Telluride Ski Resort, Colorado Resort Reviews - Local Reviews and Travel Information


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Telluride Ski Resort

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runner - 12/11/2007, 07:40 AM

Imagine a place where you can see the most beautiful scenery, wonderful people, beautiful ski slopes, awesome nightlife, great accommodations, and many things the whole family can enjoy in one place. Sounds impossible but my family and I found this hidden paradise. Telluride is a small town located in South West Colorado near the town of Montross. The town is located in a box canyon with mountain peaks on all sides with one way in and one way out. Running through the middle of Telluride is a beautiful clear stream with a frozen waterfall coming from it's source. As you drive through the countryside, on the way to the town, you pass by the Ralph Lauren ranch which extends for miles through the Colorado Rockies and into the valleys. Along the way you can see frozen waterfalls coming from the mountain sides. When you approach the town you notice the awesome ski slopes which seem to extend forever. As you drive through the town you notice right away you are looking at a piece of history. All the houses are seen in an old western time style which have been kept that way by law allowing only the inside of the houses to be changed. When my family and I arrived in Telluride just after Christmas of 1999, we were wondering what our place we rented would look like. We were expecting a cheap looking house with no siding and little heat because of the low price we paid for it (about $1000/week for a 10 bedroom house located in skiing distance to the gondola). To our surprise we found ourselves in front of a beautiful three story house with a hot-tub, cathedral ceiling, heated floors, and a huge kitchen. You could watch your family members ski from the top of the mountain all the way to the front door of the house through the huge picture window facing the mountain. The resort itself was incredible with two gondolas, and over ten chair lifts taking you to over fifty different runs. It took us at least two days to ski the whole mountain, front and back. On the top of the mountain lies the mountain village. This is accessible from a back side road and by the gondola. The slopes ranged from very difficult to very easy depending on what you consider easy or hard. There are steep runs, flat ones, windy, long, straight, short, woody, bumpy, and for you snow boarders yes they even have a snowboard park. Telluride is known for it's challenging mogul runs, in fact many Olympic athletes train here because of the moguls. My favorite run was a beginner run which took you down the mountain passing under bridges, over bridges, and by many homes including Operah Whimprey's (excuse the spelling) estate. The snow conditions were the best in Colorado at the time because of a light snow season, so even if the conditions aren't perfect, they do an excellent job making snow and grooming the runs to make the skiing great. One downfall to mountain skiing is that since the sun goes down so early you have to stop skiing sooner than wanted but it was o.k because it made room for the night life. The town itself has many things to do ranging from delicious food, fun bars, great exercise facilities, easy mountain hiking, plenty of churches suitable for most religions, and an overall wonderful hospitality to new comers. Being a college student I enjoyed going to bars in Telluride the most. They have a great Irish pub called O'Sheas and many more fitting all kinds of style. To tell about them all would take days. I recommend exploring the town and deciding for yourselves. If you get tired of skiing or just want to do it all then there are plenty of other things there. The one thing I recommend every one to do is to go on the snowmobile tour. On this tour you start out by going up the mountain through windy trails and stopping every once and awhile for a picture of the never ending mountain view. Then you go up through a ghost town and learn about the town which was the first place in the world to use alternating current electricity. You will also see the mountain peaks which are used on all the Coors Light beer cans and bottles. You will see a mountain cabin accessible only by snowmobile. If you take the evening tour you can see the moon bowl which is lighted so bright by the moon that the locals go up there to do a little night skiing by moonlight. If your scared of snowmobiling this tour will change your mind because it is very safe and the guides go at your pace. Overall this vacation was a chance of a lifetime. Telluride is the place to go when it comes to an all-round vacation for the family or alone. It's affordable, it's fun, and it is something you will always remember and talk about to your friends.

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Marion - 02/17/2007, 07:37 AM

Excellent terrain except for much of the new Prospect bowl. Most of Prospect has to be poled. If Telluride put a hi speed quad in front of the old town, it would become my favorite place. There are plenty of hi speed quads, but they just need one more to service the long steep over on the left side of the mountain. As advertised, hardly ever a lift line and great scenery. No matter your skill level.