We had been hoping to go to Telluride for a long time, but worries about a lack of snow coupled with what seemed like high prices for plane tickets conspired against us in years past. Finally with an el Nino year giving Telluride a great start, coupled with $386 plane tix into Montrose we pulled the trigger and made the trip. 

The drive in was easy, we were excited to see the mountains for the first time on the drive. 

We stayed at Mountain Lodge in Mountain Village because my wife and her friend who was with us wanted to be close to the greens and blues. It was a nice place to stay, and was indeed convenient. We had the Gondola right outside our condo, but it didn't bother us. It was actually kind of fun to wave back to the kids in the gondola who waved at us. 

Our first night there we took the Gondola to Floradora Saloon in Telluride proper. It was a nice pub that had a grat view at the front table where we sat. The Gondola was easy to use and really very enjoyable, the views of the town and the surrounding mountains are amazing.

You can see Milk Run and Coonskin (I think) off lift 2 here coming right into town:

We started ski day 1 warming up on some greens and blues off chair 6 and 4, then we went off for lessons, which met at 11:00. Telluride has a great deal: 3 days lift tickets and 3 days of lessons, only about $40 more than 3 days of tickets by themselves. I had been wanting to take a lesson for awhile and this was a great opportunity. I had an instructor named Jay Goodwin, who was awesome. I highly recommend him. Our group stayed on blue and black groomers, which fit the firm conditions well for me. We stayed on Lift 5 a bit, and then headed over to Coonskin, a single black groomed run for a bunch of laps. We finished the day on See Forever, which lives up to it's name on a clear day.

Day 2 started in a similar way, but it was much warmer. It was 30 when we got out at 9, and it warmed to mid-40s by the afternoon. I found Jay again for another group lesson, and this time we spent almost all of our time on Milk Run, Coonskin and The Plunge. The groups on both days had very similar abilities, which, combined with Jay's excellent instruction made for great lessons. 

Day 3 we took the day off from lessons, so I could ski with my wife and her friend. We went up to See Forever, then messed around on lift 5 a little, and then they wanted to go in for an early lunch and do some shopping before coming back out to ski.

When they went in, I headed over to Revelation Bowl, a wide open bowl that is groomed right down the middle. It was kind of short, but fun.

Then I went over to Prospect Bowl after lunch to check that out. The conditions were less than ideal on the warm afternoon for me to be comfortable doing any hike-to terrain, so I stuck to Magnolia and Sandia, two blues that had a long runout that was actually pretty fun. Lots of wide spaced trees to duck around and find fun lines. 

Then I got a text from my wife that she was going to demo some skis at Christy's Sports. SHe could demo them at the end of the day and all the next day and be charged for only one day. The conditions happened to be very similar to our home mountain in WV: warm and soft that afternoon, then firm the next morning, followed by a nice 3" of snow that afternoon. She tried several skis over the two days, but fell in love with the Volkl Kenjas. 

I had Sunshine to myself at the end of the day: 

Krista in the snow on the last day:

A beautiful view like this makes a cat track tolerable:

A fun little mogul run off lift 4:

It's not hard to be a good photographer with a view like this:

Thanks for a great time, Telluride. You have some awesome scenery, friendly people, and great skiing. I just wish we had hit some better snow. Next time :)

Very cool pics.  We went last year and you reminded me of some of the trail names.  The view from Sea Forever was amazing.  I remember cruising around in the prospect bowl and the widely spaced trees.  Good Stuff.

Blue Don 1982 wrote:

Very cool pics.  We went last year and you reminded me of some of the trail names.  The view from Sea Forever was amazing.  I remember cruising around in the prospect bowl and the widely spaced trees.  Good Stuff.

The trees were fun, my wife really enjoyed them after the 3" of snow fell. We have been out west several times, but never really got much luck in the way of snow, so she always complained how the snow out west is no better than at SS. With the skis she demoed, she said she felt like she was floating for the first time :) so now whe wants to do 2 trips a year out there somewhere.

And on new skis???!!!

The Colonel

The Colonel wrote:

And on new skis???!!!

The Colonel

Oh yes, of course! She deserves them, though, she's using some K2 Luvs or something that we picked up at a ski swap a couple years ago as she was just starting to ski after snowboarding for years.

 Many extra style points earned for traveling with attractive companions:-)

I was out there the exact same time. The weather and conditions were great. One of the runs I did while out there, Gold Hill Chute #1, which was extremely steep and difficult had some very large rock cliffs. I found out on my way to the airport out of town that someone had died on that exact run the day before I did it. Always a humbling reminder of how dangerous it can be at times. 

http://www.tetongravity.com/story/news/colorado-ski-areas-suffer-2-inbounds-deaths-this-week

JimK wrote:

 Many extra style points earned for traveling with attractive companions:-)

Thanks! And agreed!

msprings wrote:

I was out there the exact same time. The weather and conditions were great. One of the runs I did while out there, Gold Hill Chute #1, which was extremely steep and difficult had some very large rock cliffs. I found out on my way to the airport out of town that someone had died on that exact run the day before I did it. Always a humbling reminder of how dangerous it can be at times. 

http://www.tetongravity.com/story/news/colorado-ski-areas-suffer-2-inbounds-deaths-this-week

That was very sad to hear. I didn't do any of the chutes, the conditions weren't good enough for me to venture into that kind of terrain and I'm not sure it ever will be :)