Crested Butte Is Home

Brittany Konsella is one of the Crested Butte area's most accomplished athletes, and I probably could have done multiple episodes with her, rather than jamming it all into one episode. She's also a big fan of setting goals, and we talk about many of them in this interview. She is one of just two women to climb and ski all of Colorado's 14,000' peaks, aka the 14ers. She accomplished this several years ago, and even today only twenty people or so have skied all the fourteeners.

On the bike, she became the first person male or female to finish "Trailquest", a contest devised by the Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association. Trailquest uses the CBG Trails App, which mapped every trail in the Gunnison/ Crested Butte area, from the most heavily traveled classic rides to the most obscure and abandoned trails in far-flung corners of the county. In total, there are over 750 miles of unique trails in the area, and Brittany was the first to ride all of them.

Finally, we talk about an accident that took place on July 6th, 2019. At a remote trailhead, Brittany's car accidentally ran over her with both wheels, leading to a broken femur, broken neck, and other injuries. Her goals today revolve around recovery from those injuries on a day to day, week to week, and month to month basis. Even now, just seven weeks post-accident, often walking without a cane or crutch, and slowly being cleared for more activities. And yes- if the last name seems familiar, it's because she's my wife.

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14erskiers.com

Brittany's Injuries

Trailquest

Trailquest Video with Brittany

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Randy Felix has held a number of fascinating jobs over the years. An interest in climbing led to several years of "rigging" ropes. One example of rigging would be safely placing chainlink fence over a cliff that threatens a highway below. He also traveled the world setting up the ropes for adventure races, connecting desert towers with ropes for the racers, or a rappel next to /Telluride's famous Bridal Veil falls, as two examples.

He also began fighting wildfires in Oregon after seeing a help wanted sign. That led to a career as a firefighter including many years travelling between Breckenridge and Crested Butte for work. Today, he's one of the first full time paid firefighters at the Crested Butte Fire Department. He's even volunteered in Honduras to work with firefighters there.

Finally, Randy has also donated time to multiple search and rescue organizations. Presently, he is the president of Crested Butte search and rescue. If you are lost or injured somewhere in the backcountry, search and rescue is the organization that will come to your aid- and it's a volunteer effort so you won't be charged if you do need help (unless of course you need an ambulance or heli rescue). If you're looking for a great non-profit organization to donate your time or money to, consider CBSAR.

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Crested Butte Search and Rescue Facebook Page

Crested Butte Fire Department

"Ropes Rigging" at Primal Quest -There are some great photos of some of the projects Randy describes in the podcast episode.

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Brian Riepe starting racing mountain bikes professionally back in the early days of MTB racing. Once his career in MTB racing started to end in the late 1990's, he managed Colorado Boomerangs, which produced boomerangs in Gunnison. There aren't a lot of manufacturing jobs in this area, but that was one of them. He also competed in endurance horse racing- backcountry horse racing events with required pit stops that frequently lasted 6 hours or more.

But mountain biking remained a passion. With some knowledge of the printing business, he began publishing Mountain Flyer magazine. Mountain Flyer covered mountain biking with a rocky mountain based perspective, rather than being based in California or the East coast. He remains at the helm today, though the magazine is now owned by a company with other magazine titles. We discuss the publishing business and why Mountain Flyer has been successful during times that have been difficult on other publishers. We also discuss the role of the magazine in terms of promoting mountain bike advocacy. And then we go down the rabbit hole of E-bikes (bikes with battery assist on the uphill)- which is a surprisingly contentious issue.

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Mountain Flyer Magazine

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Gary Pierson grew up in the Southeast corner of Colorado in the town of Lamar. Lamar isn't in the mountains, so Gary grew up doing the things that kids in that part of the state (along with neighboring Kansas and Oklahoma) do, like football. It wasn't until college, at Adams State in Alamosa, that he began participating in mountain sports like mountain biking and skiing, but he quickly fell in love with the freedom of those sports.

His career in college administration took him to several college towns including the midwest, so when the opportunity to come back to Colorado at Western in Gunnison, he jumped at the chance and has been here ever since. He's fallen in love with not just the recreational opportunities, but also the town of Gunnison and the students of Western, that he helps on a daily basis.

If there's one thing I've learned in these 37 (and counting!) podcast episodes, it's that Western Colorado University plays an integral role in life in the Gunnison valley. Enjoy this episode where Gary and I get to talk about all things Western-

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Western Colorado University

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With a name like "Deadhead Ed", it should come as no surprise that Ed Boardman is a big fan of the Grateful Dead. He saw literally 100's of shows when the Grateful Dead were still touring prior to Jerry Garcia's passing. And he continues to see shows that "spun off" from the band, such as "Dead and Company", "Phil and Friends", etc. He also became a "taper", meaning he would record the shows that he was attending in the audience. Grateful Dead fans the world over eagerly trade live tape recordings of the shows. This experience had a practical aspect as well- leading Ed to a job at the Crested Butte Center for the Arts in their audio-visual department.

Ed originally came to Crested Butte after an unfortunate break-in in Summit County, where he lived for roughly 10 years. His first winter in Crested Butte was spent in a travel trailer at the old Irwin Lodge, where the annual snowfall tops 500". He's also competed in every "Arapahoe Basin Enduro", a skiing endurance event where competitors make as many runs as they can on the famous Pallavicini ski lift. Lastly, Deadhead Ed's Chihuahua Rita is quickly becoming nearly as well known around town as Ed.

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Crested Butte Real Estate Minute: In this episode, I point out my condo page- one of the many helpful pages on my website that you can't find anywhere else. Most of the local condo pages have their own page, complete with a map, current listings, recent sales, and other helpful info.

David Scheefer grew up in the shadows of the Olympic venues of Lake Placid, New York. Not surprisingly, that meant that he participated in all types of winter sports, including nordic skiing, alpine skiing, skating, bobsled, and if you were a kid in Lake Placed and had the guts, you could even do the Nordic ski jump.

David attended Western State College (as it was then known) in Gunnison, and never left. He spent much of his time living in the Quartz creek town of Ohio City, which had a famous high-end restaurant at one time where David worked. (Quartz creek is located Northeast of Gunnison and also includes the town of Pitkin). He built his own cabin there, which led to a career as a craftsman. One of his projects was building several buildings at the beautiful Castleton Ranch in Ohio Creek, North of Gunnison.

He was also one of the early pioneers of backcountry skiing in the area. At the time, the gear consisted of leather boots and skinny skis, though he wasn't introduced to the telemark turn until later in his ski career. Many of the local peaks were first descended by David- possibly including the iconic East face of Gothic Mountain, which is visible from Crested Butte Mountain Resort and the Gold Link and Prospect neighborhoods.

I hope you enjoy this episode of the Crested Butte is Home podcast- please share this episode with your friends!

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Will Shoemaker grew up in the midwest, but despite that, his parents were avid skiers so he grew up with a passion for skiing and the outdoors, like so many of us here in Crested Butte and the Gunnison Valley. Thanks to that passion, Will chose to attend Western Colorado University and became interested in journalism. Following an internship at the Gunnison Country Times, he eventually stayed on and is now the editor of Gunnison's local newspaper.

In this episode, Will and I discussed the challenges of journalism in today's digital age. While large metro newspapers struggle to compete in a sea of media content, smaller papers like the Gunnsion Country Times continue to stay relevant. After all, no one else is covering local events and politics the way that local papers do. We also talk about the future of journalism- how much longer will a paper like the Times remain in a paper, rather than digital, format? And why are so few articles in the Gunnison Country Times available on the internet for non-subscribers.

Of course, we also talk about why Will loves living in the Gunnison Valley. he and his wife recently completed the Elk Mountain Grand Traverse ski race between Crested Butte and Aspen. Will is also an avid backcountry snowboarder, hunter, trail runner, and more.

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Ciera Freson was recruited out of her home state of Washington to ski race at Western State College (at is was then known). While she hadn't even visited Gunnison before arriving for her first fall semester, she quickly fell in love with the school and the area. After graduation, Ciera stayed on at Western State in the admissions department, recruiting other students to her alma mater. Ski racing remained in her blood, however, so today she is the coach of the alpine racing program at Western Colorado University (as it is now known).

After she married her husband Eric, she realized that she had a real passion for weddings and decided to start a wedding planning business. That business, Lucky Penny Events, grew quickly and now also includes a rental business. Weddings in Crested Butte are extremely popular, with several weddings nearly every weekend throughout the summer and fall months. Ciera gets to plan them, which sounds like a ton of fun when you realize that can include everything up to and including unicorn ponies. Yes, you read that right, and you'll have to listen to find out what that means...

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Lucky Penny Events

Lucky Penny on Instagram

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Renee "Crash" Newton grew up in the Southeast and arrived in the Gunnison Valley as a mountain neophyte. Like so many others, however, she quickly found her place here and took up all the mountain sports- while also bringing a piece of home with her: roller derby, where she got her nickname "Crash". With her college background in both biology and chemistry, Renee stumbled into a perfect job that used that knowledge, distilling rum at Montanya Distillers (see episode 20 of the Crested Butte is Home Podcast).

Recently, Renee went off on her own to start her company Fireweed Ferments, which produces fermented foods such as Sauerkraut and Kimchi. Fermented foods are all the rage, since they have "good bacteria" for your gut and may help with digestion and other benefits. We discuss the process of making fermented foods, the history of fermented foods, and why she has such a passion about it. And let's not forget about some of her recipes that you can find on her website, like a delicious sounding Bloody Mary utilizing her Kimchi. If you've ever wondered about the ancient art of fermenting foods, you won't want to miss this podcast.

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Fireweed Ferments

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Deuce Wynes grew up in the "state of hockey", Minnesota. Like so many other Minnesota kids, that meant that Deuce began playing hockey at an early age. High school games were attended by thousands of spectators. Deuce didn't end his hockey career there, however, and instead took his talents to Division 1 schools including Illinois-Chicago and Lake Superior State, which was just coming off a national championship season.

Post college, Deuce got an invite to tryout for the pro hockey team in El Paso Texas- not exactly the same hockey hotbed that Minnesota is, but with passionate fans nonetheless. After a couple of years in Texas, Deuce moved on and took a job opportunity in Crested Butte.

Deuce continues to be active in the local hockey scene, however- coaching youth hockey, playing in local leagues (contributing plenty of advice in the process), and passing on his love of the game to his family as well.

Deuce is also a talented Crested Butte general contractor with his company Blueline Builders.

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Blueline Builders

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