LIVING POETRY
extreme telluride

Telluride's landscape is not merely a collective body of mountains and mesas, it is living poetry. Upon its surface are watery mirrors of alpine ponds and lakes and sprinting streams shooting prisms of opulent, jeweltoned colors into the turquoise skies. Upon its surface are delicate strands of flowers that lace emerald green fields with magentas, butterscotches, silvery-blues, violets and more. Prairie sunflowers, orange hawkweeds, asters, lupine and our state flower, the columbine, share the stage with Colorado blue spruces, ponderosa pines, juniper, cottonwoods and quaking aspen. The conifers, broadleafed trees and shrubs offer nesting grounds to western tanagers, bald eagles, owls, blue grosbeaks, not to mention raccoons, bear, mountain lions, elk, deer, coyote, fox, bobcats and lynx. Each is an intrical part of the San Juans' living earth. Each are gems of nature, living poetic cantos sacred to the circle of life. Discover the sweet phenomena of nature's dance while meandering Telluride's river and mountain trails. Seas of rugged and genteel terrain give way to the infinite universe of skies and stars. It is here, in the unsurpassed beauty of Telluride, Colorado , where poetic thoughts and words radiate and ferment with our junctures of solitude.

"Mommy, how will Sundance get to the property?" my four-year-old asked regarding our horse. "Will he follow us in the car?" "No, honey. It would be nice if he would run down the highway behind our car, wouldn't it? No, we're going to put him in a trailer and drive him there. OK," I answered amused at the innocence of a my little one's mind. "Oh, that's a good idea. Otherwise he might get lost," she said.

The age of innocence, inquisitiveness and purity flees quickly. Those precious moments soon drift into the world of "reality checks" or real-life situations, where a child needs to use his/her knowledge and wisdom to get along in the world. They need to come out of their childhood "cocoons" and embark on the path of adulthood. Knowing that nature embraces us all in its cyclical patterns, we earnestly arm are children with the wisdom we've come to know. In Telluride, that wisdom often falls in the realm of respecting and being in the out-of-doors, holding education in high regard as well as individualism, friendships and family bonds. The children of the San Juans are brought-up having good-spirited adventures which generally translates into healthy lifestyles, habits and outlooks later in their lives. Visitors from all over the world come to Telluride, offering our children worldly views, inspiring travel and curiosity. More than anything, however, our mountain children get a sense of joy and fulfillment from being part of a community that caters and celebrates young people; teaching them worthwhile and life-long skills or crafts through its long list of family-oriented activities and events.

Russell Kelly
Kayaker

Russell has spent 12 years in his boat. He loves running steep creeks and getting out in the wilderness with his friends. Specializing in Himalayan river descents and exploration, he's on an "endless search for the goods. Life is good," he says. There is more to kayaking than one might think. It is not just bombing down the river. You are constantly getting out to look and calculate the risks that have to be taken. "It is important to channelize your fear into beneficial energy rather than panic," he says. "Don't look at the trees, look at the spaces between the trees. If Niagara Falls is the next rapid, you better pull over, above it. If you know you can pull over, then you can run the rapid above it."

Tracy Inglis
Kayaker

A Telluride local for 11 years, Tracy is a lover of life. Her physical endeavors include kayaking, skiing and rock climbing. For the past seven years, Tracy has been practicing massage therapy and recently brought these skills to the river by offering massage and yoga to the river rafting schools. Massages and yoga sessions are on sandy beaches to the melody of the rivers is a wonderful way to end a day in the wilderness. Recent river adventures have taken Tracy to rivers in Nepal , the mighty Zambezi of Africa , the Futaleusum of Chile and the Choruh of Turkey . Although these far and away adventures are exciting and cultural, her favorite times are spent locally with friends.

Edgar Martin Wilcox, III
Thomas Richards
Telluride Flyfishers' River Guides

Both long-time locals, alias "Edgar-the-Wise-Guy" or "Marty-O" and T.R. have worked in the outdoor industry together for over 15 years as professional ski instructors for Telluride's Ski & Snowboard School . Both are fullycertified PSIA instructors that have trained the trainers or supervised the supervisors. In other words, they not only ski down Telluride's mogul runs, race hills and grooms with grace, agility, finesse and swiftness, they can transmit their know-how and skills through proper verbiage. In effect, they not only walk the walk, they

talk the talk - figuratively speaking. Their great talking and walking skills parlay into the water-world as well. Having just purchased partnerships in Telluride's Flyfishers, Marty and T.R., along with Eric Reeser, Mark Scholtez oft called "Midnite," guide float trips down the San Miguel, Dolores and Gunnison Rivers . As life-long fishermen,

these outdoors enthusiasts and newly established businessmen, will arm you with some great fishing tips and float you into some majorly beautiful areas. They say they will throw in the jokes for free. What a deal!

Shirley MacLaine said, "The most profound relationship we'll ever have, is the one we'll have with ourselves." While Francis Bacon said, "A healthy body is a guest chamber for the soul; a sick body is a prison." From our founding fathers to literary geniuses to great generals, nurturing parents and just about anyone who embraces having a good life agrees that taking care of one's physical health not only helps keep attitudes positive, but invigorates one's soul, increases confidence and self-esteem. This parlays into strengthening relationships, increasing productivity, focus and a whole myriad of other things. Staying healthy and keeping physical seemingly influences the inner-joy people feel and dictates the stamina and zest we experience in our day-to-day lives. A town's mentality is shaped by the people that inhabit it. Telluride has a very "physical" mind-set; hence a lot of very active people live here. It seems, most every local, in one way or another, "gets physical" and are wellconnected to their bodies. It's almost a religion here. In fact, we boast some of the nation's most incredible athletes. Though many hold world and national titles, most simply find "bliss" in being in nature's arms running, riding, kayaking or whatever. It's their way of transcending the physical world and getting in touch with their souls and igniting their spirits.

Victoria Hoffman
Yoga Instructor

Victoria has been practicing yoga for over 20 years, and has been teaching for ten. She has also danced at a professional level, and received a B.A. from the University of Cincinnati in 1987. Victoria is an avid skier, snowboarder and mountain biker. She currently directs the yoga program at Mountain Yoga, where she teaches traditional Ashtanga Yoga.

Ashtanga Yoga: "Yoga is a philosophy of life, which also has the potential to create a vibrantly healthy body and mind. Ashtanga Yoga, practiced in its sequential order, gradually leads the practitioner to rediscover his or her fullest potential on all levels of human consciousness - physical, psychological and spiritual. Through this practice of correct breathing (Ujjayi Pranayams), postures (asansa), and gazing point (dristi), we gain control of the senses and a deep awareness of ourselves. By maintaining this discipline with regularity and devotion, one acquires steadiness of body and mind. An intense internal heat is produced by synchronizing breathing and movements. This heat purifies muscles and organs, expelling unwanted toxins as well as releasing beneficial hormones and minerals, which can nourish the body when the sweat is massaged back into the skin. The breath regulates the vinyasa and ensures efficient circulation of blood. The result is a light, strong body." -Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

Kari Distefano
Runner, Mountain Biker, Skier...

I really don't know Kari, though she is one of the very few people who has a reputation that precedes her. She's one of Telluride's all-round athletes who has won countless championships, titles, first, second and third place medals in runs, mountain bike races, ski competitions and now marathons. She's like the little Ever- Ready battery bunny - she keeps on going and going and going. On almost any given day, sometimes twice a day, you'll see Kari running or biking trials in and around Telluride. She's an allround athlete who has one of the most friendly, kind and good-natured spirits around. Kari has her own drafting business and is married to Joe Distefano. They have three children - who are often toted, pushed, pulled or bike alongside Kari while she trains. Kudos go to the lady champion.

Mike O'Malley
Biker, Softball & Volleyball Player, Runner...

O'Malley is one of those guys you'd want to be allied with on TV's Survivor Show challenge. He's a fierce competitor, yet he has a sense-of-humor and compassion that wouldn't let any teammate down - unless he didn't like them. Having an aviation engineer background, Mike is versatile, resourceful and quick in making critical decisions. He's also one of the most incredible all-round athletes I've met. His true love is wife, Kara, his second love is baby John Martin, and his third love is mountain biking. He's races in the likes of the Vail's Ultra 100-Mile Race, Telluride Melée of the Mines, several point series races in Durango , Farmington , Fruita and many more. He most always finishes in the top ten percent. In the winter months, O'Malley plays volleyball competitively and skis quite a lot. In the summertime, he dons his softball cap and magically takes up the position as TellurideStyle's short-stop. With surreal moves seemingly like those of Michael Jordan's, O'Malley makes some awesome catches. Oddly, O'Malley won the Imogene Pass Runs' (dubbed America 's most grueling race) "women's running division" two years ago. He wanted to win so badly, he put his wife's bib-number on himself; making him the winner of the female race. (He has a quirky sense-of-humor.) Seriously, without ever running, only biking as a mode of training, O'Malley ran across Imogene's finish line in less than three hours. That, my friends, is a phenomenal completion time. He runs marathons now, though he says, Imogene is harder.