OBITUARY

Heinz Rosch. (Courtesy photo)

Dear Telluride,

I write to you as an eternal lover of your rock spires and your magnetic community cradled far below in a strong, yet fragile teacup. I write to you with a passion for the ski runs that unfurl from heights that some call heavenly. I write to you as a spirit whose path has turned to gold like the aspen leaves do each September. I write to you because I have taken on another journey and am saying goodbye.

I came to Telluride in 1986 for a visit to this amazing little ski town that my daughter discovered; and where she had thrown her anchor down. By the following year I had quit my job in Silicon Valley, packed up my Subaru and joined the less than one thousand people that rooted themselves in this box canyon. I joined the Telluride Ski School in 1987 to work under Annie Varielle Savath, the best career choice I made since my move in 1957 to Aspen to teach skiing under Fred Islin at Aspen Highlands. I taught skiing every winter for 33 years in Telluride and volunteered to coach the town’s skiing youth; and I loved it. I was a regular fixture at Leimgruber’s, hoisting bottomless mugs (and boots) of Paulaner at the “Stammtisch” with the ski school “Old Timers.” My summers were spent working for Kathy Green and Chuck Kroger at BONE Construction, climbing your massive perimeter of peaks and running the Imogene Pass Run.

Just as my daughter steered me to Telluride four decades ago, she guided me to a new home in Steamboat Springs two years ago where she could be close to me; and where I could receive care for the Alzheimer’s disease that was seeping into my brain.

I am gone now, surrounded by love and family. Forever in my heart, I say goodbye, Telluride. Once your towering peaks pulled me in, all else paled.

I am survived by my daughter Christina Rosch of Steamboat Springs, my grandchildren Shane McLean-Myhre, Basel, Switzerland, and Hunter McLean, Arvada, Colorado; my sister Elsbeth Padia, niece Angela Molyneux, her husband Blake and children Tyler and Cody. Most of all, I am survived by this amazing home to my spirit, Telluride.

Take care of yourself and your people, Telluride,

Heinz Rosch

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