From teepee to techie

By Dawne Belloise

Dan Jones sits framed by a small forest in his front yard. He seems to be as tall as the aspens that surround him. He tells the story of how his grove of quakies grew from seedlings planted by the now-exiled Amax mining company. “These were put in a cavern under Mt. Emmons as part of Amax’s reforestation project, that grew into little trees and when they pulled out, Amax put all the seedlings on two flatbed trailers and took them down to the Four-way Stop. Jeff Siefried and I took all the plants we could, sold them, gave them to friends and everything that looked like it was too weak to make it, we put in our yard. And as a result, I have 54 trees.”

Dan arrived from Aspen in the dusty little ski resort of Crested Butte in 1974. When he and his partner/companion, Jeff, bought the house on Second Street in 1976, Dan recalls that the yard was nothing but sagebrush and a 1954 Mercury up on blocks. It was the far northwest end of town with no houses beyond their property, just pasture and views.

Born and raised in Seattle, Dan says, “It was fabulous. I grew up on Sunset Hill above the water. I was lucky enough to be in a big house with a big family, three sisters and a house full of German shepherd dogs. It was a three-story house and there was usually a pack of dogs everywhere.” All his grandparents hail from Sweden and when he was young, his parents took the family to the motherland. Dan says, “We drove all over searching for family records in churches,” and he got to meet his family there.

At 6’4”, Dan played basketball in high school. He graduated in 1966 and emphasizes, “I got so angry at my country for the Vietnam War that I left the country after graduation and lived in Switzerland for a year,” working as trail crew at a ski resort in a small town like Crested Butte. “I was skiing around all day with a shovel. There were German shepherd avalanche dogs all over. I was in love,” he smiles.

When he returned to the United States, Dan attended the University of Washington, graduating in 1970 with a BA in English literature. While in college, he was on the rowing team but after graduation he realized, “All I wanted to do was ski my butt off. My parents had started me skiing when I was a child and that’s all I wanted to do.” He eventually became a ski patrol.

Dan was in San Francisco in 1971. “I love San Francisco, it’s the ancestral motherland of homosexuals,” he laughs. He was a gypsy taxi driver even though he couldn’t pass the test, which was mostly a geography test and he didn’t have a clue as to where anything was in the city, “but they handed me the license anyway.” The calls for fares would go to a phone booth behind a Sinclair gas station but the only way to make money, Dan says, was to hang out at a hotel and wait to take customers to the airport.

Following the snow, Dan was a houseman at Sun Valley tasked with driving the maids around all day, carrying their vacuum cleaners upstairs for them and bringing firewood into the condos. As he recalls, “And then, we’d break into other condos and drink all their liquor.” Dan had moved to Aspen in 1973 because the skiing was so good. He landed a job at the prestigious Refectory restaurant, a chain of high-end eateries. It was in Aspen that he met Jeff Siefried, and having hit it off over an offered slice of pizza, the two skied up to Crystal the next day, where Jeff was living in a teepee in the middle of the river on an island. The couple then took off to travel Colombia, South America.

They returned to Aspen for a short while, then moved to Vail to work on Avon’s sewer system until they heard about this crazy little ski town called Crested Butte. Dan and Jeff were hired to help build the Irwin Lodge and Dan remembers, “We lived in a teepee down at Ruby Anthracite with Linda Baker. We’d hike the mile and a half up the river to work. We were young and tough. We’d go work and then hike back down to the teepee. It was a great lifestyle. We’d build little pools to jump into. We had pet trout. We made sweat lodges by bending willow branches and then we’d put blankets over the branches. I still feel Irwin is my neighborhood.”

Later, in 1974, he and Jeff opened the very popular restaurant, The Vineyard, serving fondues of meats, bread and chocolate. They sold the eatery a decade later and went their separate ways.

After the restaurant sold, Dan left for Pennsylvania, working as finance director for a Democratic congressman, who later moved him to the Washington, D.C. office. He had worked in Dallas on the Carter/Mondale campaign, having learned computer software when his college rowing coach got him a job at a Seattle bank as a programmer.

Dan was not thrilled when his boss sent him to Texas. “I didn’t want to go to Houston but somebody had to go and I was the one who was the most techie.” He was in the Lone Star State from 1985 through 1991, until, “My partners were tired of me whining about wanting to go back to Crested Butte,” so they sent him home to work remotely.

Back in Crested Butte, when the CF&I mining company decided to sell their land on Gibson Ridge and the town of Crested Butte couldn’t come up with the $2.1 million to purchase, Dan and a group of friends realized the gravity of not having control of potential development land surrounding town. The property was bought by a developer who then built exclusive homes on what was once the coal mines overlooking town. Dan, Jim Starr, John Hess and Norm Bardeen took the initiative in creating the Crested Butte Land Trust in 1992 in order to have a plan and funding in place for the next time strategic property came up, “To preserve the present for the future. We begged, borrowed and everything up to stealing,” Dan says of their fundraising efforts. Then they convinced the town to enact the real estate transfer tax, which takes 3 percent of all real estate sales in town, “and that’s when the Land Trust was able to really start. It gave the trust a source of funding that without it, we’d never be able to conserve land,” Dan says.

Dan was an avid rower, spending his days out on Lake Irwin, Long Lake and Blue Mesa and he laughs, “I’m pretty sure I was the highest rower in the world, in every sense of the word,” but continuing issues with his legs and knees forced him to quit. “It was clear that my rowing career was closing so I decided to drive my old blue Bronco as far as it would go from Seattle. I was hoping for Patagonia,” and he took off to San Francisco. “I thought if I made it into South America and the car died, I could leave it in some village and they would love it because they would take care of it and fix it and they’d all be happy and I’d go home and start doing something else. But I didn’t make it that far.”

His ex Jeff asked Dan to stay in his San Francisco apartment for a few weeks while he flew off to Hawaii. A few weeks turned into a few months, and he took computer programming temp jobs. He discovered Vivid Studios, the cutting-edge tech firm and web developer at the time, and went in to apply for a job, donning his business suit. “There were Frisbees flying, wildly dyed hair, dogs running around and computers everywhere. Everything that you think about when you think of San Francisco, Vivid Studios was emblematic of all of that and more.” He just turned around and left, completely intimidated. Returning another day, in casual dress, he made them an offer to work for free for a month and if they liked him, they could pay him. He went on to become the vice president of the company, from 1995 to 2001, when he retired.

Back home in Crested Butte since, Dan feels, “I love the mountains, what’s not to love? I love this town and always have. This is my home, this community first and foremost. I just want to be here.”

When word first got to me early Tuesday afternoon that rescuers were heading out toward Climax Chutes for an avalanche rescue, I held my breath. While not in the backcountry ski crowd, I get out on the backcountry bunny hills enough to know many of those still skiing in spring and I understand the danger of spring skiing. I hoped I wouldn’t know who was caught in what would probably be a wet slab avalanche.

Later that afternoon word was that there was a fatality and I again held my breath. And then the breath was literally taken out of me when I heard the name. I saw Dan Escalante Sunday walking through town with a smile on his face. As always, he was nice. Dan was just nice. He was positive and he was kind. He was a good soul. We had talked for a half hour on the phone Friday about a project he was working on in Crested Butte South. He was upset at some things taking place out there but he was nice about it.

Dan was one of the backcountry guides for a group of us in January and he was typical Dan. Encouraging, skilled, gentle, he got a variety of skier types up Gothic. He shared the beer and tequila after and we chatted a long time about life, his priorities, his disappointment in some of the changes to the community, his love for his family. He touched on local issues and as a former town councilman, he talked about things he wished were different and about things he was glad to see stay the same.

Dan was passionate about his life. He loved being in the mountains and loved riding the snow. He let life take him wherever it went, which was sometimes a tiny house or condo, sometimes a hunting camp, sometimes a friend’s couch or a blow-up mattress in his parents’ living room. Whether it was the community, his friends, his family, he had the ability to be passionate and gentle at the same time. That is a gift. And that gift left us Tuesday morning high on Mt. Emmons beneath a blazing sun and crystal blue sky.

As I write this, my breath is still taken away as grieving begins over the loss of a good Crested Butte man, “one of the most beautiful humans,” as one of his good friends put it. We all lost a good one this week and that makes me sad.

—Mark Reaman

Skier swept into trees

By Mark Reaman

A longtime Crested Butte local with extensive backcountry experience was killed while skiing the Climax Chutes on Mt. Emmons Tuesday morning. Dan Escalante, 44, a former Crested Butte town councilman, mountain guide, construction worker and Green Man, was in a party of four when a wet slab avalanche carried him into a grouping of trees, where he sustained traumatic injuries. He was not buried in the slide.

According to emergency rescue personnel, friends on the scene attempted resuscitation on him for an extended period of time.

Crested Butte Fire Protection District (CBFPD) chief Rob Weisbaum said that the Crested Butte Mountain Search and Rescue Team, the CBFPD, the Mt. Crested Butte police department and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center personnel were on-scene.

“We sent an initial crew to the area to evaluate the situation and assess the risks involved and the status of the patient,” Weisbaum explained. “We were able to maintain contact with the parties involved via cell phone. Trauma cardiac arrests in the backcountry setting are not survivable.”

Weisbaum estimated the accident occurred about 10:45 Tuesday morning. Four people were in the ski party and only Escalante was caught in the slide.

Warming temperatures on Tuesday made the snow conditions dangerous and a recovery mission was not safe Tuesday. Weisbaum said the remaining party was able to descend safely out of the field. The Crested Butte Mountain Search and Rescue Team performed a recovery mission early Wednesday morning as a freeze cycle and safer conditions were in place. Weisbaum said the recovery mission was successfully completed before noon.

Gunnison County coroner Michael Barnes said Wednesday that early indications appeared to confirm that Escalante died of “multiple traumatic injuries due to a ski accident.”

Our condolences go out to the family and friends of the victim.

Back to school for the next level

By Mark Reaman

Crested Butte community development director Michael Yerman will be moving on at the end of the ski season. Yerman will be heading back to school to work on a master’s degree in public administration at the University of Colorado Denver.

Yerman was hired six years ago in Crested Butte as a town planner to replace John Hess. When Bob Gillie retired in 2016, Yerman stepped up to take on the community development director role merging the building and planning departments. Among the duties involved are the long-term planning of the town, overseeing affordable housing projects, sustainability and climate issues, land use planning in and around the town, overseeing the Board of Zoning and Architectural Review (BOZAR) and the building department, annexations and planning relationships with the county and nearby municipalities. Yerman was also heavily involved in negotiations when the Mt. Emmons Mine changed hands. He helped lead the effort toward a mineral claim withdrawal and helped develop a funding solution to help pay for the claims by leveraging the town’s open space real estate transfer tax.

During Yerman’s six-year tenure, another 101 units of affordable housing were created or constructed in town that included the Paradise Park and Anthracite Place projects. More are on the drawing board through the upcoming Slate River annexation.

“Working for the town has been an amazing opportunity,” Yerman said this week. “I’m so grateful for my team of employees as it’s been because of their hard work, we have accomplished so much over the past six years. My experience in Crested Butte will help me as I prepare for the next level of my career at CU. I’d like to thank Dara and the councils I served for allowing me the opportunity to serve the Town.”

Town manager Dara MacDonald said Yerman has played a big role in town government. “Michael has accomplished many great projects for the town in his six years with Crested Butte and I appreciate his hard work, creativity and dedication to this community,” she said.

MacDonald explained the town would begin the recruitment process immediately and hope to have a candidate selected before Yerman’s last day on the job on April 10.

Recent improvements, reclamation and water treatment studies

By Kendra Walker

If you’ve driven up Kebler Pass for leaf-peeping this fall or backcountry-skied Red Lady Bowl in the winter, you might have noticed the private driveway three miles west of Crested Butte on County Road 12—which leads to the Keystone Mine and fully operational water treatment plant nestled up on Mt. Emmons. 

The plant has been treating mine-related water since it was built in the early 1980s and can treat up to 1,000 gallons of mine water per minute. The property was acquired by the Mt. Emmons Mining Company (MEMC), under the ownership of Freeport-McMoRan, in 2016. 

Crested Butte town officials toured the water treatment plant on Friday, September 27 to learn updates from MEMC representatives about plant improvements from the past year, including reclamation projects and laboratory-scale water treatment studies. 

Reclamation

The goal of mine reclamation is to restore the mined land back to a natural state and, specifically with the Keystone Mine, to improve the water quality of Coal Creek. Reclamation generally incorporates aspects relating to surface and groundwater quality, air quality, erosion concerns from storm-water, and the re-vegetation of plants and wildlife habitat. 

“What we’re doing is managing history,” said Jim Telle, manager of external communications for Freeport-McMoRan. 

He explained how the water runoff on Mt. Emmons compares to water percolating through your coffee grounds. It’s going to seep into the ground, as well as pick up mine metal materials as it continues to flow down—therefore affecting the integrity of the landscape and the water quality. MEMC has established various levels of drainage systems on the property to better mitigate the water, and has partnered with Trout Unlimited and the Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety (DRMS) with onsite reclamation.

These projects help divert clean water, such as storm water and snowmelt, around mineralized materials and reroute the water down the mountain through ditches and drop structures. The purpose is to successfully manage the clean water in order to minimize treatment. “We want to keep the clean water clean and reduce the amount that needs to be treated,” said Trout Unlimited project manager Jason Willis. 

Natural materials are then applied to isolate the mine material from the water, which was accomplished at the Keystone Mine site with six inches of limestone capped with a 24-inch layer of soil and compost to promote plant growth.

“We’re pleased with how it all held together this year,” DRMS senior project manager/reclamation specialist Tara Tafi said about the re-vegetation process. “There were actually some flowers, too.”

Water treatment

This summer, MEMC initiated two pilot-scale studies to evaluate long-term water treatment alternatives to the aging water treatment plant.

The first study treats acidic, metal-laden mine water using high-density sludge technology. The process converts iron and manganese to less soluble, higher oxidation states to create a non-hazardous solid for landfill disposal. According to engineers at the site, this is the standard for producing high-density solids or sludge from mine discharges, and the study has already produced 20 percent solids. The crew plans to run the water study until November, analyze the data during the winter and use the data to evaluate the cost and benefits of a new water treatment plant.

The second pilot study is bioremediation, a biologically based water treatment system that uses a three-step process. The first step raises the water’s pH and introduces alkalinity in order to remove aluminum and iron, which adheres to limestone gravel the water passes through.

The water then flows to a sulfate-reducing biochemical reactor, relying on bacteria and organic materials such as woodchips, walnut shells and alfalfa hay to mediate the removal of metals, primarily copper and zinc. 

Post-treatment, the water passes through vertical flow wetlands that have been installed at the site, which absorb the manganese from the water and transfer nutrients into the sediments. According to the crew, the wetland plants of sedge, grass and forb have held up well in the onsite environment, and the crew plans to stop water flow in the next month or so because of the potential for freezing pipes. 

As winter approaches, MEMC will also work on repairs to re-vegetation work done in 2018, and will continue the operation of the water treatment plant and ongoing projects to improve storm-water management. 

Building bigger reserves a priority

by Mark Reaman

As budget time approaches for the town of Crested Butte, the Crested Butte Town Council put together a list of priorities and updated its five-year goals. Those priorities will be used by town staff to guide development of the 2020 budget and extended capital budget.

The immediate priorities for the council in 2020 include things like beginning the implementation of a town Climate Action Plan; performance of “sorely needed” street repairs and maintenance; construction of hockey changing rooms at Big Mine Park; staying within the town’s operating budget; and developing the framework for an “InDeed Program,” based on Vail’s formula where the town pays people owning free-market units to add a deed restriction.

Looking into the future, the council has more broad goals in its five-year plan. The council wants to increase the percentage of residents living in town by: achieving a 75 percent full time occupancy; having 30 percent of the units in town be deed-restricted, including having 15 rental units for town employees; having permanent removal of mining claims by the Mt. Emmons Mining Company on Red Lady; having one year of operating revenues in reserves for the General Fund; reducing the greenhouse emissions footprint of town’s operations by 50 percent versus 2017 levels; implementing a traffic and parking plan; and upgrading the Marshal’s Office facilities.

The council has dipped into its reserves to fund various projects in the town over the last several years. They want to ultimately maintain at least one year of operating reserves in the town’s funds, so they hope to add to the reserves in 2020 instead of tapping into them.

Town finance director Rob Zillioux said, “For 2019, the General Fund budget was $5,430,906. This includes the parks operating expense. Capital expenses, such as building a new park or purchasing cop cars is separate. At the end of 2019, I project reserves to be roughly 77 percent—thus, a gap to goal of slightly more than $1 million. We would have a very hard time getting to 100 percent in 2020, but we will move in that direction.”

Zillioux explained that the General Fund revenues come primarily from sales tax, which generally fluctuates with the economy. Therefore, the town seeks to build reserves for when sales tax decreases.

Overall, mayor Jim Schmidt said the council has some lofty but attainable goals. “The five year goals are ambitious, some might say impossible. Others such as the 30 percent of units being deed-restricted are within our grasp,” he said. “Most of the 2020 goals are in the pipeline and are budgeted for 2020. I have been to many mountain towns with vision statements very similar to ours. The secret is in the execution and judging by all the compliments we heard recently from the contingent of 66 people from Park City, we have been very successful with the limited financial resources we have.”

Take a tour of the new Adaptive Sports HQ

The Adaptive Sports Center is now offering tours of the recently completed Kelsey Wright Building Tour times are every Monday and Saturday at 12:30 p.m. If you would like to join a tour please email lee@adaptivesports.org or call 970 349-5075. The Kelsey Wright Building is located on the Mt. Crested Butte base area at 19 Emmons Rd. Tours take about 45 minutes.

Organ concert Sunday

Join us at UCC on Sunday, July 21^st at 11am for a free organ concert by Jay Parotta. Mr. Parotta is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists and has received numerous awards and scholarships for his keyboard skills. 403 Maroon Avenue.

Mountain Heritage Museum offering unique tours each Saturday

The Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum is offering new themed tours on Saturday mornings throughout the summer, with local historians and speakers of different backgrounds who share their knowledge about this diverse valley. The next one is July 27 with David Primus, a local historian, will lead an 1880s walking tour of Gunnison. By 1882, Gunnison was booming—it had two railroads, two newspapers, four schools and six churches. Using the 1882 Bird’s Eye View of Gunnison, Dave will help you imagine Gunnison as it was in 1882. The tour will cover both West Gunnison and East Gunnison, two rival towns in the early days. Dave specializes in researching the more obscure details of history—you will learn things you never knew before. Meet at 114 N. Boulevard at 9 a.m. You may park in the lot. Tour is $20 for members and $25 for non-members.

Vandenbusche to offer summer history lessons and tour

Join Dr. Duane Vandenbusche for the two remaining Western Wednesday classes this summer. The next one is The Land of Canyons and Minerals: A tour of Blue Mesa Reservoir and talk on the towns covered by the water, Lake City and the Hinsdale County Museum, Lake San Cristobal and the Alferd Packer site, then the Black Canyon and back to Gunnison. July 24, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. To sign up for any of the Wednesdays, contact Extended Studies at Western Colorado University. The phone number is (970) 943-2068 or sign up online.

Register for Living Journeys fundraiser

Support the Living Journeys fundraiser and enjoy being with locals and visitors alike on Saturday, July 27 for the Summit Hike and Half Marathon. Visit LivingJourneys.org for details and to register online. Participate in your experience and experience your participation.

Roger Kahn to read from his new book about mid-time Crested Butte

Join the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum, Saturday, July 20 at 7 p.m. for a reading by Roger Kahn of his newly published book, How Crested Butte Became a Tourist Town: Drugs, Sex, Sports, Arts, and Social Conflict. The book is a fun-filled social history that is based on extensive research. This is a free event being held at the Museum on the corner of 4th and Elk Ave. Visit crestedbuttemuseum.com or call (970) 349-1880 for more information.

Birthdays:

July 18- Eric Beck, OB Oberling, Melissa Leftwich, Emma McDuff, Olivia Lueckemeyer

July 19- Lina Glick, Cis Berry, Terren Judson

July 20- Jacob Bernholtz, Laura Freeman, Henry Cahir, David Villanueva, Kat Hassebroek,

July 21- Tom Martin, Maila Olson, Leslie Locklear, Peace Wheeler, Ross Orton, Ashley Harrington

July 22- Lucy Zavala, Walker Carroll, Lisa D’Arrigo

July 23- Emma Vosburg, Aaron Lypps, Brad Sorock, Denise Duffy, Frank Clause, Denise Reinert

July 24- Tom Miller, Meriska Koekemoer

Cameos: What kind of mid-summer plans are you still looking forward to?

Keeping the communication flowing

By Mark Reaman

There is a lot happening in the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest (GMUG) and the Gunnison County commissioners received a brief update on several projects from deputy forest supervisor Chad Stewart on Tuesday, June 5.

Topics ranged from the GMUG Forest Plan Revision process to travel management planning on the forests, to Crested Butte Mountain Resort and the Red Lady mine situation. Stewart indicated that county input was very important in determining future direction with any of the issues.

The most discussed topic was probably the current Forest Plan Revision that is being done for the entire GMUG. The planning started in 2017 and a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) with specific guidelines is expected to come out by early 2020. The process is currently in a “public feedback” period and the commissioners indicated they wanted elements of the GPLI (Gunnison Public Lands Initiative) to play a role in the end product.

The GPLI is an ongoing effort that brings together various regional stakeholders to try and figure how best to provide meaningful protections for public lands in the area. It includes ranchers, recreationalists, conservationists and hunters. The GPLI aims to protect key public lands through a variety of designations that include wilderness and “special management areas” known as SMAs. It is hoped that Congress will ultimately adopt the initiative’s proposals. The commissioners are involved in the GPLI process and they advocated to Stewart that the US Forest Service consider key elements and other anticipated comments from the county as part of the Forest Plan Revision. “There are three other such proposals out there and we have to give them all equal weight,” Stewart said. “If the county selects the GPLI as a preference then it gives it more weight in our view. I am patiently waiting to see what you guys will do with that.”

The county hosted a GPLI open house on Tuesday night at the courthouse in an effort to more thoroughly engage the public and receive more comments on the proposal.

Stewart said the Forest Service didn’t want to rely on chopping up the forest into a lot of different SMAs but after going up to Gothic and seeing the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) in action, he realized how that fit into such a category and how SMAs could be effectively utilized.

Stewart recognized that one key to focus on in the Gunnison National Forest is the recreation spectrum. “That actually would help set up the forest travel plan in the future,” he said. “Wilderness is another big one for the county and that is where the counties in the GMUG have various opinions so there will be a wilderness discussion. There are very different opinions across the board. It is a big landscape.”

Stewart said the timeline for the Forest Plan Revision is pretty much on track. Public feedback is currently being taken and he expects a solidified draft plan to be announced in 2020.

“Having public input as the plan is evolving makes for a better plan in the end,” noted Gunnison county commissioner John Messner. “But there will still be grenades. The different forests within the district have different priorities.”

“We have the full spectrum, for sure,” agreed Stewart. “There will always be grenades but I don’t want a bomb at the end to derail it, so public input is very important.”

Travel management, the ski area, the mine

Commissioner Jonathan Houck reminded the FS of their commitment to updating the winter travel management plan for areas without those guidelines, and to re-visit  the upper valley plan. Stewart said travel management was not a priority at the forest right now but understanding the importance of the issue in Gunnison County, it would likely be discussed soon after the forest plan revision was completed.

“There is no incentive for the forest to this given the amount of grief it produces,” he admitted. “We aren’t being directed to do it so it will be hard for me to direct employees to focus on that when we have other priorities like oil and gas leasing.

“But [Gunnison Forest ranger Matt] McCombs has made it clear it is a priority for his office,” Stewart continued. “So I think we will take it on at some level on the heels of the Forest Plan Revision. He feels a sense of urgency to do something about it. My crystal ball says the Gunnison Forest may prioritize travel management planning and the other forests may focus on oil and gas.”

Stewart said the Crested Butte Mountain Resort expansion plan has been signed, sealed and delivered. “The relationship with Vail is good and Matt has worked with them before. All is going well and I see no red flags on the horizon with that one,” Stewart said.

As for Mt. Emmons and the molybdenum mine now controlled by global mining giant Freeport-McMoRan, Stewart said he has seen the beginnings of a plan on how to move forward. “That is a huge step and it is being reviewed. Getting a plan is huge for liability concerns,” he said. “Understanding the risk is the first step and from the Forest Service perspective that is where we are. We are heading down a path to fix this in perpetuity and that could involve a land exchange. That in itself is probably a three-year process and we are in the first step of that process. We should know more soon after the review. We’re working on the issue with Mt. Emmons and that is great.”

Stewart said the West Elk coal mine lease modification seems to be moving ahead in a similar fashion of reasonable compromise. “It seems to be heading on a track where the issues are being worked out and there is cooperation on all sides. It is showing signs of real cooperation,” he said

Logging is growing in the Gunnison National Forest and Stewart said he is coordinating with the log mill in Montrose to take out the desired number of trees throughout the area, including the Taylor Park area. “I’m a forester and so to manage the forest it is important to treat both the live and the dead vegetation,” he explained. He did say the timber trucks would have to coordinate with the road closures on Highway 50 when the Little Blue Canyon work is being done starting next year. But he said the timing is being coordinated so the logging trucks can hit the road openings and get to Montrose without having to wait for hours. “It seems like it will work,” he said.

“Oh Be Joyful is my favorite one ever”

by Than Acuff

After a one-year hiatus, the internationally known Oh Be Joyful kayak race is back this year and set to go off on Saturday, June 22.

Oh Be Joyful creek is out the Slate River drainage pouring down from the basin behind Mt. Emmons and into the Slate River. It is a class V steep creek run, rife with waterfalls, slide rapids and make-or-break moves.

Tim Kegerman, Jack Barker and Dan Hicks are credited with the first descent of Oh Be Joyful back in 1992. Once word spread, the creek run gained renown, attracting some of the top boaters of the time such as Clay Wright, BJ Johnston and Tracy Clapp. Meanwhile a local contingent of kayakers that included Keith Fortin, Jeff Deutsch, Aaron Lypps, John Banker, Steve Melnick and Milo Wynne, to name a few, were making it part of their daily routine each spring.

But it wasn’t entirely a man show, as local women Andi Burnite, Niki Schroer and Bradley Richmond were in the mix as well.

“When it was high water, it was the most intense thing I’ve ever done,” says Deutsch. “You put on and the next thing you know you’re taking out but you’ve gone three-quarters of a mile and dropped 600 feet. It was like a time warp.”

Paul Raymond took over the reins of the famed race this year and has garnered the support of the Brick Oven, the Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce and several companies providing prizes for the event.

Raymond grew up kayaking and has traveled throughout the country as well as into Chile to seek out waterfalls and classic river and creek descents. He saw a DVD of the 2008 race and was instantly intrigued.

“I saw that and I was like, that’s where I want to be,” says Raymond.

After a brief stint at CU Boulder, Raymond came to the Gunnison Valley to seek out Oh Be Joyful in 2012 and was hooked instantly, joining into the race as well.

“I’ve run creeks all over the Front Range, in Chile and all of the ones around here,” says Raymond. “Oh Be Joyful is my favorite one ever. That’s what brought me to the valley. It’s world-known, it’s a big deal. People plan trips to Colorado to come to Crested Butte just to run Oh Be Joyful.”

Wynne has been paddling Oh Be Joyful since the mid- to late 1990s and has been a part of the race in some capacity off and on throughout the years. When he can’t make it, his buddy, G Gordo Liddy, fills his shoes to keep an eye on things.

“I’ve raced a few times but that’s not my scene really,” says Wynne. “I wasn’t the fastest but I was smiling the whole time. In the years I can help out with safety I hang out at the big drop and set up the Freedom Center. We’ll have three ropes in there pulling out the wounded warriors.”

With a copious winter and temperatures on the rise, Raymond expects levels to be mid to high come race day, which can be good or bad, depending on the kayaker.

“It depends on who you ask—everyone has their own preferred level,” explains Raymond. “I like when it’s high, nice and fluffy. Some people like it lower and slower. I’ve been keeping an eye on the snowpack and levels and I think it’s going to be at a great level in two weeks.”

Raymond has 17 signed up so far for the race and is hoping to get as many as 35 to 40 out on race day. The course itself is just over three-quarters of a mile long and takes racers between four and six minutes to make the run.

The course starts at the Wilderness Area sign and Raymond plans on having each participant run the creek twice, starting around 10 a.m., with the fastest time overall taking the title.

Information and registration can be found at cbchamber.com or facebook.com/TheOBJRace.

“Normally, peak flow is the first week of June but this isn’t normal,” adds Wynne. “I’m just gonna say it’s gonna be high at a minimum, but there’s nothing wrong with high. The heavy hitters are loving it and only the heavies are going to style it. It takes courage and you have to remain calm. Don’t pull your paddle stoke until you see the landing.”

NRCS co-op program predicts strong river flows ahead

By Katherine Nettles

Data collected from recent snowpack surveys suggest a much wetter spring than last year, according to local and state water officials. A late-March survey of local snowpack, both manually through snow course sites and automatically through snowpack telemetry (SNOTEL) sites, has indicated a major change in snow water equivalent (SWE) from this winter compared to that of 2018.

The survey is taken monthly each winter and spring by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Cooperative Snow Survey Program in the Upper Gunnison River Basin, which includes a partnership with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the NRCS, the Gunnison Conservation District, Trout Unlimited, the Crested Butte Land Trust, the Wildbird Community, Freeport-McMoRan (owner of the Keystone mine on Mt. Emmons), Upper Gunnison River Watershed Conservation District, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, HCCA and Crested Butte Nordic.

The surveys taken in March are considered to be at the height of the snowpack for the season, says BLM hydrologist Andrew Breibart. “This data is used to forecast water runoff in the Gunnison River Basin,” he says. That data is then used by water experts across Colorado and throughout the West to determine state of drought and water situations.

Breibart and Bill Ketterhagen, vice president of the Gunnison Conservation District, conducted two of the local snow course surveys, one near the Keystone mine and one near the Magic Meadows Yurt in Crested Butte, on March 29.

“The Keystone and Crested Butte are additional data points that provide more information for water supply forecasters and water managers,” explains Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District general manager Frank Kugel.

The Crested Butte site near Oh-Be-Joyful Creek and the Slate River, established in 1936 and situated at an elevation of 8,920 feet, measured a (provisional) snow depth of 57 inches and SWE of 18 inches. The Keystone site, installed in 1961 and situated at an elevation of 9,960 feet, measured a (provisional) average snow depth of 60 inches and SWE of 22 inches.

The following week, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) released its monthly data collected throughout the state, which pieces together a larger picture of what the snowpack looks like for the whole Colorado River Basin. This helps water forecasters and water experts such as Kugel set their expectations for spring runoff, for seasonal river and stream flows, and for replenishing reservoirs such as Blue Mesa. The monthly data is collected in January, February, March and April.

Breibart noted a “year in extremes” at the Lake City snow course, where the April 1, 2018 snow survey showed a record low SWE of .8 inches, and the April 1, 2019 survey nearly reached the record high SWE of 14.7 inches, reached in 1958.

Another notable thing, said Kugel, was the extremes in weather with wet snow, rain and a high volume of precipitation overall in early March. “It was an epic year for snow and for slides,” says Kugel.

For more information and data, go to www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/co/snow/waterproducts/supply/