Is Avatar actually based on Crested Butte, CO?

Following college I deflected the real world by living in Crested Butte, CO for three years. Out there I learned to shred, rip and get stoked, among other things. For real, I toughed out three winters in one of the coldest valleys in the lower 48, and three long calendars years in the ski town with what has to be the worst girl/guy ratio. It was great regardless - especially the year my buddy "The Couch Manitee" aka "The New York Man" was there to hit the mountains and trails with me.

In those three years, my love of CO deepened and my attachment to that tiny town intensified. Crested Butte has always been under siege by various mining companies and the residents have always - at least in recent years - fought them off successfully. Some times of year it's all anyone talks about. My personal opposition to the mining initiatives was a little more self-serving. One of the largest known deposits of Molybdenum (an element used in the creation of alloy steel) resides in one of my favorite backcountry ski mountains...Red Lady. But...that's not the point of this post.

This morning, the Manatee (or Manny as he's more commonly known) sent me an article from the denverchannel.com wondering out loud if maybe James Cameron got his inspiration for Avatar from the longtime fight against mining in Crested Butte. However unlikely that may be, the article does show some interesting connections and has some funny quotes from old hippies I used to see wandering around town.

Here's a snippet from the piece:

In the late '70s, the Amax mining company found a massive deposit of molybdenum on Mt. Emmons, or as the locals call it: The Red Lady. "It's brilliant. It's beautiful and it's right here in our community," said Glo Cunningham. The company wanted a large-scale mine and had some support in the community. But a group of young idealists organized a nationally-publicized fight."Mining pollutes. There's no way around it. It pollutes," said Steven Glazer, a Crested Butte resident who fought the mine.

Here's the clincher: just like the hero in "Avatar," the man who led the way, Crested Butte Mayor W. Mitchell, was a paraplegic."He was a fabulous spokesperson for us," said Cunningham. In the end, spoiler alert, Amax withdrew its bid to mine the mountain.

In reality, there are a lot of towns out there that have had to fight off mining interests (some have won, many have lost those fights) so the likelihood that Cameron is giving this much love to CB is low, but it's an interesting correlation nonetheless.

Read more here.

Here's a sunrise shot from my old front lawn.

Special thanks to Gavin "Manny" McNiven for sending this article over.