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Author: Susan Viebrock

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 /

The Colorado Governor's Energy Office (GEO) launched a new rebate program on April 20, offering rebates for appliances, energy efficiency improvements, and renewable energy projects.  For information on this program, go to:

Through the Recharge Colorado campaign, the Governor's Energy Office, utilities, cities and counties across the state are partnering to offer money-saving rebates and programs to enable Coloradans to participate in the New Energy Economy. Rebates can be reserved through the Recharge Colorado website beginning April 19 and will be available until the money runs out.

22 April, 2010 /

IMG_459 Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts presents several special workshops throughout 2010 featuring regionally and nationally renowned artists, part of the school's popular Visiting Artist Program.

Ah Haa's Visiting Artist program offers one- to five-day workshops for aspiring and seasoned artists alike.  With one workshop nearly every month of the year, students get to hone their skills in watercolors, pastel and oil painting, mixed media, pottery, photography and writing.

DSCN2115 “People from all over the country come to Telluride to study with our Visiting Artists,” explained Rachel Loomis-Lee, Ah Haa’s program manager/executive director.  “What a privilege to get to  work with these master artists right in our own backyard. The Visiting Artist Program is one of the crown jewels of the Ah Haa School’s extensive offerings. Many of these workshops will fill quickly, so be sure to register soon.”
21 April, 2010 /

IMG_5475 The prestigious Telluride Film Festival ranks among the world’s best film festivals and is an annual gathering of cinema enthusiasts, filmmakers, critics and industry insiders. The annual event is considered a major launching ground for the fall season’s most talked-about films.

Co-founded in 1974 by Tom Luddy, James Card, and Bill and Stella Pence, Telluride Film Festival, nestled in the beautiful mountain town of Telluride, Colorado, is a four-day international educational event celebrating the art of film. The Telluride Film Festival’s long-standing commitment is to bring filmmakers and film connoisseurs together to experience great cinema. The exciting schedule, kept secret until Opening Day, consists of film debuts with filmmakers presenting their works, special Guest Director programs, three major Tributes to guest artists and remarkable treasures from the past. Festival headquarters are in Berkeley, California.

21 April, 2010 /
IMGP1140 The presence of Lama Tsultrim Allione alone is worth the price of entry to the 3rd annual Telluride Yoga Festival, July 8 – July 11, whose presenters are among the Who's Who of the world of transformative practices, including Yoga. Lama Tsultrim is the first American woman to be ordained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and is a world renowned teacher, sought out and respected for her lucid, plainspoken explanations of Buddhist teachings.

Telluride Inside... and Out took a break from our Spring break in Denver, our home away from home, to visit Lama Tsultrim at her awe-inspring 700+ acre Tara Mandala retreat just outside Pagosa Springs. We were to there to interview the world renowned teacher on the subject of the talks she plans to give over the long Telluride Yoga Festival weekend: Prajnaparamita (prajna, transcendent wisdom, and paramita, "perfection" or "that which goes beyond") and the paradigm shifting practice she explains in her national best-seller "Feeding Your Demons."
20 April, 2010 /

Telluride TV announces the appointment of a new interim Executive Director, Susan Lilly, a National Emmy Award-winning former CNN producer. Lilly has more than 20 years of experience producing, writing, and supervising breaking news and feature programming for CNN, NBC, and PBS.

“Susan’s extensive television experience and her involvement with Telluride TV over the past year makes her the ideal leader for our station," said board president Barb Newby.

20 April, 2010 /
IMG_1808 Telluride Inside... and Out scratched the surface of Denver's robust art scene, visiting two major public spaces and our favorite gallery.

IMG_1815 On a beautiful albeit very windy Spring afternoon, we made a pilgrimage to see Henry Moore (1898 – 1986) in the Denver Botanic Gardens and were blown away (very nearly literally). The show, the very first major outdoor exhibition of the artist's works in the American West, features 20 monumental sculptures, primarily bronze, some fiberglass, by the celebrated Brit, from a reclining " Naked Maya" stretching nearly 30 feet long and dominating a grassy knoll to an tender depiction of  a mother cradling a child, standing under three feet tall, hidden in a clearing.
19 April, 2010 /