Fungi fest booms in Telluride
Dear Editor:
In spite of the drought, this year’s Telluride Mushroom Festival, Aug. 16-19, sponsored by the Telluride Institute, saw plentiful fungi of all kinds, as the heavily loaded tables in Elks Park demonstrated.

One of my favorite edibles is looked on askance by many – Hawk’s Wing (Sarcodon imbricatus, formerly Hydnum imbricatum). As Wikipedia notes: “It is reported as edible but of poor quality in the United States by some sources, but as deliciously edible by others.” Being in the latter camp, I felt wonderfully vindicated when a dish made of its toothy flesh won the Chefs Cook-off this year.

We learned from flamboyant University of Wisconsin mycologist Tom Volk (arms covered in rainbow-hued mycelial tattoos and sporting wildly dyed forelocks) that unbaked bread dough, taken in quantity, could make one drunk, thanks to its yeast content – yeast being a eukaryotic microorganism classified in the Kindom [sic] Fungi, with 1,500 described species. We also got a hands-on lesson in manipulating yeast to make kombucha and mead from Ken Litchfield, of Merritt College in Oakland, Calif.

Ethnobotanist Kat Harrison traced the introduction of entheogenic shrooms into Western culture and then compared techniques of use from traditional Mazatec shamans in southern Mexico. She’s conducted years of enthnobotanic research there to our own initiatory attempts to incorporate sacred visions into a post-industrial American society unscientifically fearful of anything psychedelic. A panel discussion of hallucinogenic mushrooms as medicine emphasized the growing body of scientific knowledge proving their value, from relieving cluster headaches to providing life-changing experiences of balanced wholeness with the universe.

Professional jazz singer Ruthie Ristich, of Boston, showed a film and gave a talk that acquainted us with the legendary East Coast mushroom guru Sam Ristich, her father, who charmed and tutored legions of mushroom seekers, including our own resident mycologist Gary Lincoff. And Lincoff led a special Ophir foray up the Waterfall Canyon Trail. The outing culminated in a gourmet mushroom feast, prepared by chef Lisa Dahl of Sedona’s Cucina Rustica, at Bob Kingsley’s Opus Hut on Ophir Pass. It was my first time ever over Ophir Pass, made all the more thrilling by our driver’s announcement that he was running out of gas on the long climb up the San Miguel side. A friendly jeeper saved the day and gave us enough petrol to make it down.

Maya scholar John Major Jenkins explained to us the origins of the Mayan Calendar long count in Izapa, Mexico – how it was tied to startling astronomic observations of the Sun’s conjunction with the center of the Milky Way and how it was clearly perceived by the Maya as a time of transformation, not a Christian apocalypse.

Myco-historian David Rose expounded on mushrooms in science fiction, Daniel Winkler on mushrooms in Tibet, and Fungi magazine editor/publisher Britt Bunyard on Mycorrhizatopia – fungi as the puppet masters of the universe.

Lecturers including a couple of teen-agers – Devon Enke of La Veta on oil-eating mushrooms and Norwood’s Sklyer Hollinbeck, sharing his paper on myco-remediation at the Missionary Ridge Fire near Durango. Maya Elson and her cohorts alerted us oldster fungophiles to a new developing group of radical mycologists who are marrying social activism to mycology and holding “convergences” around the country.

Attorney Brian Vicente, of Sensible Colorado, sought support for Amendment 64, the Regulate-Cannabis-Like-Alcohol Constitutional Amendment that will be up for consideration in Colorado’s November election. It’s a measure that makes good scientific and social sense, and I’m publicly a supporter along with Rep. Jared Polis and former Rep. Tom Tancredo (now there’s an unusual conjunction).

Jo Norris, of Arizona’s Rim Institute, gave a special workshop on connecting to the feminine in Shamanism, and the festival ended with a panel discussion by Norris, Marie Luna, Teresa Frank and Annie Enke on the relationship of plant and fungal allies to world consciousness.

But that’s only the things I got to see and hear. There were dozens of other lectures and workshops that I missed, as simultaneous events took place around town – even in Smuggler Joe’s brewpub where tasty myco-medicinal brews were concocted.

Perhaps most memorable for me, I had the privilege and delight of leading the annual Shroomfest parade down Colorado Avenue on my birthday – a great way to turn 67. And after such a thought-provoking and ground-breaking festival, the Telluride Institute is already planning for an even better event next summer.

– Art Goodtimes, Norwood

More local ‘ownership’ of DMR
To the editor,
I was born at the old Mercy building here in Durango in August of 1983. Some of my first memories of winter revolve around Purgatory, being guided by my dad with reigns down the mountain on greens and blues while packed into a little pink onesie snowsuit. When I was 18, I moved to Denver and spent my young adulthood on the slopes in Summit County while attending university. About two years ago, I moved back home to Durango and was astonished at how much Durango Mountain Resort charges for an adult season pass. These last two seasons I have been able to get a season pass through the Fort Lewis College discount or by working at the mountain. This season I am working a full-time job and running my own freelance artist business; I have no tricks in my bag for a discounted pass.

I recently looked at DMR’s adult pass for the season and saw I’ll be getting to pay $819, which means I need to use the pass at least 12 times this season. I usually get around 25 days, so of course the pass is worth it. I also understand DMR needs to make money, but I have heard from boastful tourists from New Mexico and Texas in the past that they were able to get their season pass cheaper than the offered rate.

OK, so considering the fact that the major lifts all had issues last season and that DMR’s focus is now real estate I am beginning to miss Summit County with their adult local Epic Pass with access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and A-Basin for about $310 less than DMR charges for one mountain, with limited access and a few free days at other resorts. I love Durango, I love our community, but I wish our mountain supported us as much as we support them. The average person is not going to drive more than an hour or two to hit fresh powder, at least not with a full-time job, so we are a cornered target market.

It would be excellent if DMR opened up itself to the locals to buy into the mountain like a cooperative. We invest money and help our mountain sustain itself, in turn we get better pass deals. I realize that selling cheaper passes to N.M. and TX has its benefit because they most likely won’t be on the mountain 30-plus days a season like those of us who are closer. Maybe I’m an idealist but I would support the mountain I grew up on and help it sustain itself if it offered such a program.

– Kimberly Wiggins, Durango