Mountain Film

"Mountain Film" has begun and it is by far my favorite festival of the summer. It marks the official end of Off Season which began the day after the mountain closed in early April until Mountain Film in late May. During Off Season the town literally closes up and most people leave. Now, everyone is back in town and full of energy talking about their adventures in the past two months. The main questions asked is: what did you do for Off Season? And adventures are told of going to Baja or Hawaii or well - anywhere with lots of hot sun - rare in Telluride during off season. One year I went to Palm Springs of all places (it's a long story). After 3 days of being poolside in 110 degrees, I turned to my friend and said - "I'm finally warm." But enough about off season.

Mountain Film - It is a film festival for documentaries mainly about mountain life. People come from all over the world for this festival. It is three days of celebrating mountain life and mountain people and the feeling of it is layed back and just alot of fun. You also become very educated about people and lifestyles all over the world where mountains exist.

This year is Mountain Film's 25th anniversary so they decided to do a little pre-festival for the locals. So every day at 5pm, they are giving away free beer, wine and food and then opening up one of the theatres presenting free music, lectures and and movies. It has been great fun and everyone has enjoyed it quite a bit.

I'm sitting here at my desk watching a neighbor put up a trampoline for his son. It's spring. That doesn't mean no snow - it just means less snow. My neighbor was a member of the US Ski Team in his youth. So he's not putting up just a regular trampoline for his son - no this one has a bar high above the trampoline so that he can hook himself to it and do sumersalts and twists and all sort of fun things safely. I guess his son is training for freestyle or snowboard competition. I just was looking at it and thinking that is a sign of where I live - a mountain town. But I'll tell you more about that later. I've got to take a hike - there's a storm coming in.

HUGE storm hits Denver

You know that HUGE storm that hit Denver - dropping 5 feet in the mountains - yea, well...it missed us COMPLETELY. Hey, but the good news is it's really hard to ski in 5 feet of snow. It also was really heavy, wet snow so who needs that? We got about 6 inches in the past three days - now THAT you can ski in.

You gotta try out the new skis this year

It is so good up here. Absolutely beautiful, warm weather, blazing blue skies and LOTS of snow. I can't find words to communicate how beautiful it is here. Every time I go skiing I am amazed at the views we have. They are some of the best of any ski area I've been in. Seriously and I don't even have stock in the ski area - really.

My big suggestion, no matter where you are skiing - you gotta try out the new skis this year. WOW. If you are skiing on old gear, break down and demo a pair of the new short skis. They are remarkable. My old skis were a pair of Rossi Viper 99s that I never was really crazy about - I had been on the Viper X before and LOVED that ski. Anyway - I broke down this year to buy a new pair and got the Rossi Saphir VS in 40 legnth. 40!!!! When I stand by them they come up to my nose. The director of the ski school (who obviously knows here stuff) picked them out for me and I had to ask two other people in the store if this was REALLY my length. My old skis were 77s. Well - let me tell you - these ROCK!!! I go much faster than I dared with my old skis because these are so solid. The bumps are fast and easy.

So - at least demo a pair. They're amazing. Also - for those friends of yours who tried skiing once and it was too hard - get them out on a pair of these. They ski for you.

And one more piece of advice - get a helmet when you get those skis. Cause you're going to go much faster, you'll need the helmet.

Have fun out there.

I really have to hire somebody so I can get some skiing in.

Its snowing and has been snowing since yesterday and that's after a lot of snow all week. We've got a lot of snow here folks. The ski mountain is reporting 11" in 24 hours and I'm pretty sure that's not counting today - which is probably another foot. Yeah!!! Me - I'm busy making truffles. I really have to hire somebody so I can get some skiing in.

Spring skiing is almost here

We have gotten all of these little storms that have added up to give us some great conditions right now. And its almost MARCH!!! Spring skiing is almost here.

A funny thing about living in the mountains, you think of spring a little differently. It's not the crocuses pushing through the snow that does it - that doesn't happen until May. No as March hits we still have 3 feet of snow in our yards, so we look for some other signs. The snow is slightly melting so you can look forward to it being gone from your yard maybe by May. The air is warmer and on some days the sun is so bright all you need is a light coat. And you start planning what sort of potted plants to put out this year, even though you can't put them out until June. But its coming. Oh boy!!!

We need more snow

The bad news is - we need more snow. The good news is - we are enjoying a long run of beautiful, sunny days and they are much appreciated by those who live with long winters in the mountains. I am looking out my window and the mountains are a blaze with sunshine. Now this isn't the best for skiing conditions, but it is great for skiing. Nothing like swooshing down a slope with the sun blazing down and glistening on the snow. The sky - so clear blue. Its just soothes the soul. And isn't that really what its all about?