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Show avalanche threats, this was a new kind of avalanche, one that would leave many locals homeless, victims of high real estate taxes and prices. In May of 1992, the first hotel in Mountain Village opened its doors, the 177-room Doral Resort & Spa. It later became The Peaks Resort and Spa and has since been joined by a myriad of accommodations. In 1995, Mountain Village was officially incorporated. _ Telluride was no longer alone deep in the San Juans—it now had a sister town, a town with no past, no poor, and no tailings. A “village” of 1,000 wealthy urban refugees, a town almost as large as Telluride itself (Telluride’s 1998 population was 1528), a place where one could easily spend $2 million on a simple one-acre lot. Mountain Village now advertises itself as “a painstakingly crafted community that projects a European resort-town elegance while bringing together the finest elements of the New West.” What was not long ago Telluride, Colorado, was now simply Telluride. Like Aspen, Vail, Santa Fe, Taos, Jackson Hole, everyone knew where Telluride was. W.C. Fields once said, “A rich man is nothing but a poor man with money.” Maybe this was true in Fields’ day, but now the cultural differences between the truly rich and the middle class (yet alone the poor) have become vast. And anyone who doesn’t understand the not-so-mysterious values of the wealthy should visit Telluride today. Visit the shops, have lunch. Drive the streets of Mountain Village. Its a good test of your socio-economic comfort level (or socio-economic ambition). Remember that those who make this “elegant New West” resort town possible can’t afford to live here. i According to a 1996 study conducted by San Miguel County, nearly one-third of the | population of the county commuted to work in Telluride from places like Norwood, 702 S. Main Sf. 259.7722 800.753.8216 Moab’s Canoe Specialists It's Summer. It's HOT Put a HAT on you knuckleheads!!! Naturita, Rico, and Ophir. Others come from as far as Montrose, Grand Junction, and even Cortez. As you complete your tour with a luxurious hot stone massage at Telluride’s Mountain Message. & Day Spa, ponder the significance of a recent study done by Pricewaterhouse-Cooper: “In 2001, two million to three million individuals in the U.S. control more than $8 trillion in investable assets, or one-third of the world’s investable wealth.” These are the rich who now own and, for the most part, control Telluride. Perhaps ac Uh TTI A wi > F. Scott Fitzgerald’s assessment was accurate: “The rich are not like you and me.” July, 2000. : _ Last summer, in a rare display of nostalgia, overgrown slopes of Ski Dallas. Standing on top, I old truck engine that used to run the T-bar.It was the constant run of construction and service workers joe my cousin Dave and I hiked up the thought I could hear the sound of the probably just the wind--or more likely commuting to Telluride from Ridgway RENTALS GUIDED TRIPS SALES CANOE SCHOOL Labyrinth & Stillwater Canyons on the Green River Calm & Whitewater “Dailys" on the Colorado River Goosenecks of the San Juan and Montrose. Dave and I stood there for awhile in the breeze, then, without a-word, hiked back down and headed on up the road to Telluride. Dave wanted to see how Faraway Ranch was faring these days. We turned off the highway onto the county road, winding below those unchanging San Gateway to the Confluence on the Dolores River Juans with their sculpted iron-laden cirques and kettles and sudden lightning. On further up the lane, the same old rustic and dejected cattle sheds still lined the lower meadows, white mountain daisies growing tall against the weathered gray wood. As we rounded the hill to the upper meadows where the faded-yellow ranch house had once stood, Dave pulled the pickup over and stopped. There before:us, in unabashed opulance, sat a massive three-story log house, decks and glass gleaming in summer sun. We both sat quietly for awhile, lost in our own thoughts. Finally turning to Dave, I noticed that he wasn’t looking at the house, he was gazing at a long asphalt tennis court that stretched out further downslope, connected to the house by a winding path lined with recently-planted aspens. Almost in a whisper, as if to not disturb any ghosts, Dave asked, “Remember Patches? That little paint gelding? He was my best friend when I was a kid, little Patches. You rode him a few times, in the summer. oatmeal cookies. Dave turned tennis court on remember? There wasn’t a day went by that he and I didn’t go for a ride I always had an oatmeal-raisin cookie in my pocket for him--he loved He had the most feathery soft muzzle." away, his eyes filling, and spat out the window. “Now there’s a bloody his grave. A bloody tennis court, of all things." Grinding the gears, he turned the truck around and headed back downvalley to Montrose. So long to Telluride of the heart. Ads updated every Wednesday. www.moabadvertiser.com Chinle Miller can be reached at: Chinlemiller@yahoo.com ‘THUNDER HORSES MOE ae Neel tl Gratuitous Bikini ‘Toon as Gourmet copFEeE HOUSE : PANGUITCH, UTAH 47 NORTH MAIN ST. Books PANGUITCH e- Music e HISTORIC Art DIESTRIG] In Panguitch UTAH! <a (435) 676 8900 www.buffalojava.com , ae |