Adventure Guide Winter 2013-14

adventure GUIDE t o t he west er n san juans win t e r

2013- 14

Winter mountain

Biking

Skijoring Takes Horsepower CYCLOCROSS Sweeps the Western Slope

SNOWMOBILING THE

SAN JUANS

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A Non-Motorhead Falls Headlong for Snowmobiling

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Moab Takes Back the Lead in Year-round Mountainbiking

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Seth Cagin Editor

By Samantha Wright

By Eric Ming

Intricate Teamwork Brings Custom Wagner Skis to BootDoctors

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Jessica Newens, Leslie Vreeland CREATIVE DIRECTOR

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Ski Racing, Wild West-style, on Main Street in Silverton

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Dining at 12,000 Feet, Northern Italian-style

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Cyclo-Cross Sweeps Montrose

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Telluride Adaptive Sports Program’s Winter Adventure Week for Disabled Going Strong

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By Gus Jarvis

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These Breakfast Sandwiches Jumpstart Any Day of Play The Ultimate Gear Guide winter calendar

Swedish freeskier Jacob Wester lit up the Alta Lake Trestle last season during an Oakley-sponsored film project with Seth Morrison. (Photo

by Brett Schreckengost)

57 60 63 67 69

Scoping the Region’s Winter Events Winter Adventure 2013-2014 Advertiser Index Parting Shot

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Adventure Guide to the Western San Juans, a publication of The Slope, LLC, is published twice a year by Watch Newspapers, P.O. Box 2042, Telluride, Colorado 81435. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited.

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Sledding the San Juans A Non-Motorhead Falls Headlong for Snowmobiling

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By S amantha Wright

MOLAS PASS

adventureGUIDE | winter2013-14

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with a steep climb up to a place called Rocky Point on the flanks of Sultan Mountain, with boundless views of the Weminuche.

At one point, Lokey paused to point out fresh lynx tracks across the trail and into the woods. He often sees coyotes up here, too – proof, he said, that wildlife and snowmobiles can coexist just fine. And although there have been bitter turf wars in the past, the friendly waves from backcountry skiers we passed along the way seemed to say that they were OK with sharing the terrain, as well; after all, our snowmobiles created trails that make it easier for them to access the powder bowls they craved.

“The user groups coexist pretty happily, now,” Lokey said. “There is rarely any kind of conflict; everyone is on their day off, having a good time.”

Snowmobiling on Molas Pass has come a long way over the past 10 years. With its gorgeous views, easy accessibility from Highway 550 and meticulously groomed trail system, it turns out to be a great place to get a taste for the sport.

The area is literally buzzing all winter long. Special events promoted by the Silverton Snowmobile Club and the neighboring San Juan Sledders from Durango include XMS Snocross competitions, dragracing on Molas Lake, adaptive sledding events and safety courses for kids.

“We have turned this into a big family park,” Lokey said, when we wrapped up our ride. “There’s a sledding hill, cookouts, bathrooms. There is expert riding up here at Molas, but what’s cool is that the moms and the kids can ride on the trail and the dads can ride off and play.”

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Lokey laughed, the low-key laugh of a surf bum from So-Cal who found his way to oceans of snow as an adult.

My sled was pretty spunky with its 500cc engine, but I was sure I could avoid the trees. I repeated the operating instructions to myself: This hand is go and that hand is stop and if I get into trouble, I push that down.

“OK, got it. Ready to roll.”

Snowmobiling is not a quiet sport. Our two-stroke engines ripped through the morning hush, as we roared out onto the crisp corduroy. The Silverton Snowmobile Club uses a snowcat to groom miles of trail up here, both within the 137-acre Molas Lake Park (managed by the Town of Silverton) and on the public lands surrounding it on both sides of the highway.

As Lokey and I zoomed along, Levi and Gallegos took every opportunity to dive off the trail and cavort like motorized otters in deep pools of snow.

Their sleds had big paddles and longer tracks for powder, and aggressive turbo-charged engines for hill-climbing.

Mine was a trail machine, made for going down the road. That suited me just fine, as I got the feeling for using my weight as a counterbalance when cruising around tight curves, or standing up in the saddle as we popped up over a steep rise.

A couple of times, despite my best efforts, I slipped off the trail and my sled wallowed in deep drifts of snow. I hit the kill switch, then the guys deftly dug me out and we were on our way once more.

Our two-hour tour took us on a big, beautiful loop through rollicking, winter-wonderland terrain, back and forth across Highway 550 a few times, and all the way to the top of Molas Pass, culminating

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“It’s a simple machine,” explained Silverton Snowmobile Club President Jim Lokey. “A throttle, and a brake.”

Well, there was a bit more to it than that. This was a sleek, modern marvel, an unbeatable combination of power, efficiency and incredible handling.

But the thing I liked most about my snowmobile was its heated handlebars. That, and the emergency kill switch, which Lokey promised would make the machine stop instantly (if I remembered to use it) the moment I got into trouble.

They called it a sled, but this was a machine that was built for speed, and I was pretty sure I’d like that, too.

It was a chilly dazzle of a day up at Molas Lake Park, elevation 10,500”, just off of U.S. Highway 550, five miles south of Silverton. Fields of snow beckoned in all directions, and the glacier-honed spires of the Grenadier Mountains in the Weminuche Wilderness grinned on the horizon, as the wind lifted banners of snow off their flanks and into the bluebird sky.

Lokey spent years of his life up here as a snowmobile tour vendor prior to selling his concession in 2012. Today, he and his successor, Larry Gallegos with San Juan Backcountry Tours, were taking me out for a spin to give me a taste of what it was all about.

Lokey’s teenage son Levi was along for the ride.

“You want to just ease into it,” Lokey advised.

“You don’t want to go just tearing out like you are from Iraq, and run into a tree and come back to me and go ‘Jeem, ze macheen will not go! I do not know what to dooo....’ We have had that happen to us.”

San Juan Backcountry Tours snowmobile guide Larry Gallegos playing in the powder on Molas Pass. (Photo by Samantha Wright)

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eing a complete non-motorhead by nature, I’ve often wondered: What’s the big deal about riding a big, stinky, noisy machine across the snow? Last March, before winter released its grip on the San Juan Mountains, I set out to find the answer to that question, and found it in three very different places.

A NOTE ABOUT SAFETY Riding on a big, powerful machine can lull you into having a false sense of security. But the safety risks associated with snowmobiling are very real. These include avalanche danger as well as exposure to the elements, should you have the misfortune of becoming lost or stuck when you are miles and miles from help. In snowmobiling, as in many things, there is definitely safety in numbers. That’s why even experienced sledders prefer to join a club, so they will always have people to ride with.

ESSENTIAL GEAR Dress as if you were headed out for a day of skiing – layered clothing topped with a snowsuit or snowpants and parka. Add goggles and a warm hat to go under your helmet, unless you are wearing a custom heated snowmobile helmet with a built-in face mask. Warm mittens or gloves, thick socks and tall, insulated winter boots finish the ensemble. Some tour operators offer snowmobile suits and boots for their guests; others do not.

CONTROVERSY AT MOLAS LAKE A small but popular portion of the Molas Lake trail system groomed by the Silverton Snowmobile Club passes through the West Needles Contiguous Wilderness Study Area, which the Bureau of Land Management recently determined should be closed to motorized travel. When local officials started making noise about the negative impact the closure could have on Silverton’s wintertime economy, Colorado lawmakers joined forces to tack a provision onto the pending Hermosa Creek Wilderness Bill, which would preserve full, historic snowmobile access in the Molas Lake area. For now, the Bureau of Land Management has given snowmobilers permission to ride in the sensitive area, as the controversy works itself out.

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A first-time snowmobiler cruising down the road near Telluride Outside’s Fall Creek snow base as a spring storm was closing in. (Photo by Samantha Wright)

TOURING AROUND TELLURIDE A few days later, I was suited up once more, and ready to check out Telluride Outside’s “FamilyFriendly Half-Day Tour.”

By now, I was an old hand, listening to snowmobile guide Scott Gilbert fill us in on the basics of snowmobile operation and safety as we sat astride our sleds.

Gilbert’s message was emphatic, and simple: “Just keep your eyes on the trail.”

Then he threw in some words of wisdom for the uninitiated: “The throttle will beat the brake every time. So the worst thing you can do in a panic reaction is grab onto everything. If you are going someplace you don’t want to go, just let go and you will slow down.”

Once again, our machines were equipped with hand and throttle warmers. I cranked up the heat as Gilbert explained how to feather the throttle to rev up the RPMs. “Do the kids sit in front, or back?” asked a Hawaiian woman whose two young boys were along for the ride.

“Kids sit in back, behind Mom and Dad,” Gilbert said. “Be sure to hang on.”

And we were off.

Telluride Outside’s Fall Creek snow base, about 30 minutes west of Telluride and Mountain Village, is the gateway to beautiful backcountry with end-

less riding opportunities. The Big Kahuna out here is Beaver Park, highlighted by rolling hills and vast glades known to locals as “The Circus.”

Our small group comprised of mostly inexperienced riders wasn’t going quite that far. But we were still in for a treat as we raced along single-file on a wide, gently curving groomed trail leading us further and further back into pine, fir and aspen forest.

“It’s too much fun at times,” said Gilbert, a Wisconsin native, as we paused to admire a soaring view of the Wilson Range. “I feel guilty getting paid for it.”

Eventually, our trail led to a hidden forest glade with Dolores Peak looming above us like a protective goddess, where Gilbert turned us loose to play.

To have an untouched meadow all to ourselves seemed pure magic. It was pristine, beautiful and white. The drone of our engines filled the air like hornets as we swarmed the meadow. It was a guilty pleasure, like dragging your finger through a perfectly frosted cake and licking it, over and over again.

A sudden spring storm chased us out of the glade and all the way back down to the staging area, hard pellets of snow smacking our face shields as we flew along the trail.

At the end of our tour, safe and sound back at the staging area, Gilbert summed up the high we were all feeling: “It’s empowering. You are on this big machine, and you are in control of it and you can go really fast. And it’s so simple. If worse comes to worst, just hit that red button.”

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IF YOU GO

Grand Mesa Six lodges on Grand Mesa stay open yearround, catering to snowmobilers in the winter season. Most offer cabins, restaurants and snowmobile rentals and/or tours.

• Alexander Lake Lodge (970/856-2539, alexanderlakelodge.com) • Electric Mountain Lodge – Accessible by snowmobile or snow coach only during the winter season. (877-929-5522, electricmountainlodge.com) • Grand Mesa Lodge (970/856-3250, grandmesalodge.com) • Mesa Lakes Lodge (970/268-5467, mesalakeslodge.com) • Thunder Mountain Lodge (970/856-6241, thundermountainlodge.net) • Vega Lodge (970/487-3733, vegalodge.com)

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The Delta SnoKrusers (facebook.com/ snokrusers) groom 138 miles of multi-use trails on Grand Mesa. Several other snowmobile clubs from the region are also responsible for grooming portions of the vast trail system.

The Grand Mesa Nordic Council grooms an additional 32.4 miles of cross-country ski trails in enclaves of Grand Mesa that are off-limits to motorized use.

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I was ready for more, and I knew where to find it.

Donna Ankenbauer of the Delta SnoKrusers had offered to take me out for a day of sledding on Grand Mesa.

Spring had already sprung in the North Fork Valley, with tender little green leaves emerging from bare branches in the orchards around Crawford. But as the road rose steeply out of Cedaredge, a shocking transformation took place. Suddenly, all the world slanted vertiginously away, and I was once again in a realm of snow.

Grand Mesa, a colossal flat-topped mountain spanning 500 square miles on Colorado’s Western Slope, is said to be the largest mesa in the world.

Rising about 5,000 feet above the surrounding river valleys, it is an alpine island in the sky that catches snow clouds as they sail by. The place gets an average of 420 inches – 35 feet – of snowfall per year.

It felt like entering a lost world – Narnia, perhaps, under the White Witch’s spell. Even in late March, the place was buried in huge dollops and deep sparkling drifts of snow. I pulled to a stop in front of the cozy, rustic Alexander Lake Lodge, one of three lodges clustered in an area near the U.S. Forest Service visitors center.

Ankenbauer met me with two snowmobiles and an extra helmet. This was definitely the highesttech, coolest-looking sled I’d had a chance to ride so far, with its custom turquoise paint job and sleek, glossy lines.

Ankenbauer, a California girl with long blonde

hair tucked inside her helmet, married into an old Cedaredge family that’s had a cabin on the mesa since 1929. Seven years ago, she and her husband decided to move up here full-time. They are both lone-eagles with high-tech jobs that allow them to work from home. Ankenbauer absolutely loves it.

She goes out sledding whenever she gets the chance, and once a week or so, gets together with other Delta SnoKrusers for a club ride.

“We usually do a destination ride, to the Vega Lodge or Electric Mountain Lodge for lunch, and then go home,” she said. Or sometimes, they’ll head out to Land’s End, a ranger observatory on Grand Mesa’s western rim, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, that’s surrounded by moonscaped benches of smooth flat terrain.

Once a winter, usually in February, they do a multi-day group ride all the way along the Sunlight to Powderhorn (S.P.) Trail System, the main corridor trail across Grand Mesa, that runs 120 miles from the Sunlight Mountain ski resort, near Glenwood Springs, to Powderhorn.

It used to be that Grand Mesa was a hidden gem, known only to the locals. But these days, it’s definitely been discovered. Snowmobile clubs from across the country come here by the busload, frequently staying at one of the lodges on the mesa that cater to them. But the beauty of Grand Mesa is that, with all of its gorgeous vast terrain, “You can tour all day and never see a person,” Ankenbauer said.

Altogether, the S.P. Trail connects with 180 miles of other groomed trails on the mesa.

Trails are numbered according to the mileage dis-

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GRAND MESA

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The author embraced the mantra “ride it like you stole it” in an off-trail ride on Grand Mesa. (Photo by Donna Ankenbauer)

Telluride Telluride Snowmobile Adventures (970/728-4475, telluridesnowmobile. net) and Telluride Outside (800/831-6230, tellurideoutside.com) provide half-day and full-day snowmobile adventures in the Telluride area. Many of the trails in this region are groomed by the Westend Sledders, a snowmobile club based in Norwood (visit coloradosledcity.com for club information).

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Molas Pass Durango, Silverton & Molas Pass Snowmobile Tours, operated by San Juan Backcountry out of Silverton, offers guided snowmobile tours and rentals at Molas Lake Park on a daily basis throughout the winter.

800-494-8687, sanjuanbackcountry.com The Silverton Snowmobile Club (silvertonsnowmobilers.org) and San Juan Sledders Snowmobile Club (sanjuansledders.org) sponsor a variety of family-friendly snowmobile events.

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Silverton teenager Levi Lokey has grown up snowmobiling on Molas Pass. (Photo by Samantha Wright)

tance from Sunlight Resort to where the trail intersects the S.P. trail. Once you get a feeling for how the number system works, it helps you to keep your bearings in a place where it is otherwise very easy to get lost.

But this impressive trail system is just the beginning of what sledding on Grand Mesa is all about.

The real fun starts when you go off-trail.

Ankenbauer’s favorite thing to do is boondocking: riding through the trees with no groomed trail.

“For some reason, God seemed to put all the trees with the exact same spacing apart so the sled’s skis fit through,” she laughed. Then there are all those endless meadows full of deep, untouched powder, and the lakes, and the lakes, and the lakes.

Grand Mesa has over 300 of them, mostly man-

made, and tied into a century-old irrigation system.

As we cruised along, there seemed to be another frozen, snow-covered lake just over the top of every rise, and we’d pin the throttle and sail across it at 80 mph.

Fun? Hell, yeah.

Ankenbauer’s mantra: “Ride it like you stole it.”

Back at Alexander Lake Lodge at the end of the day, a group of guys huddled over beers and burgers, the next table over from us. I asked them what they loved about Grand Mesa.

“It’s got awesome riding, that’s the biggest thing,” said Ryan Smith, a 25-year old Delta native who lives in Grand Junction now and has been riding up here his whole life. “It has the biggest variety of anywhere. You can go out to Land’s End and ride

endless flat powdered fields all day long, or go back over into Hidden Valley and climb the Chutes of Death all day long. There’s flat boondocking, and steep boondocking. If you know the mountain, everything’s here.”

A final note The three areas profiled here are only a drop in the bucket when it comes to snowmobiling opportunities in southwestern Colorado. Visit the Colorado Snowmobile Association’s website, coloradosledcity.com, to learn more about the three dozen or so snowmobile clubs across the state, and the trail systems that they maintain.

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A Cycling Renaissance

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he first time I rode the Slickrock Trail was in 1985. Back then, it was on everyone’s bucket list. When ski season ended, everyone wanted to be in Moab, riding the early mountain-bike designs. We talked about needing a suspension system that took the pounding out of the riding, but no one knew when that development was coming. I remember seeing an ambulance bumping up and down the Slickrock Trail to retrieve a guy who had vaulted over his handlebars on shock-absorber-less front forks, breaking both arms and giving himself a concussion.

Jump forward a few decades, and photographer Brett Schreckengost is telling me about all this amazing new singletrack riding in Moab, and how good trail-riding can feel as fluid as skiing powder. I knew the Slickrock had gone out of vogue (even though it’s still good riding), but wondered where all these new miles of trail were, and if his pronouncement about it being like powder skiing was jive or not.

We agreed to meet, and I rented a full-suspension bike with 29-inch wheels, having heard it will make rocky riding feel like moving over warm butter.

Schreck is a good rider, and I am definitely slower. We were in an area called the Magnificent 7, on the Bull Run Trail off the Gemini Bridges Road. It was around this time that Schreck pulled out his GoPro camera and began fiddling with mounting it on his bike. At that moment, something odd happened in my mind. I started picturing all those amazing GoPro ads where people are doing the coolest things, and the soundtrack is fantastic, and for a moment I thought that I would do anything to be like those GoPro people. So when Schreck told me to ride first, and he would shoot from behind, I took off at lightning speed.

Going faster than I have ever gone on 29” wheels was crazy, because tumbling from such a big wheel that has kicked up in the air means you are falling from an unreasonable height. There is no chance to roll; you just slam body parts in a jumble of rocks, and see what’s damaged when the shock is over. Within 10 minutes, I had launched over the handlebars twice, the second time pounding into a tree that saved me from going over a small cliff. Schreck said I was scaring him, and that I needed to slow down.

We were riding some of the new singletrack. About 80 miles have been put in so far; the trails come in all levels of difficulty, and are rated on an easy-to-difficult scale, much like ski runs. As amazing as the riding and the views were from up on Highway 313, with red-rock country all around me and the snowcapped La Sal Mountains in the distance, the coopera-

BY ERIC MING | PHOTOS BY BRETT SCHRECKENGOST

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If you build it, they will come.

–Teddy Roosevelt

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Singletrack Comes to Moab

Barreling down Mega Steps, the newly constructed swooping single track in the Klondike Bluffs area.

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tion it took to construct these trails was the most remarkable thing of all to contemplate.

The groundwork for the new trails – figuratively, anyway – was laid in 2008. That was the year the Bureau of Land Management finalized a Resource Management Plan for 1.8 million acres in the Moab area. The plan, in the works for years, encompassed everything from bighorn migration corridors to spotted owl habitat to 400,000 acres of wilderness study area.

It also permitted up to 150 miles of “non-motorized” trails exclusively for mountain bikers, hikers and equestrians.

Around this time, a group of mountain bikers in Moab known as Trail Mix noticed that Fruita, Colo. had become the new pilgrimage site. While Moab riders had been making use of two-track jeep trails, Fruita riders had been busily constructing new singletrack, just north of town. (A New York Times travel write-up in 2007 referred to Fruita as the place “Where Mountain Bikers Carved Their Dream Terrain.”)

Now, with a green light from the BLM, Trail Mix went to work; the only element still missing was trust. Scott Escott, an effusive, 23-year Moab resident – and a trail-building force to be reckoned with – stepped in. Escott and Trail Mix wanted to finish the Pipe Dream Trail, but the BLM was reluctant to give over the land. To prove themselves to BLM Outdoor Recreation Planner Katie Stevens, whose job it is to oversee their trails, the bikers took her to an area of work they had done on state lands. Escott says, “We built bridges with boulders the size of Volkswagens across drainages.” When Stevens surveyed their work, she pronounced it “The Appian Way,” in a nod to one of the Roman empire’s earliest and most strategically important roads .

That’s when Escott knew he had established what he calls the “first line of trust.”

Building a mountain-bike trail in this part of the world is not as simple as it might seem, as the BLM is tasked with taking into account the interests of both the living and the dead (in the form of dinosaur fossils and First Nation sites).

For the latter, the BLM generously offered the services of its archaeologists and paleontologists, who are needed to approve the layout of each trail. According to Escott, hiring a private archaeologist would cost $500,000; he marveled at this kind of government support.

Stevens has tutored the trail builders well, and, in a way, even been their coach. She tells them, “When you go out with archaeologists, throw rose petals on their feet, hold the tape when they take measurements and carry their lunch.”

The BLM has clearly outlined what they expect of proposed trails, and the Trail Mix builders adhere strictly to those guidelines. According to Trail Mix Chairperson Sandy Freethy, it makes the process work remarkably well. So well, in fact, >>>

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Coming up on MAG 7 (far left), and Schreckengost (left) and Ming with the La Sals (and Behind the Rocks) behind them.

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that Escott has been asked by biking groups to consult on how to work with land management agencies in Sedona, Durango, Cortez, Grand Junction and even Fruita. “We are the gold standard in this country for partnership with the federal government,” he says. When I asked Escott what difference an effective partnership with the BLM and a bunch of newly completed singletrack actually meant, he answered with conviction, “Millions of dollars already.”

One of those newly-developed trail systems, Moab Brands, has 30 miles of singletrack, and what was once a little-used area now sees 60 to 80 vehicles in the parking all day long in the spring and fall seasons, according to Escott. If there are at least two riders per car, then it is easy to see the economics of what he calls “the renewable resource – trails.”

And the BLM is not the only federal agency in support of mountain biking. Brian Murdock of the U.S. Forest Service manages mountain-bike routes in the Manti-La Sal National Forest (in essence, the La Sal Mountains that hang over town).

The USFS is now finishing its own recreation plan, and will be building what Murdock calls “stacked loops” of trail at Medicine Lake on the south end of the range as well as Jimmy Keen Flat this summer with their own trail crew. In addition, Murdock oversees five shuttle services that drop off as many as 10,000 riders for the tremendously popular Whole Enchilada ride that starts at Geyser Pass (10,528 ft.), climbs over Burro Pass at 11,216 ft., then winds about 30 miles in a staggering 7,000 ft. descent to the Colorado River. (Take that, Fruita.) La Sal riding extends the season by allowing an escape from the hot desert in the summertime, and offers a tour through the conifer-and-alpine zone.

My preference is to be riding in the La Sal’s sizable aspen groves in the autumn; the gold canopy overhead and the red rock in the distance makes me feel very much at home. When I asked Escot about his preferences, he was somewhat less enthusiastic about mountain riding, and implied he wasn’t afraid of desert heat. “I’m an old farmboy,” he said. “I can get up at 4 a.m. It’s the most beautiful time to ride.”

On the drive back down the hill from the Mag 7 trails, with the view of the La Sals and the Henry Mountains and all the convoluted red-rock world below, it didn’t really matter that I was a marginal trail rider, or that I had taken skin off my hips and felt like I had broken my big toe. I simply thought that riding is nothing like powder skiing. It’s hard, it’s unforgiving, but I realized then that I would sell my old mountain bike and buy one of those fat-tire bikes, or a dualsuspension, or whatever, but I was going to be back – if for no other reason than Moab is one of the most sublime places to ride on planet earth.

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Particulars for Winter Riding Moab has a remarkably long riding season. Stacking thin layers of clothing for winter riding is a strategy just like planning for the heat of spring and summer. In fact, some local riders say they prefer the quieter season, because it gives them the chance to have a trail to themselves for a while.

Moab is at an elevation of 4,025 feet, with an average high temperature of 98.1 degrees in July and an average high of 56.9 in November, 50.8 in February and 62.1 in March. The weather is rarely bad if you dress appropriately. With 244 fully sunny days, about 5.9 inches of snow each year and 8.9 inches of rain, odds are good that you will find most days ride-able.

Moab lists nine bike shops in the online Yellow Pages; I happened to choose Poison Spider Bicycles for my rental. I later learned it had been voted among the top 10 bike shops in the country by Outside magazine.

I asked Sales Manager Billy Snyder for a ride with good winter sun. He recommends Ahab for sunny riding all day, but says his favorite is the Porcupine Rim. It is part of the Whole Enchilada ride. Even when you can’t access Geyser and Burro Pass because of snow cover, you can ride the lower five sections virtually all year.

From Feb. 28-March 2, Snyder stages a bike-demo event called The Thaw where he guarantees there will be more bikes than people (unlike most other demo events, where there are only 50 bikes for a whole crowd).

The website discovermoab.com/biking.htm lists all the new singletrack routes, as well as some of the classics. The maps are extremely well done, and give you a good idea of what the rides look like before you arrive.

Additionally, you can purchase Geoff Freethy’s excellent trail maps at all the bike shops for $2. The money goes to support Trail Mix and their continuing trail work.

A BLM list of shuttle services and contact numbers for your tour pickup and drop off can be found at tinyurl.com/kq9ro2o.

On MAG 7, with reflections in a pothole puddle on the slickrock.

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Herb Manning on Gold Hill. Manning works for Wagner Skis as an athlete and a craftsman.

(Inset: Pete Wagner and Kelli Gleason checking out core material at Wagner’s Placerville workshop.)

TELLURIDE TEAMWORK PETE WAGNER AND KELLI GLEASON CREATE EVERYBODY’S PERFECT SKI

BY JESSE JAMES MCTIGUE PHOTOS BY BRETT SCHRECKENGOST once wrote an article that compared the quest for the perfect pair of skis to the quest for the perfect man. My conclusion?

There’s no one that can truly do it all; you probably need two.

Then I met Pete Wagner, founder and owner of Wagner Custom Skis, and Kelli Gleason, hard-goods buyer for the BootDoctor’s Outdoor Store – two people dedicated not to finding you the perfect ski, but to creating it for you. >>> adventureGUIDE | WINTER2013-14

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BootDoctors soft-goods buyer (and general shredder) Galena Gleason skiing the hike-to Chutes on Gold Hill (Above) Skis in various stages of creation at Wagner Skis’ Placerville workskhop.

Remember Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell Smith in the 1985 movie Weird Science – the two teenagers who created the perfect woman on a computer?

And then Lisa, their dream woman, actually appeared!

Wagner can make you the ski equivalent of Lisa.

Wagner, who has been making custom skis in Placerville, 16 miles west of Telluride, since 2006, is the master craftsman of the boutique ski industry. Wagner skis have most recently won accolades in Ski magazine’s Buyers Guide for the last two years, for both men’s and women’s best overall performers.

“Nobody executes like us,” Wagner says. “We’ve been crushing our competition – or what seemed like it was our competition.” Wagner, who has an engineering background, attributes the success of his skis to the materials he uses and to his unique customization process.

He approaches building skis with precision, calculation and personalization. To get a pair of Wagner custom skis, a client first fills out Wagner’s “Skier DNA Questionnaire,” divulging such basic information as height and weight, preferred terrain and bindings, and skill level (choices here range from begin24

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ner to “immortal”). Then comes the really fun stuff: “What brands do you most frequently ski, and what do you like and dislike about them?” And finally, the question you’ve been waiting for someone to ask you your entire life: “In your own words, what are you looking for in a ski?”

Wagner then translates your dreams, disappointments and desires into science. “We use algorithms to design the ski, which then creates the recipe that all of the factory guys use to build the ski,” he explains. “So we go through the same steps every time, but we build a completely unique ski.” Same process, perfectly calibrated result, each and every time. Devotees swear Wagner’s not exaggerating when he says, “The attention to detail and quality is really second to none.”

HOW DO YOU MARKET SPECIFICITY? The logical question for a hard-goods buyer like Kelli Gleason becomes this: If each pair of Wagner skis are made to fit a specific skier, then how do you get them on your ski-shop shelf – and relevant for a wider

array of customers?

The answer: You design a fleet of skis to accommodate your customers. And that’s exactly what Gleason did.

Gleason grew up ski racing in Taos, N.M.; her father is BootDoctors’ owner (and its eponymous boot doctor, Bob Gleason); her older sister is the firm’s soft-goods buyer and general shredder, Galena Gleason. Each year, Gleason participates in Ski magazine’s product testing and reviews, affording her the opportunity to compare comparable models of skis between brands.

And, oh yeah, she rips.

“I get an advantage,” Gleason says modestly, as North American ski royalty, “of seeing the big picture of all of the products in the market.

“With Wagner, what’s unique is we can blend top ski designs from what we know will be big sellers to create that perfect ski for each category,” from carving to all-mountain to powder.

Now Wagner and Gleason have teamed up to create six styles of Wagner custom skis available at BootDoctors.

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Telluride Ski and Snowboard Club freestyle skier and coach Chason Russell carving a line into Prospect Bowl.

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tors, or with an individual client, is picking just the right graphic.

To that end, Wagner has also teamed up with Telluride entrepreneurs Beth and John Kelly, founders and owner of Big Colorado Love, the company that makes bumper stickers, T-shirts and trucker caps with the Colorado flag. Now, there’s another place with the BCL graphic – on a pair of Wagner skis. Staying true to the BCL business motto – to give 10 percent of profits to a Colorado nonprofit organization – a portion of the profits from Wagner skis sold with the BCL graphic goes to the Telluride Adaptive Sports Program.

When you look at Pete Wagner’s ski business, you can see he hasn’t missed a trick, from a great product to great local partnerships to job creation, sustainable practices and giving back to the community.

Yet, when you talk to him, it seems like every step just fell into place ahead of the last one, the result of his determination to create not just a perfect pair of skis, but the perfect pair for everyone.

As our interview wrapped up, he couldn’t resist asking, “What kind of skis do you need?”

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than the next guy.

When it comes to the Wagner product, Gleason has clearly done her research – and believes wholeheartedly in the product.

“Wagner has such innovation in their materials that the quality is far beyond the big guys,” she says, of such big, well-known ski companies as Rossignol or K2. Gleason cites Wagner’s close attention to materials, as well as his unique customization process and deeply ingrained sustainability measures as good reasons to buy the product.

The praise is mutual; Wagner appreciates BootDoctors’ knowledge of the clientele who frequent the Telluride Ski Area. “What’s cool about the BootDoctors is they know their customers,” Wagner says. “And they know what kind of ski works really well at the Telluride Ski Resort for those customers.

“Kelli will come to us with her ideas for design, and we’re able to execute on these ski shapes that will work.”

The last step in the Wagner manufacturing process, whether with Gleason, representing BootDoc-

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Gleason describes each style the way a food critic describes a gourmet meal, starting with what each course is comprised of, and why; then, how these factors contribute to the overall taste – or, in this case, the ride.

Gleason is reserved – she’s thoughtful, and takes care with her words – to ensure that her descriptions are at once accurate and comprehensible to the layperson.

But if you can prove you’re a legitimate student of the sport, Gleason lets her ski-vocabulary fly, throwing around phrases like “early tip rise and tail release,” “torsional rigidity,” and, in validating a certain ski’s performance, remarking: “It can hardcharge Gold Hill.”

As we head into each ski’s ’ “underfoot camber” and “rocker,” she stops to bring up a PowerPoint she put together explaining just what camber is, and what it does.

Gleason is reminiscent of Marisa Tomei describing cars in My Cousin Vinny – minus the Jersey accent, hairspray and leather mini-skirt. As one of three female hard- goods buyers in the entire U.S. ski industry, she has to know her stuff – probably even better

The BootDoctors

WAGNER SKI FLEET CATEGORY: All-Mountain SKIS: Colorado Tie Dye (men’s ski, 98 underfoot), Colorado Love (women’s ski, 94 underfoot) INFLUENCE: The ski melds the best characteristics of the Volkl Mantra and Blizzard Bonafide, but is more forgiving than both.

KELLI SEZ: This is the ideal Telluride ski. The Kevlar wrap around the ski gives it solid torsional rigidity without the deflection or bounce of other skis like it. It can hard-charge Gold Hill, hold an edge on Bushwhacker – and will float in new snow.

t s e h g i H

CATEGORY: Powder SKIS: Tenth Mountain Division (men’s ski, 107 underfoot), the Chickadee (women’s ski, 103 underfoot) INFLUENCE: Made of Aspen wood, this lightweight powder ski is similar to the Salomon Qwest 115 in profile but narrower. The lightness in its tip and tail also makes it similar to the Rossignol Soul 7.

KELLI SEZ: This ski is a great powder ski that is also light enough to use for touring. Like all Wagner skis, it has a unique feel and charges down the hill.

QUALITY

CATEGORY: Carving SKIS: The Broomfield (men’s ski 84 underfoot), the Flow (women’s ski 82 underfoot) INFLUENCE: This ski has early tip rise and easy tail release with camber underfoot.

KELLI SEZ: Other manufacturers are making carving skis as entry-level skis, but our clientele tends to be more advanced. These are prefect for someone who is going to ski Bushwhacker and the Plunge, and needs the edge-hold at higher speeds.

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ilvertonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heyday as a mining boomtown may be long gone, but once a year, in the heart of winter, the Wild West returns to this scrappy little mountain town, when race horses hurtle down Blair Street at 45 mph, pulling daredevil skiers behind them for the annual Silverton Skijoring races.

The Presidents Day weekend event delivers thrills for competitors and spectators alike, as skiers, towed by a galloping mounted steed, navigate six-feet-high jumps, gates and obstacles while attempting to spear a series of rings with a baton on a straightaway course through the heart of Silverton.

The historic town is packed, its restaurants, hotels and bars chock-full, and Blair Street is lined with spectators standing on berms of snow built up for safety and better viewing. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a display of cabin fever craziness that brings together disparate breeds of

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Skis Steeds Silverton Skijoring

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andSpeed

By Samantha Wright and Peter Shelton

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was Eli’s first time giving the sport a try.

“That was sooooo fun!” he yelled after finishing.

“I want to do that again and again!”

Skijoring is not for the timid. Young Alsup made it look easy, but a skier who followed him biffed hard on the second jump and rose shakily, holding his hips; another got hauled across the finish line on his back.

Luckily, services from the EMTs and veterinarians stationed on the sidelines were not needed that day.

Skiers don’t need a horse to register, said spokesperson Laura Des Palmes, although participants can sign up as a matched team (skier and horse/rider).

Unmatched skiers and horse/riders are randomly matched at registration both days.

Some of those random matchups are successful, and others not so much. The best match of last year’s event came at the end of the second day of racing, >>> adventureGUIDE | winter2013-14

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little horse named Tank. If you touched Tank’s neck just right, you could still feel a bullet hole there – a souvenir from his brush with the Mexican mafia before the McCarthy family adopted him.

In a random drawing matching riders and skiers prior to the race, McCarthy was psyched to get paired with Silverton skier Eli Alsup. “He’s 13, like me!” she exclaimed.

The blast of a starting pistol sent them jolting out onto the course. Alsup, in a blue racing suit and wearing a dirt-bike helmet, flew along the course – too short to reach the rings with his baton, and too young to care that there was a one-second penalty per missed ring.

The crowd didn’t care, either, because the kid was hauling. Alsup comes from a family of stock car racers (his grandfather, Bill Alsup, used his snowcat to help build the Silverton Skijoring course), and this

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mountain folk who otherwise don’t tend to mix.

The horses wear shoes studded with extra-long nails that function like crampons on the slick course; the riders tend to dress like the cowboys and ranchers that many of them are (it’s a mystery how they get their hats to stick on their heads as they gallop down Blair Street at breakneck speed). The skiers wear everything from Carhartt to sleek racing suits, and helmets are mandatory.

Silverton’s Notorious Blair Street – a wide, flat street lined with colorfully-painted saloons and onetime brothels – provides the perfect setting for the rowdy sport. And at an elevation of 9.318-feet, in the heart of the San Juan Mountains, there is plenty of snow to go around.

Savannah McCarthy of Cortez, sporting zebrastriped boots, was the youngest rider at the Fourth Annual Silverton Skijoring Event. She rode a tough

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Riding a horse named Bow, fourth-generation Ridgway rancher Richard Weber III towed former ski racer Jason Russel down a challenging course fraught with jumps and obstacles at last year’s Silverton Skijoring event. The duo completed the course in a lightning-fast 17.17 seconds to claim the winner’s purse. Skijoring brings a whiff of the Old West to Silverton’s Notorious Blair Street every January on Presidents Day weekend. (Photo by David Emory)

Clockwise from top left: Andrea McCarthy, her teenage daughter Savannah McCarthy, Richard Weber III and Jeff Dahl galloped down Blair Street with skiers in tow at last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Silverton Skijoring event. Facing page: Jeff Dahl saluted the crowd as his skier went airborne. Dahl and his horse Red Lodge are frequent skijoring competitors. The sport is a display of cabin fever craziness that brings together disparate breeds of mountain folk who otherwise donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tend to mix. (Photos by David Emory)

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to their time. The skier and rider with the fastest time win.

The skier must be in control, in an upright position (no body part touching the ground) and on at least one ski when crossing finish line, or the team is disqualified. Likewise, the rider must be on the horse when the skier crosses the finish line.

Spectating at Silverton Skijoring is free (no dogs allowed). Snow berms line both sides of Blair Street for safe viewing – and incredible photo ops.

The number of participants has grown in the event’s five years, with last year’s event featuring 25 matched teams of horses/riders and skiers who had traveled to Silverton from throughout the region.

Many of them were experienced competitors who ride a circuit of skijoring events everywhere from Leadville to Steamboat Springs to Red Lodge, Montana.

The 2014 Silverton Skijoring races take place Saturday, Feb. 15-Sunday, Feb. 16, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Check out Silverton Skijoring on Facebook or visit www. silvertonski-joring.com for more information. adventureGUIDE | winter2013-14

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tries as a way to travel in the long winters for Laplanders on Nordic skis holding onto reins attached to reindeer.

Skijoring found its way to North America, where ranchers attached a long rope to the saddle horn of a horse ridden at high speeds down a long straightaway. Today, equestrian skijoring has become a highly specialized competitive sport, with competitions in at least five U.S. states and more than a few countries worldwide. In some parts of the world, skiers are pulled by dogs, mules and snowmobiles.

Silverton Skijoring, put on by a grassrootsj53 group of local enthusiasts, is open to both novices and experienced competitors. A big pot of prize money (up to $10,000) is at stake this winter, with prizes going to the fastest skiers and horse riders in both novice and open categories.

The novice course does not include jumps and obstacles, but all competitors must get through a series of gates, collecting rings along the way. If they miss a gate, or drop a ring, two seconds are added

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when Jason Russel, a former CU ski racer who trained in Telluride, was paired with 22-year-old Richard Weber III (aka “Little Richie”), a fourth-generation rancher from Ridgway wearing a bright red cowboy shirt and riding a horse named Bow. Together, the team careened down the course through the roaring gauntlet of the cheering crowd.

It was a clean, 17.17 second run – fast enough to take the winner’s purse. As Russel whizzed across the finish line in his Volkl SLs, he released the tow rope, and Weber came riding back the other way, still at full gallop, slapping his horse, waving his black cowboy hat at the bluebird sky, sunlight gleaming off his silver aviator shades. Girls milled around him as he dismounted from his steaming steed, over by the Shady Lady Saloon. “I finally got a good skier!” he said.

Skijoring is derived from the Norwegian word skikjøring, meaning ski driving. According to the North American Skijoring Association, the sport began several hundred years ago in Scandinavian coun-

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Alpino Vino Skiing in Telluride

By Gus Jarvis

tain from the gondola’s 10,500-ft.-high San Sophia Station, its midway point between Telluride and Mountain village.

Daytime visitors to the Gold Hill side of the mountain have probably seen Alpino Vino’s quaint, pitched-roof mountaintop hut already, and maybe even stopped in for its delectable lunchtime fare that begs to be paired with a glass of wine. Think charcuterie, fine cheese, panini and hot soup of the day. For the living-in-ski-boots set, a midday repast

at Alpino Vino can quickly become a regular event for the winter (rumor has it Jerry Seinfeld stopped in for lunch almost every day in its early years, when he and his family spent most of the winter here). And yes, its European-style lunch is worth returning for. But it is in the evening hours that the Northern Italian culinary work of Executive Chef Nicola Peccedi is most memorable, at one of the two nightly prix-fixe seatings where getting there is almost half the fun. >>>

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f

rom the steeps of the Gold Hill chutes to the sweeping views from See Forever, Telluride is a world-class ski resort.

Now, it has the world-class on-mountain dining it deserves.

The nighttime experience at the European-inspired Alpino Vino takes diners out of this world, almost literally, beginning with the half-hour ride in what’s probably the world’s most luxurious snowcat – another 1,000 feet up the moun-

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Outside, Alpino Vino’s deck offers spectacular views of Mt. Wilson (top) while on the inside the small hut provides a romantic and cozy setting in front of a wood fireplace (center).

The fine dining restaurant is located at nearly 12,000 ft., and to get there, diners take a comfortable ride in Alpino Vino’s luxury snowcat. (Photos by Gus Jarvis)

Excited because we’d heard so much about the Alpino Vino experience, Torie and I got to San Sophia early for a magic-hour look at the alpenglow from Allred’s, perched above the gondola stop.

With about 45 minutes to spare before our 5:30 p.m. pick-up, we marveled at the view from the bar of the east end of the valley, with a couple of Dark and Stormy cocktails. Après ski at Allred’s is the perfect end to a perfect ski day, but for once, it marked the beginning of a night to remember.

With our fellow first-seating diners – a pair of locals, four visitors from California, a family from Central America and a couple celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary – we settled into the slowmoving snowcat for an unforgettable ride up See Forever under darkening skies, a sensation mostly reserved for late-night trail groomers.

“Is this your first time?” asked Richard, from Southern California, who winters in Telluride, as the cat lurched forward.

“First time,” I confirmed.

“We love it,” he said. “We try to go as often as we can. We can’t get enough.”

The 30-minute ride up See Forever lengthened when we persuaded the driver to stop midway so we could commemorate the experience with a photo or two of the La Sals off in the distance, glowing in the low evening sun. It meshed nicely with the cocktail buzz as we settled back into the cab of our kingly transport for the last leg of our uphill journey to the rustic restaurant. There, our warm welcome was amplified with glasses of Prosecco – and the chance to catch the last of the alpenglow on the deck, in the setting sun.

A Rustic High-Alpine Italian Setting

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While the glowing overhead heaters kept us toasty, our small party of diners shot a few more photos –this time of Wilson Peak, part of the jagged gold-pink skyline in the background, before heading indoors. With seating for just 28 diners, the fairytale-cottage style of the restaurant heightens its intimate charm. Originally built as a private home (on a historic mining claim), it opened as Alpino Vino in the winter of 2008/2009, designed to invoke the high-alpine setting of restaurants throughout the Dolomites of Northern Italy. The small building features hand-hewn beams, stone floors and a cozy wood-burning fireplace that makes for a rustic yet comforting feeling. Sturdy furniture – some of it made from repurposed wine barrels – adds to the Italian ambiance; side-by-side seating at a table in front of the fireplace proved the perfect romantic setting for a couple celebrating their anniversary.

After making sure we were all comfortable, the waitstaff started their many trips downstairs to the tiny ship’s galley-style kitchen. The first course of Peccedi’s five-course meal was about to be served.

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A Dining Experience Worth Sharing For $125 per person, Alpino Vino offers a prix fixe dinner you could find in Northern Italy (for another $60, it’s paired with a generous sampling of wines).

A crisp Prosecco complemented our “Sardine in Sapore” first course – a smoked sardine fillet with roasted-pepper relish served atop toasted, freshbaked ciabatta.

Second up was a handmade radicchio, poached pear and caramelized shallot ravioli, served over a creamy Vidalia onion velouté with roasted tomato 38

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It’s like being in the living room of a good friend who loves good food and wine and lives in some faroff, magical place.

Executive Chef Nicola Peccedi brings flavors of Northern Italy to his prix-fixe menu at Alpino Vino, with offerings like smoked sardine fillet with roasted-pepper relish atop toasted ciabatta (top), Parmigianino cheese crisp with poached quail egg (center) served atop a tomato soup and a grilled petit rack of lamb and eggplant Parmesan (bottom). (Photos by Gus Jarvis)

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vinaigrette. The hand-rolled ravioli, cooked al dente, was sensuously thick, and perfectly highlighted by an accompanying glass of a vibrant 2011 Arneis.

Next came a light tomato soup served with a Parmigiano cheese crisp and perfectly poached quail egg, paired with an impressive 2011 Pinot Grigio, a combination that had our taste buds alive and purring.

For the main course, we had to choose. Would it be grilled petit rack of lamb and eggplant Parmesan with mint basil pesto (paired with a 2009 Valpolicella Ripasso)? Or the poached-then-grilled sturgeon, with a sauté of yellow squash and zucchini, savory fish broth, capers and lemon confit, dressed with micro greens (and paired with a 2010 Fruilano Bianco)?

Luckily, there were two of us. Torie’s lamb, perfectly rare, was robust and full of flavor. My fish delivered an assortment of flavors that were surprisingly subtle, yet complex. We shared. What dish would I get, offered a second chance? Frankly, I’d have to go back twice – once for the fish, and again for the lamb.

Once again, it was decision-making time, this time, with what to have for dessert the question.

Here, Torie and I think alike. We both chose the cheese plate featuring an assortment of cheeses, dried fruits, nuts and truffle honey. After it came, conversation was minimal. For what seemed like an hour, sipping our port pairing, we forgot ourselves.

Did I mention there was truffle honey?

Diners at other tables seemed equally absorbed by the chocolate-espresso mousse, made with fresh Chantilly cream and berry sauce, and paired with a 2004 Vespaiola Torcolato.

From the ambiance to the food to the service, the entire evening was like being invited into the living room of a good friend who loves food and wine in equal measure and lives in some far-off, magical place – maybe the mountains of Northern Italy. It felt like a vacation.

The trip home began with a gentle ride in the dark down See Forever, basking in the glow of Mountain Village to our left and Telluride to the right. The mood in the cabin was quiet, its occupants still riding high on the holy trinity of great food, great wine and an atonce stimulating and relaxing atmosphere. I began to think of all the friends and family I have to bring up to Alpino Vino. It’s an experience that must be shared, and it’s one I hope to have time and again.

It reminded me of something, I thought sleepily; it reminded me of how I feel about skiing and snowboarding in Telluride.

And that’s what Alpino Vino is, finally: the perfect complement to the unparalleled mountain terrain that Telluride Ski Area is known for.

Visit tellurideskiresort.com for more information or call 970/728-7446 to make a reservation.

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FULL M ON DINNER ON

TELLURIDE’S VALLEY FLOOR eering school outside the then-tiny town of Aspen.

“I like cross-country skiing,” says Farny, a lifelong athlete. “It uses a large range of muscles – the arms, back, stomach and legs – and in an hour-anda-half, you have a good workout.

“Even when it’s cold outside, you warm up quickly, once you start moving,” she says.

Farny skied on her high school team, going on to be the first woman on CU-Boulder’s cross-country ski team. >>>

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PARTING SHOT

Cindy Farny’s Full Moon Progressive Dinner, heralding both the explosive growth of Nordic skiing throughout the Telluride region and the Town of Telluride’s hard-won conservation easement on its beloved Valley Floor, is a warm and welcoming midwinter highlight.

Farny, who’s easily the best cross-country ski teacher I’ve ever had, pretty much grew up on skis (and, in the summer, on horseback) at her family’s mountain-

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Full Moon Soup

How’d that work out?

“Lonely,” she says, grinning.

After college, Farny headed home to Aspen; accustomed to cooking for large groups since her early years, she was soon helping out with an annual progressive dinner on the Aspen Golf Course.

“We’d ski station to station,” she recalls of that inspirational dinner, stopping for food donated by Aspen restaurants.

Farny moved to Telluride in 1989, and was soon cooking professionally, first at the restaurant she opened at her family’s Skyline Ranch, then at the deeply missed Wildflower (alongside Telluride chef Monika Callard, who died in 2003), finally founding the eponymous Cindy Bread.

When Farny came up with the idea for a Valley Floor progressive dinner, she was reluctant to ask Telluride restaurants for free food, “because they already donate so generously to so many nonprofits.”

So this time around, she opted for the DIY route.

“It’s a community effort,” she says, of days leading up to the annual outdoors dinner, with friends coming over “to help me chop leeks and peel potatoes.”

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By Cindy Farny

I ll come to the event, how many people wi ow kn r ve ne I e us Beca el 75 potato peelers to pe come over with their to scale ed tri ve ha invite my friends to I bunches of leeks.

36 ce sli d an s oe ! pounds of potat ll Moon soup at home n have your own Fu nches of bu 2 , ks un this recipe so you ca ch t into medium cu d an s oe tat po of chicken stock and Peel 2 pounds quar ts vegetable or 2 , an cle ed sh wa d leeks, sliced an (or to taste). tle cayenne pepper 2 cups heavy cream and maybe even a lit er, pp pe d an lt sa Season with d the potatoes and for a little spice! til they are soft, ad un oil ve oli in ks Sauté the lee ally soft. the potatoes are re as stock, and cook until he secret is to get it (T . th oo sm until it is if it is am cre or Purée the mixture ck sto ve to add more ha t gh mi u Yo . ble smooth as possi re cream I add!) r it is outside, the mo dinner and slice too thick. The colde your friends over for ll ca is do to ed ne Now all you up a baguette!

It’s hearty fare: Potato soup, bread, brownies, cookies and cider at the three different stations, served up to apple-cheeked children and adults on skis, sipping from cups of steaming soup and chomping on chocolate chip cookies.

As for getting the food to the Valley Floor, Farny says, “It’s not that hard – we deliver the soup down

by Boomerang Bridge on sleds. We ...”don’t need any snowmobiles to deliver or pick up the food,” she emphasizes.

Farny volunteers with the fast-growing Telluride Nordic Association, which maintains ski tracks throughout the region. Of all the region’s crosscountry tracks, she maintains, the Valley Floor is truly special.

“It’s the only flat place to go skiing. Anybody and everybody should go out and enjoy it – and a

lot of people do.

“Even though there’s a highway next to it, you don’t notice the highway at all,” she says. Instead, skiers marvel at the San Miguel river – in daytime, “with steam coming off it,” and in the evening, “with the fog, and the beautiful alpenglow light on the mountains. “‘Oh, it’s so cold!’” she mugs, a coach persuading skeptics. “But once you get out, it’s warm – and it’s beautiful.”

For information about Farny’s High Camp Hut, with overnight accommodations for backcountry skiers, visit www.highcamphut.com, or call or email Farny at 970/728-8050, info@highcamphut.com.

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BY SAMUEL ADAMS | PHOTOS BY BRETT SCHRECKENGOST

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Glider Bob Offers Perspective, Along With the Best Views in Town

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canopy to expose the cockpit, and showed me how to plant both hands on the aircraft, pull myself into a sitting position on the wing, then turn and slide my legs down into the cabin, navigating foot pedals and a joystick and settling in.

Strapping myself into my four-point seatbelt harness, my seat, pedals and joystick identical to those on Bob’s side, I now worried I’d be expected to help out with takeoff and landing, and maybe even master a few of the instruments on the control panel in front of me. The cabin of the aircraft, with its assortment of dials and switches for gauging and controlling our flight, looked like something out of Star Trek. Once again, Glider Bob set my fears at rest, explaining the general layout of the control panel and how the glider supports itself in flight.

“With the engine off, gravity pulls the aircraft down,” he said, “but the wings create lift, giving us flight.”

The glider loses one foot of altitude for every 50 feet it travels forward, he explained, and so, to maintain a 12,000-ft. altitude, he flies through columns of rising hot air, pushing the craft up – much like winds push a sailboat – to higher altitude, so it can repeat its controlled, slow descent.

Glider Bob prefers flying in the fall and winter months, when the network of white trails snaking down the mountain thrills his passengers, who are mostly here for the skiing. Soaring high above the steeply descending trails, he said, clients marvel that the skiers look like ants, carving their way down the slopes to congregate at the bottom of the chairlifts.

But on this perfect summer day, “with this weather, we can’t complain,” he said, and hopped into the fuselage to study the azure blue sky and minimal cloud cover above. The gradually shifting clouds indicated slowly rising temperatures, he said, scanning the skies to ascertain the accuracy of the day’s weather forecast. Monsoonal rains and humidity from the night before blanketed the distant valleys in a thin fog, but the emerging morning glow signaled good weather to come.

Happy with what he saw, Glider Bob now turned to the task of preparing for takeoff, twisting and turning dials on the control panel that caused small lights and electronic indicator screens to turn on. Strange humming and vibrating sounds emitted from various parts of the aircraft as he radioed in our flight plan to other aircraft and the airport advisory official.

Awaiting a response, he fired the engine, causing

FOOD & DRINK

he Telluride Regional Airport is a beautiful place, even if you’re not departing or arriving by air. At 9,078 ft., the highest airport in North America sits on a mesa with high peaks on three sides and Utah’s La Sal Mountains as a distant backdrop to the west. Flying into this tiny airport can be frightening – it’s hard not to worry that you might sideswipe a mountain, or careen off the end of the short runway.

The airport is home to Gliding Telluride, offering winter, summer and fall glider tours around Telluride in a self-propelled Stemme S-10 Motorglider operated by Telluride Town Councilmember Robert “Glider Bob” Saunders.

Glider Bob has piloted gliders since the mid-1970s; these days, he takes up roughly 400 passengers a year, offering visitors and residents alike the opportunity to spend an afternoon touring the Telluride region from on high.

My assignment on a bluebird day last summer was to take in the sights, and grab a few pictures along the way.

After telling the staff at the airport terminal I was scheduled for a flight with Glider Bob, I walked out to the runway, toward the minimalist glossy white glider off in the distance, parked alongside other aircraft next to the terminal. I was met, with a friendly handshake, by Glider Bob, who was tinkering with his two-passenger aircraft as I approached.

I got my first surprise upon asking about the whereabouts of the tow plane I’d assumed would haul us to cruising altitude.

“This is what’ll get us up there,” he said, pulling back a section of the glider’s glossy white metal nosecone to expose a neatly folded propeller inside, powered by a center-mounted engine turning jetblack propeller fins.

Although “we can get to about 18,000 feet with the prop,” Glider Bob prefers lower altitudes, so he can get in close to the looming mountain peaks. We’d only go up to 12,000 feet or so, he said, before shutting the engine off.

With that, he pulled open the singlepiece Plexig l a s

Glider Bob soaring the Stemme against the Wilson Massif winter backdrop. Inset, above, Glider Bob in his hangar at Telluride Regional Airport.

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CONTENTS FOOD & DRINK GEAR WINTER CALENDAR AD INDEX PARTING SHOT

the propeller to shoot violently out of its nosecone and start spinning vigorously, its whirr and the engine’s ruckus making the cabin buzz. With OKs from pilots and airport personnel, Glider Bob released the brakes. The aircraft jerked forward, slowly rolling away from the parking zone to the runway.

Centered on the runway and with hundreds of yards of tarmac ahead of us, Bob turned to me and asked, “You ready?”

Amidst the clatter, all I could say was, “Let’s do this!” He revved the engine to takeoff speed, causing even more noise and vibrations, and then released the brakes for takeoff.

Now we were passing the dotted white lines on the tarmac with increasing speed, leaving the airport in the blink of an eye, and, before I even realized it, tilting the aircraft nose upward to begin the flight.

I am never comfortable during takeoff in a commercial jet, but the feeling of the glider’s wheels leaving the tarmac was more like the smooth feeling of skiing on fresh powder – so subtle, you don’t realize you’re moving that fast.

“Do you ever get sick of this job?”

I asked, as the airport shrank below us.

“No,” he said, with the grin of a man who has struck a balance in combining his passion and his work.

“Never.”

At first, I tried snapping pictures of the distant peaks and sprawling valleys, writing the occasional note of what Bob said, about, say, how the ice ages carved out Telluride’s box canyon. But soon, I decided it was better to settle in and enjoy my out-ofthis-world experience as fully as possible.

As we climbed, details of Mt. Wilson emerged that I’d never imagined, even though I had studied the peak on my daily hikes around Telluride, which offer views of the mighty mountain. But I had never noticed the few stubborn remaining specks of grayish snow, which withstood even the midsummer sunlight. Clouds created dark blotches across the face of the mountain, making it hard to know where the shadows ended and tree line began.

I now focused my attention on the glider itself, as Glider Bob turned it towards the ski area, taking advantage of pockets of rising hot air that resulted in an occasional whoosh of wind. As the aptly named See Forever trail unspooled below us, I had a rare chance to view the entire ski area and Bear Creek at the same time. Hikers on See Forever waved as we soared by.

“That’s one of my favorite parts,” said Bob. “When people wave at you from the ski resort, Ajax or Sneffels, they always look so happy to see the glider.”

He then turned the aircraft slightly south, placing Palmyra Peak – one of Telluride’s signature hike-to ski runs – in the center of the windshield, the opposite of the “if you focus on it, you will hit it” skiing philosophy.

In March 2013, I hiked Palmyra Peak to ski Senior’s, the uppermost trail at the resort. With threequarters of the ski season under my belt, I was confident I could handle the massive peak.

The ensuing one-and-three-quarter-hour hikeand-ski proved otherwise. On that wintry day, the double-black trail, with its exposed rock beneath thin >>> 46

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The glider hovering above the ski area ridge line, left, in the vicinity of lift 9. Inset, looking for lift on the north side of Palmyra Peak, above Prospect Bowl. At right, a bird’seye view of the Telluride Ski Area (above); below, looking down the valley.

snow cover, threatened my concentration with sheer fright at every steep turn; one misstep or poorly executed turn on the way down could have led to a serious injury, or worse. Adrenaline pumped through my hands, which kept a deathlike grip on my ski poles.

But now, seeing the summer sun-soaked peak up close, from the angle of the glider, I reflected on the disparity between my experience with it in the winter versus now, and came to understand its true nature.

Icy snow had given way to lush greenery; that stability-threatening exposed rock was just loose rocks.

Palmyra Peak, it appeared, was no different from most of the peaks I climbed happily, in the spring and summer weeks before the flight. Seeing Palmyra up close was akin to seeing Toto expose the mighty Wizard of Oz for what he really was: a paper tiger with a penchant for illusion.

We next glided past Bridal Veil Falls, hovering far above the power plant precariously perched above the falls. The old mill and Black Bear Pass, one of the most dangerous passes in Colorado, were invariably dotted with slow-moving cars and dirt bikes. Tiny bright dots lined one of the rock walls north of the falls. I thought they were tiny spots of neon-colored spray paint, but Bob said they were hikers on the Via Ferrata (“Iron Road,” in Italian), a popular hiking trail that overlooks much of Bridal Veil and Telluride. With hundreds of feet of nothing but Rocky Mountain air below your feet, the ten-minute “Main Event” portion of the Via Ferrata is a series of iron rungs bolted across the middle of a sheer cliff face. I’ve completed the Main Event several backbreaking times, each one more thrilling than the last, my weight supported by nothing but the rungs (and safely attached to a support cable), with nothing but my sweaty palms and quivering feet prodding for the next rung.

I knew the Main Event was challenging, but it wasn’t until I was gliding around next to it that I realized it’s insane. One hiker, in a bright orange jacket, stood out against the brown cliff, with the height of a clock tower beneath him as he fought for the

next rung, adrenaline surging as he traversed the unforgiving wall.

‘That was me,” I thought to myself, as I remembered trembling silently across the Main Event, everything focused on keeping my composure and completing my task. I remembered now how I’d once accidentally pushed a rock loose while grasping for the next rung, and saw it disappear down into the canyon in the blink of an eye; with a sweaty grip on the iron rung, I’d closed my eyes and slowly inhaled, desperately believing that the strength and integrity of my climbing gear would prevent my experiencing a similar fall.

But in Bob’s glider, hovering at 12,000 ft., looking down on the miniscule hiker swinging along the Main Event on the canyon wall, invariably quivering like I had, I quietly thanked the cosmos for good luck and safe returns from each of my Via Ferrata hikes, and wished the hiker well.

My reverie ended as Glider Bob turned us to face Telluride.

When I stand on main street in town, my gaze fixed on the distant mountains, the town makes me think of a model-train town in the Wild West. But up in the air, and actually among the mountaintops, I was transfixed by how starkly Telluride’s orderly bustling grid contrasted with the surrounding steep, jagged slopes on three sides. I imagined Telluride in its early days, the only organized society for dozens of miles, stubbornly

opposing the harsh reality of the natural world at its borders.

With its constant summer monsoons and its unrelenting winter snowstorms, I reflected on how unforgiving the terrain was, and just how tough its early inhabitants must have been.

And now, my flight nearly over, I felt a connection with the mining families of a bygone era, who eked by and prayed for favorable weather to make their living on the distant hills, long before the town transformed itself into the posh destination for outdoor enthusiasts and festival-goers it is today.

I snapped out of my reverie as the tiny airport and runway came into view, Glider Bob carefully maneuvering through the occasional spot of turbulence. After negotiating the glider to a smooth landing on the runway, he chuckled at the look of amazement on my face.

“You’ll want to do this again, I take it?” he said.

“Absolutely,” I said, coming back down to earth, still enthralled by the heaven from which I had descended.

No wonder he always looks relaxed, I thought to myself as I exited the aircraft. I would be too, if I visited that special place 400 times a year.

Headquartered at the Telluride Regional Airport, Glider Bob offers tours during the autumn, winter and summer months. He charges $130 for half-hour rides, and $180 for a full hour. For reservations, call Glider Bob at 970/708-0862. Glider Bob recommends calling a day or two ahead, as the weather frequently changes. For more information, visit www.glidetelluride.com.

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feature

Cyclocross Hot New Fall-Winter Sport

By Gus Jarvi S | photos b y tammy kulpa

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or bicycle-heads, the long, dark months of fall and winter now mean it’s cyclocross season.

This relatively new form of bicycle racing, with its obstacles, tight turns, various racing surfaces and, hopefully, a touch of inclement weather, is possibly the world’s fastest-growing cycling spectator sport.

This year, thanks to the Cascade Bicycles cyclocross team, the sport is gaining a fan base in Montrose.

Developed in Europe to keep road racers competitive through the fall and winter months, cyclocross takes place on a small racecourse – generally one to two miles long – with everything from grass to sandpits, pavement, wooded trails, steep hills, sharp turns, and obstacles. When cyclists can’t ride their bikes over an obstacle, they dismount, carry the bikes over, and quickly remount.

“They often put in barriers six to eight inches high,” says Cascade bike mechanic Hollis Brake, a member of the shop’s cyclocross team. “Basically, you race on an obstacle course.” For skilled riders, the obstacles aren’t a problem. “They can hop them,” says Brake.

Most cyclocross races in the region offer categories for all ages and levels of riders. In each class, racers complete as many laps as possible in a given time.

“The whole thing is about having fun in a good, competitive spirit,” Brake says. “The racing itself, if you are being competitive, is intense.

“It’s a competitive sport, but you have to bring a sense of humor to it. Sometimes, it’s a better spectator sport, where people are ringing cowbells, hollering and heckling at you.” Then, too, “There is often a lot of beer on hand. It’s definitely a party atmosphere,” Brake says, except for the racers, who “are working really hard.”

From a distance, cyclocross bicycles – with their drop handlebars – seem no different from road bikes.

A closer look, however, reveals the bikes are modified to handle the cyclocross course’s widely varying conditions; the tires are fatter, with better traction treads than a typical road bike, and the tube on the top frame is curved, making it easier to carry it on your shoulder.

“The bike that you use for this is really cool,” Brake says. An added advantage, he says, is that “a cyclocross bike can get you into some adventurous off-road biking.”

For Brake, cyclocross not only bridges the gap between the summer road bicycling season and the winter fat tire bicycling season but also keeps him in a competitive mode in races that offer stiff competition and a lot of fun.

While a few Montrose enthusiasts have competed in cyclocross events over the last few years, Brake says

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the fall of 2013 marked the first time a team of riders got together to compete regularly in organized races throughout the state.

Before the 2013 season got underway, Brake helped Cascade Bicycles owner Donnie Watson put together a team that, thanks to networking with a handful of Montrose businesses, garnered some much-needed sponsorships. Word spread that a cyclocross team was being formed, and soon, nine people signed on to ride. (Half of those riders, Brake says, didn’t even know it was a sport.)

“It’s been really cool to get people interested in something they have never even heard of,” Brake says.

Montrose native Jessica Kastendieck, whose father tried out for the Olympic cycling team, signed on, even though she had never competed in anything like cyclocross before. Always up for a challenge, Kastendieck practiced with the team down in Montrose’s Riverbottom Park, falling off a few times, and learning to dismount and carry her bike.

In Grand Junction, at her first competition, she raced in the C Class, which is for beginners, taking second place in the women’s division.

“The thing I like about it the most is probably the relaxed and fun atmosphere,” Kastendieck says. “You are in a race against other people, but you feel like you are out there to have fun. It’s not a serious road race, triathlon or marathon. It doesn’t feel serious like that. Everyone’s out there having a good time.”

At the same time, she says, “People are trying to cut you off, tires are rubbing and you have that element of getting down and dirty and going for it.”

For Shawn Lund, now in his third season of competing in cyclocross, the sport’s competitiveness and scrappy atmosphere gives it an eclectic energy all its own.

“If you are in a road cycling race and you can’t quite keep up, you get left in the dust, and you ride it by yourself,” Lund says. “In cyclocross, you are always racing somebody. You might not be at the front, but there is always somebody around you, rubbing elbows or chasing you. It’s really physical, but the courses are entertaining enough that you forget how hard it hurts sometimes. It has a really neat vibe to it.”

Lund is psyched to have Montrose cyclocross teammates to train with.

“One of the really cool things about our team is that there is a broad spectrum of ages, skills and fitness levels,” Lund says. “Everyone is out there trying to get better, working hard, having a lot of success and a lot of fun. I really can’t tell you how much we appreciate Donnie and the businesses that stepped up to help make this happen.”

With a fledgling team of dedicated cyclocross racers ready to compete statewide, some riders are thinking big.

“Our dream is to bring cyclocross races to Montrose and hold our own races,” says Kastendieck.

“Maybe have a circuit that we do, maybe up on the [Uncompahgre] Plateau or on Cerro Summit.”

“It’s the fastest-growing cycling sport in the world,” Lund adds. “It is really exciting to have it hit Montrose.”

Anyone interested in cyclocross is encouraged to stop in at Cascade Bicycles, located at 21 N. Cascade Ave. in Montrose.

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Cyclocross courses come with a variety of surfaces like grass, dirt and pavement and most offer obstacles or steep hills that force riders to dismount and carry their bikes. Pictured clockwise from top left are Cascade Bicycles cyclocross team members Jessica Kastendieck (left) and Luke Zamoyski (right) sprinting through a grassy finish line at a race in Fruita; Zamoyski carries his bike up a dirt path on the Fruita course; and Steven Hauck in a wooded portion of the Fruita race.

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T e l l u r i d e A d a p t i v e S p o r ts P r o g r a m

Where Physical Challenges

By Martinique Davis | photos by brett schreckengost

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Colorado Discover Ability President Jim Polehinke, who lost his leg in an airplane crash, getting ready for a day of mono-ski training with TASP instructor Casey Welch; above, Polehinke on the mountain.

“He wouldn’t be able to ski without it.”

Rich Humphrey’s 10-year-old son got an autism diagnosis five years ago. According to Humphrey, the diagnosis helped the family articulate the challenges their son faced. For example, the large, loud, group activities other children found exciting, he found overwhelming. A traditional kid’s ski lesson was unthinkable.

Not anymore, thanks to the Telluride Adaptive Sports Program.

Now in its 17th year, the locally-born nonprofit organization helps people with disabilities safely explore a wide array of adventure activities – in the winter, from skiing, snowboarding and even ice climbing – and everything from mountaineering to hand-cycling, horseback riding, fishing, river rafting and more over the course of the year.

Since its 1996 inception as a small nonprofit providing ski lessons to local and regional kids and adults with disabilities, the organization has expanded over time to become a frontrunner in the adaptive sports industry, providing innovative programs that help individuals with disabilities explore the Colorado outdoors.

“We’ve gained a national reputation within the industry,” said TASP Executive Director Courtney Stuecheli, pointing to such innovative programs as TASP’S Moab Mania, the only hand-cycling camp in the U.S., as well as its winter and summer programs for injured veterans. “If there’s an adventure activity an able-bodied person enjoys, TASP has embraced it and created a way for disabled people to enjoy it, too.”

This do-anything spirit is the organization’s calling card, and has led TASP to national recognition. A recent National Public Radio story focusing on new technology for the disabled included an interview with TASP Program Director Tim McGough. Thanks in large part to TASP, Telluride and Mountain Village were chosen last summer to host the No Barriers Summit, a four-day gathering of assistive- technology pioneers and disabled individuals that promotes innovation and education through clinics, symposia, expeditions and more.

The 2013 No Barriers Summit, bringing close to 500 visitors to the region, necessitated the retrofitting of several public buildings in Mountain Village with ramps, automatic doors and the like to better accommodate visitors, highlighting what TASP and its participants have known for some time: that the disabled community is a strong and viable group of consumers, who will chose their vacation destinations based on the programs and facilities made available to them. A marketing study funded by the advocacy group, Open Doors Organization, reports the disabled community now spends more than $13 billion on travel every year. >>>

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Meet Their Match

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Post-9/11 veteran Chad Jukes at the March 2013 TASP Winter Adventure Week for disabled veterans (inset, Jukes adjusting his colorfully clad prosthetic leg).

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Telluride resident Ashley Bradley, a TASP volunteer for the past six years, has seen firsthand the power an organization like TASP can exert in attracting and maintaining the attention of the disabled demographic.

In her six years as one of the organization’s 153 volunteer instructors, Bradley sees families return to Telluride year after year, because TASP provides them with a rare opportunity to enjoy mountain sports with all the family members. For many years now, Bradley has volunteered with one severely disabled young girl whose family has chosen to return to Telluride again and again because their annual ski lessons with TASP offer their only opportunity for a family vacation with activities for everyone. “It is the only vehicle they have for going out and sharing the experience of being together on the mountain as a family,” Bradley said. “They say, ‘It’s a celebration when we’re all together!’”

TASP’s program for disabled veterans has added a new dimension to that organization as well, giving recently wounded combat veterans opportunities to explore new physical and psychological horizons. Last year, more than 100 veterans participated in its veterans’ program; many participants choose to return, year after year, because they find the experience of tackling sports like skiing or handcycling to be extremely therapeutic. Stuecheli reports TASP has continued to grow its veterans programming, through outreach to Veterans Administration hospitals and other organizations providing support to disabled veterans, including the Wounded Warriors Project. TASP hopes to welcome the No Barriers Summit back to the Telluride region in 2015.

“We’ve been able to get the word out that Telluride is a destination for the able-bodied, as well as individuals with disabilities,” she said of TASP’s growth over the last 17 years.

For participants like Rich Humphrey, who is now also a volunteer with the organization, the advantages of having an organization like TASP serving the needs of the disabled community are tremendous.

“I know that when he’s with TASP he’s safe, and that they understand what it’s like having a kid with a disability,” Humphrey said of his son’s participation with TASP. “It’s a place where we don’t have to explain everything, because they understand those kinds of kids.

And that allows you to relax, which is a real gift.”

TASP staff, volunteers and participants in its 2013 Winter Adventure Week for disabled veterans, in front of the organization’s Mountain Village headquarters.

Out of Disaster, a Passion for Skiing Takes Flower Crash Survivor Jim Polehinke Finds a New Calling, Working With Adaptive Skiers

By Samuel A dam s

His tenure as president of CDA hasn’t stopped him from regularly hitting the On August 27, 2006 in Kentucky, emer- slopes. Since 2011, Polehinke has attended gency crews pulled Jim Polehinke from the dozens of ski clinics in Telluride through the wreckage of Comair Flight 5191, which Telluride Adaptive Sports Program, realizing crashed during takeoff. There were 49 fa- his full potential as an adaptive athlete. He’s talities, and copilot Polehinke was the only training to compete in the giant slalom event in the 2018 Paralympics. survivor.

“Without a doubt, TASP has helped me The crash left Polehinke with multiple broken bones, a collapsed lung and severe get closer to that goal, says Polehinke. “I bleeding, resulting in a leg amputation and a remember asking TASP’s program director spinal cord injury. His doctors said he would Tim McGough for guides that have racing experience and that could teach me the baspend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

“I went into a very, very dark time in my sics and help move me to more advanced life,” said Polehinke. “My wife Ida wanted me stuff,” Polehinke said. “They paired me to take a more positive look at my condition with some instructors who competed in the World Cup and were thrilled to teach me and what I could do going forward.”

Ida suggested the two take a vacation at how to carve better.

“That’s the wonderful thing about TASP Aspen Snowmass for a week, where Polehin– they know and understand my goals and ke became reacquainted with alpine skiing.

“I had skied recreationally a few times, so focus on them,” he added.

Although Polehinke himself is a source of it was good to get back into it. And the instructors at Snowmass treated me well – they inspiration for new and developing adaptive got me skiing like I was a regular guy,” Pole- skiers, he too draws motivation from the athletes he meets each season, and most especially from his fellow veterans.

“Whenever I go up to Telluride and ski at TASP ski clinics, the veterans that come back from overseas that are hurt more than me – let alone the legally blind vets – have the soul that inspire me. They make me want to go forward,” Polehinke said.

With the support of donors and the community, TASP provides scholarship funding Jim Polehinke, who began skiing with TASP in 2011, with TASP to athletes like Polehinke to instructor John Janus. (Courtesy photo) attend weeklong, all-expensepaid visits to Telluride for TASP hinke said. “To say the least, with me adapt- ski clinics. Each year, TASP brings roughly a ing to the sport so quickly, I was bitten by the hundred disabled veterans to its winter and skiing bug. Especially when I was going fast.” summer sports clinics.

“Jim’s story exemplifies what our orgaPolehinke, a veteran of the U.S. Navy, is naturally competitive and athletic, which, nization aims to provide folks,” said TASP combined with the love of speed he en- Executive Director Courtney Stuecheli. joyed as a pilot, helped him take a shine to “He’s part of our family over here. He’s a great guy, and an inspiration to those that alpine skiing.

“I was carving so fast. Skiing is such an are trying to ski given their condition. He’s emotional high for me, and I wanted to go one of those guys with a competitive edge and wants to take his skiing to the next levfaster,” Polehinke said.

With Polehinke’s newfound love of ski- el,” she added.

TASP and similar organizations work ing, the couple moved from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. to Grand Junction, where Polehinke im- hard to let adaptive athletes enjoy life to the mersed himself in adaptive athletics, eventu- fullest, said Polehinke. “I’ve found that the ally becoming the president of Colorado Dis- overarching motto with adaptive athletics cover Ability, an adaptive outdoor recreation organizations is, ‘What can I do for you, not what can I do for me.’” nonprofit based in Grand Junction. adventureGUIDE | winter2013-14

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Now, choose the meat. Shaved ham? Savory sausage? Maybe even a slab of spicy chorizo?

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Melted cheese? You bet.

Finally, there’s the egg. Scrambled or fried; fried hard, or oozing – someone might be charmed by that touch of yoke on your chin.

Here in the Western San Juans, we have no shortage of breakfast sandwich possibilities.

From the skier on the go to those seeking a relaxed breakfast, with a latte and a newspaper, all variety of breakfast sandwiches abound.

Here are a few of our favorites. They’re not your everyday Egg McMuffin (but even those are pretty good, when the Price: $7.50 lage Core time is right).

Location: Mountain Vil on no fter te-a .-la a.m 0 7:3 : Hours >>> Contact: 970/369-0364

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he breakfast sandwich of today is the omelet of the 1980s – it’s a hot concept, and everyone has a favorite variation. Like the omelet, the breakfast sandwich can be simple – or as complicated as you can dream it up to be.

Plus, it can be dressed up with an endless combination of ingredients.

The most important component is the bread.

Toasted on whole wheat? A crisp English muffin? Or must it be a buttery croissant?

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The Sandwich: This bre akfast sandwich is bakery fresh at its best. Choose a fresh-bak ed roll or a croissant, add one or two scrambled eggs, top wit h ham, cheddar cheese and tom ato. Not too big, not too small, thi s one’s just right.

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The Sandwich: From the Benny to Merle’s Fav to the Ruby Royale, you already know you’re getting a sandwich with personality. Our favorite is the Pancho, made with two eggs, chorizo, cheddar, jalapenos, avocado, tomato, and onions, layered on a ciabatta roll. Spice up your morning, and don’t even think about eating again until dinner.

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to fit in the The Sandwich: Too big this ubermouth at all gracefully, r choice sandwich comes on you ied or of bread,with two eggs (fr ved sha h scrambled) topped wit d Roma an ese che honey ham, Swiss fries to me ho h wit s tomatoes. Come and eat it remember, so plan ahead n of spinach on-site. Vegetarian optio ble. and avocado also availa

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OURAY

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The Sandwich: One egg and cheese, topped with either ham, bacon or sausage. Choosing the bagel is the hardest part – you want that plain? Whole wheat?

Green chile, garlic, onion or sesame seed? The result comes toasted just right, making for a quick hit-theroad breakfast. A small coffee is included in the price.

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Price: $5.15 Location: 636 Main St., Ouray Hours: 7 a.m.-10 p.m.

Contact: 970/325-0550

THE DAILY BREAD BAKERY AND CAFÉ MONTROSE

The Sandwich: At The Daily Bread, the breakfast sandwich comes one of two ways, and either way is right. Start with the bread – choose between a heavenly house-baked English muffin or heavenly housebaked buttery croissant. Top it with scrambled eggs, shaved hickorysmoked ham or sausage and cheese.

Perfectly crisp golden hash browns come on the side.

Price: $9 Location: 346 Main St., Montrose Hours: 7 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday-Saturday Contact: 970/249-8444

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The Sandwich: This diner-style sandwich features two fried eggs topped with either ham and cheese, bacon and cheese, spinach and cheese or tomato and cheese. Ask for both spinach and tomato, and who needs a salad for lunch?

Price: $7.50 Location: 217 E. Colorado Ave., Telluride Hours: 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

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The Sandwich: At Great Harvest, choose from a delectable sampling of freshly baked and sliced breads and watch while it’s toasted and topped with egg and your choice of cheese and ham. Go the extra mile with onions and green peppers.

Simple, plentiful, with a taste and texture all its own.

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winter2013-14 DOGGY STYLE This soft-shell Ruffwear Cloud Chaser from Ruffwear keeps dogs snug and toasty outdoors in all weather, thanks to its waterproof, windproof and breathable softshell topper.

Coated fabric down under repels and sheds water, snow and dirt. Raglan sleeves and insulation help maintain core body heat, and a four-way stretch design keeps Fido frisky. A zippered closure, reflective trim and a light loop complete the package. Chow Down Pet Supplies in Montrose, 202 E. Main St.; 970/249-5052.

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K2’s new Ultrasplit splitboard comes with bambooyah strength and confidence, patented tip-and-tail skin attachment and unlimited Split Track stance options, in a kit including skins, Kwicker bindings and Voile heel risers and pucks. Complete with an All Terrain Tweekend baseline, standard damping, UltraTech construction, hyper-progressive shape and a stance with a .75-inch setback. Available at Telluride Sports’ Alternative Edge, 670 Mountain Village Blvd., 970/728-6138.

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Say goodbye to jeans with these 98 percent combed cotton/2 percent stretch euro-twill Kühl Rydrs. With a gusseted crotch, articulated knees and double-needle bar tacks at critical junctions, they follow your body’s natural shape; includes cell phone pocket, for easy access. Reinforced cuff and pockets. Comes in khaki, dark khaki, espresso, graphite, gunmetal and brown; $75.

D’Medici in Montrose, 316 E. Main St.; 970/249-3668.

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BRINGING UP BABY The Deuter Kid Comfort II backpack puts young ones in the catbird seat, with safety first and comfort close on its heels for both parent and child. Deuter’s breathable foam back, sternum strap and trademark Vari-flex padded hip belt offer stability and comfort; side entry makes for easy in and out. There’s even an ergonomic seat for Junior (with a storage compartment below). Sunshade and rain-cover sold separately; $239 at Ridgway Outdoor Experience, 153 U.S. Hwy. 550, 970/626-3608.

IN THE HOOD The 100 percent merino wool jersey knit hoodie component of the new Mountain Khakis’ Rendezvous collection is an essential layer for cold-weather living, whether at work or play. On crisp fall days, pop it over a shirt; in inclement weather, wear it under a shell.

Its high neck and interior storm flap with rollover chin guard keep out the cold; the fast-drying-andwicking merino wool keeps sweat at bay. On warm days, the hoodie rides solo, complete with napoleon and waist pockets, Lycrabound thumb loops and flatlock stitching at critical seams for freedom of movement.

Men’s sizes S-XXL; black, rooster red and clear blue; $159.95 at Jagged Edge, 223 E. Main St., Telluride; 970/728-9307.

BLADE RUNNER Meet the future with Blade Runner technical ice crampons, made to conform to the ergonomics of modern boots, increasing rigidity along the entire length of the crampon without compromising dexterity or fit. With multiple front points and toe bail configurations, and an inverted V-shaped front platform, they adapt easily to alpine conditions. The heel slide is constructed from efficiently tough Sandvik Nanoflex® stainless steel, simultaneously reducing thickness/weight and increasing strength/longitudinal flexibility. The elimination of connection joints reduces flex; sophisticated front-point geometry makes for easy penetration and superior hold. Switching from dual to mono, centered or offset, is easy, thanks to a hook-and-notch system on the rear contact point.

Ouray Mountain Sports, 732 Main St.; 970/325-4284; $349.95.

MALOJA PACHAMAMA For the Andean people, Pachamama means Mother Earth, with whom they have a special relationship. The current collection of Maloja clothing, created in Bavaria’s Aschau im Chiemgau, is inspired by the Andean culture, and reflects its relatively muted colors, patterns and designs. Maloja’s RosariaM three-layer jacket is 100 percent windand waterproof, with excellent breathability. Impermeability to inclement weather is enhanced with taped seams, water repellent zippers, Velcro fastener cuffs, thumb loops and underarm zippers for ventilation. Its ergonomically cut hood can be adjusted with a tunnel string. The zipper continues the Maloja brand’s trademark Pachamama look, as do the embroidered Maloja signature on the left upper sleeve and the round leather tag on the right cuff. Bluesign® approved fabric. Women’s sizes XS-XL, available in mud, amber, moonless and cobalt; $529. Available at Telluride Bootdoctors/Paragon Outdoors, 213 W. Colorado Ave.; 970/728-4525.

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T W O C O N V E N I E N T O F F I C E L O C AT I O N S

112 village square west, suite 110, ridgway, co 81432 • 970.626.7137 220 e. colorado ave. #211, telluride, co 81435 • 612.384.3529 BalanceNaturalMedicine.com

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More than

1500 WINES Certified Sommelier On Site

Huge selection of spirits and the Largest beer selection in town Open Monday–Saturday 10 am – 10 pm • Sunday 10 am – 9 pm Serving all your Winter Adventure needs at 129 W. San Juan (one block from the Gondola) 970.728.5553

NOVEMBER

28 Telluride Ski Resort Opens for the 2013-2014 season, tellurideskiresort.com 28-30 Annual Training Camp, Crested Butte Nordic Center, cbnordic.org 29 Durango Mountain Opens, durangomountainresort.com

30-Dec. 1 Early Season Ice-Climbing Seminar, San Juan Mountain Guides, mtnguide. net

DECEMBER

4 Telluride Noel Night, visittelluride.com 4-15 Telluride Holiday Prelude, visittelluride.com

12-24 Montrose Twelve Days of Christmas Kick-Off Celebration, Downtown Montrose, visitmontrose.com 13-14 Weehawken Dance Presents: The Polar Express, Montrose Pavilion, weehawkenarts.org 13-15 Mountain Village Winter Fest, tellurideskiresort.com Yule Fest and Victorian Christmas, Downtown Ouray, ouraycountycolorado.org Festival of Trees, Durango.org Christmas in Vallecito Festival, Durango.org Snowmobile Level 1 Avy Course, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool. com 14 Christmas Bazaar, Silverton, silvertoncolorado.com

24-25 Santa Visits Wolf Creek, wolfcreekski.com

17 Moonlight Snowshoe Tour, skicb.com

25 Santa on the Hill and Torchlight Parade, tellurideskiresort.com Christmas Dinner at the Beaumont Hotel, ouraycountycolorado.org Annual Christmas Dinner, Silverton First Congregational Church, silvertoncolorado.com

19 Bar D Wranglers Christmas Jubilee, Durango, Durango.com

26 Telluride Mountainfilm Annual Friendraiser, sheridanoperahouse.com

20-22 Level 1: Decision Making in Avalanche Terrain, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com

27-29 Level 1: Decision Making in Avalanche Terrain, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com

21 Telluride Rail Jam, tellurideskiresort.com Christmas Tree Decorating Ceremony, Powderhorn, powderhorn.com 2nd Ave. Winter Solstice Festival, Durango, Durango.org Opening Day and Start of Early Season, Silverton Mountain, silvertonmoutain.com Venture Snowboards & SKA Brewing’s Season Kickoff Party, Grand Imperial Hotel, Silverton, silvertonmountain. com

27-30 AIARE Level 1 Professional Avalanche Course, Mountain Belle and Aladdin’s Lamp huts, San Juan Mountain Guides, mtnguide.net

21-22 Introduction to Ice Climbing, San Juan Mountain Guides, mtnguide.net Unguided Skiing, Silverton Mountain, silvertonmountain.com

28 Introduction to Backcountry Skiing, Ouray, mtnguide.net 28-29 Introduction to Ice Climbing, San Juan Mountain Guides, mtnguide.net Intermediate Ice Climbing, mtnguide.net Unguided Skiing, Silverton Mountain, silvertonmountain.com >>>

adventureGUIDE | winter2013-14

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6-7 A Christmas Carol Radio Show Presented by the Ouray County Players, Wright Opera House, thewrightoperahouse.org Old-Fashioned Christmas Bazaar, Durango.org

10 Senior Ski/Board Clinic, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com

24 Santa Comes to Town, Downtown Silverton, silvertoncolorado.com Telluride Christmas Eve Torchlight Parade, tellurideskiresort.com Winter Solstice Festival, Durango.org Torchlight and Santa’s Sleigh Ride, skicb.com

ad index

6 Telluride Ski Tree Lighting and Ullr’s Ceremonial Burn, visittelluride.com Noel Night, Durango.org Night of Lights, Gunnison, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com

8 Telemark Clinic, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com

15 Telluride Ski and Snowboard Club Fundraiser: Stept Production’s Mutiny, sheridanoperahouse.com Ouray Dolce Voce Holiday Concert, The Wright Opera House, thewrightoperahouse.org

23 Travis Julia Presents: Warren Miller’s Ticket to Ride, sheridanoperahouse.com

winter calendar

3 Telluride Fool Moon Party, base of Coonskin Lift 7, tellurideskiresort.com

7-8 Old Fashioned Christmas at Schmid Ranch, telluridemuseum.org Gingerbread House Building, Ridgway, weehawkenarts.org Early Season Ice-Climbing Seminar, San Juan Mountain Guides, mtnguide.net Holiday Arts Show, Durango, Durango.org

14-15 The Nutcracker Ballet, Durango, Durango.org

21-28 Yurt Dinner on Skis, Crested Butte Nordic Center, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com

gear

29-30 Montrose Tree Lighting Holiday Kick-Off Event, visitmontrose.com

7 Montrose Holiday Parade – Twelve Days of Christmas, Downtown Montrose, visitmontrose.com Winter Festival and Parade of Lights, Downtown Grand Junction, downtowngj.org Ladies’ Ski/Board Clinic, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com Yule Log Festival, Silverton, silvertoncolorado.com

21-24 Santa Sleigh, Durango, Durango.org

food & drink

27-30 AIARE Level 1 Professional Avalanche Course, Mountain Belle Hut, San Juan Mountain Guides, mtnguide.net

6-21 Irwin/LaSportiva International Ski Mountaineering Federation race, Irwin, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com

Montrose Merriment on Main, Downtown Montrose, visitmontrose.com Morning with Santa, the Hank, Durango.com Fun Race: 1 of 10, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com 5th Annual Wine, Chocolate and Cheese Fest, Ouray Community Center, ouraycountycolorado.org Citizens Races 5K/10K Classic, Crested Butte Nordic Center, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com Santa Day, Crested Butte Ski Resort, skicb.com Light Up the Night, Crested Butte, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com

feature

27 Opening Day Kick-Off: Donation Day Benefiting Telluride Ski & Snowboard Club, Telluride Ski Resort, tellurideskiresort.com Crested Butte Ski Resort Opens, skicb.com

6-8 Festival of Trees, Durango.org

contents

w i n t e r

Amelia’s Hacienda Restaurante & Cantina

w i n

30-31 Intermediate Ice Climbing, mtnguide. net Backcounty Basecamp for Junior Big Mountain Riders, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com 31 Telluride New Year’s Eve Torchlight Parade, Fireworks, and Countdown, tellurideskiresort.com New Year’s Eve Torch Light Parade, Powderhorn, powderhorn.com New Year’s Eve Torchlight Parade, Purgatory Mountain, Durango.org New Year’s Torchlight Parade and New Year’s Eve Party, Crested Butte Ski Resort, skicb.com New Year’s Eve Yurt Dinner and Party, Crested Butte Nordic Center, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com dZi Foundation Hosts Mountainfilm on Tour in Ouray, ouraycountycolorado.org New Sherbino Theater New Year’s Eve Party, Downtown Ridgway, sherbinotheater.com New Year’s Eve Dinner, Beaumont Hotel, Ouray, ouraycountycolorado.org

Amelia Castrellon Perez Beloved Mother, Aunt, and Grandmother

• Come try our Winter food and drink specials

• Dine in or take or take out Where Favorite Mexican Dishes and Specialites Are Made Daily 44 S. Grand Ave | Montrose | 970/249-1881 2 1/2 Blocks West of Townsend on Main Street Hours: Monday - Saturday, 11 am to 9 pm Closed Sunday

JANUARY

1 New Year’s Day Brunch Train, Durango.org

4, 18 Introduction to Backcountry Skiing, Ouray, mtnguide.net 5 Hope on the Slopes, Silverton Mountain, silvertonmountain.com 7 Senior Ski/Board Clinic, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com 9-12 19th Annual Ouray Ice Festival, Ouray Ice Park, ourayicepark.com 10-12 Silverton Mountain Guided Skiing, silvertonmoutaim.com Level 1: Decision Making in Avalanche Terrain, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com 11 Citizens Race: 10K or 20K Classic Skiing Race, Crested Butte Nordic Center, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com Fun Race: 3 of 10, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com 11-12 USASA Rail Jam and Slopestyle, skicb.com

2-3 Introduction to Ice Climbing, San Juan Mountain Guides, mtnguide.net

12 Telemark Clinic, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com Heathen Challenge, Sunlight Mountain, cosmicski.com

3-4 Winter Photography Workshop Adventures, skicb.com

15-19 Women’s Ice Climbing Clinic: The Complete, Ouray, chickswithpicks.net

3-5 Unguided Skiing, Silverton Mountain, silvertonmountain.com Level 1: Decision Making in Avalanche Terrain, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com

16 Moonlight Snowshoe Tour, Crested Butte Mountain Resort, skicb.com

4 Citizens Race: 15K Skiathalon, Crested Butte Nordic Center, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com Fun Race: 2 of 10, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com 4-5 Intermediate Ice Climbing Course, San Juan Mountain Guides, mtnguide.net 4-7 Ouray Women’s Ice Climbing Clinic: The Graduate, Ouray, chickswithpicks.net

17 Chicks with Picks Winter Slideshow, Wright Opera House, chickswithpicks.net 17-19 Snowmobile Level 1 Avy Course, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool. com Roost the Butte: Snowmobile snowcross, hillcross, snowovals and hill drag, skicb.com Silverton Mountain Guided Skiing, Silvertonmountain.com 17-20 Introduction to Winter Mountaineering, Ouray, mtnguide.net

n t e r

18 Powderhorn Divine Incline Ski Mountaineering Race, cosmicski.com Citizens Race: 15K or 20K Skate Skiing Race, Crested Butte Nordic Center, cbnordic.org Powderhorn Dance Party on the Deck, powderhorn.com

30-Feb. 2 Introduction to Winter Mountaineering, Ouray, mtnguide.net

18-19 Tele-Fest, Powderhorn, powderhorn.com Winterfest, Durango, Durango.org Ranger-Led Snowshoe Walks, Black Canyon National Park, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com

31-Feb. 1 Level 1: Decision Making in Avalanche Terrain, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com Women’s Level 1 with Backcountry Babes, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com

18-20 Level 1 Avy Course, San Juan Mountain Guides, mtnguide.net 19 Martin Luther King, Jr. Race, Wolf Creek Ski Area, wolfcreekski.com 23-26 Silverton Mountain Guided Skiing, Thursday through Sunday (plus Presidents Day Monday) through March 23rd 24-26 Telluride Women’s Week I, female-focused instruction, tellurideskiresort.com 25 Kenny Mac Ski Fest & Winter Carnival, Gunnison, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com Ladies’ Ski/Board Clinic, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com 25-26 Summit Canyon Demo Days, Powderhorn, powderhorn.com Ranger-Led Snowshoe Walks, Black Canyon National Park, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com 25-28 Women’s Ice Climbing Clinic: The Sampler, Ouray, chickswithpicks.net 26 Fun Race: 4 of 10, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com 27 Chicks with Picks Winter Slideshow: Women Who Dare, Ouray Community Center, chickwithpicks.net 29-Feb. 2 Snowdown Winter Festival, Durango.org

31 2nd Annual Alley Loop Fat Bike Race & Pub Ski, Downtown Crested Butte, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com

UTEN-FREE GL

G-FREE 1541 Oxbow Dr. 1800 Montrose

AILABLE

15 YEARS OF EVOLUTION

2014 ICE CLIMBING WOMEN’S

31-Feb. 2 Women’s Ice Climbing Clinic: The Quickie, Ouray, chickswithpicks.net 31-Feb. 3 AIARE Level 1 Professional Avalanche Course, Aladdin’s Lamp Hut, San Juan Mountain Guides, mtnguide.net

AV

Presented by

CLINICS

www.chicksclimbing.com 970.623.2442 | INFO@CHICKSWITHPICKS.NET

FEBRUARY

1 28th Annual Alley Loop Nordic Marathon, Crested Butte, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com Chocolate Lovers’ Fling, San Miguel Resource Center fundraiser, tellurideskiresort.com 1-2 IFSA Junior Freeskiing Competitions, skicb.com Alley Loop Marathon, skicb.com Ranger-led Snowshoe Walk, Black Canyon National Park, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com 1, 8, 15 Introduction to Backcountry Skiing, Ouray, mtnguide.net

Open FOr BreakFast In the VIllage

6 Learn to Skate Ski for Free, Crested Butte Nordic Center, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com 7 Chocolate Fantasia, La Plata County Fairgrounds, Durango.org 7-9 Snowscape Winter Festival, Silverton, Kendall Mountain Recreation Area Junior Freeskiing National Championships, skicb.com 8 2nd Annual Silver Queen Pageant, skicb.com >>>

fuel for your adventure BRUNCH ON WEEKENDS 10AM - 2:45 BAR MENU 2:45 - 5:30 PM LUNCH 11:30AM - 2:45PM DINNER 5:30 PM - CLOSE 728.8884 • 103 W. COLORADO (MAIN STREET)

w i n SUNDAY

1pm - 8pm us on Facebook to stay in the loop about our nightly and weekly specials and events! www

MON. - THURS. 4pm - 9pm

FRI. & SAT. 1pm -10pm

.t w o r a s c a l s b r e w i n g . com

147 N 1st St. Montrose CO • 970. 249. 8689

Ridgway State Park Your Base Camp to Mountain & Winter Adventure

8-9 Ranger-led Snowshoe Walk, Black Canyon National Park, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com 9 Fun Race: 5 of 10, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com 13-16 Telluride Comedy Festival, sheridanoperahouse.com/comedyfestival Freeskiing Extremes, skicb.com 14 Moonlight Snowshoe Tour, skicb.com Twister of Love, chairlift speed dating, skicb.com

Heated Yurts For Rent • Hiking • Showshoeing & Cross Country Skiing Trails • Excellent Shore Fishing • Winter Camping Call: 800-678-2267 • (970) 626-5822 28555 Hwy 550, Ridgway, CO • www.parks.state.co.us/parks/ridgway/

GO FISH! WINTER FLY FISHING DISCOVER TELLURIDE’S BEST KEPT SECRET WINTER ACTIVITY

14-16 Ragtime Festival, Strater Hotel, Durango.org 14-17 Introduction to Winter Mountaineering, Ouray, mtnguide.net AIARE Level 1 Professional Avalanche Course, Artist’s Cabin, San Juan Mountain Guides, mtnguide.net 15 Gothic Mountain Tour, presented

by Crested Butte Nordic Center, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com Moonlight Snowshoe Tour, Crested Butte Mountain Resort, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com 15-16 5th Annual Skijoring Event, Downtown Silverton Ranger-led Snowshoe Walk, Black Canyon National Park, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com 16 Winter Photographers’ Train, Durango.org 20-23 Prater Cup, skicb.com 22-23 Black Canyon Ranger-led Snowshoe Walk, Black Canyon National Park, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com 22-Mar. 3 Telluride Gay Ski Week, telluridegayskiweek.com

PARAGON OUTDOORS OPEN YEAR-ROUND 213 W. COLORADO AVE. | TELLURIDE 970.728.4525

23 Fun Race: 6 of 10, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com

26-Mar. 2 Durango Film Festival, Durango.org 27-Mar. 2 Level 2: Analyzing Snow Stability and Avalanche Hazard, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com Introduction to Winter Mountaineering, Ouray, mtnguide.net 28-Mar. 3 AIARE Level 1 Professional Avalanche Course, Aladdin’s Lamp Hut, San Juan Mountain Guides, mtnguide.net

MARCH

1 Telluride AIDS Benefit Fashion Show and Auction, aidsbenefit.org 2nd Annual Magic Meadow Dozen, presented by Crested Butte Nordic Center, cbnordic.org Mardi Gras Slope Parade, Powderhorn, powderhorn.com 1-2 Snowmobile Drag Racing, Silverton Snowmobile Club (location TBD) 3rd Annual Gunnison Chamber of Commerce Ice Fishing Tournament, Blue Mesa Lake, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com Winter Photography Workshop Adventures, skicb.com 1, 8 Introduction to Backcountry Skiing, Ouray, mtnguide.net 2 7 Hours of the Banana Ski Race, skicb. com 2-8 Level 3: Advanced Avalanche Training, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com 4 Mardi Gras, skicb.com The Power of Four Ski Mountaineering Race, Aspen, cosmicski.com 6 Learn to Skate Ski for Free, Crested Butte Nordic Center, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com 7-9 IFSA Junior Freeskiing National Championships, Crested Butte Mountain Resort, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com 8 Big Air on Elk, Downtown Crested Butte, skicb.com

13-16 Level 2: Analyzing Snow Stability and Avalanche Hazard, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com 14-15 Full Moon Yurt Dinners, Magic Mountain Yurt, Crested Butte Nordic Center, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com

16 Fool Moon Relay, tellurideskiresort.com Moonlight Snowshoe Tour, skicb.com

20 Bikini Slalom and Luau at Goronno Ranch, tellurideskiresort.com 21-23 Level 1: Decision Making in Avalanche Terrain, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com

23 40th Annual Al Johnson Uphill/ Downhill Telemark Race, Crested Butte Mountain Resort, skicb.com

28-29 17th Annual Grand Traverse Backcountry Ski Race, Crested Butte to Aspen, skicb.com 28-30 Silverton Mountain Guided Skiing, silvertonmoutain.com

5 Slush Huck/Pond Skim, skicb.com 5-6 Sisters’ Meeting in the Mountains, Silverton Mountain, silvertonmountain.com 6 Telluride Ski Resort 2013-1014 Closing Day Pond Skim Closing Party at Goronno Ranch, tellurideskiresort.com Ski the Peaks: Red Mountain 3, mtnguide.net 13th Annual Brewski, Silverton Mountain, silvertonmountain.com Closing Day at Crested Butte Mountain Resort and Crested Butte Nordic Center, skicb.com Fun Race: 10 of 10, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com 10-13 Ultimate Snowmobile Event, Crested Butte Mountain Resort, skicb.com 11-13 Unguided Skiing, Silverton Mountain, silvertonmountain.com 13 Closing Day at Silverton Mountain, silvertonmountain.com Ski the Peaks: Bear Mountain, mtnguide.net 20 Ski the Peaks: Sultan Mountain, mtnguide.net

ACTIVITIES, ATTRACTIONS & OUTFITTERS Black Tie Ski Rentals, Telluride . . . . . . . . . . 8 Boot Doctors, Telluride . . . . . 7, 28, 35, 40, 66 Box Canyon Bicycles, Telluride . . . . . . . . . .62 Chicks With Picks, Ridgway . . . . . . . . . . .65 Gravity Works, Telluride . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Jagged Edge, Telluride . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 Mountain Trip, Ophir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Ouray Chamber Resort Association, Ouray . . . .14 Ride With Roudy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Ridgway State Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 Ridgway Outdoor Experience . . . . . . . . . . 28 San Juan Mountain Guides, Ouray . . . . . . . . 7 San Juan Outdoor School, Telluride . . . . . . . 52 San Juan Scenic Jeep Tours, Ouray . . . . . . . 43 Skyward Mountaineering, Ridgway . . . . . . . .27 Telluride Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Telluride Historical Museum . . . . . . . . . . .28 Telluride Outside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Telluride Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Wiesbaden Hot Springs, Spa & Lodgings, Ouray . 43 BREWERIES/BREW PUBS 2 Rascals, Montrose . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 Horsefly Brewing Company, Montrose . . . . . .56 Kannah Creek Brewing, Grand Junction . . . . . 48 DESTINATIONS Ouray Chamber Resort Association . . . . . . .14 Ridgway State Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 EVENTS Mountainfilm In Telluride . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 REAL ESTATE, CONSTRUCTION & HOME SERVICES Lindahl Cedar Homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 Telluride Properties, Albert Roer . . . . . . . . . 9 Telluride Properties, Mike Shimkonis . . . . . . .70 Telluride Real Estate Corp, Jim Nerlin . . . . . . 4

SERVICES Black Tie Ski Rentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Juju’s Window Washing, Telluride . . . . . . . .62 Ouray Chamber Resort Association . . . . . . .14 Peak Aero Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Rhino Linings, Montrose . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 Silverton Chamber of Commerce . . . . . . . . 52

SHOPPING & GEAR Boot Doctors, Telluride . . . . . 7, 28, 35, 40, 66 Box Canyon Bicycles, Telluride . . . . . . . . . .62 Chow Down, Montrose . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 D’Medici, Montrose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 Gravity Works, Telluride . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Jagged Edge, Telluride . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 Mountain Khakis, Regional . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Safari, LTD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back Cover Telluride Bottle Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 Telluride Outside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Telluride Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 WELLNESS Acme Healing, Montrose . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Air Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Alpine Wellness, Telluride . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Balance Natural Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . .62 Green Room, Telluride . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Icon Lasik, Grand Junction . . . . . . . . . . . .48 Mountain Psychic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68

23-27 Ski Mountaineering Camp, San Juan Mountains, mtnguide.net

ad index

26-29 Telluride Burlesque, sheridanoperahousecom

4-6 Unguided Skiing, Silverton Mountain, silvertonmountain.com

winter calendar

22 Spring Rail Jam, tellurideskiresort.com FestEVOL, skicb.com Fun Race: 8 of 10, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com

4 KOTO End-of-Season Pink Flamingo Street Dance, koto.org

RESTAURANTS Adobe Inn, Ridgway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 Amelia’s Hacienda, Montrose . . . . . . . . . .64 The Brown Bag, Telluride . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Brown Dog, Telluride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Creekside Restaurant at Cobble Creek, Montrose 56 Cosmopolitan, Telluride & Durango . . . . . . . .40 Diggity Doggs, Telluride . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Horsefly, Montrose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Floradora, Telluride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 New Sheridan Chop House, Telluride . . . . . . .71 Oak, Telluride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 Pahgre’s, Montrose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Rib City Grill, Montrose . . . . . . . . . . . . .68

gear

16-17 Winter Photography Workshop Adventures, skicb.com

APRIL

ACCOMMODATIONS Accommodations in Telluride . . . . . . . . . . 52 Day’s Inn, Montose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Latitude 38, Telluride . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 New Sheridan Hotel, Telluride . . . . . . . . . .71 Silverstar Luxury Properties, Telluride . . . . . . 2 Wiesbaden Hot Springs, Spa & Lodgings, Ouray . 43

food & drink

14-16 U.S. Ski Mountaineering National Championships, Crested Butte Mountain Resort, skicb.com Fun Race: 7 of 10, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com

adindex

feature

13-15 Telluride Tribute Fest, sheridanoperahouse.com

contents

n t e r

27 Crested Butte Pole, Paddle & Pedal, Gunnison to Crested Butte, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com Ski the Peaks: North Twilight, mtnguide.net

adventureGUIDE | winter2013-14

67

parting shot

29 Fun Race: 9 of 10, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com

"World-class ribs and the best bread pudding you have ever tasted. I would not visit Telluride without eating here."

– L arry O Lmstead , USA TodAy, march 18, 2013

ELIZABETH ANGLIN

The New Fat Alley Sunny Patio Cold Beer Appetizers

www.ElizabethAnglin.com Sessions in Telluride or by phone 970-708-4838

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now

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Winter Hours Mon. - Thurs. 11 - 8

(970) 249–7427 (RIBS) 1521 Oxbow Dr., Suite 165, Montrose

Fuel The Adventure

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225 e. aspen ave.

970-858-7700

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100 country center dr., a&B 970-507-3000

Love print? stiLL avaiLabLe weekLy in the racks!

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Independently Distributed Independently Distributed Distributed by:by: Independently by:

MajesticPeaks Peaks Custom Custom Majestic Peaks Custom Homes, Homes, L.L.C L.L.C. Majestic Homes, L.L.C DESIGN/ /BUILD BUILD TURNKEY DESIGN TURNKEYSERVICES SERVICES DESIGN / BUILD TURNKEY SERVICES 970.240.9250 | Info@MajesticPeaks.com Call Brent to set up an appointment On-line Planbook at www.Lindal.com/LAC/?DLR=2324 Call Brentviewing to set up an appointment 970.240.9250 | Info@majesticpeaks.com 970.240.9250 | atInfo@majesticpeaks.com On-line Planbook viewing www.Lindal.com/LAC/?DLR=2324 www.MajesticPeaks.com

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CONTENTS FEATURE FOOD & DRINK GEAR SUMMER CALENDAR

SHOT

AD INDEX

69

PARTING SHOT

PARTING Telluride Freeride All Mountain Team’s Greg Hope (on Wagner skis) heading down Upper Bear Creek. (Photo by Brett Schreckengost)

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2013-14

M inutes From the Majestic... locatecare

Worlds Apart From the Ordinary.

1

2

5

3

6

£ÊU 124 Singletree Ridge - Lot AR-27, Mountain Village 1.02 acres. Knoll-top lot with panoramic views on a quiet cul-desac. Tap/Sewer fees paid. Private tennis court nearby. $585,000

ÓÊU 234 Touchdown Drive - Lot 421, Mountain Village 1.02 acres. A beautiful park-like setting with big mountain views. Ski access is a close 150-yard walk. Small seasonal pond. $735,000

ÎÊU Etta Place Too - Unit 103, Town of Telluride 2 Bedrooms / 2 Baths / 909 sq ft. Remodeled ski-in/out unit at the base of Lift 7. Nice views. Community pool & hot tub. $459,000

4

7 {ÊU Viking Lodge - Unit 114, Town of Telluride 1 Bedroom / 1 Bath / 478 sq ft. Remodeled unit on the river, between Lift 7 & the Gondola. Community pool & hot tub. $252,000

xÊU Terraces - Unit 201, Mountain Village 2 Bedrooms / 2 Baths / 953 sq ft. High quality remodeled ski-in/out unit located in a private setting at the base of Lifts 1 & 10. $525,000

ÈÊU 312 Basque Boulevard - Lot 125, Aldasoro Ranch 2.77 acres. Located on a cul-de-sac with panoramic views and bordering open space. Owner financing available. $550,000

ÇÊU Lorian - Unit 20, Mountain Village 3 Bedrooms / 3.5 Baths / 2,510 sq ft. Private, remodeled townhome adjacent to forest & open space. Easy ski access. $900,000

Mike Shimkonis Director

Search All Telluride Area Real Estate at Shimmy.SearchTellurideRealEstate.com

Mike Shimkonis, Director | shimmy@tellurideproperties.com | 970.708.2157, Cell 237 South Oak Street at the Telluride Gondola | Telluride, Colorado 81435 I Shimmy.SearchTellurideRealEstate.com

Celebrate Tellurideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s historic landmark hotel restored to a modern level of grandeur and experience a new level of Old World service.

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Proudly featuring the ChopHouse & Wine Bar, Parlor, and Historic New

dly featuring the CO Chop www.newsheridan.com House & Wine do Ave., Telluride, Parlor, and Historic970.728.4351 New Sheridan Bar. 800.200.1891

B R E A K FA S T

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Sheridan Bar.

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231 W. Colorado Ave., Telluride, CO www.newsheridan.com 231 W. CoLoRADo, TELLURIDE, 970.728.4351 800.200.1891 970.728.4351

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