Letters
By You, the ReaderThe Fantastic Fayhee
Just wanted to say ‘“Thanks’” for some great articles in the April issue, which kept me company on the way back from Colorado Springs to Boston, back to my pedestrian lowland life. John Fayhee’s “Car Camping in the Combat Zone” and “It’s Snot What You Think” were particularly entertaining. There’s a lot of the Western attitude in that story that I already miss less than 24 hours after liftoff from my gorgeous view of Pike’s Peak on a sunny April 13. I look forward to reading more from the Gazette online. Keep up the good work.
Joshua Boyd,
Sports Editor; Swampscott Reporter, Ipswich Chronicle, Tri-Town Transcript
Fantastic Fayhee #2
I am writing to join the fray about the old Mountain Gazette versus the new Mountain Gazette, but only as a vehicle for saying how much I appreciate M. John Fayhee’s articles and the fact that they have gotten better and better since MG’s reemergence.
Since there were three of his efforts in issue #142, and they were all well-written, informative and entertaining, you’re probably getting other letters like mine. This is one issue that will go on my bookshelf instead of to the recycling bin. (By the way, please let me know whether the MG should be recycled as newsprint or paper/junk mail.)
John makes me smile out loud, even when the subject matter is not funny. I only wish I had his sense of humor and poignancy. If the rest of The Mountain Gazette can keep up with the flavor of John’s writing, I will continue to enjoy it and subscribe, even though I could do without some of the changes that others have sufficiently lambasted in previous letters.
Gwen Hoffnagle,
Somewhere near Texas Creek, CO.
RE: recycling – the answer is “yes.” Newsprint recycling is OK. MG can be recycled with any regular recycling program.
On Trail Love’s Path
Regarding “M. John Fayhee’s “Trail Love, Or Not” (MG #140): Never have I read something that resonates so many peculiar similarities of myself and my relationship with my soon-to-be wife as your article did. It was almost autobiographical … so cheers to a great lesson on love. Had I known then what I know now … I probably would have never gotten to be where I am today, I suppose. Fate’s a damn funny dance partner.
Kurt “Cap’n” Peterson
The Care of the Crosscut
I read with interest the crosscut saw article (MG #142). I also prefer the hand-operated saw to the “noise makers.” There is an excellent booklet, Crosscut Saw Manual by Warren Miller USFS available through the Crosscut Saw Co., P.O. Box 787, Seneca Falls, NY 13148, (315) 568-5755, crosscutsaw.com. Cost was $4 plus $2.75 s/h.
Everything you need for the care and feeding of the crosscut saw is in this excellent little booklet.
Joe De La Ronde,
Mancos, CO
In Crosscut Recovery
Just a quick thanks for your recent article in the Mountain Gazette about crosscut saws. I’m a former (recovering?) NOLS instructor, hotshot, jumper, Boulderite and saw instructor. Your article brought back (mostly) fond memories of a project jump into the Yolla Bolly Wilderness in 1997. Four rookie jumpers, four old guys, and a couple of coolers jumped in to clear trails after a particularly harsh winter. As a rookie, I was on a crosscut. The old guys had been permitted power saws for any truly hazardous trees. Guess who got most of the work. Our master crosscut sharpener would actually search far and wide for old saws to rehab because he did not trust the quality of newer crosscuts. He was a true artisan. That experience made Norman Maclean’s “Logging, Pimping, and Your Pal Jim” a whole new literary experience for me.
I look forward to future articles from you.
Geoff Butler
Mountainfilm Tour
I hope all is well. I just finished a fun article on the overabundance of Mountain Film Festivals. I really enjoyed the writing style and fairly thorough coverage of the multitude of pretty exciting festivals out there. I did see, however, one glaring inaccuracy in the article. In the opening paragraph, Marc points out that “Telluride’s storied Mountainfilm festival, which was started 30 years ago by a bunch of climbing bums, but doesn’t include the many stops of the traveling road show that is the Banff Mountain Film tour.” While the article was accurate about the founding members of the festival, it overlooked our well-established world tour, which presents more than 100 shows a year on five continents —including two shows in Paonia as an annual benefit to WSERC (Western Slope Environmental Resource Center). We’re extremely proud of our traveling tour as it expands the mission of Mountain to Educate and Inspire audiences to more than 30,000 people worldwide. Thanks for the great coverage of all of these festivals.
Justin Clifton,
Telluride Mountainfilm On Tour Director
Last of the Last Ski Town
Well I just finished reading your article “The Last Ski Town” on Silverton CO. and for the most part I liked it. As a resident and business owner, I would like to point out a few misstatements which you make. First, with regard to the quote from Texan, non-resident land owner John Daughtrey, we DO have an ice-skating rink, located near the new ski lift, that is usable most of the winter AND have had a winter “extravaganza” in mid-February for several years now called Snowscape which includes the infamous cardboard derby, cross-country ski races, events for the kids, a snowball fight and even snow golf. While the dirt roads (snow & ice in winter) and ice rink may not be up to Mr. Daughtrey’s standards, it is what we have at this point and time as we are one of the poorest counties in the state. We make due with a yearly budget that most cities would spend in about a month. Maybe if he spent more time in town he would know these things. Not to mention he would know where to get a good steak dinner. You go on to quote Mr. Daughtrey as saying he wants’ to “change Silverton to fit him”, to be more like every other Outside Magazine 50 best outdoor places to live. Well if he is not interested in learning about the town and county, what makes it tick and becoming part of a community, why not sell his property and move to one of the places on last year’s list?
As for the assertion that, “only three new businesses that have started since Silverton Mt. opened are still operating”. This is just plain wrong. The Avalanche Café, in which you were sipping coffee, re-opened last winter under new management after being closed almost a year. Engineer Mt. Engineering has been in town taking care of land and homeowners needs for six years now. My business, the Pride of the West Pub & Grill, has been open for three years as one of three year-round bars in town. We have a new liquor store, Hobo Liquors, a catering business, Elevated Fine Foods, Inn of the Rockies B&B, Elevated Sleep & Supper, Barz Decorative Hardware, Silverton Brewery and Mountain Studies Institute. All new year-round businesses since Aaron & Jenny breathed life into the winter economy by opening Silverton Mtn., all of us trying to make “the last ski town” something special. If Mr.Kray had bothered to talk to the Chamber of Commerce Director who promotes town (instead of an out-of-state land owner), he would have found out these things, as well as much more.
Silverton Mountain has been a boon for the town of Silverton and San Juan County. They have helped to jump start a town that used to roll up the sidewalks in the winter and relied almost solely on a tourist train in the summer. The powder skiing is great, ice-climbing spectacular, snowmobiling wonderful, and then there’s the summer. There are people moving to town looking for the same things that brought Dolores LaChapelle to the area. It even looks like we will have a mining operation opening back up. What a diverse community we have. That’s some more of what’s going on in Silverton. Just thought you should know.
Pura Vida,
Douglas Wall
