Lifestyle

The Telluride Nordic Association: Fun Tour and Ski Race on the Valley Floor, Sunday, January 24.

File The 15km “Flat and Fast Race” starts at noon, Sunday. A team race also starts at noon: two skiers are invited to pair up and each ski one 7.5km loop. The “Flat and Fun Tour” begins immediately after those two races. The course is 7.5km.

The Fun Tour is a new addition to Telluride Nordic Challenge Race Series. The event is for skiers who want to enjoy a relaxed day skiing and socializing with other free-heelers without the pressure of a race. As TNA’s Nordic Director Midnite Scholtes explains:

 “I’ve had a lot of people over the years tell me they want to come out and race, but are intimidated by the idea of racing. Lots of communities have Fun Tours in which people can ski at their own pace and not worry too much about a race result. We hope the Tour will appeal to all of the region’s Nordic lovers, and become social, community event. At the same time, Flat and Fast is a great way for skiers to challenge themselves and compete. I know we’ll have racers in Telluride from out of town, so the competition should be strong.”
P1110009 When the January freeze is over and done, Telluriders tend to store our down jackets and grab for our soft shells.

" Softshell jackets combine the hard-wearing aspects of a Gore-Tex jacket with the mobility, breathability and feel of a much softer fabric," explains Erik Dalton of Jagged Edge. "Though they won’t replace your rain jacket come summertime, these softshell jackets are perfectly suited for our cold and dry conditions in the mountains of Colorado, and for the ups-and-downs of backcountry skiing, hiking, and ski mountaineering."

Erik's pick: Cloudveil's Rayzar, a jacket that offers protection from the fiercest storms and coldest chair rides, while keeping the wearer cool when it comes time to move.

[click "Play" to listen to Kristin Holbrook talk about boots] It's a top down thing, according to fashionistas like Kristin Holbrook of Telluride's Two Skirts: celebrities set the trends which infiltrate pop culture. This season it's the Australia Luxe Collective boot...

[click "Play" to listen to Ben Clark's conversation with Susan]

Benbioshotlr This is day-in-the-life-stuff for Telluriders.

Backcountry turns? Sure. Ice climbing? Ditto. Bouldering and climbing in the desert? But of course. Long runs in the high country? What do you think. But Telluride local Ben Clark is not just any Telluride jock.

Clark is a successful filmmaker/enterpreneur and alpinist blessed – cursed? – with an unusually high level of the enzyme monamine oxidase (MAO) and the hormone testosterone, both of which are associated with thrill seeking. In other words, the guy is biochemically suited to the extreme endeavors such as his annual pioneering expeditions in the Himalaya. (And for flying without a net in the world of business.)
[click "Play" to listen to Peter Sterios speak about yoga]

 


The Telluride Yoga Center presents a man for all reasons: Peter Sterios.


The smoothie clown & dadda 01 8-09 Sterios is the principal of Sterios Architecture and founder, in 1997, of Manduka, a leading eco-yoga products company and key sponsor of Telluride Yoga Festival. He is a writer and former contributing editor for Yoga Journal, and an inspiring Yoga instructor/presenter at 2009 Telluride Yoga Festival. Sterios is in town to lead a workshop at the Telluride Yoga Center this weekend, Friday, January 22 – Sunday, January 24.

"Gravity and Grace: Creative forces for sustaining self-practice" is a catchphrase encompassing the teachings of a new lineage Sterios developed over three decades of study and practice in America and India. But Gravity and Grace rests squarely on the ancient yoga teaching channeled through Sri Krishnamacharya, the man credited with opening the door of yoga to the West.

[click "Play" to listen to Laurie Madison about her CD]

Laurie - Squat-BW It is not a stretch to think of Telluride Inside... and Out as an exhale, the direct result of 17 years of inhaling – and covering for the local daily –  Telluride’s considerable cultural zazz. It is thanks to Viniyoga I learned how to manipulate my breath to create different energetic, transformative effects.

Laurie Madison, who hails from Nelson, British Columbia, was one of many wonderful people I met over a two-year course of study with Gary Kraftsow to become a certified Viniyoga instructor. (We both completed the program August 2009.)



Talk about flights of fancy.

To celebrate 51/2 months of wedding bliss, on January 6, Telluride locals Eliot Brown and Mary Sama-Brown, a broker with Telluride Real Estate Corp, headed to Las Vegas for a romantic getaway. Only Eliot and Mary did not have to deal with the hassle of booking a flight. The happy couple simply commandeered their own Twin Commander/Grand Renaissance 840.

Eliot's day job is operator and chief pilot of MayaAir, a Telluride-based air charter carrier. The Grand Renaissance became his airplane of choice for its all-around reliability and performance. This bird is just as strong and flexible as the acrobats in Cirque du Soleil, which the Browns saw on their trip. (Word is "Zumanity" is both funny and sexy, very sexy.)

[click "Play" for Kristin Holbrook's take on leather] From London to New York, Milan to Paris, leather looks were big this past Fall on the red carpet and fashion runways. Leather jackets, skirts and accessories continue to be hot this...

[click "Play" to listen to Kristin Holbrook talk about fingerless gloves]

FFH9-02 thumb-1 It's a look favored in Telluride by any poor sap who has just wrecked his wrist on the mountain - sort of. This week's topic for Fashion Friday from Telluride Inside... and Out's fashionista, Kristin Holbrook of Two Skirts, is fingerless gloves.

Ah yes, we remember it well: The 1980s, the happy decade sandwiched between go-get 'em social activism and self-loathing grunge. That was also the era when lots of young girls turned to the Material Girl for fashion inspiration. On "Like A Virgin," Madonna is wearing the quintessential 80s attire: a white wedding dress with white fingerless gloves.

Fast forward to the present, and another fashion icon (certainly in her own mind) Paris Hilton recently appeared on the "Ellen" show wearing a black and white ensemble that included Chanel fingerless gloves tricked out with rhinestones.