Two of the films featured at this weekend’s Mountainfilm in Telluride festival are the work of local residents: “Eastern Rises” by Felt Soul Media and “Bag It” by Reel Thing Productions. You can read about Suzan Beraza (Reel Thing executive director), who is profiled in this summer’s magazine, and Felt Soul Media’s Ben Knight is a contributing photographer to Telluride Magazine (cover shot, winter 09-10).

“Eastern Rises” is Felt Soul Media’s fourth beautiful film about fishing and the environment, and follows a group of intrepid fishing fanatics to the Kamchatka peninsula in eastern Europe. Felt Soul Media also produced “The Hatch,” “Running Down the Man,” and “Red Gold.” Ben Knight and Travis Rummel share their eye for beauty and their passion for the sport of fishing to help protect the wild places that inspire them.

“Bag It” is Beraza’s directorial debut on a feature-length film, and was written by local author Michelle Curry Wright and hosted by local actor/comedian Jeb Berrier. Like the other Reel Thing productions, “Bag It” has an environmental message that will touch audiences and, hopefully, make better and more conscious consumers out of the people who watch the movie. I know it has made a difference in my everyday life: I no longer take plastic bags from the grocery store and I take a much harder look at the things I purchase and what materials contain them.

We hope that audiences this weekend will find these films as inspiring as we do, and will be intrigued as we are with the people who live here and who make Telluride special.

Bear Creek Permit Decision This Week

For years, skiing from the Telluride resort into Bear Creek meant ducking a rope and breaking the law. This spring, you won’t just have the Forest Service’s permission to ski off-piste—you might also have a ski patrol guide.

Skiing in out-of-bounds Bear Creek has been the topic of much debate in Telluride. The area is avalanche-prone and dangerous— there were avalanche deaths in 1986-87, 1989 and 2002 as well as numerous accidents and injuries—and the Forest Service has closed access from ski resort boundaries in the past.

Since 2000 (following a spirited local “Free Bear Creek” campaign) the Forest Service has allowed access into upper Bear Creek from a designated gate at the top of the ski resort. This season the agency opened more backcountry access points, including one lower in Bear Creek. USFS District Ranger Judy Schutza says they opened up access because so many people were skiing into Bear Creek anyway, and not always from safe routes. “We lifted the closure order because people were ducking the rope and going wherever they wanted to go … we put in some access gates in safer places and it seems to be working pretty well.”

This spring the agency might take things one step farther: This week, the Forest Service is expected to issue a permit to the Telluride Ski Resort to allow guided backcountry trips into Bear Creek. The permit would allow the resort to offer guided excursions this season from the upper access points into Bear Creek. As with any guiding or public lands permit, the ski resort would have to pay a fee to the Forest Service based on the volume of business generated.

Not everyone is pleased about the possible permit—town officials from Telluride and conservationists have argued that it would put commercial activity in Bear Creek Preserve, an area protected by a conservation easement. Schutza says that the permit would skirt the conservation easement, but locals who oppose the permit application argue that skiers and boarders will not always follow the exact permit route.

It’s not just a question of the conservation easement; it’s also a question of liability. How do you keep people safe in such a notoriously unsafe area? The ski resort started conducting snow safety tests in Bear Creek last season to get a better picture of the avalanche activity and risks in the area. It’s not just the copious snow, but also the avalanche danger that has helped to create Bear Creek’s mystique and allure, giving it nicknames like “The Dark Side” and runs called the “Suicide” chutes. That air of danger is well-deserved: One of the people caught and injured in a slide just this year was a professional ski patroller.

The snow testing and the permit application have led to much local speculation about the Telluride Ski Resort expanding to include Bear Creek terrain, but CEO Dave Riley says that there have been no decisions or plans made. Riley told the Telluride Watch that “at this point, we’re just listening, asking a lot of questions and gauging what the issues are.”

We’d love to hear what you think. Post a comment below or email editor@telluridemagazine.com.

More Than Just a ‘Good Dog’

We are sad to report that Ellie, the little yellow Labrador retriever who appeared on our winter 2009-10 Telluride Magazine cover (photo by Ben Knight) riding a chairlift with handler Kim Richard, has passed on. At age 9, Ellie was at the peak of her career as an avalanche search and rescue dog for the Telluride Ski Patrol when cancer took her down. Owned and trained by Gary and Kim Richard, Ellie came from a long line of respected search dogs. Her great aunt, Jane Watenpaw (who appeared on a 1997 cover of Telluride Magazine) was the ski area’s first official avi-dog.

Ellie—named for one of Telluride’s respected octogenarians, Elvira Wunderlich—had been on the mountain since she was just a few months old. The ski patrol uses the dogs to search for avalanche victims on the occasion of a slide, but the dogs do more than just work; they are also a source of companionship and comfort. Gary and Ellie participated in several avalanche searches over the years, for the ski resort and San Miguel Search and Rescue. Ellie was a quick learner, with a solid search drive and keen nose. The job is tough on dogs, requiring them to negotiate deep snow, steep slopes, ride on snowmobiles and in helicopters, and load on moving chairlifts. Days can be extremely cold and long, often working into the dark. The physicality of the job takes its toll over the years. But the dogs seem to love it, and are often unable to contain their excitement for the day to begin, barking at their handlers and spinning in anticipation as they wait to load the chairlift in the dim light of dawn. Ellie was no exception and she touched many a patroller’s heart with her catlike display of affection by rubbing against their legs. She often participated in educational demonstrations for the ski area and at area schools, and was a big hit with the kids. At the end of the day, she went home to be a family dog, beloved by the Richard’s two children, Belle and Mattheau.

Ellie and Jane hold a special place in my heart, since both dogs were donated to the Telluride Ski Patrol by my parents. They have since retired from raising labs, but Dulce, Ellie’s sister, still plies the trade for the Telluride Ski Patrol, as the last of a great line of working dogs.

—MDuffy

Telluride skier Travis Wolfe wins freeskiing event

Extreme sports enthusiasts have a saying: “Go big or go home.” This weekend Telluride skiers did both, stomping the competition on their home turf and qualifying for Subaru Freeskiing World Tour, the competitive circuit for the relatively new sport of extreme, big mountain or “freeskiing.”

Telluride’s own Travis Wolfe won the male division, and Chason Russell took fourth. Local Kelli Russell took fourth for the women. Placing first for the women was Claudia Bouvier, a skier from Vail, Colorado. The top four women and the top six men of the field of more than 100 athletes qualified to compete in the world tour.

Highlights From Day 1 Of The Freeskiing World Tour In Telluride from Subaru Freeskiing World Tour on Vimeo.