Doing Nothing?

It is a hard thing trying to do nothing. It rained most of the weekend, which paralyses us Colorado folks!
I canceled that waste of money-nothing on ever cable subscription after the seemed at the time exciting Tour de France. Without the brain numbing device to kill time in foul weather, I was forced into paying bills and cleaning the house, two of my not-so-favorite activities. I even went on a bit of a baking spree - making pizza from scratch. After finishing the local paper, I devoured Vanity Fair's Green issue- which had a fantastic article on Global Warming and Appalacian strip mountain top mining. I had been at a conference with Julia Bonds - mining daughter and granddaughter, so was particularly enamoured with that areticle. Onto my book, on Afganistan History. While facinating, it would not hold my attention for long, and I moved onto cleaning the DVD player. Of course this required buying disk that does not seem to do anything for 22 bucks and watching it go around and around for 1/2 hour. Such hard labour! While at the store, I happened to finally purchase a new stereo receiver, something I have been meaning to do for years, but felt guilty at my consumerism. I talked myself into spending an extra 100 bucks just so that I could have a unit that powered off for real - no "fake off" or standby - as most TV, DVD and stereo units are these days - wasting kilowatt hours just so we can have them on in one second instead of 5. I wanted a new unit that would use less power but still work well, and be able to be off the grid in the future, but there sure is not much out there in that department. I bought my old receiver at a yard sale ten years ago - and it is a real work of art - things were really starting to buzz and humm in a weird way. Connecting everything together and back to the store for a few new cables took up another few more hours. After completing my PHD in stereo mechanics, I headed out to pick up my weekly delivery from the organic farm in Paonia, I also picked up a new pizza stone and tried to buy bread. The organic bread available here is beyond bad - and all frozen. I was so frustrated with out local shitty bread selection and my crappy baking skills that I splurged on a breadmaker. so in a few days i can make my own while working. I feel guilty about the electricity usage, but my gas oven is pretty bad and the offset maybe about the same. good justification, eh? I do think of the day when all these gadgets will be in a museum while a drive the oxen team on the organic farm while Jason heads out to shoot an Elk.

first snow and organic gardening

Crested Butte just got its first snow of the season - well actually Treasure and Treasury peaks received an isolated freak storm yesterday, leaving their skyline white as cold be. Talk at social events suddenly turned from biking and climbing to skiing. As much as i love skiing, i'm not quite ready yet, and cannot stop thinking about surfing. Although, i must admit my dreams converted to winter mode last night, yet instead of ripping powder, I was at the Las Vegas ski show for an eternity.

I watched "The Power of Community - How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" the other night. It was a facinating account of how Cuba adapted to no longer having fuel imports after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In addition, sanctions were also put in place on oil, food, and medical supplies by countries such as the US, so they were forced to change their whole economy to one of sustainability. It was a facinating glimpse into our near future, as world oil supplies reach their peak sometime between now and 2010. Most interesting was the fact that Cuba's big cities are now able to grow 50% of their own food right in the city boundaries through rooftop and vacant lot organic gardening.

It sure is hard to imagine how we could provide our own food here in Crested Butte, with our frighteningly short growing season and uber cold temperatures. I often wonder where the ultimate living situation will be once oil becomes short and global warming intensifies. So impossible to tell where will be warm enough to grow, yet not too hot, and still have good water supplies. Maybe after all, CB might be just right.

Outdoor Retailer

Just back from Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake. lots of innovative new products and an exciting amount of green products (although I wish I could say more products were enviro, but hey, every year gets better). Patagonia's underwear recycling program is now in full swing - so you can recycle your old capilene into new capilene when it wears out. And now the new capiline is treated with Gladiodor - made from Crab shells not toxic heavy metals, so that your underwear can go weeks without getting really smelly. I'm really loving the new wool underwear program, as it feels so good next to the skin, naturally repels odor amazingly well, and looks really great skiing or traveling. Fox River and I have teamed up for a new more sustainable sock collection - fun designs made with Ingeo yarns made from corn fiber. Jenni Dow and I did all the designs and also talked them into joining One Percent for the Planet.

Patagonia and the Conservation Alliance teamed up with the Alaska Coalition for a benefit to save the Arctic. I was able to help them launch a big party and the new program, Athletes for the Arctic. Our goal was to fill our 1000 postcards to state representatives, and I believe we got very close.

I'm also working with my sponsors on a BE GREEN, SAVE GREEN - GLOBAL COOLING TOUR, for this winter. I'm crossing my fingers that funding will come through. I am planning on a tour across the west to local retailers and dealers - skiing with staff and educating them how to green their stores.

I have to get back to finishing my taxes, ugh. happy monday. alison

Ski Resort Closing Info

Hello readers,
been getting quite a few questions and comments on the ski resorts that have closed for summer skiing.
I gathered my information from several websites, and the resorts that are listed as being closed or recently closed for glacier skiing are:
Solden – Renttenbach and Tiefenbach, Austria
Alp d’Huez, France
Les Diablerets, Switzerland
Alagna, italy
St. Moritz, Switzerland
Verbier, Switzerland
Marmolada, Italy

Would love more information. Please feel free to comment, as it reaches my inbox. cheers, alison