The Etiquette of Nacho Hill

The Etiquette of Nacho Hill

by Jared Hargrave November 5, 2010 Mountain Notebook

Nachos. For outdoor lovers in Mountain Country, nachos (with beer of course) are an essential, must-have after a long day spent rock climbing, backcountry skiing, mountain biking, river rafting, fort building, naked mandolin-playing in the woods, whatever-it-is-you-do-outside-with-your-buddies tradition. In fact, there is nothing better than working up a hunger by playing in the sun, then [...]

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Head Games

Head Games

by Jane Koerner November 5, 2010 Features

From: Powder Queen To: Rocky Mountain Stead Drought breaking. Snow on way. Answer to your question: We were married for 15 years. A long time ago, before I moved to Utah. He’s still in Colorado. We talk on holidays. Not friends exactly, more like big brother, kid sister, although that relationship seems to be reversing [...]

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In Pursuit of Pure Speed

In Pursuit of Pure Speed

by Dick Dorworth November 5, 2010 Features

(Author’s note: This essay is composed of three sections taken from “The Straight Course,” a book I wrote in the late summer and fall of 1969 while recovering from an injury. The book is about the three years I was a speed skier in Portillo, Chile, and Cervinia, Italy, and has never been published. I [...]

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Denver

Denver

by Peter Kray November 5, 2010 Features

Farmers pray for clouds, with dirt beneath their nails as they watch the sky and wish for rain. Sailors feel their hearts beat in time with the tides, and the saltwater flowing through their veins. And in Denver, the mountains stand at the end of every westbound street like a neighboring magic kingdom, succeeding blue [...]

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Ski Bumming and Other Lies

Ski Bumming and Other Lies

by Richard Barnum-Reece November 5, 2010 Features

Editor’s note: In our March 2010 issue (MG #165), we ran an obituary, penned by Dave Baldridge (who has gained a certain amount of recent notoriety in our pages as the now-famous “List Guy,” whose words, and the consequent responses to his words, have been gracing our Letters page for several months now) of a [...]

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Trout Streak Revival

Trout Streak Revival

by Brendan Leonard November 2, 2010 Mountain Music

Sometime just before the pilot turned our plane around over Wyoming and headed back to DIA and rang the death knell on any chance of my flight to Portland getting in within five hours of its advertised arrival time, Travis, the guy sitting next to me mentioned that he was in a band. Nice guy, [...]

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Facing The Storm

Facing The Storm

by Brendan Leonard November 2, 2010 Film

I’ve liked the work of the folks at High Plains Films ever since I was a grad student at the University of Montana and saw “This Is Nowhere,” their documentary about the RVers who travel around the country, only “camping” in Wal-Mart parking lots. Their documentaries have covered a range of topics, from the asbestos-caused [...]

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Soundtracker

Soundtracker

by Brendan Leonard November 2, 2010 Film

One of my favorite stories from the nonprofit I work at is about the city kid on his first trip into the wilderness, who kept telling one of our adult volunteers to “listen” for a noise he was hearing. After a few minutes, the adult figured out that the teenager had never heard the sound [...]

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Letters

Letters

by M John Fayhee November 2, 2010 Letters

Praising Mystery & Beer Juan: Can you please pass along congrats to Jen Jackson for her piece in MG #169? (“In Praise of Mystery and Beer.”) Just read it. Really good. Best, Cam Burns, Basalt, CO —– Wildness and Coming Home John: I took a trip across the country recently. I drove from my state [...]

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Why We Do It

Why We Do It

by Michael Brady November 2, 2010 Mountain Notebook

In 1923, English mountaineer George Leigh Mallory was asked why he intended to climb Mount Everest the following year. He replied “because it’s there.” Those three words, regarded the most famed in all of mountaineering, might also be the raison d’être for any outdoor activity. The mountain-bike rider traverses a rocky trail because it’s there, [...]

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