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Author: Susan Viebrock

[click "Play" to hear Elaine Fischer talk about Mark]

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Mark & Elaine

April is the month for uniquely talented people throughout the country and in Telluride, people who tend to think outside the box, march to their own drum, and find unique modes of self-expression.

April is National Autism Month and National Poetry Month.

Telluride's Autism Behavioral and  Consultation Team (now a state-mentored Model Autism Team) headed my Occupational Therapist/Yoga instructor Annie Clark has been busy muscling up its protocols and programs. And Telluride Council for the Arts & Humanities and Talking Gourds are pleased to announce the 13th annual Mark Fischer Poetry Prize Award Ceremony and Poetry Reading. The event takes place Tuesday, April 27, at Telluride's award-winning Wilkinson Public Library.
27 April, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Michael Freeman]

IMG_2121 Telluride Yoga Center instructor Anne Roemer welcomes her dear friend and spiritual mentor Michael Freeman to town. His visit includes a gift to our community: a spiritual practice including a guided meditation on Friday, April 30, 7 – 8:30 p.m. and on Saturday, May 1, 1:30– 4:30 p.m., in the basement of Christ Presbyterian Church. (On Columbia, across the street from the Telluride Elementary School.)

Although people come to Yoga for a variety of reasons – to learn to bend like a pretzel, develop strength and focus, distraction from physical aches and pains – the refinement of awareness is what the practice is really all about. The process which begins with just showing up and being present, can end with personal transformation.
27 April, 2010 /

Act fast, the discounted passes for our 32nd annual Telluride Mountainfilm Festival are available online until May 1st. After that, our two most popular passes, the Wilson and Sunshine, go up $50 each. The Wilson pass provides admission to all Festival programs and events, including...

27 April, 2010 /

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2009 Mountainfilm
Clint Viebrock photo

The 32nd annual Mountainfilm in Telluride Festival is scheduled this year May 28 – 31. The event will feature a rich mix of special guest presenters drawn from a wide spectrum of experience and expertise: adventurers, artists, activists and an ambassador.

“Mountainfilm is about so many things:  climbing, mountaineering, world cultures, the environment, art, extreme sports,  social justice and foreign policy,” said Festival director David Holbrooke. “One of the things that makes Mountainfilm so unique and exciting is that we attract interesting people from all of those worlds. And the chemistry between them, and with our audiences, is just amazing. Despite the range of their fields and backgrounds, they all seem to complement and inspire one another. Our films are great. But our guests are what really set us apart.”

The list of this year’s special guests includes:

26 April, 2010 /

Editor's note: For eight years, Telluride local Ben Clark and a few friends/professional colleagues have made Spring treks to the majestic mountains of the Himalayas. Follow his adventures on Telluride Inside... and Out, including links to his regular podcasts. If you have missed any of Ben's posts, just type "Ben Clark" into Lijit Search to find them all.

Benbioshotlr-254x300 "Dispatch 7: 17,600'/So we wait

Gray clouds build overhead as high winds stream and batter our position. Boy are we lucky to be landlocked today rather than our initial plan of ascending to camp one at 20'000'. We set out in clean clothes under sunny skies this morning only to be turned back with an equipment failure. The mountain is now being blasted hard. Fighting upward would have resulted in dodging rockfall and hunkering into a stormy night. Bad luck is good luck sometimes, no?


26 April, 2010 /

Editor's note: For eight years, Telluride local Ben Clark and a few friends/business colleagues have made Spring treks to the majestic mountains of the Himalayas. Follow his adventures on Telluride Inside...and Out, including links to his regular podcasts. If you have missed any of Ben's posts, just type "Ben Clark" into Lijit Search to find them all.

Benbioshotlr-254x300 "Buffalo Soldier, Bryan Adams and Mera La pass...What do they have in common? The cell phone of one of our porters, Nema. He swears that the Bryan Adams song (one I regretfully learned with all other 7th graders when the Kevin Costner Robin Hood film came out) was loaded on his cell phone when he got it. Priceless and yeah...busted, in the dizzying heights of 17,600' Mera La pass we sung it with him while his phone rang That was after Buffalo Soldier. The world loves Marley.

"We are now settled on a beach, sands blowing against our tent and sun shining overhead. The backdrop is not exactly coconuts and grass skirts, but five star nonetheless...Everest, Lhotse and Baruntse stand vigil over our site erupting early season plumes like an unbridled mare. This was definitely the most enchanting and rewarding day of this year's trek into the mountains for our climbing and skiing expedition. We have two and a half hours left before we will build a semi-permanent site at the base of 23,390' Baruntse and begin our ascent to become the first climbers to ski Baruntse's white frigid flanks.

25 April, 2010 /

Editor's note: For eight years, Telluride local Ben Clark and a few friends/business colleagues have made Spring treks to the majestic mountains of the Himalayas. Follow his adventures on Telluride Inside... and Out, including links to his regular podcasts. If you have missed any of Ben's posts, just type "Ben Clark" into Lijit Search to find them all.

Benbioshotlr-254x300 "Dispatch 4: Khare/16,000'/Day 5

"Sweeping buttresses of untouched granite glimmer overhead as our team moves through the alpine zone again en route to Baruntse basecamp. The temperatures are mild, the weather is predictable and the trail winding and spectacular. This is a trek worth doing for those who wish to experience the Himalayas from the valley floor and only sample the heights.

"The last two days have brought us out of the lower juniper forests and the many sherpa dance parties that drive late through the evening. Yeah, that's right, for all the Buddhist oh mani padme hum soundtracks that fill our ears, there is an equal amount of chang 'a special Nepali beverage' and pop tunes flowing through each misty night. It's cool, I've traveled these regions for eight years with several of the cooks and porters we have on this trip and every morning they are bright eyed and bushy tailed...but we exchange smiles.

24 April, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Erika Gordon speak about "For All Mankind"]

For.all.mankind Thought "Avatar" was out of this world? This film is over the moon.

The Telluride Film Festival presents "For All Mankind" (1989, 80 minute), part of the ongoing educational/entertainment series, Sunday At The Palm. The dazzling Oscar-nominated National Geographic documentary tells the story of the 24 men who traveled to the moon, in their own words, using their own images of the experience.


The space race effectively ended in July 1969 when Apollo 11 met President Kennedy's challenge of landing a man on the moon and return him safely to earth, but there were flights before and after the big headline. "For All Mankind" features breathtaking, never-before-seen footage, a composite of nine lunar flights between December 1968 and November 1972. To make "For All Mankind," journalist-turned-director Al Reinert had to sift through six million feet of film footage and 80 hours of interviews. (Reinert subsequently co-scripted Ron Howard's acclaimed "Apollo 13.")
23 April, 2010 /

Editor's note: For eight years, Telluride local Ben Clark and a few friends/business colleagues have made Spring treks to the majestic mountains of the Himalayas. Follow his adventures on Telluride Inside...and Out, including links to his regular podcasts.

Benbioshotlr-254x300 "Dispatch 3: Khote/11,850.

"The world is full of intrepid explorers. Each day,  at each village we meet travelers from all over, on their way from one adventure to another. That is what makes expeditions to the Nepali Himalayas so inviting. It is a melting pot of culture and mountain-inspired endeavors.

"Some trek, some climb, there are all ages and abilities..We are the only ones with skis. It's funny how a resounding sigh of agreement and perhaps a bit of hindsight washes over each person's sun-affected face who we share this fact with. Hidden in the creases of age, we all identify with having fun.

"We were once alpinists tired of fighting our way downhill, overwhelmed by storms seiging the steep slopes and faces we had already climbed. Now, we work with the elements...It is silly to constantly challenge what you can't control. This expedition, to climb and ski 23,390' Baruntse, is especially satisfying with that philosophy in mind.

23 April, 2010 /

Editor's note: For eight years, Telluride local Ben Clark and a few friends/business colleagues have made Spring treks to the majestic mountains of the Himalayas. Follow his adventures on Telluride Inside... and Out, including links to his regular podcasts.

Benbioshotlr-254x300 "Dispatch 2: Thuli Kharka/13,900'.

""The hiss of stoves, songs of porters and cries of ravens fill the damp air here at 13,900'. Our team has traversed a 15,000' pass to reach a granite filled bowl and crossroad of expeditions exploring the Hunku valley. This is day three of our eight-day approach, and we are in a crude site known as Thuli Kharka.

"The trekking here has been magnificent. In addition to being immediately surrounded by jagged thrusts of granite and icy 20'000' plus summits, we are charmed by the presence of French, Dutch and Nepali accents as we ascend and descend into our approach valley, the Hunku. This year is far different from last...There are people here and we are happy to greet old friends and porters I've expeditioned with in years past.

22 April, 2010 /