It’s hard to believe that it’s been five years since I joined CB Nordic as Executive Director, and even harder to believe this will be my last season. When I took the helm, CB Nordic had already experienced years of exponential growth, and I was well aware that I had “big shoes to fill.” Little did I know that this growth would continue and that our programs and budgets would nearly double, again, in the next five years. We would be faced with historically low snow years, historically high snow years, a global pandemic, and the greatest demand for nordic skiing the sport has ever experienced.
This well-established sapling of an organization has grown into a mature and beautiful organization, with deep roots, a sturdy trunk, and so many prolific, flowering branches. I have been honored to work with an amazing team of individuals who I am proud to call my coworkers and friends. They have helped the organization fill out and blossom in ways we could hardly have imagined when I started.
You have probably noticed the branches of our “tree” growing by leaps and bounds. Our youth programs, Masters Community, lessons, tours, events, and the front desk have seen dramatic upticks in participation. These branches of the organization have thickened, lengthened, added foliage, and started to bear beautiful fruit.
But so much of our work has also been behind the scenes–like endless work with our landowners and partners to secure long-lasting relationships, easements, and agreements, adding newer and more reliable snowcats, or even more obscurely, creating a customer database and more flexible point of sales systems. These form the roots of our organization: they support the weight of the rest of the tree. I am happy to leave the organization with wider, deeper, and thicker roots that will support the organization for years to come.
The trunk of the organization–its membership and donors, has also added wide rings these last few years. Our membership has nearly doubled, and our circle of donors has nearly tripled. This support allows us to support even thicker branches, more foliage, and requires more extensive roots. YOU form the core of this organization, and this core is more diverse, funky, and fun than ever.
In nature, a mature tree provides many benefits to the ecosystem in which it lives. Some large trees actually create their own microclimate–changing the humidity of the air around them and the composition of the soil, as well as providing habitat and shelter for other plants, animals, and fungi. In a similar way, our CB Nordic tree creates its own microclimate whose effects spread outward. Our “habitat” nurtures kindness, fosters cooperation, and radiates warmth. We support our 70 seasonal staff and other nonprofits, and we create a welcoming community for newcomers and long-term locals alike, ALWAYS helping to keep CB just a little bit “weird.”
For the last five years, my mantra has been: Let the people ski. Every time an issue arose, I used this as my north star. What do the people need to be able to ski? How do we get barriers out of the way? While I may be shifting my focus for the next chapter, my time at CB Nordic has been a critical part of not just the organization's growth, but my own. Thank you for trusting me with our tree. Thank you for all the opportunities to get to know you, to do good, and to get the people skiing. Now, it's my turn to be one of "the people." I'll see you on the trails,
Masters Community
In 2017 when Christie came on board as the Executive Director, the Masters Community was a hardy group of local skiers who did intervals a couple times a week. Then, Kevin Koval took the helm and expanded Masters to include programs for beginners, intermediate, and advanced skiers. Over the last 5 years, this program has absolutely flourished, with 325 sessions hosted in 2021-22. There is no better testament to Crested Butte being "the Nordic Skiing Capital of Colorado" than the robust Masters "branch" of our tree.
Crested Butte Nordic Team
The ever-growing Crested Butte Nordic Team became infamous this fall when our full slate of programs sold out 10 minutes after registration opened. Thanks to Head Coach Molly Susla’s steady care and vision, this program has grown to 178 kids! In 2020 we got creative with scheduling, adding day-time programs for preschoolers and kids that were homeschooling to try to accommodate more skiers. These two additions helped, but demand continues to outstrip supply. This is why we've been fundraising so hard for The Outpost. Expanding our space will enable us to host more kids and store more equipment for kids so we can meet the community's needs.
Community Races & Events
This year our community events doubled! We continued the tradition of Pinnacle Orthopedics Community Races on the weekends, but we added events for a total of 10. We added a 5K "FUNSKI" category, and mixed it up with a "mini-AJ" at the Nordic Center, an obstacle course, and our first-ever adult Skiathlon. We hoped to host a couple events in Gunnison, too, but the scarce snowfall scrapped those plans. In addition to racing, we also hosted other fun events, like a Family Fun Night and the inaugural Beer Ski World Championships. These decidedly FUN-forward events were a great way for race coordinator Becky Nation to cut her teeth, and now she’s filling Andrew's shoes as Events Director next year. Congratulations, Becky!
Community Programs
While skiing and snowshoeing is what we do, the community is WHY we do it. Making sure all people can be part of this community has been a big focus of Christie’s work the last five years, starting with the Inmigrantes Unidos program that invites the Hispanic community to join us for 5 ski outings each season. Additional outreach includes hosting 330 school children from Crested Butte and Gunnison for Ski for PE, as well as "learn to ski" days with other nonprofits, like the Crested Butte Land Trust and the Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte Rotary Club. We also helped host Yoga at the Yurt and Ski History Tours with the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum. We were proud to deepen these partnerships with other "trees" to improve the overall "forest."
Lessons & Tours
While some of our branches produce fruit that feeds back into our own system, other branches are about reaching out to the sun. We offer lessons and tours so that all people, no matter their age or experience, can discover the joy of nordic skiing and snowshoeing. Since 2017, tours have grown from 15 in to 114, and lessons have grown from 180 to 337.
Yurt Dinners & Bistro
Everyone was thrilled when we were able to bring back Yurt Dinners and brunches this year. The Yurt Dinners sold out in record time, with 720 diners, and Backcountry Bistro became the “it” brunch place of the season. While initially we moved the tables and chairs outside to prevent COVID spread, this new setting proved to be a fun way to serve more people better.
Events
2021-2022 events kicked off in September with the Grand Traverse Run & Bike races. It was great to return to Aspen after a 2020 hiatus, and this set the stage for a whole winter of events that were back to normal. The Alley Loop broke 1,000 registrations for the first time ever! The Gothic Mountain Tour saw record participation with close to 200 racers. For this year’s GT ski, racers faced unseasonably warm temperatures, breakable crust, and a ping-pong-ball world of snow as they traversed the Elk Mountains, which made finishing that much sweeter. While the events are the biggest and showiest of our branches, they simply couldn't exist without a solid trunk beneath them.
Our Members
CB Nordic, at its core, is you: our members. As a community nonprofit, we don't actually own much. We lease our buildings; our trails are on private property. We are very simply a collection of people that come together each year and make this whole operation happen. When you buy your season pass each fall, you are investing in CB Nordic to ensure that we can be here, serving you, for another season. It's amazing to see how our community has grown over the last five years. In 2017, we had 1,316 season pass holders. This last season? We had 2,343 season pass holders. That's 1,000 new people who are making our trunk stronger than ever!
Our Volunteers
Imagining CB Nordic without its volunteers is like imagining a tree without its sap. You are the invisible layer of CB Nordic, out in the community, helping make sure all the pieces are well-oiled and well-fed. You fed racers gels at the Alley Loop. You monitored avalanche conditions at the Gothic Mountain Tour. You cleaned up dog poop on Pooch's Paradise. You welcomed people at the Gronk. You shoveled steps into the Nordic Center. You put boots on kids, fed them snacks, and helped them weather the inevitable meltdowns. Without you, Crested Butte Nordic would very simply not be able to hold up all of its branches. Thank you for giving over 3,000 hours to make our programs and events happen!
Our Donors
During the first two uncertain seasons of living with COVID, our donors stepped in to reinforce our trunk, giving us the resources and confidence to stay open and keep serving you. Like the cambium in a tree–that layer just inside the bark where the tree does all of its growing–our donors have added a ring to our trunk each season. This season we asked our donors, yet again, to help us grow into the future with the Outpost. Whether you gave $10 or $10,000 over the last three years, THANK YOU for being the strength we needed to survive, and now to thrive.
The K Club
Donors to The Outpost
Our Sponsors
Board of Directors
Staff
CB Nordic staff are friendly, knowledgeable, and, above-all, dedicated. When snow didn't fall this autumn, Operations Manager Kevin Krill took matters into his own hands (pictured in the background). When it snowed 99 inches in 9 days over the holidays, our intrepid yurt staff were able to hold 9 of 10 events, despite buried and overheated snowmobiles, broken snow cats, stuck vans, and more. When Omicron decimated our Front Desk staff, they rallied to cover each others' shifts, deliver COVID tests to each others' homes, and bake cookies to buoy the spirits of the remaining workforce. It's an incredible team we get to work with, and they are a critical part of our strong trunk.
This year we're saying goodbye to a few key staff members.
We will greatly miss Christie Hicks, our intrepid Executive Director, and how she’s helped our tree deepen its roots and reach new heights. In the face of no-snow, too-much-snow, and a global pandemic, Christie has kept our tree growing, flourishing, and sheltering more and more people.
Events Director, Andrew Arell, is moving onto greener pastures after 9 years of tutus, beacon checks, and French toast breakfasts.
Although you likely didn't see her in action, Finance Manager Kim Aronson has been key to ensuring that the exponential growth of our tree the last 7 years stayed rooted in solid financial soil. We wish her well in retirement!
Partnerships
You hear us say it a lot, but the vast majority of CB Nordic's trails are on private lands. We very simply would not have a trail system without our amazing partners. Thank you to the many private landowners that allow us access to their properties, especially to the Crested Butte Land Trust, the Town of Crested Butte, and Gunnison County Met Rec, our steadfast partners in sustaining our trails.
See you next season!
Thank you to Xavier Fane for the beautiful photos.
Drone photo courtesy of Alex Neuschaefer Photography.
Credits:
Xavier Fane, Alex Neuschaefer