Telluride, CO: Jan 29-31, 2015

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Looks like a great trip Jeff. That is one place I have never made it too.

Ahhh the San Juans are special and Telluride is as beautiful as a town gets imo. Looks like a fine trip. I'm glad to have helped if any advice came in handy. Thanks for the photos.

Looks like a great trip!

At elevation it looks great. The base - so sad. I heard it was 75 the other day in DEN.  Crazy. Those photos are NatGeo like and appreciate these great details on the area. thinking of late April early May trip there but, not sure if there will be any snow.

Skiray wrote

At elevation it looks great. The base - so sad. I heard it was 75 the other day in DEN.  Crazy.

Yeah, not much snow in town, but plenty at the base of the ski area.  There was probably three feet on the ground at our condo.  Keep in mind those hills in the photos of town are south-facing.

Skiray wrote

thinking of late April early May trip there but, not sure if there will be any snow.

Like many western ski areas, Telluride has a hard closing date in early April since it's on Forest Service land.  I'm told there's usually a base of 60 to 80 inches closing weekend.  I beleive you're free to hike for turns when the lifts stop spinning.

March is historically the biggest producer. A good warm spring cycle in February can be a good thing, it can make the pack stable for big March storms. That was how the winter went for me in 2006. March was nuts! Dropping those big lines visable from the lifts with deep snow and stability is an amazing experience.

Jeff, what was your travel route? Fly to Denver then a rental car?

Brings back lots of memories.  I went to Telluride for a season after I graduated from college and stayed 4 years.  It's a pretty special place, summer and winter.

Jamesdeluxe wrote

Jeff, what was your travel route? Fly to Denver then a rental car?

Ha!  You had to ask...
We were supposed to fly ALB -> Newark -> Denver -> Montrose (about an hour from Telluride), but 2 days before the big Blizz of '15, United cancelled our Newark flight.  So instead we got re-booked to ALB -> Chicago -> SFO -> Montrose.  Got in to Montrose at the same time, we just spent more time up in the air and less in the airport between flights.  But it was still 12 hours travelling.

Coming home, we were supposed to go Montrose -> Chicago -> Albany, but again United cancelled our flights and we got rebooked Montrose -> Newark and we then rented a car to drive back to Albany.  That Montrose -> Newark flight is great, 4 hours non-stop direct.

Flying into Denver rather than Montrose would have meant something like a 6-hour drive to Telluride.

One thing about Telluride - there's no need to rent a car.  We took a shuttle from Montrose to Telluride (something like an hour and 20 minute ride), and once in Telluride there's no need to drive thanks to the 7am - midnight free gondi and the very walkable town.

Yep, exactly. I've tried several times to get one of those United ski-season nonstops from EWR to Jackson (similar to the one to Montrose) at a reasonable price point. No surprise that they charge a premium in cash or FF miles for the privilege.