It is not really that surprising that surprises pop up everywhere. A Russian figure skater is allowed to compete at the Olympics this week even after testing positive for a banned performance enhancing drug. Huh? Republican party officials think rioting in the U.S. Capitol is “legitimate political course.” Okie dokie. The New York Post discovered Snoop Dogg smoked weed right before performing at the Super Bowl half time show! Shocking! All are surprises but are they really?

Locally, a bit of a surprise was announced this week as the Gunnison-Crested Butte airport is heading toward modern record numbers of people using the facility in a winter season. The remaining flights continue to fill up and air travel out of Gunnison is once again becoming a real thing.

It seemed to me that when Vail Resorts first took over CBMR, the drive market suddenly exploded as people who had heard of Crested Butte but never skied it came in droves for the weekends. That Front Range push seems to have pulled back a bit perhaps because many of them probably got stuck in the Highway 285 traffic jams on Sunday afternoons as they headed back home. The weekend spike in our lift lines don’t seem as dramatic this year as they have in the past.

Now it is the air traveler who is coming here to ski. According to recent reports presented at the RTA board meeting last week, the local airport will see more people pass through its under-construction terminal than at any point in recent history. Flights out of Dallas and Denver are averaging more than 80% full and Houston is at almost 75% full. Flights are so full this winter the RTA may not have to pony up the financial guarantees it has as part of the contracts with United and American airlines. Private jets dot the runway daily. Focused marketing efforts seem to be successfully attracting adventure loving millennials who bike, ski and enjoy experiences over things. That visitor draw is sure to get the attention of the Broomfield execs. 

Unlike some living here, I truly enjoy most of the tourist town elements of CB. Surprise! The challenge is to manage the impacts that come with it. Having more people fly here fits into the old CB equation that the valley can handle increased numbers if the tourists use the right infrastructure. In winter, visitors can fly in on metal tubes from all over the country, board the metal tube of a bus or van, get dropped off at an existing hotel, walk over to ride the ski lift, take the bus downtown for meals before heading back to the hotel to sleep and do it all again the next day. While certainly not carbon neutral, the tourists can be contained so they have an efficient and enjoyable visit without overstressing things like roads and parking. 

Those that fly apparently spend more money than those that drive to a vacation. That should help the local shops and restaurants. Of course, the problem right now is the limited restaurant scene, which is part of the private infrastructure. I’ve said before and will again, that compared to just a few years ago, the local dining scene is basically a foodie desert with some really fine oases to visit. It just takes some planning and luck to find them.

A longer-term question becomes whether those that visit will return when facing a less than optimal experience if they can’t find an easy place to grab a good dinner. That’s part of who we are. That slice of the tourism infrastructure is lacking right now. Given employee shortages with the tight housing situation — which is in part a private business infrastructure responsibility by the way — who knows when that will catch up. It’s part of the challenge.

Despite a splash of snow on Wednesday, the lack of new snow after a really good early season snowstorm is a bit of surprise. In the old days, you could count on regular storm cycles all winter and February was a sweet snow month. Not so much now. After a huge 99-incher of a snowstorm it has been weeks since we’ve recorded any significant new snow. We can hope the 1-2 inches forecast for Wednesday and Thursday increases to 6 or 7.

Bluebird days have led to some precarious conditions up on the hill so consider this an alert to be aware and pull it back a notch. The snow is “firm” pretty much everywhere. I spoke with a visitor from upstate New York a week ago and she said conditions were still better than most East Coast resorts but she was finding a lot of similarity to her home ski hills. 

What is termed “slide for life” conditions are in effect. That’s where you might catch an edge on a steep slope, fall and become a slave to gravity. There are times you can accelerate so fast that it is impossible to stop. And as was evidenced more than once last weekend, the worst-case scenario is when you are stopped by a tree or big rock. It’s not pretty but it is real right now and anyone who has skied much has experienced a slide for life surprise.

Look, attaching two planks to stiff plastic boots and choosing to point them down a mountain covered in snow is not inherently safe. But it sure is a lot of fun. So have fun and avoid a hospital bill. The forgiveness window is narrow. The local tolerance level for overconfident Front Rangers is slim. The entrances to the Extremes Limits are challenging and if you can’t ride a T-bar, there is no way you’ll easily navigate the traverse into the Face. Just sayin’. Give our patrollers a break and ski within your skill set. And pray for more snow.

Try not to be surprised. Don’t go to Sock It To Me Ridge unless you are honestly ready for steep, bony and slick. Expect to wait a while for dinner on Elk Ave. Know that you’ll be sharing the construction zone of the airport with more than a few people. If you see Snoop Dogg, don’t be surprised if he smells like weed. And don’t for a minute believe January 6 was “legitimate political discourse.”

—Mark Reaman

Will Crested Butte’s Community Compass long-term planning project actually guide the future of this community or will it be just another document for the dusty shelf? It feels that some on council are waiting for the document to provide easy answers to every hard question ever faced in town, but I’ll bet a dime to a dollar that won’t be the case. I’ll be happy if it can simply make clear the community vibe in 2022 and help point the way toward the path of a cool and interesting future that keeps this a different and vibrant community where all sorts of people can live, work and play until the end of their days.

The Compass undertaking is finishing up the first phase where town planners spent months reaching out and gathering input from hundreds of locals and visitors about what they see as important now and into the future of the North Valley. Chatting with people about their ideals is the fun part. CB’s Compass Couple Troy Russ and Mel Yemma sincerely want to hear from everyone so if you haven’t participated, give a ring at Town Hall. Preliminarily, Mel and Troy along with some planning consultants came up with six “emerging core values” identified by the community. 

As you would expect, those basically included a community that cares for its people, an appreciation for recreation and the great outdoors, the desire to keep Crested Butte a small livable town that has an authentic feel, a commitment to environmental stewardship and climate action, a desire for a town that is pedestrian and bicycle friendly that promotes social connection and an economy healthy enough for people of all economic stripes to be able to live here. 

Few will disagree with those stated values as we evolve every day into a more expensive resort community at the end of the road. 

It is easy to put idealism on paper. The hard part comes in the details amongst continual evolution. Those involved in this Compass process admit that drilling down will result in tensions. Are people willing to build affordable housing on or near wetlands that shrink open space and views and impact wildlife? Do you max out the density of local housing projects to get another couple units on the property to the detriment of quality of life for those that will end up living in a crowded project? I hear some people say they love the ranches and what they bring to the valley while later grousing about cows on the trails or the inability to access amenities on working ranchland conserved in part with public dollars. Many embrace the dream of Crested Butte being an idealized Zermatt in the Rocky Mountains with a ban on all vehicles but as CB community development director Troy Russ pointed out Monday, traffic is us — and when push comes to shove how do you ban your neighbor from having a vehicle when they use it all the time?

When people say they want to “keep the rough edges” of Crested Butte what does that mean? One rough edge back in the day was that there wasn’t a high school in town and teens were bused to Gunnison. No one I know with kids wants to go back there and I’d argue the school has brought more change to CB than just about anything. Living in a drafty old mining shack where the dog’s water bowl would be a bowl of ice every January morning was a rough edge but is not something I want to experience again. Not plowing until there’s six inches is great on day one of a snowstorm but as I watch people fall on the icy snowpack all over town because plowing couldn’t keep up last month, is that a rough edge worth keeping?

Despite some believing this is the first long-term planning exercise ever conducted in the valley, there have been plenty. Turn to the 20 Years Ago Today section this week for an example. The tricky part comes when decision makers confront the reality that their vote to change things will anger their neighbors…so it’s just easier to call the plan a success and put it on the shelf. I hope the Compass provides more.

Troy and Mel have put in the most time and effort I’ve seen to reach out to a broad swath of the community and they are only at the end of phase one. Kudos. I think they understand that phase was probably the fun part of the process and they admitted Monday there is some real work coming up. Hard decisions, regional partnerships that aren’t automatic given differing priorities, defining what individuals mean when they say something as simple as ‘pedestrian friendly’ all bring up issues.

I must say that Monday’s council discussion was an interesting brainstorming session. I heard the council conclude more than once that keeping a lot of the unique Crested Butte flavor depends on basically staying a small, intimate community. I absolutely agree but even that simple conclusion brings up tension points. Do you build enough local housing in the North Valley to fill every empty job in every business or do you build just enough to keep the place vibrant with local residents? Is that the same thing? That’s a density conundrum. Do you go way out there and purposefully make decisions, like mayor Ian Billick brainstormed, that declares this a place where people are not penalized for chatting with neighbors on the street that results in them being late for a meeting or work? Are we ready to go all Mediterranean or Costa Rican? Sounds great unless I’m the one waiting for the dude to take over my shift so I can pick up the kid from school. What will “Crested Butte time” mean in the future? I do like Mona Merrill’s dictum to keep the community a place where we can all “be present.”

While I remain a tad skeptical over the proclaimed panacea of what this project will do, I am impressed with the real effort being put into this Community Compass. It gives me some hope. It is obvious as I wrote last week that the old-school Crested Butte is at a tipping point. I personally miss those days but honestly, elements like the old-school CB with frozen dog dishes and no high school is not a place we need to go back to. It’s not about replicating the good ‘ol days, it’s about keeping the flame alive. 

Practically, it might be having the town council (and county?) require that any new accessory building like a garage include a deed restricted, rentable accessory dwelling unit and tweaking the codes to make that possible. It might be giving up a few rental units in the big proposals so the eventual residents have room to breathe and park and store their toys comfortably. Think quality over quantity in the long run. It might be the county putting a hard cap on home sizes and charging a substantial workforce housing fee with a building permit based on valuation (instead of square footage?). 

The challenge at this juncture is to maintain the spirit of old school CB while moving forward. The Compass is providing a chance to set and publicly state the new path or at least point the way toward that path. This place is always evolving, and not always for the better but I give credit to this team for trying to determine what we, as the current caretakers of community, can do to guide the inevitable change. 

Now it’s on to the hard work.

—Mark Reaman

A story on the World Wide Webs this week tells of Jeff Bezos, one of the world’s richest people, telling Jon Stewart that the future would rely on service workers to perform tasks for the people of means. Stewart said that was a “recipe for revolution” as people want to be proud of their work and feel like they are contributing to society. 

That seems a fair assessment. With Crested Butte and the upper valley, we live in a place built in large part of service work. Whether it is making the food, changing the oil, loading the chairlifts, shoveling the roof or sharing the information, service work is one of the valley’s economic foundations. A distinction of Crested Butte and the valley has always been that service work has been a proud occupation and one where it did not carry a negative social stigma. Those serving and those served would happily socialize and respect one another in the greater community. That was easier when the place was smaller and more affordable but that too is foundational to Crested Butte.

 I can recall when the president of the only bank in town lived a block from one of the hippie ski bum houses. There aren’t many of those left any more — local bank presidents or hippie ski bum houses. It was common on Friday nights for the Wooden Nickel to be filled to the brim with the entire cross section of community and shots were shared by the ski area CEO and the lift ops. I don’t see that happening much anymore either.

As this place matures into a more traditional resort community – and I use the term “mature” loosely – we must take care to honor the history of what has always distinguished Crested Butte. It is that notion of egalitarianism that brings people together as opposed to separating them and has made CB unique. The school still does it. So do the outdoor opportunities that abound. Sock It To Me Ridge doesn’t care how much money you have or what sort of car you own — that place treats everyone the same based on the focus and skill needed to get safely down the terrain.

I do smell separation as the restaurant scene dries up and the prices get adjusted. If the local snowplow driver who is doing pretty well financially this season can’t afford to belly up to the bar next to the stock trader who lives and works here, that is a detriment for the community in general. When a schoolteacher can’t afford tickets to a show at the Center when her students can, that is a step backward. I sniff separation forming as one of the movers and shakers in Crested Butte, Mark Walter (hey – I’m still open if you want to sit down for an interview), apparently has moved to not just buy up Elk Ave. commercial and down valley ranch property but has apparently spent $2 million recently on several individual lots in the Kapushion subdivision. That pretty much is a final nail in the already nailed coffin for local workers hoping to buy a piece of dirt in town and build their own house. It will also impact the local workers already owning in town who will no doubt see their property tax bill jump noticeably if just the dirt is valued at millions of dollars.

The people of means coming here may honestly like what they see. I understand that. It is a beautiful town with incredible outdoor opportunities. The worry is that they do not comprehend what truly makes it special and different from the other beautiful mountain towns with gorgeous outdoor opportunities. They may not comprehend the history that this place was based in mining coal and not silver or gold like Telluride and Aspen. That has mattered. The history here is of working people who help one another and come together through the weird traditions that respect the past and pave a way for the future. People here have mingled happily together for decades to talk recreation, politics or family no matter their financial status.

If the money coming here now to live or visit has no desire to share elbow space with the workers, if they simply see the guy behind the bar and the woman bringing them their meal as just a servant for their desires, Stewart is right in that that is a recipe for revolution.

CB is nothing like it used to be, but I will argue it is still pretty darn good. This place still attracts people who value experiences and opportunity for “quality of life” over money. In Crested Butte, quality of life includes the time to be able to enjoy what is around here. It includes being respected for a hard day’s work and an even harder day’s fun. Quality of life here includes forming real social bonds not found on FacefrickinBook. It includes being honored as a member of the community for what you do and how you act as opposed to how many zeros you have in the bank account. 

While CB people value experience more than money, it still takes money to live here. And as the price of everything from rent to groceries to gas skyrockets, it takes more than ever to get by in any resort community. So, while workers here may not care if they have a fat 401K, they do need to survive and do so comfortably. You can’t pay people here the minimum wage for a place like Tulsa and expect them to be able to live and contribute here with any quality in their quality of life. 

Stewart’s revolution in places like this will not come with torches and pitchforks. It will start with people just saying ‘f it and either moving on or walking away from the system that is broken. Hmmmm. That is why there is the important need for workers to live throughout the community (in ADUs and economically mixed neighborhoods as well as deed restricted projects) and not be isolated in crowded serf city pods down valley. Not everyone will get a place, but those that do should have a good one. Quality on top of quantity. Crested Butte needs to remain a place where the lift op and the financial planner share shots and talk trails.

As this community moves into the next phase of figuring out housing with several ideas and projects, there needs to be a laser focus on planning for ways to keep the service workers in and around town. They must remain a part of the community and have opportunity to grow as a part of that community. They need to have a room as a 20-year-old ski bum, a condo as a 20-something couple and a house as a 40-year-old couple with kids. FYI, the Miller Ranch in Eagle County seems to have many of these attributes and might be worth studying as we move forward. 

The revolution seems to have quietly started. Many once proud workers have walked away from the jobs that make this community spin. Newbies aren’t jumping at low wage jobs that require an hour commute. The new ski bums are figuring out how to work and ski without a pass job. We are at the tipping point, but we are set up pretty well to now address the causes, turn it around and make it work for a balanced, economically diverse and still distinctive community.

—Mark Reaman

Developer in default of contract, Mt. CB has hired an attorney

[  By Kendra Walker  ]

The long-awaited Homestead affordable housing project in Mt. Crested Butte has hit multiple snags in the past couple years, from COVID to construction delays, the latest snag being that the developer has not renewed the contract with each of the contract holders who had expected being moved in to their respective units by now. With little to no communication from the developer, the rest of the involved parties – including the contract holders, the transaction broker serving as the liaison and the Town of Mt. Crested Butte – have been left frustrated and uncertain on where the project stands. 

In November, each of the Homestead contract owners of the 22 units were notified that the developer, Lance Windell of Homestead Housing, LLC, had not signed the contract extension, putting him in default of the contract. According to Homestead’s transaction broker Gary Huresky of LIV Sotheby’s International Realty, Windell said he wanted to consult his attorney before signing the contract again, due to issues with the supply chain, material delivery and lack of contractor availability.

However, Huresky explained that even though the developer is in breach of the contract, the contract holders still have a contract. “Everyone’s frustrated and I can understand that,” he said, explaining that it has been challenging to get in touch with Windell. “The communication has been weak because I don’t have anything. I call and I get nothing from him, no callbacks.” The News has also attempted to contact Windell multiple times with no response. 

After finally receiving a very brief update from Windell last week, Hureskey shared that “the developer’s attorney is talking to the Town of Mt. Crested Butte’s attorney to try to figure out a way to move forward.”

This week, the Town of Mt. Crested Butte also shared an update. “The town is in a unique situation because we are not a party on the contract between the buyer and developer,” said town manager Isa Reeb. “The town has hired an attorney to help us better understand what our options are and how we can best proceed. At this time, we do not have additional information or context we can provide regarding the situation and what our role is going to be moving forward as we are in the beginning stages of receiving guidance from our attorney.”   

Earlier in the fall, the town had stated that they were working with the builder to focus energies on three of the eight total buildings. Huresky explained that of the 22 units, seven units are dried in for the winter and there are foundations on two other buildings but the rest of the units haven’t even scraped the ground yet. 

“When COVID hit it just brought everything to a halt with material delays, contractor delays, etc. I couldn’t think of a worse-case scenario with a pandemic, construction costs and delivery delays,” Huresky said.

Hureskey noted that four contract holders have backed out of the process and received their money back. 

“I can’t imagine the scenario that some of these folks are going through, there is no housing, there are no rentals,” he said. “If a rental does come up it’s exorbitant in cost and we have a project that’s not making any progress.”

During the December 21 town council meeting, one of the families who had expected to be moved into their Homestead unit by now spoke during public comment to express their frustrations with the project.

“On June 6, 2019 we entered into an agreement to Homestead LLC to purchase a home with a projected move-in of March 2020. We should have been spending our second holiday season in our forever home,” said LaDonna Garcia. “Why is it that we have moved three times and my daughter still doesn’t have a room to call her own? Why is it we have no idea when or if we’ll be able to spend our next holiday in our home?

“In June of 2019 we could have purchased a home, maybe one we could barely afford but we could have been financed for a home on the private market. Instead we put our faith in the town to follow through with its commitment of the Homestead project. Two years later we have no home, no options to purchase a home on the private market, and we can’t even get financed for a home on the private market. Our income is derived 100-percent from the valley and yet we cannot afford to live here and we are homeless. I am currently 48 years old and I am living with my parents. Thankfully I have that option but there are so many more that don’t. This was not the life I chose when I chose to raise my child here. I’m not just speaking on my behalf, I’m speaking on behalf of at least four other families who are facing the same challenges.”

She continued, “We want a commitment from the town to add the Homestead housing project to each agenda until this matter is resolved. We want the town to commit to communicate directly with each family impacted with an update even if there is little to update. We want the town to commit to ensuring alternative housing options if the Homestead housing development is no longer an option.”

“I’ve lived in the valley since 1997 and was on the Housing Authority at least 10 years ago,” said Neil Windsor, LaDonna’s father. “I’ve watched and seen how difficult it is to provide housing for the people that need it. I’ve also watched the situation go from critical to absurd, really, how deep the need for housing is just to maintain the services we need in the community. I think you’re all aware of it and I think you all are committed to affordable housing.

“I’m just shocked, I’ve watched this project from the beginning, and never was convinced that it looked like it was going to be developed in a timely matter or with very much quality,” said Windsor. “But COVID happened, a lot of things happened, and we assumed things were going to get better and we waited and waited and extended things…I’m putting it to the Town of Mt. Crested Butte that once you sold this property or even acquired it for affordable housing that you made a commitment to roughly 50 people, they were expecting to have a reasonable place to live within a reasonable period of time.”

He concluded, “I think you need to go repeatedly public letting people know that you’re committed to make this project work. To let these people just leave and say, well you’ll get your deposits back and just leave the valley is not only wrong for them to do but it’s also wrong for you as a council to permit that…At least communicate that you’re behind this project one way or the other and you want to see it through.”

Andre Garcia, LaDonna’s husband, also spoke. “I work for Vail [Resorts] in lift maintenance and like to think that I have a very important job on this mountain. My wife is an HR manager for the Town of Crested Butte and both of us hold jobs that if we had to move out of this valley it would really impact the community. We want to stay and raise our family. Affordable housing is essential to keep families like us here.”

He continued, “I know nobody could see COVID coming and the changes it would make on all of our lives… the problem with all of this is there is no communication with us. We literally found out from the newspaper like every one of you that our house was not going to be completed on time.”

After the meeting, Reeb sent an update email to the homebuyers as requested. Reeb said she had spoken with the Garcias previous to them attending the town council meeting and has spoken to everyone under contract that has reached out to the town with questions. 

“Additionally, buyers have received updates from their realtor and the Housing Authority,” said Reeb. “While we wish we had more information to provide, we have just as much information as the broker and Housing Authority.”

The town also shared with the News what they sent to the homeowners whose contact information they have:

“The Town has hired an attorney to understand the Town’s options regarding Homestead. To clarify the Town’s role on the Homestead project, we are the regulatory agency for the project, which means we monitor the builder to confirm compliance with the Prospect Design Guidelines, Town Code, Building Code, and on-site safety. Currently the town cannot intervene in a contract between a builder and buyer, as we are not a party to those agreements; nor can we offer any legal advice. We will provide additional information when we have more to share, however, that information could take some time. I echo previous sentiments that the entire situation is disheartening, and we are doing our best to understand if there are any ways the Town can assist.”

Reeb also noted during the January 4 town council meeting that she plans to provide Homestead updates on her manager’s reports for each council meeting. When there is a decision to be made, it will become an agenda item.

[  by Dawne Belloise  ]

Elle Truax grew up surrounded by the lush orchards and vineyards nestled along the banks of the Columbia River in Hood River, Oregon, where breweries and watersports are fostered. Despite being quite a distance from the coast, the area is known for its windsurfing and Elle proclaims kitesurfing the Columbia Gorge was her passion. “You rig up on the Oregon side and surf into Washington,” she says. Both Elle’s parents were environmental engineers – her mother focused on air quality and her father on water quality. Her dad grew up skiing the icy East Coast resorts, but her mom hit the slopes around the Seattle area and Elle laughs, “She kicks his ass skiing.”

As a kid, when it was time to stash away the board and kite for the winter, Elle dove into her other passion, ski racing. She joined the local Mt. Hood team when she was 7. “I was the kid who would throw a fit when I had to go in to eat lunch because I just wanted to keep skiing. I’m pretty competitive, so I grasped the sport early on,” she says. As a freshman in high school, she was successfully competing.

Elle recalls the regimen of hard core ski racing discipline. “In the summers you’re in the gym working out and during the winters you’re training all the time,” she explains.

Her dream was to be an Olympic ski racer so when she won an academic scholarship her high school sophomore year to attend the prestigious Rowmark Ski Academy in Salt Lake City, it made it affordable for her family to find a way to fund the rest of the expenses. “I was ecstatic. It was a big deal, especially financially,” she tells. “My family has worked hard for everything we have.”

She arrived in Salt Lake City in August of 2013, living with a host family. “School was so hard and I was training with the ski team every day after school. We’d do a lot of outdoor training, like road biking and running.” It was October, just before the team’s scheduled trip to train on Colorado resort slopes, when Elle’s dreams were literally shattered.

“We were road biking up Emigration Canyon. I was doing warm up laps, crossing the road to group up to start the ride,” when a speeding car T-boned her at 40 mph. Her bike went under the car and Elle flew up on top. “I remember being in the air thinking, I’m going to die if I don’t land right. I landed on hands and knees and my left patella took most of the force.” Elle’s kneecap shattered. “I had so much adrenaline that I got up and walked to the side of the road.” She describes a traumatic scene where her teammates were crying and her coaches came running. “I remember, being on the ground, looking at my kneecap. It’s about a week before we go to Colorado to start on-snow training. I was totally in denial saying, I’m going skiing, I’m fine. I wasn’t paying attention to the pain, I was just pissed.”

Her team had to take off without her. After multiple surgeries, wires and screws, a massive brace and in a wheelchair for a month, Elle was determined to still get out on the slopes. She began upper body workouts, building her strength, along with intense physical therapy. “I’m frustrated and in disbelief. I’m nagging the doctors about when can I ski.”

Incredibly, she was able to strap on her skis in February but she says, “I couldn’t do anything. I was just sliding around. My knee wasn’t strong. I couldn’t ski a race course with my team.” She was cleared to ski for real in March. Her goal was to qualify for Junior Olympics at the end of March in Alaska. However, she missed the qualifier by one spot. “I wasn’t ready to compete at that level yet. But it was still quite an accomplishment,” she says, rightfully proud.

With mounting hospital and medical bills, Elle was maxed out financially and emotionally and didn’t return to the academy for her junior year. She finished out high school at Mt. Bachelor Ski Education Foundation in Bend, Oregon, where she graduated a semester early in 2015 and took the opportunity to simply ski through her final semester of high school. “I’d go up every day. I started to freeski a lot, skiing with people who were better than me, going off cliffs, doing 360s. I became a really solid, all-round skier. It wasn’t about ski racing anymore, it was more about having fun.”

Taking a gap semester before college, Elle traveled to Chile for two months to freeski at Portillo and, “to find my passion again.” She stayed with a Chilean friend in Los Andes. Fluent in Spanish, she was able to work in her friend’s family bed and breakfast in exchange for housing. While in Chile, she decided to attend Western Colorado University in Gunnison because she had several friends from Hood River at WCU. “I heard they had a Big Mountain Freeride ski team.” Elle was accepted into WCU with a scholarship as a Borick Scholar, arriving on campus in January of 2016.

She joined the freeride team for Big Mountain competitions on the freeride world qualifier tour. She hadn’t even seen Crested Butte yet. “The first time I ever skied CB was on Headwall as a forerunner for the competition. I couldn’t believe all that was so close to Gunnison. I instantly fell in love and everyone was there because they wanted to be,” she says. Elle had her revelation, “I decided it’s what I really wanted to do. My passion shifted away from the U.S. Ski Team and the Olympics to freeride and big mountain skiing.”

Elle began competing that first semester. “Ed Dujardin was my coach, and I was stoked. Our trainings were serious. We’d push ourselves. Ed would be at the bottom of Body Bag screaming at me to huck myself off of whatever was in front of me. Things like that are such a good feeling after you do it,” she laughs. “That’s my whole experience in freeride, you’re really so scared but it’s so rewarding.”

Every summer Elle returned to Hood River to kiteboard and work, becoming certified as a wildland firefighter, fighting fires in California. “But it was traumatizing for me, it was a wake up call. I was a little 18-year-old girl fighting fires with all these creepy guys. I felt uncomfortable. Someone broke into my truck and stole all my gear. It made me decide to go back to WCU and get my degree and have a different job to support myself.” She graduated in 2019 with a business major in marketing and a minor in communication.

“I wasn’t sold on CB yet and I was a broke college kid. I wanted to live the life I wanted to live,” Elle says and moved back to Hood River, getting a job in the marketing department of Naish Kiteboarding Company. “It was a full-on nine-to-five behind a desk all day. But it was a dumpster fire for me. I couldn’t ski.” And she admits, “It was back to the Pacific Northwest cement snow.” Then COVID hit that spring of 2020. She missed skiing in the Butte, so she moved back that September, working at the Dogwood and remote part-time marketing with Smak Strategies.

Another realization recently led Elle to her new business endeavor, “I’ve always worn wide brim hats and there weren’t any hat shops in Crested Butte like there are at most ski towns,” she noticed. She took off for Denver to gather info and instruction on becoming a milliner. “I wanted to learn to make hats and get insight as how to make them. I always admired the work of hatter Nick Fouquet,” she says, researching his hats and videos online. “His hats are extremely expensive,” she describes some of the famous milliner’s methods of steam shaping, taking sandpaper to hats, and using fire to give smoothness and shine to his felted creations. “I thought that was so cool.”

Serendipitously, Elle met a hat toolmaker who gave her a hat block and some felts and a Tennessee milliner’s phone number who also tutors. She was on the plane the following week for an intensive workshop with the master, after which she began to drain her savings to set up her Elk Avenue shop, Bjorkstam Hat Company (Bjorkstamhatco.com, also on Instagram and Facebook). “Bjorkstam” is Icelandic for birch tree and as a child, Elle had an enormous one with a treehouse. But more importantly to her, it’s a dedication to her mom, whose surname is Bjorkstam.

“It was a turning point to risk everything to get the mandatory machinery. The CB Center for the Arts came through with a temporary winter workspace,” in which she cranked out hats all off-season to prepare for her June 4 opening. Elle partnered with Caitlyn Ward of Lonewolf Collective who makes hatbands for her creations. “Everyone in town was so supportive. I realized through this process that CB is my home. Making hats here in Crested Butte made it feel like home and I felt like I had a purpose. Everyday is a new challenge that I love. I’m so thankful for this community and friendships that I’ve grown.”

Story by Dawne Belloise
photos by Nolan Blunck

During the summer, Erica Rasmussen’s garden is her little oasis but as the long winter sets in here, her joy turns to all the adventures that deep snows have to offer. Between her relatively new job as executive director of the Crested Butte Snowsports Foundation, life coaching, teaching, a hubby, two toddlers, two huskies and her newly launched business as a marketing consultant, Erica has little time for much else.

Born and raised in Cromwell, Connecticut, her parents were ski instructors in Vermont, slapping skis on Erica as soon as she could walk. “That got into my blood early. My mom was the mountain mascot when she was pregnant with me,” she says, explaining that the mascot was a mouse sponsored by Vermont’s Cabot cheddar cheese. “I filled out the costume well for my mom,” she laughs and points out, “So technically, I was skiing before I was born.”

Growing up, Erica says that she was a good kid and earned excellent grades throughout school. In the summers, she’d be heading to the beach from her grandmother’s home on Long Island Sound but admittedly, it was winters that really excited her much more than summers. In high school and college Erica played softball and volleyball, becoming team captain in both levels. She became a junior ski instructor at the age of 14. It was as a ski instructor at Okemo Resort that she discovered Crested Butte.

She had graduated high school a year early to attend Lyndon State College (now Northern Vermont University), “Way up north in Lyndonville, where you start seeing signs for Canada. It’s called the Northeast Kingdom. It’s actually its own little world.” With her avid love of skiing, Erica focused on ski resort management with a minor in marketing. “College was awesome,” she says. “I had a great community there through playing sports, traveling all over largely New England and the eastern area. I made the most of college, working at Okemo.”

During her sophomore year, Erica began a marketing position with Bretton Woods, a ski resort in New Hampshire that included the historic Mt. Washington Hotel. It became her senior internship for the summer of 2008, and she graduated that December. It was the winter of February ‘08, through Okema’s season pass, that Erica and her dad came to ski the notorious Crested Butte slopes. “I had never skied huge or extreme terrain until I came to CB. I remember riding up the North Face Lift and I had the feeling it was the right place for me. I was thinking to myself, how do I move here, how do I make this home?” she says.

Erica was dreaming of skiing the front of the mountain but, she admits, “It looked really scary. I really wanted to do it, though. I had made my way toward it and turned around because I had never skied anything like that. When I got down to the bottom of the mountain, dad was talking to Charlie Farnan. The next day Charlie paired me with Jen Oberling to show me the extremes and other terrain that I hadn’t seen yet. She’s been a friend of mine ever since.” Later that week, Erica did get to ski the Peel. “When I finally got to ski the front, I was just blown away, how incredible it felt, and how fun it was to ski the steep stuff. I was motivated to get to know more of the mountain. Colorado stole my heart and I knew I had to get back. I remember shedding a tear with CB in the rearview mirror, thinking I didn’t want to go.”

Ski Area Management Magazine named Erica “Recruit of the Year,” which she says is like getting the Heisman Trophy of the ski industry, so she was the top recruit to go into the job market that year. ”I got the opportunity in May 2008 to accept the award in San Francisco and the magazine actually flew me out,” and she spoke before hundreds of ski industry executives. She was immediately offered a job with Snow Monsters in Durango, a national program to promote youth snow sports with 100 ski areas nationwide. She took the job after visiting the town, packed up her Subaru, “And then the market crash of 2008 dampered everything.”

To make it work in the new economy, “I lived in my boss’s backyard in an RV painted like a tiger with detachable ears, because we were the Snow Monsters,” she says of their mascot, Snowball the snow tiger whose portrait was on the RV. “My job was being the program manager to get more youth involved in snow sports.” Erica taught skiing part-time at Purgatory, but she confesses, “My heart was still in Crested Butte. Despite the treacherous drive over Red Mountain Pass, Erica would visit Crested Butte often, usually on weekends to ski.

After two winters of working and living in Durango, she made the move to CB in May of 2010, securing employment with the Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association as marketing coordinator and webmaster. She now serves on its Tourism and Prosperity Partnership board (TAPP). She also taught skiing at CBMR part-time. Although she moved here for the winters, Erica’s first reaction to summer in the valley was, “Holy cow, the summers are incredible!”

She fell in love with her Riverbend neighbor, now hubby, Tom, in the summer of 2011 at a typical neighborhood campfire. She had bought the condo in Riverbend and Tom’s husky, Echo, was always at her home. “So he just eventually moved in too,” she laughs. They married on the mountain in the summer of 2014.

In 2011, CBMR offered her a job on their marketing team as their interactive marketing manager, to help with website and digital marketing. Eventually, Erica led the team as senior marketing manager, prior to the Vail acquisition. She stayed on for an additional year after Vail bought the resort 2018.

With a growing family—son Tommy is 5 and daughter Mary Sue came along in 2018—they moved to north Gunnison in 2019, buying a home and camping in their driveway until they could finish the remodel to make it their own. “What’s cool is that it borders Trampe’s land so we have cows in the spring. It’s a fun place to feel like we live out in the country but so convenient to both ends of the valley.” Like so many others in the valley, Erica planted a COVID garden. “It’s a great project and attempt to live off the land in a small way but my biggest hobby right now is being mom.”

Since leaving the ski area in the fall of 2019, Erica says she’s tried to align her passion and skill set, working briefly at Western Colorado University (WCU) on their marketing team as an interim member. She was also the general manager of the Gunnison Holiday Inn Express. This past year she was communications and development director for The Community Foundation for the Gunnison Valley, until starting as the executive director for the CB Snowsports Foundation in September 2021.

“The mission of that organization really tugged at my heartstrings,” she says of the Snowsports’ position. “It really aligned my passion and skill set, to help the community and get more kids on snow, which is something I care a lot about. We empower youth through snowsports. It’s awesome because snowsports is a half-time role, which enables me to grow my own marketing consulting business,” which she recently launched, called Spark Your Spark (sparkyourspark.com), “Helping businesses ignite their ideas through marketing.”

Erica says the flexibility fits her needs well. “It enables me to be able to drop my kids off at school and be with them during vacation times and be the best mom I can be while still embarking upon a successful career owning my own business and being an integral part of the community that I care so much about.” Erica already has more than a handful of local businesses she works with.

Erica laughs that in her “spare time,” she’s also is a life coach and shares her passion for the Oola lifestyle framework with the community. “Whether it’s talking in front of a group of moms, or teaching an Extended Studies class at Western, I share how people can live differently on purpose through prioritizing what’s most important to them and truly taking action steps toward achieving their goals.” She credits Oola for helping her manage momming, leading a non-profit, being a successful marketing consultant and still having time for hobbies. Oola originates from the word ‘oo-la-la’ and is a lifestyle framework, Erica explains. “Oola is state of awesomeness where one is living a life balanced and growing in the key areas of fitness, finances, family, field, faith, friends and fun. It’s what life feels like when you’re happy, growing and looking forward to what the world has in store for you.”

Both Erica and Tom feel they are encouraging their kids to enjoy all the outdoor activities that Gunnison Valley has to offer. “From skiing to fishing, we try to maximize every season as a family. Our kids are out there ice fishing. We’re working hard and playing hard, you know. It takes grit and determination and a commitment to life balance and teamwork as parents and enjoying every day knowing that some days are going to be super busy and the reality is, we get to raise our family in paradise.”

“We’re always hiring…”

[ By Katherine Nettles ]

In the next few weeks many businesses along Elk Avenue and surrounding Crested Butte Mountain Resort will be reopening or increasing hours as the “off-season” of late fall gives way to more bustle with the holidays. Despite the ongoing challenge for many industries in the Gunnison Valley in finding workers, the seasonal quest to hire more staff and prepare for ski season has been manageable this year for many restaurants, ski shops and retail businesses in Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte.

The usual struggle to find an adequate number and even comfortable cushion of kitchen staff, bussers, cashiers or hosts remains reality for most businesses but a cursory survey of businesses this week indicates that most are ready to welcome winter with open arms and open doors. Some have become adept at working with less, some count the blessings of a strong retention rate and many keep the ‘help wanted’ signs up essentially all year long to keep up with the constant need.

Michael Marchitelli, owner of Marchitelli’s Gourmet Noodle, says he appreciates the robust long-standing staff he has, but says the entry-level positions of dishwashers (divers) and bussers are tougher to fill in recent years.

“I have 21 shifts available currently,” he says. “And we’re always only one bike accident, ski injury, lover’s quarrel away from being short-staffed,” he adds.

Marchitelli believes that the lack of employee housing is cramping the ski bum lifestyle, and by association, businesses.

“We don’t have our ski bums anymore,” he says wistfully. “I love ski bums. I think they’re still out there, but they aren’t here because there’s not enough places for them to live anymore.” He says he believes that increasing the employee housing available locally would help alleviate that problem.

Secret Stash manager Jennifer Suter says the Stash still has a few spots to fill at the front of the house before opening the Red Room downstairs and extending to full-time hours around December 18.

“We’re still looking, especially for the support roles, like bussers and hosts,” she says. “But so many people on staff stick around. More than anything, we’re grateful for that.”

Suter adds that among established staff, they have had to turn away requests for shifts in some cases. “We don’t always have quite as many shifts as people request,” she says.

Elk Avenue Prime and the Wooden Nickel are both hiring for several additions to fill out their staff. The restaurant group’s general manager Ivan Gianni says the majority of applicants are looking for a bartender or server position, but kitchen staff is harder to find.

“We’re always hiring,” he says. The restaurant group uses an independent contractor to hire seasonal international workers as needed, through an essential workers exception to the J1 visa freeze, as does Clark’s Market. But Gianni says he tries to keep that number minimal and focus on finding longer-term employees.

“I want to employ someone who lives here,” he emphasizes. “I really want to get these restaurants back to where people who want to live in CB can live and work in CB.”

One strategy that the restaurant group has taken on is creating their own year-round employee housing. The first step has been winterizing their 13 cabins along the Taylor and East River confluence in Almont, with insulated plumbing and new kitchenettes to be completed within the next week or two.

The group’s corporate executive chef Ian Anderson will occupy one cabin. “And if we find the right full-time candidate in need of housing there will be a cabin available,” says Gianni.

In Mt. CB, CB Burger Company manager Shauntye Scarbrough says she needs several more staff members to handle the resort crowds. She says opening weekend was exciting, but also a bit overwhelming.

Scarbrough also works at the Club at Crested Butte, which is in partnership with the Burger Company, and says several employees from the Club are working at the Burger Company until the Club opens for the season in about two weeks. “We’re kind of short staffed in both places,” she admits. “I’ve been here since 2018 and this is the first season we don’t have the staff we need.”

Mary Hiteman, owner of Iron Horse Tap in Mt. CB, says she is also looking for more staff. “I do think it’s going to be better than this summer, though, because a lot of our employees work at the ski area so they are up here anyway. But this summer was awful.”

Hiteman hopes to be open seven days per week soon if she can find enough employees. For now, like so many others, she is closed two days per week to adapt to the employee shortage.

“We need more employee housing,” she says. “But of course we all know that.” Hiteman was encouraged that the Grand Lodge has approved long-term rentals, and hopes to see more creative solutions for the workforce.

As far as retail shops, the same story of making things work but always keeping an eye out for more hires is told by most. The exception seems to be ski shops, where maybe the perks of gear and on-snow breaks help retain techs. Butte & Co reports that they do have a few new hires, but didn’t struggle much to find them. The Coffee Lab is also doing well, with new hires but no issues in finding them. Maybe it’s the caffeine perks.

Longtime business owners Trixie Smith and Scott Pfister of Pfister’s Handworks, Pooh’s Corner and Alley Hats say retail has gotten harder over the years as more people find remote jobs. Pfister says while they are always technically hiring, they also adapt by plugging themselves in more.

“It has brought me personally back into the store,” he says from behind the counter at Pfister’s on a Tuesday afternoon. “It’s not like we weren’t here before but now, I am working shifts. I don’t roam as much between stores because I’m on the schedule.”

Smith echoes that they have found a level of comfort with the struggle. “The people we have are really good. And also, we work every day,” she says. “We’re so involved in our stores that we’re going to be here anyway.”

That said, the ability to adapt applies to workers as much as employers. Pfister and Smith do see some people otherwise working remotely who choose to come in to work part-time for a more local connection to place. They also have some high school employees, restaurant workers and ski area employees who get burned out and enjoy the change of pace.

“But this is a very recreational town. In summer, people want to work outside. And in winter, they still want to work outside,” says Pfister. “When they are ready for a break, we’re here.”

Lord knows change is constant, but I sort of like the autumns where things don’t change until the last minute and the flip switches from biking to skiing in a couple of days. In the past, those have been some of the deepest ski seasons. We are hopefully setting up for that kind of winter.

On the political and psychological level, change is coming fast and furious so we threw out some quick questions on some hot topics to see what was up. We’re still not sure but we might have a little better idea of what’s on the horizon…

As I wrote to a Vail Resorts communications person on Tuesday afternoon, I received a couple of texts from Mt. CB businesspeople saying they had heard CBMR was postponing its opening until December 3. Normally I wouldn’t even follow up on that but since the lifts are supposed to start in less than a week and it’s about 50 degrees in CB and heading toward 60 in Gunnison, I thought I’d ask the quick question. “We’re currently still scheduled to open on the 24th,” was the response. “Currently” being the operative word. Looking at the phone forecast I assume the opening day ribbon of snow will be interesting.

USFS Gunnison District Ranger Matt McCombs will be moving on from the valley professionally after having a big impact during his time here. He seemed to not only get this place but embrace it. This week he was offered the job as Colorado’s next State Forester and Director of the Colorado State Forest Service. He will be transitioning to the new job in early January.

I asked him if in the vibe of Hotel California he was ready to check out but understand he can never really leave this place. “The Gunnison Country quietly seeps into one’s bones,” he admitted. “Though this next step is a zenith in my land management career for which I am deeply honored and excited for, I’m already preparing myself for the stark yearning I know I’ll feel dreaming of sunsets over Whetstone, Axtell and Emmons.”

Given some of the rancor taking place over school district issues and the number of letters we received at the paper this week asking the plaintiffs to drop a lawsuit against the Gunnison Watershed School District over its mask mandate, I thought I’d ask the quick question if they had any inclination to drop the court action. David Justice did not respond but Tomas Gomez said, “Not at this time.”

There seems a divide on whether to continue the reconfiguration of Elk Avenue that makes it one-way in the summer to provide restaurant seating in the street. Kent Cowherd had suggested reducing the size of the street seating areas to 8 feet instead of 12 feet. I asked Crested Butte’s community development director Troy Russ if that would work. “There would be room for traffic,” he said. “That configuration would be the same as the program I developed in Louisville, CO. That said, the design would likely require patios, as the curb and the stepdown of a parklet would consume usable space and render the areas likely too small. But with patios that level with the curb it could be a viable alternative.”

On that topic, local entrepreneur Kyleena Falzone is obviously passionate about keeping the street seating. Given her Secret Stash and Bonez success with the reconfiguration, she mentioned at Monday’s council meeting that she is getting some flack about the issue being all about her. So, I asked if it was all about her. “No. It’s about providing an interesting, vibrant Main Street during the 13 weeks of the summer tourist season. We all need that income to get through the off season.”

The new school board representative, Mandy Roberts, has taken some flack and been accused of being a puppet for national right-wing groups with a questionable agenda. We asked her if she was. “My representation is to God, family, church and now the school board,” she said. “I will listen to all perspectives brought to me for consideration.”

I saw that an old roadbed that goes from the Paradise Park subdivision by the Rec Path bridge out to the McCormick Ranch bridge had a sign that people could use it. So I hopped on my townie Monday and took a little ride to check it out. It was a tad muddy but definitely a roadbed that was a short but scenic way to get from bridge to bridge. I asked the owners of the property why it was open to the public. The Martens have voiced support to close the road leading from Elk Avenue to that McCormick Ranch bridge given wildlife concerns and have suggested people use that roadbed instead. “Ryan and I continue to believe that we need to and can balance use on our property,” responded Wynn. “Shifting access around is part of our proposal.” I’d guess that alternative might be brought up in the coming spring when people start looking for ways to get to Tony’s Trail.

CB mayor Jim Schmidt showed up at his last meeting Monday with a big bruise that got bigger the longer he presided over the meeting. What happened? “Ruth was being attacked by a bear that I had to fight off.” Really? “No. I tripped and did a face plant on the rocks going to the car before the council meeting.” Ouch.

COVID numbers in the county are pretty low with an average of 31 positive cases reported in the last two weeks. Our friends over the hill in Pitkin County adopted a winter mitigation COVID-19 plan last week. We asked our local health officials if such an official “plan” was being deliberated for here. “Gunnison County is not currently working on additional winter mitigation strategies,” said county public information officer Loren Ahonen. “However, we do support all efforts to remind folks that continuing to seek vaccination is crucial to minimizing the threat and spread of COVID-19. Largely our higher rates of vaccination and a willingness of much of the community to be mindful of basic mitigation measures certainly help the cause.”

Public Health director Joni Reynolds agreed. “We have seen the numbers fluctuate in the past several weeks, but we have not gone down to historical lowest levels. I do think the continued messaging and reporting has helped keep the community informed. I also really appreciate all of the work done by community members, businesses and entities to reduce COVID-19 risks in the County.”

So we’re in decent shape, but have to stay aware!

The Paintbrush affordable housing project in Gunnison has people moving into the new apartments but the waiting list went from hundreds to dozens when real money came into play. I asked project developer Gary Gates if he had any worries about filling the 77 new units. “We have no worries about filling the spots. It’s a little slower because of the documentation it takes due to the deed restrictions,” he said. “Once filled, then it shouldn’t be a problem and we do 3-4 showings a day.”

While the guy who first started the new wave of buying up Elk Avenue commercial property hasn’t sat down for a coffee with me to chat about his connection and plan for the place (which is his option, but I like putting Mark Walter out there lightheartedly almost as much as giving Mt. Crested Butte a hard time for not putting their public meetings on Zoom), the second guy to catch the Elk Avenue wave did. Jeff Hermanson has been here a really long time and knows the old Crested Butte but doesn’t really want to go back there. “Change is part of life and there’s a lot of change going on here right now. But we can still impact the outcome.” True that.

The CBCS Titans soccer team won its third state title last weekend. Congrats. Is it a 2A soccer dynasty in the making? I asked head coach Than Acuff is he’s already planning for #4. “Let’s go one title at time,” he said. Good advice on almost every issue…Focus on one thing at a time.

Quick answers to quick questions certainly indicate there will be change…but I agree we can still impact the outcome as long as we stay mindful, engaged and focused. Except for maybe the ski resort thing…having enough snow, natural or manmade, is sort of up to the Universe and right now it looks like opening day will be “interesting.”

—Mark Reaman

It is too bad that the Crested Butte Hostel workforce housing deal fell through. The idea was to purchase the building and use the facility for seasonal workforce housing. Initiated by a group of second homeowners along with local entrepreneur Kyleena Falzone, the building would follow in the mold of the old Ruby Bed and Breakfast that is providing six rooms and nine beds of communal living for local employees.

The hostel would have added about three-dozen more pillows to the workforce housing pool. While it appears the Ruby will soon be leased up, it isn’t exactly creating the longest of waiting lists. It seems the combination of government restrictions, relatively strict living rules in the model of the Ruby and a not cheap price for the real estate contributed to the termination of the hostel contract. Fair.

The communal living situation isn’t for everyone, but it could have helped fill a niche in the broad scope of the North Valley’s affordable housing needs. Not everyone is going to get the two-bedroom apartment in Mt. Crested Butte’s new Homestead project (actually we’re not sure if anyone will get one given the pace of building and how far behind schedule the development is). Not everyone deserves (or can truly afford) a three-bedroom house with a fenced-in yard at Paradise Park.

The Ruby and Hostel housing situation however provides opportunity for what I think of as the traditional ski bum workers that make the place tick when the lifts start spinning. It could be the J1s coming in from another country here on an adventure or the 19-year-old kid from Topeka taking a gap year in a ski resort before putting the nose to the grindstone.

While I wouldn’t want to do it now, I lived in that type of communal living situation in a ski resort in my 20’s and it was a great life experience. I’d recommend it. It was cheap, it cemented my love for the mountains and it brought me many wonderful worldwide relationships that thrive to this day. For me, that is the misfortune of the hostel deal falling through. Like the disappearing “hippie houses” that provide shelter and companionship for people trying out Crested Butte, it is one more sign that the traditional ski town vibe is slipping away to be replaced by a luxury housing market feel.

As an old(er) ski bum (sort of), Tuesday morning’s wind and snow made the heart beat a little faster. I’m not yet ready to hang up the bike and the weather forecast says I might get a few more Hartman trips in but seeing it dump as the wind howled brought anticipation of being in line at the NFL as the weather weeds out the tourists and everyone is surrounded by familiar faces. But that feeling too brought up the concern the place is moving away from its ski and bike town roots to be a comfortable luxury housing community.

Part of it was reading about the Mt. CB master plan discussion, where a big portion of the initial focus seems to be on the base area by the ski lifts. Fair enough. But the conversation appears centered on making it look nice. I wonder how they’ll tear down the old condo and business buildings to make a new entrance and a modern “arrival plaza” in the base area. That sounds pretty darn expensive. Who gets to pay for that and what would they want in return? The conversation seems more focused on the shiny objects of making something look better than it does now (not too hard at the moment BTW) instead of incentivizing changes that draw people up to enjoy the place.

The idea that makes sense to me, and one that has been discussed in the process is focusing on returning energy and activity to the base area. People will find the mountain if there is something worth finding.

Believe it or not, the Mt. Crested Butte base area was once the place to hang out and have fun during the ski season. There were places to après ski whether you wanted to do shots or have an intimate white tablecloth high-end dinner. There was a place for families to change into their ski boots and have lunch with a piece of pizza and hot chocolate to complement their brown bags. But as has been pointed out before, the “fun” was torn down to make room for more condos and parking. But if there is not much to do for the people buying the condos, how long will they keep buying the condos? I’m not hearing that Vail is opening new, fun places at the base area and they didn’t hop on helping the hostel even when they might have a hard time finding workers. Are they leading or following in addressing community challenges? What incentives can a town government use to get people to want to open businesses there? How much longer will this be a ski town and not a luxury club for people of means if we’re not careful?

I get that it’s not 1992 anymore and most now expect many of the softer comforts that have come with recent development. But a ski town needs more than skiing. It needs working people as part of the community and fun things to do after a day on the hill. It needs choices for food and places to chill and places to get wild.

We are at the crossroads of the seasons…and maybe a crossroads for the long-term culture of place. We are fortunate to have geographic gems like Hartman’s available in the valley to extend the warm season opportunities. We are fortunate to have a ski area that hasn’t entirely smoothed out all the rough edges and still relies on T-bars and some hiking to access the goods in stormy weather. But the challenge is obviously keeping the ski/bike town unique and real and that means supporting places for workers of all stripes to live along with the providing the “fun” of a resort community.

—Mark Reaman