Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2021 i 5280 Magazine

It’s a little embarrassing to admit this where thousands of Coloradans will read it, but here goes: I’m not a great skier. Competent? Yes. Able to make it down greens and blues? Sure. After two decades in the Centennial State, though, I’ve never gotten truly comfortable on the slopes. Some friends have said I lack the confidence, not necessarily the skill. Others have suggested a private lesson. But last year, after my 19-year-old discount ski boots finally broke and I had to borrow a slightly ill-fitting pair of quality ones, I had a revelatory moment. Sometimes it is about the gear. Lindsey Vonn I was not, but with boots that actually buckled and padding that protected my shins, I was able to make turns when I wanted to—not just when…

Whether his name makes you think of soup cans, neon celebrity portraits, or hair reminiscent of a scene from There’s Something About Mary (yep, that one), “we all know Andy Warhol,” says Simone Krug, assistant curator at the Aspen Art Museum (AAM). Or do we? That’s the question asked by AAM’s new exhibit, Andy Warhol: Lifetimes, which focuses on the biographical underpinnings of his art, including a look at the disruptive visionary through a queer lens. From December 3 through March 27, visitors can ogle Warhol’s signature pop art pieces, like the sultry “Marilyn Diptych” and the jaunty “Elvis I and II,” as well as lesser-known works like his “Sex Parts” series. (Some scholars believe “Sex Parts,” an intimate, uncensored collection of nudes, traces Warhol’s growing acceptance of his…

“People swear that our beans just taste better,” says Denise Pribble, who’s wearing a magenta sweatshirt and earrings that match her cropped burgundy hair. The 64-year-old daughter of a pinto bean farmer, Pribble owns and manages Adobe Milling Company, a retail store and processing plant that cleans, bags, and distributes many of the beans grown around Dove Creek, 35 miles northwest of Cortez. Whitewater paddlers know Dove Creek as the jumping-off point for float trips on the Dolores River, which flows through a deep canyon on the town’s eastern border. Food lovers, however, recognize Dove Creek as the “Pinto Bean Center of the World.” That’s the slogan that once welcomed motorists to this farming community. For about four decades, starting in the 1950s, Dove Creek celebrated the supremacy of its…

Coloradans who’ve watched their quirky ski mountains transform into cookie-cutter industry machines may well shudder to hear about “improvements” to an independent hill like Taos Ski Valley. As usual, however, the world’s only B Corp – certified ski resort did things its own way as it embarked on a refresh over the past couple of years. In summer, visitors will find a via ferrata with, yes, tourist-friendly beginner terrain, but also advanced routes on Kachina Peak’s gnarly rock faces. In winter, the renovated lower plaza—with a skating rink, in-ground radiant heat, and fire pits—is ringed by indie retailers, including an outpost of Taos’ Mesa’s Edge, which sells Southwestern and Native American jewelry and art. On Fridays and Saturdays, sleighs pulled by snowcats now transport guests to the beloved midmountain Bavarian…

Views of glacier-formed Lake Pend Oreille (so deep it’s used as a submarine testing site) have always been a perk of schussing at the Idaho panhandle’s Schweitzer resort. Starting in early 2022, you’ll be able to catch them from your boutique accommodations too. All 31 of the new ski-in, ski-out Humbird’s rooms (winter rates start at $288 per night) have large window seats facing the body of water. After a day of exploring Schweitzer’s 2,900 acres—roughly the same size as Winter Park Resort, but with a quarter of the annual visitors—you can unwind in the 10-person hot tub, perched on a top-floor patio, or hit the onsite Crow’s Bench restaurant. The hanging globe lights above the bar may look randomly arranged, but they actually spell out “pray for snow” in…

Bikepacking—like backpacking, but on a fat-tire bicycle—was anointed by Condé Nast Traveler as “The Travel Trend We’re Trying This Year.” This 517-mile loop through the glacier-carved heart of central Idaho might not be the easiest entrée into the increasingly popular pastime, but it’s among the prettiest: You’ll pedal past the Sawtooth Range, rivers with world-class trout fishing, and some 50 hot springs (40 of them natural and undeveloped). Planned by the Missoula-based Adventure Cycling Association, the intermediate to advanced, roughly two-week-long journey links dirt Forest Service roads and paved streets as it careens up and down subalpine slopes where black bears, bald eagles, and elk roam. (Visit the association’s website to order the $16 main route map, which has lodging and camping suggestions, or spend $30 on a bundle that includes…

All but the most cantankerous backpackers seem to have come around to the charms of glamping, an industry that was valued at $1.88 billion in 2020. And when you consider operations like Yonder Escalante, which opened its first location—a 20-acre property surrounded by Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument—in March, it’s not difficult to see why. The 22 chic cabins, 10 renovated Airstreams, and 67 RV sites, bookable (nightly rates start at $169, $169, and $99, respectively) from February through November, are a vast improvement over tent pads, but it’s the amenities that make this locale feel more resortlike than rustic. Guests can wash away the grime from their dayhikes in a bathhouse with private outdoor showers, luxuriate in a pool and hot tub with desert views, and mingle with other…

Las Vegas–based professional big-wall climber Alex Honnold was already toeing household-name status after the 2018 release of the Academy Award–winning Free Solo, a National Geographic documentary chronicling his unfathomable free solo ascent (that’s without a rope) of the world’s most notorious rock face, Yosemite’s 3,000-foot El Capitan. Then, Honnold upped his visibility further with an Olympic commentator gig during the debut of sport climbing in this year’s Tokyo Games. (Strange that one of the world’s best climbers didn’t compete? Not really; Honnold tends to chase adventure, not trophies.) Despite his considerable following—Honnold’s popular weekly podcast, Climbing Gold, launched its second season in July—and headline-grabbing conquests, the North Face–sponsored athlete has stayed humble, a refreshing notion in a sport that can skew toward bravado and elitism. In fact, Honnold’s highest calling…

Whether it was the retro-inspired color combos or the cheeky llama logo that caught your gaze, you’ve likely noticed Cotopaxi’s backpacks, fleeces, and puffy jackets in crags and cosmopolitan hangouts alike. There’s more to this adventure wear than rugged good looks, however. Launched in 2014, the Salt Lake City outdoor apparel and gear company has earned a devoted following not just for its form and functionality, but also for its dedication to social and environmental issues. Cotopaxi’s tagline, Gear For Good, applies to multiple aspects of its business practices: enforcing fair labor standards in its factories; purchasing enough carbon credits to earn a climate-neutral certification; and, through its eponymous foundation, funneling one percent of its revenue to nonprofits working to reduce global poverty. (Currently, that means aid for Afghan refugees…

Western Montana wasn’t exactly on the map for major musical touring acts—that is, until promotion and production company Logjam Presents put it there. Owner and president Nick Checota had no entertainment experience, but the real estate developer saw potential in Missoula’s Top Hat, an intimate live music bar. He bought the midcentury venue in 2012 and pulled off a full remodel with the help of an acoustic engineer. What began as a one-off investment turned into musical empire-building. Three years later, Checota purchased the 1,500-capacity Wilma Theater around the corner and gave the 1921 art deco building a badly needed makeover. Then came the construction of the Kettlehouse Amphitheater, an outdoor arena tucked in a canyon along the Blackfoot River in nearby Bonner, in 2017. Kettlehouse, which can accommodate 4,250…

Look, I get it. When you travel within your own state, you don’t want to feel like a rube. After all, you’ve got the skill, you’ve got the gear, and you shudder at the thought of being lumped in with the traveling hordes. But Front Rangers need to get over themselves. Take it from a townie: Stop pretending to be a local and admit to being the tourist you are. By embracing your visitor status, you give yourself permission to exploit the true “fast pass” to the mountain: ski-in, ski-out lodging. This may seem like a preposterous idea. Slopeside accommodations are for oil-moneyed Texans, not for a regular Coloradan like yourself. Instead, you make one of two poor choices. You either spend six hours on I-70 making a daytrip, or…

♦ GONDOLA Selling point: Get rewarded for carpooling with food and drink perks at resorts. In-app messaging makes it easy to coordinate pickup spots. Number of mountains served: 10 Cost to ride: $20 to $45, round trip Best for: Après fans ♦ TREADSHARE Selling point: Carpool one way or round trip to the mountain or to backcountry trailheads and Nordic ski centers. Number of mountains served: Anywhere the driver is willing to go Cost to ride: Depends on the destination, but a trip from Denver to Breckenridge costs $16 for passengers versus a $100 off-peak Uber ride Best for: Those who had to work late on Friday and need to meet their pals for dinner and Saturday turns ♦ CARAVAN Selling point: It connects with users’ social feeds so you…

The stress. The coaxing. The tears. The but-I-have-to-go-to-the-bathroom-right-nows. Introducing your young ones to the slopes is traumatic enough without throwing a poorly designed beginner area into the mix. “Kids shouldn’t be getting exhausted just moving about,” says Eric Callender, vice president at British Columbia–based ski area design firm Ecosign Mountain Resort Planners and father to four- and six-year-old shredders. And with snowsports participation shrinking, it’s more important than ever for resorts to lower the barrier to entry. With that in mind, we asked Callender to build us a utopian novice zone. 1 FULLY LOADED BUILDINGS There’s no quicker way to end your kid’s ski day than schlepping everything back to the lodge for a potty break. Now imagine taking your bundled ski bunny to a minilodge—complete with child-size amenities—right there…

PRICE KEY (Average Entrée) $ UNDER $ 10 • $$$ 11 TO $ 15 • $$$$ 16 TO $ 25 • $$$$$ 26 AND HIGHER. Want More Dining Options? Visit our online listings at 5280.com/restaurants. SYMBOL KEY NEW Indicates a restaurant featured in 5280 for the first time (though not necessarily a restaurant that has just opened). 25 BEST Indicates inclusion in 5280’s 2019 list of Denver’s best restaurants; we did not release a 2020 or 2021 list due to COVID-19 disruptions and closures. These selections are at the discretion of 5280 editors and are subject to change. A Abejas $$$$ Golden/Seasonal This community restaurant features an ever-changing menu of farm-fresh produce, sustainable fish, and organic meats. The bar highlights small wineries and local brewers. Reservations accepted. 807 13th St.,…

In 1996, Jody Bouffard started working at a Denver lesbian nightclub called the Elle to save money for pharmacy school. But while mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms, Bouffard—whose parents kicked her out at 16 after she revealed she was gay—found family. “When Ellen DeGeneres came out, we had a watch party. The bar was way over capacity,” Bouffard says. “It was awesome to have hundreds of women in the room.” Inspired, Bouffard worked to eventually open her own lesbian-focused establishments. Today, however, Blush & Blu isn’t just her last venture standing; it’s the last remaining lesbian bar in Colorado and one of just 21 left in the United States. Bars that cater to lesbians face several hurdles. Those who once sought community in person now find it online. It’s also…

On a sunny Thursday afternoon this past summer, a customer peruses racks neatly stocked with more than a dozen brands of hot sauces and salsas at Ruby’s Market, an artisan store housed in a former brick duplex on South Pearl Street. Inside the Platt Park building, four ivory-walled rooms are lined with tables and shelves showcasing more than 175 snacks, spices, cooking supplies, textiles, jewelry, plants, and other products made by local and global artisans, the majority of whom identify as women or members of immigrant, refugee, or Indigenous communities. In one room, a homemade sign declaring “Refugees Welcome” in large yellow letters hangs above a fireplace next to a display of colorful animal paintings by artist and Iraq native Mousa Al Khafaji. Reggae plays softly in the background, and…

How did a kid who grew up in low-income housing in Los Angeles end up designing custom suits for the likes of former professional boxer Floyd Mayweather and film director Deon Taylor in Utah? First, he moved to the Beehive State to run track at Utah Valley University; then, after studying criminal justice and briefly considering law school, he turned to fashion, a passion first nurtured when his grandmother taught him how to sew as a preteen. Today, 33-year-old Kenneth Boggs lives in Provo but flies around the world for consultations with celebrities, professional athletes, and stylish folks with funds (suits start at $800) about to head down the aisle. His clients’ individual desires and aspirations inform the pants and jackets he dreams up just for them. “When I create…

As she skateboarded in bright Diné skirts across sandstone in the Navajo Nation desert a little more than a year ago, 25-year-old Naiomi Glasses never dreamed the TikToks she posted would be viewed by millions—or help her embody the Indigenous representation she wished to see as a child. “When I was growing up, I didn’t have a lot of people in the main-stream [media] to look up to,” says Glasses, who started skateboarding at age six, when she says she was often bullied for her cleft lip and palate. “I would really hope to be that one day for the youth.” One could argue she already is. Since those videos went viral in late 2020, Glasses, who is also a talented seventh-generation weaver, has been interviewed by local TV stations,…

Lines at a gas station are usually signs of a fuel shortage scare—but at the Pueblo of Laguna reservation’s two 66 Pit Stop locations, a queue of people just means it’s lunchtime. For 15 years, hungry hordes have traversed the high desert west of Albuquerque via I-40 in search of the fast-food oases within: Laguna Burger. Their reward? Half-pound ground-beef patties—topped with Hatch green chiles, cheese, pickles, mustard, farm-fresh tomatoes, lettuce, and red onions—sandwiched in locally baked buns. Run by the tribe, this burger biz now has an outpost off the reservation. The 3,000-square-foot space in Avanyu Plaza (a north Albuquerque business and cultural corridor owned by the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico) may have a more polished feel, but the deliciousness of the fare is unchanged.…

In the past, the start line of the annual Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run, an ultramarathon set in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, has been dominated by dudes. That’s not because women aren’t up for the challenge, says Gina Lucrezi, a Hardrock board member and founder of the online running community Trail Sisters. Instead, the race’s complex lottery system has given men an advantage in securing the 145 highly coveted spots, in part by assigning better odds to runners who’ve participated before. “Women are a little late to the game of ultrarunning, because of reasons that are embedded historically,” Lucrezi says. “In our attempt to play catch-up, [women] aren’t asking for hand-outs. But what we are asking for is a fair shake.” At July 2022’s Hardrock, they’ll get it: A new…

Oklahoma!, A Doll’s House, The Phantom of the Opera—America’s most popular stage productions haven’t always shone the spotlight on particularly diverse stories or casts. For the past five decades, Phoenix’s Black Theatre Troupe (BTT) has been working to change that. Founded by civil rights activist Helen Katherine Mason in 1970, BTT began as an intimate, safe space for Black artists to share both their work and personal experiences with racism in the Southwest. Today, says executive director David Hemphill, much of BTT’s focus is on getting more young people of color involved in the performing arts. But the company is also using its 50th season to inspire conversations in the larger community about the Black experience with a compelling lineup that opened this past fall with Sistas: The Musical, a rollicking…

Steamboat Springs is proud of its real-town character. Yet even this burg couldn’t escape the housing crisis—recently amplified by the influx of remote workers during the pandemic—facing so many tourism destinations across the West. Amid skyrocketing home values that are displacing Steamboat’s working class, one longtime resident waved a magic wand: The anonymous donor gifted $24 million to the Yampa Valley Housing Authority (YVHA) in August. “They felt like the town was slipping away, and they wanted to turn the tide,” explains YVHA executive director Jason Peasley. The windfall facilitated the purchase of a 536-acre parcel on the city’s northwestern boundary that YVHA will develop into affordable housing as early as 2025. The goal is to put a roof over some 5,000 shopkeepers, servers, and nurses, meaning both residents and…

Although all dogs are good dogs in our eyes, Finn is an especially good girl. The five-year-old, 50-pound chocolate lab spent this past summer with her nose to the ground in Wyoming, sniffing out harmful invasive plants that are displacing native species in the riparian habitat along the Snake River near Jackson. Finn, a detection dog trained by the 21-year-old Montana nonprofit Working Dogs for Conservation (WD4C), helped locate dozens of small but mighty salt cedar and pepperweed plants that humans likely would’ve overlooked. These noxious weeds can completely overwhelm a region, killing off the normally healthy, diverse array of plants and instead creating a monoculture. “We see the world with our eyes, and that automatically creates biases,” says Finn’s mom and boss, Lauren Wendt, who lives in Washington but…

HITTING THE SLOPES on skis or a snow-board will never suck. There’s nothing like toeing up to your favorite line and dropping in to dance with gravity. It’s everything up to and after that moment that’s become a buzz-kill. And that’s not just the resentment of a thirty something Front Ranger jealous he can’t play hooky for midweek storms anymore. The U.S. ski industry has lost enough of its luster that newbies aren’t picking up the sport quickly or fervently enough to replace the Baby Boomers retiring their sticks each season, according to a 2017 report by the National Ski Areas Association. If you’re simply looking at affordability, it’s easy to see why. The average price of a day pass in the United States jumped from around $59 in 2005…

STEP 1 INBOUND LESSONS Before you throw down for pricey equipment, make sure you actually enjoy the heart-pumping trudge up the mountain with Winter Park Resort’s three-hour Intro to Uphill tour. The course includes rental gear and highlights the basics, like when to use your heel risers to keep your boot level on steep ascents and how to manage your skins, the unwieldy fabric cutouts that turn your skis into extra-long snowshoes. $89; winterparkresort.com STEP 2 GO GUIDED Vail Resort’s Nordic School takes clients into the White River National Forest on half- and full-day guided trips. Bring your own splitboard or AT skis, and the school will provide a beacon, probe, and shovel, plus instruction on how to use them in the event of an avalanche. Options range from mellow…

Skiers love forecasts. We obsess over weather predictions and pore through grooming reports, but if it’s crowds we want to anticipate, we’ve had surprisingly few ways to peer into the future. Until now. This season, Aspen Skiing Company (ASC) is using crowd-tracking technology developed for airports, theme parks, and other people-moving entities to let visitors evaluate traffic at parking lots and base areas across its four resorts. The initiative began two years ago when ASC debuted a feature on its app that color-coded parking conditions. “It let people know whether they should take the bus or choose a different resort,” explains spokesperson Jeff Hanle. Then the pandemic happened. Part of last season’s response included a pilot program to survey crowd density in its base areas so visitors could use the…

I’s not difficult to get addicted to powder. A day of free refills—when the snow falls fast enough to completely cover your tracks by the time you reach the top of the chairlift again—is close to a religious experience around these parts. But like any addiction, it comes at a price: mainly, being bored when the snow’s not flying (which is the majority of the season). Luckily, there’s a quick fix. If you change your gear, you change your mindset. Click into a pair of thick-waisted all-mountain skis, and the groomers become something to plod along as you hunt for hidden powder stashes. But if you step into a pair of dedicated carving skis instead, the way you see the mountain shifts. Suddenly, the groomers become the fun part; free…

Beef production’s harmful effects on the planet mean that ordering a steak often comes with a side of guilt. At Boulder’s Corrida, however, you’ll soon be able to chow down without the angst. The upscale Spanish chophouse will regeneratively source nearly its entire lineup of signature steaks by this spring in pursuit of both sustainability and delicious beef and bison. For owner Bryan Dayton (pictured), the question was simple: “How do we keep this good for the cow, good for the rancher, good for Mother Earth, and good for the consumer?” The answer is a little more complex. That’s why Dayton partnered with Land to Market, a startup within Boulder’s grasslands-restoring Savory Institute that verifies regenerative producers and measures their impacts on the environment. Unlike traditional ag operations, regenerative ranchers…

Journalism is rife with reporters who, in the parlance of the trade, “parachute in” to places they’re not from to tell fantastic tales. Abe Streep’s narrative nonfiction work Brothers on Three, published in September, is not one of those stories. Streep, who’s based in Santa Fe, spent the better part of a year living on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, immersed in the lives of a group of boys who’d improbably won a state basketball championship in 2017. The resulting book—which grew out of an article Streep penned for the New York Times Magazine—is by turns a rousing tale of a singular basketball team pursuing a second and even more unlikely title, a chronicle of the persistent racism and college recruitment discrimination faced by the players and their families,…

Southern New Mexico’s Spaceport America, the world’s first facility built for commercial space travel, made headlines this past July when it served as the launchpad for billionaire Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson’s trip to the edge of space—a full nine days before billionaire Blue Origin (and, uh, Amazon) founder Jeff Bezos took his own sightseeing journey, out of West Texas. Since then, Virgin has fallen behind in the suborbital space tourism race, delaying flights and announcing that it will spend months improving its rocket planes while competitors Blue Origin and billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX execute more missions with paid passengers. Still, Virgin plans to begin shuttling the 600-some people who’ve already paid $200,000 to $250,000 for tickets (seats are now around $450,000 each) by late 2022. For the rest…

When the city of Phoenix shut down the Breadfruit & Rum Bar in the middle of dinner service on March 19, 2020, chef-owner Danielle Leoni could have spent the rest of her evening guzzling mai tais. Instead, the alum of the James Beard Foundation’s Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change put her training to work, drafting a letter to Arizona’s governor detailing the support restaurateurs were going to need to survive. Within 48 hours, she’d gathered hundreds of signatures, and combined with social media pressure, the effort resulted in critical state government relief, such as liquor license renewal fee waivers and a three-month eviction moratorium. Alongside household names like Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio, Leoni also advocated for the industry on a national level as a member of the advisory…

Certain coastal critics still turn up their noses at the West’s art scene. But since 2016, when Meow Wolf opened its first immersive exhibit in Santa Fe, we’ve been seeing a lot less nostril. Although its wild popularity could have launched Meow Wolf to New York City, the collective chose to expand its oeuvre this past year with Las Vegas’ 52,000-square-foot Omega Mart (pictured), a comment on consumerism, and Denver’s 90,000-square-foot Convergence Station, which imagines an intergalactic collision of worlds. We’re hopeful the dozens of regional artists involved will count the high-profile gigs as a reason to stay in the West too.…

1 CHANGE IS GOOD, I GUESS FAST PASSES Copper Mountain Disney-style line skipping is debuting in Colorado this season; starting at $49 a day, you’ll gain access to dedicated Fast Tracks lift lines. You’ll also gain the ire of every skier you pass. COMPOSTING TOILETS Monarch Mountain Last season, Monarch installed a midmountain food trailer at the bottom of its Panorama lift. This season, it added restrooms, so you don’t have to do the pee-pee dance down to the lodge. FREE SKIING FOR GROMMETS Purgatory Resort The Power Kids program has long been a wallet-saver for parents. Now Purg has increased the upper age limit for the free, unlimited season pass from 10 to 12 years old. 5 ABOUT TIME MORE SEATS Keystone Resort The languid, four-person Peru Express lift…

I’ve played both roles in the theater that is I-70 during ski season. I’ve been squeezed three abreast in a friend’s car in standstill traffic glaring out the fogged window at the driver next door sitting alone in his truck. Screw that guy, I’d think. On the other hand, I can’t count the number of mornings I’ve actually been that guy. I’m proof that while we might wish altruism were enough to make us do the right thing and carpool, it’s not. Because even though I’m fully aware of the impact single-occupancy vehicles create—the traffic jams, the pollution, the health concerns—the draw of a powder day is often too strong to stop me from taking the wheel solo. We need something to counter that pull. Kay Kelly, head of the…

♦ Problem NOT KNOWING WHERE TO SKI Solution: OpenSnow What it provides: Hourly proprietary snowfall predictions up to five days in advance for all your favorite resorts, live cams, professional snow reports, and seasonal trends make it easy to feed your powder fever. Free ($30 for an annual all-access subscription); iOS and Android ♦ Problem GETTING LOST Solution: Fat Map What it provides: This GPS-enabled terrain map lays out each run in 3D, has real-time data on which lifts are open, and allows you to mark secret snow stashes for future sessions or share waypoints with friends for midmountain meetups. Free ($30 for an annual all-access subscription); iOS and Android ♦ Problem CRUMMY ON-MOUNTAIN COMMUNICATION Solution: Bridgefy What it provides: By using Bluetooth instead of Wi-Fi or your data plan,…

SHEER BLISS Mountain: Aspen Snowmass This trail drops nearly 2,000 feet in two miles, but the truth is, the best manicured run at Snowmass is whichever trail has been selected for the Noon Groom, which is exactly what it sounds like. GOLDEN EAGLE Mountain: Beaver Creek With two eight-hour snowcat shifts between 4 p.m. and 8:30 a.m., Beaver Creek has one of the most extensive grooming operations going. Take advantage of all that hard work on this experts only section of Birds of Prey, the famous World Cup racecourse. 10TH MOUNTAIN Mountain: Ski Cooper Cooper eschews artificial snow and rarely grooms the same run two days in a row, so it’s home to some seriously soft runs. The hill has one secret groomer, though: The 10th Mountain trail entrance is…