Telluride Magazine Summer/Fall 2023

SUMMER/FALL 2023 $4.95 | priceless in Telluride REPLENISHING THE RIVERS AND RESERVOIRS FULL CIRCLE • EL SUEÑO NUESTRO • BEES

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16 • SUMMER/FALL 2023 CONTENTS FEATURES ESSAYS DEPARTMENTS 36 REPLENISHING THE RIVERS 32 G IMME SHELTER 19  WITHIN AND RESERVOIRS Community erodes without Synchronicity A big winter makes a small dent in the drought affordable housing By Jonathan Thompson By Joan May  20 CALENDAR OF EVENTS What’s Happening 42 FULL CIRCLE 46 TEQUILA FISH This Summer The hula hoop renaissance There is only one first fish By D. Dion By Maple Andrew Taylor 22  LOCAL FLAVOR Wild and Fresh 52 EL SUEÑO NUESTRO 48 SUGARING Four members of our immigrant community Tapping the family maple trees 26  ASK JOCK share their stories By Jen Parsons Athletic Advice from Our By Mary Hearding Mountain Guru FICTION  28 MOUNTAIN HEALTH 76 “BEES,” from Andrew Porter’s The Disappeared, and Understanding Type 1 Diabetes “CENTRIPETAL,” a poem by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer 30  INSIDE ART TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2023 Weaving As a Sacred Art  58 TELLURIDE FACES Meet local coaches: Teresa Brachle, Ramon Rodriguez, and Lea Gibbs 62  INNOVATION Envisioning the Grid of the Future 64  NATURE NOTES A Landscape Transformed 66  ENVIRONMENT Digging Into the Garbage 68  HISTORY Walking in Your Footsteps 90 TELLURIDE TURNS Natural Medicine, Debt Free, and Golden Anniversary 98 COLOR BY NUMBERS Index of Facts & Figures 100 LAST LOOK Starry Night Photo by Gary Ratcliff

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18 • SUMMER/FALL 2023 Telluride Magazine is produced by Telluride Publishing LLC, Magazine a locally owned and operated company. CONTRIBUTORS Publisher ANDREW PORTER TELLURIDE PUBLISHING LLC Andrew Porter (“Bees,” p. 78) is the author of the short Advertising Executive story collection The Theory of Light and Matter, which JENNY PAGE won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, the novel In Between Days, and The Disappeared, Editor a 2023 short story collection from which “Bees” is DEB DION excerpted. The recipient of a Pushcart Prize, his work has been read on NPR’s Selected Shorts and Creative Director twice selected as one of the “Distinguished Stories KRISTAL FRANKLIN of the Year” by Best American Short Stories. Porter is currently a Professor of English and Director of the Distribution Creative Writing Program at Trinity University in San TELLURIDE DELIVERS Antonio. Web Administrator MARY HEARDING Susan Hayse Mary Hearding (“El Sueño Nuestro,” p. 46) moved Contributing Writers to the San Juans from the East Coast on a whim, Reilly Capps, Martinique Davis, eventually landing in Rico with her husband, Paul. Mary Hearding, Karen Toepfer James, After a few years teaching in Telluride, she joined her Susan Kees, Joan May, Jesse James McTigue, professional expertise and personal commitment to Paul O’Rourke, Jen Parsons, Andrew Porter, equity through language justice by launching Karma Emily Shoff, Sarah Lavender Smith, Tutors, a tutoring company dedicated to bringing high-quality academic support to all Telluride families Maple Andrew Taylor, regardless of socioeconomic status. She spends Jonathan Thompson, Lance Waring time in Guatemala each summer collaborating with indigenous communities to help their youth advance Photographers, Artists, & Illustrators through education. In her free time, Mary travels with Ryan Bonneau, Tim Johnson, her husband, writes, plays games, hikes, and gets sidetracked pondering the etymology of words. Mary Kenez, Matt Kroll, Melissa Plantz, Gary Ratcliff, Stephanie Morgan Rogers www.telluridemagazine.com Telluride Publishing produces the San Juan Skyway Visitor Guide and Telluride Magazine. Current and past issues are available on our website.. © 2023 Telluride Publishing For editorial inquiries call 970.708.0060 or email [email protected] For advertising information call 970.729.0913 or email [email protected] The annual subscription rate is $15.95. Cover and contents are fully protected and must not be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher. SUMMER/FALL 2023 GARY RATCLIFF $4.95 | priceless in Telluride A resident of Ridgway, where he operates a gallery, REPLENISHING THE RIVERS AND RESERVOIRS Gary Ratcliff (cover image and “Last Look,” p. 108) is FULL CIRCLE • EL SUEÑO NUESTRO • BEES a landscape and wildlife photographer specializing in the San Juan Mountains and the Colorado Plateau. ON THE COVER Some of his favorite subjects include the Milky The cover image inside the silhouette Way above the mountains and the wild mustangs of the hooping dancer was taken by Gary Ratcliff, in the Spring Creek Basin refuge. In addition to his gallery, he manages two websites of his images, and the illustration was designed OurayImage.Com and TellurideImage.Com. Gary is by Kristal Franklin. a skilled printer and frame maker, and uses a large format printer to make canvas wraps and prints as large as twelve-feet wide. DIGITAL PARTNER TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2023

Within “I do believe in an everyday sort of magic—the inexplicable connectedness we sometimes experience with places, people, works of art and the like; the eerie appropriateness of moments of synchronicity; the whispered voice, the hidden presence, when we think we’re alone.” —CHARLES DE LINT SYNCHRONICITY It’s all coming together If you consider the vastness of the universe, the the Future,” p. 64) to find energy storage solutions husband’s death. Maple Taylor’s piece (“Tequila amount of matter in it, and the fact that it is 13.7 for renewables like wind and solar that can accom- Fish,” p. 54) is about a special moment shared with billion years old, the idea of us all being on this modate the world’s growing demand for power; a friend, as she caught her first fish. And Joan May planet at the same time seems almost miraculous. this is happening in the same place that Tesla’s writes passionately about the importance of keep- And what about those of us crossing paths in Tellu- AC electricity was first used industrially in 1891, ing our community intact (“Gimme Shelter,” p. 32). ride? It must be some sort of cosmic synchronicity for which was the inspiration for the current power us all to have ended up here in this place together. grid in this country. I like to think that these synchronicities, the way our lives coincide, have some deeper mean- For some of us, it was a longer journey. The We are also connected to the history of the place ing. That even if it’s an uncomfortable experience, immigrants in our community (“El Sueño Nues- itself, as it echoes through our own experience in like the sting of rejection in Andrew Porter’s story tro,” p. 46) made the same sacrifices our ancestors the present. During the mining era, the Valley Floor “Bees,” (Fiction p. 78), that it serves a purpose. did, leaving their homeland, hoping to prosper and stretch of the San Miguel River was channelized to Maybe there’s some providence at play that draws make a new life here. For others, like the musicians dispose of mining waste, degrading the riparian habi- us together, like destiny, or as Rosemerry Wahtola and the thousands of people who return to Tellu- tat. After an ambitious restoration project, the river is Trommer describes it in her poem (“Centripetal,” ride like clockwork every summer for the Bluegrass healthy again, flowing in its historic curved path (“A p. 78), a powerful force: Festival (“Full Circle,” p. 42), the trek is more of a Landscape Transformed,” p. 68). We sometimes have homecoming, a reunion of sorts with old friends. to look back in time to give us context; to understand … I trust how this works, how last winter’s abundant snowfall might affect the trust that in this wildly spinning world If you spend enough time in a place, you might drought in the Southwest, it’s helpful to compare it to also feel connected to the people who were here in the runoff from 1983, another big winter in the region there’s a force that pulls us the past. Susan Kees, author of the Telluride Hik- (“Replenishing the Rivers and Reservoirs,” p. 36). to the center, that won’t let us ing Guide, shares some stories of the people who forged paths generations ago that have become These connections we make to people and be pushed off the path. popular hiking trails today (“Walking in Your Foot- places can be powerful. Jen Parson’s essay (“Sug- We hope you enjoy this issue, steps,” p. 72). Telluride Science is convening a aring,” p. 52) is a poignant recollection of gather- Deb Dion group of experts this fall (“Envisioning the Grid of ing her family together outdoors in the wake of her Editor, Telluride Magazine SUMMER/FALL 2023 TellurideMagazine.com 19

20 • EVENTS RYAN BONNEAU TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2023

Calendar of Events These are some of the signature events this summer and fall in Telluride. For more information about local events, visit telluridelibrary.org, telluridearts.org, sheridanoperahouse.com, and ahhaa.org. MAY JULY Telluride Jazz Festival August 11–13, 2023 Mountainfilm in Telluride Telluride Theatre telluridejazz.org May 25–29, 2023 GALA mountainfilm.org Telluride July 1, 2023 Mushroom Festival JUNE telluridetheatre.org August 16–20, 2023 tellurideinstitute.org Telluride Food & Vine Independence Day Parade June 1–4, 2023 & Fireworks Telluride Reserve July 4, 2023 (food and wine event) telluridefoodandvine.com telluride-co.gov August 17–19, 2023 Telluride Balloon Festival telluridereserve.com June 2–4, 2023 Telluride 100 Mountain Bike Race SEPTEMBER tellurideballoonfestival.com July 8, 2023 Telluride Film Festival Wild West Fest telluride100.com September 1–4, 2023 June 4–10, 2023 telluridefilmfestival.org sheridanoperahouse.com Telluride Art + Architecture 50th Annual Telluride Historical Museum July 10–16, 2023 Imogene Pass Run “50 Years of Festivals in Telluride” September 9, 2023 telluridearts.org imogenerun.com June 6, 2023 telluridemuseum.org Telluride Americana Music Festival, Telluride a benefit for the Sheridan Blues & Brews Festival The Ah Haa HAHA Annual Fundraiser Opera House September 15–17, 2023 June 14–16, 2023 July 13–16, 2023 ahhaa.org sheridanoperahouse.com tellurideblues.com Telluride Bluegrass Festival Shakespeare in the Park: Telluride Autumn Classic June 15–18, 2023 “Hamlet” September 21–24, 2023 bluegrass.com tellurideautumnclassic.com July 21–29, 2023 Telluride Yoga Festival telluridetheatre.org OCTOBER June 22–25, 2023 AUGUST Original Thinkers tellurideyogafestival.com Festival KOTO Duck Race Telluride Arts Summer Bazaar August 4, 2023 October 5–8, 2023 June 23–25, 2023 originalthinkers.com telluridearts.org koto.org Telluride Horror Show MusicFest/Telluride Chamber Music The Little Theatre at the October 13–15, 2023 June 24–July 2, 2023 Market on the Plaza telluridehorrorshow.com August 9, 16, 23, 30 telluridechambermusic.org telluridetheatre.org KOTO Halloween Bash October 28, 2023 Telluride Plein Air Top Chef and koto.org June 28–July 4, 2023 Taste of Telluride sheridanoperahouse.com August 10, 2023 onetoonetelluride.org SUMMER/FALL 2023 TellurideMagazine.com 21

22 • LOCAL FLAVOR WILD AND FRESH Entrepreneurs connect locals with the region’s organic harvest By Sarah Lavender Smith The sign on a boxy, baby-blue storefront residents around San Miguel County. Vicki Renda, graphic distances separating mountain communi- along Nucla’s modest Main Street is per- founder of Vicki’s Fresh Food Movement, created ties on the Western Slope. Both gained a following haps the most cheerful and unexpected a fresh-food service that sources and delivers among residents eager for farm-to-table items not site in this town, fifty-five miles north- regional, organic vegetables, meat, and prepared readily available in local markets or at the super- west of Telluride, where many aging buildings are food—including soups and sauces from Wild markets more than an hour’s drive away. shuttered or are vestiges of the area’s ranching Gal’s—to customers around Telluride. “I call her and mining heritage. Mighty Mouse,” Galit says of Vicki. “I just adore her.” Having blossomed unexpectedly during the pandemic, when home-bound customers sought “Wild Gal’s Market—local, organic, home- Like wildflowers in a desert, Wild Gal’s and high-quality groceries nearby and delivery options, made,” it says in retro-groovy purple and orange Vicki’s Fresh Food Movement took root in Nucla both Wild Gal’s and Vicki’s Fresh Food faced lettering adorned with painted vines and flowers. and Norwood—an area that’s been called a “food the need to reassess and grow their businesses desert” for its dearth of grocery stores and restau- post-pandemic in new locations. Stepping inside Wild Gal’s triggers not just the rants—and they became key players in a fledgling taste buds, but other senses, too, with the pun- locavore movement that’s challenged by geo- This summer, they’re relaunching, or “repot- gent aromas of a health food store and the sights ting,” in Naturita and Telluride. of specialty food items and gift-basket goodies. Handmade to-go soups, salads, and spreads—such as tzatziki, Indian dahl, ratatouille, roasted beets, and kale and sausage soup—cram a refrigerated case, while regionally raised meats fill a freezer and fresh produce items rest in baskets perched on milk crates. Moroccan, Israeli, and other international spices and flavors give the market a worldly flair. The gal behind Wild Gal’s is Galit Korngold, or Gal for short, who started the business— which she calls her “love child”—in 2019. She laughs behind the cash register when acknowl- edging the unlikely hodgepodge of the bounty bursting in this remote, tight-fitting space. “I describe Wild Gal’s as a market that focuses on local and organic, where you can find the ingredi- ents to make your own amazing food,” says Galit. “We sell the hard-to-find items that nobody out here carries and fill in the blanks where the local supermarkets fall short.” Wild Gal’s products have made their way to Telluride kitchens thanks in part to another female entrepreneur committed to providing fresh food, raised in environmentally responsible ways, to TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2023

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24 • LOCAL FLAVOR WILD GAL’S FINDS ROOM TO GROW it’d be “Wild Gals” to imply a group effort rather vested goods, and creating the food baskets to sell. In a prior life, Galit sat behind a computer in Mon- than “Gal’s.” Even with more employees and a “It was a hustle and not sustainable,” she recalls. treal working as a graphic designer. By chance, larger space, however, “it’s always going to reflect she met her future husband Kirk Yerke, who’s now my taste and how I want to eat, along with friendli- Then the pandemic hit in March of 2020, mayor of Nucla, at an airport in 2014 and began a ness. We joke with customers, we give a lot of hugs, and she realized that customers stuck at home long-distance relationship. When he had to move and that’s not going to change.” needed more food options delivered. “I stood in to Colorado for work, they rented a hobby farm in FRESH FOOD MOVEMENT TO my kitchen, pondered what was next, and pivoted the Paradox Valley. PUT DOWN ROOTS right then and there. I got rid of the baskets and Vicki Renda moved west from Long Island and moved to à la carte options.” Uprooted from her urban Canadian life, Galit Vermont in 2008 and settled in Telluride at age 22. nurtured her love for cooking, foraging, and craft- Eight years later, having studied sustainable food She quickly created an online store to display ing. “I got chickens, planted a garden, and learned systems and seeking to connect her community the individual items, which included prepared how to graft fruit trees,” she recalls. She also devel- with the region’s small-scale farmers and ranchers, food from regional retailers such as Wild Gal’s and oped a plan for a market that would fill her longing Thorneycroft Kitchen. Sales in the early phase of for ethnic foods while giving locals in the West End she started the Fresh Food Movement. Her business the pandemic quickly tripled. “Along with that of Montrose and San Miguel counties began as an alternative to a typical CSA (a Commu- boom came challenges with how to keep up. fresh, organic grocery options. nity Supported Agriculture group, whose members share fresh products from farms). She became a Eleven months into the pandemic, I Supported by the West End Eco- one-woman liaison between shoppers and regional was fried, hadn’t had a day off, and nomic Development Corporation, farmers and ranchers to create farm baskets full of was wearing every hat,” she says. Galit put Wild Gal’s on the map seasonally fresh produce, with the option to pur- and gained a following. The busi- chase meat, eggs, and dairy products. With the help of an employee ness gave back to the community hired in the fall of 2021, Vicki kept by supporting food-assistance pro- This first low-profile version of Vicki’s Fresh her business going, but it remained grams and donating surpluses to Food Movement began as an Excel spreadsheet that too much of a local’s secret despite food banks. She also began hosting listed what was harvested regionally in any given attempts to market to visitors. This the weekly West End Farm and Craft week, which she’d email to clients so they could past winter, she decided to put the Market in front of the store in the order. She worked tirelessly, driving to eight to four- online store on hiatus to relaunch summer season. teen farms in a day, picking up and sorting their har- in a retail store, complete with a kitchen and ample storage for cold But Wild Gal’s struggled to turn a and frozen products. profit and couldn’t expand due to the store’s limited floorspace and refrig- She’s actively working with inves- eration. The lack of an on-site com- tors to scout locations in downtown mercial kitchen also limited Galit’s Telluride, with plans to open this fall ability to cook and bake items to sell. while also maintaining the online store and delivery option. “The Last November, Galit received ‘where’ is the big hurdle, but regard- a $50,000 grant from the Colorado less, the vision remains to offer a Fresh Food Financing Fund to mix of fresh produce, bulk dry goods, expand into a larger location at 152 pantry items, healthy snack options, East Main Street in Naturita, about frozen meats, as well as prepared four miles from the current market. She reopens meals, with an emphasis on creating there this June after finishing the new location’s delicious foods and decreasing waste.” remodel, which includes installing an on-site She’s determined to reopen and expand Vicki’s kitchen. The weekly farmers market will move Fresh Food Movement, she says, because locals with her to Naturita. crave more food choices and better access to the fresh produce and livestock raised in the region. Located along the scenic byway that runs “I’m passionate about sustainability and want between Telluride and Moab, the new, bigger to figure out this next chapter for the business,” retail space is poised to attract more passersby. says Vicki, “so this community can continue to be Galit also has a strong business plan and network more green and to know where their food is com- to leverage, thanks to mentors from the Telluride ing from. So please stay tuned!” \\ Venture Network who have volunteered since last For updates on these two businesses’ expansion fall to guide her growth. and reopening, visit wildgalsmarket.com and thefreshfoodmovement.com. When the new store opens in Naturita, Galit may drop the apostrophe in her business name, so TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2023

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26 • ASK JOCK ASK JOCK Athletic Advice from Our Local Mountain Guru Hip, Hip, Hooray Dear Jock, Q I’ve skied all my life and—knock on wood—have never had an issue with my knees or other body parts. But last winter, my right hip was sore at the end of each ski day. I figured it was because I’m getting older and still ripping bumps like I’m in my twenties. Now I have trouble reaching my shoelaces, and I’m starting to limp when I walk. I’ve also noticed some strange new crackles and pops in my pelvis. Do you think I should start doing yoga or take nutritional supple- ments for joint health? —Creaky Dear Creaky, A A gentle yoga practice or nutritional supplements might help, and you could certainly try both, but with your symptoms and decreasing mobility, I recommend you consult a doctor—a real licensed medical doctor, not Dr. Google. Based on my layman’s knowledge, you could have a torn labrum or an arthritic hip joint. An x-ray or CT scan will provide more definitive answers. Get yourself an appointment at the Telluride Medical Center. Should you need a new hip, take heart: hip surgery has made great advances and the success rate is greater than 95 percent. I hope you’ll be feeling fit and frisky soon. To your health, — Jock Bear Aware Please Pick Up the Poop Dear Jock, Dear Jock, Q I just moved to town and want to hike the trails this summer. But Q I was on the Jud Wiebe trail the other day and noticed the Town of I heard the woods around here are filled with bears, so now I’m Telluride provides dog owners with poop bags at the trailhead. I’m worried. What should I do if I encounter a bear in the wild? of two minds about this service: On one hand, I’m grateful to the town for making it easier for dog owners to do the right thing. On the other, —Feeling low on the food chain I’m vexed that my tax dollars fund a subgroup of dog-loving citizens. Dear Low, I’d get over my minor irritation about this expenditure if some dog A Generally speaking, bears in the San Juans are shy creatures and don’t owners didn’t leave full poop bags alongside the trail for me to admire. seek confrontation with humans, unless we inadvertently come between I’m sure they plan to pick them up “on the way home,” but judging by a mother and her cub. (If that happens, adjust your position.) Some proactive the number of tattered bags beside the trail, that often doesn’t happen. hikers tie a bell to their packs, so the bears hear them coming and can take I hike to clear my mind and improve my health, but when I pass by evasive action. Overnight campers should stash food away from their tents, smelly canine cairns, it raises my blood pressure to dangerous levels. ideally in a bear-proof container. Any suggestions to keep me from blowing a gasket? If you cross paths with a bear while hiking, back away while making calm —Frustrated Citizen human sounds, such as clapping or singing. Avoid growling or making eye con- tact, which bears interpret as threatening. Dear Citizen, In the unlikely event you are charged by a bear, don’t run because bears A Dog poop has been a contentious issue in Telluride for a long time. run faster. They can also climb trees and swim far better than humans. Instead, Most dog owners are conscientious, and I hope there is a special corner the prevailing wisdom is drop to the ground, cover your head with your arms, of hell reserved for those who aren’t. and play dead. If the bear attacks, then (and only then), it’s time to fight back. There are no rules when fighting bears, so kick, gouge, and hit below the belt. I’d tell you to take a deep breath and let your anger dissolve with the exhale, but the stench of Fido’s festering feces might knock you off your feet. Over my years in the San Juans, I’ve seen only a handful bears and they’ve always been in retreat. If you’re truly worried, a can of aerosol bear spray I’m sorry I don’t have an answer to this seemingly intractable problem. might offer additional peace of mind. Except to appeal to the guilty parties to, in the words of Spike Lee, “Do the right thing.” May your rambles be ursine free, — Jock Sincerely, — Jock TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2023

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28 • MOUNTAIN HEALTH UNDERSTANDING T1 DIABETES Diagnosing the disease is just the first step By Jesse James McTigue In March of 2017, when our daughter was in sec- in full dealing mode. The events of the next for- Upon returning home, I was terrified. I ond grade, she got sick. Not all at once, because ty-eight hours would land us in the ICU and reveal wanted to lock the door, close the blinds, and that is not how disease works. That would make the worst and best in medicine. We’d have the type find a way to beat Type 1 diabetes. As a family, it too easy for working, active, busy parents to of medical experience you only see in movies with we learned everything about blood glucose con- detect. Instead, her symptoms were subtle and the villains, mistakes, dramatic turns, heroes, and trol, the glycemic index of foods, and managing grew slowly and imperceptibly. She seemed tired seeming miracles. low blood sugar while exercising. We went to and thirsty. Over time she began to lose weight, family diabetes camp and researched the best her skin grew ashen, and she needed to urinate After the whirlwind, when our daughter was medical technology. Six years later, Belle uses a lot. We took her to the medical center; she was finally stable and the diagnosis was real, we had a closed-loop system in which a continuous tested for strep and sent home with antibiotics. to learn how to manage this disease. We sat at glucose monitor communicates with an insulin In the next three days, her previously slow and a table with a young, soft-spoken doctor as he pump to automatically deliver the appropriate imperceptible symptoms compounded and accel- calmly explained to us that our seven-year-old amount of insulin in real time. No more needles erated. We were back at the clinic, this time in the daughter’s pancreas no longer produced insulin, and ratio calculations. ER, and it was scary. so we would have to do it. This entailed calculat- ing how many carbs she would eat in each meal, The technology has made managing it easier, My husband and I now know her symptoms plugging that number into a ratio algorithm to but there is still no cure, and it’s still a battle. We were textbook indications of Type 1 diabetes. We determine the amount of insulin she needed, are not alone—nearly nine million people across now know a lot about Type 1 diabetes—all about then delivering said insulin to her twenty min- the globe have been diagnosed with Type 1 diabe- blood glucose, A1C (glycated hemoglobin), insu- utes before each meal via a shot. tes. So we raise money, raise awareness, partici- lin, carbs, and CGM (continuous glucose monitor- pate in medical studies, and follow the research. ing). But in 2017, all I knew about Type 1 diabetes He explained this rationally, as if explaining We no longer fear Type 1, but until there is a cure, is that it was the topic in my Wilderness First the steps to close the office for the night. My head we will continue to fight. \\ Responder class that I really didn’t understand. almost exploded. I’ve learned a lot about Type 1 diabetes since then, enough to be able to explain it in non-medi- cal terminology: Every time we eat a carbohydrate, it turns into glucose (sugar) in our bloodstream. The only way for our body to use this glucose as energy is for it to enter our cells. Insulin is the magic key that allows the glucose to travel into our cells. Without insulin, the glucose stays in our bloodstream and our blood sugar rises. Unchecked, it causes ketoacidosis, which can be life threat- ening. For non-diabetics, our body regulates our blood sugar automatically—the beta cells in our pancreas produce insulin to correct high-blood- glucose levels, while another hormone called glu- cagon will correct low-blood-glucose levels. Type 1 diabetes is caused by an autoimmune reaction in which the body gets the wrong message and attacks its beta cells, the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. The result: the body no longer pro- duces insulin. The frustrating part is that the medi- cal community really doesn’t know what causes this autoimmune reaction to happen, so you can’t prevent it. We’ve been told that some people are genetically predisposed to Type 1 or an environmental trigger, such as a virus, can be the catalyst. It’s important to note that Type 1 is not caused by diet and lifestyle habits, and is not reversible like Type 2. One of the many things that sucks about contracting a disease is there is no forewarning. No one says, do all your research and planning because in three months your life will change. Instead, you are thrown in headfirst, which actu- ally may be better—there’s no time to feel sorry for yourself. There’s only time to deal with it. Thus, in March of 2017, as a result of our ER visit, I found myself on an emergency medical flight from Telluride to Denver Children’s Hospital TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2023

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30 • INSIDE ART WEAVING AS A SACRED ART The Gordon Collection showcases Navajo craftsmanship and culture By Sarah Lavender Smith | Photos by Michael Mowery Among Telluride’s art galleries, The Gor- school on the Navajo reservation, starting in tive to exploitation of other cultures sometimes don Collection of Navajo weaving and 1969, before moving to Telluride in 1973. In 2016, come into their gallery and ask, “Is this offen- jewelry stands out as perhaps the most they squeezed their whole collection into a small sive? Is this OK?” museum-like space. storefront at 220 East Colorado Avenue, next to Hundreds of colorful weavings are on dis- Timberline Hardware. “It’s important to understand this is a trade, play, each depicting patterns, symbols, and and an art, and you’re supporting Native American scenes whose significance and historic context When the neighboring business, Sage House culture through it,” she says. the owner, Bill Gordon, can explain as if he were Designs, moved to a new showroom earlier this a docent. The casual eye might mistake them year, the Gordons knocked down a wall and Another employee at the gallery, Carrie as mere blankets or rugs, but each is a unique, expanded their collection into the space next Smith of Norwood, taught for nearly two decades tightly woven work of art. door. The result is a gleaming showroom with on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta and stud- ample square footage to display the woven textiles ied Native American education in college. She Pottery and baskets rest on shelves, and in one half, and jewelry, pottery, and baskets in loves working at The Gordon Collection, she says, some 1,500 pieces of jewelry crafted by Native the other. The expansion represents a new chap- because “getting people to appreciate and under- American silversmiths fill display cases. Navajo ter in the family business, with daughter Corina stand what this art is, and where it comes from, artisans created all the gallery’s weavings and handling much of it and enhancing their online is really important.” much of the jewelry, but some jewelry also orig- commerce at thegordoncollection.com. inated from Hopi, Zuni, and the Santo Domingo Navajo weavers developed their craft—which pueblo in New Mexico. The store was too crowded before the expan- has always been a sacred practice as well as a sion, says Corina Gordon. Now, she and her father means for self-sufficiency—centuries ago using a You may enter intending just to browse, but have room to move as they give a tour of the hun- vertical upright loom markedly different from the you’re likely to gain a lesson in history and culture dreds of weavings and explain how each is unique horizontal looms that Europeans favored. They that enhances understanding and appreciation of and how it might be interpreted. “Not only do we built the loom’s frame in a way that made it easy the Diné—the Navajo people—and their art. You have an amazing collection, but you might find to dismantle and move for their seminomadic life- may also learn something about Telluride, where something beautiful you’ll have for the rest of your style, and the custom size of the loom determined the owners have lived for the last half-century. life, and learn something in the process,” she says. the size of the weaving. The Gordon Collection—representing the The educational aspect of their gallery is key Each weaving takes months, sometimes years, lifetime passion of Bill Gordon to collect and to their mission to advance cultural apprecia- to produce. After building the loom’s frame (usu- trade southwest Native American art—has been tion—respecting, honoring, and teaching about ally done by men), the weavers—traditionally growing ever since he and his wife Ginny taught the Navajo. Corina says shoppers who are sensi- women, sometimes working in pairs—create handspun string for the warp, which are the cords TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2023

strung close together vertically to form the foun- Navajo weavers developed their craft—which has always been dation of each weaving. Then the weaver, sitting a sacred practice as well as a means for self-sufficiency—centuries ago in front of the upright loom, weaves the crosswise using a vertical upright loom markedly different from the horizontal looms threads, known as the weft, using dyed yarns to that Europeans favored. They built the loom’s frame in a way that made it create geometric patterns or scenes. easy to dismantle and move for their seminomadic lifestyle, and the To give one example, Bill pulled out a square custom size of the loom determined the size of the weaving. weaving created around 1930, each side measur- ing 67 inches, that depicts a pattern of stick fig- Rock Trading Post and see what the local weavers Running a gallery in Telluride’s early resort ures arranged around a cross and colored in hues would bring in, and if we liked it, we’d buy it.” days wasn’t easy or profitable, so the Gordons of red, orange, white, and brown. He explained rented out their building and started working in that the humanlike forms are yeis, an interme- By the time Corina was born on the reserva- property management and construction. But Bill diary spirit figure with healing powers that the tion in 1971, Bill and Ginny had developed a desire continued to grow his collection of Southwest Diné believe mediate between humans and the to trade and spread their love of Southwest native Native American art at home, until Ginny pro- holy spirits. The weaving is a recreation of a tem- art. A brief detour took them to Massachusetts, tested that their house was too full of the weav- porary painting made in the sand on the floor of where they yearned to return West. ings. That led them to open their gallery in the a hogan, or traditional home, during a medicine retail space next to the hardware store in 2016. man’s healing ceremony. “We heard, ‘There’s this place called Tel- lu-something, and they’re doing snowcat skiing “People always come in and say, ‘This is more Roughly half the weavings in The Gordon Col- and cutting lifts,’ so we said, ‘Let’s go.’ We got like a museum,’ and we spend a lot of time talking lection date from the past fifty years and are consid- here in January of 1973, two weeks after the lifts about the weavings and jewelry. People might buy ered contemporary, while the others are antiques. opened. We decided we really liked this place and something, but if they don’t, that’s fine,” says Bill. Bill acquired some decades ago from trading posts managed to put together enough cash to buy a lot “I just like talking about the history and their on the Navajo Nation, and others from auctions and for $22,000 and build a building for $50,000.” whole artistic process.” \\ trade shows, such as the annual Heard Museum For more on the history of Navajo weaving and Guild Indian Fair and Market in Phoenix. That building is at 199 West Colorado Avenue, silversmithing, see thegordoncollection.com. where the Green Dragon dispensary is located. Before Bill and Ginny Gordon moved to Tellu- Corina, and her brother and sister, spent much of ride, they taught at a then-novel school in a remote their childhood on the front stoop of that storefront. area of the Navajo reservation in northeastern Ari- zona, thirty miles from the town of Chinle, where at least 80 percent of the people did not speak English. Called the Rough Rock Demonstration School, founded in 1966, it was the first to experi- ment with bilingual-bicultural education and local control, following generations of deplorable edu- cation for Native Americans that separated chil- dren from their parents and forced assimilation and English-only speaking. At the Rough Rock school, students gained an educational foundation first in their native lan- guage, then started learning from Bill and Ginny, who taught English as a second language with Navajo teacher aids supporting the students. “The program was so successful, pretty soon all the pub- lic schools on the Navajo Nation began teaching this way,” says Bill. “The school was very culturally oriented, so silversmiths, weavers, and medicine people would come talk to the students and to us,” he recalls. “We just loved rugs and textiles and started col- lecting them. We’d visit with a trader at the Rough SUMMER/FALL 2023 TellurideMagazine.com 31

32 • ESSAY Gimme Shelter Community erodes without affordable housing By Joan May Photo by Ryan Bonneau TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2023

The San Miguel River valley, where Telluride owner-occupied units have appreciation caps (i.e., sits at the headwaters, has seen its share the resale price is limited). Despite these efforts, of changes. Once the summer hunting needs assessments show that the area perpetually grounds of the Ute Indians, then a mining faces a 700-unit deficit in local housing. mecca, and now a bustling ski resort famous for its selfie-inspiring Main Street, one thing has remained Community leaders understand that success- constant: Much of the surrounding land is undevel- ful government approaches to the housing crunch opable because of its steep terrain. Additionally, the must be multi-pronged, and include a combination most rugged and fragile of this land is now protected of strategies such as: treating shelter like the basic by the United States Forest Service or by covenants human right that it is; recognizing limits to growth; the community has put in place to preserve the area’s countering the disparity in wealth through housing bucolic character and sensitive ecosystems. mitigation fees; utilizing existing housing stock for The area’s natural beauty, combined with a locals by incentivizing the rental of bedrooms or scarcity of buildable land, has resulted in a pre- accessory dwelling units; cultivating public-private dictable and persistent shortage of affordable and public-private-philanthropic partnerships to housing. In early 2023 the average home sale price build more affordable housing; undertaking factual, in the area was $3.8 million. With a median income unbiased studies on short-term rentals; negotiating of $40,000, those who want to live and work in the with developers for community benefits; making region are hard pressed to make a go of it unless new commercial development mitigate a much they have outside means of support. Yet the need higher percentage (in principle, 100 percent) of the for a reliable workforce is high, as the area’s pop- housing needs they create; and fast-tracking new ulation more than doubles when visitor numbers housing in places where it is appropriate, while tak- reach their seasonal peaks. ing time to consider input from neighbors to avoid That helps explain why about 75 percent of the any nimby backlash. Telluride area’s workforce commutes, sometimes from hours away, on narrow and often hazardous Speaking for myself, and I expect for others of mountain roads. When much of the workforce lives my generation, I want to help accommodate future in distant locations, the health of the community long-term planning so that generations to come is compromised. Diver- can benefit from the community resources and sity is also diminished, as natural surroundings that have become so valu- people who aren’t fluent able in our digitized, socially distant world. in English or have less Yes, the environment formal education have But how do we do that in a way that doesn’t kill the very thing we’re trying to protect? And what is it and an unparalleled quality more trouble navigating we’re trying to protect, anyway? Yes, the environment of life are important, the complex challenges and an unparalleled quality of life are important, but of securing housing. our sense of community is equally worth preserving. Safe, stable, and but our sense of community affordable housing is a pri- Like so many others, I moved to Telluride is equally worth preserving. mary social determinant of “for one ski season” and was instantly drawn into the eddy of the community, the lifestyle, and the health—especially men- mountains. I couldn’t pull myself away. So I stayed. tal health—and national studies show housing inse- That first year, I worked as a bread-baker and curity correlates to higher lift operator. I posted a note in the laundromat anxiety and depression levels and poorer health out- seeking a rental room and was lucky to be offered a comes. For the wellbeing of the community, as well spot in a shared, woodstove-heated miner’s cabin, as for environmental, safety, and equity reasons, the in a neighborhood east of Telluride known as Lib- goal of local leaders is to make it possible for about 70 erty Bell. Survival skills included endless snow percent of the workforce to live close to their work- shoveling, wood splitting, and dressing in many places, flipping the current ratio. layers (the cabin had negligible insulation). By my In Telluride, affordable housing is the chief great fortune, I later found not only housing where concern of virtually every young person, every I would eventually raise my son, but also a lifetime employer, and every community leader. Housing of meaningful work. Not everyone is so lucky. supply is low. Housing anxiety is high. Increased demand and limited supply have caused housing I believe that many of the people who come to prices and rents to soar to the point where costs live here today do so for the same reasons I did: are out of reach for virtually anyone who works Being in Telluride nourishes the body, mind, and locally, removing free market options from the soul. Young idealists moving here now for connec- workforce housing pool, and putting more strain tion to land and community deserve the structure on the need for government subsidized housing. of clear land management planning and fair taxa- Local governments have done an admira- tion to secure a sustainable, equitable, safe com- ble job addressing the crisis, starting in the late munity and environment for the future. \\ 1980s. Nearly half of the year-round residents of the Telluride area live in government-created com- Joan May moved to Telluride in 1987. She munity housing of various price levels and styles, has been a manager at KOTO community radio, including owner occupied, rentals, single family, Executive Director of the environmental conser- apartments, condos, dorms, the boarding house, vation organization Sheep Mountain Alliance, tiny homes, and parking spaces allocated for and a three-term elected San Miguel County hardy folks willing to weather a Rocky Mountain Commissioner. She is now an independent con- winter in their van or small RV. There are homes tractor, working primarily with governments for low and medium wage earners. Some of the on climate solutions. She currently serves on the Governing Council of The Progressive Women’s Caucus, and the Board of Directors of Outdoor Alliance and Sheep Mountain Alliance. She has lived in deed-restricted housing since 1992. SUMMER/FALL 2023 TellurideMagazine.com 33

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Leaving on a Jet Plane Fly Denver Air from Phoenix and Denver to Telluride (TEX) Enjoy easy access to the mountains when you fly from PHX and DEN right into the Telluride Airport (TEX), just 10 minutes away from Telluride and Mountain Village. Denver Air’s 30-passenger jet and renowned service and snacks will make your day! National travelers can connect through United and American global networks by booking online at United.com, American.com, or see all the options at Kayak.com or Expedia.com. For local flights from DEN and PHX to TEX, please book at DenverAirConnection.com The Telluride destination is served by two airports, Telluride (TEX) and Montrose (MTJ): TEX now offers daily service on Denver Air from Denver (DEN) and Phoenix (PHX), and MTJ offers nonstop flights from twelve national hubs on four major carriers this winter.

36 • FEATURE RYAN BONNEAU REPLENISHING THE RIVERS AND RESERVOIRS A big winter makes a small dent in the drought By Jonathan Thompson No one who spent any time in the Four Corners region between Christmas and Easter needs a magazine article to tell them it was a whopper of a winter. Snow really began piling up in the San Juan Mountains in late December and, except for a bit of a pause during the typical January thaw, it never really stopped. By late March, Colorado high country’s denizens were downright fed up with shoveling the white stuff, and some were even tiring of day after day of freshies and face shots.

But even the folks who had to dig themselves out of their homes thLeAGNREDAxNpSerCDienAEcePSETSof several times during winter and spring might be wondering how this water year compared to those of yore. Was it as abnormally Exploring Telluride’s wilderness abundant as it seemed? Or did it just look big next to the string of is closer than you think. meager snow years that together added up to the most severe dry spell of the last 1,200 years? And what does all that snow piled up Located in the heart of Mountain Village, on the mountains mean for the drought? Can we safely say it’s over? the spacious residences at the We’ll get to that. But it might be helpful to first look back Fairmont Heritage Place, Franz Klammer Lodge forty years to the epic winter (and spring) of 1982-83 to which offer the perfect home base for all other water years will be compared—especially in the Col- all of your adventures. orado River Basin and the San Juan Mountains. If you lived through it, you’ll never forget. If not, here’s a recap. Discover NOW Winter started early that year in some areas. The La Sal Fairmont.com/KlammerLodge Mountains near Moab saw significant snowfall beginning in late September, and by early December Lizard Head Pass had twice SUMMER/FALL 2023 TellurideMagazine.com 37 the normal snowpack for that date. As is often the case, however, December and even much of January were virtually precipita- tion-free—a relentless parade of bluebird days and chilly nights, rotting away the snow and creating a deep level of depth hoar, anathema to backcountry skiers and snow safety professionals. Then El Niño, characterized by warming Pacific Ocean waters, crashed the party. Normally, trade winds—the tropical winds near the Earth’s surface—blow west along the equator, moving warm Pacific Ocean water from the Americas toward Asia. This cycle is disrupted every two to seven years by El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, events, which typically last about a year. During El Niño, the winds weaken, and warm water is pushed back toward the Americas. La Niña, by contrast, strengthens trade winds and brings cool water to the surface of the Americas West Coast. For the Southwestern U.S., El Niño years are typically wetter and cooler and La Niñas drier and warmer—with exceptions. An especially robust El Niño churned up the Pacific’s waters in 1983, and the effects were acute here. Snow piled up in the mountains to depths not seen since the early 1950s. The Colorado River Basin-wide snowpack finally peaked in late May, several weeks later than normal. Then temperatures shot up suddenly, accom- panied by heavy, snow-melting June rain that put nearly every stream and river in the region well above flood stage. The San Miguel River near Uravan hit 8,050 cubic feet per second that May, the biggest spring runoff on record by far (although it did hit 8,900 during the huge flood of Sept. 1970). The Dolores River topped 6,000 cubic feet per second near the town of Dolores; while not a record, it’s only come close to that level twice in the last forty years. More dramatic events were happening downstream in the Dolores River Canyon where an estimated 8,000 cubic feet of ice-cold, roiling, chocolate milk- hued water was crashing over and around the giant boulders of Snaggletooth Rapid every second. A procession of kayakers and rafters lined up to test their mettle in the raging waters. Most made it only a bit worse for wear, though they must have been tired from bailing those big old boats. A handful of rafts flipped, their ejected occupants forced to swim the remainder of the long rapid before getting themselves to shore. And at least two rafts got wrapped around the Snaggletooth itself, one of them seemingly inextricably, though the video—released by Rig to Flip several years back— doesn’t show what happened to those unfortunate floaters. Further downstream things were even scarier. Caught off guard by the deluge, Glen Canyon Dam’s operators had not left enough room in Lake Powell to contain the sudden surge of Colorado River inflows, which reached 120,000 cubic feet per second—about ten times the volume of an average spring runoff. With water literally lapping at the crest of the dam, operators opened the left spillway for the first time ever, sending a massive volume of water into the Grand Canyon. For a day or two, all seemed fine. Then, the innards of the spillway tunnel started deteriorating, spitting Volkswa- gen-sized boulders into the river bed. In the end, the spillways were fixed and the dam survived. But 1983 will forever go down as the year of the big snows, the Glen Can- yon Dam close call, and the last year the lower Dolores River would run free. McPhee Dam started impounding water later that year.

38 • FEATURE MELISSA PLANTZ The snow-removal industry boomed, roads shut down due to flooding and avalanches, power outages were rampant as heavy, wet snow toppled trees and utility lines, and virtually every backcountry road in southern Utah turned into slippery-as-snot muddy luge tracks that could challenge even the most burly off-road vehicle. And every bit of it was a soothing balm to the drought-weary land. RUNOFF REDUX careened off a building and buried a father and his the San Miguel, the San Juan, and the Colorado Last fall, southwestern Colorado prepared for yet two children, leaving all three in critical condition. Rivers—began melting. The frigid water trickled another dismal winter. La Niña—the dry yin to El The five-year-old girl later died from her injuries. then roared down high slopes to fill up rivers and Niño’s yang—was back for a rare, third consecutive reservoirs below, a boon to boaters, irrigators, hydro- year. The previous two winters had fit the usual La As of early April, many weather stations in the power users and water managers. After months of Niña pattern, with scant winter snowfall melting off Four Corners recorded as much as two times the hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing over the prospect and evaporating during unusually warm spring days, normal amount of moisture in the snow for the of Glen Canyon Dam losing hydropower production robbing high country ski areas of snow, turning for- date, often setting records in the process. But not capacity or even reaching the dreaded dead pool, the ests into kindling, and depriving lowland ditches all of the Natural Resources Conservation Service Bureau of Reclamation is now predicting this win- and farms of critical irrigation water, which dev- SNOTEL stations, which are the most reliable way ter’s bountiful snowpack will be enough to fend off astated crops and opened the door to grasshopper of comparing snowpacks from year to year, were further water level declines through 2024. plagues of Biblical proportions. set up yet in 1983, so direct, region-wide compari- sons are hard to come by. Still, a close look at the McPhee Reservoir is full again, guaranteeing There was no reason to expect that 2022-23 data offer some comparisons, such as: that the same farmers who watched ditches run would be any different. But this time, La Niña had • Mesa Verde National Park weather station dry over the past two summers will receive their a wet and cool surprise up her sleeve, blessing allocated shares of water this year. Plus, dam most of the West with a relentless parade of snow- recorded 4.34 inches of precipitation in March managers were able to release enough water to and rain-laden atmospheric rivers. 1983 compared to 4.03 inches in March 2023; the lower Dolores to make Snaggletooth runna- • The Lizard Head Pass SNOTEL station had 20.6 ble once again, though it was still only a shadow The snow-removal industry boomed, roads inches of snow water equivalent (SWE) on April of its pre-dam days. The big water is also, for bet- shut down due to flooding and avalanches, power 2, 1983 and 23.2 inches on April 2, 2023. ter or worse, easing some of the urgency behind outages were rampant as heavy, wet snow top- • The La Sal Mountain SNOTEL station had 24 efforts to cut Colorado River water consumption pled trees and utility lines, and virtually every inches SWE on April 2, 1983 and 25 inches on to sustainable levels. The Western drought is far backcountry road in southern Utah turned into April 2, 2023; from over, but it certainly has subsided: Two years slippery-as-snot muddy luge tracks that could • And the Dolores River Basin SNOTEL stations ago nearly 60 percent of the region was in severe, challenge even the most burly off-road vehicle. recorded 24.5 inches SWE on April 2, 1993 (pre- extreme or exceptional drought; now it’s down to And every bit of it was a soothing balm to the viously the biggest year on record) and 28.7 16 percent, and Arizona is nearly drought-free. drought-weary land. inches on April 2, 2023. Of course, it will take more than one good But with abundance also came tragedy. In In other words, there was a s&$t ton of snow year to really end the drought and heal the land northern and central Arizona the sometimes dry blanketing the region in early spring, maybe even and trees. And more than that to fill Lake Powell Oak Creek and Verde River turned into raging tor- more in most places than there was in 1983. Tem- and Lake Mead back up to their capacity. But who rents, forcing mass evacuations. Two hikers were peratures shot up in mid-April, and the mountain knows, it may actually happen: Meteorologists are killed by flash flooding in a southern Utah canyon snowpack—a giant natural reservoir for the Dolores, predicting that next winter will be an El Niño year. and a third had to be rescued by helicopter. At And you know what that means … . \\ Purgatory Resort north of Durango, a roof-alanche TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2023

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42 • FEATURE FULL CIRCLE The hula hoop renaissance By By D. Dion Hula hoops have been around for a very long time. By some accounts, people have been twirling or wheeling them along the ground since at least 500 BC. About a century ago in Australia, they were fashioned out of bamboo, which was likely the inspiration for the plastic version that was patented by Wham-O in the U.S. in the late 1950s. Wham-O sold twenty-five million plastic hoops in just four months, and a fad was born. In 1958, singer Geor- gia Gibbs performed her hit “The Hula Hoop Song,” one of four songs in that era paying homage to the toy, on The Ed Sullivan Show. It was the first time that this circular toy was linked with music, but it wouldn’t be the last. MICHAEL MOWERY ROUND THE WHEEL of music that incorporated different In the 1990s, the Telluride Bluegrass instruments and crossed genres. Festival, and the bluegrass genre itself, were coming of age. Young String Cheese Incident first musicians and future legends Ali- played at the Telluride Bluegrass son Krauss, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Festival in 1994. They were a brand Thile were emerging on the scene, new local band at the time—in fact, and bands like Leftover Salmon, the slot originally belonged to front- with its cajun/zydeco flair, and Béla man Billy Nershi’s old band, which Fleck and the Flecktones, with its had broken up—and SCI had only jazz influences, were adding more been together a few months. “We texture to traditional bluegrass. were so new that we didn’t even Bluegrass was transforming into have a lot of songs to play,” says what’s been called “Newgrass,” a Michael Kang, the band’s mandolin less formulaic, more jam-band style and violin player. “We practiced all winter and put a set together.” TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2023

In those days, Nershi was a Fest in New Orleans and hooped Learn, Explore, Excel fixture on the bench outside the for two weeks straight, she said. In Floradora, where he worked as a Telluride, Childers always hooped Join our community of learners! cook. He used to sit and play gui- at parties or end-of-season street tar and sing, stopping to chat with dances, and would show up at SCI Telluride’s PreK-12 Independent School passersby and friends. No one real- gigs with a hula hoop and her tap ized back then that String Cheese shoes. She was, in essence, the Montessori ages 3-6, Experiential and IB Education Incident would go on to become spokesmodel for the hula hoop one of the most celebrated jam renaissance: no longer just a plas- Contact Tara Barnett bands in the country, drawing tic toy, the new, beefier version of 970.728.1969 x14 huge crowds wherever they go homemade hoops were made for on tour. Nershi reminisced in [email protected] 2017: “I think it’s probably music. “We made our own with a shock for them now to PVC piping,” said Childers. www.telluridemtnschool.org have me come back “They had to be heavy to town and have enough to keep Financial Aid Available like 4,000 peo- them up around ple trying to our hips. I SUMMER/FALL 2023 TellurideMagazine.com 43 get into town to had a party see us play.” and I taught the band how to hula The band honed hoop. Everyone started their chops in those early bringing them to shows, days by playing small gigs around town and a bunch of and it just took off.” weddings. “Luckily,” joked Kang, When Childers showed the “a lot of our friends got married band how to hoop that night, it back then.” After they played, they clicked. There is something intrin- often hung out at their friend Beth sically pleasant about hooping to Childers’ place, and it was there music: it’s like having your own that she turned them on to hula metronome circling your hips, hooping one fateful night. Said keeping time. There’s a strangely Kang: “She told us, ‘This is the satisfying interplay between the thing. This is going to cause a stir.’” centripetal and centrifugal forces, maybe the same sort of sensation Childers was something of a that had hippies twirling at Grate- local celebrity herself. Vivacious, ful Dead shows for decades. For an extroverted, and beautiful, she up-and-coming jam band like String knew better than anyone how to Cheese Incident, hooping was the cause a stir. She and her friend perfect complement to their music. from Durango, Kari “Beanie” Sil- “We always felt like we wanted to be verman, took hula hoops to Jazz a dance band—that was our goal.

44 • FEATURE MARY KENEZ RYAN BONNEAU MELISSA PLANTZ MELISSA PLANTZ MICHAEL MOWERY Hula hoops are just a way to do that, to help people TRUE LOVE’S DANCE HALL A lot of the artists and attendees of the blue- break down their inhibitions,” said Kang. “A friend “For me, the hula hoop zone has always been about grass festival feel the same vibe. The pilgrimage to and I made forty or fifty of them out of tubing. We protecting the innocent from battery,” said Craig Telluride during the summer solstice, to play and were traveling in a Crested Butte school bus and we Ferguson, the festival’s director; “I’m kidding.” Fer- enjoy music, is like an annual reunion. The com- brought them to Bluegrass, and during our set just guson said he doesn’t remember when the zone— munion of old friends and familiar tunes, basking threw them out there. It kind of became our thing.” called “True Love’s Dance Hall”—was first created, in the longest days of the year, is magical. but he does know that it was for safety reasons. The band ran with the concept. They have The solstice, and the festival, are a way of been known to hoop on stage at their shows, and This year marks the 50th anniversary for the marking time—one revolution around the sun, once made a grand entrance to a closing day gig Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and the 30th for an annual gathering of the tribe—like the way at Gorrono’s on the ski resort, telemarking and String Cheese. The hoop is a fitting symbol, as you punctuate the spinning hoop by checking hooping simultaneously. They designed the iconic the band will come full circle this summer, per- it with your hip, keeping the rhythm. Hooping, stickers of a pedestrian-crossing street sign with a forming at the golden anniversary of the festival too, is a celebration of the music, of joy, of being hula hoop, and to this day, you can still find them where they played their first big show. They spin lost in the moment. While hula hooping has on Subaru bumpers in ski towns— along with a back through town often on their busy touring cycled through all kinds of trends, from toy, to host of actual street signs where the pedestrian or schedule, and Kang said it’s always special. “For fitness tool, even to fire twirling, it is elemen- the deer crossing has been graffitied with a hoop. us, Telluride in many ways is our literal and fig- tally suited to music. “It’s bliss,” said Childers. Their fans embraced the idea, too—so much so urative home. Our spiritual base. It feels like a “It is so much fun. You just get really into the that the Telluride Bluegrass Festival eventually homecoming to us for sure; we’re really excited groove. Close your eyes, hoop, and everything had to create a special area just for hooping. to come back. We love Telluride.” comes together.” \\ TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2023



46 • ESSAY Tequila Fish There is only one first fish By Maple Andrew Taylor | Illustrations by Stephanie Morgan Rogers The recipe for this story in rapid sequence but did so sporting a huge which I was apparently capable was something is simple: one part tequila and very garish sombrero (a seedy, ill-lighted I repeated, said Kahne, over and over, making Polaroid of someone who looked a whole lot her laugh. She said that I’d look somewhere and one part fish. like me wearing said sombrero appeared on onto her face and say, “You’re a fish.” First, the tequila. my desk the following Monday). Kahne said that I smiled excessively and spoke only spar- In the mountains about a two-hour drive My birthday was on the same day as our ingly, more sparingly as the night progressed, away was a stream that I heard was full of a office Christmas party, which added to the and then pretty much sticking to one subject: rare strain of cutthroat trout. These trout have number of those on hand to celebrate my my birthday. The last verbal communication of darkish thumbprints running vertically along turning another year older. In fact, I practi- their sides, bisected horizontally by an inter- cally forced almost everyone in our private section of the restaurant to help me cele- brate. I’d go up to them, shake their hand, and ask them if they would like to wish me a happy birthday. In the exuberance of the Christmas party and the sideshow of my birthday came many tequilas on a round, cork-lined tray—and I did not refuse a sin- gle one. At first, the young waiter greeted me guardedly, perhaps even subserviently, in his formal gray Spanish attire, informing me politely that someone bought me a drink in honor of my birthday. I would nod to him, lift the shot glass, knock it back, bite out the meat of the lime, drop the rind into the empty glass, place the glass back onto his tray— exactly in the center, this seemed import- ant—and thank him. But he became less and less formal as the evening progressed. It was like a bond had developed between us. Like the bond between survivors of floods or tor- nados. The only disaster brewing here, how- ever, was for me: a hurricane was coming, a hurricane of pain that would roar through my very skull, a storm with so many swirling ten- drils that I wouldn’t see daylight until well into the following afternoon. But what else can you do on your birthday, this 1/365 of the year that is all yours? How can you refuse a gift from your friends and workmates? It was a matter of decorum, of magnanimity: it was a no-brainer (almost literally). It was Kahne who took care of me; became for that night and most of the day after my guardian, my nurse, my guide. She was a generation or so my junior, new to our office, and a quick study and all-around real deal. Story goes that at one time the waiter stood before me with no fewer than four tequilas and not only did I down them TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2023

mittent stripe of burnt orange from gill to speed and strikes you in the back somewhere and surface out in front of her swirls in a corkscrew tail. The effect is amazing—the little fish you’ve suddenly caught, well, yourself. of color and into the grass she plops her fish. are gorgeous. Well, Kahne had gotten a fly- More hologram than fish in that morning light, fishing rod and reel for her birthday and At first, then, the line is the thing, not the the colors seeming to hover a millimeter or had taken casting lessons and practiced out fly. But the more one fishes the closer one gets to two above the little trout. I take her picture on her lawn and at a nearby pond, but had that day where the fly becomes the thing, and not and she says they are beautiful and did you never flyfished an actual stream and caught the line. That is the quantum day. A day where see him hit the fly? She lets it go and it darts an actual trout. So Kahne and I hooked up it’s you and the fly and nothing in between. A day back into the shadows. Gone now, her first fish. very early one Saturday in late June and where the fly simply alights where you look. A day Gone in the wake of Kahne’s smile. Gone in the found ourselves on the banks of the little where the fish wriggle the rod tip and roil the wake of mine. stream. I helped her rig up her leader and surface and sometimes vault from it in a frenzy of tippet and tied on and dressed up one of my lacquered splashing. There is only one first fish. dry flies, one with white wings that would be Sheen and iridescence and the shimmer of easy for her to spot on the water. I wanted Turns out, Kahne had practiced well, man- colors we don’t even have names for, fish are the her to see the fly along its drift, and see the aged from the beginning to keep the fly line high very definition of alive. Letting them go some- fish hit the fly; that is, if there were going to on the back cast, and more importantly, away times, sometimes cooking them for supper. That be any fish. I was concerned because a cold from the bushes and trees along the bank. I delicate meat is as good as food gets. Dissolves front had come through and there had been stood right beside her on a straight, flat stretch into our bloodstream, courses along the tribu- some rain, causing the stream to run high of water as she cast onto a dark pool down- taries of us. As we walk, as we sleep, as we lick and murky. stream of a white, bubbly pour-over. Her first salt and bite lime: through our bone and mus- casts put the fly onto the surface: the fly floated cle flows the stuff of the river. Its tiny flora and Flyfishing for the beginner is nothing if high and dry, spritely like a light, living thing. I fauna and all else. Flows away from and then not discouraging and difficult. You’ve got to knew there would be a fish; I waited for the sud- back toward a beating heart. continually manage your twenty or thirty feet den splash. The drift ended. She had mended When you cast to the waters, you find that of flyline, and if you aren’t casting the line out her line well. She recast. Recast again. Nothing. there are certain places where the fish just seem onto the waters, you are mending it—strip- She was doing great. She was a quick study, just to be. And soon, you see those places as you pick ping it through the guides and out behind to like in the office. Cripes! Please don’t tell me your way upstream and you know you must cast take out the slack so you are ready for the next this is going to be one of those days…it would there. You suspect that a fish is waiting; that cast, or so when a fish hits all you have to do is be totally unfair. She’s doing everything right. suspicion becomes your hope. That hope plays lift your rod tip to help set the hook. Or maybe She deserves a fish. out in fantasy, plays like a short movie in the you haven’t mended it, and the relentless mind’s eye: you see it happen before it happens. current has the line bunched up through and Then flit! The fish hit and missed. Kahne Then flit! What you’ve envisioned becomes around your legs and the leader and tippet are was part grin and part surprise. Did you see reality: a thought has put flesh on the bones of all jacked up and tangled, and there’s noth- him?! And then after a couple of good soft casts, your intentions. A thought becomes matter, as ing you can do then but wish you were home another hit and miss, and darn she said, you solid as a thick, heavy shot glass. Emptied of its having a late-morning cup of coffee or exactly have to be so quick! tequila, but the sheen of it still there, wet like anywhere else having whatever. There’s also moss and green with the refraction of a spent the matter of keeping the line up and into We picked our way to a nice, fresh hole wedge of lime. Perhaps in the haze of my birth- the air and up off the water behind you and upstream and I tied a new fly onto her tiny day, I was imagining or manifesting Kahne’s first away from brush or tree, where it can, does, tippet, a fresh fly, dry and pretty and wholly fish. She caught so many on her first day that and will snag. Add to this the footing, which convincing for the new water, the new fish. she must think like a fish; or maybe Kahne… is slippery at its very best and triply so out in FLIT! on the very first cast and this time she’s maybe she really is a fish. \\ the current where the water rides up over the trimmed her line well and the fish sets its knees. So not only are your hands full, your own hook and when she raises her rod the tip feet are full as well. crooks, jiggles, and Kahne is laughing and the Just when you’ve managed to routinely lay the fly on the surface where it rides high and dry and may be of interest to an actual fish— and you are patting yourself on the back and admiring the results of your fine work, your mastery of this semi-arcane craft—you drop your rod tip too far back on the back cast and the line comes snaking back at you at warp SUMMER/FALL 2023 TellurideMagazine.com 47

48 • ESSAY Sugaring

By Jen Parsons The day after my husband died, we sugared. I was just thirty-nine and a widow. Thirty-nine and about to raise two children, one diapered and one barely out, alone. “Last thing,” my husband, Trevor, It’s a cliché about Vermont, but also We would make only a small bit of sweet said to me in our big, sweeping goodbye. true. What else are you going to do when syrup. We would watch it for scalding. “I want this family to sugar. It will bring your husband died the day before. When We’d need to keep adding more. More sap you all together.” your kids look at you and you can’t decide and more fuel. More sap and more fuel who is more helpless—them or you. When to keep it going, to keep the appropriate So, we sugared. We tapped the family the entire extended family comes to your balance in which it would distill but not maple trees and waited for sap to run. husband’s childhood home to say farewell be ruined. It would take great care when What else are you going to do in Vermont to his yellowed self, and the house is full of time came to boil. in March, just a treefall away from the family and friends—the high school buddy Canadian border? At the end of winter, to who drove all night to get there, the old In the sugar woods, the day after mark the start of spring, you tap your trees roommate from Colorado, the fraternity my husband died, I leaned on the tree. I for sap and then boil it for hours, days, to friends, the multitudes of cousins. What watched all the family, together. A good make maple syrup. It is ritual. else are you going to do, eat the casseroles family, full of love and despair, loveandde- and the pies until you bloat? Stare at each spair together, pressed as tight as leaves When a good husband dies, and he asks other? What are you going to do? Cry? closed in a thick book. I knew already you to, you sugar. We gathered the metal the love and despair could hold me. It buckets from the cellar. Someone found We drilled with our gloved hands. could be mine, always. A deep, small seed the hand-drill. My children were dressed We hammered in taps. sensed, however, it could also dissolve in their rugged snow clothes. They wore We laughed. I think. The hand drill me. I could evaporate. I looked up the their mittens, but my son’s thumbs aimed felt silly, and we ribbed each other when bare limbs of the tree and then down into the wrong way out. We climbed through we cranked the swiveled arm of it. Kids the spout and the bucket, but nothing the pasture and into the old growth on the rolled down the wood’s road with their came out, yet. Just a hollow, empty thing. hill above the house to find the stand of cousins, the snow now thin with immi- maples. Trevor claimed these as his when nent spring. They made imperfect angels. The thing is: sugaring takes time. \\ he sugared as a kid. A rusted evaporator The sap would come from the tree, Jen Parsons is a writer and single mother knelt into the ground. If we were sugaring and we would collect it. We would tend a living in Placerville, CO. She won a literary for any other purpose than to be together, small fire beneath all this sap in a big boil- award from the Tucson Festival of Books, and we would have used a power drill. But that ing pan, it would take loads of sap, more has been selected for several writing residen- day we used a hand drill. It allowed us, for than you’d ever think could be needed. cies from Alaska to Vermont. “Sugaring” is an a moment, to not be stiff with death. excerpt from her forthcoming memoir. SUMMER/FALL 2023 TellurideMagazine.com 49

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