Telluride

Located in the remote San Juan range hours away from the nearest major city, Telluride has long attracted visitors for its low crowds and beautiful town. When it comes to the resort itself, Telluride doesn’t have the same acreage or snow quality as some other Colorado destinations. However, a number of traits make the overall mountain experience one of the most competitive in the country.

Telluride really stands out thanks to the quality and diversity of its terrain. Despite just a 2,016-acre skiable footprint, the resort has something for everyone, with enjoyable terrain for visitors of all abilities. The mountain is taller than it is wide, making it ski bigger than it really is.

Beginners will want to stick to the Mountain Village side, where mellow trails exist in spades. The mountain splits its green trails into two separate categories—single-green and double-green; the single-green trails are essentially learning areas, while the double-greens are more similar to green runs at other Colorado mountains.

The lower-mountain Chondola and mid-mountain Ute Park pods serve Telluride’s easiest terrain, including all of the resort’s single-greens. The gondola cabins on the Chondola allow first-timers to start learning without needing to know how to load a chairlift, while the Ute Park area features some nice beginner terrain parks. When progressing out of the learning areas, beginners will especially enjoy the Prospect Bowl area, which offers unique high-alpine terrain for visitors of this ability level. Telluride’s one major downside for beginners is that getting back to the base from all mid- and upper-mountain green terrain requires taking one of a few long, mellow double-green trails; their unusually long length can put a strain on the endurance of less-experienced visitors, and the only alternative is downloading the Sunshine lift to get down the mountain.

Telluride is excellent for intermediates, and visitors of this proficiency will find groomed cruisers in almost every mountain area. A few ungroomed intermediate slopes exist as well, as do some glade areas. As with its green terrain, Telluride splits its blue trails into two separate categories—single-blue and double-blue. Single-blue trails are similar in difficulty to most competing mountains, while double-blue trails receive less grooming and tend to be around the same difficulty as easier blacks at other Colorado resorts. Intermediate guests should check out the Village and Polar Queen lifts for pods that are essentially dedicated to intermediate and advanced-intermediate terrain, as well as the See Forever trail at the top of Gold Hill for outstanding panoramic views of the San Juan Mountains.

Telluride offers a fairly competitive terrain park setup, including a range of small to large boxes, rails, and jumps. In some seasons with enough snow, Telluride has a halfpipe–however, it’s been a few seasons since the resort last built one.

Telluride’s most special terrain will be enjoyed by advanced and expert skiers. The mountain features an abundance of steep, ungroomed terrain, much of which runs through glades and bowls. Experienced guests will want to stick to the Telluride town side for the toughest lower-mountain terrain, with some real leg-burning mogul runs and glades off Lifts 7, 8, and 9. Essentially every upper-mountain area is chock full of difficult terrain, including chutes, tight trees, and bowls. The resort also offers a few directly lift-serviced extreme runs, including some gnarly cliffs, mainly off the Gold Hill Express lift.

A number of areas at Telluride aren’t lift serviced at all. All of Telluride’s hike-to terrain is quite difficult, and much of it is truly extreme. Bald Mountain consists of the typical steep above-treeline bowl terrain you’d expect from Colorado, but Palmyra Peak and the Gold Hill Chutes are where you’ll find some of North America’s most extreme inbound runs.

Getting up to Palmyra Peak requires one of the most difficult hikes we’ve seen anywhere through extremely technical rock terrain. It takes one to two hours from the closest lift—you’re almost certainly going to have a rough time getting there, and if you don’t bring a ski backpack, it might feel downright impossible. But once you make it, you’ll be able to ski more than 2,000 feet of nearly untouched terrain in one run.

Telluride’s summit areas feature a few backcountry access points. The terrain through these gates offers phenomenal views and tends to stay untracked, but it’s quite prone to avalanches. If you’re looking to refine your backcountry safety skills, the resort offers an avalanche beacon training area, providing a safe practice environment.

Telluride boasts some of the most beautiful terrain we’ve ever seen. Striking red-colored mountains line the landscape. On the Revelation Bowl backside, you’ll have a view of a precipitous drop into a valley thousands of feet below (while the extreme lower section of this area isn’t part of the resort, it’s backcountry accessible). Much of the mountain feels local and isolated, with trails leading into the town of Telluride among the most charming at any ski resort. That said, the Mountain Village base lacks charm and feels commercialized, and the road and condo development that creeps up to almost mid-mountain detracts from the otherwise unparalleled aesthetic elsewhere at the resort.

Telluride generally boasts a modern lift setup. The majority of lift-serviced areas enjoy high-speed service, including most beginner and intermediate terrain. However, some areas still maintain slow lift service. This is okay for the most part, as most of these fixed-grip chairs service tiring ungroomed terrain and moderate vertical drops. Thankfully, the Plunge lift, which services some of Telluride’s longest expert runs and used to be one of—if not the—worst lift rides at the resort, has now been upgraded to a high-speed quad.

Getting around Telluride isn’t terrible overall. The mountain’s tall, narrow layout generally lends itself to straightforward navigation, and the resort generally maintains decent signage, including safety-bar-mounted trail maps on some major chairlifts. However, signs to lifts and general mountain areas are missing at a few critical junction points—at some of these, going in the wrong direction means a lengthy detour to get where you wanted to go originally. It’s not abundantly clear that there’s no way to ski down to the base from the bottom of the Gold Hill and Prospect lifts, which can be annoying for those trying to leave the resort.

Luckily, if you do end up in the wrong place, you likely won’t have to wait long—Telluride rarely generates high crowds, even during peak times. Busy weekends and holidays can see lines, but they’re seldom longer than a few minutes. The only time bad lines really occur is in the event of a lift malfunction, and even if these occur, there are often workable uphill redundancies.

Telluride’s lack of crowds also helps elevate the experience in its moderately sized mountain facilities. Some higher-elevation lodges are very small, but they’re also abundant—most areas sit within one trail or lift ride of the nearest stop-in place. The Telluride and Mountain Village bases include ski rentals and numerous dining options.

While Telluride sees decent snow each season, accumulation doesn’t match that of Front Range mountains. The resort tends to hold its snow well thanks to its high altitude, but the lower precipitation results in less-than-ideal early season conditions and slower-than-average terrain openings. Telluride has a nearly 3,800-foot lift-served vertical drop—and an over 4,400-foot hike-to vertical drop—and snow conditions in lower mountain areas can be much more variable than those in high-alpine areas.

That being said, it’s rare for most mountain areas to stay closed past mid-January. The one exception comes from the resort’s most extreme hike-to terrain, which requires significant snowfall to open and can also close due to high winds or low visibility.

Getting There

Telluride is one of the most remote resorts in the Rockies. The mountain is several hours away from the closest major cities.

For those flying, a few options exist. The Montrose Regional Airport, which is about an hour and a half away from the resort, will likely be the best option for most guests. The Grand Junction, Gunnison, Durango, and Cortez airports are also a few hours away.Shuttlesbetween Telluride and all these airports are available. The town of Telluride itself has an airport, but it is subject to extremely variable weather closures and can only support short-distance propeller planes due to the length of the runway.

A few southwestern metropolitan areas are within driving distance of Telluride. The cities of Albuquerque and Santa Fe are approximately six-hour drives, while Denver and Salt Lake City are about six-and-a-half with no traffic. Phoenix is about eight hours away.

Lodging

You can choose from two very distinct base areas at Telluride: the town of Telluride itself, or the resort’s Mountain Village. The town is made up of charismatic houses and inns, most of which are a short walking distance from the lifts. Mountain Village lacks charm, but this built-up area features much more luxurious lodging options as well as some true ski-in/ski-out condos. Although the town and Mountain Village are more than a mile away from each other, they’re easy to travel between thanks to Telluride’s quick and scenic free public gondola system. All lodging in these areas is quite pricey.

If you’re looking for something cheaper, consider staying in the relatively close city of Montrose. Montrose is almost an hour away, but lodging there is dirt cheap—some seasonal workers live in motels there thanks to the very low prices. The town also offers a range of activities, so you’ll have plenty to do after your day on the slopes. Another option is the Bivvi Hostel, which is about a 20-minute drive from the resort with reasonably-priced shared and private-room options. A major Telluride feature—and it’s kind of sad we have to call it one—is that the resort actually offers convenient free parking.

Aprés-ski

Telluride offers one of the most competitive apres-ski scenes in Colorado. The two bases offer a range of spots to unwind and enjoy happy hour, from rustic joints in the town of Telluride to modern, comfortable venues in Mountain Village. You’ll want to be in town for the best nightlife, where bars stay open late and hopping around is easy. Many venues feature live music, but you won’t find true night clubs here.

If you can’t wait to get off the mountain for apres, Telluride’s on-mountain facilities offer a range of drinks and fantastic outdoor seating to enjoy them. If you’re looking to BYOB, hit up the Bear Creek Overlook at the bottom of Revelation, which offers some of the resort’s best views and excellent vibes.

If you’re looking for something really unique to do, stop by Telluride’s Free Box. The Free Box is exactly what it sounds like—people can leave things in the box and they’re free for anyone to take. Some crazy items can be left here—if you get in at the right moment, you can find items such as jackets and skis worth hundreds.

Verdict

While other mountains may beat it snow and acreage wise, Telluride offers an excellent experience for a wide variety of people. It’s the rare mountain that provides diverse terrain for all ability levels and caters to a variety of lodging preferences. The excellent mountain town is just a cherry on top of the cake.

The lift ticket prices for Telluride are absolutely crazy, with 1-day adult rates starting over $200 during the core season, even with advance purchase. The resort is on the Epic Pass, but it’s only on the top-of-the-line full product, which is by no means cheap itself. But if you’re looking to get away from the crowds at a destination that will truly satisfy everyone in your group, there are few ski resorts that are better choices than Telluride.