albertville, France, in 1992. With the 2014 Games nearly upon us, and a long string of medal-wining performances, freestyle has become a fixture in Steamboat and the rest of the world. But it wasn’t always that way. Longtime local In fact, when you recall just how wild writer Tom Ross has and woolly freestyle remained even as it called Steamboat was drawn into the bosom of the club in home since 1979.
Big hair, bigger air: 1980 Freestyle Ski Team members Nelson Carmichael, Cooper Schell, Kris “Fuzz” Feddersen, Darren Petrucci and David Schell. 72 | Steamboat living | Winter 2014
style safer for all competitors. They established the fundamental principles for teaching the complex skill sets needed by skiers who were initially required to compete in three disciplines: moguls, aerials and ballet. Carmichael was one of Smalley’s fi rst athletes, as was Cooper Schell, who won seven World Cup podiums in moguls. Longtime protege Kris “Fuzz” Feddersen, a three-time Olympian, was just announced as one of the newest inductees into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. Smalley fi rst came to Steamboat in 1976 at the suggestion of fellow freestyle skiers and coaches Mike Williams, who grew up in Steamboat, and Rusty Taylor. Williams had an in with Steamboat’s Parks and Recreation director and asked him if they could coach a freestyle program. “It was the end of the summer and we were sitting in a bar in Killington,” Smalley says. “We drove straight across the country and arrived in the third week of August. I told Rich (Gagnebin) that we’d need to dig a couple of pits for trampolines, build some scaffolding for the jump ramp and dig another pit fi lled with fluffed-up straw to land in.” The new camp, called The Great Western Freestyle Center, was suddenly a reality. “Fuzz was our fi rst student,” Smalley says. “We hadn’t done any advertising, but his mom, Jo, drove over to see us. He was 13. We just started grabbing kids, including Cooper, and started skiing with them.” Feddersen recalls that before the freestyle center, he and his buddies had become obsessed with launching themselves off every bump they could fi nd. Shortly later, he saw a TV segment showing Airborne Eddie Ferguson demonstrating fl ips to promote his own freestyle camps. Feddersen wanted to join it, but his mom wanted him to get some instruction fi rst, so she delivered Fuzz to Howelsen Hill. “It was hilarious,” Feddersen says. “They had two trampolines and Park’s ramp into the big hay pit and that was it.” Learning to do fl ips on a trampoline didn’t come easily for the future Olympic freestyler. “The fi rst time Park made me do a fl ip without the harness, I was scared and Park made fun of me,” he says. “I was crying, I was so freaked out.” By now, Gagnebin had been replaced by John Thrasher, another open-minded Parks and Recreation director. “I went to Thrasher and Walt Evans, who was with the Winter Sports Club, and laid out a little plan for them,” Smalley says. “The next winter of 1977-78 we got the green light.” In exchange for support with accounting services and endowing Smalley’s program with some legitimacy, the club took 10 percent of the camp’s fees. Williams and Taylor soon moved on to other pursuits and Jon Smalley came on board as the program grew. Fuzz remembers that to get to their fi rst-ever competition, he and two other team members rode all the way to Winter Park on top of a mattress in the back of Park’s truck (not exactly the vans used by today’s club members, but it did have the air conditioning). The fi rst amateur national freestyle championships were held at Copper Mountain in 1977. By 1979 Feddersen, Schell and Carmichael all qualified for the national championships at Jackson, Wyo. Feddersen broke through with a national championship in ballet, ironically a discipline he was not fond of, at Squaw Valley in 1987. Smalley’s stature as a freestyle coach was cemented, and he soon became the junior coach for the U.S. Ski Association, coaching many Olympic teams. Today, he’s quick to say that some of the “free” has gone out of freestyle. Today’s mogul skiers zoom down perfectly groomed courses, where the bumps are identical and the jumps meticulously constructed. But he admits that some of the spontaneity that once defi ned the sport can still be found in freeskiing, which debuts as an Olympic event in Sochi this year. And the memories of the old days are now all part of the sport’s legend. “It was this circus act of wild and crazy skiers traveling around the country as a band of gypsies,” he says.
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Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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FiNAL FrAmeS
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Billy Kidd’s medal-winning skis and helmet
Blast From the Past
t’s an Olympic year, so what better way to celebrate than by highlighting heirlooms from local icon Billy Kidd, who used the gear below to win the U.S. men’s first skiing Olympic medal in 1964 and the World Championships in 1970. Ski: Billy Kidd used this 207-centimeter, wood Kastle slalom ski to win a silver medal in slalom in the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. With Jimmie Heuga winning the bronze, they became the first two U.S. men to win Olympic medals in skiing. “That was the last year we used wooden skis in the Olympics,” says Kidd, now 70. “They were so stiff you could barely bend them. Two years later, we had fiberglass skis, plastic boots and release bindings.” Kidd also used leather boots and bear-trap bindings with “longthongs,” a six-foot-long leather strap that racers wrapped around their boots. “Everyone had their own way of tying them on around their ankles,” says Kidd, who used to practice the calf-roping-like technique on his living room floor. “You wanted to do it as quickly as possible so you could get more training runs in. The release factor was when the screws pulled out of the ski.” Helmet: Realizing the protection limitations of his coveted Stetson, Kidd used this stars and stripes Bell helmet when racing downhill en route to winning the gold in combined at the 1970 World Championships. “‘Easy Rider’ had just come out the year before, and Peter Fonda had that same design on his motorcycle helmet,” he says. “I was proud of being an American downhill racer, so I thought it’d be cool to use it in the World Championships. In those days we didn’t have fences to keep us out of the trees if we fell. An Australian racer was killed when he fell and slid into the woods.” As for the design, it was well before the age of air-brushing, says Kidd. “One of my teammates just put some tape on it and then spray-painted it,” he says. “But it was fast enough to win the gold.” 74 74 | Steamboat living | Winter 2014
TiM MurPhy
Winter 2014 | Steamboat living
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76 | Steamboat living | Winter 2014