The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
By Dawne Belloise
If there’s anything that Crested Butte does well it’s skiing, partying and costuming. Clangers, pot beaters and screamers are who you’ll find supporting and cheering on the throngs of Alley Loopers this year as the majority of them glide Elk Avenue costumed up in various arrays of colored plumage, crinoline, spandex, wigs, hats and contraptions that dangle and rattle.
The race is Saturday, January 31, starting at 9 a.m. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the much-loved landmark event. Buttians need no incentive to put on the wacky threads, but there are prizes, fame and bragging rights for the honor of best costumes. As for the costumed Loopers, everyone seems to have the best costume, which they usually keep secret until the moment they glide up to the start line. Some have been composing their masterpieces for weeks, others throw on whatever’s in the old costume trunk the morning of the race, but be assured that all of it will come together in a collective collage of theatrics.
The Alley Loop is not your typical Nordic Marathon. Not only is it one of Crested Butte’s most outrageous costume parties, it’s also a premier American Birkebeiner qualifying event taking those racers into the stunning vistas of groomed trails beyond the edge of town. The Alley Loop course winds through CB’s snowy streets, alleyways and narrow bridges and through the heart of downtown, but once you make it through town you are rewarded with pristine tracks and exhilarating vistas throughout the Crested Butte Nordic trail network.
It’s far too easy to get lured off the track with all the ritual alley parties that tempt the racers with brews, libations and noshing. It’s a communal gathering of the clan, another reason to celebrate the splendor we call home and the town itself is instrumental in partnering with the Nordic Center to make the yearly event happen by moving snow, closing the alleys and Elk Avenue. Yes, of course there’s beer, and the public beer zone this year is in the Public House on Elk Avenue. The traditional soup and bread will be served by the start area on Elk.
Forty years is impressive as far as an event that takes over the whole town and started as a whimsical party back in the day. The Alley Loop started, according to its creator Gary Sprung, aka Gnurps, “Because skiing the street was a cool idea. I got the idea when I saw a couple of photos in a cross-country ski magazine of Europeans skiing in streets and I realized we could do that here. It’s one of the only towns with enough snow in the streets and not many others would have enough to ski in the streets.” And Crested Butte’s alleys are spectacular, reflecting the old town. Gnurps relates, “I love the alleys in CB. They’ve got such great architecture, especially the old shacks.” As for the Buttian prowess for dressing up with flair, Gnurps comments, “Costuming naturally evolved. It’s the community, it’s a costume kind of place.”
Gnurps created the event with the idea of making it a fully accessible community race. “I envisioned it as a community event. Unlike most ski races where the skiers disappear into the woods, in the Alley Loop they’re right there at the homes and businesses. It made cross-country ski racing a much better spectator sport.”
That first Alley Loop started at First Street and Elk Avenue and used more of the alleys. “A bunch of local guys and gals competed,” Gnurps remembers.
“It didn’t bring anyone from afar although there were Western State College (now Western Colorado University) ski racers and skiers from Gunnison and Crested Butte.” There were only about 30 or 40 racers for that inaugural loop but now the event draws people from all over the U.S.” Gnurps also recalls his intent was to involve the whole town. “We got kids involved early, the kids’ thing was important to me, to make it a thing for them too. It was very important to me that it was a citizens’ race, essentially that it’s not just for elite athletes,” he emphasizes. “It was always intended to be fun for everyone and the 1k and 3k were, from the beginning, for kids. There were costumes from the very start.”
And fun it was as Buttian spectators dragged couches out into the streets and alleys. “The idea of having parties alongside the race is integral,” Gnurps laughs. “I always thought the fact that you could watch the race from your home is a pretty good excuse to party. Not to belittle the serious competitive side either. It was also always intended as a real race with categories, prizes and high-level athletic achievement. What made me really proud was when it became a qualifier for the Birkebeiner.”
Gnurps speaks fondly of past parties – pre- and post-race and spaghetti feeds. He recalls the year it fell on Valentine’s Day. “That year we had a couple’s race, as a team they had to cross the finish line together, one couple against another.”
Martin Catmur, president of the CB Nordic Center board, relayed earlier this week that around 800 people have registered for the Alley Loop this year, so far. “We’re down a little since we usually get up over 1,000.” He says that although it’s a little slimmer this year, Crested Butte locals are notorious for signing up last-minute. “We expect a last-minute rush,” he says, and 1k, 3k and 5k participants can register for the race Saturday morning, 7 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. “With the cooperation of the town and our groomers we’re hoping to do the entire Alley Loop course but with a little modification in town. The traditional Nordic trails are in pretty good shape and old Kebler Road came out well,” which the 5k racers will be descending. “People will have to be very cautious coming down old Kebler, it could be kind of spicy. As H-Bomb traditionally says about The Grand Traverse, ‘You won’t win the race there, but you could very well lose it there.’”
The 1k and 3k groups stay solely in the alleys of town and Catmur acknowledges, “That could get interesting by the end of the day.” Catmur says that the Nordic Center’s main priorities have been just getting to put the race on with the current snow conditions. There is also the expo at the Crested Butte Center for the Arts on Friday, January 30, where participants will go to pick up their bibs and coveted schwag. There will be several vendors and Fischer skis will have demos available. There’s a groomed loop in Town Park for those who want to try out the new gear as well as an infrared biathlon demo. The Nordic Center also has special commemorative 40th anniversary hats available.
The award ceremonies will be held on Elk Avenue at 2:30 p.m. Continuing into Sunday, at 10 a.m. there will also be a community Son of an Alley Loop Skiathlon, where the race is done half on skate skis and half on classic skis. The event is part of the Pinnacle Orthopedics Community Race Series and includes 10k and 6k and a free 2k kids race.
On Sunday is the yurt bistro which Catmur describes as, “The greatest local, happening event,” and it happens most Sundays through the season. “It’s a bistro with food, drinks, pastries and tables set up outside. People take their kids out there because it’s an easy ski for kids.” Catmur thinks everyone is excited about just being able to go out and do the race. “It’s such a beautiful course and experience and to be able to ski through town is unique as well. I’m always gobsmacked by the costumes and creativity. I think if people haven’t been out on the trails yet, they’ll be surprised at how well it’s skiing. I think it’s going to be another good Alley Loop.”
