Eric, my son, has been living in Telluride for about five years. We finally found time to visit him this past August. Eric is production manager for Telluride's daily paper, The Daily Planet. He also is a crew chief for snow making on the mountain. This second job makes for two shifts from mid November to mid January, but it results in a season pass on for the mountain. And, I know he uses it; for often, when I've called him at the newspaper in the middle of a working day, I get the message that "he is on the mountain for a few hours."
Eric and a friend, Jason, recently bought a "seasonal house" (24'x24') on a few acres about 40 minutes drive north out of Telluride (where a working bloke can afford the property values) on Hastings Mesa. Although my pictures turned out badly... (Bad film, bad batteries, bad photo lab?)... I've got a new scanner and am learning Photshop 4.0, and the photos here (as bad as they are) are lot better than the prints. The views from Eric's house are great... Take my word for it, if the photos don't do it for you.... All of their electricity is from solar cells and the occasional use of a gas powered generator. The telephone is a radio phone that the local phone company put in (required by law for rural residents). Don't call Eric on that number: the transmission is terrible and he rarely has it turned on. Call him at work during the day. The heater, stove and refrigerator are powered by propane. "Seasonal house" means uninsulated. As I write this Jason and Eric are rebuilding the house (mostly with donated materials from a house torn down to make way for a hollywood celebrity's new multi-million dollar get-away). Eric and Jason's plan is to add a second floor and insulate the whole structure.... Hope they get done before the snow comes.
Click on any of the photos below to see a higher magnification picture.
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| Eric, standing at his place or work, now a newspaper, previously a warehouse. | Looking East from Telluride into the box canyon. (Note building at top of falls.) | We drove a 4-wheel drive up to here. The building at the top contains an hydroelectic generator - in working condition. |
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| This is as close as we got. | Here we are riding the gondola that goes from the edge ofthe town to the mountain top - lookin Nortwest. | A little further up the gondola. |
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The next set of pictures were taken at Eric's House on Hasting Mesa, about 10 miles North of Telluride (a four hour hike according to Eric), but a 40 minute drive. The first four are all looking South. The others are looking North or West at the house. |
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