Telluride, CO, Mar. 17-19, 2019

Tony Crocker

Administrator
Staff member
We drove from Snowbird to Telluride Mar. 16. Telluride had the same substantial dump of 2+ feet that AltaBird did Mar. 13-15 and also the same sunny weather since. Telluride is higher and probably a bit cooler, so nearly all of the north facing side above town retained winter snow all three days. High temps were about 35F every day though Sunday was the warmest as it was clear and calm.

We stayed in a comfortable Airbnb across the parking lot from the Coonskin lift. The combination of the excellent snow year and Epic Pass affiliation has been excellent for business in Telluride. Hotels on short notice during our time frame were either sold out or at least as expensive as the nicer places we have stayed in the Alps.

Every day we started with Chair 9’s Bushwacker and Plunge (each appeared to be groomed every third day), 2,100 vertical dropping due north from 11,885 feet, two of the best fall line groomers anywhere.

View south from top of Chair 9:
IMG_1106.JPG

The San Juans are among the US mountains that have some resemblance to the Alps.

The upper left quadrant of this picture would make ideal alpine ski terrain.
IMG_1107a.JPG

It would be quite a project to connect it to Telluride’s existing ski area though.

Revelation is at left, 13,150 foot Palmyra Peak at right.
IMG_1108.JPG

The tower formations at center are similar to those above Furtschellas at St. Moritz.

View SW over the Chair 5 intermediate terrain and the Chair 10 beginner runs beyond.
IMG_1111.JPG


We skied to Chair 14, then into Revelation Bowl, the expanded terrain since I was last here in 2004. View from skier’s right boundary of Revelation:
IMG_1116.JPG

At right is the Bear Creek drainage, a 3,800 vertical backcountry ski route into town. Bear Creek was off limits during our visit due to the high avalanche danger persisting from last week’s dump over weak layers common in the San Juans.

After a couple of Revelation laps we went through the gate to Gold Hill 1. The rest of Gold Hill was closed due to snow instability. However north facing Palmyra Peak was open to hiking from the Prospect Chair 12.
IMG_1121.JPG

You can see a line of hikers on the ridge ascending from center right, a few people on the peak and three skiers, one high up and two lower down. The hike is 1,300 vertical feet, twice that of Highlands Bowl and ending 700 feet higher, so there was no way I considered it. The sign says allow 2 hours, so perhaps comparable to Staley’s hike of Entre Rios at Las Lenas. The picture above reminds me some of Eduardo’s, which I did ski at Las Lenas because it is lift accessible.

Gold Hill 1 proved to be enough of an adventure. The fall line below Gold Hill 1 narrows into a choke so it was roped off. You need to traverse right through the trees to Little Rose. The traverses are tight and the one I took was above the rope but still too low, approximate red line in picture below.
IMG_1124b.JPG

I had to squeeze through a couple of confined areas, and the west facing snow below was crusty and partly melt/frozen. The correct traverse (green line) was marked by wooden green circles nailed to trees along it and fortunately Liz saw those and went the right way.

I skied Little Rose, met Liz halfway down and we decided to ski groomers the rest of the day. Here’s the view of all the Gold Hill Chutes from the Prospect chair:
IMG_1126a.JPG

Only the first one at far left was open.

After a Prospect lap, we skied Galloping Goose to the Lynx poma about 3PM, then Sundance down to the Meadows base. The outlying lifts all close 3:15 or 3:30, but we rode the Chondola and Chair 4 to get to Chair 5. It too is posted as closing 3:30, but fortunately it has been extended to 4PM in late season. We skied Polar Queen and Stormin’ Norman, then Butterfly on Chair 4. We descended into town mostly via Telluride Trail.
IMG_1128.JPG


Sunday I skied 21,600 vertical.

Monday started out mostly sunny but was completely overcast from noon onwards. Thus we stuck with chair 9’s packed powder even longer, following the Plunge and Bushwacker groomers with one of Telluride’s famous mogul runs. Liz on Kant-Mak-M:
IMG_1141a.JPG

IMG_1146.JPG


After that we needed a break with some gumbo at Giuseppe’s:
IMG_1147a.JPG

Giuseppe’s and the nearby Vino Alpino are the highest restaurants in the United States. Note also the dense forest behind Giuseppe’s at 11,885 altitude.

We tested the chair 5 groomers at 1PM and found them in excellent condition despite the west exposure and no sun. Liz is here on Silvertip, a short mogul run dropping north between the two main groomers.
IMG_1149.JPG

This was one of the first places Adam skied powder at age 7 on our 1992 trip.

Next we rode chair 6 and skied to Spiral Stairs, which has perhaps the most impressive view down into town.
IMG_1151.JPG

We thought Spiral Stairs’ steepest pitch was a bit longer than Kant-Mak-M’s.

I continued into town via Bail Out, expecting to ride chair 8 back to meet Liz at chair 9. But Chair 8 closes at 1:30 so I had to use the gondola and Telluride Trail to Lookout.

By the time we got into Prospect Bowl it was past 3PM, too late to take any laps there. So we rode 14 and skied See Forever to Mountain Village. From Chair 4 we skied ungroomed Humboldt Draw, which Liz remembered for practicing moguls on her first visit 20 years ago. To no surprise they were crunchy in the overcast Monday. We skied Milk Run to town to finish the day, 23,900 vertical for me. On both Sunday and Monday we could sideslip through some trees below Kid’s Hill to our building at Mountainside Inn.

On Monday we walked through the center of town and saw this Christmas tree made from skis, star on top from poles.
IMG_1153a.JPG


It was lit after dinner under the near full moon.
IMG_1157.JPG


Anybody else remember Molnar skis?
IMG_1156.JPG

Molnars were favored by some skiers for powder in the 1970’s as they had soft flex and were slightly wider. No one back then asked the question, “Why don’t we make them a LOT wider?”

Tuesday started with scattered cloud and became mostly sunny for the rest of the day. However there was a breeze, so temperatures/snow softening was between Sunday and Monday.

As we had packed to leave Telluride, we got out early but Liz had to ski into Mountain Village for morning coffee. We were both pleased to see that Telluride grooms the Chair 4 runs intensively to minimize morning hardpack despite the west exposure. Nonetheless after coffee we went to Chair 9 to ski Bushwacker and freshly groomed Plunge.

Liz next got her mogul fix on Chair 6’s Zulu Queen.
IMG_1166.JPG

Zulu Queen is mostly shaded by the trees, as is skier’s left of Allais Alley below.
IMG_1168.JPG

These were the most challenging runs Liz skied at Telluride 20 years ago.

From the top of Chair 6 we have a good view of the distinctive San Joaquin Couloir.
IMG_1172.JPG

Note the powder tracks in the foreground leading into the Bear Creek drainage.

We then skied See Forever to Gorrono Ranch for lunch. Gorrono Ranch is noted for specialty burgers and meat sandwiches far above the usual ski area norm in quality.

After lunch we skied down to Meadows and rode the 2.5 mile long Sunshine Express to get to Prospect. The lower half of Sunshine is similar to Deer Valley, crossing roads and numerous mansions. Sunshine is also one of the premier beginner terrain pods anywhere for its length, excellent snow and scenic views. An instructor requested we take 4-year-old Ellie on the ride up.

Liz had never skied Prospect before as it opened between her visit and my second one in 2004. She took a couple of runs there while I hiked looker’s left up the ridge toward Black Iron Bowl. The sign says it’s half an hour to Mountain Quail. But at 12,000 feet it took me 15 minutes to climb all of 170 vertical feet. At that point Lakeview looked good enough for me.
IMG_1181.JPG

IMG_1182.JPG

I also had to consider we would be on the road with 4 more ski areas ahead before any break.

Lakeview still had winter snow but it had stiffened up some over the past 4 days. The short hike and ski route are marked on this picture I took Sunday.
IMG_1118a.JPG


The rest of the day was all cruisers: Sandia and Magnolia in Prospect, a lap in Revelation, then West Drain and Milk Run on the north side. I finished with 23,900 vertical.
 
Last edited:
Spectacular scenery. No wonder many consider Telluride one of the top resorts in USA. I also enjoyed reading this blog: https://skinorthamerica100.com/telluride-colorado/

I hope to make it to Telluride in a few years when I get the Epic pass again. Visit Sun Valley, Telluride. The lodging situation in Telluride scares me. There are no points hotels and Airbnbs tend to be very expensive with onerous cancellation terms.
 
I would hazard a guess that Telluride town vs. Mountain Village is like Aspen vs. Snowmass. As a retired couple we enjoy the historic towns and fine dining (Cosmo and 221 South Oak were outstanding on this visit).

January 1-5 in 2014 we stayed in a reasonably priced condo in Snowmass, booked only 10 days in advance. I suspect Mountain Village condos are not as expensive as the town of Telluride. With kids, especially beginners, you surely want to be based in Mountain Village. Zrankings includes Telluride in Top Ten for families but surprisingly not for beginners. It's hard for me to imagine better beginner terrain anywhere than the runs from Sunshine Express.

I won't make the case that Snowmass or Telluride Mountain Village are bargain resorts. But I do agree with Zrankings that they are close to ideal in terms of what most families want in a ski resort. So it's worth the investigation to see whether something can be found within one's budget. The lodging situation looked tough from our perspective, but we booked less than one week ahead during a big snow year so I hesitate to generalize.

Two key points about Mountain Village:
1) The free gondola makes it easy to go into town in the evenings.
2) 9,500 feet is very high sleep altitude, so not a good idea if anyone in your family has known altitude sensitivity.
 
Everything about Telluride is perfect until you start planning a trip. I tried this year as I have the full Epic pass. Flying is very expensive into MTJ and it's a long drive from closest major airport served by Southwest: ABQ. United has a flight from SFO to MTJ that I had set up an alert for late March. But they never released any award seats. No wonder this difficulty in going there makes uncrowded and a great resort for beginner and families. When I graduated to skiing blues and blacks, I was able to escape the beginner crowds on obscure lifts. I couldn't do that as a green slope skier in Nov/Dec.

Snowmass has a bunch of points/timeshare properties. The Westin is a great deal on points. I have enough points for a week and I'm considering going there in March/April time frame next. I'm getting the Ikon base pass for spring skiing at Squalpine so might as well use it for one of the best destinations on Ikon.
 
The elevation is also a problem for Telluride trip. I will do a 10 day trip, with limited activity on first few days. I had trouble in Keystone and then I started drinking a lot of water on my other trips to Beaver Creek and Park City. I do have difficulty sleeping first couple of nights. My wife and daugher have elevation problems too.
 
Tony Crocker":1pelllct said:
the dense forest at 11,885 altitude.
Always shocking to note after skiing in the Alps.

sierra_cement":1pelllct said:
United has a flight from SFO to MTJ that I had set up an alert for late March. But they never released any award seats.
It wasn't the right time period for your visit (only through the second week of March) but did you take advantage of the United award-flight sale that I noted just before Xmas? Sorry, the discussion was part of a thread in the Europe forum.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12700#p79444
 
sierra_cement":17o5lhnb said:
The elevation is also a problem for Telluride trip. I will do a 10 day trip, with limited activity on first few days. I had trouble in Keystone and then I started drinking a lot of water on my other trips to Beaver Creek and Park City. I do have difficulty sleeping first couple of nights. My wife and daughter have elevation problems too.

I'm going to say cross Telluride (and anyplace you would sleep at ~8,500+) off your list having three family members with altitude sensitivity. The exception would be a two week trip where the first week was at some intermediate altitude.

You could also test the effectiveness of a Diamox prescription. But you should do that at a drive-to resort like Mammoth to make sure it works before committing big $$$ to someplace like Telluride.
 
jamesdeluxe":170gcha9 said:
Tony Crocker":170gcha9 said:
the dense forest at 11,885 altitude.
Always shocking to note after skiing in the Alps.

sierra_cement":170gcha9 said:
United has a flight from SFO to MTJ that I had set up an alert for late March. But they never released any award seats.
It wasn't the right time period for your visit (only through the second week of March) but did you take advantage of the United award-flight sale that I noted just before Xmas? Sorry, the discussion was part of a thread in the Europe forum.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12700#p79444" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I didn't take advantage of that sale. I used Southwest points to fly to RNO, SLC and DEN this season.
 
My ex-wife was in distress at 9,000+ feet for 2-3 days sleeping in Crested Butte in 1992 and Taos in 1993. So in 1997 at Keystone she got a Diamox prescription and was much better.
 
sierra_cement":8qej2yoc said:
The elevation is also a problem for Telluride trip. I will do a 10 day trip, with limited activity on first few days. I had trouble in Keystone and then I started drinking a lot of water on my other trips to Beaver Creek and Park City. I do have difficulty sleeping first couple of nights. My wife and daugher have elevation problems too.
If it's just for the first couple of nights, that's not an altitude problem - that's normal for someone who lives at sea level. When I lived in CT and semi-regularly camped and climbed in Tuolumne Meadows (8600', with a lot of the climbing between 9K-10K), it would take me about 3 days before I stopped feeling crappy. Yes, lots of water and minimal to no alcohol those first days makes a ton of difference.
 
Tony Crocker":k060jr4r said:
sierra_cement":k060jr4r said:
You could also test the effectiveness of a Diamox prescription. But you should do that at a drive-to resort like Mammoth to make sure it works before committing big $$$ to someplace like Telluride.
Yes, try it in a low commitment environment first. While it definitely helps most people, it does have side effects, many of which mimic altitude sickness or AMS:

Common side effects of acetazolamide include:

dizziness,
lightheadedness, and
an increased amount of urine, especially during the first few days as your body adjusts to the medication.
Other side effects of acetazolamide include blurred vision,
dry mouth,
drowsiness,
loss of appetite,
changes in the sense of taste,
stomach upset,
nausea,
vomiting,
diarrhea,
headache,
tingling feeling,
ringing in the ears (tinnitus),
confusion, and
tiredness.
 
Diamox is a diuretic. You will be peeing more, so staying hydrated is extra important.

The above is the usual extensive laundry list for a prescription drug. Aside from the diuretic effects, the most common I've observed (not personally) is tingling fingers.

It's one thing to take on climbing or other rigorous activity without some acclimatization time in advance. But if you feel too crappy to ski the first 2-3 days of a one week vacation, that's another story. You need to choose a resort with a lower sleep altitude or try Diamox.
 
Tony Crocker":64h2d5ao said:
Diamox is a diuretic. You will be peeing more, so staying hydrated is extra important.

The above is the usual extensive laundry list for a prescription drug. Aside from the diuretic effects, the most common I've observed (not personally) is tingling fingers.

It's one thing to take on climbing or other rigorous activity without some acclimatization time in advance. But if you feel too crappy to ski the first 2-3 days of a one week vacation, that's another story. You need to choose a resort with a lower sleep altitude or try Diamox.

I’m thinking if Diamox helps with altitude sickness and it’s a diuretic then beer may help too. Which suits me just fine.
Seriously though I find it smart to keep alcohol intake to less than 6 beers the first night sleeping at over 8000 feet. :lol:
 
Tony Crocker":2wzbgl80 said:
It's one thing to take on climbing or other rigorous activity without some acclimatization time in advance. But if you feel too crappy to ski the first 2-3 days of a one week vacation, that's another story. You need to choose a resort with a lower sleep altitude or try Diamox.
You bet! I've never gone to the Meadows for less than a two week trip.
 
jamesdeluxe":2i92x6w9 said:
And then there's Admin and crew making me bootpack up Jitterbug on my arrival day from 50 feet above sea level.
In 1990 Dave Fairhall and I bootpacked up Baldy from Sugarloaf to ski Main Chute after driving from L.A. the day before and getting to bed in SLC at 1AM. I was a lot younger then. :lol:

On a more serious note, it is amazing how much tougher the Colorado hiking at 12,000+ is than LCC's Baldy to 11,000.

Palmyra at Telluride is magnificent terrain, but the percentage of visiting skiers who can handle that hike up to 13,150 feet must be miniscule.
 
Tony Crocker":34wtcitc said:
On a more serious note, it is amazing how much tougher the Colorado hiking at 12,000+ is than LCC's Baldy to 11,000.
Welcome to altitude! I've found I do not need an altimeter to know when I've hit 12K; above 13500' I really bog down. I have a friend who went to Everest base camp at 18K' BITD when he was in his 20's. He totally shut down on Long's Peak when he hit 12500'. He was in his late 30's at that time.

The take-away: everyone is different in their response to elevation and it can change significantly as we get older.
 
Is there any way of telling if one is likely to suffer from altitude sickness? We’re travelling with friends next winter and I know that my wife and myself have been ok at altitude in the past. We’ve stayed at Snowmass Village with no adverse reactions.
I would like to take my friends there next year but I’m thinking it may be safer to stay down in Carbondale and take the drive each morning.
Our friends aren’t especially prone to headaches or the like but they do live at sea level. We would be in Salt Lake prior though so that may give them a chance to acclimatize.
 
Sbooker":14dz66l6 said:
Is there any way of telling if one is likely to suffer from altitude sickness?
Not really.
Sbooker":14dz66l6 said:
We’re travelling with friends next winter and I know that my wife and myself have been ok at altitude in the past. We’ve stayed at Snowmass Village with no adverse reactions.
Although that's a pretty good indicator that you won't have issues, assuming that Snowmass trip was relatively recent.

Sbooker":14dz66l6 said:
I would like to take my friends there next year but I’m thinking it may be safer to stay down in Carbondale and take the drive each morning. Our friends aren’t especially prone to headaches or the like but they do live at sea level.
We would be in Salt Lake prior though so that may give them a chance to acclimatize.
Sleeping low could help, couldn't hurt, and still maybe do nothing. Being "prone" or not to headaches is basically irrelevant, and SLC isn't really high enough for any kind of acclimatization. One of our friends who moved here and had been living here for several months still got altitude sickness when we took him to Alta the first time. And that was in the base lodge at 8500'.

Everything you want to know: http://www.altitude.org/altitude_sickness.php
 
I remember the Todd altitude sickness incident at Alta. Todd was fresh from a 16-hour marathon of missed and delayed flights from Florida the previous day.

I believe the time in SLC will be at least somewhat beneficial to sbooker's friends, and MarcC is absolutely correct that there is no way of knowing in advance whether they are unduly altitude sensitive. So I would go ahead and book Snowmass if that's where you want to ski.
 
Back
Top