Telluride today

Lets see your Posse Pics!

Telluride today

Postby bowlhiker » Mon Jan 13, 2014 6:12 pm

My buddy sent me this, from Telluride today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WytdXkUiQNc&feature=youtu.be
bowlhiker
 
Posts: 58
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:42 pm

Re: Telluride today

Postby Max_501 » Mon Jan 13, 2014 6:39 pm

Would that be a big pow day for that area?
User avatar
Max_501
 
Posts: 4124
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2005 7:39 pm

Re: Telluride today

Postby bowlhiker » Mon Jan 13, 2014 6:52 pm

No.
I go down there twice a year, I've skied way deeper there.
So far this year Telluride is not getting as much snow as we are, in the Central Mountains.
But it's getting good, I'm getting ready to head down there.

I should add that video was taken about noon.
It's easy to ski fresh lines there all day, providing the lifts open at 9, which most of the time they don't.
bowlhiker
 
Posts: 58
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:42 pm

Re: Telluride today

Postby Max_501 » Mon Jan 13, 2014 7:34 pm

Why do the lifts open late?
User avatar
Max_501
 
Posts: 4124
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2005 7:39 pm

Re: Telluride today

Postby bowlhiker » Mon Jan 13, 2014 8:17 pm

Telluride is independently owned and not very well run. The play there was real estate and golf -- Mountain Village. But then a funny thing happened along the way to the bulldozer. Nobody cared about Mountain Village. The tourists all like to go into town to eat and shop. Most nights, Mountain Village is deserted. The ski area, is a loss leader. The guy who owns it doesn't really care about skiing.

It's under staffed, the lifts are old. Chair 9, where some long, great bumps are, is an old triple. It's slow, it blows. And it breaks down -- a lot. So on powder days, staff is out there with oil cans, getting the lift to run. Some powder days, Chair 9 won't even open. Not because of the weather -- because it's got ice on it or something. It's pathetic.

The other problem is that the management's priority is the Mountain Village, where the green and blue runs are. They make sure they get everything perfect there, first. Then, they work their way over to Chair 9 and 14.

Chair 14 has the goods, it's a newer quad. But because the owner is cheap and most days they barely have enough staff, sometimes patrol can't get the steeps open around 14 till 11 or so.

Telluride is fun, good turns there. Some wicked steeps and off the charts back country (albeit dangerous and avalanche prone). I have it on my bucket list to hike Palmyra. It's 14,100 at the top, a beast of a hike -- but all inbounds. There's long bump runs on 9. But if you really start looking around, you can see where they do things on the cheap.

Last year there was a rumor that Vail Resorts was considering buying Telluride. It's the best thing that could happen there, put people in charge who know how to run a ski area.

If you're going and want to ski Bear Creek (the back country) or have a good guide inbounds, let me know and I'll hook you up with my buddy there. He's very safe, great guy to ski with.
bowlhiker
 
Posts: 58
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:42 pm

Re: Telluride today

Postby Max_501 » Tue Jan 14, 2014 8:31 am

Thanks for the info. Telluride is on my bucket list.
User avatar
Max_501
 
Posts: 4124
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2005 7:39 pm

Re: Telluride today

Postby bowlhiker » Tue Jan 14, 2014 11:12 am

You're welcome.

I should add that there's more back country there than in Jackson or Utah. It's great, because you can literally ski thousands of acres of back country lines there, and ski back to the lift.

I don't ski back there. But my friend does, along with his roommate. Between the two them they get in 100+ days back there. Is it dangerous? Yes. But they do all they can and then some, to be safe. They don't take chances.

Telluride is some of the most beautiful land I've ever seen -- it's truly the Swiss Alps of the United States. The skiing is ripping, all kinds of lines there to challenge yourself.

If you go, look these guys up. They're characters, aren't we all? I think you'd enjoy their company.
bowlhiker
 
Posts: 58
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:42 pm

Re: Telluride today

Postby Mac » Wed Jan 22, 2014 9:38 am

Just got back from a week in Florida, so I'm playing catch up at this point. Went to Telluride for the first time last season. Truly one of the nicest places I've been. Really a one of a kind resort, and the scenery is second to none. If they do run it on the cheap, they do a really good job of hiding it. I found everything to be first class, from the lifts to the grooming to the lodges and amenities. Someone invested a ton of money there at some point. Definitely a place I'll go back to, although it probably won't be this season. But I know what you mean about cheap ownership. There are a few resorts here in NE that put on a good show that are run on a shoestring. But such is life in the ski business.
Mac
 
Posts: 633
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2003 6:47 pm

Re: Telluride today

Postby Max_501 » Wed Jan 22, 2014 9:41 am

Mac wrote:Just got back from a week in Florida, so I'm playing catch up at this point. Went to Telluride for the first time last season. Truly one of the nicest places I've been. Really a one of a kind resort, and the scenery is second to none. If they do run it on the cheap, they do a really good job of hiding it. I found everything to be first class, from the lifts to the grooming to the lodges and amenities. Someone invested a ton of money there at some point. Definitely a place I'll go back to, although it probably won't be this season. But I know what you mean about cheap ownership. There are a few resorts here in NE that put on a good show that are run on a shoestring. But such is life in the ski business.


Mac, how did it compare to what you saw at Mt Bachelor?
User avatar
Max_501
 
Posts: 4124
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2005 7:39 pm

Re: Telluride today

Postby Mac » Wed Jan 22, 2014 3:38 pm

The two are not really comparable. Bachelor is a big cone, Telluride is more spread out into different sections. You can access everything at Bachelor from the peak, Telluride is more segregated in terms of steeps, bumps, groomed cruisers, etc. Different lifts bring you to different places, depending on what you're looking for. The trails at Telluride are a little more well defined than they are at Bachelor, if that makes any sense. Telluride is way more developed, there's high priced condos everywhere. And there's basically two towns. There's the original old western town, which is at the end of a box canyon, and there's the newer ritzy ski town at the base of the lifts, that are connected by a gondola. But everything I saw was done tastefully, not the typical sprawl you see at some places. One thing I noticed was that Spring comes early in SW Colorado, I was there in mid March, and they were already into their freeze/thaw cycle, so everything there that wasn't groomed was basically off limits, at least for the time I was there. It had been warm for a few days before I got there, and then it turned cold and stayed that way while I was there, so everything that wasn't groomed stayed frozen. But they have some long, long wide open groomers that were impeccably groomed, so that wasn't such a bad thing. But I only skied one day at Telluride, so take my opinion FWIW. We had skied two days at Purgatory in Durango, one day at Wolf Creek, and one at Telluride over the course of four days. But it seems like a place that has it all, no matter what you're looking for, and plenty of it. And the views alone are worth the trip. Definitely a place I want to make it back to. If I had to pick only one mountain to ski at, that would be high on my list.
Mac
 
Posts: 633
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2003 6:47 pm

Re: Telluride today

Postby bowlhiker » Sat Jan 25, 2014 9:06 am

Here's a post from one of my days last year at "To Hell You Ride":
http://www.heyheyrenee.com/2013/03/04/telluride-trip/
bowlhiker
 
Posts: 58
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:42 pm


Return to Pictures

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests