Fourteen year old MacKenzie Mansour, from Lone Oak, TX, has been skiing with Telluride Adaptive Sports Program this past week. MacKenzie has a rare genetic condition known as Williams Syndrome. That has not stopped her from enjoying our mountain. I had the privilege of skiing...
[click to hear Elisabeth Gick on Tibet]
Elisabeth Gick first came to Telluride in September of 1979, like so many of us, an "accidental tourist.”
“The beauty of the valley sucked me right in and has not let go yet.”
Gick’s children, now adults, went through school here, and she started a very satisfying landscaping business, Outer Spaces, while also becoming deeply involved in a number of non-profits, including Mountainfilm and the Out Loud lecture series.
“I consider myself incredibly lucky to be living here.”
A few years ago, Elisabeth caught the travel bug, visiting interested Nepal in 1999, Vietnam and Cambodia in 2002, India for three months in 2005, India again for three months in 2006-2007.
In October 2008, Telluride local Elisabeth Gick and daughter Leslie were spending one last afternoon in the town of Ganzi in upper Kham, eastern Tibet, enjoying the sunshine after many snowy, cold days, when they spotted a sign over a door that read “Tibetan Hospital.” A young man spotted the two women and asked in fluent English if he could help.
Then magic unfolded.
The young man, whose name is Lobsang, explained that the abbot of Ganzi nunnery was in charge of the hospital as well as an orphanage for girls. He took Elisabeth and Lesley to meet the man, who was 75 and dressed from head to toe in leather, not red robes.
TIO's Eileen Burns was out and amongst 'em in Telluride on New Year's Eve.She passed along a few photos to celebrate the beginning of 2009. Mayor Stu Fraser is shown with Town Council Member Andrea Benda and his wife, Ginny. ...
[click play button to hear Art Goodtimes interview]
Art & Rio
I created “Doers” in February 1993, when Tony Daryani and Mike Ritchey asked me to write a weekly column for their newborn Telluride Daily Planet.
The column continued to appear every Friday during Telluride’s high seasons of winter and summer until August 2008, when my career took a sharp right turn into the blogosphere. By then I had profiled 462 local notables and international celebrities.
(At #500, Will Thompson of the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art , “Telluride Inside… and Out’s” first official sponsor, has threatened to throw a major shindig for any Doer still kicking around town.)
“Doers” now continues in “Telluride Inside…and Out” – TIO for short – a blogazine all about the zazz of the region: what makes Telluride and surrounds such a unique address on the planet.
Christmas morning, while most kids his age were tearing open gift packages, Austin Halpern was tearing down the Misty Maiden run at Telluride. Lap after lap, his mission was to raise money to support TASP. He had worked to sign up sponsors, either by...
James Colt began skiing with the Telluride Adaptive Sports Program last season. In the Autumn of 2006, James had just finished a two pitch climb in Ophir, Colorado, when he was struck by a large chunk of falling rock, which resulted in a serious traumatic brain injury. A long and painful recovery left him with extensive paralysis of his entire right side. In view of his injuries, his progress at the beginning of last ski season was remarkable, but related injuries prevented him from continuing- a major disappointment for him (and for me, as I had been his instructor).
Over the Summer, James put in countless hours on his rehab, including huge miles on his recumbent 3-wheeler, and an equally impressive number of miles walking. At the end of November, 2008, we began again: a full day learning again to maneuver in ski equipment that had once been so familiar, and beginner work on the Magic Carpet.
[Click the play button to hear]
Jeb Berrier is Robin Williams on skis: a deranged lunatic with exhibitionist leanings and talent to burn.
During the Christmas season, the actor/director likes to hang with a few of his close friends, fellow actors, and put on a holiday play at the historic Sheridan Opera House. In general, we are talking tour de farce.
Case in point, this years romp: Bob's Holiday Office Party.
Office Party is a lewd, crude alternative to standard holiday treacle such as Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life.
Showtime is 8 p.m., December 18-22, at the Opera House.
In this irreverent, crude, fast-paced, ferociously funny production an insurance ace Bob Finhead (Jeb) prepares to host yet another annual holiday boozefest. His guests are his neighbors, the genetically challenged denizens of Neuterberg, Iowa, a paean to small-town America, where life happens. And all is not well.
[Click the play button to hear] Alice Ross, the culinary historian author of the Afterword in A Christmas Dinner, put out by Red Rock Press, has worked 20 years as a dedicated food professional, teacher and collector. She has...
“Telluride Inside…and Out” is all about what makes Telluride sing, which comes down to the soaring, quirky, original voices of locals such as Ilene and Richard Barth, pedigreed authors in their own right, and also founders/owners of the New York-based boutique gift book publishing company, Red Rock Press.
Red Rock Press’s new holiday book is “A Christmas Dinner” by Charles Dickens, with a series of original paintings for illustrations, and holiday recipes, many taken and adapted from Dickens’ family papers.
Red Rock Press founder and part-time local Ilene Barth explains how her publishing company and this book came about, with detours to reflect on Telluride’s past and present literary riches. Let Ilene tell the story:
