Another winter season has come and gone, and with it, a range of emotions looking back on another successful CB Nordic cycle. This year was a big one. We transitioned into the Outpost - a new home for the team and our administrative offices - symbolizing the growth of our little community organization over the last 36 years. As we moved our boxes into the new space and set up shop, we unearthed years of CB Nordic history, including our initial bylaws and founding documents, old trail maps, newspaper clippings, years of slides and CDs of photos, letters from students, and so many memories.
On this walk down memory lane, a couple of things stood out. So much has changed, and yet so much has stayed the same. Our growth in trails, buildings, and size of programs has all but quadrupled since the beginning. Our events are larger, our reach is further, and our economic impact on the valley is impressive. Yet, we’re still a small homegrown, community organization. Our mission remains to get people outside, on snow, and enjoying the beauty of winter in the Gunnison Valley. And we’re still here for and reliant on this unique community of Crested Butte.
We hope you enjoy this small peek into the history of CB Nordic, as told through the evolution of our slogans - which, somehow, all still ring true today.
And that feels like a good thing.
Nordic skiing had a presence in Crested Butte long before the CB Nordic Council was official. CBMR groomed ski touring trails at the base of the ski area in the 70s and 80s. Nordic diehards, like Keith Austin - CBNC’s eventual first director, got creative and pulled bedsprings behind snowmobiles down on the valley floor to create a groomed track on the Rozman Ranch east of town. After years of separate endeavors, it became clear that a consolidated effort of community members and town resources would simplify logistics and create a better nordic experience.
In 1987, Crested Butte Nordic Council became a club operating in a room on 2nd Street in what is now the Scarp Ridge Lodge building. The mission at the time was threefold: to provide recreational facilities for nordic skiing in and around Crested Butte, to promote the sport of nordic skiing and provide racing opportunities, and to promote various charitable organizations and causes. Initially, about 15 kilometers of trails between the Bench, Town Reservoir, and Peanut Lake served as a way to get locals outside for winter recreation. Membership cost $25, and there were an estimated 3,000 skier days that first year.
The trail network grew quickly, and by 1989, closer to 25km were groomed.
Jerry Deverell, one of CB Nordic’s founding members, shared stories that sound all too familiar of snowmobiles buried on the Bench trails awaiting a rescue, deep debates over the merits of Klister, and sub-zero early morning races - still all common themes on today's winter playground.
Through the early 90s, a few directors took the helm of CB Nordic. Each one brought new ideas, added more kilometers to the growing trail network, and continued to expand programming. CB Nordic absorbed the Bill Koch Ski League and moved the ski school down to town from its original location on the mountain.
The Nordic Center Warming House and Big Mine Ice Area were completed in the 1993-1994 season - another nod to the town’s transition from coal mining to a winter recreation destination.
Cathy Frank took the reigns in 1995. She expanded the trails along the East River, and the infamous Town Ranch Poop Loop became a reality. The Town of Crested Butte purchased a snowcat, a big step up for trail quality. The Citizens’ Race Series got started, and the Alley Loop became the real deal as an American Birkebeiner qualifier. And on top of all that, Crested Butte Nordic became an official nonprofit organization.
By 2002, the trails sprawled for 35km, and the Citizen Race Series grew to 50 racers on classic gear. A feat we’re still trying to repeat to this day.
Though groomed kilometers and skier days have grown to 55 and an estimated 75,000, respectively, CB Nordic remains a pretty special winter playground with a constant mission to get the community outside and on the trails during the cold winter months.
They say it takes a village, but as Hedda Peterson put it in last year’s Spring Newsletter, it takes this village. Crested Butte has always been a gritty, do-it-yourself kind of town, and Nordic is no different.
Ski for PE was the brainchild of Bobby Pogoloff, former Crested Butte Community School third-grade teacher. The program got started in 1989 or 1990 and has put elementary kids in Crested Butte on skis a few times a winter every year since. A few years later, Bill Kastning, former Gunnison Elementary third-grade teacher, helped expand the program to kids down valley.
Funding has not always been easy to come by. Both CB Nordic and the school district have fought hard to keep this program alive. We share the belief that kids ought to be educated outside. After all, it’s the best winter playground around.
We still transport nordic skis in trash cans and rely on hoards of volunteers to corral the kids, but according to the little ones, the best parts of Ski for PE remain the same: extreme follow the leader, extreme backcountry tours, extreme freeze tag, and of course, hucking off sick cliffs. Apparently, ski vocabulary hasn’t changed much over the years, and the kids are still a little free-range in this little town at the end of the road.
We wouldn’t have it any other way.
As the trails grew outwards to the East and West, so did the need for bigger machines and new systems.
In 2007, a new bridge system was pioneered using culverts and planks that we still employ today. Every fall, a hearty, smiling group of volunteers heads out in tall waterproof boots, and waders if they’re lucky, to help us construct a marvelous engineering feat equal parts physics and Crested Butte grit. Culverts in the river allow water to pass through, while 20, 40, and 60-foot planks bolted atop allow the snowcats and skiers to glide effortlessly across.
Each year, the river twists and turns to a different rhythm, and we enter an annual dance with the fine folks at the Crested Butte Land Trust, the generous landowners who grant us easement through their property, and eager nordic skiers to draw a trail system through the snowy blank canvas.
Former director Keith Bauer shared that in the mid-2000s, before Ruthie’s, it was always a rush to try and get the trails open as early as possible. That required trimming back the willow shoots on the Beaver Trail, Magic Meadows, and Pooch's Paradise after a summer of growth. A hearty group of regular volunteers, self-named the Women of the Willows, would head out each fall before the first snow to trim back the overgrowth by hand. This was a monumental task, and we have since upgraded to weed whackers and tractors with brush hogs. But this community has always been the backbone of the CB Nordic, no matter how large or challenging the task. And getting the trails open a little earlier is always worth it.
His successor Christie Hicks said a look at the P&L statements will show you how much CB Nordic has grown in recent years. But all you have to do is show up to Bridge Days or the Annual Potluck to realize that this is still just a small community organization.
You only have to spend a few minutes with the boxes of CB Nordic history to notice the familiar names repeated over and over again through the years. This is a family affair.
Former CB Nordic Team athlete and All-American Hannah Smith, who once graced the CB News with weekly podium results in nordic races across the country, is now the vice president of the board. She follows in the footsteps of her father Rich Smith. His history with Nordic dates back to rescuing Keith Austin’s snowmobiles on the Bench, through years of Grand Traverse finishes, and countless hours of volunteering no matter what temperature the thermometer or hour the clock read.
Similarly, Martin Catmur, current board president, supported the Nordic Center as a local business owner for years, completed the Grand Traverse with each of his children and his son-in-law, and can regularly be found competing in our races on classic skis or poring over the Alley Loop maps and courses with new staff for hours. His wife Rosie was the backbone of Sunday Bistros for years. Their daughter Emma was a member of the junior team, and their son Nick recently held their wedding rehearsal dinner at the Magic Meadows Yurt.
Bill Kastning can still be spotted driving busloads of elementary kids to Ski for PE years after he brought the program to Gunnison. His son Andrew has since moved on to coaching in Alaska but was the junior team coach for a few years around 2004.
The Banks family is forever etched in CB Nordic history. Though he’s guiding bigger mountains now, Jeff Banks led the nordic team for many successful years. But his parents are still part of the day-to-day scene. Murray Banks is a figure in the devo program, and Jane Banks is the leader of the ever-popular Gray Hares. Their legacy is now permanent with the completion of the Murray Banks Team Room in The Outpost.
This very abbreviated list only begins to scratch the surface of the many family legacies that make up the homegrown patchwork that is CB Nordic. And there will be many more family stories to come.
Our trail access is one of the things that makes CB Nordic so special. Our trails are divided into three sections, each with a distinct character but all accessible in town right out the front door. But true to Crested Butte fashion, we’ve always been a little bit out of the ordinary, just the way we like it.
The Alley Loop debuted on February 12, 1987. The event was masterminded by Gary Sprung. Gary affectionately went by Gnurps, his last name spelled backwards, and normalized wearing two different socks. After learning that, the Alley Loop makes a little more sense.
That year, the race cost $8,000 to put on, $10 to enter, and net a profit of $400. It started on Elk Avenue and consisted of loops through the Bench trails and around the Town Reservoir trails. Leading up to the race, the then Crested Butte Chronicle and Pilot quoted Gnurps as he advertised his idea, “Skiers need not have the hottest new skis nor the fanciest clothing. Top physical fitness is also not necessary…I urge everyone to do it just for fun. Wood skis and blue jeans will do just fine.”
We still urge racers to bring their rock skis, as new technology and bigger machines have not improved our ability to keep rocks out of the alleys. Blue jeans are still highly encouraged, and costumes are always rewarded. The logistics were complicated in 1987, but the whole village came together to welcome the first 83 racers. The logistics were still complicated this year when we welcomed a record 1,194 costume-clad nordic skiers to the alleys yet again.
Every year, we submit the required permits, cross our fingers, and do snow dances. Sometimes Ullr cuts it close, and we pull out the low snow contingency plans, but we always seem to be skiing in the alleys when February rolls around.
At the end of the 1987 event, Gnurps wrote, “The Alley Loop is not just my race, not just the Nordic Council’s. Credit goes to everyone in Crested Butte. Thanks to us all!” That sentiment still rings true today. This particular race takes this particular village. Now, 36 iterations later, The Alley Loop is still the most unique nordic race in the country, perhaps the world, hosted in this town that is definitely still out of the ordinary.
It’s no secret that our operations have grown over the last 36 years.
We’ve gone from dragging bedsprings behind snowmobiles to owning two PistenBully snowcats. Though they still get stuck from time to time and are a little more challenging to extract from the riverbed than a snowmobile, they provide glorious wide tracks for early morning solo skates and full moon social skis.
Around 2009, Keith Bauer helped CB Nordic acquire and construct the Magic Meadows Yurt. Nestled a mile into the backcountry, this unique sanctuary is accessible only by ski or snowshoe. Eliane Wissocq managed the Yurt at the beginning. Starting with simple meals like quiche transported and warmed on the stove, Yurt brunch quickly transformed into multi-course dinners starting with bubbles and ending with decadent desserts.
Around 2011, Mike’s Mile was completed and became an instant fan favorite. Named for the late Mike Martin, co-creator of the Grand Traverse alongside Jan Runge, this trail showcases miles of scenic Crested Butte landscapes, perfectly contoured nordic trails, meandering river scenes, and minimal traffic - except maybe the moose. It is a well-known fact that a trip down Mike’s Mile is the cure to any bad day.
The Cat Barn was completed in 2012. It houses our two massive PistenBully snowcats, mountains of gear for the Alley Loop, Gothic Mountain Tour, and Grand Traverse race series, and all of our tools and equipment. Everything fits and gets along in there with just inches to spare, but we’re already looking forward to expanding to another cat barn in the near future.
The Warming House has provided a cozy home for our operation over the last three decades. But after bursting at the seams for the last many years, we’re now proud inhabitants of The Outpost. The youth programs, now 165 kids big, have a new home with space to stretch out, make a mess, and laugh a little louder.
We’re excited to spend the summer creating a true community gathering space upstairs in the Warming House. Though we have much to offer, a couch and a place for coffee with friends have been missing from our repertoire.
So, when you're skiing the Bench with friends this season, please come stay a little while.
Years of growth have made way for an expanded trail system, improved grooming, unique community events, thriving nordic programs for kids of all ages and adults of all abilities, and the same homegrown community spirit that makes this place strong and special. Winter is still long in Crested Butte, and we sure hope it stays that way. We look forward to helping you get the most out of winter for the next 36 years.