Crested Butte Nordic: Reaching out to entire community

Forging partnerships to share the love

By Dawne Belloise

Crested Butte has an abundance of opportunities for outdoor activities and Crested Butte Nordic (CBN) helps ensure the broad community has access to some of the winter sports available through its programs.

With support from a grant from the Community Foundation of Gunnison Valley, CBN is reaching out to underrepresented local groups in the valley to help facilitate experiences and expose people to a new sport in which they might not have yet had the opportunity to participate. Crested Butte Nordic already has programs in place for both Crested Butte and Gunnison non-profits that have put together outings for their own group, such as the local mentors program that bring in adult partners and local youth, who are then given Nordic ski equipment and trail passes.

The Adaptive Sports Center is also a partnering organization and their experienced instructors give Nordic lessons through Crested Butte Nordic.

Gunnison’s Six Points discovered how accessible the Nordic trails are when they brought their group up for snowshoeing and even attended the CBN’s annual members’ potluck dinner.

CBN also offers military discounts and hopes to have a military outreach program in the future.

One of the groups Crested Butte Nordic has more recently partnered with is Immigrantes Unidos. Crested Butte Nordic executive director Christie Hicks explains, “Immigrantes Unidos is a large group with a large population who might not even know we exist and perhaps they haven’t cross country skied before. When we spoke with them, our project aligned with one of their programs, Health and Well Being, which gets them outside, introduces them to community resources, and helps them integrate into the community.

“So it was a really great match,” continues Hicks. “The last outing we had with them there were more than 30 people, mostly families and lots of kids. Most of the kids had skied in our Ski for PE program, but this really gave them a chance to experience how it can be a family activity. Our goal is that they fall in love with the sport and become lifelong Nordic skiers. With just a little investment you can ski anywhere and have this amazing form of exercise available for a lifetime. It’s really accessible, especially in this valley, but we need to give people the tools to know how to do it.”

Hicks notes that Crested Butte Nordic has many partnerships this year. For example, Rocky Mountain Biological Lab (RMBL) is offering an environmental education program for Crested Butte Community School’s elementary students. “We try to partner to support all the other non-profit organizations whenever we can,” Hicks says of being able to make their trail systems available to them. “We have the yurt in Magic Meadows, where the kids can warm up. They’re given equipment and they go through a series of different stations, like digging snow pits. We facilitate these groups coming in and learning.”

Hicks also points out that kids in general, age 16 and under, always ski free, and are also given free equipment rentals. “Our goal is that all local kids ski free [including] trail passes and rentals.” Additionally, all older kids—seniors 70 years of age and up—ski free, and those who are 65 and over get a very sweet deal with discounted passes.

“The whole point we’re trying to get across is that we want to make Nordic skiing accessible to our community,” Hicks says. Indeed, the regular passes are extremely affordable even at full price, with an early season purchase costing only $200 for adults and that includes free equipment rentals. The trails start out from town for easy access so that even if you don’t have a car, or want to leave your vehicle at home, you can essentially walk to the trailheads.

Hicks says with the four months of Nordic ski season on the groomed trails, “Everyone here should be able to and know how to Nordic ski. We have 50 kilometers of groomed trails, that’s over 30 miles, and 20 percent of those trails are free and open to the public.” She lists Town Ranch (a.k.a. the Poop Loop), the Rec Path, and the Riverbend Connector.

In the Community Clinics, a.k.a. the Masters Community program (“masters” refers to age group, not expertise), anyone aged out of Crested Butte Nordic’s youth program is eligible. Hicks says this year the program brought more than 100 participants. CBN offered three different sessions throughout the year, consisting of six-week sessions that meet once a week for either skate or classic and beginner or intermediate.

“The goal is to give people the skills to really know how to Nordic ski properly so that it’s more fun. They’re really affordable at $90 for a six-week session,” says Hicks. She points out that with both skate and classic skiing, understanding proper position and technique makes all the difference,

“These clinics are made to help people progress their skills and have more fun out there. Everyone here gets outside; however, a lot of people basically walk around on skis. But with just a little bit of instruction, they can learn to glide, go faster, and enjoy it more. It’s a great way to learn how to ski better. The whole theme is that we want to be a community Nordic center and that means serving all members of our community, all of Gunnison County. We’re always looking for ways to reach new people, so if you have a group that you’d like to get involved, feel free to reach out to us.”

You can reach the Crested Butte Nordic online at cbnordic.org where you can get trail reports, events, yurt dinner tickets, trail maps, season passes and more information, or call (970) 349-1707.