“$13 a pound and they don’t even make you hallucinate?”

– Local shopper remarking on the cost of organic mushrooms

Adventure the 'write’ way

Dreaming of a way to turn your weekend warrior exploits into cold, hard cash? Or maybe it’s fame and prestige in the pages of your favorite ski porn pub you desire?

Then don’t miss your chance to hit the big time. For two days, Sat. and Sun., April 14-15, Tom Bie, editor in chief and all-around big wig of Powder magazine, will lead a workshop on article writing, surrounded by the creative juice-inducing terrain of Silverton Mountain.

Bie, whose credits also include stints as editor forSkiingandPaddlermagazines and articles in Outside, Men’s Journal, Backpacker and Ski, will cover the basics, from pitching stories to making a great adventure story and marketing oneself. This course will be 50 percent classroom work and 50 percent “field work.”

Haven’t written anything since high school (heavily aided by Cliff Notes?) No matter. The course is open to writes of all levels, from clawing out of a paper bag to New York Times.

Added bonus for those perpetual spring breakers out the course is eligible for college credit through Western State College in Gunnison.

For more information, visit www.silvertonmountain.com or call 387-5706.

Team Salomon/Crested Butte take honors

The adventure racing season is off and running, with Team Salomon/Crested Butte taking top honors at last weekend’s Adventure Xstream race in Moab.

On Sat., March 24, more than 350 adventure racers battled it out on a rainy, overcast day in Moab, marking the official start of the 2007 Adventure Xstream Adventure Race Series. The 60-mile race course consisted of trail running, kayaking, mountain biking and rappelling across challenging canyonlands terrain while navigating through several check points.

The fierce battle in the 4-person co-ed category came down to Team Salomon/ Crested Butte, Team Boulder Performance Network and Team NIKE. Team Salomon/Crested Butte (Bryan Wickenhauser, Jon Brown, Eric Sullivan and Jari Kirkland) took first place with a winning time of 5 hours and 52 minutes, more than 15 minutes faster than second place finishers Team Boulder Performance Network (Jeremy Rodgers, Mike Freeburn, Scott Swaney, Gretchen Reeves). Third place went to Team Nike (Mike Kloser, Michael Tobin, Jay Henry, Keri Nelson).

The top three teams were neck and neck on the initial mountain biking stage, but Team Nike made a critical error by flying past checkpoint 1. Salomon/Crested Butte seized on the opportunity and was able to maintain its lead.

Official results, team photos, course maps, blogs and more from this race can be viewed atwww.CheckPointTracker.com.