Depending on the order in which you read Steven Josephson’s letter and mine, you might already know that I’m leaving my role as editor of the Sky-Hi News. 

That’s not information I feel good sharing. Ultimately, despite my family’s best laid plans to relocate to Grand County, due to a number of obstacles, we weren’t able to make it happen. 

Instead of hanging my head low as I take one last work-related drive over Berthoud Pass, I’m leaving feeling proud of the team I’ve been lucky to work with, the stories we’ve been able to cover and the by-the-bootstraps way everyone at the small-but-mighty Sky-Hi dove in to continue the mission set forth by editors and writers before us. 

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It helped so much to have our publisher, Emma Trainor, driving the ship and the many brilliant editors at Colorado Mountain News Media’s other papers at the ready to answer questions or push me back to standing when I started to stumble. There’s an astounding wealth of knowledge at the newspapers in our surrounding mountain communities. Other organizations also deepen our education, including The Colorado Media Project, which advocates for “a healthier local news and information ecosystem for all Coloradans.”

Patrick Brower, my old boss at Sky-Hi and the Winter Park Manifest, stepped in more than once to help us understand a topic we lacked familiarity with or pinch-hit on a story that we didn’t have the capacity to cover quickly enough. And, key to the next steps here at the paper, Steven, who has worked at the Summit Daily News for years and has been the Sky-Hi’s copy editor during my tenure, taught me a bit about editing, story balance, newspaper design and more.

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Mostly, I’m grateful to you, the community, for supporting me and reporters Kyle McCabe and Meg Soyars while we were busy “building an airplane while flying it,” like Kyle predicted we’d do when he first came on and learned that I was a first-time editor-in-chief at a newspaper. That’s exactly what we did. We learned to run a paper while putting it out twice a week (three if you count Middle Park Times). 

The last nine months of this job have been more challenging and rewarding than any work I’ve ever done, and fortunately for me, it’s not truly over. 

For the foreseeable future, that is until Emma can find the right person to take over Sky-Hi’s editor reins for good, Steven will be the interim editor, splitting his time between Sky-Hi and the Summit Daily. Never fear: you’re in great hands, he truly is a professional and conscientious leader.

I will continue to play a part in the paper by writing four stories a week. Two of my beats are county government, which I haven’t had time to do justice while running the paper, and the outdoors/outdoor industry, my lifelong passion and area of expertise. Beyond those, I’m open to ideas, tips, leads and other projects you may want covered. You can find me at tracyrosswriter@gmail.com or at 303-956-4238. 

Thanks again for welcoming me with such open arms to Grand County and for truly caring about the success of the Sky-Hi News. What a special place you all live in. Here’s to it — and you.