Mountain Cam today

The Durango Mountain Resort was supposed to open on this Saturday with the Annual Benefit Day, but the word came out today, that the Benefit Day skiing is re-scheduled for Sunday, December 2nd.

If there is snow. As of today, it still isn't 100% sure whether they are going to get the resort open or not. I was there on Tuesday, and it didn't look good. There was not even nearly enough snow made, and the construction work was even more unfinished than the slopes. But they are working so hard to make it happen and get the place open on Sunday.

There is a big winter storm coming in our way, let's hope it'll dumb a good amount of snow on the mountains on Friday and Saturday. In the worst case scenario the storm will come, but instead of snow, it'll just dumb water on us - then you can forget about skiing next week.

We might all just have to pray for the snow, and actually if you are interested in the "group prayer" - Purgatory and Steamworks Brewing are hosting a "Pray for Powder" event on Friday night at the Steamworks.

Because of my job and our extensive operations in the mountains of Southwest Colorado, we are constantly going through our survival equipment at the Durango Base. The daily checks become even more important when the temperatures begin to drop, and the first snow begins to fall in the San Juans. Our crews pull out the "Winter Survival Bag" that we put on board for the winter months, and go through our snowshoes, gaiters, snowshovels, avalanche probes, assorted ropes and belay equipment, standard survival pack, and most importantly our avalanche beacons. There is a distinct science to the combined uses of all this equipment. Carrying them is a must for any backcountry traveler, and being proficient in their use requires constant practice. So last December, when I was offered the chance to go to the Silverton Avalanche School, I jumped at the chance.

The Silverton Avalanche School is the oldest, continously running avalanche school in the nation. For over 45 years, the Silverton Avalanche School has trained and educated over 4000 skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers, ski patrollers, search and rescue, EMS, and law enforcement officers in the art of snow science, avalanche hazards, snow stability, backcountry rescue and emergencies.

Held in the heart of the San Juan backcountry, in the Colorado mining town of Silverton, Colorado, the school is situated perfectly for avalanche education and expierience. Due to the unique weather, location, and aspect angles, the San Juan mountains are deemed the most avalance prone mountain area in the world.

As important as having the tools for traversing the backcountry, is the training to use that equipment when you need it the most. The Silverton Avalanche School is definately the place to hone those skills, either for the first time before you venture into the backcountry, or as a refresher for those from the old school.

In 2007, Aspen's Chris Davenport became the first person in history to ski all 54 of Colorado's 14,000 foot peaks within one year. On December 10, 2007, his book, Ski the 14er's, hits bookshelves and I for one will definately be in line to get my copy of this amazing accomplishment. Let's hope the trailer above will soon be followed by the movie of this truly epic event in backcountry history.

Give a Holiday Greeting straight from the snowy mountain tops! Here are some of my favorite gift items for the family from Colorado. The best of course - come and shop for them for yourself. The snowy Rockies will defenately get you in the spirit of Christmas.





Give your family a different kind of Christmas and come and spend it in Colorado. There is already snow on the mountains, and the slopes will be perfect by the time you get here. Or book now for the Spring Break. Come and see us in Durango, the Mountain Resort is the best place to teach your kids to ski!






Jen at Ivy-Rose Design makes fabulous custom clothing and accessories for your girly girl. She even makes these cute Russian Dolls and custom outfits! Check out Ivy-Rose Design at Etsy.





Another Mom Entrepreneur in Colorado makes these adorable hand painted shoes! Monkey Toes offers hand painted tennis shoes, Mary Janes and even socks for the little ones. These are fabulous gift even for babies.
Monkey Toes shoes starting at 27$.





The reversible headbands are designed by a local Durango Mom. They are so cool for girls, who love accessories - you can easily twist them and get a new look. Headbands (14$) are availabe exclusevily online at Skimbaco.com - the children's boutique from the Rockies.








Organic cotton is better for your baby and the environment. OhGeez Organic Clothing Company from Colorado makes a wide collection of organic cotton children's clothing. They also offer great baby gifts, like gowns, hats, mittens and blankets. Check out
OhGeez Organic Clothing Co.







The über-cool diaper bags come from DadGear, they even have their billboard series of messenger bags, which are made of recycled billboard pictures. Function with fashion, these bags appeal to modern Moms and Dads. The stripe messenger 83.95$.





If you must know.. The Crocs shoes are from Colorado. I personally do not dig them, but the rumor goes that the new Crocs Mammoth is on several wish lists this Holiday season.




Want to give a food basket with a little bit more meaning? Check out the Women's Bean Project online store for gift items, bean soups, baking mixes, treats, beverages and more. Women’s Bean Project is a non-profit organization, which strives to break the cycle of chronic unemployment and poverty by helping women discover their talents and develop skills by offering job readiness training opportunities in gourmet food business. Their products are yummy, and you'll know you are helping by purchasing.







Can't think of anyone who wouldn't love a basket full of gourmet chocolates. This one 59.95$ from the
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

See more great gift ideas in the Skimbaco Lifestyle Holiday Gift Guide, Skimbaco is from Durango, you know.

Even though Matt had learnt to ski in Durango, when he was a kid, I had never even been to Colorado, before we moved in here. I looked up some photos on the internet, and I was sold - yeah, let's move there, looks good to me.

And two weeks later we were in Durango.

If you want to give Mountain Living a try, there are tons of seasonal jobs here. There is a summer tourist season and a winter tourist season, and if you can do any job in the tourist industry field, you will find a job here.

Durango Mountain Resort hosted their annual job fair a few weeks ago, and most of the applicants were under 23, and wearing baggy jeans and ski hats. It sort of tells me, that if you have any experience at all, or have a college degree, you probably could get a job from here pretty easily. They probably still have a few job openings, so check on their site for the open postitions.

When walking down town Durango, seems like there is always "Help Wanted" signs on store and restaurant windows. Really, if you want to come here for a season to ski, you will find a job to finance it. The more difficult part is finding a short-term rental though!

When it comes for big corporate jobs, they are available, but limited. When looking for jobs and salaries here, take the cost of living in consideration. Living costs in Durango are high and even higher towards Telluride.

Mountain Jobs is also a pretty good resource for jobs in the Rocky Mountains, and so is Jobs in Durango.

John Toursdale at Inside Durango TV made this video of Durango's Matthias Giraud's highlights from the 2006/2007 season.

Yay! We have officially started the ski season, even before the Durango Mountain Resort opened. Durango Mountain Resort is scheduled to open December 1st and we, like many other locals have been fearing, whether they are going to make it or not. It has been a perfect fall weather here, sunny, warm and no rain or snow. Well, perfect if you like it like that, but most of us locals have been waiting for the snow. And finally last night, we've got our first snow fall this year!

It was great! After celebrating Thanksgiving yesterday, and then waking up for the white all around us, it felt like Christmas this morning. Kids actually got up at the crack of dawn, and started asking when we can go out and play in the snow.

We were outside the whole morning, and even took our skis out and skied in our front yard! I don't think it even qualifies as a bunny hill as a technical ski language point of view, but it literally is a bunny hill - we have a family of white
cottontails living in the bushes. But the difficulty level is perfect to make our 4 year old to feel that he is doing a great job (that's great!). We didn't care that the slope isn't really even a slope, and that we had to walk back up every two-minutes, we had a blast!

Oh, it was like seeing a long lost friend, when I took my skis out and tried the Burton jacket on again. My feet were hurting so bad afterwards, and I will defenately do the same a couple of times before heading to the mountains to get my feet used to my ski boots.



Here is one photo from our yard this morning. See the corner of our neighbour's house at the right corner? And how "low" the snow cloud is? Pretty cool, huh? We live above 5000 feet, so it really is like living in the clouds sometimes. Oh and that cloud you see... it dumped a good amount more snow in our yard an hour later.

About the Blog

I started this blog to provide comprehensive information about both winter and summer adventures in Southwest Colorado. I wanted to provide the latest info on the happenings in and around the San Juan Mountains. Whether you are looking to cruise the green slopes at Purgatory, Telluride, or Wolf Creek Ski areas, or skin up Red Mountain over Silverton, or Sneffels over Ouray and Telluride for some more serious turns in the backcountry. I will also bring you articles and commentary both from the keepers of all snow master knowledge, from equipment reviews to trip reports, as well as locals on the best places to fill your belly before a day at the area. We will also bring you those must have deals to further your never ending quiver of snow sports equipment.

So, who am I? I'm Matt, just another transplanted Durangotarian who finally made his way back from sea level to living at about 7000 feet. I've been away from my home town of Austin, Texas for about 14 years now. A former Army helicopter test pilot, I've traveled quite a bit as you can imagine, from Korea, Japan, Germany, Italy, Austria, France, Chech Republic, Macedonia, Kosovo, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, back to the U.S. in 2002 to New York, Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, and now Durango. In between journeys, I met the love of my life and together created three of the most interesting little people I will ever know in my entire life. Hopefully this is one of the last stops on our list of many homes across the world.

After the Army, I flew news helicopters in Cleveland. You know, those shots you see on the news of the car chase of the guy speeding down the highway hanging out the window driving with his feet drinking a gallon of vodka? That was me, filming it all for the evening news. After about a year of that, I went back to being a test pilot for a large defense contractor working with the Army again in Tennessee. But, it was a little to close to being in the Army again, and the oppotunity to come out to Durango presented itself and I couldn't pass it up. So, so long defense contracts, we up and moved to Colorado.

Best move we ever made. Now we live just out of the Durango city limits on our own little slice of mountain. About the most traffic we get on our street is the neighbors horses and her four dogs going out for a hike into the San Juan National Forest which is just down the road. Now I fly EMS helicopters for the regional hospital, some utility contract flying when there is work to be had with another local company, and work (if you can call it that) at the local ski resort on my days off. Life isn't all that bad right now.

Welcome to our blog about life in the San Juan Mountains and life in and around Durango, Colorado. I hope you enjoy, and if you're ever in Durango, drop me a line and I'd be happy to join you for a local beverage at the pub.