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Beyond Telluride

By J James McTigue

Hotel afar The Mountain closes, we tie up loose ends, pack the bikes and flip flops, head west. That has been our family’s off-season routine the last few years. This year we got an added bonus -- that super-generous offer that never actually works logistically. The reasons are multiple:  The timing is wrong, travel is too expensive, we can’t get off work. But this year, when the phone rang and friends invited us to Deer Valley for two days of skiing, we were all in.

I didn’t think to google where we were staying until we were 30 minutes from our destination, partly because I didn’t have time and partly because I didn’t care. I’ve never been a ‘hotel’ girl. Growing up, we camped on family vacations. Apparently this bothered my sister, because when she was ten she put on her list to Santa “to stay in a condominium when we go on vacation , like my friends do.”

As we approached Park City, I got out my smart phone to figure out where we were going. “What’s the name of the place?” I asked my husband, Jake.

“The Montage,” he replied.

12 April, 2011 /

  

J. James McTigue

In school we learn about the four seasons, the ones everyone knows about. But in life we learn that the weather, or anything really, just isn’t that neat and tidy. There is a lot of in between. Different places have particular seasons unto themselves. The ‘other’ season may be the rainy season, harvest season, or hurricane season. In Telluride, it’s Off Season.

Off Season is the time when the lifts close and skiing on Telluride Mountain is officially over.  Residents have two basic choices—get out of town or embrace the quiet. Some eagerly head somewhere warm, excited to exchange their ski boots for flip-flops. Others stay in Telluride to embrace the quiet lull after a frantic ski season. Still others opt for choice c -- make it up as you go. Walking down Main Street on Tuesday, there was evidence of all of the above.

 

06 April, 2011 /

We are in Denver with Kid #1 and family. Yesterday Kimm, Michael and Matthew went "walking in the sunshine", temperature hit 81 F., definitely t-shirt weather. Today's primary event was a baseball game at Coors Field, Rockies vs. Arizona Diamondbacks. Still Summer today?...

03 April, 2011 /

 Come one, come all to the greatest show on earth. But it is not your mother's Ringling Bros. Or Cirque.

Thanks to a big thumbs up by Telluride Inside.... and Out's regular Denver writer Tracy Shaffer, last night we all headed with our family to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts to catch a performance of "Traces," a production of  "7 Fingers." The evening proved beyond a shadow of doubt that "7" is a very  lucky number.

"7 Fingers" (for the seven founding members of "Les 7 Doigts de La Main" or "the seven fingers of the hand") is Everyman's circus, eschewing elaborate and fanciful Big Tent production values to create circus on a human scale  –  but with a sexy urban edge.

03 April, 2011 /

Japan Children Air - JDMcDuff - web Talk about living your dream.

Travel to exotic locations, her day job, has fed longtime Telluride local and artist Nancy Craft's passion for color: over the years, Nancy's work for Esprit travel has been all about creating and leading art tours, mostly in Asia. Especially Japan.

For 20 years, Esprit Travel has sent travelers to Japan to explore the country's culture and arts.

"The hallmark of our cultural tours is the introductions we make to Japanese people," explained Nancy. "Our travelers, therefore, have profound, often life- altering experiences with the people of Japan and hold them dear in their hearts. In fact, because our colleague, Steve Beimel, lived in Sendai for many years, we have taken many groups to north eastern Japan, not normally on the tourist path."

28 March, 2011 /

[click "Play" for Susan's interview with Lin Schorr]

 

 

Mosaic art for auction kicker: Bidding helps doctors on the ground in Japan

Telluride local  and mosaic artist Flair Robinson, a regular instructor at the Ah Haa School for the Arts, is part of a group of artists participating in an online auction to benefit Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), whose extraordinary efforts have been showcased in the past locally at Mountainfilm in Telluride.

28 March, 2011 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Eliza and Tina]

 

 

BIDDER70newtext They are not your run of the mill filmmakers and he is not your Average Joe. Or Tim.

We are talking about Telluride locals George and Beth Gage, who are at it again, making another documentary, "Bidder 70," to make a difference in the world. The protagonist of their latest celluloid adventure is none other than Tim DeChristopher. (Talk about making a difference in the world.)
 
For those unfamiliar with his story, Tim threw a giant monkey wrench into a BLM auction, bidding nearly $1.8 million to win 14 parcels (22,000 acres) of pristine Utah wilderness land surrounding major national parks and at risk of being plundered in the name of almighty gas and oil. For his peaceful act of civil disobedience, Tim faces up to 10 years in prison and fines of $750,000 – despite the fact the Obama administration deemed the auction itself invalid. Sentencing is June 23, 2011.

27 March, 2011 /

ed. note: Our friend, Ben Clark sends along this post and link to Ski the Himalayas video.

Ski the Himalayas is now in it's third season of online "making of" podcast episodes born out of Ski the Himalayas' first two feature length documentary films available this year on Dish Network and Comcast Xfinity VOD and Pay Per View. Look for Ski the Himalayas 2 on Dish and Comcast Xfinity on May 1st. We climbed a peak and survived an avalanche, those were just two instances along the way... 

Trimming through hours of footage captured across three different expeditions after having lived them, the depth of gratitude for the experiences we've had and continue to plan is astounding.  We are thankful and we are moving forward with two more Himalayan expeditions this year.  Two more films and two more seasons of making of episodes.  Who knows how many ski turns and ice tool swings that equates to, we hope it is a lot. This spring we will dispatch from the Ganesh Himal, stay tuned at www.skithehimalayas.com

27 March, 2011 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's interview with Flair Robinson]

 

Flair Robinson Telluride local Flair Robinson is aptly named. She is a woman with a flair for art; her medium is the ancient art form of mosaic. On April 1, Flair joints a global group of mosaic artists who have generously donated 126 original works to an online auction to benefit Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The bidding runs through April 27.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent international humanitarian organization which unites direct medical care with a commitment to bearing witness to the plight of the people it assists. MSF includes a network of 27,000 doctors, nurses, logisticians, water-and-sanitation experts, administrators, and other qualified professionals who deliver emergency medical assistance to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, natural disasters, or exclusion from health care in nearly 60 countries. The organization had boots on the ground in Haiti and is now active in Japan.

21 March, 2011 /

by Tracy Shaffer

Though the subject of Lynn Nottage's play Ruined might seem like a reason to stay away, the latest offering by Denver Center Theatre Company puts my recommendation in the 'run-don't-walk' category. I attended last night's first preview, so this is not an official review (nor am I a critic), but the powerful production deserves to be seen so I thrust myself out on a limb here to give you time to plan your evening.

Set in a cheery brothel in the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo, themes of violence, rape, genocide and the demoralizing exploitation of women, are balanced with a shocking levity that is testament to the human spirit.The entire cast is in fine form, led by the powerful performances of Kim Staunton and Harvey Blanks. There is an unmatched intimacy and ease between these two, having appeared together in Raisin in the Sun, Radio Golf, Gem of the Ocean, The Madwoman to name a few. Tallia Brinson, Joy Jones and Daphne Gaines are exquisite as the women of the brothel whose stories lend the script its brutal core, while the band of soldiers are brutish and violent, the actors have miraculously managed to make them... well, charming would be going too far.

21 March, 2011 /