The New Girl

Being the new girl in a town like Crested Butte is a lot like moving to a new school at 12 years old.
Your teacher introduces you to the class..

Tell us your name. 
      (Oh god this is embarrassing.)Megan Collins.
Where are you from?
      (Suddenly it feels like there is a right and a wrong   answer.)Alta, Utah.
How old are you? 
      Well that never actually came up, but she's 23.

Being the new girl means-cultural immersion, questions for days, the lime light until someone new comes along, how am I gonna remember all of these names, and my goodness these people are friendly. But Megan never missed a beat, she admittedly has missed some names, but in a town like this...who could blame her. When I told my friends I was interviewing the new girl to town, they immediately asked if they could tag along and if not, where and when would this interview be taking place. "Can we just "happen" to show up?" Here's what I got from covert operation: Interview Megan. 

Growing up in Alta, Megan grew up skiing and in ski culture. She knew what she was in for when coming to CB. After college at CU Boulder, she was ready to get back to the mountains. She'd always wanted to work in the ski industry but until applying to CBMR, she wasn't sure a career (in) skiing was possible. She applied on a whim, had an interview and got the phone call she'd been waiting for. 

Despite a background in mountain living, Megan needed some reassurance before making the jump. When I asked her what she'd heard about CB, she responded without a second thought.

"It's a great ski town you know? It's the town with the bars AND the skiing. And it's a community where the skiing is just as extreme as the people. That's about it, that's all I ever needed to know."

She admits that the drive to Gunni to do a weeks worth of grocery shopping is annoying and driving to Boulder to shop is just part of the lifestyle, but she loves how outdoorsy everyone is and the fact that jeans are the norm even at her "real job" as we all call it. I asked Megan to explain CB to a stranger, she says the way she justifies it to all of her friends back home, who keep asking why would move somewhere where people have closer relationships to their space heaters than their hair dressers, is:

"It's a small ski town that's away from the population and it's quaint and friendly and welcoming. You feel at home when you walk in. It's one in a million."

After comparing new girl to town stories and hearing the best Craziest CB Story yet (you can ask her about her first night to town...sorry Megan) we got to the good stuff:

Dating in a ski town is never great, not even with the skewed ratio. But when you grow up with a dad in Lift Ops. the probability of finding a winner is dismal. Ski patrol knew to keep their distance and until after college, Megan was just (as she puts it) Jail Bait. Not only did they know better, they had their eyes out for her dad. CB on the other hand? A whole new can of you can fill in the blank.

Speaking of that fill in the blank...I asked Megan what her worst fear about living in Crested Butte was, her response was golden:

"Mullet March."

Here's to March being a few months away, that this winter is as steep and deep as Megan hopes, and the new girl.