We would like to thank you for your interest in learning more about our annual scholarship and grant giving. Each year we award thousands of dollars in grants and scholarships to local snow sport student athletes and organizations in the Gunnison Valley. While we wish we could offer funds to all who apply, we are not quite there yet. Every year we strive to raise more funds than the last, to support the growing need in the community.
This past winter season the Foundation awarded close to $40,000 in scholarships and grants, with some funds going to Gunnison Elementary School and Crested Butte Nordic, which helped make skiing more affordable for students and other funds allowed the Nordic Center to purchase a new fleet of equipment for school recreation use.
Families who apply for both merit and need-based scholarships, apply requesting financial support for many expenses, especially the cost of snow sport program fees. To take part in a 16 week, 2 day, competitive program on the mountain, fees are $2,165. And that does not include gear! While program fees constitute a majority of the scholarship dollars awarded, families also request support for competition fees and equipment. These programs, whether competitive or not, provide more than just an opportunity to ski and snowboard, they help foster sportsmanship, compassion and discipline within our athletes.
It is hard to put in to words what these scholarships and grants mean to our local athletes, but it is obvious that these scholarships make such a difference in their lives.
With your continued support this year and the years to come, the Foundation will be able to provide programming grants and scholarships to recreational and competitive snow sport student athletes in the Gunnison Valley. Without the Crested Butte Snowsports Foundation, many of these athletes would not be able to participate in a sport they love, which undeniably changes their lives.
Thank you for your consideration of giving local student athletes an opportunity to change their lives next winter season. The Crested Butte Snowsports Foundation is a Colorado Charitable Organization, EIN 84-0770974. We welcome your donation and appreciate your support and welcome any questions you may have.
"I truly believe this will give him the exposure he needs to build his confidence in skiing. What a great organization!
"Thank you for your generosity and being understanding of my ski season needs. I appreciate the scholarship and it will enable me to go to more competitions and buy ski gear."
"I must admit I am nervous about joining the competitive team and being competitive, but I know it will still be a lot of fun. My goal is to beat my personal records. I am proud to be sponsored by the Snowsports Foundation. I am happy that the Foundation is helping my Nordic skiing career."
"As a parent, we so appreciate the program. Sitting down to do the year end re-cap with her was so enlightening, in the day to day of the ski season I think we can all forget what she is learning and getting from the program but hearing her talk about not only her skill development but things like teamwork, trying again, doing things even though they were hard and scary... it was awesome. Thanks for all that you do!"
"This year I learned if you are scared of something you should try it again, and I learned that from the time in Mountain Sports when my class was going up the T-Bar. I fell off of the T-bar and it made me scared because it pulled on my hood and I didn't know what to do. My Mountain Sports friend helped unhook me and the T-Bar started going again but I didn't know how to get down. After that I didn't want to ride the T-Bar again because I was scared that was going to happen again. My teachers encouraged me to get back on the T-Bar and I met a very nice person in line and he rode with me and helped me up the High Life. I realized that I could ride it whenever I wanted if I had confidence."
"After crashing at two previous IFSA competitions I was itching for a good result in a comp. When my Coach had a moment to speak with me privately he took me aside and we had a conversation that I will remember for the rest of my life. He and I both knew that there is always a chance of falling in any sort of competition and that if I fall that there would be no controlling how I score. He shared with me a couple things I hadn't even thought about. He told me, "There are a lot of people who look up to you here every year bud, kids and adults. And even though you are an incredible skier and you have won this competition before, they admire you because you're a good person and you're fun to be around. Just know that whatever happens tomorrow, that that won't change. And I love you no matter what." I really took his words to heart and I put that thought in my head the next day before the comp. I ended up qualifying for finals in 2nd and won the overall competition."
The Crested Butte Snowsports Foundation provides financial support for the youth in Crested Butte and Gunnison in their pursuit of sportsmanship, passion, excellence and discipline through snow sport experiences.
Snow sports - and most notably skiing - have a rich history in the Gunnison Country. In total, a dozen areas supporting lift-accessed skiing have been built at one time or another, underscoring the importance of the sport in the area.
Organized skiing in the Gunnison Country dates back to the 1890s, when the Crested Butte Snowshoe and Toboggan Club was formed ("snowshoe" was the term, at the time, assigned to the equipment we now know as skis), and races were frequently held in the area for miners to exhibit their athletic prowess. Every year, six to seven races were held in locations such as Crested Butte, Gothic, Irwin, Gunnison, Crystal and Schofield. These competitions took place on the sides of mountains or steep hills and were 500 to 700 meters long without gates. Racers achieved great speeds, and big crowds gathered to watch. Al Johnson, the man who carried the mail between Crested Butte and Crystal, was known as "the champion showshoer (skier) of the mountains," having won many races.
Over the decades that followed, the Gunnison Valley Ski Club became involved in building small ski areas around the county - including the Sagebrush Ski Area outside Gunnison utilizing Works Project Administration funding, and later Pioneer Ski Area three miles up Cement Creek. The Rozman Hill Ski Area, south of Crested Butte, began during the winter of 1949-50, replacing Pioneer. Rozman Hill initially existed for the Western State College ski team (formed in 1946) and included a ski jump, judging tower, two rope tows and a cross country course. Rozman Hill closed - except for cross country - when the Crested Butte Ski Area opened during the winter of 1961-62.
In the early 1950s, the Crested Butte Club re-emerged with the intent of constructing a ski lift for use of townspeople and their children. When the Crested Butte Ski Area was established in the early 1960s, ski racing became the main focus of the Club's activities, with race team membership growing to a peak in 1976 of nearly 80 racers.
The organization was incorporated as the Crested Butte Ski Club on June 16, 1978 (and subsequently received its official 501c3 status in March 1983), with the stated purpose "for the educational, instructional and athletic benefit of its members and to provide assistance for under-privileged children in obtaining the benefits of ski competition." The Crested Butte Ski Club pursued this mission for more than 25 years by managing a full-scale alpine race program, offering scholarships to young athletes to participate and compete, hosting events and competitive ski races, and building community through youth snow sports.
In 1978, the Club limited the program to athletes of high school age and under in order to encourage parental participation in the race program and to increase the benefit to the younger children growing up in the community.
While the Crested Butte Academy was formed in the 1990s as a boarding school and competition training program, eventually expanding to include the new disciplines of snowboarding and big mountain competition, the Ski Club continued to focus mainly on alpine ski racing. At the same time, however, other snow sports were gaining prominence in the area. In 1987, the Crested Butte Nordic Center was founded. In 1995, the Ski Club and the Academy created the first freeride and snowboarding programs.
During this time, the Ski Club and the Academy maintained an informal agreement that the Academy would primarily train athletes ages 13 and up, while the Ski Club would focus on ages 12 and under. Due to financial pressures, the Academy was forced to close its operations in 2008.
In the wake of this closure, Crested Butte Mountain Resort established the Mountain Sports Team (MST), an alpine sport competition program encompassing all ages and disciplines of winter sports. In an effort to provide the best possible program, with quality coaches and more training options, MST raised its fees well above those previously charged by the Ski Club.
These changes in local programming, the advent of new snow sport disciplines and relations with various partners resulted in the organization's need to change its name in 2012 to the Crested Butte Snowsports Foundation to better represent a new approach to the same, long-standing mission - support by way of education and charitable grants to qualified youth with financial need who wish to participate in the high-quality competitive MST winter sports program.
As a result of the change, CBSF no longer offers direct youth snow sport programming, but rather works with various partner programs. This allows the Foundation to work with all snow sport disciplines - offering support to the entire snow sports community, grant funding to local snow sports programs, and scholarships to local student-athletes based on need and merit.
Organization name
Crested Butte Snowsports Foundation
other names
CBSF
1978
Tax id (EIN)
84-0770974
Category
Youth Development
Address
214 6th Street #8Mailing
PO Box 56Gunnison County, CO, US