I'm exited, are you excited?

[FaceOnMars]

Late snowmelt means higher water. Bear Creek, Bridal Veil and the San Juan will be more spectacular. Last year it was pretty dry. And the water will be good and cold. Can't wait to dip the old feet into the San Juan after a good hike!

Yeah, in reality this is what it will boil down to for most  ... lower elevation hiking will probably be unaffected - save for a swollen stream which might require more care or wet feet to cross.  Going up a little higher, you might find patches of snow here or there in unexposed northern aspects ... although popular trails will be bootpacked.  Those who are looking to summit some peaks such Wilson might have longer stretches of snowfields to travel through, but would definitely ask around about Wilson or others which pose potential higher risk about their status.

Made it up Tomboy Road to the Royer Gulch waterfall(s) about a week ago and it was completely dry until the falls.  I've heard the Silverton side of Ophir pass was mostly cleared, and imagine they're also chomping at the bit on the Ouray side of Imogene.   Not sure what they'll all look like by Bluegrass time, but my guess is everything will be open except maybe Black Bear.   

[ponchom1]

Looks like the new Chatham County Line album is out. Can't wait to hear it. Excited they are joining us this year.

[ShatteredArm]

Late snowmelt means higher water. Bear Creek, Bridal Veil and the San Juan will be more spectacular. Last year it was pretty dry. And the water will be good and cold. Can't wait to dip the old feet into the San Juan after a good hike!

Yeah, in reality this is what it will boil down to for most  ... lower elevation hiking will probably be unaffected - save for a swollen stream which might require more care or wet feet to cross.  Going up a little higher, you might find patches of snow here or there in unexposed northern aspects ... although popular trails will be bootpacked.  Those who are looking to summit some peaks such Wilson might have longer stretches of snowfields to travel through, but would definitely ask around about Wilson or others which pose potential higher risk about their status.

Made it up Tomboy Road to the Royer Gulch waterfall(s) about a week ago and it was completely dry until the falls.  I've heard the Silverton side of Ophir pass was mostly cleared, and imagine they're also chomping at the bit on the Ouray side of Imogene.   Not sure what they'll all look like by Bluegrass time, but my guess is everything will be open except maybe Black Bear.   

Black Bear wasn't even open last year... It seems like they usually open it in early July, but I don't live there, so I probably don't have very good statistics.

I'm hoping for some nice ice pack, it'll make for some more scenic mountain running.  Thinking about going all the way up to Lewis Lake and/or Blue Lake.

[FaceOnMars]

Black Bear wasn't even open last year... It seems like they usually open it in early July, but I don't live there, so I probably don't have very good statistics.

I'm hoping for some nice ice pack, it'll make for some more scenic mountain running.  Thinking about going all the way up to Lewis Lake and/or Blue Lake.

You're probably right about Black Bear, I don't pay attention to that one.  I have very little fear on a snowboard - even in the most crazy terrain, but you'll never catch me in a vehicle coming down that pass!

From the stats I've read recently, the total amount of snow compared to last year is actually pretty close ... but it's been the persistantly cooler temps which have slowed the meltoff this spring.

[HFJubileeJam]

Hopefully people who enjoy SCI and all that comes with it can go back to Telluride and leave the traditional folks to their 38 year old family friendly festival. It was actually very cool before 2014 happened.

Traditional Fan
Huck Finn Jubilee Jam

[rossstevens]

IS IT JUNE YET!! I know we just finished up a great weekend of music and friends but I MISS TELLURIDE ALREADY. The weekend went by soooooooooooo fast . Well , we have 5 months until tickets go on sale . Am I jumping the gun !! Love ya all

FFFFEEESSSTTTIIIVVVAAALLL!!!!!

 Listening to: Keller Williams

[Hot Sugar]

Hopefully people who enjoy SCI and all that comes with it can go back to Telluride and leave the traditional folks to their 38 year old family friendly festival. It was actually very cool before 2014 happened.

Traditional Fan
Huck Finn Jubilee Jam

Great point! Especially since it is, after all, impossible to enjoy both String Cheese and traditional bluegrass. You'd never find a SCI fan at a Del show, would you?

[HFJubileeJam]

Hopefully people who enjoy SCI and all that comes with it can go back to Telluride and leave the traditional folks to their 38 year old family friendly festival. It was actually very cool before 2014 happened.

Traditional Fan
Huck Finn Jubilee Jam

Great point! Especially since it is, after all, impossible to enjoy both String Cheese and traditional bluegrass. You'd never find a SCI fan at a Del show, would you?

Honestly it is not SCI per se. It is the horde of disrespectful people that follow them and "Jam Grass". There were drugs everywhere, police helicopters, people jumping the fence to get in. My son and I have to walk by a guy who is passed out drunk, half on a deflated air mattress and half on the grass. People would jump the fence into the pool area rather than walk around to the entrance. It had NEVER been like that before. Understand? 30+ years. Never.

Hey Hot Sugar why don't you provide some feedback for SCI fans? Try to teach them to respect their surroundings. Huck Finn Jubilee was a family friendly festival until 2014.

Believe me if the promoters book another "Jam Grass" band this festival will be very short lived. The people who basically created it so SCI fans could even go to it are waiting to see who is booked. If 2015 is another bait and switch, poof it's gone and everybody loses. That deeply saddens me because there aren't many places you can expose your kids to a musical weekend without festival stupidity like SCI fans brought.

The solution is to just have a "Jam Grass" festival on a separate weekend. I wonder why there isn't a 30+ year old "Jam Grass" festival around here? Hmm?

[HuckinFappy]

However old Jamgrass is, I'd say Telluride has been a Jamgrass Festival that long.  It's a newer tradition, but asking why there are no 30-year old Jamgrass festivals is like asking why there aren't any 30-year old Snowboard Halfpipe competitions.   It's a nice way of trying to earn a little cred by being old though, so I'll give you that.

As for the rest of your comments...Families we're friends with have made Telluride, Rockygrass, Folks Fest, Pickin' in the Pines, Four Corners and Meadowgrass all part of their family traditions on an annual basis, and are enriched for it.   That's just in the immediate area.

Yes, sometimes we're exposed to things we might prefer to not be exposed to.   That's true at festivals,  the supermarket, and walking down the street.   As parents, and humans, we use those opportunities to teach, to guide and to mentor our kids, discussing choices and consequences.   I don't see the value in shielding my kids from things.

If things were so lax it allowed a set of people to run rough-shod over the rules, that's addressable in other ways than banning a genre of music that has been embraced by the traditional luminaries  you revere (go ahead...ask Del about Jamgrass).   

[Hot Sugar]

Hopefully people who enjoy SCI and all that comes with it can go back to Telluride and leave the traditional folks to their 38 year old family friendly festival. It was actually very cool before 2014 happened.

Traditional Fan
Huck Finn Jubilee Jam

Great point! Especially since it is, after all, impossible to enjoy both String Cheese and traditional bluegrass. You'd never find a SCI fan at a Del show, would you?

Honestly it is not SCI per se. It is the horde of disrespectful people that follow them and "Jam Grass". There were drugs everywhere, police helicopters, people jumping the fence to get in. My son and I have to walk by a guy who is passed out drunk, half on a deflated air mattress and half on the grass. People would jump the fence into the pool area rather than walk around to the entrance. It had NEVER been like that before. Understand? 30+ years. Never.

Hey Hot Sugar why don't you provide some feedback for SCI fans? Try to teach them to respect their surroundings. Huck Finn Jubilee was a family friendly festival until 2014.

Believe me if the promoters book another "Jam Grass" band this festival will be very short lived. The people who basically created it so SCI fans could even go to it are waiting to see who is booked. If 2015 is another bait and switch, poof it's gone and everybody loses. That deeply saddens me because there aren't many places you can expose your kids to a musical weekend without festival stupidity like SCI fans brought.

The solution is to just have a "Jam Grass" festival on a separate weekend. I wonder why there isn't a 30+ year old "Jam Grass" festival around here? Hmm?

Oh, I can't stand disrespectful people. Like coming on to a forum dedicated to Planet Bluegrass festivals and insulting their biggest event of the year and the bands that helped make that festival what it is.

Not to say your opinions aren't valid. They are, but there are better ways to present them.

The origin of Jamgrass is debatable, but I think most can agree that New Grass Revival, Old and in the Way and John Hartford planted the first seeds. Telluride has been around for 41 years. 41 years as a family friendly, largely Jamgrass festival, and String Cheese has played at several of those, including 2013.

Believe it or not, Telluride is run so well that the inclusion of a band like SCI didn't detract from the family friendly vibe. Maybe you should be mad at the promoters of the Huck Finn Jubilee instead of mad at the band or fans who follow SCI.

This year I made it to Horning's Hideout for the North West String Summit for the first time. That is most definitely a jamgrass festival and easily one of the most family friendly fests I have attended. Yonder, one of the biggest jamgrass bands in the country, throws that party and plays three nights at it. Your understanding of the bands that play jamgrass and the fans they attract would have that festival as a train-wreck and not one to bring children to, but it's fantastic. On more than one occasion, the MC, Pastor Tim, came out on stage between songs and interrupted the show to have the audience look around them for a lost child and that child was always found within a minute.

So don't go around insulting jamgrass and its fans. Believe it or not, you can't judge all of us by the few. Just like I won't judge all traditional bluegrass fans based on one guy making rude comments on an internet forum.

 

 Listening to: Gaelic Storm

[HFJubileeJam]

Oh, I can't stand disrespectful people. Like coming on to a forum dedicated to Planet Bluegrass festivals and insulting their biggest event of the year and the bands that helped make that festival what it is.

Not to say your opinions aren't valid. They are, but there are better ways to present them.

The origin of Jamgrass is debatable, but I think most can agree that New Grass Revival, Old and in the Way and John Hartford planted the first seeds. Telluride has been around for 41 years. 41 years as a family friendly, largely Jamgrass festival, and String Cheese has played at several of those, including 2013.

Believe it or not, Telluride is run so well that the inclusion of a band like SCI didn't detract from the family friendly vibe. Maybe you should be mad at the promoters of the Huck Finn Jubilee instead of mad at the band or fans who follow SCI.

This year I made it to Horning's Hideout for the North West String Summit for the first time. That is most definitely a jamgrass festival and easily one of the most family friendly fests I have attended. Yonder, one of the biggest jamgrass bands in the country, throws that party and plays three nights at it. Your understanding of the bands that play jamgrass and the fans they attract would have that festival as a train-wreck and not one to bring children to, but it's fantastic. On more than one occasion, the MC, Pastor Tim, came out on stage between songs and interrupted the show to have the audience look around them for a lost child and that child was always found within a minute.

So don't go around insulting jamgrass and its fans. Believe it or not, you can't judge all of us by the few. Just like I won't judge all traditional bluegrass fans based on one guy making rude comments on an internet forum.

 

I didn't make rude comments and I didn't "insult the biggest event of the year". Telluride seems very cool to me. I'm not sure I would camp 200 yards from the stage with my kid though. That is Huck Finn Jubilee set up.

People keep saying, "well there is always (trash, drugs, unruly people, passed out drunks on the ground, etc) at every music festival. The whole point is that prior to SCI there wasn't at this one. It was mellow. At night the music was acoustic and quieted down enough that you could relax with your kids and get ready for bed. 2014 was full on amplified jam band music until 11pm. It was drowning out the jammers campground which is a highlight of the whole thing.

What people are right about is the promoter is at fault. They announced SCI after people had already bought their tickets. It was a bait and switch because they knew that the people who had been attending for years would be upset. They basically got all the longtime attendees to pay for SCI fans who then in large quantity jumped the fences. They had relaxed security because for 30+ years they didn't even need security. SCI fans jumped in the lake right in front of the No Jumping In The Lake sign. Some woman is blowing bubbles all over 80 year old Dr. Ralph Stanley. It's like common sense just left the building.

Believe me I have nothing against large music festivals. However, I do think that SCI as a band should take some responsibility for their audience. I think good bands teach their fans and are vocal about stuff. I remember in the punk rock days that the great bands took care of their audience and called out the people who were out of line. Same with like a Pearl Jam.

Sorry to "piss in your corn flakes" as someone so eloquently put it.

[ebb01]

Hopefully people who enjoy SCI and all that comes with it can go back to Telluride and leave the traditional folks to their 38 year old family friendly festival. It was actually very cool before 2014 happened.

Traditional Fan
Huck Finn Jubilee Jam

Great point! Especially since it is, after all, impossible to enjoy both String Cheese and traditional bluegrass. You'd never find a SCI fan at a Del show, would you?

Honestly it is not SCI per se. It is the horde of disrespectful people that follow them and "Jam Grass". There were drugs everywhere, police helicopters, people jumping the fence to get in. My son and I have to walk by a guy who is passed out drunk, half on a deflated air mattress and half on the grass. People would jump the fence into the pool area rather than walk around to the entrance. It had NEVER been like that before. Understand? 30+ years. Never.

Hey Hot Sugar why don't you provide some feedback for SCI fans? Try to teach them to respect their surroundings. Huck Finn Jubilee was a family friendly festival until 2014.

Believe me if the promoters book another "Jam Grass" band this festival will be very short lived. The people who basically created it so SCI fans could even go to it are waiting to see who is booked. If 2015 is another bait and switch, poof it's gone and everybody loses. That deeply saddens me because there aren't many places you can expose your kids to a musical weekend without festival stupidity like SCI fans brought.

The solution is to just have a "Jam Grass" festival on a separate weekend. I wonder why there isn't a 30+ year old "Jam Grass" festival around here? Hmm?

Oh, I can't stand disrespectful people. Like coming on to a forum dedicated to Planet Bluegrass festivals and insulting their biggest event of the year and the bands that helped make that festival what it is.

Not to say your opinions aren't valid. They are, but there are better ways to present them.

The origin of Jamgrass is debatable, but I think most can agree that New Grass Revival, Old and in the Way and John Hartford planted the first seeds. Telluride has been around for 41 years. 41 years as a family friendly, largely Jamgrass festival, and String Cheese has played at several of those, including 2013.

Believe it or not, Telluride is run so well that the inclusion of a band like SCI didn't detract from the family friendly vibe. Maybe you should be mad at the promoters of the Huck Finn Jubilee instead of mad at the band or fans who follow SCI.

This year I made it to Horning's Hideout for the North West String Summit for the first time. That is most definitely a jamgrass festival and easily one of the most family friendly fests I have attended. Yonder, one of the biggest jamgrass bands in the country, throws that party and plays three nights at it. Your understanding of the bands that play jamgrass and the fans they attract would have that festival as a train-wreck and not one to bring children to, but it's fantastic. On more than one occasion, the MC, Pastor Tim, came out on stage between songs and interrupted the show to have the audience look around them for a lost child and that child was always found within a minute.

So don't go around insulting jamgrass and its fans. Believe it or not, you can't judge all of us by the few. Just like I won't judge all traditional bluegrass fans based on one guy making rude comments on an internet forum.

 

You're so right. But at this point you're just feeding the troll who's only mission seems to be dividing people rather than bringing them together.

[completejohn]

Maybe Mr. Jubilee is just saying that one band's fans completely changed the vibe of an obviously much more mellow fest.  LIke if Mumford got replaced at the last minute by Justin Bieber at TBF.  Even though I would personally be the HAPPIEST person in the world (just dreaming of JB at fest makes my heart go into overdrive!), suddenly having hundreds of Bieber-maniacs running over our tarps would really change the vibe.

But Jub, it IS the promoter, not the band who was at fault.  The promoter knew that SCI would increase the gate, but also knew WHO they would attract.

[Mandhoe]

Hopefully people who enjoy SCI and all that comes with it can go back to Telluride and leave the traditional folks to their 38 year old family friendly festival. It was actually very cool before 2014 happened.

Traditional Fan
Huck Finn Jubilee Jam

I had a very MELLOW, but fun time at Huck Finn this year.  There were absolutely no problems except the fake ones created by the nostalgic traditionalists.  People dancing, drinking adult beverages sold by vendors hired by the festival organizers, and smoking a little geef, were the 3 biggest complaints throughout the weekend.  If you have a problem with any of those 3 actions at a show, then the problem lies within you.

The biggest outrage for me during Huck Finn, was when the promoter/organizer was on local news and said the line-up and experience of Huck Finn was far superior to that of TBF.  He also said he expected 50,000 tics to be sold throughout the weekend, when in reality they sold around 10,000;  which will probably result in the disintegration of Huck Finn altogether.  The organizer is clearly a KOOK w/ delusions of grandeur.  I think if there is another Huck Finn, they'll revert back to their old formula of traditional bluegrass and crotchety, old, regressive fans.

 Listening to: Bela Nashville Sessions

[Mandhoe]

http://video.ktla.com/Huck-Finn-Jubilee-Bluegrass-Music-Festival-26259052?playlistId=12094#.U-ezyVZU1g2

Here's the actual video of the Huck Finn organizer bashing TBF.  It starts a little after the 1 minute mark.  Blasphemy!