Mountain Lit: Author Series at Jagged Edge Continues

Between the Covers Bookstore (BTC), Jagged Edge Mountain Gear, and Telluride Mountain Club (TMC) have collaborated on a new project: The Mountain Lit Author Series.

Tor Anderson, TMC president says the club is thrilled to partner with the two local and independent retailers on the Mountain Lit series:

“It’s always an inspiration to hear stories of travel, climbing and lessons learned in the mountains. We are excited to be part of an innovative approach to storytelling in a community that embraces adventure.”

The monthly event, which runs June through September, will promote a casual gathering—in camp chairs provided by Jagged Edge—to simulate the feeling of sitting around a campfire, swapping tales amongst old and new friends. Each month, a different author – or authors – will read from their newest book (some will provide a slideshow), followed by a Q&A, and then a booksigning.

Daiva Chesonis, co-owner of BTC, points out that the format and feel will be similar to the Ski Lit Author Series from 2013 which hosted Porter Fox, David Rothman, and an evening of essays titled Slices of Ski Town Life featuring three local women writers, regular contributors to a Sunday column on Telluride Inside… and Out,” Deb Dion Kees, Emily Shoff and Jesse James McTigue. Because Mountain Club is a non-profit that both BTC and Jagged Edge believe in, new TMC hats and t-shirts will be available via Jagged Edge and a donation jar will be on hand for that spare change jingling around in your pockets. The series is BYOB.

Shelley Walchak

The second Mountain Lit event of the summer takes place on Thursday, July 23, 7:30 p.m. at Jagged Edge. Featured author will be Shelley Walchak with her book “52 Rivers,” winner of the 2015 Independent Publisher Gold Medal for Western Non-fiction.

The book is all about Walchak’s version of bagging peaks: 52 rivers in 52 weeks, that was the goal.

In 2013, Shelley quit her job as a librarian at the Colorado State Library, bought a 13-foot Scamp trailer and photography equipment, then hit the road alone in order to fish 52 rivers in 52 weeks in the intramountain west. A year and seven states later, she concluded that fishing is “… a metaphor for life: constant change, highs and lows, successes and failures. If you can fly fish, you can handle life.”

Shelley’s been the keynote speaker at Colorado’s Trout Unlimited annual conference in Redstone and gotten involved with organizations like Colorado Foundation for Water Education and Casting for Recovery. Stop by Jagged Edge for some tall tales about life on the road, angling as one goes … Real fish stories.

And below is an article about Shelley Walchak that appeared in Colorado Country Life:

Where one used to hear only tall tales from anglers bragging about that Really Big Fish they caught last year, today these stories drip with rich landscape, allude to quiet moments in nature and even sometimes reveal surprising turns of luck. This is one of those stories. This is the modern fish story.

Shelley Walchak, doing what comes naturally.

The River Wild

On a list of the iconic rivers of the mountain West one will find the Colorado, the Yellowstone, the Snake, the Salmon, the Bighorn, the Rio Grande and the Arkansas. Reading these names in a travelogue of river adventures assures the reader of the wild ride and breathtaking scenic narratives to come. Writing about the West inevitably includes these place-names with all of their mythic, wild reverence; and readers of first-time author, librarian and rising Colorado angler Shelley Walchak’s book 52 Rivers are not disappointed.

In 2011, Walchak was looking at her sixth decade of life and wanting a deep breath of quiet. “I realized it was time to pursue a new direction in my life that would challenge and reward me in new ways and allow me to spend time alone with my thoughts and dreams — preferably in the great outdoors, rather than just gazing at its drama and beauty through office and car windows.” Having taken a few fishing skills’ clinics, she set out to really learn the art and craft of fly-fishing — not by taking off for an afternoon here and a weekend there, but through full immersion.

Skilled in research and planning, she methodically matched 52 weeks of the year to 52 rivers in the seven Rocky Mountain states,…

Continue reading here.