Sending the band to Sochi

Like any good band, it takes more than one guy to make it a success. Mick Jagger’s solo albums are not really memorable. Good bands have lead singers, the musicians, the roadies, the manager, the tech guys.
Crested Butte is sending a band to Sochi.
David Chodounsky and Aaron Blunck are the front men…Jagger and Richards. Actually, they are probably a little more clean-cut, so let’s say they are more Lennon and McCartney.

Blunck was selected to the first U.S. Freestyle ski team a week ago and on Sunday, David Chodounsky was selected for the United States Alpine ski team, where he will be skiing slalom. Chodounsky went to high school here at the former Crested Butte Academy, skied for Dartmouth and has been a part of the U.S. Ski Team since graduation. His parents work in the valley and have been super supportive of his efforts to climb his way into the Olympics. He was born to be a competitive skier.

While Blunck, 12 years younger than Chodounsky, is all growing teenager who pops smooth, big air in the halfpipe, Chodounsky is a 29-year-old man who deals in speed and precision of hundredths of a second to find the podium. Right now he is the best slalom skier in America and it is an honor to have him wear the colors on the international stage. As one of his big supporters, former Crested Butte Academy headmaster David Rothman mentioned upon hearing the news, “My former student and CBA alumnus David Chodounsky is now ranked 20th in the world in slalom and is the #1 American male slalom skier, with three top-15 World Cup finishes this year. I have watched him ski for 17 years, since he was 12. What a wonderful day. It’s impossible to convey how hard he has worked for this.”

But there are others in this Crested Butte band who deserve a shout out for working their tails off to make their way to the Olympics…
Dr. Gloria Beim is the chief medical officer for the United States team. She is in Sochi now, setting up the program that will run for the course of the Olympics. It is the pinnacle for her profession as a sports medicine specialist and orthopedic surgeon. As she told us last summer when she learned of her appointment, “It’s something I always dreamt of but didn’t expect to happen. When I got the phone call, I wanted to cry and scream at the same time. It is such an honor.”

Another Crested Butte local heading to the warm climes of the winter Olympics in Russia is Rewk Patten, who will be wearing a maple leaf in Sochi as a men’s World Cup downhill coach for the Canadian team. He has been with the Canadians for four years now but went to the Vancouver Olympics as a downhill coach for the U.S. team. As Rewk is not shy about reminding people…his is not a bad job. Rewk likes speed and he’ll see plenty in Sochi.

And finally, the current coach for the U.S. Olympic Alpine team is Sasha Rearick, a Western State College graduate who was an assistant coach for the college’s men’s alpine team. He’ll head the men’s Alpine team next month in Sochi.

So all in all, it’s a pretty impressive Olympics for Crested Butte and the Gunnison Valley. May these people who are our neighbors and friends do what they do as well as they can…and stay safe over there.
And while we’re at it…here’s to Emma Coburn, our summer Olympian band member in the steeplechase.
All these folks are connected here and all are representing at the top levels of their professions. It is all pretty cool.
Here’s to putting out a good Crested Butte tune at Sochi.