The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
The quick and dirty of a few things in the news this week. The fight (it’s no longer a kerfuffle) between the Crested Butte South Property Owner’s Association and the Gunnison County Library District took a new step after a judge’s ruling last week that expressed frustration at the whole situation. She ordered the two parties to enter into mediation to figure it out. Both sides say they will make the good faith effort to accomplish that judicial order.
Judge Kellie Starritt’s recent decision concluded by saying, “The hearing demonstrated an astonishing lack of communication and inflexibility regarding a community asset which all parties testified they supported. Many of the issues could have been easily remedied with cooperation and communication. The parties should also be cognizant of the attorney’s fees which are also funded by taxpayers.” Well, yeah!
This week each party pointed fingers at the other, not exactly demonstrating they heard the part about “an astonishing lack of communication” or the need for communication and cooperation. That’s too bad.
The library district said it has spent $200K on lawyers and that could result in parts of the new library not being completed. The CB South POA is guesstimating it is in for more than $50,000 with probably more to come given mediation. Huh? That’s crazy. These two good organizations with good people running them have spent a quarter million dollars of our taxpayer money on lawyers. No offense to lawyers — but huh?
Who said Donald can’t bring this country together? What a night for citizens sending a message. As might be expected, Donald wasted no time in claiming if he was on the ballot he’d clean up. For months, Donald urged people to “pretend I’m on the ballot” for the midterms. And they did. In a big way. As unofficial results showed the GOP losing in a landslide, he changed his tune in the blue tsunami and couldn’t really claim it was all rigged.
“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Yeah, America paid attention to this matter and sent a strong message of repudiation. As expected, Donald is blaming everyone else for the massacre, including his closest allies. Now the Dems have to actually do something…and the question hangs — how long will normal Republicans continue to placate this guy? Hmmmm…
Based on the initial election returns, local voters in the town rejected the Crested Butte town council’s proposed excise tax on second homes in town. But county voters approved a sales tax increase for road and bridge maintenance. Maybe it’s a matter of messaging and urgency to get people to raise their taxes which the county vote demonstrated they will. Hmmmm…
And in what is an incredible story, the Crested Butte Search and Rescue (CBSAR) put out a social media post this past week about a lifesaving incident that took place near Frigid Air Pass. Here’s a synopsis…
Basically, CBSAR was called into action after a person hiking near the Four Pass Loop between Aspen and Crested Butte on October 29 sent out an emergency text saying, “Please help me.”
CBSAR did. A Careflight 3 helicopter came in to hopefully locate the person. Knowing that landing a helicopter at approximately 12,000 feet at night could be extremely challenging, CBSAR also made the decision to send a ground team. At about 11 p.m. that night, the helicopter spotted the subject wearing a headlight, attempting to climb over the pass and struggling in deep snow. There was no clear landing zone for the chopper. A ground team of five members started the long, cold hike toward Frigid Air Pass about 11:30 p.m.
At approximately 3:10 a.m., the first two rescuers reached the top of Frigid Air Pass and located the subject below them, struggling in deep snow and making little progress. The steep terrain, deep snow and darkness presented legitimate avalanche concerns. The first two rescuers initially attempted to descend toward the subject but encountered concerning conditions. Recognizing the potential hazard, they made the decision to wait for the remaining team members before committing to the descent. By approximately 5:30 a.m., all five CBSAR members had reached the top of Frigid Air Pass. Two rescuers then descended approximately 300 to 400 feet down the north side of the pass, reaching the patient at approximately 6 a.m. She was unable to walk and was suffering from significant cold-related injuries, with concerns for hypothermia.
It was decided to call in another helicopter to initiate a hoist rescue. The National Guard dispatched a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from the High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site (HAATS) in Gypsum. Also aboard were civilian rescue technicians from Vail Mountain Rescue Group, who are specially trained to perform helicopter hoist rescues. By approximately 9:15 a.m., the Black Hawk was over the scene. A rescue technician was lowered to the patient, and both were successfully hoisted into the helicopter. The patient was flown to the UCHealth Burn and Frostbite Center in Aurora for specialized medical care.
The National Guard was able to return to the scene and make two additional helicopter pickups, flying all five rescuers back to the West Maroon trailhead. By approximately 10:24 a.m., everyone was safely out of the backcountry.
This harrowing mission came days after the plane crash near Swampy Pass that CBSAR participated in and the four-day search for a Crested Butte local, Matt Laggis, who was ultimately found deceased near Irwin.
He apparently died of natural causes while hunting.
“These experiences have a lasting impact on our members, and we are incredibly proud of the professionalism, compassion and dedication they continue to demonstrate,” commented CBSAR president Randy Felix.
And so are we. This valley is fortunate to have these dedicated volunteers watching out for our back.
Everyone should read the complete story which is available on the Crested Butte Search and Rescue Facebook page. And then go to the CBSAR website at cbsar.org and make a donation.
That is one heck of a hell ya!
—Mark Reaman
