WobblyReport

The editor has confirmed that this will run in the March 4 edition of the Mountain Mail. To the editor of the Mountain Mail , As a blacklisted former ski patroller (looking at you, Mt. Cooper) who later covered the river raft guide wage controversy from the perspective of local guides (costing the former and possibly current publisher of this paper a bit in the way of ad revenues—sorry not sorry) as a journalist for the Chaffee County Times before being lowkey run out of town, I salute the community members and social critics who installed art on Tenderfoot Mountain in late February . Photo by Cailey McDermott for the Mountain Mail Mayor Shore wrung his hands in the fashion of a man whose salary prevents his understanding of the problem in his face. But let's not spend too much energy attempting to cast shame on the shameless. Call it vandalism or call it what you will. The writing's on the mountain and the power is at its base. If we can climb up there and put our mark on...

Studying the customs and rituals in Thai wedding ceremonies would have spoiled the element of surprise. Better to walk in without preconception or particular expectations, a tabula rasa for the day’s experiences, I reasoned. The setting for the rites would be familiar: my fiancée’s family home. And it was, at first. We had visited before and I’d been introduced to most of the residents in a couple small blocks of households, most of which were inhabited by members of her extended family. Local threads Pickup and flatbed trucks began arriving with various items. One had chairs and tables. Then came a truck with impressively large speakers. We left for town to rent clothing for the evening’s ceremonies. The bridal shop looked archetypical from the street, its storefront presenting mannequins behind glass wearing wedding dresses and tuxedos. We were expected. My fiancée chose a dress and began working with a shop attendant to take measurements and fit the dress properly. A tuxedo was...

My new year’s resolution this year is to do better regardless of conditions. This is not as straightforward as dropping a few pounds. It will be tricky to track and the math will be fuzzy. In terms of comparisons, I’m targeting the margins for improvement. Rather than meal-planning and hawk-eying bathroom scales, I’m casually self-reflective. How’s my hydration? 2025 is already more than 10% in the past. The pace of the days seemed to slow after the succession of late fall and winter holidays. But here is February, traffic cop of time travel, with a friendly warning that we are still cruising at something closer to freeway speed after having exited onto country highway. So I’m taking my foot off the gas. Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. Driving automobiles surely presents some of the most literal and straightforward opportunities for many of us to do better in variable conditions. Accidents are bound to happen, given not everyone on the roads is possessed of snow tires and saintly p...