Colorado Food & Wine Hotels & Lodging Mountain Living Music & Dance Restaurants Telluride Travel Fun: 20 Years Colorado Hospitality Industry Hotels & Lodging Mountain Lodge Telluride Mountain Village Restaurants Steve Togni
by maribeth
Comments Off on Celebrating Twenty Extraordinary Years at Mountain Lodge Telluride
Celebrating Twenty Extraordinary Years at Mountain Lodge Telluride
In the winter of 2002, I visited Telluride for the first time. I was living in Pagosa Springs, Colorado then and although I was familiar with the grandeur of Aspen and Vail, I was awestruck by the massive log structures of Telluride Mountain Village. I checked into Mountain Lodge Telluride where I was immediately enraptured by its rustic mountain elegance. When I stepped into their Great Room, situated across from their front desk, my jaw dropped.
Reminiscent of the big gathering places of the celebrated lodges within our National Parks and also of the most renowned Great Camps of the Adirondack Mountains, the Mountain Lodge Great Room mirrors the majesty of our magnificent Rocky Mountains. The Great Room at Mountain Lodge Telluride comes with a spectacular panoramic view, one of the best in all of the Rockies.
Despite this striking beauty, the expansive space at that time was dead, completely soulless. There was a bar but it took some doing for the front desk clerk to rustle up someone to serve a couple of drinks. My travel companion and I were the only guests in this awe-inspiring space.
That was before Stefano (Steve) Togni arrived. He took over as general manager at Mountain Lodge Telluride in 2004, fresh off his position of Hotel/Rooms Division Manager at The Peaks. And not long after that, Steve began to shape this property into the vibrant and exciting place of lodging and dining it is today.
Full disclosure: Steve and I have been partnered for almost sixteen of the twenty years he has been at the Lodge, so I have been privy to much of the happenings there. As a serious travel writer and published author, however, I will refrain from boasting too much about Steve. But his accomplishments at this stellar Telluride property are worth touting, especially since he has decided to move on and take a break from the rigorous demands of the hospitality world in our busy mountain town. It’s time for him to recharge; yet before he takes his final bow at Mountain Lodge, I hope that many of you will join me in paying homage to this leading force within Telluride, a man who has given much to our community over these past two decades.
Twenty years: that’s an eternity in the hospitality industry where most senior level managers stay at a property an average of two to three years before moving on to another job. Steve began managing Mountain Lodge Telluride before Telluride, Colorado became known throughout the world as an “it” place to be. Prospect Bowl had recently opened and there was no significant summer tourism up on the mountain. You could still find plenty of parking spaces in town and Mountain Village.
Tourism in Telluride exploded within this period and finding workers has become increasingly more difficult. “What we do isn’t rocket science; finding employee housing is quantum physics,” says Steve Togni.
Blogging was the only real form of social media that existed twenty years ago and even that was just taking off. (That’s partly how we met.) Since then, evolving technologies, social media and customer review sites such as Trip Advisor, Yelp and Open Table have changed much within the hospitality industry. “A critical component of any successful sales and marketing plan today revolves around the strategic implementation of technology. It’s important to continue providing the tools and resources necessary for our team in order to evolve with the new technology,” he says.
And how hard do you think it was to keep a six-acre, full service, 140-room resort afloat during the Covid pandemic? Plus, there were more than one hundred employees to consider. “It was a brutal time,” Steve says. “The Lodge was shut down and I spent three months up in the boardroom pushing numbers and dealing with government agencies trying to figure out how to have the property survive and how to take care of our employees. In truth, I was envious of all those people that were able to stay home for three months.”
He and his team shepherded Telluride Mountain Lodge through that near-disastrous time.
Big hotels require big renovations. At Mountain Lodge Telluride, there were many large capital projects that required attention over the past two decades. At most large properties, these types of major works are undertaken by a broad base of corporate support teams. But at Mountain Lodge Telluride, it has been all hands on deck, directed and managed by Steve Togni. Within the past year, for example, the Lodge had to take on a multi-million dollar roof project when it became challenging to obtain insurance for their shingled roof. That work went on for five months without disrupting the influx of travels that are now the norm of Telluride’s busy summer travel season.
And what about that Great Room? Well, not long after Steve took over, he decided that such a beautiful room deserved a nice restaurant and bar, a convivial place where people could enjoy fine food and drink in a superlative setting. Born in Milan, Steve naturally felt inclined to contact Paolo Canclini, of Rustico and La Piazza fame. Together they created a kitchen (built from scratch!), a bona fide food and beverage plan and launched The View restaurant and bar. This fabulous space has had many iterations since then, often serving breakfast, lunch, dinner and après ski to folks whether they are guests at the hotel or not.
Indeed, whether sipping drinks poolside or delighting in an elegant meal inside by the immense stone fireplace, The View has become a happening spot year round. Locals and visitors alike appreciate it for a vibe that reflects much of the fun and free-spiritedness of Telluride.
This flair might not be much on display during one of Mountain Lodge’s elegant wedding receptions but if you’re able to attend one of their special events such as their Snow Dance, Electric Luau, a Fourth of July barbecue and pool party or a drag brunch, you’re immersed in many of the more fun-loving aspects of life in T-ride. Steve, the driving force behind most of these events, likes to have fun.
It takes a tremendous amount of energy, smarts and dedication to run a noteworthy lodging and dining establishment within a world class resort community. Here he has had to answer to homeowners (each of the Mountain Lodge units are individually-owned) as well as hotel and restaurant guests, while managing over one hundred employees. So he needs to play hard. Fortunately for many of us within the Telluride community, Steve has infused Mountain Lodge with much of his idea of fun.
Local band favorite Joint Point has played at Mountain Lodge about twice a year for the past ten years, and these parties are among the best in Telluride. Like at any good concert, dazzling light shows, tasty bites and drink specials are often an integral part of these happenings.
Steve Togni has, in fact, created a culture at Mountain Lodge that has catapulted it from just another big mountain property to something that’s soulful for guests and his hotel and restaurant workers alike. Sure, he has left his mark with little touches such as tie dye flags, illuminated crossed skis on the exterior that can be viewed from the gondola (X marks the spot) as well as a proliferation of blue LED lights that adorn the property’s trees and pool. (They were among the first in Telluride.) Mountain Lodge was also ahead of the curve by providing stunning reusable shopping bags to their guests that feature winter and summer views of the Lodge. They’ve become killer keepsakes that have made it to every corner of the world. They were also among the first to wrap their shuttle in these same gorgeous winter and summer scenes of the Lodge. And get this: their employee shuttle even once sported a flower power motif–much like the Scooby-doo van.
Early on, Steve made sure that the employee break room was dialed in and freshened up, since he knew that that could serve as the hub for forging bonds within the Mountain Lodge team. What started as weekly lunches furnished to Lodge employees later expanded to daily lunches all year long. Served up by The View restaurant, these lunches are most surely part of the reason Mountain Lodge employees feel nurtured, nourished and valued within their Mountain Lodge family. (It’s also a good way to lure employees back in for their shift on powder days.)
“The most essential and indispensable resource to our operation is our employee base; we operate with that as a principle tenet,” Steve adds.
Yes, from the Great Room to the employee break room to the elegant condo units that make up Mountain Lodge to many spots in between, Mountain Lodge Telluride exudes heart and soul, much in the image of their leader in chief, Steve Togni.
For over ten years, there was even a mascot of sorts, a cat in residence, named Mario, that Steve took in from the cold when he clearly had nowhere else to go. Mario has recently settled into the home of one of his beloved Mountain Lodge moms where he can live out his retirement in an especially tranquil setting. He had a good run of it at the Lodge and was the meeter and greater par excellence to many throughout most of his life.
Mario’s exit was the final green light that lead Steve to the decision to leave the Lodge as well.
Our kitties and I will certainly enjoy having him around more. I doubt he’ll be curling up on the couch much but he likely will be doing some extra laps on Gold Hill, enjoying some well-deserved time off.
Steve invites the whole community to help him celebrate a good time in Telluride at his Fare Steve Well sendoff party at Mountain Lodge on Thursday, October 3 at 6pm. Joint Point will be jamming, so put on your dancing shoes. Steve may even join them for a riff or two. Drink and food specials guaranteed, very much along an Oktoberfest theme. In typical Togni fashion, a good time will surely be had by one and all.
Before that celebration, however, tune into Travel Fun, my talk radio show on KOTO just after noon on Thursday, September 26 for a live interview with Steve. Call up to say hi, ask questions and show support. Anyone who makes a $30. donation to KOTO will automatically be entered into my private drawing for a chance to win a very special prize. Just click on donate and be sure to choose Travel Fun as your favorite program.
For more stories that feature Steve Togni and Mountain Lodge Telluride, type in Steve or Mountain Lodge Telluride into the search in this blog and you’ll pull up all kinds of stories from the past fifteen plus years.
Colorado Skiing & Snowboarding Telluride Travel Fun: Aspen Divas Palmyra Prowlers San Juan Sundancers Synchronized Riding Synchronized Skiing Telluride Benders Telluride Ghostriders Telluride Ski & Snowboard School Telluride Ski Resort Telluride Synchronized Ski Team Telluride Tempters Telluride World Synchro Championship Travel Fun
by maribeth
Comments Off on Telluride Takes Synchronized Skiing and Riding to a New Level
Telluride Takes Synchronized Skiing and Riding to a New Level
Did you know that skiing and snowboarding can be team sports? And what a beautiful site it is to see skiers and snowboarders coming down the hill in synchronized formation.
That’s what happened last week at the Telluride World Synchro Championship, an event that has taken place at various ski resorts in North America for decades. Aspen hosted this event for nearly twenty years. And for the first time this synchronized championship found its home in Telluride. Thanks to the support and hard work from Telluride Ski Resort, Tim Williams, the director of Telluride Ski & Snowboard School, the participants of the synchronized ski and snowboard teams and many many more. The coaches, including Sarah (Sem) Walls, Rogan O’Herily, Neville Leel and Frankie Zampini also deserve major kudos. All spent long hours practicing on the slopes before the lifts started turning for the public throughout the season. The result was that his event was a big success and a fun addition to the animation found on the mountain.
It was a first to be hosted by Telluride, however, the Telluride Synchronized Ski Team has been around since the eighties. Telluride ski legends such as Annie Vareille Savath, Doug Morrison and Marty Wilcox helped to launch this nonprofit back in the day in an effort to make sure that Telluride’s finest ski instructors could compete in various elite events alongside talented ski professionals from Vail, Whistler and other resorts. The origins of it lie in the desire to demonstrate what ski instructors are capable of doing on the mountain. And that’s still the case today.
Sure, you can see lots of ski performance from instructors just by observing them on the mountain. But synchronized ski competitions take that skill to a different level. In addition to the choreographed presentations that dazzle onlookers lucky enough to take in these events, there’s also individual competitions in the moguls and on the racecourse.
I had the opportunity to do two different interviews on this subject on my Travel Fun radio show on KOTO. The first took place a few days before the competition and featured team captains and participants John Balmain (Ghostriders), Mike Griswold and Reid Schlack (Benders), Emma Johnson (Tempters), Rose Nadelhoffer (San Juan Sundancers), and Anna Sebree (Palmyra Prowlers).
You can listen to this interview through Thursday, April 11 on Spinitron.
The Telluride Ghostriders, an all-male team that has existed for quite some time, snagged first place in this year’s Telluride World Synchronized Ski Championships.
The Telluride Tempters, an all-female team in their second year, placed second.
And the Aspen Divas, an all-female team from Aspen, that has always garnered much attention, came in third.
The Telluride Benders, an all-male team dressed in black (with uniforms borrowed from the lifties) created quite the stir. So did the Palmyra Prowlers, the male and female riders that showed that snowboards can do fancy turns in sync as well. Special mention goest to the San Juan Sundancers, an all-female team of first-year Telluride ski instructors that gave a very strong showing.
Woo-hoo! Those fortunate to have viewed the presentations that took place on Comp Hill (and also Hermit for the bumps and the Nastar course for the racing) were indeed entertained and impressed.
I did a wrap up Travel Fun interview with Frankie Zampini and Logan Lanier, members of the Telluride Ghostriders and two of the driving forces behind the Telluride Synchronized Ski Team organization. That interview will air Thursday, April 11 at 6:30pm MST at KOTO.org. I will also be putting up that link within a few days after airing.
In this chat, Frankie and Logan further talked about the event, the organization and what’s in the works for next year. Whether you’re a skier, a rider or just a lover of athletic prowess and competition, these interviews will have you looking at snowsports differently.
So what’s next? I say synchronized skiing and riding should become an olympic sport. What do you think?
In the meantime, mark your calendars for the end of the season next year to take in this exciting two-day event to be held once again in Telluride. (The actual days will be announced at a later date.)
For a glimpse at synchronized skiing, check out the video posted by the Telluride Ski Resort on Instagram. I promise you’ll be hooked.
Colorado Discovery Map Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Shopping Spas Telluride Travel Fun: Colorado community radio fundraising Guest DJ Day KOTO Mountain Lodge Telluride Travel Fun
by maribeth
Comments Off on Tuning into KOTO Now and Always
Tuning into KOTO Now and Always
This is a big weekend in Telluride. It’s Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, more casually referred to as Blues & Brews. The air is crisp, there’s a dusting on the peaks, the aspens are changing and the town is poised to say goodbye to summer with its last big music festival of the season. For those like me who are currently not in T-ride, you can tune into this great big musical extravaganza at KOTO.org. Of course you can–because KOTO is the heart and soul of our beautiful mountain town known worldwide for its first-rate music festivals. In addition to broadcasting performances by talented artists such as Ceelo Green, Tab Benoit, John Hiatt and Samantha Fish, interviews with artists by our radio station besties will also be aired during set breaks. So thrown down your tarp, fire up the grill, serve yourself a cold one and party Telluride style. That’s exactly what I’ll be doing from my special beach destination here on the Outer Banks.
If you tune in this weekend or if you’ve listened to KOTO before, you know that our Telluride radio station is all about community. One of the best community-oriented events on KOTO is Guest DJ Day. I was honored to be a part of it this year and wow, I never thought it would be so much fun. But it was! It was one big love fest. And who doesn’t like love? I had an hour on Friday, August 19 to schmooze up the airwaves to raise money for our community radio station’s summer fundraising campaign. And it was all about sharing the love.
The timing of my Guest DJ Day was especially poignant since I had not been on the air in a long time. What a way to make a comeback! Plus, it was the eve of my birthday weekend, so it was a great way to kickoff my celebrations.
Thank you to our beloved Ben Kerr, the driving force behind KOTO, for engineering my show. Thank you to the whole KOTO staff for all your efforts all the time and for making me feel so welcome. I am so grateful to my guy, Steve Togni, for his support and his generous donation of the grand prize of a two-night stay at Mountain Lodge, the beautiful property he manages in Telluride Mountain Village. As usual, he was an interesting and articulate guest. He’s a radio natural, which is why I’ve been trying to convince him to have some fun spinning tunes at KOTO.
Merci mille fois to Johnny Gerona, owner of The Village Table. After Johnny closes his restaurant that we all love so much, he might infuse the KOTO airwaves with a different kind of global dish. It was lovely to have Noah Sheedy, Director of the Telluride Ski & Snowboard School, come by to show support and talk skiing with us. All those smiling faces! Peter Hans, the guy who makes most adventures happen at Discovery Map, called in from a beach in Rhode Island. He brought us some extra sunshine and also chatted about the world of travel.
Thank you also to everyone else that called in, texted and donated to KOTO and Travel Fun, my talk show on travel. You helped me raise a good amount of money for a good cause. Best of all, you’ve inspired me to get back on the air soon. I have the start of the winter season, perhaps just before Thanksgiving, in mind; so stay tuned.
I’d like to once again showcase all of those businesses that generously donated premiums that were used to incentivize donations to Travel Fun. Please patronize them and thank them for supporting KOTO.
Mountain Lodge Telluride and The View restaurant
Counter Culture Kitchen and Catering
It is so wonderful to be a part of the greater Telluride community. It’s so rewarding to be a part of KOTO. Long live community radio! And remember that you can be an active part of KOTO and one of Telluride’s best-loved music festivals by tuning into KOTO this weekend.
Beauty Colorado Discovery Map Elderly Parents Fashion & Style Hotels & Lodging Mountain Living Music & Dance Norwood Outdoor Adventures Restaurants Shopping Skiing & Snowboarding Spas Telluride Telluride Festivals Travel Fun Writing & Books: Arena Hair Studio Aveda Telluride Spa Cindybread Artisan Bakery Colorado Counter Culture Kitchen and Catering Discovery Map fundraising Guest DJ Day kittens KOTO La Çocina de Luz Maribeth Clemente Mesa Rose Kitchen + Grocery Mountain Lodge Nails with Mandie Norwood Sawpit Mercantile SOL Paddle Boards summer 2022 Telluride Telluride Coffee Roasters Telluride Ski Resort The Peaks Resort & Spa The View The Village Table Travel Fun
by maribeth
Comments Off on KOTO, Kittens and Kookiness
KOTO, Kittens and Kookiness
My Friends and Me at KOTO’s Purple House on Pine
Leave it to KOTO, our beloved community radio station here in Telluride, Colorado, to bring me back into the fold. I’ve been wanting to get back on the air with Travel Fun, my talk show on travel, and start blogging again for quite some time. But life has kept me occupied with other doings and it has been hard finding the time for these two favorite ways of being in touch with you.
My last post, which highlighted a photo of my mother and me fresh from the hairdresser, was in March 2021. Sadly, my sweet mama passed away that following July and exactly three months prior to that–in April–my dear brother, David, succumbed to his three-and-a-half-year battle with cancer. Needless-to-say both left a gaping hole in my heart as well as much to do, including clearing out a large family home stuffed to the heavens with belongings and an abundance of memorabilia. The fact that all of that occurred back east–a great distance from Colorado–in the height of a pandemic and after much caretaking made it all the more complicated. But I’m back in Colorado now full-time slowly picking up the pieces of my life after having been intimately involved in theirs for many years.
KOTO is the heart and soul of Telluride. Most of the community, its visitors and folks tuning in from afar turn to our little radio station, an NPR affiliate, for all kinds of musical entertainment, talk, news, the avalanche report and other important announcements such as a lost dog report or road closures and traffic slowdowns due to a mudslide or elk crossings. Plus, they regularly broadcast most of Telluride’s big music festivals, including the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Telluride Jazz Festival and Telluride Blues & Brews Festival. Its audience is truly worldwide. So when the bright and shining Cara (Pallone), Executive Director of KOTO, asked me to be a guest DJ for KOTO’s 2022 Summer Fundraising drive, a live one-hour segment Friday, August 19 from noon to 1pm, I was deeply honored and also somewhat daunted; I knew that this marked a time when I was to put it in gear.
And maybe you thought I was just horsing around in my little town of Norwood, Colorado?
Me Down on the Farm in Norwood
Admittedly I love the peace and tranquility of this old ranching town less than an hour from Telluride and I have been hooked to the Netflix series “Heartland.” But you can take the girl out of Paris but never Paris out of the girl. As much as I’ve embraced a more down-to-earth lifestyle in Colorado, there’s still a big part of me that’s every bit of a Parisian sophisticate.
With KOTO’s Summer Fundraising theme of Across the Universe, I thought I’d dust off my cowboy boots (gardening clogs, actually) and tell you my story.
I’ve been a travel writer since the late eighties. I lived in France eleven years and have traveled back to Paris and the French provinces considerably since I moved back to the States in 1994. France has always been my specialty but since I moved to Colorado over twenty years ago, I have also become passionate about and well versed in the American West. I authored five books on France, three shopping and touring guides to Paris, one shopping and touring guide on the French provinces and one travel memoir entitled A Tour of the Heart: A Seductive Cycling Trip Through France. I segued into travel writing after I had created a shopping service in Paris, called Chic Promenade. During those years, I lead people on the discovery of off-the-beaten-path boutiques and also arranged behind-the-scenes visits of the big names such as Hermès, Dior and Nina Ricci.
My Travel Memoir: Tour of the Heart
I’ve traveled extensively throughout the world to places as far-flung as Guilin, China, and big parts of Morocco and Nova Scotia. I’ve written about many of these places at my blog, www.BonjourColorado.com. I’ve fallen way behind on posting there because I have been involved in lots of family doings since 2016. But I’m back at it now!
In past years, I’ve freelanced for Forbes, The New York Times Syndicate and a number of other outlets. I currently write online content for Discovery Map, a company that publishes those colorful, hand drawn maps that you find in about 150 destinations throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. For them, I’ve written about great places to visit such as the Outer Banks, of North Carolina, Cape May in New Jersey and Bozeman, Big Sky and Livingston, Montana, to name a few. And yes, I even wrote about Telluride because there’s a Discovery Map here as well. I have to admit it’s the longest and most inspired writeup of all that I’ve done. I also recently wrote a blog for them entitled “Summer Travel Woes: How to Make the Best of Your Airline Experience,” which anyone planning to hop on a plane anytime soon should read.
Steve and Me at Telluride Jazz Festival
I am happy that a few special guests will be chiming in during my big Guest DJ appearance on Friday. Steve Togni, General Manager of Mountain Lodge Telluride and also my partner of almost fourteen years, will be there to talk about the hospitality industry in Telluride and also to tout a very special Mountain Lodge premium that he has graciously donated.
John Gerona, Owner of The Village Table in Telluride Mountain Village and another of my favorite persons, said he’ll stop by. That will give us the opportunity to thank him for providing a super convivial and delicious dining experience to the community for the past ten years.
On Duty as a Telluride Ski Instructor
Noah Sheedy, Director of the Telluride Ski & Snowboard School, will be popping in as well. I’ve been a ski instructor in Telluride for almost nineteen years, a profession that has helped to balance out my writing career–and me–in many ways. If KOTO is the heart and soul of Telluride, then Telluride Ski Resort encompasses a good part of the rest in our majestic mountain town.
Peter Hans, the driving force behind Discovery Map, will be calling in either from their headquarters in Waitsfield, Vermont or from his sailboat in Newport, Rhode Island. We’re similar in that we summered together up in the Adirondacks, both lived for a long time in Europe and then settled in quaint mountain towns in America where we continue to live out our passion for sharing travel and ski experiences with others.
Victoria at Her Paris Boutique
If the lines aren’t too busy, I hope to have a special phone call from Paris from my friend, Victoria Wolff. I met her during my Paris days and her boutique, Wolff et Descourtis, is still my all-time favorite address in the City of Light. Her family has been in the textile business since 1875 and at her Galerie Vivienne showcase (and online) you can buy the most magical shawls you’ve ever seen. La beauté française est extraordinaire!
Mountain Lodge Telluride
And yes, I have rounded up quite a few premiums–or gift certificates–from some of my favorite places within the region. The grand prize is a Mountain Lodge premium for a two-night stay in a one-bedroom residence, valued at approximately $1500, at this beautiful slopeside property.
Mountain Lodge: A Great Place to Party
And here’s the fabulous news:
ANYONE DONATING A MINIMUM OF $25. TO KOTO WITH THE TRAVEL FUN DESIGNATION WILL BE ENTERED INTO DRAWINGS to win my premiums. That means that if you make your donation at KOTO.org or call the station at 970-728-4334, you have a chance of winning either the grand prize of two nights at Mountain Lodge or one of the other great premiums I’ve also rounded up. The drawings will take place at the end of my Guest DJ segment, which is Friday, August 19 from noon to 1pm MST. Remember that you can tune in online at KOTO.org if you’re not local. Note that your chances of winning are quite strong, since I likely will not have a gazillion donors. You can enter as many times as you want as long as you make a $25. donation each time. Tell your friends and family! I will start out with the Mountain Lodge drawing at about 12:50pm MST and make my way down the gift certificates listed below with their corresponding values:
Aveda Telluride Spa, one of my favorite spas in T-ride has generously offered one custom facial valued at $170. and one custom massage valued at $150. Merci mes amies!
Mesa Rose Kitchen + Grocery
Mesa Rose Kitchen + Grocery in Norwood, the best address in Norwood for fresh foods and a real community vibe: two gift certificates, each worth $50.
Coffee from Telluride Coffee Roasters
Telluride Coffee Roasters, the premiere coffee purveyor in Telluride that also has an online boutique: $70.
Arena Hair Studio
Arena Hair Studio: Sandra Arena, my gal in town (Norwood,) who knows how to make me beuuuuuutiful: $60. gift certificate for any service.
Beaucoup de Breakfast at The View
The View restaurant at Mountain Lodge Telluride, excellent food and drink with spectacular views: $50.
Loving La Coçina
La Coçina de Luz, super fresh Mexican food restaurant: $50.
Cindybread: Pains aux Chocolat Just Like in Paree
Cindybread Artisan Bakery, an all-time délicieux bakery in Lawson Hill: $50.
Sawpit Mercantile
Sawpit Mercantile, a fabulous pitstop for barbecue, gas, liquor and other much-needed goods: $50.
Nails with Mandie
Nails with Mandie in Naturita: one of my new West End discoveries for having my nails done: $40. gift certificate for a pedicure.
The Friendly Folk at Counter Culture; photo credit: Michael Mowery Media
Counter Culture Kitchen and Catering, for great takeout sandwiches also in Lawson Hill: $25.
Thank you to all that have generously donated gift certificates that will be used for my KOTO fundraising campaign!!!
Remember that if you donate $100. you will also be entered into two separate KOTO drawings: one to win a brand-new SOL GalaXy paddle board and the other to land yourself a two-night stay at The Peaks Resort & Spa package.
Our Happy Place with Our SOL Paddle Boards
Steve Paddling at Sunset in Norwood
And if you donate $50., you will receive a KOTO sun shirt (in addition to being entered into my drawings). Super cool. The supply is limited, however, so act fast.
Note that all proceeds are tax deductible and all go to KOTO.
Once again, in order to be added to all of my drawings, donations must be paid in full by the end of my show by let’s say 12:50pm on Friday. So break out the plastic!
With added luck, I might even have some additional premiums come Friday.
The Superlative Setting at The Peaks Resort & Spa
In terms of music, I, of course, I will be playing some French and maybe some Chinese and Moroccan tunes as well. I’ll also have bluegrass, which I’ve come to love since I’ve been in Colorado. And since I’m originally from New York (upstate) and love Frank Sinatra, I’ll definitely be playing “New York, New York.” I’d also like to work in some Dooby Brothers and/or Eagles because they remind me of summers spent at Lake George, New York.
Had I not taken a hiatus from Travel Fun, my talk show on travel, I’d be up to almost nineteen years of doing radio at KOTO. Yet between the pandemic (when I only did a handful of shows remotely) and spending lots of time back east for family matters, I’ve had to take a break from doing my show. I look forward to being back on the air on a regular basis very soon. For Travel Fun, I’ve enjoyed interviewing all kinds of people about travel, beauty, fashion, food and wine and a variety of other subjects including one program entitled Sex, Travel and Fun. Travel, of course, can be very exciting. Guests on my show have included lots of locals, many second-home owners and a good amount of “outsiders” I contacted because I thought KOTO listeners would enjoy hearing what they had to say. One such example is Graham Watson, renowned photographer of the Tour de France bike race.
I’m most definitely an avid listener of KOTO. I love radio in general, so much so, in fact, that I don’t even own a TV.
In past years, I was very involved with volunteering at KOTO events, which was always fun and super interesting. I hope to get back to that soon as well. Some of my most memorable gigs included being in charge of the green rooms for KOTO Doo Dahs and other happenings. I did this for Jackson Browne, the Subdudes, Bob Dylan, Lyle Lovett, Michael Franti and some LIp Syncs. I was also in charge of KOTO merchandise for Bluegrass a number of years and yes, I had my stints working the KOTO beer booth at Bluegrass and doing endless hours of decorating for the fabulous KOTO Halloween parties. A lot of this I did with Jumpin’ Jan, which made it all the more meaningful.
KOTO is my family. I love being a part of the ski school family and my KOTO family. I started both in December 2003. That was when it was not very popular to be writing about France. (Remember Freedom Fries?) So I switched up my life and the rewards have been far better than I ever could have imagined. A very well known travel writer once told me that having a radio show is a great way to build your audience. Far more than that, however, it has made me feel very loved. I have truly enjoyed working with KOTO staff and DJs and it has been fun, too, when people recognize my voice and say things like “oh, you’re the travel lady.”
If you’ve made it to the end of this story, you deserve a glimpse at my kittens. They are the ultimate kure-all for all kinds of kookiness.
It’s a Star-Spangled Blue-Eyed Holiday Everyday with Our Kittens
Thank you to Amy Peters for her great coverage of this summer’s Guest DJ Day in the Telluride Daily Planet and the Norwood Post. Her piece, KOTO Radio Takes Over the Universe, will tell you even more about what’s happening at KOTO and what’s in store for all on Friday, August 19.
Discovery Map Mountain Living Skiing & Snowboarding Telluride Travel Fun Trip Planning: Discovery Map Guest DJ Day James Nieheus KOTO mapmaking ski maps Telluride Ski Resort Telluride Ski Resort history trail maps
by maribeth
1 comment
Ski Map Fun and Telluride Ski Legends on KOTO
James Nieheus in Front of His Painting of Alta
Map Painting
Even in today’s high-tech world, ski maps remain prized souvenirs from any ski vacation and many die-hard snowsports aficionados boast collections of them that they keep at home amid other treasured momentos. Whether drawn and painted by hand or computer generated, virtually all ski resorts also reproduce the paper maps digitally, making it possible to check out your favorite mountain or dream getaway with the click of a mouse. But have you ever thought about what goes into the map-making process? Some really cool information gathering and artistic interpretation, that’s what.
Telluride Map Painting
Learn all about it on my next Travel Fun, my half hour radio show on travel at KOTO, Telluride, Colorado’s beloved community radio station. Tune in locally or at KOTO.org at 6:30pm MST on Thursday, February 20, to listen to my interview with mapmaker, James Niehues. Referred to as the “Rembrandt of the Ski Trails,” by the New York Times, Jim has created ski maps for some 350 renowned ski resorts around the world, including Telluride. (If you look closely at T-ride’s trail map, you can locate his signature.) Jim will be talking about how he does it from start to finish, a story that’s sure to give you new appreciation for ski maps in general. He’ll put a little more visual into the interview by sharing about his recently published book, The Man Behind the Maps: Legendary Ski Artist James Niehues, a must-have coffee table book that features two hundred of his hand-painted ski resort trail maps.
James with His New Book
I actually posted a story on Jim last year at Discovery Map International’s Map Geek blog. Entitled James Niehues: Ski Map Maker Extraordinaire, you can check it out right now.
In December, also for Discovery Map, I wrote Ski Maps Bonanza, a story that highlights two very interesting websites where you can check out trail maps from resorts located all over the world. It’s a great resource for planning future ski trips or just cruising around the world virtually in quest of some of the coolest places to do turns.
A couple of years ago Discovery Map published Old School Cool: Ski Maps, another great piece for winter sports enthusiasts of all ability levels.
Oh Yeah!
And the fun does not stop there, speaking of Old School, you can hear all kinds of stories about the rich history of Telluride Ski Resort and skiing in general on KOTO’s Guest DJ Day that’s taking place Friday, February 21, from 9am to 5pm. It’s always a super fun day to kick off the radio station’s fundraising and this year promises to be extra sweet, since the theme is Telluride Ski Legends. You’ll be hearing from many of T-ride’s most illustrious snowsports enthusiasts, past and present, including Johnnie Stevens and Annie Vareille-Savath. Annie, for example, started working as a ski instructor at Telluride when the resort opened in 1972. She later was the ski school director in 1978 through 2001 and served as the longest running Telluride Ski School director ever. She’s still teaching skiing and serves as an excellent role model to us all! Bill Jensen, a recent inductee into the Ski Hall of Fame, and Partner and CEO of Telluride Ski and Golf will also be a guest. (Bill incidentally wrote praise and an industry perspective on James Niehues in the front part book.) There should be some great programming all day long with lots of schwag, including a special giveaway of Jim’s book. (If you donate $250. or more to KOTO you will be put in a drawing to receive this beautiful book, valued at $90.)
Annie Ripping It Up on Bushwacker Back in the 70s
Hope you’ll be able to tune in to my interview with Jim on Thursday, February 20 at 6:30pm MST and KOTO’s Guest DJ Day all day on Friday, February 21! You can easily listen in at KOTO.org.
Anyone that donates a minimum of $40. to KOTO on behalf of Travel Fun will be put into a drawing to win a two-night stay in a one-bedroom condo at beautiful Mountain Lodge Telluride. Valued at approximately $1,600., know that some blackout dates apply. It’s a heck of a value and the chances of winning are big because I rarely have more than 10-15 donors. You can call into the station to 970-728-4334 anytime (office) or on Friday from 9am to 5pm to 970-728-4333 (on air). Or, you may contact me directly. Know that pledges must be paid before being eligible to be entered into the drawing, which will close out by Thursday, March 5. Be sure to mention Travel Fun!
Thank you for supporting community radio! Have fun on the snow!
Mountain Lodge Telluride
