The Pole

If you’re planning on drinking your winter blues away at Snowdown this year, you’ve likely already been to Magpies Newsstand to grab your board games gear to celebrate. As Snowdown merch central, they have t-shirts, hats, buttons, posters and info pamphlets. Get your butt down there if you haven’t already, as supplies are dwindling! However, if you go to Magpie’s in search of the venerable Snowdown Sneer, the satirical newspaper that mysteriously shows up around town (almost) every Snowdown, don't get your hopes up just yet.

It’s been 10 years since locals Peter Carver and Joe Philpott died in separate avalanche incidents. Since then, the nonprofit organization founded in their memory, Know the Snow Fund, has raised tens of thousands of dollars and handed out hundreds of scholarships for avalanche safety training. In 2024 alone, KTSF supported scholarships for nearly 100 individuals.

There’s some good news on the horizon for discouraged would-be homeowners in Southwest Colorado. This week, the HomesFund announced it was awarded $3.5 million for mortgage and down-payment loans to qualifying local residents.

Finally, an answer to the pressing question on most everyone’s minds since Elon Musk became BFFs with Donald Trump. What do Tesla owners – who, shall we say, tend to be a climate change accepting lot – think of the sugar daddy of non-gas guzzling electric vehicles jumping into bed with the man who thinks climate change is a hoax?

Just a friendly reminder that the Telegraph is taking its annual leave of absence for not one but two weeks, Dec. 26 and Jan. 2, due to printing and sanity reasons. We are sorry if this puts a dent in your fire-starter supply, but rest assured, we will be back in action Jan. 9, 2025. Meantime, throw on an extra layer of fleece and pop a few more rum balls.

Move over PBR – there is another new-old trendy beer on the scene. In case you don’t have an internet connection, “splitting the G” – an online trend where drinkers attempt to gulp their Guinness down to where the line between the stout and the foam hits the middle of the branded “G” on the glass – is all the rage. Everyone from the Jonas Brothers and actor Jason Momoa to pro-wrestler John Cena is doing it, according to a recent story in the New York Times.

Motorists of Southwest Colorado know the white-knuckled stretch between Ouray and Montrose as one the busiest gauntlets for wildlife in the region. But now, we can loosen that steering wheel grip, just a little.

With the darkest days of winter upon us, our most vulnerable community members won’t have to worry about being left out in the cold. This winter, the good folks at the Community Compassion Outreach Center will be hosting an emergency warming center on the most brutal nights when the temperature is forecast to drop to 15°F degrees or below.