Profile: Bet Egelhoff

by Dawne Belloise

Bet Egelhoff began her life in Cabrera de Mar, a small town of around 5,000 people, about 30 minutes outside Barcelona, where she was born and raised in a close-knit family of five and a large extended family who still live in Spain. Her connection to Crested Butte came through John and Carrie O’Neal, family friends and missionaries in her church who introduced her to life at the north end of the Gunnison Valley. As a child, Bet, whose first name is actually Elisabet, grew up in what she describes as a deeply family-centered world. She attended a Catholic school and grew up with the same friends throughout her young life. She is the eldest of three siblings who spent their summers at the beach almost every day, which was just a five-minute drive from home. As a kid who grew up in a large, family-oriented environment, Bet tells, “I saw all my extended family at church every week.”

Her first trips to the U.S. came about because of the O’Neals, through Christian summer camps in Missouri, starting when she was 11 and continuing through her 16th birthday. At 12, she visited the O’Neals in Crested Butte for the first time. Those visits became a yearly occurrence throughout her childhood and by her senior year of high school, she knew she wanted to experience life in the U.S. more fully.

To determine if living in the U.S. to attend high school was for her, Bet came to Crested Butte for three different seasons in one year, spending 10 days each in summer, fall, and winter during an unforgettable epic powder year in 2008. “I thought it was incredible, so picturesque, peaceful and a paradise.”

That experience convinced her to finish high school in Crested Butte. The transition felt pretty natural for her. Arriving in August of 2009, Bet attended CBCS where her graduating class was only 20 students and she remembers, “It was pretty special to be the new kid in class when your class has only 20 kids who have been together the whole time growing up,” she says. Bet confesses and laughs that she was always a “high achieving, big nerd, top of the class, type A. I was an academic and did a lot of dance, mostly hip-hop competitions and danced with my crew.” As for teenage dating in a small town, she says “I didn’t date a lot,” she laughs and adds, “I married my first serious boyfriend,” she says of her now hubby, locally born Sky Egelhoff, son of Tim and Darlene Egelhoff. She adjusted quickly to mountain life, playing volleyball and skiing all winter with the local boys. “I skied mostly with a bunch a guys, all these local boys who skied straight down the mountain and I got really fast, really quick because I was just following them,” she laughs. 

Bet had been taking private English lessons since third grade so there was no language barrier moving to CB. “I learned young enough so that I don’t have an accent,” she says in flawless English. Her parents visited for Christmas that year and her mom came again for Bet’s graduation from the Crested Butte Community School in 2010. After high school, Bet applied to colleges with the goal of studying public relations and working in media communications. She and her father did the college road trip shuffle, and decided on Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, which she describes as, “a bigger city with a small-town feel.”

Bet had met Sky in her high school math class and they began dating. “We were 18 and just being silly and would chant, ‘We’re gonna be together forever, forever, forever,’” she recalls. Sky was graduating a year later, and Bet took a gap year so they could stay on the same timeline. She used that year to travel back and forth to her home in Spain while waiting for Sky to finish high school. Sky had chosen CU Boulder but transferred to CSU by Christmas break of their freshman year, and the two continued their college life together. At CSU, Bet worked as a babysitter, in the dining hall and as an intern in the university’s communications department where she created content and short articles about campus events. She earned a BA in journalism and media communications with a minor in business, graduating in the spring of 2015.

That summer, Bet and Sky married in Crested Butte and moved to Denver to start their careers. She took a job at a public relations firm downtown, but the fit was wrong from the start. “I hated it so much,” she says. “I realized that the big PR agency vision I had was a New York City or Los Angeles kind of job and I was never going to live in a big city like that. What Denver had to offer for jobs in that field was nothing I was interested in.” But she says, “It all came around as a blessing, the way my life has unfolded, it all makes sense.”

The couple had always planned to spend only a few years in Denver before returning to Crested Butte. She wanted a career that would transfer back to CB and give her flexibility for the family the two were planning to have. Her in-laws suggested she dive into real estate, which she did, and got her license in 2016. A connection led her to a REMAX office in Denver where an experienced agent became her mentor and changed the trajectory of her career. “He taught me and encouraged me so much,” she says. She learned the business side quickly and helped with technology, marketing and client support. Now, she’s celebrating her 10th year in real estate.

Sky was working in IT and was able to work remotely, so the couple bought a lot in CB South with plans to build and move back. But in 2020, the pandemic changed everything. “Our plan went out the window,” Bet recalls. With the pandemic raging and everything closing down, they decided to move sooner and get out of the city. The housing and real estate market was tight with very little available.

“Everyone wanted to buy a house in CB and there was nothing left to buy.” But while finding an agency to work for she got the scoop on a duplex already being built in Buckhorn and not even on the market yet. They sold the CB South property, bought half of the duplex and moved in just three weeks before their son Noah was born on March 1, 2021. Because of Covid, the hospital wouldn’t allow anyone in for the birth or to meet the new family member. “They all stood outside the window with party hats and sent a birthday cake inside,” Bet recalls. Their second son, Toni, arrived on February 10, 2023, on Sky’s 30th birthday. “I always say I’m never going to top that birthday gift,” she laughs.

Bet had joined Bluebird Real Estate as soon as she arrived in 2020. “I already knew how to generate leads, meet clients, negotiate and get through a deal. The pace of things here is slower. In Denver, it’s way more of a primary home market but here, a lot of the people I deal with are looking for a vacation home or an investment property and not a primary. In Denver, I had the whole metro area to sell, but here I do less deals with less frequency but they’re a higher price point. For me, the pace of the market for the stage of life I’m in is perfect,” since it allows her to spend time more with her kids, which wouldn’t have happened in Denver.

She also uses her Spanish fluency to serve the Hispanic community in the valley, offering free educational sessions about homeownership and tailoring them for first-time buyers. She earned her U.S. citizenship in 2020, just before everything shut down. Beyond her day job, Bet is deeply involved in the community. She serves on the board of directors for the Gunnison-Crested Butte Association of Realtors and on the Buckhorn Ranch HOA board. She also took the lead on building the community playground and park in Buckhorn, “Which I’m so proud of. I oversaw the entire project. Now that we have a park, I’ve met so many people in the neighborhood who have kids.” Additionally, she serves on the fundraising committee for Paradise Place Preschool, where her children attend.

Today, Bet loves her life here at the end of the road with Sky and their boys. She finds time to do those things she loves like mountain biking, hiking and spending quiet time by a lake or river. But she’s also very social and enjoys hanging with her friends, hosting her kids’ playdates and getting together with family.

Living in Crested Butte, her family does all the things life in paradise offers and they spend their time together in the mountains fishing, hiking and doing the CB things. “My boys love exploring the woods for sticks, rocks and leaves. I feel like raising kids in the mountains raises pretty tough kids,” she smiles. For Bet, the most meaningful part of life in Crested Butte is not just the scenery but the community and the sense of belonging. “We’ve been all over,” she says, “and it’s still incredible to realize that you live in your favorite place in the world.”