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A Paragon For The Good Life
J. Michael Brown

“Olympic Sports, the Toggery, The Iron Ladle, an Italian restaurant, First Lead Mountaineering and the original Telluride Sports…that was main street,” recalls Brown. “It was one big, wide, empty, dusty street.”

Brown has seen Telluride go through innumerable changes and in return, this beautiful little box canyon has seen him do the same. Within six months after moving to town, the ski area opened. There weren’t any lifts from town at that time, so the way up was from the yet-to-be Mountain Village, accessed via bus. A typical routine was five lifts to the top, which was the old Chairlift 6, skiing the Plunge down to town and riding the bus to do it again.

“There was so much snow back then and we wanted to explore,” recalls Brown. “These were big mountains to all of us, beautiful but also frightening. We would hike around all over the place, oftentimes scaring ourselves, but always having fun”

Other than Brown, there were a handful of newcomers to town. Many, like Terry and Susan Tice, Rick Silverman, Jim Lincoln, Bob St. Onge and Michael Chandler, are still around and Brown recalls the young 70s ski bums melding easily with the older crowd. “Telluride was a close-knit, community and we were all here to check out this exciting new frontier,” he says. “People thought we were all just on drugs back then but we were all about discovering the mountains. The party scene came later.”
In 1976, Brown left Telluride for a few years (California, Evergreen, Summit County) to pursue other interests and bow out gracefully when the party scene got too wild. He returned in 1985 and opened up Paragon Ski & Sport, along with partner Ned Mulford. At the time, Paragon’s only locale was its present Oak Street shop. The main street location, built in 1986, opened in 1987.

Brown still owns Paragon (he and Jacquie run it together) and prides himself as being the antithesis of the typical ski shop.

“We’re funky and local and have a good loyal following,” says Brown. “I’m obviously not in it for the money, never have been. It’s the lifestyle and the experience I love. I have a dedicated and knowledgeable staff. As long as I pay my bills and provide a good experience for my customers, I’m doing OK.”

Skiing is Brown’s favorite pastime. He adores the sport and does what he can to keep its true spirit alive…reminiscent of the days when he first arrived. One outlet, in particular, was reincarnating the Lunar Cup, a ski race held the last weekend in June. It’s set in the high country, on a lingering strip of slushy snow. According to Brown, is Telluride’s last truly local event.

“Skiing is pure joy for me, always has been,” says Brown. “These days, there’s so much drama associated with the ski industry. I try to stay away from that and hold on to the essence of what it’s really all about.”

In addition to being a great skier, Brown is a passionate cyclist. He started road and mountain bike racing at 37, garnering early successes in national points series events. In 1994, he won the Colorado state championships, in the expert masters 45+ division, and then retired. Brown rode recreationally for a few summers and three years ago, got back in the competitive saddle. He placed second in his first race in seven years and this summer, plans on competing in the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic and Mt. Evans Hill Climb road races.

“I feel like my life has come full circle,” says Brown. “I’m doing all the things I came here originally to do. Only now, the best part is I get to do them with my wife and kids. Jacquie is my training partner and she keeps me on my toes. Actually she kicks my ass, is more like it.”

As with committing himself to the essence of skiing, Brown did so with biking, too. In 1990, when he and locals Chris Miller and Jeff Downs qualified for the world mountain bike championships, he created a Paragon bike team. Since then, Team Paragon has become a Telluride institution. Numerous professional cyclists have sprung from this town, like Bryan Miller, Carl and Pete Swenson, Walker Ferguson and Pete Dahle, and all, at one point, rode for Team Paragon. Even though Brown’s shop is relatively small, he has supported local talents and in 1994, came out with a signature pink and purple team jersey. Except for a new color scheme, the jersey hasn’t changed in 10 years and nowadays, is sported by more than just competitive riders. “We’ve sold over 1,000 jerseys and every summer we get people coming in from all over wanting to buy one. We even get phone orders.”

Team Paragon has since morphed into Team Telluride, a nonprofit organization much bigger than one ski shop. Team Telluride includes downhill, cross-country and road cyclists and aims at introducing more women and children to the sport. Paragon is still a main sponsor, but many other businesses are involved, too.

For Brown, life’s newest chapter is happily underway and he makes the most of every minute. Surrounded by friends, family and his German shepherds, Pica and Bou, he balances work, play and as he says, keeps it real.

“I think we’re the luckiest people in the world to live here,” says Brown. “There’s nowhere else like Telluride…the place and the people are so incredible. Sometimes we take it for granted but then you take a step back and put it all in perspective. All I know is I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.”