The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Two young and enthusiastic skiers head to the backcountry Monday and experience the terror of an avalanche on Schuylkill. While shaken up and injured, they are alive and okay. What will they (and all of us) learn from such a wake-up call?
A longtime Crested Butte guy can’t seem to shake the crud. Through the intuition and awareness of local professionals, he ends up in a helicopter and GJ with a serious illness. He is in the right place and should be okay. What will he (and all of us) take away from life’s major speed bumps that are not always expected?
One of the two local winter Olympians, Aaron Blunck, was riding the bubble of qualifying for the final round of the skier halfpipe on Monday night where 12 people advance to the finals. Sitting in 12th place with really good skiers behind him, you could see the nerves as he settled at the top of the start to begin his second run. After a deep breath and a leg shake to clear the skis (and his head), he not only nailed it but also ended up in the number 1 qualifying position. He will be going for the podium in the final round after this paper is printed. I know Aaron well enough to know that whatever happens Wednesday night, he’ll be okay. Can he (and all of us) continue to trust a decision to lighten up and have fun with a job—which for him just happens to be on skis?
As I spoke to people about a certain proposed housing project south of town, I found most understand the conflict of the plan with the numbers and the place but want something on that property. Something will be built there and it will likely be different in some ways from what was presented to the county last Friday. It may be a Gatesco project and it may be another project. But I am confident there will be something there and it will be okay. The question now is, can the many sides of the octagon find the appropriate compromises or are we mired too far into a clean-the-slate and start over place?
What would have easily been “passes” last year in terms of powder day protocol, there were two times in the last week that people lined up at the Queen before 9 a.m. One ended up a super sweet and lucky Thursday with six inches of fresh while Monday’s three inches was soft and fun and worth an hour. The resort is slowly opening the Extremes and while many of us had resigned ourselves to a weird season of intermediate groomers, getting back onto the Headwall and into Teo will be really okay. Is that a lesson in patience or just karma?
So that’s an “okay” week in review.
A couple of enthusiastic people head out into our raw backcountry and are reminded that the mountains always deserve the utmost respect. Everyone needs to remember that.
A robust local is suddenly, out of nowhere, faced with a situation that is weirdly unexpected and throws the life routine way out of whack. There’s a lesson for everyone to not get so comfortable that you think nothing will ever change.
One of the children of the village finds himself in a tough spot, on the world stage, and literally takes a huge breath before digging deep, trusting his training and decisions and literally jumps over the competition.
A marathon meeting that was (for the most part) 90 percent respectful and full of passionate and smart comments ended with a sort of quiet optimism that something will change with the current proposal and there will be forward movement to address an issue we all talk about. Passion and persistence might result in a solution.
And finally there is the karmic idea that once you have no expectations, you might get want you want.
Actually, that karmic idea might be true of all of those situations this week. While embracing elements like enthusiasm, intuition, awareness, the act of digging deep, passion and luck, the Universe is always sending messages if you listen—and the Universe will always provide if you trust it.
It may not always be easy but it will be okay.
—Mark Reaman
