Adventure Guide winter 2014-15

adventure GUIDE t o t he west er n san juans WIN T E R

2014- 15

THROUGH THE

LOOKING GLASS A GREAT WINTER CLIMB

greg HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

A

+ GEAR…SWEETS...RUNNING MAN… AND COMPREHENSIVE CALENDAR TO HELP YOU PLAN

ALL OF YOUR WINTER ADVENTURES

published by The Watch

GOT STUMP? BADASSDOM AT PARADOX ICE

LONE CONE CONQUEST

Nightlights included at no charge...

R

SilverStar Luxury Rentals offers the finest selection of private homes, condominiums, townhomes, and hotel rooms in Telluride and Mountain Village.

Guests can choose their ideal combination of luxury, location and amenities including ski-in/ski-out and slopeside properties It’s Not Just a Vacation It’s a Lifestyle

800.537.4781 | 970.728.3001 www.SilverStarTelluride.com info@SilverStarTelluride.com

amazing mountain views cozy warm fireplaces private hot tubs gourmet kitchens and much more.

KIDS RENT * FREE! One free basic kids rental with 5-day adult demo or performance rental

TELLURIDE’S PREMIER SKI RENTAL DELIVERY SERVICE

20% OFF

offer when Mention this reservation making your

YOUR BLACK TIE EXPERIENCE! • Personalized rental fittings in the comfort of your vacation accommodations • You choose the time, you choose the place • Slopeside service and storage • Men’s & Women’s PREMIUM level boots • Magnatraction Snowboard packages • Junior performance twin-tip and all-mountain packages • TELLURIDE’S NEWEST RENTAL FLEET - GUARANTEED At Black Tie Ski Rentals we take great care to perfect all the details.

So sit back, relax and re-discover your Telluride ski vacation!

Open from 8am to 10pm everyday

For reservations please call

877.369.3999 Black Tie

Exclusive Partners: • newly renovated facility • private lounge with guest privileges • luxury lockers/boot heaters • personalized concierge services • food and beverage services

ary 2-day

Compliment

ss!* Guest Pa

For more info, deals and on-line catalogue

PUBLISHER

CONTENTS

masthead

6 10

GEAR GUIDE GREG HOPE IS A REALLY NICE GUY

By Allison Perry

Seth Cagin EDITOR

COPY EDITORS

Marta Tarbell, Leslie Vreeland CREATIVE DIRECTOR

11

SKIING THE CONE

18

THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN HEADING TO OPUS HUT

27

A WINTER CLIMB ON LOOKING GLASS ROCK

34

RICK TRUJILLO JUST KEEPS ON RUNNING

42

THESE ARE A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE DESSERTS

45

PARADOX ICE: A PERSONAL STORY OF BADASSDOM

53

A SNOWCAT-SERVED SKI CLUB AND THEN SOME

Barbara Kondracki DESIGNERS

Rick Bickhart, Nate Moore

ADVERTISING SALES

Alec Jacobson, Tammy Kulpa, Melissa Lonsbury ON THE COVER:

By Eric Ming

By Eric Ming

by Samantha Tisdel Wright

GEAR

By Jesse James McTigue

WINTER CALENDAR WINTER CALENDAR

59 65

By Allison Perry

FOOD & DRINK

CONTRIBUTORS

Gus Jarvis, Eric Ming, Allison Perry, Brett Schreckengost, Adam Smith, Pancho Winter, Lito Tejada-Flores, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Samantha Wright

By Harry Kearney

FEATURE

Leslie Vreeland

PARTING SHOT

By Brett Schreckengost

Chad Jukes (aka Jukesy) struts his stuff in the Ouray Ice Park. “It can be fun to be different,” he says. “You know, I get to wear a peg leg!” (www.claudialopezphotography.com)

AD INDEX

Adventure Guide to the Western San Juans, a publication of The Slope, LLC, is published twice a year by Watch Newspapers, P.O. Box 2042, Telluride, Colorado 81435. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited.

To advertise in Adventure Guide to the Western San Juans, call 970/728-4496.

For editorial inquiries, email marta@watchnewspapers.com.

Circulation of the Adventure Guide to the Western San Juans is

by Telluride Delivers, www.telluridedelivers.com, 970/729-3223.

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

5

PARTING SHOT

OFFICES 125 W. Pacific., Suite B2, Telluride, Colorado 171 N. Cora, Ridgway, Colorado 14 S. Uncompahgre, Montrose, Colorado 970/728-4496

CONTENTS

winter 2014 -15

FEATURE

gearGUIDE EASY INHALE

GEAR

FOOD & DRINK

What fits in your pocket and delivers a breath of pure, clean weed? The small lightweight Pax by Plooms. It travels nicely, and heats up product in less than a minute.

Just load dry-herb blends into the oven, and tamp down lightly – the indicator light turns green once it’s ready to go. Three temperature presets for optimal vaporization. Its lithium-ion rechargeable internal battery delivers up to two hours of continuous use.

The Green Room 250 South Fir St., Telluride; 970/728-7999

SKIN THE DEEP The San Juan backcountry is known for its steep and icy skin tracks and its long, lung-busting climbs. For this, Black Diamond’s Ascension Nylon STS Skins offer the perfect solution – a lightweight climbing skin that gets a grip, with a new and improved glide, a tail system offering up to 10 cm of adjustability and an adjustable tip attachment for a wide range of ski tips.

Bootdoctors, 236 South Oak St., Telluride, 970/728-4581

GOAL ZERO

PARTING SHOT

AD INDEX

WINTER CALENDAR

“We can put reliable power into every human hand on this earth, without overwhelming our resources,” affirms Goal Zero Founder Robert Workman. Now the groundbreaking solar power firm offers its Goal Zero Guide 10 Plus Solar Recharging Kit for charging in three hours, using a compatible solar panel (six hours, with a USB power source) to power your phone, GPS, MP3 or tablet. The Great Outdoors Company, 10 Selig Ave., Montrose, 970/249-4226

6

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

DOG LOVE Treat Fido’s sensitive nose and footpads with We Nose Paws balm. Made from organic hemp oil and organic camelina oil, the soothing ointment features vitamin E and omegas 3 and 6 to heal minor skin irritations, promote natural healing and maintain skin elasticity.

Chow Down Pet Supplies, 202 East Main St., Montrose, 970/249-5052

RUNNING, NATURALLY Finally, a shoe with the benefits of running barefoot. Oliver Marchal’s SOM Footwear features a roomy pigskin toebox for durability and protection; 3D Mesh, teamed up with Weather Max 65 and Cordura; super-comfortable and absorbent EVA insoles; and durable Vibram brand soles – all with a Perfect Fit Guarantee. Join this Montrose-based, made-in-the-U.S.A. company’s fastgrowing base of devoted fans.

SOM Footwear, 1006 North Cascade Ave., Montrose; 970/765-2616

MINIMALIST CRAMPONS Backcountry skiing and touring just got even better, thanks to the new Dynafit Speed Crampon, superlight at 68g. They’ve removed material from the design, adding a smaller-tooth teeth “shark technology” for optimal stability on hard and icy ground.

Telluride Gravity Works, 205 E. Colorado Ave., Telluride, 970/728-4143

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

7

LOCALLY OWNED FULL SERVICE SPORTS & TUNE SHOP • 24HR FITNESS FACILITY • INDOOR CLIMBING WALL

SNOW BIKE CLIMB SKATE

OPEN DAILY • 205 EAST COLORADO AVENUE • 970.728.4143 • WWW.TELLURIDEGRAVITYWORKS.COM

July 9 - 12, 2015

Telluride Properties has brought buyers & sellers together since 1986 with their adept market knowledge & dedication to client satisfaction.

SearchTellurideRealEstate.com

T el l ur i d e Yog a Fe s t i va l.com

tellurideyogacenter Be sure to visit the BINDU • boutique located in the studio

201 W. Colorado Ave. Ste. 200 Upstairs in the Nugget Bldg., Corner of Main St. & Fir View schedule online at: tellurideyoga.com ~ ph: (970) 729-1673 Drop-ins Welcome • We offer many styles anD levels

June 11 - 14, 2015 An event that brings together world-class presenters, instructors and athletes to Telluride to lecture and hold classes on the latest health, fitness, wellness, nutrition and medical trends.

Te ll uri d eWo w. c o m

970.728.0808 I tellurideproperties.com 237 South Oak Street @ the Telluride Gondola

CONTENTS FEATURE FOOD & DRINK GEAR WINTER CALENDAR AD INDEX PARTING SHOT

BY ALLISON PERRY PHOTOS BY BRETT SCHRECKENGOST reeriding is getting a makeover these days, and not necessarily a good one.

In a scathing critique in September’s Powder magazine, directed not so much at the athletes themselves as at the organizations and culture that puts them in the spotlight, skier Logan Imlach said, “I thought it was ridiculous at Sochi how the focus went right to the f***ing puppies Gus [Kenworthy] adopted and ‘Date Nick’ and all this other sideshow bulls*it. [Nick] was doing it to stay in the limelight as long as possible...but it’s not going to do any good for any of us.”

“Not a single word was said about how amazing the skiing was,” he added – bitterly, I would imagine.

Writer Ryan Dunfee commended Imlach, who won 2010’s Superunknown Contest and supports his skiing by surviving the hellish conditions at Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay oilfields three weeks at a time (and makes his own skis), for exhibiting “a vein of self-reliance that’s astoundingly refreshing in an era of entitled egos.”

This begs the question: has freeriding really arrived at a place with so many proliferating entitled egos that finding a drop of modesty is now considered “refreshing?”

Moreover, has competitive skiing in general, fueled by better equipment and better technology on both sides of the camera, shoved aside humility and purity in favor of fame, deals and big, big money?

As I wait to meet Greg Hope at Telluride’s Steaming Bean coffee shop on a dreary afternoon, I don’t know what to expect.

After rubbing shoulders with a few pros during my earlier and impressionable first couple of years of ski-bumming (I will not name names; suffice it to say one of them rhymes with Bimon Pumont), I am definitely looking for some sort of telltale swagger, a certain, sometimes understated (and sometimes not) bravado that announces, “Yeah, I’m that good.”

Perhaps he will be decked out head to toe in next year’s already sold-out newest and coolest gear, despite the fact it’s still early October, and has yet to really snow.

Maybe he will show up with four or five puppies (come on, a girl can dream, can’t she)?

When Hope shows up, perfectly on time, he’s nothing like what I expected, consciously or otherwise. In fact, I don’t even recognize him.

“Is that nice kid ordering a White Chocolate Mocha him?” I wonder. Although I have never seen a picture of Hope not wearing a helmet and goggles, after hearing an announcer at the 2014 Subaru Freeride series, which Hope won, announce, “Not only are you a good skier, you’ve got an awesome mustache,” I at least know to look for some facial hair. But it seems a completely foreign concept that even a small-town celebrity could be as mild-mannered and nice as the guy I’m squinting at, as he orders his drink.

Turns out Hope has held onto the quality that is increasingly rare in both competitive skiing and big mountain skiing – namely humility. He also possesses a refreshing innocence (for lack of a better word) about skiing that comes across from the moment he sits down with me, and more and more with each question he answers.

Don’t be fooled, though. While Hope is a polite young man, without an ounce of “jaded” in him, and who drinks things like >>> 10

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

HOPE Springs Eternal For Big Mountain Skiing

Greg Hope, left, on Telluride’s Main Street (Photo by Allison Perry), and rappelling down a small waterfall above Bear Creek Falls.

(Photo by Brett Schreckengost)

The Lone Cone

BY HARRY KEARNEY h a rryk e a rn y.com

Greg on the ascent.

(Below) Ditched the machines next to the government trailer. Don’t know what it’s doing there, but it’s there.

t was a calm and dim morning in my hometown of Norwood, Colorado, about ten degrees when we woke up before sunrise. At daylight, the high and broken overcast allowed only small patches of blue.

A most radical team of elite dudes was assembled the night before, and we were readying our things for the mission that lay ahead of us. Lone Cone, the westernmost 12,000-plus ft. peak in the foothills of the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, about 15 miles south of town.

Although rarely targeted for snowriding, maybe because of its small height in comparison to other San Juan peaks and its remote location), Lone Cone has intrigued me and many others because of its solitary and landmark stature. It’s a mountain that has stared at me day after day, and I was finally compelled to make a move towards it. It’s named Lone Cone for obvious reasons.

The team was Greg Hope, Neil Kelly, Ben Eng and myself. We shook the drowsiness from ourselves as we hooked sled-loaded trailers to trucks and fried eggs over hot stoves.

of the Cone. The sun crawled higher, and we weaved through aspen groves and pine forests until we could be carried no further on our sleds. We ditched the machines next to the government trailer (don’t know what it’s doing there, but it’s there).

We disembarked, and put on our skins. At about this time, the elements began to conspire against our team. A wind had picked up slightly from the southwest, and with it came a thick, yet still-high overcast.

Greg did some further glassing of our prospective line choice, and we made our way to the north ridge to get up above treeline, with the plan to cut directly across the north-facing bowl towards the west to gain the west ridge, and then climb that ridge to our chute.

The skepticism grew. “Yeah, I can see a lot of rocks in there, for sure,” someone said.

But as we emerged from the forest to the alpine heights of the Lone Cone, we began

STRIKING OUT FOR THE CONE “Looks pretty shitty in there, guys,” Neil scoped from the cars, and the first seeds of skepticism were sown.

It was a weird feeling dropping off in what felt like the middle of nowhere, right on the edge of the desert, on our sleds.

But as the sun crawled over the distant mountains, the team struck out for the base >>> adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

11

CONTENTS FEATURE FOOD & DRINK GEAR WINTER CALENDAR AD INDEX PARTING SHOT

White Chocolate Mochas, he is also really, really that good.

Hope grew up in Telluride and graduated from Telluride Mountain School. He is 21 years old, and while he did attend some college at the University of Denver, he chose not to finish, because he wasn’t ready to give up skiing; nor was he ready for city life, he says.

“I started out being forced into it, when I was 2 or 3,” Hope says, with a laugh, when I ask just when his journey began. Like many before him, Hope initially started out crashing gates and skiing moguls.

He ventured into the backcountry when he was 10 or 11 with his father, an avid backcountry skier since the 70s, and at 13 or 14 joined Telluride’s first Big Mountain Team, where he found his niche.

“I loved that kind of skiing a lot more,” he says, of big mountain or freeride skiing. “It’s more diverse, less regimented and so much more fun.”

Hope got his first sponsorship when he was just a junior in high school, from Wagner Custom Skis, and Wags are what he’s skiing today, whether he’s shooting video for Telski as their model, being recruited by Oakley to guide the likes of Seth Morrison on some of the Telluride side country’s most challenging terrain or lapping the resort’s Gold Hill chutes, Chair 9 leg-burners and Revy Bowl’s deep powder with his friends.

And speaking of laps with friends, when I ask Hope what the best part of skiing is, why he loves it so much, there is no mention of gear, perks, any of the things that go along with skiing.

“When I’m skiing, I can separate my mind fully from everything in life. There is nothing else going on except skiing. I have the best times with my friends at my home mountain,” he adds, perfectly and unintentionally encapsulating a huge part of the purist perspective of skiing, what ski pioneers like Shane McConkey lived for, the sheer fun and challenging nature of it.

“I am not skiing to become pro,” Hope continues. “But it would be great if it happened.”

While Hope describes himself as “semi-pro,” and definitely reaps the benefits that many of the pros enjoy, including sponsorship and unique opportunities to ski and film with some of the best athletes in the industry, it is the very fact that he makes the distinction between skiing to be pro versus aspiring to pro status as a vessel to simply keep on skiing that makes him so fun to watch, and, I imagine, to ski with.

“I enjoy the filming and photography aspects of skiing and being in the backcountry a lot more than competing, and that is what I want to be able to explore more, and do more of,” he explains.

“Although I am planning on continuing to compete some,” he adds.

To that end, Hope does indeed hope (double entendre intended) to find more sponsors to cover his entry fees, as he still has to work in construction and landscaping to pay for skiing.

When I ask Hope about role models, the people who have inspired and motivated him to get where he is today, instead of talking about the pros he’s shredded with or the guys throwing down huge lines in ski flicks and winning medals in the Olympics, he cites two local legends (and, arguably, two of big mountain skiing’s many unsung heroes), Himay Palmer and Ricky Willis.

“I have lots of respects for local guys,” he says. “And those guys [Palmer and Willis] helped get me into bigger lines, took me under their wing and helped me out and helped me get into it.”

And get into it he has. Hope regularly crushes the resort, saving gnarlier side country and backcountry expeditions, he says, for when conditions are correct (i.e. safe). “I think you improve quicker on the resort anyway,” he says, “because you get more skiing in.”

Telluride’s varied and pucker-inducing side country is where Hope has skied some of his best and most difficult lines. And although he says there are no lines he wouldn’t >>> 12

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

Hope on the job, assisting with a camera crane in Ophir’s O Chute (top) and rappelling a crevass, on two different Oakley shoots.

The sky and snow got pretty hard to tell apart. Weather was going downhill but we kept going up. Spirits stayed up too, that was key.

(Below) Neil is down there in the blue jacket if you look closely. Skins weren’t of much use on the ridge here.

to feel the adventure building. The snow was anything but soft, and the wind had strengthened slightly. We scratched and clawed our way down into the basin and stood, staring up into the hood of the mountain. Another couloir coming down the eastern side of the bowl tickled our fancy, but we decided further investigation was needed before we could commit. So we walked on in the flat light, fighting off the vertigo and nausea, until the west ridge rose up before us.

The sky and snow got pretty hard to tell apart. The weather was going downhill, but we kept going up. Spirits stayed up; that was key.

Greg Hope is a man fabled to be made up of three pairs. A pair of legs, a pair of lungs and a pair of testicles. He took the lead down in the forest and charged on in front. Neil is a man of high morale –when feeling less than stoked, count on that guy to be right behind, with an ear-to-ear grin. Ben is a sturdy guy with an even sturdier beard, and it’s that sturdiness we all appreciate when things take an unexpected turn. He changes from split to snowboard in record time, and with a moment’s notice.

So up went Greg, breaking more trail; Ben followed after a safe distance; I went up next, and Neil came last. So it went for the remainder of the climb.

Upon gaining the ridge, our rough-andtumble team came upon a supreme lack of snow that forced us to abandon the skins and continue on foot and we knew our adventure had yet to climax.

What snow we did get was near bulletproof, so Greg and Neil hammered their ski boots

in hard while Ben and I hopped from rock to rock, or followed in their established paths that climbed upward and onward through the stillstrengthening winds and still-darkening skies.

But despite the deteriorating conditions, we agreed we were safe to continue to pursue the goal that remained further up the ridge.

The entry to the line of our initial goal existed a mere two hundred or so yards below the summit, but we spied another entry to a chute that was more filled in, with potentially better snow. Mother Nature had not slowed her winds, but the clouds hadn’t changed for the worse, either.

Then, looking down as I hammered away on what looked like a softer place in the snow where my boot might get a grip, I heard a yell from above. Ben had slipped and was sliding out of control down towards the hundreds of feet of ice and exposed scree below. All of us WANT to run toward him and try to stop him,

>>> adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

13

CONTENTS FEATURE FOOD & DRINK GEAR WINTER CALENDAR AD INDEX PARTING SHOT

attempt again, he does admit there are some lines he would hesitate to ski again in certain conditions.

For example, “Lone Cone was less than optimal,” he says (see accompanying story by Hope’s ski buddy Harry Kearney). “It was super wind-affected, and it’s definitely a no-fall zone.” Hope also does not recommend taking on The Elevens or the Y, two of Telluride’s most challenging side country lines (the latter boasting three mandatory cliff drops) when conditions are wind-scoured or icy. “I did the Y straight through” in not-great conditions, he recalls, “which has never been done before, so that was cool, but the landings on the three drops were definitely not soft.”

On the flip side, when the conditions are good, the skiing in Telluride is unparalleled, and Hope names the Y on a good day as some of the most fun he’s had on two planks. “I had a very good day on the Grandfather, too,” he says, “The conditions were optimal, not too much jump-turning required, but there wasn’t too much slough.”

One of Hope’s best-chronicled runs down Telluride’s iconic San Joaquin chute, captured in a short film by Brett Schrekengost, is almost poetic in its simplicity, beginning with him gracefully dropping in and ducking off to the side to avoid a massive slough that likely would have left him injured, and then destroying the chute in less than five minutes, barely having to turn.

“San Joaquin is...it’s fun,” he says, with a chuckle. “Just watch for your slough.”

When I ask where he would live if he had to leave Telluride, he seems almost distraught by even the hypothetical prospect. “I love Chamonix,” he says. “And I’ve spent some time at Mt. Baker in Washington, and the mountain is really fun, playful, and it’s a fun crowd of people who are there for the right reasons. I also like Jackson; the crowd is great, and there for the right reason.”

So what is the right reason?

“The people I want to ski with,” Hope says, “are skiing to have fun, not to prove anything or to be seen.

There are a lot of yahoos getting into the backcountry too aggressively, too. I just want to live to ski another day.”

There’s that purist talking again.

Piggybacking off this comment, I ask what he thinks about a growing sentiment that backcountry and big mountain skiing are en route to becoming glamorized pissing contests, with athletes more and more able to take on bigger and more rugged terrain, and whether he believes skiers are being pushed toward supplanting “Should I?” with “Can I?” “Skiing is just advancing so fast,” Hope says, after a thoughtful pause. “And there is such an inherent risk [in the backcounty] that more and more skiers are able to take.” And while Hope agrees that some skiers are taking it too far, and pushing too hard, not respecting the risks enough, he thinks those are a few bad eggs, and not emblematic of the sport as a whole.

“When I am out there, I just want to ski another day, and that’s what I’m thinking about,” he says. And with the recent and aching loss of professional skiers Andreas Fransson, J.P. Auclair and Liz Daley, all on the same day, Hope’s sentiments echo ring all too true.

As we wrap up, I ask him if there is anything he wants to add.

Perhaps not unexpectedly, at this point, he says he wants to make sure to thank Wagner and Oakley for helping have so many amazing experiences.

When we part ways and he looks back and says, “Maybe I’ll run into you on the hill,” despite our 12 year age difference, I find myself absolutely hoping that I might get to ski a line or two with Greg Hope this winter.

14

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

A day at Alta Lakes, heading up (left), and then making a dramatic entrance into the Birthday Chutes.

Greg, now navigating. Past the puckering entry, down to business.

(Below) Stoke. That’s just what it comes down to.

but then we would slip and fall, as well. So, in the distressing seconds that follow, all we could do was watch for his self-arrest, which he managed after falling about forty feet. He came up understandably rattled, but his sturdy and gathered reaction quickly helped us all put our shaken feelings behind us. What remained was a refreshed reality of the situation we were in.

It was windy, with flat light, and the snow was horrendous. We agreed to climb to the chute we had decided earlier was our possible early route off the ridge.

But upon our arrival, it was no more encouraging. Looking down, we saw many rocks, directly in the top, that deterred us from it further. At this point, I made up my mind. After staring at Lone Cone for years, I was fixated on that one couloir curving down the western edge of the bowl. I knew that my mindset alone was a dangerous thing, because a mindset in the mountains can blind us to the immediate dangers lying between us and our objective. But I knew I could safely make it to the entry, and ride what I wanted. So Greg and I decided to push on, following the original plan. In the meantime, Neil and Ben had decided their chute was out of the picture, and after a discussion – yelled through the persistent winds – we concluded Neil and Ben could find an alternate way down, and Greg and I would stick to the plan.

At our entry point, we found the climax to our adventure. We stayed to watch and make sure Ben and Neil found a good spot, but couldn’t stay long. The snow was still awful underneath the summit and I could barely hold

my edge; to fall in the entry would have meant near or certain death. But all fear melted away after we scratched over the rocky entrance and hopped turns into the funnel down the side of Lone Cone.

We pulled up out of the way on the side to watch Ben and Neil make their way to the down into the basin, and continued our route to the bottom. Now out of the wind, but still under grey skies, we hit the high fives and jokes and all that comes with a success like that.

Not quite a success by some standards, but we found ourselves and an adventure-and-a-half.

The mountain that so many dismiss or never venture to rewarded us: we celebrated with some powder turns we found down a gully lower in the basin. Humbled, stoked, freaked, dirt tired and hungry to do it again. That’s us loading our sleds back on the trailers at the start of Beef Trail road to hightail it down for some West End pizza.

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

15

Snow Cat Skiing ......................... or take your family and friends for a SNOW CAT • SNOWMOBILE • zip line ride WITH THE GUIDES OF THE WORLD’S OLDEST JEEP TOUR COMPANY ..... 4 ADVENTURES 4 THE PRICE OF ONE! Est. 1946

HAVE YOUR WEDDING ON A PRIVATE MOUNTAIN TOP! Rent an Entire Hotel or Mountain!

SNOWCAT SKIING ZIP LINES

North Face Powder on Great Terrain!

High Altitude Guarantees a Long Season and Great Snow!

Apres Ski at the old Western Hotel saloon.

Comlimentary Hot Springs pass.

ON THE WEB: SanJuanJeepTours.com ourayjeeptours@yahoo.com

IN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ... (TWICE!) SEEN ON CBS AND IN JEEP JOURNAL

Real Food, Real Good breakfast sandwiches served all day house-made cookies & pastries specialty sandwiches and salads house made veggie burgers & salmon burgers

call ahead & have it waiting 970.728.5556 M O n - F r i 9 - 4 , S at 9 - 3 Open On peak weekendS. call ahead.

O n M a i n S t. B e t w e e n S h i rt w O r k S a n d t- S p O rt S

all kinds of drinks

Made Fresh, From Scratch Fac e B O O k . c O M / B r Ow n Bagt e l l u r i d e

All Pure and Natural, Continually Flowing Hot Springs Includes Vaporcave Outdoor Pool and Private Lorelei.

A Variety of Lodgings Massage and Aveda Spa Treatments Available

W iesbaden

The

HOT SPRINGS SPA & LODGINGS www.wiesbadenhotsprings.com

970-325-4347 | 625 5th St. Ouray

As Featured in The Smithsonian, New York Times, Fodor’s, Travel & Leisure, Money, Forbes and many other publications...

Open Year Round All hot springs facilities and spa services available to public

PARTING SHOT

AD INDEX

WINTER CALENDAR GEAR

FOOD & DRINK

FEATURE

CONTENTS

BE

18

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

PREPARED STORY AND PHOTOS BY ALLISON PERRY

Cover All Bases Before Traveling to OPUS Hut

y first three trips to the Ophir Pass

Ultimate Ski Hut – in the first three months of 2014 – brought out my

20-20 hindsight goggles. We learn from our mistakes, and while I am wholly committed to this way of thinking, I sometimes wish I’d learned from somebody else’s.

Although I have yet to have a truly bad experience at OPUS, my personal oasis in the middle of Ophir’s backcountry, in between skin laps and trips to the sauna, I’ve learned from my mistakes on treks to OPUS from Ophir and Silverton.

OPUS is well-worth the effort – affordable ($35 and up), with an amazing sauna, and the food is awesome. And staying true to the European ski huts on which it is based, OPUS will boast a liquor license this winter (gamechanging news for those who, like me, haul no less than a sixpack on every trip.)

But getting there can be tough, and through trial and error, I’ve finally learned to plan trips that maximize not only the number of turns I get, but their quality.

In the hopes that readers can learn from my mistakes, I’ve come up with a list of things to make the OPUS experience practically perfect.

Weather: Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst While planning our first skin to the hut, we consulted everyone about the route. In the end, we decided to take Ophir Pass Road, then drop down on the other side where, by all accounts, “You can’t miss the hut…it’s super obvious…Just follow the road, it’s easy…” etc.

As a result, we didn’t pack a map, and didn’t even go online for basic information.

It was cloudy and lightly snowing when our trip began on Ophir Pass Road, but all went well until we reached a concentrated portion of the road that is essentially one long avalanche corridor.

The prolonged side-hilling on a slick and crusty skin track became a twofold challenge.

My skittish traverse alternated between glancing up, waiting for an avalanche to erase me from the landscape, and fighting for enough traction to move faster, working against my downhill ski’s mutinous attempts at sliding off the skin track and dragging me off the road with it.

After a brief reprieve at the end of the road, things got hairy again as we approached the top of Ophir Pass, struggling along an even icier skin track than before. The friendly breeze began whirling itself into a vicious wind, accompanied by an impregnable curtain of thick, grey, ice-laden air. When we finally breached the top of the pass, I couldn’t see anything further than 6 feet in front of me. This meant that the OPUS hut, which should have been shining like a lighthouse in the distance, was completely invisible (as was the road to the hut, and any trace of the skin track we’d assumed would act as a Yellow Brick Road, leading us gracefully and giddily to the land of Oz).

We ended up finding OPUS hut – raw, numb and starving, skinning through twilight – but only after expending needless effort on the multiple reconnaissance missions where we took turns searching for the the correct route to the hut, only having to return to square one to investigate in a new direction. >>>

Matt Weldon taking in the view before skinning up the Ophir Pass Road, a route that requires traversing a heavy swath of avalanche paths (on the right), and is not recommended.

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

19

PARTING SHOT

20

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

AD INDEX

WINTER CALENDAR GEAR

FOOD & DRINK

FEATURE

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

Equipment, Equipment, Equipment

Timing Is Everything (and Don’t Forget the Snacks)

WINTER CALENDAR AD INDEX

On our February trip, upon reaching the OPUS Hut, we planned our skiing for the next day – a pretty short boot-pack to an open face near the hut, then a longer skin on an established skin track up a ridgeline across the stream from the hut. With estimates from a group that did the same thing the day before ranging from two to three hours, we allotted three hours.

In the interest of saving weight the next morning, we didn’t set aside much food; we then forgot to bring most of it.

Upon discovering this oversight (20 minutes out), we elected to keep on going, figuring we’d be fine for three hours, after our huge breakfast. This left us with one granola bar, one apple and one full 70 ml CamelBak bladder.

You can probably guess that the moral of this story is we should have prioritize bringing more food and water.

That first miscalculation cascaded into a trip where nothing went right. The skin track was a nightmare – slick, tight, and crusty where it needed to be soft. What we anticipated would be a quick scuttle to the top of the ridge turned into a demoralizing trudge from each nightmare switchback to the next. All told it took us three hours just to gain the ridge. When we finally dropped in, we had already expended four hours. Topping it off, a CamelBak malfunction left very little water for the two of us. The lesson here: bring backup.

As usual with the area around the OPUS Hut, the skiing was phenomenal. But after three leg-and-lung-

GEAR

In any backcountry scenario, every extra step requires energy. Skiers are better off conserving energy to stay warm, expending minimal effort wherever possible.

Every slide-out, fall and frantic scramble means burning a calorie that could have been saved. All these little things add up to fatigue, which best-case scenario makes skiers slow and grumpy, and worst-case scenario lead to a scenario involving ugly words like “hypothermia” and “broken leg.”

Skinning up to OPUS from Ophir, particularly on the road, requires a lot of side-hilling and dealing with ice and variable skintrack conditions. The road is steep above and below the skin track. I found myself struggling to get the hell out of there as fast as possible – hanging out under a bunch of chutes that seem like they could go at any moment makes one want to fly. To avoid sliding off the skin track I found each step had to be precise, deliberate and weighted, I could not just move forward efficiently and safely – i.e., I became the antithesis of fast and light.

Sadly, the road is not the only section of the approach beleaguered by wind and ice. Unlike the road, where conditions vary depending on the weather, the final grunt up to the pass is almost always icy. In February, I had to boot up part of the skin track (after almost plummeting over the side into a cascading field of rocks) that was roughly 2 feet wide (not much of an error margin), on snow so bulletproof my boots hardly put a dent in it.

FOOD & DRINK

The solution to this problem has a deceptively easy solution: ski crampons (for faster, safer and more energy-efficient touring). Take that, ice!

Good skins are also imperative. Watching a member of our group fighting improperly cut skins that were not gripping as he struggled against backsliding, or worse, falling on his side and sliding 100 feet or so, was no fun, and almost ruined the entire experience for him.

His usual calm and easy demeanor was shattered when each step exerted enough effort to be tantamount to walking on a tightrope.

In a nutshell, any equipment that minimizes the amount of time you have to spend in cold and potentially deadly avalanche conditions is a must for any journey into the backcountry.

FEATURE

Had we done our due diligence – researched the route beforehand, maybe visited the well-laidout OPUS website or scoped out trip reports on backcountry skiing forums online – we could have gotten detailed directions and route-finding advice for the exact weather conditions we had experienced.

The lesson: no matter who you ask and how well they know the area, assume you will experience a white-out. Get a map and find a detailed description of your approach online (or, better yet, call the OPUS hutmaster Kingsley). Look for descriptions that give reference to physical objects and actual directions – “left,” “right,” “go east, 100 feet from this rock....” Find everything that can guide you, should your visibility be rendered moot.

>>>

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

21

PARTING SHOT

The author (left) booting up an exposed section of skin track near the top of Ophir Pass; (inset, clockwise from top) Weldon traversing an icy, wind-scoured hilll; Perry hiking to ski in late March; Nicole Pourzal, Dan Munson and Weldon atop Ophir Pass as whiteout conditions rapidly rolled in, looking for OPUS hut; Weldon walking through a quiet, magical night to the OPUS sauna; looking out from the safety of OPUS hut.

CONTENTS GEAR

FOOD & DRINK

FEATURE

busting hours of ascending, with perhaps 60 calories per person, our skiing was sloppy from the get-go.

I performed an expert face plant from the steepest part of the pitch, when my wobbly quads refused to engage, wasting four or five turns in perfect powder and putting unnecessary, potentially dangerous pressure on the snowpack, due to lack of energy and fuel.

After making it to the bottom, we discovered we had sorely misjudged the amount of time it would take us to get back to the road, then back to the hut to grab our things and skin out. By the time we were on the way back home, I was dehydrated, weak from hunger and almost in tears at the prospect of having to get all the way back to Ophir in the dark, imagining cloud-black zero visibility and high wind the whole way, and wondering what it would feel like to slip on invisible ice and plunge my way to a broken leg, or worse.

But now, our experience was the opposite of what we expected, the weather calm and clear and the snow baby-soft as we skied out under a sky sprinkled with stars, light from our headlamps bobbing playfully through the dark.

Had I been warm and even moderately full, the whole day would have been better – not shorter, not easier, but so much better. And our night would have been all that more epic.

And all that was standing between me and a truly perfect trip was a little more water and maybe a peanut butter- and-jelly sandwich.

Remember Why You Are There in the First Place

PARTING SHOT

AD INDEX

WINTER CALENDAR

No matter how dire things get, never, ever forget to look around and appreciate why you are in the backcountry in the first place.

The mountains are magic, and whether we are prepared well or not at all, the experiences we have in them build strength, cultivating both humility and the ability to laugh in situations that run the gamut from uncomfortable to daunting to outright scary.

Preparation in the backcountry is crucial, but even more crucial is going in with a sense of awe and respect for the mountains, even when they are testing every fiber of your mind and body.

Once I realized I was not going to die leaving the OPUS Hut that cold night, the feeling of pure joy – flying through untouched snow under a carpet of stars laid out just for us, watching the mountains unfurl themselves in the dark all around us – gave me the last push of energy I needed to make it back home in one piece, where I promptly ate an entire chicken.

So, next time you go to OPUS, bring, first and foremost, your wide-eyed mountain wanderlust. But, by all means, be sure to also grab plenty of snacks, ski crampons and some damn good directions.

Ophir’s vast and varied terrain, after a storm that had been hit earlier in the day (ski tracks visible on the right), easily accessed from OPUS hut.

22

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

SAN JUAN MOUNTAIN MOUNTAIN

ICE SKI ALPINE AVY www.mtnguide.net info@mtnguide.net 800.642.5389

THE SAN JUANS AND BEYOND

www.mountaintrip.com

info@mountaintrip.com 866.886.TRIP

DENALI ACONCAGUA VINSON EVEREST

Adventure Within Reach.

The adventure enthusiasts at the Telluride Adventure Center will help you organize exciting outdoor activities for the entire family.

Snowmobile Tours >> Snowshoe Tours + Rentals Winter Fly Fishing >> Heli-Skiing Cat Skiing >> Nordic Lessons + Rentals Backcountry Tours >> Dog Sledding Ice Climbing >> Snow Bike Lessons + Rentals Fat Tire Bike Tours + Rentals Alta Lakes Observatory Overnight Trips

RESERVE YOUR NEXT ADVENTURE! ----------

970.728.7433

>>

adventure@tellurideskiresort.com

LOCATED IN THE MOUNTAIN VILLAGE SKI & SNOWBOARD SCHOOL LOBBY

More than

1500 WINES

Huge selection of spirits and the Largest beer selection in town

Largest selection of wine, beer and spirits. Lowest prices in town.

Serving all your Winter Adventure needs.

129 W. San Juan (one block from the Gondola) 970.728.5553

Telluride’s best ski & snowboard rental experience

3 Free rental delivery

3 Overnight tuning

3 Complimentary slope-side overnight storage

3 Best selection of ski and snowboard rental gear

3 7 convenient locations

3 Great selection of apparel, footwear and more The Peaks Resort Ski In-Ski Out level of the hotel Open 8:00-6:00 during Winter Season, 970-728-3458

20

%

Franz Klammer Mountain Village Core Open Daily 8:00-6:00 970-728-0364

Gondola Plaza At the base of the gondola in Mountain Village Open Daily 8:00-6:00 970-728-8944

LOCATIONS:

Camel’s Garden At the base of the gondola in Telluride Open Daily 8:00-6:00 970-728-3134

off Your Ski or Snowboard Rental

Burton Telluride Mountain Village Core Open Daily 8:00-6:00 970-728-6138

Coonskin Rentals At base of the Coonskin Lift Open Daily 8:00-6:00 970-728-4228

Neve Sports at Hotel Madeline Open Daily 8:00-6:00 970-728-5722

Make advance reservations at rentskis.com/telluridesports

Must present coupon at time of purchase to redeem. Offer valid for the 2014-2015 ski season.

Cannot be used on the following dates: Dec 20-Jan 4, Jan 16-19, Feb 13-22, and March 6-April 5. See store for details.

*7251508223* 7251508223

a mountain guide service

for the whole family.

Telluride Alpinism

A GREAT WINTER CLIMB ON A

MOST UNUSUAL ROCK

BY ERIC MING | PHOTOS BY BRETT SCHRECKENGOST

I can’t believe we didn’t know about this place years ago. My climbing partner Danika Gilbert and I have about 65 years between the two of us driving right by this place – the turn-off to Looking Glass Rock – on our way to climb in Indian Creek. There is even a sign on Highway 191 telling one where to turn. It could not be easier to find. Perhaps we weren’t aware of it because it is the antithesis of what everyone has come to expect of desert climbs, which is hard crack climbing and towers. Desert climbing is dirty, gritty, dangerous and brutal. Yet this route is the opposite of that. ilbert found this beauty on the web site Mountain Project: a route called the East Rib. It’s a wild, hollowed-out dome with a window in the side that faces south toward the Abajo Mountains. It would have been the perfect outdoor setting for one of world musician Paul Winter’s Solstice concerts back in the 80s – it’s got that cosmic vibe.

So as Gilbert, photographer Brett Schreckengost and I were meeting for a weekday in autumn, we were excited to have the place to ourselves. Until Gilbert and I were driving up to the rock and squinted to see

small dark dots on the ridge en route to the summit.

And indeed, there were four vans in the parking area when we pulled up; after a short walk through the sidewall Sipapu, we discovered ten climbers, one of whom was the photo editor of Climbing magazine.

So the place is now discovered, or soon will be, and we found ourselves in line for a climb on this fine little dome that we thought nobody knew about.

There was a climbing expression back in the 90s: “Friends don’t let friends climb slabs.” It was the era when every pitch had to be brutally over-hung to

>>>

The author rapelling down from Looking Glass Rock.

CONTENTS FEATURE FOOD & DRINK GEAR PARTING SHOT

AD INDEX

WINTER CALENDAR

Eric Ming and Danika Gilbert coming through Looking Glass Arch, en route tot he climb.

be considered worthy, or had to be a spanking-hard crack climb to merit attention. Maybe that’s when some climber wandered over to Looking Glass Rock and did a little un-roped climb up the slab on his or her rest day. Then, they decided it might be a little too exposed for their friends, so they put in a bolt and took a rope to belay their non-climbing pals so they, too, could enjoy the wide summit.

Once they got past the rattlesnakes, that is. I remembered the Mountain Project report mentioning something about having rattlers at its base, and yes, when we moseyed over to the rope-up spot, Schreck pointed out all the little micro-caves at ankle height along a crack that wrapped around the base of the rib. Sure enough, nearly every pod had at least one snake in it. Gilbert and I basically vaulted up the first ten feet to the belay.

The climb is two easy rope-lengths, rated somewhere between 5.4 and 5.6. They are fun, lighthearted pitches, and this climb could be done any month of the year, with its open east-facing climbing and south-facing rappel. The only thing that would stop

4

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

one from shooting over from Telluride in February to enjoy climbing out of ski boots for a day would be if you forgot a light-shelled jacket and belay gloves in case the wind came up. In high summer, with twilight and a rising moon, you could make an evening of it (take a headlamp for the rappel setup).

Those two bolted pitches landed us on a beautiful, broad summit dome where we un-roped and wandered around, looking first at the La Sal mountains off to the northeast and then back to the Abajos. We were in this superb convergence zone that just pleads with one to come back on a full moon night and bring the Webber “Smokey Joe” for the traditional summit barbecue, à la-Ari Menitove and Jonathan Thesenga, pictured on page 274 doing that very thing in Steve “Crusher” Bartlett’s magnum opus, Desert Towers.

Everything about this place – the setting, the climb – feels uplifting. But the real thrill comes from the descent, which involves a free-hanging rappel off the lip of the massive clamshell. To begin, there is a perfect little platform you climb down onto and clip into

the anchor. It’s around 140 feet – 14 stories’ worth of empty space to the ground. Schreck was seated at the back of this vast arching auditorium, and watched the group of 10 climbers slither out of it over the last hour, referring to it as “the Birthing Canal.” When I started down, I felt a familiar tinge of apprehension, because I was rappelling on a single strand of Danika’s used green 11 millimeter climbing rope, and using a new rappelling system that Gilbert had just shown me and assured me would work perfectly. “Huh,” I thought.

Here I am with an experienced climbing guide who has just convinced me to try a specific method that I’ve never used in 40 years of climbing, and I’m supposed to do a free-hanging rappel through 140 ft. of space, and the system cannot fail me…or I it.

One of the reasons I told myself this was going to be fine was that, when I contacted Gilbert a couple of weeks before to see if she wanted to do a climb in Utah, she emailed me right back, saying she was on the summit of the Grand Teton in Wyoming, just having taken five adaptive athletes to the top, one of

CONTENTS FEATURE FOOD & DRINK GEAR

(left to right); a group of cancer survivors from Boulder, Colo., out for a climb; a rattlesnake at the base of the first belay station, which is the crux of the route.

able to consider the whole cognitive process of risk.

I knew my rappel device and the locking carabiner were going to get very hot descending on one rope.

I knew Gilbert was quietly watching me from above, hoping I didn’t have any problems. I knew Brett was quietly talking to me and I could hear the shutter of the camera going off. The sound of the shutter was a giant comforting echo in the silence of that sandstone chamber and the quiet of the Utah desert.

Gilbert’s rappel system worked spectacularly, and when I hit the ground I took off to retrieve the extra rope to send up so Gilbert could rappel. Dashing down I reached for the pile of rope and immediately heard a dreadful little hiss that had me jumping back. Snake?! Yes. A little one had come out to investigate the red rope and caught me off guard. I shooed him away and wondered what the fate of the snake community would be in the future as this place became more traveled. As it turned out, there was more risk in the start and finish of the climb than there was in the climb itself. >>>

5

PARTING SHOT

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

AD INDEX

walking a sidewalk, but having done this sort of thing practically my entire life, I also recognize that this process (done incorrectly) could kill me.

As I drop my entire bodyweight onto a set of bolted anchors and a thin green Perlon rope, my rappel device creates friction, so I can control the speed of my descent, and a backup knot called an autoblock will tighten and stop my descent if something goes wrong. But that is all I can do: slow down or stop.

I’ll still be hanging in empty space. The trick about a free-hanging rappel is that you can’t reach a wall. You can’t lean in and stand on a small ledge to readjust anything. You can’t stop and reposition your hands or catch your breath with the comfort of a vertical wall nearby. This giant cavernous shell of a dome is one of the most spectacular places to hang in space I have ever been, but my focus is all right in front of me on where my hands are, controlling my speed and spinning – slowly spinning and spinning.

For that few minutes my life was all my own. I got to decide on my descent speed and I found myself

WINTER CALENDAR

whom had only one leg and walked with a crutch, and two of whom had just one arm. I knew Gilbert was a force to be reckoned with when it came to convincing people they could accomplish feats way out of their comfort zone; I had interviewed her last June about an ascent she had done in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison with a paraplegic. So when I was fish-flopping on the lip of the Birthing Canal, trying to get enough tension in the rope to feel what this different system was going to behave like once I wheedled off the overhang into the big empty, I was conflicted: I trusted, yet still was not entirely sure of the outcome.

This is when the feeling started to come over me. Suddenly the conversation slows down and focus (as in the noun) steps in and resolutely takes up its role. It is like being possessed by another character. The dimension of time changes, and it happens because I know I am about to do something that exists somewhere in the category of risk. Let me say here that among the tribe of risk-takers and adventurers here in our region, the simple act of rappelling is no more daring than

PARTING SHOT

6

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

AD INDEX

WINTER CALENDAR GEAR

FOOD & DRINK

FEATURE

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

IF YOU GO:

FOOD & DRINK

in 2012 says they counted 20 at the base! My flaming liberal tree-hugging self laughs and applauds everyone who has climbed there and left them alone, especially since I imagine the other climbers were probably as nervous as I was, getting on the climb. Please watch your dogs and kids.

And as for the idea of leaving things in the best possible natural state, I just have to mention the Leave No Trace website, lnt.org. It outlines the seven basic principles of not impacting the places we are recreating in. Number 6 is, leave the wildlife alone.

There is a quote in their brochure that sums it up: “The notion that outdoor recreation has no environmental impacts is no longer tenable.” You’ll see the impacts when you are out at Looking Glass.

And I was making light of the odd tradition of barbecuing on desert summits primarily so you will go find Steve “Crusher” Bartlett’s book, Desert Towers. Check at Between the Covers bookstore in Telluride or Back of Beyond in Moab.

If you want a climbing guide who works with adaptive athletes, and has a very special set of skills, Danika Gilbert works through three companies: Paradox Sports in Boulder, Peak Mountain Guides in Ouray and Himalaya Alpine Guides.

FEATURE

just recently found the Looking Glass route in a newly published guide by Karl Kelly and he has it named the Cowboy Route, 5.6.

The turnoff to Looking Glass Road is signed, and just south of La Sal Junction. A short distance on a dirt road heading west there is a Bureau of Land Management sign marking the turn south, and Looking Glass is just ahead. When I called the BLM office in Moab to see if there were any restrictions on climbing or photos, I was told it was on state land, and they knew of none.

Park on the west side of the rock at a good-sized lot where there is a sandstone slope that leads to the opening with a view. If you bring children or gimpy dogs you will need to start watching them because of the exposure. The climb is on the far side from parking.

You need two ropes for the rappel, both 60 meters, please. Make sure they are on the ground before you leave the Birthing Canal. And as always, the disclaimer is that climbing is dangerous and you should not be doing this unless you know how to do it safely.

There is a colony of rattlesnakes right at the base. The Mountain Project website, dated 2010, mentions them. In the comment section someone

GEAR WINTER CALENDAR AD INDEX

Danike Gilbert repelling down after the climb.

7

PARTING SHOT

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

Stay Close to Home and Family,

We Are Here for Your Health

STEM* EDUCATION *Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

Science-based summer camps, classes and internship opportunities in various fields of STEM education.

“I’m often as ked by pare nts what advi get kids intere ce can I give sted in scienc them to help e? And I have Get out of th only one bit eir way. Kids of advice. ar e bo rn curious. Pe –Neil deGra riod.” sse Tyson

Register for classes or make a donation www.pinheadinstitute.org or call 970 369 5190

GO FAT!

FAT TIRE BIKE RENTALS, SALES, TOURS PA R A G O N O U T D O O R S O P E N Y E A R - R O U N D 213 W. COLORADO AVE. | TELLURIDE 970.728.4525

EMERGENCY – TRAUMA LEVEL IV OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK, 365 DAYS A YEAR

(970) 874-2222

DCMH FACILITIES Internal Medicine Associates, Premier Women’s Healthcare of Delta, DCMH Primary Care - Pediatrics & Family Practice, Delta, Grand Mesa Oncology Center, Colorow Family Medical Care - Olathe & Delta, DCMH Primary Care - Hotchkiss, DCMH Primary Care- Paonia, DCMH Family Medicine - Delta, DCMH Urgent Care - Delta SERVICES OFFERED Inpatient & Outpatient, Same Day Surgery • Medical and Intensive Care • Clinical Laboratory Stork’s Landing (Labor & Delivery) • Physical & Occupational Therapy • Endoscopy Services Cardiac & Pulmonary Rehabilitation • Registerd Dietician/Diabetes Educator Radiology – CT Scan, PET-CT, MRI, X-ray, Bone Density, Ultrasound, Nuclear Medicine, Stereotactic Breast Biopsy, Digital Mammography Annual Health Fairs held in Delta County communities

Providing Delta County Families with high quality medical services for the past 100 years

www.deltahospital.org • 970.874.7681 • 1501 East 3rd Street • Delta, CO 81416

Quit Horsing Around‌ Call or Visit Ridgway Real Estate to buy or sell property in the area.

Ski right onto the deck from Milk Run or take Telluride Trail for the less advanced skiers.

This Etta Place penthouse sleeps 12! It is a spacious 3 Bedroom plus loft and has a bunk room for the kids. It comes with a reserved heated parking spot. A new community hot tub is being installed on the recently rebuilt deck. Primary views are toward the box canyon but the ski run is visible from the private deck. The unit has a solid rental record and a spacious living room for gathering the family and friends. $795,000

SPECTACULAR 3 bedroom/3 bath, 3114+ sq. ft. home nestled in 5+ acres of wooded property and borders open space on 2 sides. Architecturally designed by famous Thomas L Bosworth, the custom home screams excellence. Amenities are, but not limited to: Russian wood stove, stellar views, open floor plan, 1654 sq. ft. covered redwood decking, 1350 sq. ft. 4-bay garage, screened in porches, custom windows, circular driveway, 2010 roofing, and majestic Ponderosa Pines. Not to mention the privacy!! $575,000

Cathy Redmond (970) 729-0898

Charles Mueller (970) 209-3452

John Meltzer (970) 626-3000

www.RidgwayCO.com ¡ (970) 626-5455

Trujillo lacing up for a late-afternoon run.

(Photo by Alec Jacobson)

CONTENTS FEATURE FOOD & DRINK GEAR

“ T R A I N I N G F O R T H E M O U N TA I N S J U S T B E C A M E B E I N G I N T H E M O U N TA I N S . T R A I L R U N N I N G W A S M Y W AY O F B E I N G . ” WINTER CALENDAR AD INDEX

I’d like to say Rick Trujillo – the progenitor of mountain running in the San Juans, and a godfather of running in the Americas – does not suffer fools. But based on his accomplishments, I believe that fools and poseurs just can’t keep up when it comes to running with him. He is mad – absolutely mad – about hard mountain running. I always thought of the sport as trail running, but in Trujillo’s case it often becomes a form of mountaineering. He calls it “Rough-Ground Reflex Training.”

“I train by running in loose creek beds so I learn to react unconsciously,” he says.

One of Trujillo’s regular training runs above his house in Ouray is the Lone Widow Route, named after the Lone Widow Mine. Yet its title could easily prove prophetic: the route is perched above a cliff, and in some sections there is no trail whatsoever. It includes a ten-foot down-climb, and then a three-foot jump; you can’t miss the landing or you fall over another cliff. The route used to be fairly straightforward until some boulders came down and took out part of the cliff.

“Never run this when it’s storming,” Trujillo said. “Rocks come off the cliffs all the time. There was a young woman from Ouray [Zina Lahr] who was killed last fall when rock-fall debris came down in a storm.”

One time, Trujillo said, “I took a friend from Silverton on the Upper Lone >>>

35

PARTING SHOT

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

Widow. There’s a certain section you have to traverse across this loose stuff, where if everything starts moving, you’re going to be carried downhill.” His friend stopped, “and I started yelling at him to keep moving, but he was frozen and I had to jump back into the moving mass and grab him by the arm and haul him across to safety. He was frozen – tears coming out of his eyes.

He couldn’t move. You can’t stop on terrain like that.”

The experience was so traumatizing to his friend, “I’ve never seen him since,” Trujillo went on. “I have no idea where he went – he’s gone. He left the area.”

Trujillo, 66, is a native of Ouray, and he remembers when the region was very different. “Television came to Ouray in 1958,” he recalled. “In my earliest years, there was a telegraph office down the street, the steam train was still coming into town, and my home phone number was 54.”

“Telluride was an even more remote backwater than Ouray; it was just an old mining town at the end of a dead-end road. Nobody had ever heard of it.

Silverton was a metropolis, in comparison. Even Ridgway had more people than Telluride. Of the five towns – Ouray, Silverton, Telluride, Ridgway and Norwood – Telluride was the poorest.”

It was in this atmosphere that two high school shop and math teachers, Don Graf and “Mr. Kurtenbach” (Trujillo doesn’t recall his first name), decided to start a track team in 1963. Trujillo remembers his first outing in March for the team was a run up to the Amphitheatre Campground. By the time they reached the campground, the snow was knee deep, and Trujillo realized mountain running was something that he really enjoyed doing. He loved it so much, he went on to place third in the one-mile run as a freshman in the Colorado State Class A High School Track Championships, and then to win it

three years in a row with a fastest time of 4:26.

When he went on to college at University of Colorado, Boulder, Trujillo trained with a coach who would get upset with him for running up Flagstaff Mountain in the morning before classes, saying, “Trails are no place for a runner,” and suggesting that he confine his running to the track. Trujillo disagreed.

“Running in circles made no sense to me,” he said. “Never did, still doesn’t.

“I pay no attention to miles or time,” he went on. “I’ve never done it by the formula. That was the big friction between me and my coaches in college. I was a real maverick; they didn’t know how to handle me. I’d never run with anybody before. They couldn’t keep up with me, and I didn’t see the point of running in circles. Running was to get into the mountains.” Trujillo graduated from C.U. in 1970 with a singular talent, but no place to put it to competitive use. Road running, in the form of 10k’s and marathons, was just beginning to trickle into public consciousness, and ultra-marathons like the Leadville 100 didn’t yet exist.

Trujillo’s degree was in geology, and the mining industry was in a slump. It was a struggle to find a job anyplace else in the world, so he came home. One day he went up to the Camp Bird Mine and applied for a job, which he got. In high school Trujillo had run a few times to Silverton on the highway over Red Mountain Pass. Now he began exploratory runs on old mining and game trails, developing circuits that he runs to this day. One day after work in 1974, he decided to test himself in a run over Imogene Pass to Telluride (Imogene had only opened to jeep traffic in 1965), where a friend was supposed to pick him up.

When Trujillo arrived in town that evening, his ride was nowhere to be seen. He bumped into Jerry Race, an Alaska native, longtime cross country ski racer (rare in those days) and occasional mountain runner, who had recently opened a phar-

>>>

Trujillo a few feet away from crossing the 14,150 ft. finish line at Mount Evans in first place in 1:44:24; July 17, 1976.

22

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

On the Lone Widow route, a trail he shares with elk and deer. (Photo by Alec Jacobson)

Trujillo with fellow University of Colorado teammates (left to right: Pete VanArsdel, Stan Justice, Bob Campbell, John Lunn, Craig Runyan, Rick, Tim Cronin) at the NCAA Cross Country Six Mile Championship in Van Cortlandt Park in New York City; November, 1968.

macy in Telluride. “As a businessman, Jerry was desperate to get people to come to Telluride,” Trujillo recalled, “and he thought developing a competitive run might bring people to this town at the end of a dead-end road.” So, after Telluride’s first and only staging [in 1974], Trujillo developed the Imogene Pass race. It was an extension of his training, but it has developed into a prestigious event in its own right, now drawing 1,600 runners annually and filling up each year shortly after online-registration opens. In the first year of the Imogene Pass Run, there were six entrants. The second year, there were 10. Each year, the numbers kept climbing, as athletes (mostly of the fittest, most hardcore variety) started showing up and proving that people were meant to run on mountains. For the first 12 years, most of the runners were locals. “There were no support or aid stations on Imogene Pass runs in the early years” Trujillo said.

Trujillo’s Imogene Pass outing was initially a training route for the Pike’s Peak Marathon, which he was running during the 1970s (he won it five times). There were no aid stations on the Pike’s Peak run until 1986. None of the support that runners take for granted in big events today existed in the early trail races. Only “loners, mavericks, and the pig-headed” thrived at altitude without aid stations, Trujillo said.

Trujillo’s inner fire set the stage for his Fourteeners running project in 1995.

By then, he was 47 years old. ‘Fourteeners’ surpassed what runners were accomplishing on Pike’s Peak and Imogene Pass: Trujillo and his partner, Telluride’s Ricky Denesik, ran up all 54 of Colorado’s highest summits in 15 days, 9 hours and 55 minutes. (By my calculations, that is a Fourteener summit roughly every 6.8 hours.) It was a dazzling accomplishment: the two men pushed themselves through endless suffering, night and day, through storm and starlight, to complete what stands as a visionary act of endurance athleticism.

Trujillo spoke of motivation for an effort as big and grueling as the Colorado Fourteeners. When he and Denesik tried running it again in 97, Trujillo made it up 42 of 54 summits and hit a wall. “In 1997, the drive was gone – mental, emotional, and spiritual,” he said. And when motivation disappears, he said, “it is like the muse left town.” Though Trujillo didn’t have it in himself to go for the record, he continued supporting Denesik. At one point they were harassed by a security guard on the Pikes Peak road high on the mountain. He yelled, “You are not supposed to be here!” Denesik had moved on; when the guard tried to stop >>>

38

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

Rick Trujillo taking a break along the Lone Widow Route. (Photo by Alec Jacobson)

CONTENTS FEATURE

FOOD & DRINK

GEAR

WINTER CALENDAR

AD INDEX

PARTING SHOT

39

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

CONTENTS FEATURE FOOD & DRINK PARTING SHOT

AD INDEX

WINTER CALENDAR

GEAR

Trujillo triumphant:: the man who held the Pikes Peak Marathon course record from 1973-1982 pictured at the finish line and above his hometown. (Photo at right by Alec Jacobson)

Trujillo, he pushed him aside, jumped off the road (ripping his shorts on the steep rocky embankment), and left the guard behind as they entered the forest below. Denesik went on to set an even faster record that year.

Given Trujillo’s accomplishments, I was naturally curious about fundamental matters, such as diet and footwear. His response: “I eat whatever is available. I come from a small town in the middle of nowhere.” As for footwear, he prefers Adidas for narrow feet, but he “buys shoes that are out of style that work. I go to Off Broadway Shoes in Denver or Colorado Mills to shop for shoes. I’ve never had or sought sponsorship.”

As for his favorite moments in an esteemed running career, they are incidents like the one in a place he calls “The Sutton Forest,” where he encountered a big bull elk he thought he recognized from five years earlier. He said, “Big Bull looks at me and I swear, if elk could smile, he would have, because he recognized me and I recognized him, and then we both took a step toward each other.” He said this with absolute conviction. Given the hours he has spent on obscure game trails and miners’ tracks, who would be surprised by such an encounter?

Another favorite moment came in 1994, when Trujillo was training for the Hard Rock 100, traversing Whitehouse Mountain via an old mining trail, when he encountered a herd of elk cows and calves. “I headed for the only break in the 300-foot high cliffs that ring the southeast face of Whitehouse. Now, the way elk communicate is by chirping; they chirp back and forth like birds to each other.

The head cow, Boss Mama, calls them together with a series of chirps, but the Whitehouse Mountain cliffs are blocking [their escape], except for the opening where I’m also headed. They start moving – and I’m running – and we’re all of a sudden heading for the same opening! So I find myself number 47 in a line of

40

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

cows and calves going up Whitehouse Mountain in a single-file line.”

The herd was waiting for the last two stragglers, mom and calf. Then Boss Mama glimpsed Trujillo - and immediately led “all 46 cows and calves down a really steep couloir, a snow-clogged slot in the 800 foot high cliffs that form the north side of Whitehouse. When I saw this I was shocked and asked myself, ‘What have I done?’ I might be responsible for a mass suicide. I was really concerned, so I moved away from them as fast as I could to another steep couloir on the west face of the mountain, then continued down Weehawken Creek, picked up my vehicle at Canyon Creek, grabbed my binoculars as I passed through Ouray, and headed to Ridgway to scout that cliff face. I was afraid I was going to see a pile of brown bodies at the bottom. But Boss Mama, the matriarch, had gotten them all safely down.”

The man who spent 50 years in the mountains having sublime encounters such as this has also held the Pike’s Peak Marathon course record, from 1973 to 1982. He held the course record for the Imogene Pass run from 1974 to 1985. He won the Hard Rock 100 in 1996. He’s run Mt. Marathon in Alaska and Ben Nevis in the British Isles. He’s run races in the Alps, he’s run to 16,000-foot summits in Chile. He has run and climbed the hardest, highest mountains in the Americas and, like his 12th generation great-grandparents who came north from Mexico in 1958 and populated the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico, discovering in the process a wild world, and new life, Trujillo has done his discovering in the mountains, defying barriers with his body and mind. He went beyond what his coaches and contemporaries were doing, and proved what is really possible – on hard tracks, and in thin air.

He also proved his credo: trail running is his way of being.

“The region’s most experienced mesa and backcountry broker.”

Ed Andrews came to Telluride in 1981 with a dog, a truck and $100.

He’s been scouting the mountains ever since, for the finest rustic properties.

Live your ranch dream. Call Ed. 970-728-3144 970-729-3145 www.e wa ndre ws.com 215 E. COLORADO AVE • BOX 98 • TELLURIDE CO 81435 ed@e wa ndre ws.com

PARTING SHOT

14

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

FOOD & DRINK

FEATURE

Xangos at Amelia’s Hacienda Restaurante 44 S. Grand Ave., Montrose, 970/249-1881 Xangos is a unique, and exceedingly rich Mexican specialty made from a slice of deep fried banana cheesecake that’s drizzled with a touch of chocolate syrup and served with cinnamon and vanilla ice cream. Yes, the sopaipillas at Amelia’s are extraordinary, as well, but we can’t get enough of the rich cheesecake flavor of this dessert. Unique and addictive.

Mango and Sweet Sticky Rice With Coconut Milk at Thai Paradise 146 N. Cora St., Ridgway, 970/626-2742 When it’s snowy outside, this warm taste of paradise, complete with tropical fruit, will keep winter doldrums at bay. The tart, freshly sliced mango teamed up with the sweet, dense sticky rice is a showstopper worth repeating.

The Black Nasty at the Bon Ton 426 Main St., Ouray, 970/325-4419 With a name that’s almost as good as the dessert itself, the Black Nasty at the Bon Ton has been one of Ouray’s favorite sweet treats for years. Why? Because it’s downright sinful – a hefty slice of rich, gooey choco­late silk pie topped with chan­tilly cream.

The Watch have picked just a few of our own favorites.

Be sure to try one, two or all of these specialties if you can. And if you ask for dessert before your main course, don’t worry, we won’t tell. Rules, after all, are made to be broken, especially with these sweet options to choose from.

GEAR

Let’s face it, the main course of any meal, be it lunch or dinner, is something to be endured until the dessert course. For people of all ages, dessert is what matters most.

If we lived in a society where there were no rules, desserts would always come first.

Here in the western San Juans there are plenty of desserts worth trying. We at

WINTER CALENDAR

Sweet Dreams

AD INDEX

CONTENTS

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

FEATURE

FOOD & DRINK

GEAR

Berry Pie at Cosmopolitan 300 West San Juan Ave., Telluride, 970/728-1292 Simple and fresh. Made daily, this warm pie contains a trio of berries – raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. Add a scoop of sour-cream ice cream and a dollop of raspberry sauce, and you won’t want to share.

Toffee Carrot Cake at SMAK Bar 568 Mountain Village Blvd., Mountain Village, inside the Hotel Madeline 970/369-0880 This outrageous dessert served at one of Mountain Village’s most popular restaurants is really two desserts in one – a toffee carrot cake that’s served along with a generous scoop of exuberantly rich cream-cheese ice cream. Both items are amazing on their own; together, along with a topping of candied walnuts, it’s an unforgettable experience. You won’t find a better presentation anywhere.

Gelato at A+Y Design Gallery 513 E. Main St. Montrose, 970/240-7914 Even during the coldest weather and fiercest storms, people with serious gelato cravings will make their way into downtown Montrose for a heaping cup of this frozen treat. With more than 15 flavors to choose from, including apple pie, pistachio, maker’s Manhattan, and even some locally created beer flavors, there’s a cup full of happiness for everyone. And for those who need a charge, grab an affogato – a fresh-pressed espresso poured over your choice of gelato.

KOTO Cookies at Alpine Wellness Co. 300 W. Colorado Ave., Telluride, 970/728-1834 Bring home dessert from this main street marijuana dispensary, where 5 percent of the proceeds from the sale of KOTO Cookies go to Telluride’s one-of-a-kind community radio station. These cookies are made with organic, soil-grown marijuana-infused butter; each cookie is sold individually, and contains 10 mgs. of THC, the recommended singleserving dose. Flavors include Nutty Buddy (a chocolate cookie with peanut butter chips), Oatmeal (with sunflower seeds and cranberries), Gin and Chronic (crystallized ginger and dark chocolate chunks) and Gluten-free Apricot Almond. Top with ice cream for high tea.

43

CONTENTS

WINTER CALENDAR

AD INDEX

PARTING SHOT

SIT. EAT. DRINK. GOOD DOG!

award winning detroit square pizza!

2013 1st place International Pizza Challenge - Best Pan Pizza in the World -

a family friendly sports bar hours: 11am – 10 p.m. full menu a n y pi z z a u n t i l 1 1 p. m. and pizza slices until 12 a.m.

110 E. Colorado (970) 728 - 8046 • browndogpizza.com

Gourmet, Local & Organic Marijuana Flowers, Edibles, Tinctures & Accessories

CONTENTS

PARADOX ICE a

FEATURE

Personal Journey of Badassdom

BY SAMANTHA WRIGHT

FOOD & DRINK

f Chad Jukes looks a little familiar, it might be because you saw a picture of him in Penthouse magazine last year, hanging out (fully clothed) on an icy cliff in the Uncompahgre Gorge, his clawlike prosthetic foot kicked rakishly into the ice.

Hardly the image of a wounded warrior that most of us carry around in our minds.

“It was an article about organizations that help veterans,” explained Jukes, a bit embarrassed about his newfound notoriety, on a blustery Sunday afternoon at the Ouray Ice Park last March.

The 30-year-old army veteran and lifelong sport climber who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq lost his foot in 2007 after a bomb blew up under his truck in northern Iraq. He now works as a climbing guide and ambassador for Paradox Sports, the Boulder-based organization founded by Army Captain D.J. Skelton and climber/comedian Timmy O’Neill that helps integrate the physically disabled into the outdoor community.

The organization’s flagship event is its annual adaptive ice climbing weekend at the Ouray Ice Park, now known as Paradox Ice, designed to challenge the common misperception that an amputee is handicapped, or that a blind person must by default lead a second-rate life. >>>

GEAR WINTER CALENDAR

Missing limbs are no problem for adaptive athletes like Pete Davis who overcome their disabilities to reach new heights during the annual Paradox Ice event at the Ouray Ice Park. (www. claudialopezphotography.com)

AD INDEX

45

PARTING SHOT

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

CONTENTS GEAR

FOOD & DRINK

FEATURE

Last year’s late-February/early-March event brought 26 participants and a large team of volunteers, including eight amputees, five paraplegics, four veterans and five participants with various neurological and neuromuscular disorders who overcame their disabilities to find their way up vertical walls of ice.

From the whoops of victory down in the Scottish Gullies (an easily accessible beginning-to-intermediate part of the Ouray Ice Park) to the huge smiles on the faces of volunteers and participants alike when they returned to the top, it was obviously a transformative experience for all involved – whether they were stomping around in boots with crampons or on wickedly spiky prosthetic feet.

As Paradox Sports’ former Executive Director Malcolm Daly explained, “Ice is the great equalizer.

None of us can climb it without adaptive equipment. We just go one step further.”

Paradox Ice instructors, many of whom – like Jukes and Daly – are themselves missing various parts, use an ingenious variety of techniques and equipment to get participants up the ice. Tools range from adaptive custom-made crampons and ice axes that double as prosthetics (many designed and made here in Ouray) specialized gear that gives paraplegic climbers a mechanical advantage as they ascend vertical ice using only upper-body strength.

“It’s an activity that helps them take that step and accept what has happened, and be happy with it,” said Jukes. “A lot of people think that becoming disabled is life-ending, but it’s just life-changing.

And life change can be a positive thing. It can be a catalyst for post-traumatic growth, instead of posttraumatic stress.”

Post-traumatic Growth

PARTING SHOT

AD INDEX

WINTER CALENDAR

It was only after Jukes’ foot was amputated following his encounter with an IED while on patrol in northern Iraq that he discovered his own love for ice climbing, largely thanks to Daly.

While struggling with the decision of whether to have his foot amputated or undergo years of painful (and likely unsuccessful) reconstructive surgery on his shattered heel bone, Daly planted the seed that changed Jukes’ life.

Jukes described his situation on an online forum for amputees who climb, asking what he should do.

Daly, who lost part of his right leg in a climbing accident while attempting a new ice route in Alaska with Jim Donini in 1999, wrote back within minutes: “You know, if you amputate, you will still be able to climb. Dealing with a prosthetic is a pain in the ass. But I’d rather be an amputee than a cripple.”

The advice hit home. When Jukes saw his doctor again, he said, “When can you chop this thing off? I want it off.” One day after getting his first prosthetic, he went to a climbing gym, and realized that “getting rid of a bad limb could be a gloriously freeing experience.”

A year later, Jukes showed up in Ouray, at Daly’s invitation, for his first Gimps on Ice event (the name has since been changed to Paradox Ice). From the first swing of the axe, he was hooked.

Ice climbing has given Jukes’ life new meaning. Now a familiar character around Ouray, with his long sandy mane of hair, bushy beard, Indiana Jones-style hat and completely disarming person-

ality, Jukes has become a sponsored climber who in September 2010 was part of the Soldiers to the Summit expedition led by Erik Weihenmayer of Golden, Colo., a blind mountaineer who summited Mt. Everest, to climb the 20,192-ft. Lobuche East Peak in Nepal’s Khumbu Valley in the Mt. Everest National Park.

High Ground, a film by Academy award-nominated producer Don Hahn (The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast) and award-winning director Michael Brown tells their story. The movie has won accolades at the Boulder International Film Festival and Telluride Mountainfilm.

Jukes has seen ice climbing change the lives of others in the disabled community, as well – most particularly, his fellow veterans – at the weekend intensive in Ouray.

“At the beginning of the weekend, they don’t want to talk about what happened,” he said. “You can see it in their eyes. After a couple days, they’re letting it all hang out. It definitely helps with a sense of pride. It can be fun to be different. You know, ‘I get to wear a pegleg!’”

HQ at the Ourayle House Unofficial headquarters for Paradox Ice are at the Ourayle House on Main Street in Ouray, where brewmeister James Paul Hutchison (aka “Mr. GrumpyPants”) brews up a “One Arm, One-leg IPA,” which may be imbibed (if you ask nicely) out of a couple of old prosthetic legs donated by Jukes and Ouray’s own U.S. Paralympic snowboarder Heidi Duce.

Prior to last year’s Paradox Ice event, Jukes and fellow veteran Dan Sidles were hanging out with Hutch one snowy night, nursing a couple of beers, swapping tales of near-death experiences...and laughing about it.

Sidles may not wear a peg eg, but he suffers from a different kind of loss.

By the time he got out of the Marines at age 23 in 2006, he had already seen more action than most of us will experience in many lifetimes. He’d shot over a thousand rounds from a 50-caliber gun his first day in Fallujah, each one aimed at an Iraqi. He was blown up twice, ended up with shrapnel in his head, earned a Purple Heart, and in the process, a raging case of post-traumatic stress disorder.

He was discharged before the army started screening soldiers for traumatic brain injuries. But it turns out he’s a “tibby,” too.

When he first got out, he thought everything was alright. He had moved to Arizona, and was going to school full-time to become a firefighter. He had a girlfriend.

“There was no reason for me to think anything was wrong,” he said. “But then, slowly but surely, I was drinking, acting like a fool. That’s how I was with my buddies in the military. We were trainwrecks and we didn’t even know it.”

Things fell apart, with his girlfriend, and his life.

Three years down the road, he found himself “sitting in my house, by myself, 26 years old and my mind is literally just going berzerk. And I realized, this is what happens. This is what happens when someone is about to hurt themselves. I am right there. I’ve been blown up, I’ve been shot, I’ve seen my life flash before my eyes so many times, but that was the scariest moment of my life.” >>>

46

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

CONTENTS FEATURE FOOD & DRINK GEAR WINTER CALENDAR AD INDEX

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

47

PARTING SHOT

Ice is the great equalizer. Nobody can climb it without adaptive equipment.

Paradox Ice participants like Maureen Beck just go one step further. (www.claudialopezphotography.com)

CONTENTS WINTER CALENDAR

GEAR

FOOD & DRINK

FEATURE

Shortly after that, he got a DUI and ended up briefly “in the klink.”

“I manned up,” he said. “I was like, this is your life. Yeah, it sucks. But somebody’s got it worse.

You’ve seen worse. It’s not going to work out the way you thought it was but you’ve got to make it better.”

The problem was, his brain couldn’t settle down.

As he put it, “I have the attention span of a circus monkey.” He needed something that would hold his attention, because otherwise, “I’ll be in la-la land in two minutes.”

He also needed a way to handle the black anxiety that kept him awake at night, chewing at his soul.

Help came from a surprising quarter, when a nurse he had been talking with at the Veterans Administration hospital called him up one day and said, “How would you like to climb a mountain in Nepal?”

“And I was like, are you fucking kidding me?

Of course!”

It was for the movie High Ground. That’s where he first met and befriended Jukes. Sidles found magic in the Himalaya, he said: “I can do this. I am actually kind of good at it.”

And not just the climbing part. “The fact that it’s so intense and stuff, that’s what keeps me there,” he said. “And you have to go into selfless mode, because you are part of this team. You have got to be there because people are counting on you. I saw that, and was like, this is kind of like a mission, getting to the summit, relying on each other. It just made sense.”

Today, Sidles is a mentor for Veterans Expeditions (an organization focusing on getting veterans outdoors) and an apprentice climbing guide. He’ll never get back to the kind of person that he used to be.

“Life loses its flavor, to a certain extent. There is always going to be part of me that’s missing,” he said.

But climbing – ice climbing, mountain climbing, rock climbing, at events like Paradox Ice – helps to quiet the demons, focus his mind, and be around people in a way that makes sense.

“I don’t want anything to define me. I don’t want a mountain in Nepal to define me. I don’t want the Marine Corps to define me. I don’t want war to define me. I don’t want a wound to define me. You know? I don’t want any of that,” he said. “But I realized that it was. I was becoming my disability. I was looking at myself as this damaged person, when really, I think we all kind of are. You know?

“We are all flawed. It feels like we all go through hell and we all just have to climb out.”

Paradox Ice Program One-of-a-Kind

PARTING SHOT

AD INDEX

One of the things that makes Paradox Ice different than organizations like VetEx and Soldiers to Summits is that it mixes up wounded warriors like Jukes and Sidles with folks that have lost limbs or the ability to walk in the battlefields of civilian life – car crashes, climbing accidents, natural disasters – as well as people with congenital birth defects, who have adapted to being differently-abled from day one.

“It’s important to note that unofficially what we like to do at Paradox is integrate vets with the civilian population,” said Paradox Ice Program Director Pete Davis. “The Armed Forces have a tendency to segregate soldiers with soldiers. But it’s really impor-

tant for these vets to be around civilians, some of whom have been disabled their entire lives and have got it figured out.”

Davis, born missing most of his lower right arm, is one of those guys, and he’s been rock- and mountain-climbing since age 12, jamming his stump in cracks and styling hard-rock climbs. “I was convinced I was the only one-armed climber,” he said, before he found his adaptive climbing tribe. Since then, it’s been full-on rock and roll.

He took second in advanced rock climbing at the 2007 Extremity Games. And in 2012, he was part of the first adaptive team in history to climb El Cap. Last year, Davis helped T-12 paraplegic climber Shawn O’Neill (the brother of Paradox Sports Cofounder Timmy O’Neill) reach the top of the iconic 365-foot Bridal Veil Falls near Telluride just before the 2014 edition of Paradox Ice. Shawn, who broke his back jumping off a bridge into the Mississippi River 23 years ago, is a pioneer of sit-climbing, and helped design an adaptive system of pulleys for ice axes and other equipment to get up pitches.

He pulled himself up the iconic Bridal Veil Falls using just his upper body, making history as the first paraplegic to ever send the climb.

“Make sure to get pictures of Shawn’s butt,” quipped his brother, before the climb, describing a sort of adaptive butt-crampon his brother would be using. “He’s got the most dangerous ass known to mankind.”

Got Stump?

Feats like his Bridal Veil ascent earned Shawn O’Neill the coveted Got Stump? shirt, a sort of traveling trophy of bad-assdom.

“This is a shirt that has traveled in the company of some of the most famous ice climbers and gimps in the world,” wrote Malcolm Daly in a chronicle of the infamous garment in 2011. “It’s lived in drawers right next to Kim Csizmazia’s panties and Jeff Lowe’s boxers. And it’s never been washed…That’s right boys and girls; it carries the sweat and the stink of eight Ouray Ice Festival auctions and only God knows what else.”

The tale of the Got Stump? shirt started back in 2002, when Daly was emceeing a live auction at the Ouray Ice Festival. Daly, then a recent amputee, was wearing a shirt that read “Got Stump?” when the particularly rowdy crowd started chanting for him to “Sell the shirt” off his back.

“WTF? What shirt are your talking about?” Daly said. “That shirt,” they said, pointing to his chest.

Bidding quickly escalated to over $100. Finally, at $140, a lone hand remained.

“I looked over to confirm and Chris Folsom nodded his head and said, ‘I’ve got to have that shirt,’” Daly recalled. “Turns out that Chris had lopped off a finger while wrenching on a car and earned the nickname ‘Stump.’”

Folsom wore the shirt for a year, then gave it back to be auctioned again at the next Ice Fest, and a tradition was born. In 2008, the Got Stump? Fundraiser became part of the Paradox Ice event. Over the years it has raised $50,000 to build the Ice Park’s Fallen Climbers Memorial, Kids Wall and Stump Wall.

As part of the tradition, the original shirt is passed down to a different adaptive athlete every year. >>>

48

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

Vijay Viswanathan, a paraplegic, had nothing but smiles during his first experience ice climbing at a Paradox Ice event. (www.claudialopezphotography.com)

CONTENTS

FEATURE

FOOD & DRINK

GEAR

WINTER CALENDAR

AD INDEX

PARTING SHOT

49

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

CONTENTS PARTING SHOT

AD INDEX

WINTER CALENDAR

GEAR

FOOD & DRINK

FEATURE

Last year, Shawn O’Neill passed the shirt on to Tommy Carroll, a veteran and above-the-knee amputee who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident. Today, he designs artificial limbs and adaptive sports prosthetics, and volunteers with adaptive sports programs like Paradox Ice. “The first time I climbed rock with ropes, safely and smartly, was with Paradox,” he said. “What that has blossomed into is allowing me to climb Cotopaxi in Ecuador.”

Standing on the rim of the Uncompahgre Gorge last year, on the last day of Paradox Ice, wearing his Got Stump shirt and a gnarly leather fedora, he looked about as disabled as Crocodile Dundee.

But it wasn’t always that way.

“When you become disabled, and you spend enough time in the hospital, you become institutionalized. You lose who you were before,” he reflected. That can be destructive; you are dealing with your own inner anger, and then you take it out on the people around you.

“We’ve seen a lot of these guys end up turning that completely around, and now they are part of society, and they are strong in their own head.”

But as Jukes points out, Paradox Ice is just as much about changing the perception of those who inhabit the “able-bodied” world.

“That’s one of my big things,” he said. “People think they need to feel sorry for us, but it’s the body that was broken, not the mind.”

Perhaps the greatest paradox of all is how many able-bodied people say that Paradox Ice has changed their lives.

“They realize they have had perceived boundaries, limitations of their own, whether psychological, or physical abilities,” Jukes said.

Davis agreed. “The lessons are universal. It just takes the gimps to show it. For us, it’s just more obvious what is wrong.”

The 2015 edition of Paradox Ice is scheduled for Feb. 27-March 1. The weekend typically includes two full days of climbing instruction at the Ouray Ice Park, and plenty of opportunities for participants to get to know each other off the ice (including dinners, slideshows and the Ourayle House’s biggest party of the year). Disabled climbers pay a bargain $225 to participate. Paradox Sports offers scholarships for those who can’t afford it. For more information or to volunteer, visit paradoxsports.org.

Tommy Carroll (above left), Jas White (above left) and Pete Davis (below) are all stylin’ their own personal journeys of badassdom, thanks to Paradox Ice. (www.claudialopezphotography.com)

50

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

Dr. Jason Bojar, MS, DC, CNS Nutrition Functional Medicine Chiropractic Dr. Jessica Balbo, DC Chiropractic Sports Injury/Rehab

NOW OFFERING

ride with

RoudY

NOW OFFERING

Super Pulsed Laser Therapy

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

The Next Generation Treatment for Pain and Injuries

Great for altitude sickness, improved exercise recovery and much more!

T W O C O N V E N I E N T O F F I C E L O C AT I O N S

177 sherman st., suite 101, ridgway, co 81432 · 970.626.7137 220 e. colorado ave. #211, telluride, co 81435 · 612.384.3529 BalanceNaturalMedicine.com

or he’ll sleigh you!

970.728.9611

GET READY KUHL OUTERWEAR · FRITSCHI DIAMIR

GO SKINNY!

DPS SKIS · DEUTER SKI PACKS ORTOVOX AVALANCHE SAFETY MEIER COLORADO SKIS · BLACK DIAMOND THE NORTH FACE · GRIVEL ICE GEAR MSR SNOWSHOES · SMITH SPORT OPTICS PETZL · STERLING ROPE

Retail · Rental · Repairs Certified Mounting & Hand Tunes 9-6 Daily • 153 Hwy. 550 Ridgway, CO • 970-626-3608

NORDIC DEMOS, SALES, CLINICS, TOURS

PA R A G O N O U T D O O R S O P E N Y E A R - R O U N D 213 W. COLORADO AVE. | TELLURIDE 970.728.4525

CONTENTS FEATURE

BY JESSIE JAMES MCTIGUE | PHOTOS BY BRETT SCHRECKENGOST experiences in the surrounding mountains –biking the Wasatch to show off for a boyfriend, hiking Ajax to honor a high-school friend, skiing a chute for the hell of it, running endless Jud Wiebes. These stories are just there, a part of the surrounding mountains.

This past summer, I found myself – with my family – winding up a similar road. It was a right-hand turn this time, off Highway 55 between Montrose and Gunnison, into the Cimarron Valley. As soon as we made the turn, I unconsciously drove slower, turned down the music and paid attention. The land surrounding us demanded our attention as we wound our way up a verdant mountain valley, surrounded by true Rocky Mountain country, raw in its beauty and untouched by development. A place where elk herds graze, trout rise, horse trails meander and mountains stand, lift-less, in

the backdrop.

We were going to the Cimarron Mountain Club, a 2,000-acre private parcel of land, nestled against the Cimarron Ridge. At 11,000 ft., the two-and-a-half-mile ridge holds back the endless acres of undulating forest below, while immediately giving way to rock walls and steep slopes, making it perfect for all thing outdoors: winter cat-skiing, Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, and summer hiking, biking, climbing, hunting and fishing.

CMC is Denver-based lawyer Jim Aronstein’s unorthodox vision of a four-season mountain resort.

He, along with the dream team of recreation experts who have built their careers managing and designing iconic ski resorts such as Aspen, Vail and Telluride to envisioning, then executing, the luxury amenities of Auberge resorts, plan to build a low-density, four-sea-

GEAR

’ve driven up Highway 145 from Placerville to Telluride countless times. Funny, it wasn’t until I wrote that sentence that I ever referred to the road as Highway 145 (I had my husband Google it), yet I’ve been traveling on it since I was 11. For me, the road was simply the way home.

But every time I returned to this valley – from boarding school, summer visits with dad, Africa, college – it wasn’t until we made the left-hand turn off of Hwy. 645 (we just Googled that, too) to Placerville, followed the San Miguel River, wound through the lower red-rock canyon, then finally climbed Keystone Hill that I knew I was home. Because it was there that I’d see the mountains that not only shape this box canyon, but shaped my childhood.

Upon arriving, I never cognitively recollected my

FOOD & DRINK

A Winter Wonderland, Where the Mountains Stand, Lift-less

>>>

The Cimarron Mountain Club boasts more than 1,000 acres of alpine skiing, including the Cirque, below.

WINTER CALENDAR AD INDEX

53

PARTING SHOT

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

Robin and Zack Templin, on a guided tour of the club (left to right); a snowcat nears the top of the ridge; a yurt will serve as base area until a ski lodge is built; a guided ski tour;

son private mountain resort that includes over 1,000 acres of alpine skiing accessible by private snow cat.

Aronstein’s vision does not include ski lifts, liftside condominiums and an Alps-like village. Instead, his vision is more literal. It’s the place itself. It’s standup paddle boarding on an isolated pond tucked under the shadow of a towering mountain; it’s being alone, fishing for 24-inch cutthroats and brook trout. It’s riding buttery single track, with no crowds; skiing endless fresh tracks with no lift lines; hunting elk on private property; and galloping on a horse across wild forestland.

But most of all, the place is about being surrounded by vast wilderness. Last summer, as my husband and I paddled the standup paddleboards around one of the secluded ponds with our 4- and 7-year-old daughters, the surrounding forest seemed to consume us and take from us all that we didn’t need – our to-do list, our cell phones, our unanswered text messages.

Riley and Gage Warner (right to left) frolicking in the snow, and riding the snowcat with their dad, Bobby.

Instead, it insisted we observe both our surroundings and those who we were with.

As we idly watched fish jump and surveyed the area, Brett Schreckengost, who has spent the last year photographing and videoing the land, pointed to where the stables will be, and explained the plan to build miles of buttery single track for mountain biking. He pointed to a rock wall anchoring the property to the north, made from a volcanic plug, a unique feature for climbers and to the cut ski runs that spanned across the bowl above us. He spoke of the wildlife he had seen.

We chatted, our kids ran free, climbing on the big rocks surrounding the pond and throwing the smaller ones in, entertaining themselves with the splash.

The cutthroat and brook trout jumped in the distance, as if on command. We lost our sense of time as the sun slowly set to the west, casting us in its pink glow before it descended behind the ridge.

Six months later, I returned to the Cimarron

Mountain Club, slowing like before as I made the right-hand turn off Highway 55. I followed the same dirt road the 12 miles to the entrance, but this time the mountains looked different, all covered in white and illuminated by the stars. A sharper contrast existed between the rocky cliff bands running perpendicular, the snow-covered ski runs slithering vertically, and the dense green forest filling the rest of the space. The land looked bolder, bigger, more defined.

It was also during this visit that I met CMC mountain hosts Scott Slater and Shawna Stephens. Stephens and Slater blended into the scenery, belonging to it rather it to them. Both are master guides, collectively covering horseback, fly fishing and hunting, their experiences ranging from places as far away as Alaska, the Himalayas, the Alps, and Tierra del Fuego to as close to home as the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

The two have spanned the globe, yet it is fitting they

FEATURE

Stephens and Slater, will live at the club and work as mountain hosts, taking care of guests and leading horseback riding, fishing and hunting excursions. Slater is a professional hydrologist and fishery biologist and Stephens is currently finishing her nursing degree to give her the certification she needs to practice wilderness medicine.

“I’m coming home,” Stephens said. “For me to help someone love this place the way I do – that’s what it’s [guiding here] about.”

Ascending Via Snowcat, Descending Via Powder Turns The next morning we explored the upper reaches of the property ascending via snowcat and descending via powder turns. We didn’t have to rush to get first tracks or battle crowds or lift lines, and every turn was untracked. The terrain varied from wide-

WINTER CALENDAR

open runs to gladed trees. To the south lay narrower and steeper chutes and the north wider open bowls.

At lunch, I sat in the rustic chic yurt at the base of the ski runs with former COO of Telluride Ski Resort and current CMC General Manager of CMC, Johnnie Stevens, talking about the property over Slater’s homemade elk chili and a glass of crisp white wine.

Stevens and Aronstein explained the plan for building. On the spot where we were sitting, they will build the project’s largest building, a 10,000 square-foot communal lodge. Meandering throughout the property are 12 single-family lots, 35 to 70 acres, on which members can build their mountain home with a guest house.

Members who do not want to buy a single-family lot can use one of four three-bedroom luxury cabins when they visit. The idea is that by keeping the number of homes low, the club’s focus, both visually and spiritually, will be on the surrounding 2,000 acres >>>

GEAR

ended back here, a place Stephens has been coming to since she was a child.

“My grandfather was a rancher in this valley,” she said. “It runs in my blood. His ashes are up there.”

Growing up abroad, the Cimarron Mountain Valley was a constant in her life, a place that anchored her. Stephens grew up in Asia, her cousins in Greece.

“It’s the one place where we’d all come back and see each other,” she said. “My connection to this land is not just a job; around every bend is a memory.”

Influenced by the out of doors and travel, Stephens has been exploring the world through guiding – mostly fly fishing, but also rafting on and off since she was 19.

“I’ve spent time in the Himalayas, and the Alps, and I always think this range is going to be better than the San Juans, but I go up there [Cimarron Valley] and say, ‘This is unreal.’ The other places don’t hold a candle to it.”

FOOD & DRINK

the author, on a snowcat-served run; Zach Templin and Greg Hope catching freshies.

AD INDEX

55

PARTING SHOT

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

‘I don’t know any place like it, as far as having that much land so far from a lot of other folks.’

Cross-country Nordic ski trails abound (left to right), as do unique snowcat-groomed downhill runs.

and adjacent national forest and Bureau of Land Management lands.

“It’s special because it’s going to be so small, as far as the amount of people,” Stevens said. “I don’t know any place like it, as far as having that much land so far from a lot of other folks.”

Stevens has an eye for special. He was the second employee hired by the then-aspiring Telluride Ski Resort in the early 1970s, and stayed for thirty-plus years as the area’s COO planning trails, executing ski area expansion, building lifts and operating the ski area. He sees a few similarities between the two developments.

“Most consultants didn’t think it [Telluride] would work because we didn’t have a population base, and we were far from the airport,” Stevens said.

“But we had great geography and a great town. Likeminded people get it; it’s about the mountains and

it’s worth it once you get there.”

In addition to the 2,000 acres of CMC land, members can access the surrounding U.S. Forest Service land that the general public would have to trespass across private property to access. Suddenly, the 2,000 acres becomes a whole lot more.

“I thought I knew the San Juans, but I didn’t even know this area,” Stevens said. “I came over and I thought Jiminy Christmas, this place in unbelievable. I’m a ski guy and the skiing is terrific – look at the elevation and terrain.”

The land and project were so alluring that Stevens came out of retirement to be a part of it.

Since visiting the Cimarron Valley, I’ve thought about Stevens’ words: he didn’t even know this place existed. It made me wonder how many more valleys, isolated ridges and teeming ponds might be out there.

How many more dirt roads wind up to pristine natural places where wildlife roams without a care? Places that confidentially hold a family’s history. Places that shape people, and connect generations.

As I left the Cimarron Mountain Club, winding down the dirt road, I thought of the people who this place would shape. Those whose world would slow down, as soon as they make that right-hand turn off of Highway 55. Those who would return over and over, unaware of the names of the roads that led them here, but aware of the stories that the surrounding mountains would tell about them. Those who would recognize this road as the way home.

For more information about the Cimarron Mountain Club, go to cimarronclub.com or email CMC General Manager, Johnnie Stevens, at jstevens@cimarronclub.com.

Memberships begin at $900,000.

WINTER CALENDAR

GEAR

FOOD & DRINK

FEATURE

– Johnnie Stevens

PARTING SHOT

AD INDEX

Lunchtime for the Warner family, with Michelle, Bobby, Gage and Riley.

56

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

! e r u t ic p e h t in Put yourself

Put yourself in the picture!

! e r u t c i p e h t n i f l e s r u o Stay with

nights in Telluride fo*r 7 ns io at od m om cc Stay with A e nights FREE! and get two of th ly. ut Dates may app

4-8772 6-75 86ACA 1-W.V OM TIONTELLURIDE.C WW

Accommodations in Telluride for seven nights and get 5th, 6th or 7th night FREE !*

Deals. Blacko Specials and Hot s. Call for other *Select propertie

*Select properties. Call for other Specials and Hot Deals. Blackout Dates may apply.

1-866-754-8772 WWW.VACATIONTELLURIDE.COM

ights

n or 7 f e d ri * .

Tellu REE! apply n i may F s n tes a s o D t i t h ut moda f the nig Deals. Blacko m o c t o c a rw bo a r a Kcoialns dandrHaoc k i th A gB t t e pe d an g r a pfohr iocthedr Se s i g n

1 WW.VAC W

SheShe is the ONLY place in Montrose to buy prAna

LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO WEAR BORING CLOTHES

( 970 ) 249- 4944 • 340 E. Main St. Montrose, CO

ll . Ca

rties

e prop

772 5E4LL-U8RIDE.COM 7 6 -86 ATIONT

print and digital

event publications marketing graphics web design logo design illustration C R E AT I V E C O N T E M P O R A R Y S E A S O N A L F A R E .

Proprietor chef Chad Scothorn

bk 970.729.1765 barbarakondracki.com info@barbarakondracki.com

In the Hotel Columbia 970.728.1292 make your online reser vation at www.cosmotellur ide .com

Step Outside this Winter Snowshoe Tours Jan., Feb. & March

OPEN

Tues.- Sat. 11am-5pm

Open until 7pm on Thurs.

Ski into History with Ashley Boling

call or visit our website for details

201 W. Gregory Ave. • 728.3344 • TellurideMuseum.org

The New Fat Alley

Sunny Patio · Cold Beer · Appetizers

Apres whatever you do!

O P E N 11 A M – 10 P M

|

970.728.3985

L O C AT E D AT T H E B A S E O F G O N D O L A I N T E L L U R I D E

"World-class ribs and the best bread pudding you have ever tasted. I would not visit Telluride without eating here."

– L arry O Lmstead , USA TodAy, march 18, 2013

Nat e Moore Graphic Design and Illustration

! e l O

Great Mexican Food, Fantastic Views, Fun Lodging, Southwestern Atmosphere www.adobeinnridgway.com Chosen as one of Colorado's Finest Small-town Restaurants...a step above the rest...a locals' favorite!

OPEN NIGHTLY

Mexican Food & Lodging

Lounge with fireplace open at 5 p.m.

Dinner 5:30 to 9:00 p.m.

251 Liddell Dr. (1 block South of Hwy. 62) Ridgway, Colorado • 970-626-5939

720.480.2408 NateJamesMoore@Gmail.com

DECEMBER

26 Opening Day Kick-Off: Donation Day Benefiting Telluride Ski & Snowboard Club, Telluride Ski Resort, tellurideskiresort.com Crested Butte Ski Resort Opens, skicb.com

3 Telluride Noel Night, visittelluride.com

27 Telluride Ski Resort Opens, tellurideskiresort.com

28-29 Annual Training Camp, Crested Butte Nordic Center, cbnordic.org

5 Durango Noel Night, Durango.org Night of Lights, Gunnison, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com Spirit of Christmas Celebration, Downtown Grand Junction, downtowngj.org 5-7 Telluride Holiday Arts Bazaar, telluridearts.org

6-7 Irwin Guides Ski Mountaineering Race, Irwin, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com 7, 13 Gingerbread House Building, Ridgway, weehawkenarts.org Telemark Clinic, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com 9 Baby Boomers Clinic, Wolf Creek, wolfcreekski.com

12 Mountain Village Jingle Jam & Tree Lighting Ceremony, visittelluride.com 12-13 Light Up the Night Weekend, Crested Butte, skicb.com 12 -14 The Bizarre Bazaar, Durango.org 13 International Women’s Ski Day, Chicks on Sticks, Telluride, tellurideskiresort.com Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg, Met Opera Live in HD, Palm Theater Telluride, www.telluridepalm.com 6th Annual Wine, Chocolate, and Cheese Fest, Ouray, ouraycountycolorado.org Santa’s Ski Crawl, Crested Butte, skicb.com

FOOD & DRINK

28 Durango Mountain Resort Opens, durangomountainresort.com Montrose Tree Lighting Holiday Kick-Off Event, visitmontrose.com

3-14 Telluride Holiday Prelude, two weeks of events and activities, visittelluride.com

6 Annual Parade of Lights, Downtown Montrose, visitmontrose.com Telluride Ski Tree Lighting and Ullr’s Ceremonial Burn, visittelluride.com Ladies’ Ski/Board Clinic, Wolf Creek, wolfcreekski.com Old Fashioned Christmas at Schmid Ranch, telluridemuseum.org

FEATURE

NOVEMBER

CONTENTS

W I N T E R

>>>

GEAR WINTER CALENDAR AD INDEX

59

PARTING SHOT

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

Amelia’s Hacienda Restaurante & Cantina

W I N

14 -20 Rock on Ice, Ice Carving Festival, Mt. Crested Butte, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com

27-29 Level 1: Decision Making in Avalanche Terrain, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com

17- 21 Playing Santa at the Sheridan Opera House, Telluride, sheridanoperahouse.org

31 Telluride New Year’s Eve Torchlight Parade, Fireworks, tellurideskiresort.com New Year’s Eve Countdown, Telluride Courthouse Steps New Year’s Eve Torchlight Parade, Powderhorn, powderhorn.com New Year’s Eve Torchlight Parade, Purgatory Mountain, Durango.org New Year’s Eve Torchlight Parade and Party, Crested Butte Ski Resort, skicb.com New Year’s Eve Yurt Dinner and Party, Crested Butte Nordic Center, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com dZi Foundation Hosts Mountainfilm on Tour in Ouray, ouraycountycolorado.org New Sherbino Theater New Year’s Eve Party, Downtown Ridgway, sherbinotheater.com New Year’s Eve Dinner, Beaumont Hotel, Ouray, ouraycountycolorado.org

19-20 Weehawken Dance Presents: The Polar Express, Montrose Pavilion, weehawkenarts.org 19-21 Level 1: Decisionmaking in Avalanche Terrain, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com 20-Jan 4 Unguided Skiing, Silverton Mountain, silvertonmountain.com 20, 27 Winter Solstice Yurt Dinner, Crested Butte Nordic Center, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com 24 Telluride Christmas Eve Torchlight Parade, tellurideskiresort.com

Amelia Castrellon Perez Beloved Mother, Aunt, and Grandmother

Dine in or take or take out Where Favorite Mexican Dishes and Specialites Are Made Daily 44 S. Grand Ave | Montrose | 970/249-1881 21/2 Blocks West of Townsend on Main Street Hours: Monday - Saturday 11 am - Close Closed Sunday

24-25 Santa Visits Wolf Creek, wolfcreekski.com 25 Santa on the Hill and Torchlight Parade, tellurideskiresort.com Christmas Dinner at the Beaumont Hotel, ouraycountycolorado.org

JANUARY 1 Telluride Art Walk, telluridearts.org New Year’s Day Brunch Train, Durango.org 1- 2 Introduction to Ice Climbing, San Juan Mountain Guides, mtnguide.net

N T E R

2- 4 Level 1: Decisionmaking in Avalanche Terrain, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com 3-6 Intro to Winter Mountaineering and Expedition Climbing, San Juan Mountain Guides, mtnguide.net 5 Full Moon Party, Crested Butte, skicb.com 8-11 20th Annual Ouray Ice Festival, Ouray Ice Park, ourayicepark.com 9-11 Level 1: Decisionmaking in Avalanche Terrain, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com Roost the Butte: Snowmobile snowcross, hillcross, snowovals and hill drag, skicb.com 14-18 Mountain High Music Festival, Crested Butte, skicb.com 15 President’s Day Race, wolfcreekski.com 15-18 Women’s Ice Climbing Clinic: The Sampler, Ouray, chickswithpicks.net 15-19 Telluride Fire Festival, telluridefirefestival.org

16-19 Intro to Winter Mountaineering and Expedition Climbing, mtnguide.net 17 Citizens Race: 10K or 20K Classic Skiing Race, Crested Butte Nordic Center, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com The Merry Widow, Met Opera in HD, Palm Theater, Telluride, www.telluridepalm.com 15-18 Snowmobile Level 2 Avy Course, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com

APRIL 10-12 2015 HISTORIC DOWNTOWN MONTROSE

22 Washington’s Day Race, Wolf Creek Ski Area, wolfcreekski.com 22-23 Intro to Ice Climbing, Ouray, mtnguide.net 24 KOTO Radio Lip Sync, Telluride, www.koto.org 28- Feb. 1 Snowdown Winter Festival, snowdown.org 31 Les Contes D’Hoffman, Met Opera in HD, Palm Theater, www.telluridepalm.com 30-Feb. 1 Level 1: Decisionmaking in Avalanche Terrain, Silverton Avalanche School, avyschool.com Women’s Ice Climbing Clinic: The Quickie, Ouray, chickswithpicks.net >>>

EARLY BIRD TICKETS

ON SALE 2015 FEB. 20

BENEFITTING HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF THE SAN JUANS

BUILDINGLIVES.ORG/ADVENTUREFILM • 970.252.9303 X 7 Chow Down

Park Avenue P A R T I E S

MONTROSE

MASONIC

BUILDING

W I N

Saturday & Sunday

BRUNCH 10AM-2:45PM

FEBRUARY fuel for your adventure BRUNCH ON WEEKENDS 10AM - 2:45 BAR MENU 2:45 - 5:30 PM LUNCH 11:30AM - 2:45PM DINNER 5:30 PM - CLOSE 728.8884 • 103 W. COLORADO (MAIN STREET)

1 The Merry Widow, Met Opera in HD, Palm Theater, Telluride, www.telluridepalm.com 1, 8, 15 Introduction to Backcountry Skiing, Ouray, mtnguide.net 5 Telluride Art Walk, telluridearts.org 6 Learn to Skate Ski for Free, Crested Butte Nordic Center, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com 3rd Annual Alley Loop Fat Bike Race & Pub Ski, Downtown Crested Butte, cbnordic.org 7, 15, 21, 22, 28 Free Walk With a Ranger, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, nps.gov/blca

Open FOr BreakFast In the VIllage

7 Chocolate Lovers’ Fling, Telluride, sanmiguelresourcecenter.org Chocolate Fantasia, La Plata County Fairgrounds, Durango.org 28th Annual Alley Loop Nordic Marathon, Crested Butte, cbnordic.org Ranger-led Snowshoe Walk, Black Canyon National Park, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com 7-9 Snowscape Winter Festival, Silverton, Kendall Mountain Recreation Area, silvertoncolorado.com 12-15 Telluride Comedy Festival, sheridanoperahouse.com/comedyfestival 13-16 Introduction to Winter Mountaineering, Ouray, mtnguide.net

“Gondogola”

15 Gothic Mountain Tour, presented

by Crested Butte Nordic Center, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com Moonlight Snowshoe Tour, Crested Butte Mountain Resort, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com 15-16 5th Annual Skijoring Event, Downtown Silverton Ranger-led Snowshoe Walk, Black Canyon National Park, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com Junior Freeskiing National Championships, skicb.com 16 Winter Photographers’ Train, Durango.org 19-22 Prater Cup, skicb.com 22-23 Black Canyon Ranger-led Snowshoe Walk, Black Canyon National Park, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com 22-Mar. 1 Telluride Gay Ski Week, telluridegayskiweek.com 23 Fun Race: 6 of 10, Wolf Creek, skiwolfcreek.com 27 Telluride AIDS Benefit Art Auction, aidsbenefit.org 27-28 2 Star Freeride World Qualifier, Crested Butte, skicb.com 28 Telluride AIDS Benefit Fashion Show and Auction, aidsbenefit.org

MARCH

14 Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, Met Opera in HD, Palm Theater, Telluride, www.telluridepalm.com

1 7 Hours of the Banana, Crested Butte, skicb.com Winter Photography Workshop Adventures, skicb.com

14-16 IFSA Regionals Junior/College Freeskiing Competitions, Crested Butte, skicb.com

1-7 Level 3 Advanced Avalanche Training for Professionals & Recreational Leaders, avyschool.com 1, 8 Introduction to Backcountry Skiing, Ouray, mtnguide.net

Kamruz Art Gallery

398 W. Colorado Ave

Telluride CO

Kamruz.com

CONTENTS

N T E R

Black Tie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Balance Natural Medicine . . . . . . 51

Gravity Works . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Ride with Roudy, Alpine Wellness . . 51

Telluride Properties/Roer . . . . . . . 9

Ridgway Outdoor Experience . . . . . 52

San Juan Jeep Tours . . . . . . . . . 16

Bootdoctors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Brown Bag . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Kannah Creek Brewery . . . . . . . . 52

Wiesbaden . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Nate Moore Designs . . . . . . . . . 52

San Juan Mountain Guides . . . . . . 23

Accommodations in Telluride . . . . . 57

Telluride Ski and Golf Co. . . . . . . . 24

She-She Boutique . . . . . . . . . . 57

Bottleworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Cosmopolitan Restaurant . . . . . . 57

Telluride Sports . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Telluride Historical Museum . . . . . 58

3 KOTO End-of-Season Pink Flamingo Street Dance, koto.org

San Juan Untracked . . . . . . . . . 25

Silverton Chamber of Commerce . . . 58

San Juan Outdoor School . . . . . . 25

Adobe Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

3-12 Unguided Skiing, Silverton Mountain, silvertonmountain.com

Montrose Memorial Hospital . . . . . 26

Amelia’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Pinhead Institute . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Habitat for Humanity . . . . . . . . . 61

4 Slush Huck/Pond Skim, skicb.com

Delta County Hospital . . . . . . . . 32

Floradora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Bootdoctors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Chicks with Picks . . . . . . . . . . 62

Steamie’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Diggity Dogg . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Ridgway Real Estate/Redmond . . . . 33

Kamruz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Acme Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Mountain Khakis . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Andrews Real Estate . . . . . . . . 41

Telluride Mountainfilm . . . . . . . . 66

Jagged Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

New Sheridan, . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Green Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Safari Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

4-8 Subaru Freeride Series, Telluride Ski Resort, www.tellurideskiresort.com Durango Film Festival, durangofilm.org Mardi Gras, skicb.com The Power of Four Ski Mountaineering Race, Aspen, cosmicski.com

27-29 Mountain Town Get Down, Telluride Ski Resort, tellurideskiresort.com

5 Telluride Arts Walk, telluridearts.org 5-8 IFSA Nationals Junior/College Freestyle Competitions, Crested Butte, skicb.com 6 Learn to Skate Ski for Free, Crested Butte Nordic Center, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com 7 Big Air on Elk, Downtown Crested Butte, skicb.com 12-15 Telluride Tribute Fest, sheridanoperahouse.com 13-15 US Ski Mountaineering National Championships, Crested Butte, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com Backcountry Ski Hut Trip, mtnguide.net 14 La Donna del Lago, Met Opera in HD, Palm Theater, Telluride, www.telluridepalm.com 14-15 Backcountry Basecamp, Crested Butte, skicb.com

21 New Moon Yurt Dinner, Crested Butte, cbnordic.org 21-22 4 Star Freeride World Qualifier, Crested Butte, skicb.com

APRIL 2 Telluride Art Walk, telluridearts.org

5 Closing Day Pond Skim and Party at Gorrono Ranch, tellurideskiresort.com 5 Telluride Ski Resort 2014-2015 Closing Day Pond Skim Closing Party at Goronno Ranch, tellurideskiresort.com 10-12 Ultimate Snowmobile Event, Crested Butte Mountain Resort, skicb.com 3-12 Unguided Skiing, Silverton Mountain, silvertonmountain.com 14-17 Ski Mountaineering Camp, San Juan Mountains, mtnguide.net 26 Crested Butte Pole, Paddle & Pedal, Gunnison to Crested Butte, gunnisoncrestedbutte.com Ski the Peaks: North Twilight, mtnguide.net

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

63

PARTING SHOT

22 Annual Al Johnson Uphill/Downhill Telemark Race, Crested Butte Mountain Resort, skicb.com

27-29 Mountain Town Get Down, tellurideskiresort.com

AD INDEX

20-22 Ragtime and Early Jazz Festival, Strater Hotel, Durango, henrystratertheater.com

27-28 Annual Grand Traverse Backcountry Ski Race, Crested Butte to Aspen, skicb.com

WINTER CALENDAR

Bootdoctors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

25-28 Telluride Burlesque, sheridanoperahousecom

GEAR

Montrose Office of Tourism . . . . . . 3

3-8 Suburu Freeride Series, Telluride Ski Resort, subarufreerideseries.com

FOOD & DRINK

Brown Dog . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

FEATURE

Silver Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

© 2014 Mountain Khakis. All rights reserved.

L I F E I N B A L A N C E . . . S O M E T I M E S I T ’S E A S I E R T H A N YO U T H I N K .

LIFE UNTUCKED

MountainKhakis.com

CONTENTS

PARTING

SHOT Greg Hope, heading home. (Photo by Brett Schreckengost)

FEATURE FOOD & DRINK GEAR WINTER CALENDAR AD INDEX

65

PARTING SHOT

adventureGUIDE | WINTER2014-15

3 6 t h A N N U A L I S I N C E 19 7 9

INDOMITABLE SPIRT

CELEBRATING

F R I D A Y– M O N D A Y, M AY 2 2 – 2 5 , M E M O R I A L D A Y W E E K E N D

For passes & information or to learn about Mountainfilm on Tour and other initiatives, please visit: Mountainfilm.org Mountainfilm is dedicated to educating, inspiring and motivating audiences about issues that matter, cultures worth exploring, environments worth preserving, adventures worth pursuing and conversations worth sustaining.

Celebrate Telluride’s historic landmark hotel restored to a modern level of grandeur and experience a new level of Old World service.

historic landmark hotel n level of grandeur and brate Telluride’s historic landmark hotel el of Old World service. eedChop & Wine to aHouse modern level of grandeur and ric Newa Sheridan ience new levelBar. of Old World service.

Proudly featuring the ChopHouse & Wine Bar, Parlor, and Historic New

dly featuring the CO Chop www.newsheridan.com House & Wine do Ave., Telluride, Parlor, and Historic970.728.4351 New Sheridan Bar. 800.200.1891

B R E A K FA S T

LUNCH

DINNER

Sheridan Bar.

LIBATIoNS

231 W. Colorado Ave., Telluride, CO www.newsheridan.com 231 W. CoLoRADo, TELLURIDE, 970.728.4351 800.200.1891 970.728.4351

LoDgINg