Page 192 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL EATING IBERIA

Both men live in Crested Butte, when they aren’t land,wherehesawthepotentialforaheli-skiingoper-
leading skiing adventures around globe. The pair met ation,”saidthe51-year-oldBernholtz,aformermayor
more than a dozen years ago while guiding for heli-ski of Crested Butte who is Eleven’s global activities di-
outfitters in Alaska. rector. (A good gig if there ever was one.)
TheyfirstsawtheDeplarfarmhousesixyearsago Bernholtz, who has also worked as a ski patroller
whenitwasonly900squarefeet.Theguideshadbeen at Crested Butte Mountain Resort, and Barney hired
dispatched to Iceland by Eleven owner Chad Pike to a helicopter and pilot, flew around the snowy moun-
assess the terrain for skiing. tains and were impressed by what they saw.
Bernholtz - who has a quirky sense of humor - “The terrain was excellent for a range of skiers
grew up surfing off Malibu before transitioning to the and snowboarders, the snowpack was more stable
slopes of the Sierra and Rockies. In 2008, he launched than Colorado and the views simply amazing,” Bern-
asnowcat-skiingoperationintheSanJuanmountains holtz said.
around Crested Butte for Pike, an outdoors-loving fi- But Eleven needed a lodge to match the peaks
nancier whose holdings also include lodges in France that surrounded it, so Pike bought Deplar Farm in
and Chile. 2014. The spread included a rustic former sheep-

“Four years after that, Chad was fly fishing in Ice- herder’s farmhouse, plus a 6,000-square-foot barn

192 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2020