Size, scale, pace and soul…

With the release of the well-written and researched 5280 Magazine article about Crested Butte and its current state of affairs titled, “Is Colorado’s Last Great Ski Town Losing Its Soul?” (that’s us!), there has been a lot of talk, a lot of soul-searching shall we say, the last few days in town. I’ve heard the piece being discussed on the bus, in the bar, at parties and certainly on social media. The people living here now, or those that have moved on but still miss CB are questioning themselves and their special place. Like a New Year’s resolution to go on a detox plan, it’s probably a good analysis to do occasionally.

The expected finger pointing at Vail Resorts (just pay your ski patrollers a rational wage for goodness sakes) and Whatever USA top the list of what’s sucked the soul out of CB. I’m not sure they are really to blame. They may have turned down the soul frequency, but they didn’t drown out the song.

People interpret CB soul as having to do with things like the AJ and the Chainless, the Vinotok bonfire, the weird and interesting characters that seem attracted here to the end of the road, the super easy access to the wild, the mountain Extremes and the abundance of art and music that surround us. Fair.

One of the most interesting answers I found to what keeps the soul of Crested Butte alive was the idea of size. Soul seems to dissipate as a place gets too big. I might argue (another element of CB’s soul) that not just size, but scale, pace and integration of community is what nurtures the soul of a place. All four have certainly changed over the last few years. Change is a constant in CB and it isn’t change that necessarily decreases soul.

While 15 or 30 years ago Crested Butte was basically one close-knit community with a few hundred people living in town and a few hundred more scattered in places like CB South, Mt. CB, Meridian and Skyland, there are now thousands. That makes it harder for everyone to know everyone else. There are more focused groups of friends with a wider group of acquaintances and more people you’ll never even see. Class sizes in the school have gone from a dozen to 25 to 70. The morning trade parade between Gunnison and Crested Butte shows that hundreds of working members of this community now commute up Highway 135 every day instead of being within biking, walking or a short drive away from their work. 

The RTA helps keep valley-wide connections alive, but it is hard to have integration when the workers must bus in 30 miles to be part of the town. The rapid influx of new residents with COVID made it hard to introduce them to the value of small-town slowness and friendliness. Not everyone learned it is okay to respond when a stranger who recognizes your face says hello or to nod when receiving the rural index finger wave that comes off the steering wheel while driving. I take issue with some of the current town messaging of trying to control increasing traffic in CB (a good thing), by creating policies that throw up barriers to those locals living nearby who want to come into town. Punitive hurdles against your outlying neighbors aren’t always a soulful answer.

Which leads to pace. The pace isn’t small-town slow when the day starts out and ends with a commute. There used to be a lot of chatting on the street, at the PO, on the buses and in the lift lines. Now time matters more, so if you want to ski a few runs or catch the bus home or get back to the car before your two hours of parking is up, there is less time to chat. 

The scale of the physical community is changing as we are choosing to build big buildings – whether it is the new fire station, the school and its latest expansion, the Whetstone affordable housing complex, Mineral Point or allowing a four-story building over on Belleview Avenue.

It used to be comfortable talking to any new face, not just your immediate neighbors, because there was a common bond of simply being here, in this place, at the same time. The old CB truism of how the new liftie and the rich second homeowner could bond with a crusty local in a lift line or at an après ski celebration seems less likely now.

Another important element in size and scale is the feeling that local, small business ownership is getting impossible. Big bucks are needed to have even an ‘ol mom-and-pop business in CB. That’s a huge thing impacting our community soul. Businesses owned and managed by neighbors are a major pillar of our community. Finding ways to support the small, local businesses is a critical thing to focus on.

In the “old days,” part of the soul came through bonding together during the times that used to define hard living at 9,000 feet at the end of the road. Having to deal with three feet of snow in three days; craving fresh veggies in January; the inability to buy essentials like a $12 pack of socks in town; the lack of a K-12 school in the North Valley. But many of those challenges no longer exist. You can order cheap socks that will be on your doorstep in two days. The Internet keeps you connected to the world. The K-12 school at the entrance to town is expanding. Everyone has a snowplow company on speed dial and there are two grocery stores in town. The hardship nurtured soul through common bonds and the understanding it wasn’t ever easy to choose to live here but those that did gained immediate respect from fellow weirdos. The anxiety now is definitely for the next generation having to navigate their long life here if that is their choice. It’s getting even harder given housing prices.

It’s not just the new big money, Vail Resort’s corporate attitude, the relative ease of living here now or the memory of Whatever that has sucked some of the soul from this place. I would suggest it’s the increasingly mainstream protocol to avert your eyes when someone says hi on the street. It’s cutting a line to save 30 seconds on a T-bar or to get a seat at the window in a local restaurant. It’s not sharing your thoughts with the community when you control part of its direction. It’s not stopping at stop signs or passing people on the highway to get from Gunny to CB literally 20 seconds faster in the trade parade. 

In a period of massive planning for Crested Butte, the town’s Community Plan is starting up and basically has as its goal to try and keep CB a place comfortable for locals that want to build a life here. Excellent. I am always leery of those who plan too much but if in this case town officials can focus on the simple goals of getting more working people to live near their jobs and find ways that support small mom-and-pop businesses that cater to locals, it can be a success. Keep it simple. I’d urge council to not overreach by putting a bedroom on every square inch of vacant land and don’t ignore real impacts that come with things like eliminating parking in heavy traffic areas. Oh, and zoning separates uses for a reason…not everything mixes well together.

While some units are appropriate, don’t gentrify the industrial zone into a huge housing development. Don’t try to be all things to all people wanting apartments for future workers employed by billionaire-owned businesses, and instead remember to keep the diverse elements that make CB a real town…an industrial zone being one. Make the future great for the people here. The “test” schematic of the Alpine Lumber parcel presented Monday looked pretty Breckenridge flashy to me. This Community Plan is in its early stages and presents great opportunity. 

Using government to push the free market in a certain direction is never easy and can raise hackles, but in this case, town planners are probably right. Adjusting zoning regs might be the best option given the realities of a free-market resort community that is attracting more and more affluent people. This plan, in my view, holds the most promise of all the Compass initiatives.

Look, the CB soul frequency might be a bit quieter than 25 years ago, but it is still humming. There are still smiles and art and weirdness, and music and endless wilderness opportunities. Raising a kid here is uniquely wonderful. There are still characters roaming the streets and there’s always a reason to costume up or start a bonfire. Plus, if you’ve been here any time at all, you can sense the caring that comes when neighbors hit a rough patch. 

So as always — slow it down and appreciate where you are. Breathe in the fresh air and get out in the mountains, in the art and in the community that makes this place continue to be special. You are, after all, part of what keeps the soul frequency humming.

—Mark Reaman