The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Okay, I admit it…the Snodgrass decision is ruining my life. I’m tired and it’s all because of Snodgrass. My car needs new brakes and I’m pretty sure it’s Charlie Richmond’s fault. My kid got a detention at school Tuesday… damn you Rick Cables! I need a Ninja-Bear-Cowboy showdown (see page 1). Or maybe it’s time to channel the spirit of 12-year-olds battling frosty temps beneath the stars because they can’t wait to catch the first chairlift of the season.
Back up a Snodgrass minute…
Best conspiracy theories so far: 1) The mine paid off the Forest Service to find some community backing for their version of economic development. 2) The Muellers paid off the Forest Service to find some community backing for their version of economic development. 3) The ranchers up Brush Creek meddled with the Forest Service to get the ski area to buy their land and expand that way, while they somehow get money and a land exchange for Snodgrass… Ahhh, the passion of post office rumors in the Butte.
One of the best lines I’ve heard in the whole Snodgrass debacle of the past two weeks came from Jayson Simons-Jones of Crested Butte Backcountry Guides. “The backcountry community around the valley is pretty much against the Snodgrass expansion. It’s like a bunch of old surfers around here and nobody wants to give up their wave…”
Old surfers are nothing if not passionate about their wave. Feelings are agro and the passion is palpable out there right now, thanks to Charlie’s surprise decision. CBMR President Tim Mueller feels like he got rail banged. He feels worked.
Crested Butte is like an old surf town. The newbies come in, learn the breaks, take up the passion and assimilate. Or not. Some looked at the Muellers as dropping in on their wave when they got to town and decided to pursue Snodgrass.
Charlie’s decision has ignited a fuse of passion in people who are usually reserved or quietly passionate. Check out the locals picketing “The Man” in Golden on page 8. More than 1,100 people are suddenly “fans” of the Facebook page “Friends of Lifts on Snodgrass….” Rallies, protests, email parties, petitions, strategy sessions, pro- and anti-business lists from Jamie Watt, and letters to newspapers and elected representatives. That sort of passion can’t be sustained indefinitely… there will be a lull in the waves.
FOSM has played it cool. There hasn’t been much, if any, gloating. Not taking anything for granted, they’ve been quietly writing the Forest Service and politicians, asking for their continued support. Suddenly, aside from Gary Dotzler trying to rig the various local surveys on the issue, there is cool passion from FOSM.
Tim Mueller is exhibiting similar cool passion. While some members of the community have shown over-the-top outrage, he’s calm and understated. He is paddling back out to the break after someone cut his leash and he had a huge wipeout. He thought he was in a good spot, and the older surfers came over and knocked him off the wave.
But he’s been on the wave before. He seems to have underestimated the opposition and gave too much credit to what he thought were his Forest Service partners, but he isn’t rolling over. Mueller may be a relatively new surfer in town but he still has his eye on the intermediate break just off shore…
Look, it is the start of a ski season. Thursday is a holiday. Remember the name of the holiday?
There should be excitement instead of animosity. I don’t even like hearing the word Snodgrass at the moment.
Two council members just settled an election by playing “Ninja-Bear-Cowboy” in the hallway and both walked away smiling.
A gaggle of local kids are showing their passion for skiing by gathering in the cold, wee hours to grab one of the first chairs of the season. It’s been a tradition the last several years and the excitement for skiing Crested Butte is tremendous.
Adults posing as ninjas, cowboys and bears. Kids competing good-naturedly for the first chair of the season. Now, that is passion we should all celebrate this Thanksgiving…and longer. The break will still be there after the holiday.
