Local Outdoor Charitable Organizations Need Your Support

Galisteo Basin Preserve

End of the year has arrived, a good time to take inventory of what has passed and what can be improved upon. I'm big on the many outdoor gems we have in and around town and the organizations that make them work. Toward year end (this year it happens to be the final day), I like to highlight these groups, what they do, and how to help them improve and do more.

All the below are northern New Mexico tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations, meaning they depend heavily on public interest, volunteers, and contributed dollars. They're also great places to find rad people with shared interests; writers, photographers, conservationists, cyclists, CPAs. The 501(c)(3) designation also means that a contribution made today is eligible for a current year tax deduction and can likewise be accepted tomorrow, monthly, or any random day throughout the year on behalf of general do-gooderness and a sense of building one's community.

The two organizations that (far and away) provide the most improvements and volunteer days on our trails are The Santa Fe Trails Alliance (the volunteer arm of The Santa Fe Conservation Trust), and The Santa Fe Fat Tire Society. Both terrific groups that could use a Saturday of your time as well as your financial support. In a joint effort over the last two summers, these two groups along with the Santa Fe National Forest Service have installed at least five new bridges recently along the Winsor Creek. If you've used a trail in the Santa Fe area over the last 20 years (Rail Trail, Dale Ball, Arroyo Hondo), The Conservation Trust is who you want to give thanks and appreciation. The Commonweal Conservancy manages the trail system out at Galisteo Basin Preserve, and has been fundraising this year for support of the ongoing work at GBP.

SFCT and the Trails Alliance - Since 1993

As far as the running community and support for running programs and events in and around Santa Fe, the most active organizations are the Santa Fe Striders, Girls on the Run, and WINGS of America. Most of the overflow revenue generated by the Striders is directed to the latter two organizations so you might consider just contributing to them directly.

The Santa Fe Watershed Association has taken an active role in beautifying the Santa Fe River and in turn the Santa Fe River Trail which now includes several miles of trail with more planned for next year.

SFFTS - Since 2011

All of these organizations are setup to accept funds electronically via the links below. I'm certain they accept checks by mail or in person too. Make it a resolution for the new year to be part of a trail build workday, attend a planning meeting, or take a minute now to give one of these organizations a boost and do your part to support the outdoors in Santa Fe and northern New Mexico:





  1. Santa Fe Girls on the Run
  2. Santa Fe Trails Alliance and The Santa Fe Conservation Trust
       (also supported by the Banff Film Festival; La Tierra Torture, XTERRA Glorieta, 2nd Street Brewery)
  3. Santa Fe Fat Tire Society (via membership)
  4. The Commonweal Conservancy
  5. WINGS of America
  6. Santa Fe Watershed Association (manages the SF River Greenway)
  7. The Santa Fe Striders (via the button below)

Related Posts:
 - Drink Beer - Support Local Trails (and the SFCT)
 - Local Trail Improvement Updates - New Tab!
 - Trail Improvements to Winsor and Galisteo Basin

The Santa Fe Watershed Association's new Arroyo Project

The Santa Fe Watershed Association is partnering with Santa Fe Brewing for the launch of SFBrewing's new Hefeweizen River Brew. The beer label will incorporate the SFWA's logo design (at left), and if this launch is similar to last year's partnership with the Santa Fe Conservation Trust, something like $.25 from each pint or can will go toward support of SFWA and their mission. Aside from rehabilitating the Santa Fe River (which is slowly rising back to life) SFWA's newest project is to begin restoration and cleanup work on some of our major arroyos. A fundraising goal of $10,000 has been set for the work they're planning which ties-in to the new marketing campaign for River Brew.

As it happens, I spend a fair amount of my time hanging out in arroyos as well as wedging in a minute here and there to admire the occasional pint of beer. The Desert Babe doesn't find either of these interests to be much of a coincidence. Point being, this project and fundraising effort is a stroke of unholy genius which includes a Beer/Project launch party on June 10th. It's as if they sat around brainstorming how to come up with raddest invite list to their summer party, and someone was like: What if we invite mostly just the cool people rockin' out the arroyos, and those hiking and biking the drainages and creeks, and those that love snow and the rain, and maybe maintain other trails in their spare time, and really like beer? NAAAILED IT.

Incredible Santa Fe arroyo map

This guest list self-selects of course. So head over to the fundraising page to get your ticket to the event, or a shirt, or a hat, or a package with all the stuff. If you're too lazy to do this then make a point to show up at Del Charro on June 10th for the party and bring your checkbook. Too lazy to remember any of this or too poor to part with $10-$20?, then show up to lend a hand with the arroyo work when that begins. For added incentive I'm going, and I've got two extra tickets for the event (which includes a pint glass) that I'll give away via random drawing to folks who will share, post, tweet or re-tweet the current fundraising effort. Add your name in the comments below that you shared and want to be included in the drawing. Add something witty or complimentary to bend the odds in your favor. You can also send an email if you're internet averse but an anonymous comment is strongly suggested. Something about how beer is delicious or a quip about your favorite arroyo is fine.

And with that, time for a run.

Related Posts:

 - Drink Beer - Support Local Trails

 - Santa Fe's Arroyo Systems

 - Charitable Giving to Area Outdoor Organizations

 - Craft Beer in New Mexico

50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act

This year now nearly gone past was an interesting historical marker for public lands, especially here in the western states. The year marked the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, illustrated beautifully with a timely piece of legislation passed by Congress just last week to permanently protect the Columbine-Hondo Wilderness north of the Taos Ski Valley. This year was also the 90th Anniversary of the Gila Wilderness, east of Silver City, the nations first, hand-picked by Aldo Leopold himself. And it was the 20th Anniversary of the Santa Fe Conservation Trust here in Santa Fe. For this last reason I made it a point to attend this year's annual SFCT Gala Dinner. Officially it's the Stewart Udall Legacy Dinner which is rad because Udall is and was a giant.

A small part of what drew me to the event was that I really wanted to see the interior of the National Park Service Building. My trail-running takes me past this beautiful place on a weekly basis. It's an absolute marvel of a structure, clearly adobe, early pueblo revival style. Turns out the building houses a tremendous collection of art and artifacts. It was fascinating. Mom was my plus-one on this evening and she was in full agreement, we exchanged hi-fives.

National Park Service Building - Santa Fe

The primary reason I attended (other than to support a first-rate organization) was to unabashedly rub shoulders with the many outdoors luminaries and icons I knew would be there. Dave Foreman and Jack Loeffler were walking around; Margaret Alexander and Bill Johnson were two of the award recipients, Bill deBuys and Don Usner were signing books (as was Jack) alongside Dorothy Massey the owner of Collected Works; Kent Little formerly of Sangre de Cristo Mountain Works was shaking hands and doing the rounds as a board member; Rod Tweet of Second St. Brewery was presenting a partnership with the Trust through the development of their new beer, Boneshaker Bitter; Tim Rogers who pulled together the Santa Fe Metro Master Bicycle Plan was there; Charlie O'Leary of course; I sat at a table with Mark Allison and Tisha Broska of the NM Wilderness Alliance. I am a huge nerd for these kinds of things, and to meet and talk to the very people that have built this culture and its guiding ideas was something I thoroughly enjoyed.

Many of these fascinating people write books. I highly recommend reading them, or gifting them, or name-dropping them. Here is some help:



Related Posts:
 - The Colorado River and the Politics of Water
 - The Columbine-Hondo Wilderness Act
 - The NM Pika Monitoring Project

End of Year Charitable Giving to Area Outdoor Organizations

SFCT and the Trails Alliance - Since 1993

Several of the organizations that take care of our area trails and around northern New Mexico are tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations, meaning, that if you're looking for a few end-of-year tax deductions (or are just feeling generous) you ought to consider sending a few $$$ their way before end-of-day on the 31st.

The two organizations that (far and away) provide the most improvements and volunteer days on our trails are The Santa Fe Trails Alliance (the volunteer arm of the Santa Fe Conservation Trust), and The Santa Fe Fat Tire Society. Both terrific groups that could use a Saturday of your time as well as your financial support. In a joint effort this summer, these two groups along with the Santa Fe National Forest installed at least five new bridges along the Winsor Creek. If you've used a trail in the Santa Fe area over the last 20 years, The Conservation Trust is who you want to give thanks and appreciation.

SFFTS - Since 2011

As far as the running community and support for running programs and events in and around Santa Fe, the most active organizations are the Santa Fe Striders, Girls on the Run, and WINGS of America. Most of the overflow revenue generated by the Striders is directed to the latter two organizations so you might consider just contributing to them directly.

The Santa Fe Watershed Association has taken an active role in beautifying the Santa Fe River and in turn the Santa Fe River Trail which now includes several miles of trail with more planned for next year.

The Southwest Nordic Ski Club is the engine that powers nordic skiing opportunities in the state. Most of their work goes into grooming and maintaining the track up at Pajarito. They also promote and help organize large events including the Chama Chile Ski Classic, the Mt. Taylor Quad, and various events at Enchanted Forest.

Most (All??) of these organizations are setup to accept funds electronically via the links below. I'm certain they accept checks by mail or in person too. Give them a boost and do your part to support the outdoors in Santa Fe and northern New Mexico:


  - Santa Fe Girls on the Run
  - Santa Fe Trails Alliance and the Santa Fe Conservation Trust
       (also supported by the Banff Film Festival; La Tierra Torture, XTERRA Glorieta, 2nd Street Brewery)
  - Santa Fe Fat Tire Society (via membership)
  - WINGS of America
  - Santa Fe Watershed Association (manages the SF River Greenway)
  - Southwest Nordic Ski Club (nordic ski trails in Los Alamos)
  - The Santa Fe Striders (via the button below)

Related Posts:
 - Drink Beer - Support Local Trails (and the SFCT)
 - Local Trail Improvement Updates - New Tab!
 - Trail Improvements to Winsor and Galisteo Basin

Drink Beer - Support Local Trails

Awesome squared

Stopped off at 2nd Street Brewery last night. They're canning some of their beer now which is a terrific addition. They're also featuring a special batch of brew with the handle, Boneshaker Bitter, which is being marketed in tandem with the 20th anniversary of the Santa Fe Conservation Trust. $.25 from each pint or can will go toward support of the SFCT and their mission to preserve land, build and maintain some of our largest rec trails on said land, and advocate for starry nights.

It's fitting that the two organizations are working together. Both 2nd Street Brewery locations sit along the Rail Trail, and though they're located on the city maintained sections, the Trail as it extends south of town toward Eldorado was one of the first efforts of the fledgling Conservation Trust back in 1994 (along with the build-out of the Dale Ball Trails). 2nd Street's campaign aims to raise at least $5,000 in funds for the Trust, in addition to providing a marketing platform for greater public support of their programs.

The Trust currently does more for area biking/hiking/running trails than any other organization in Santa Fe. Through their trail maintenance arm, the Santa Fe Trails Alliance, they organize and manage regular volunteer trail maintenance days on lands they hold in trust (Dale Ball, Arroyo Hondo) and those they don't (La Tierra, Winsor, Atalaya). A large pool of their volunteers is comprised of the good folks from the Santa Fe Fat Tire Society who - very appropriately - appreciate a well made beer from time to time.

Related Posts:
 - Craft Beer in New Mexico
 - The Santa Fe Rail Trail Re-Imagined
 - IMBA World Summit - Santa Fe, NM



View Santa Fe Rail Trail - Santa Fe, NM in a larger map

Last Minute Charitable Giving to Outdoor Organizations

SFCT and the Trails Alliance - Since 1993

Several of the organization that take care of our trails around town and in northern New Mexico are tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations, meaning, that if you're looking for a few end-of-year tax deductions (or are just feeling generous) you ought to consider sending a few $$$ their way before end-of-day on the 31st.

The two organizations that (far and away) provide the most improvements and volunteer days on our trails are The Trails Alliance (the volunteer arm of the Santa Fe Conservation Trust), and the Santa Fe Fat Tire Society. Terrific groups that could use a Saturday of your time as well as your financial support. If you've used a trail in the Santa Fe area over the last 20 years, The Conservation Trust is who you want to give thanks and appreciation.

SFFTS - Since 2011

As far as the running community and support for running programs and events in and around Santa Fe, the most active organizations are the Santa Fe Striders, Girls on the Run, and WINGS of America. Most of the overflow revenue generated by the Striders is directed to the latter two organizations so you might consider just contributing to them directly.

Most of these folks are setup to accept funds electronically at the links below. Give them a boost and support the outdoors in Santa Fe and northern New Mexico:

  - Girls on the Run
  - Santa Fe Trails Alliance and the Santa Fe Conservation Trust
       (also supported by the Banff Film Festival, the La Tierra Torture, XTERRA Glorieta, 2nd Street Brewery)
  - Santa Fe Fat Tire Society (via membership)
  - WINGS of America
  - Santa Fe Watershed Association (manages the SF River)
  - Southwest Nordic Ski Club (nordic ski trails in Los Alamos)
  - The Santa Fe Striders (via the button below)

Related Posts:
 - The Santa Fe Rail Trail Re-Imagined
 - Winsor Trail Improvements

The Santa Fe Rail Trail Re-Imagined

The Pistol - out rippin' miles like a boss

In light of the recent trail and forest closures due to excessive fire danger (our second closure in three years), I thought I'd write about the Rail Trail which will remain open during the closures and for that reason is likely to see a bit more foot and cycling traffic over the next couple months. Because the southern section of the trail is relatively flat and has only one road crossing (Rabbit Rd) it's ideal for long marathon training runs (20+) and for non-technical mountain bike rides if you or someone in your riding group lacks the skillset to negotiate Dale Ball or La Tierra.

The Rail Trail is a genuine classic, holding title as the oldest of our in-town trails. It predates the Arroyo Chamisos Trail (footpaths before the trail was put in), by several years if not longer. As such, it stood as the template for the many trails that have come afterward including Arroyo Chamisos (1997), Dale Ball (2001), and eventually the Santa Fe River and Acequia Trails. The Winsor, Borrego, and Atalaya trails are much older, but they traverse the foothills and high county and share a pastoral history that generally belongs in an all together different class of trail systems.

Thirty years ago the Rail Trail was primarily an ad-hoc route that followed along the Santa Fe Rail Line from Arroyo Hondo and Sunlit Hills up to the city limits. Eldorado was just being built out then and Lamy was a as sparsely populated as it is now. An adventurous friend I knew in high school would occasionally bike in along the rail line all the way from Glorieta, (he also happened to be a state champion runner). But things changed for the better in 1994 when Stewart Udall and the newly formed Santa Fe Conservation Trust stepped in and secured the land in trust, and with some federal funding that they cobbled together they were able to build out a few re-routes and development of actual sections of trail separate from the railbed cobbles and rail-ties.

New trail improvements include a planed surface and significant erosion control - Fall 2012

Rock work and an newly elevated section near the tracks - Fall 2012

Looking north at the newly elevated path. It's completed now.
Note the snow in the highcountry when the photo was taken. 

Cadillac pedestrian crossing out in BFE

The Rail Trail has been improved on a couple times since, most notably the formal development of the trail from the city/county line out on Rabbit Rd through town and into the new Railyard Plaza in 2008. Formal trailheads were also put in at Nine Mile Rd, Rabbit Rd, and Zia & St. Francis at that time. Last summer (2012) saw the completion of stage 1 of a new alignment and re-grade of the trail, bringing the trail up to code by setting it a minimum distance from the tracks, building in fence lines and signage, and adding features for better drainage and maintenance of the trail. The work involved the two miles of trail between Rabbit Rd and the Spur Trail. I don't recall the sequence in which work is scheduled on the other sections but I believe the Eldorado portion attracts the second most traffic along the trail and so they are next in line.

New signage

Old signage. True story - I probably ran out a couple hundred miles on the Rail Trail
before someone pointed these mile markers out to me.  Just never noticed them I guess. 

I love the what they've done to the trail. It's just gorgeous now with most if not all of the sand sections and widowmaker potholes removed (not fun to be surprised by one of these at night). The new rock work and berms provide texture and capture the proper aesthetic. My favorite times to be on the trail are daybreak, sunset, and at full moon. Unmatched views. The major new complaint from rec users that I hear often is that in an effort to make the trail more accessible all technical elements have been sanitized and removed. Bollocks, I say! If you get out and explore a little a bit you'll find that there's miles of untouched singletrack on the east side of the tracks. Great for running, less great for riding in my opinion because in my experience sand and blind potholes lead to unnecessary separation from the bike followed by pain and discomfort. If your aim is technical riding why mark the Rail Trail anyway when Dale Ball sits beckoning only a few miles to the east? The two offer very different trail experiences. One is a national class recreation trail, Dale Ball; the other is a stellar off-road commuter route amenable to jogging strollers, the Rail Trail. Decades in the making no less.

Now get out there and make it happen. Explore your trails.

Miles 6, 7, and 8 - on any given summer evening on the Rail Trail. 

Related Posts:
  - Rail Trail Improvements Update (Sep 2015)
  - Train Trestle Loop
  - Cycling the Rail Trail - Zia Rd to Nine Mile Rd'
  - Luminaries on the Rail Trail



View Santa Fe Rail Trail - Santa Fe, NM in a larger map

Banff Returns to Santa Fe - March 18 & 19

Kent Little is once again bringing the Banff Film Festival to Santa Fe and the Lensic Theatre. Along with sponsors Hutton Broadcasting and KBAC Radio Free Santa Fe, Santa Fe Prep, and the Lensic Performing Arts Center, two screenings of the 20th Annual Banff Film Festival are scheduled for 7pm on March 18 & 19th .

Kent used to host the annual Banff screenings as owner of Sangre de Cristo Mountain Works, which sadly closed its doors two years ago. But Banff lives on! - and Kent has remained active through his position on the Board of the Santa Fe Conservation Trust to continue the annual screenings. The Banff World Tour is a best-of screening of the year's top outdoors video-shorts and animation.

The screenings will showcase a different mix of Banff winners on each night. The shows are nearly always sellouts, seating is first-come-first-served, cash bar provided by the Lensic pre-show and at intermission - which is nice. Proceeds benefit the Santa Fe Conservation Trust (the driving force behind construction and maintenance of the many new rec. trails around Santa Fe), and the Lensic Theatre.

Related Posts:
  - Banff Film Festival 2012
  - Banff Film Festival 2011
  - Sangre de Cristo Mountain Works Closes its Doors
  - New Mexico Outdoors Calendar

IMBA World Summit - Santa Fe, NM

If you happened to wander downtown Santa Fe yesterday you probably noticed it had been half-overrun with mountain bikers and serious top-of-the-line bikes (there were also bus loads of Balloon Fiesta visitors which is nice to see but not remotely as interesting as the bikes. Bikes!). Yep, the IMBA World Summit is here and will be anchored at the SF Convention Center through Saturday discussing bike advocacy, trails and trail building, marketing and branding strategies, and naturally getting out for some riding on our local trails followed by green chile and refreshments at the local establishments.

New trail maps at La Tierra

This is huge for Santa Fe and it's the impetus for the city and county accelerating the time table on the La Tierra master plan and rushing work to install maps and building out proper trailheads at the site (heavy machinery was still at the site on Sunday). A lot of the ground work for this was done by members and volunteers of the Santa Fe Fat Tire Society and the Santa Fe Trail Alliance (the volunteer arm of the Santa Fe Conservation Trust) and their partner sponsor REI Santa Fe (general manager Bob Ward is a huge trail advocate and bikeaphile). Literally thousands of volunteer hours have gone into our trail systems this summer, and if you're a frequent visitor it's impossible not to notice.

A couple of World Summit events open to the public include a scooter criterium on the Plaza this Friday (7pm), followed by a screening of Where the Trail Ends - Red Bull's new mountain bike feature - at the Santa Fe Convention Center ($10 admission). This afternoon, Thurs. 10/11, Red Bull athlete Darren Barrecloth and a few of his bros will be out at the La Tierra Jump Park beginning at 5pm. I don't know much about Darren but do know that he rode in Red Bull Rampage this year which is the equivalent of surfing Mavericks, skiing Valdez Alaska, or climbing alpine big walls. Only dudes with spooky levels of technical skill admitted.

The La Piedra Trail - Dale Ball

La Piedra Trail - Descending the zipline

Among the many new trail projects around Santa Fe in the last year, a real keystone to the area's bike trails has been developing east of town - the La Piedra Connector Trail. La Piedra will tie together the national class Dale Ball Trails system in Santa Fe's east hills with the older and much more extensive Winsor Trail system that stretches north and east of town through the Santa Fe National Forest with access to the Pecos Wilderness and places north - like Penasco. An ambitious Santa Fean can now thru-hike (or run) 40+ miles across the Sangres to the Santa Barbara campground without crossing a road. I love to think about that. Specifically, the Connector will link the north loop of Dale Ball (north of the Sierra del Norte trailhead) with the Little Tesuque Creek Trail 1.5 miles to the north. Little Tesuque links to Winsor through a steep climb north to the Burn Trail.

The La Piedra Connector is the work of the Santa Fe Conservation Trust, its executive director Charlie O'Leary, and the SFCT's volunteer affiliate the Trails Alliance of Santa Fe. Funding came in from local contributors (you can be one too!), proceeds from the Banff Film Festival screenings this spring, as well as proceeds from the La Tierra Torture bike races. Charlie mentioned that a five-figure grant came in from a California Foundation whose trustee held fond memories of running in the hills above Santa Fe, which is awesome. The Trust was founded in 1993 by conservationist scion Stewart Udall, and is primarily responsible for negotiating the public easements and legal work required in setting aside privately owned land parcels for non-developed use in perpetuity. SFCT negotiated public/private easements for the initial construction of the Dale Ball Trails in the 90's, early improvements to the Rail Trail, as well as development of the Arroyo Hondo Preserve, the Cerrillos Hills Preserve, La Tierra Trails, and most recently - the Galisteo Basin Preserve.

My crew from the Trails Alliance of Santa Fe. At far left are Lynn and Charlie.

Some instruction on how to use our lobotomizers for good, not evil

The Dale Ball Trails have become a fixture in town, and the model for all the miles of recreation trails that have been built since. In fact it's difficult to remember when none of this was here. Being a native to the area I can tell you that back when I left for school, Santa Fe had only arroyos, Atalaya, and Winsor. The parcel of land that the Connector now runs through has long been eyed as the finishing piece of the iconic trail system. According to O'Leary, the landowner that placed the parcel in trust knew this and it was the primary motivator for doing so. The new trail crosses through the beginnings of the La Piedra arroyo drainage which it takes its name from.

On the trek in - making trail sons!

Working with the SF Trails Alliance, SFCT designed and mapped out a workable trail through the easement boundaries and contracted a team out of Albuquerque to conduct the initial trail cut. Work was originally planned to have begun in October but was pushed off until this spring when local volunteers including entire trail maintenance teams put together by the Santa Fe Fat TireSociety and REI Santa Fe knocked out much of the detail work by hand, including armoring switchbacks and corners, erosion controls, trail sloping, etc. I got out there and helped too. Myself and another Santa Fe badass named Lynn cleared out a load of deadfall and fixed up other drainage issues on the westside gully before the up-and-over into Little Tesuque. When you ride/run through there and see how awesome it is - you know who to mentally high-five.

The land parcel is limited in size, and as designed the Connector has a lot of tight, technical switchbacks in a steep descent down into the Little Tesuque drainage east of Bishop's Lodge. Thirty-three switchbacks by my count including a few more in the climb preceding the descent. A group of us ran it out the day after our trail maintenance work and it was fantastic. A terrific addition to the growing trail network.

Out with friends the day after - crushing the switchbacks

And down, and down, and further still - down

Blue blazes trace the way up the Burn Trail

At the fence-line to Winsor and beyond

At the Juan Trail/Burn Trail highpoint - Tesuque Peak in view

Related Links

 - The Santa Fe New Mexican (Oct. 4, '11)
 - Santa Fe Area Trails Listing

View Dale Ball Trail System - Santa Fe, NM in a larger map

Banff Film Festival 2012 - Santa Fe

The Banff tour rocked a sold-out Lensic Theatre Wednesday night in support of the Santa Fe Conservation Trust. The 16th year the tour has come through Santa Fe. Pretty much all of the town's outdoor crowd were there to see the year's films, chatting it up and draining Pacificos before-hand and during intermission.

As always the short-films and photography were phenomenal. The evening's show started things off with a couple skiing shorts from Sherpa Cinema's feature length All.I.Can which I was familiar with. Lots of fun nonetheless.




Sometime mid-show there was a feature about the Canadian coastal wilderness in the path of a major proposed oil pipeline. The Great Bear Rainforest. Fantastic place, and a really impressive look at the effort of a team of photographers going to battle with big industry using the power of their images and public perception.




The evening closed with a fantastic short by Boulder's Peter Mortimer titled 'Sketchy Andy', featuring slack-line master-of-horror Andy Lewis doing ridiculous things on a tensioned slack-line. Think Dean Potter minus the zen, coupled with the deep ink-black insanity of the late Dan Osman. Cool stuff but the guy is clearly un-well.




Fun times. Motivated now to get out and get my own. The trails are calling.
Last year's best of Banff clips can be found here.

Banff Film Festival 2011 - Santa Fe

Been pretty busy lately. Like no-getting-out-on-the-trails busy. I can usually make time by sleeping less but the math on all that won't work this week so I'll take a few days off and get back into it when things settle down.

I did take a quick work break to make it to Banff at the Lensic last (Wed.) night. Between my days in Boulder and my move back to Santa Fe this has to be about the 10th Banff Film that I've attended. Steve Bing with Sangre de Cristo Mountain Works is the local sponsor that brings this event to town every year and this year they brought us two nights of film which is pretty sweet. I was all ready for some crazy adrenaline-pumping video shorts for added motivation to crush it in April, but I must have picked the more melancholy night of the two which was unfortunate.

The scene at intermission

The scene from left balcony - intermission

There was a clever biking spot with kids, there was a film about a legless vet training for the Para-olympics, an interesting film about caving and one about fly-fishing Kamchatcka Russia. The feature film was about an alpine guide coping with an avalanche that caused the deaths of several clients. The winning spot for me was a five minute film on skiing. I'll need to youtube some of the winners from year's past to get the adrenaline back up. This one with climber Alex Honnold still has me shaking my head.






In addition to being something I look forward to every year, this year's event was also a benefit to the Santa Fe Conservation Trust. So get out and support these guys if you get an opportunity. Saw lots of people there including Lucy Ranney and her husband, Oceana Holton and her friend Leslie, and lots of familiar biking and skiing folks. Had a cold Pacifico even though I haven't trained worth a damn since Saturday. Can't wait till next year.

Postscript:  Can't find any of these video shorts online, but I did find a trailer for Eastern Rises - the short about fly-fishing in Kamchatka which was pretty badass even though I don't fish. Enjoy.