Telluride knows how to party

Telluride has over 30 parties and festival throughout the course of the year. They even have the Annual No Festival festival mid-July each year. Only t-shirts are sold, no events. Halloween is no exception to the must-party atmosphere. Everyone gets into it.

When I taught at Conval High in NH, about 20-30% of the faculty and students pulled it out on Halloween. Many thought it uncool to dress up and celebrate. Different states, different mentalities. Maybe it is the vestiges of the puritanical, have-no-fun history of New England. Colorado does not have that problem. Just living here is a reason to celebrate. Halloween is no exception. At the Mountain School we had a 99% dress-up rate. You just do it and enjoy the silliness of it all.

Then we left for the second half of the day to participate in the all-town Halloween Parade. Everyone comes out for it and it is usually snowing. This year the weather cooperated and it warmed up slightly by the time we were all outside.

The somewhat famous annual KOTO (local and only radio station) holds its annual Halloween Bash at the Sheridon Opera House. This year they celebrated their 33rd party. It has been voted the best party in Colorado by many a magazine. And I did not go. Owen would have severely disapproved of me foisting him off on a baby sitter on Halloween. Instead we trick or treated.

and then went to the Rock-n-Roll Academy Party at the Elks Lodge, a kid-oriented affair. A bunch of my students' bands were playing and we had a lot of fun. No alcohol, just bad coffee and plenty of sugary treats.

Walking through town on our way back home from the party we came across a few of Owen's friends playing outside a restaurant. I went in to say hello while Owen played and the parents practically dragged me into a seat at their table. It was immediately obvious that they HAD been to the KOTO party. Hey, free food. Who was I to argue? We closed the place down. We were the only ones there. Everyone else in town without kids was at the opera
house.

I'm back

Ridiculously busy with this this teaching gig. I am often composing posting in my head when I am not thinking in Spanish or about Spanish. Loving Telluride, hating the separation from Husband and Dad. Loving job and hating having too much on my plate. Loving the mountains and hating that there is not yet enough snow to ski. Love living near fun aunt an uncle and miss my Idaho friends. We love parking the car for weeks on end and taking the Goose (free). We really miss the kid away at U of ID.

So, we hike a lot. Of course. Usually we are above 10,000 ft. It use to make us dizzy but now we have acclimated. We don't mountain bike as much as I hoped because much is too difficult for Owen due to the huge climbs involved.

We climb much more. The desert is a mere 100 miles or so down the hill so we can climb most of the winter. Moab is about 150 miles, so we can bike as well.

Crack Canyon, Ophir

This past Sunday Clay, Jenny, Owen and I went climbing in a popular canyon in Ophir, not too far from Telluride, that is know for its long crack lines and is appropriately named Cracked Canyon. There is something for every level here with routes ranging from 5.6- 5.12. There is a steep, scree approach that is a little sketchy but once you pick out your spot and settle in it is quite comfy.

This was Owen's first day-long, outdoor climbing experience so Clay wanted it to be some place fun that he (and I) would not get discourage by too difficult of routes. We were the first climbers at the area but within a couple of hours about 5 other parties showed up. I don't know the name of all the routes we climbed but we stayed on the west wall until the last climb. These routes were challenging, for me, but not impossible.




Right before we were about to leave Clay decided he wanted to do a more challenging route, Orange Peel 5.10a, on the east wall that a couple had just evacuated who were obviously seasoned climbers. The guy made it up no problem, but the girl struggled and finally gave up less than half way up. That did not bode well for any attempt by me and I figured Owen would not even make it too far off the ground. Well I was right about me and wrong about Owen. I did not make it past the crux and Owen sent it like he'd been crack climbing for years. All of us who were watching were slack-jawed. He was entirely nonchalant about the feat and now wants to know when he gets to go to Indian Creek to climb.

Life at Altitude

I DNFed the ride today. I feel like a loser. Clay was so psyched to do an epic ride when Tony arrived and I thought I was too but my legs did not agree with me. After 45 minutes of climbing, most of which I was too pumped to stay on my bike for more than 100 yards at a time, I waved goodbye and headed to the Steaming Bean for a cup of french press.

I'm not always so lame. Last week I rode every day at least two hours and even did a four hour ride up in the clouds. Maybe my body is just saying, "Enough already".

The base elevation in Telluride is 8,750. Unless you want to ride the single track valley floor trail every day you are going to need to consign yourself to a big climb, or even many big climbs, if you want to experience the best trails the area has to offer. My favorite trails are on the north side of the valley. That's probably be because I know them without getting lost. You could be lost for a long freaking time by taking a wrong turn in these parts.

Here are some images from my long ride in which I took Sheep Creek to the Whip Line to Penelope's to Rudy's to the Water Line. I did not ride non-stop by any means. I stopped often to just catch my breathe and to take in the amazing scenery. The views of the valley on this ride are the best since much of the last two trails run along the edge of the canyon wall. It's a bit scary in a couple spots because a crash could result in a big tumble in which gravity would really take control.

Note all the tents in the field. A few hundred cyclist from the Tour of the Rockies were setting up camp all over town.