Telluride PhotosPhotos of Telluride Ski Area, Snowboarding, Hiking

… big time! …. and more ways than one. As much as I personally didn’t miss out on seeing them perform, I won’t forget what went down here in Telluride! It was a lot of fun to catch this unique ensemble which delivered very colorful, true, and often times delicate arrangements. While Neil Young made a joke before playing “For What It’s Worth” that it was their only “hit”, there were only a couple of tunes which they played which I did not recognize. They also threw in a couple Neil Young tunes “I Am a Child” and “Rockin’ in a Free World”. Here’s a shot of the Fox Theatre in Oakland. I had seats on the floor level but wandered around the venue prior to the start of the show to check things out:

While the venue was excellent as an indoor venue, it doesn’t compete by a long shot had Buffalo Springfield played outside in Telluride Town Park! It was a loss for the town & ultimately I believe for Blues and Brews as well. I suppose I keep wavering on “understanding where they were coming from” and on the other hand extremely angry that the town as a whole missed out! I won’t hold on to the anger, but I also won’t support the Blues and Brews festival for a long time … it would take a lot for me to get back on board with that festival!

Otherwise, Gillian Welch opened up the show … who I was given rave reviews by many people I spoke with prior & she definitely lived up to them! Would be interesting to see her in the context of a full band.

I’ll save my review of Furthur at Shoreline (which brought me out there in the first place) for another day soon … but can say for now they were both excellent shows!

The weather held out for the ice cream social during the Telluride Mountain Film Festival in 2011 which marks the official and what has also been the traditional beginning to the festival season in Telluride.

Below is a shot of a bluegrass trio playing on the San Miguel County Courthouse steps during the ice cream social. An appropriate precursor to the upcoming Telluride Bluegrass Festival. The mandolin player used to be my neighbor in Ophir:

According to a story which ran in the Telluride Daily Planet today:

“… the Telluride Regional Airport Authority has voted to set airport operating hours from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. year round, effective immediately.”

The final vote of the TRAA was seven in favor and zero opposed to the extension of operating hours. Previously, the hours of operation were 30 min. before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset … so this essentially really only affects the winter operating hours given the sun sets late in the evening during the summer months.

In any case, I will not be on an inbound airplane to Telluride which is landing in the dark. In my opinion, it’s simply a risky proposition and there are safer and cheaper alternatives; namely, Montrose, Durango, or Grand Junction Colorado.

I also believe it was poor judgment & a slap in the face to the residents of the county to circumvent the provision regarding night flights contained within the original SUP issued by San Miguel County to permit the airport in the first place. If the issue were presented to the residents of SMC or formerly to the Board of County Commissioners (who would be vested official authority to engage in such a decision), then it wouldn’t be an issue. However, TRAA has unilaterally moved forward on this front; apparently under the operating assumption that federal law stipulates that “local zoning” does not have any jurisdiction on operations of an FAA sactioned aiport (to paraphrase).

Regardless, I stand by my original claim that the Telluride airport is not my first choice … due to price, diversion rates, and now what might be a very real safety factor. Remember, Telluride is at about 9,000k, receives tremendous amounts of snow and adverse weather … and if that isn’t enough, it’s essentially a “stationary aircraft carrier” in so far as having threes sides of the runway exposed to extreme drop-offs of several hundred feet.

I apologize to Steve if I’ve overreacted. I suppose I still feel the way I do, but I don’t hold anything personal against him & realize he’s simply doing what he feels needs to be done.

It’s just frustrating to see how this all went down when I think there could’ve been some decent common ground to stand on where everyone felt good about most aspects an arrangement.

Haven’t been writing much these days, but this particular issue deserves dusting off the keyboard:

An offer by a promoter to schedule a concert by Buffalo Springfield in Telluride Town Park a week prior to the Telluride Blues & Brews festival was shot down by the Telluride Town Council after pleas by Telluride Blues & Brews promoter Steve Gumble.

I don’t think I’ll ever get over this — not the fact that Buffalo Springfield will not be coming to Telluride — but rather that Telluride Blues & Brews apparently took the lead in pulling the plug. This incident has single handedly turned me off to this festival for a LONG time! It may never be known whether they’ve “saved some revenue” from being lost to Buffalo Springfield, but I won’t be running to buy tickets from them anytime soon!

This could’ve been a mutually beneficial back to back pair of weekend events which would give the ENTIRE Town of Telluride a much needed shot in the arm during uncertain economic times. Instead, it looks like fear wins out.

It was day 8 of the season and day 2 of 8 riding on a regular stance. The snow was actually very good in the open on the runs under lift 9 & lift 6 … three inches of new thick, but not over-the-top heavy, snow blanked the area – combined with the three inches the night before left 6 inches of fresh to be found in untouched pockets.

Having said that, I found the snow coverage in the trees in Satisfaction to be teetering … on one hand the powder was deep and plentiful in spot, yet was sparse and bony in other areas ripe with tree branches & stumps to slam you into the ground (or worse yet into a tree). One run was enough to understand the state of affairs regarding tree skiing at this point in time. Be VERY careful! Even my favorite Mammoth finger — which was otherwise well covered — had a few obstacles to worry about.

The rule of thumb for those who like to venture into the trees is 50 inches being the minimum base … although the more cautious of the lot will wait until there’s even more coverage to venture into the trees. I’d say it’s a decent marker, but depends on your ability level & equipment. Snowboarders typically have an easier time vs. skiers skipping over tree parts and such given that there’s a single plank. Gear that allow for quick turns also provides an advantage for tree skiing / snowboarding. I ride a Burton Fish which naturally floats, bounces over crap, and can turn on a dime … but still, there are hardly any guarantees.

Apparently, the Gold Hill lift is running, but I believe there isn’t any terrain open underneath. Not sure of the purpose of this other than to deliver guests to a high point on the mountain and/or to allow them to access Alpino Vino (restaurant/bar). I’m sure it doesn’t hurt to advertise that 16/18 lifts open! … even though it might be considered a bit misleading.

The ski area is currently reporting a 43″ base and a 7 day storm total of 22″ … while it’s hard to complain about nearly two feet of snow, it’s definitely the relative “short end of the stick” compared to other Colorado ski resort totals (and the rain fall totals which southern California had received). From the Denver Post, here’s a sampling of other resort’s reported base depths:

Aspen Mountain – 40″
Aspen Highlands – 71″ (now that’s interesting!)
Crested Butte – 68″
Eldora – 38″
Monarch – 64″
Powderhorn – 10″
Silverton – 130″ (now that’s VERY interesting!!!)
Wolf Creek – 79″

All in all, the mountain is doing OK … I’ve seen it worse at this time of year, but it’s a far cry from being epic … Crested Butte or Aspen Highlands would be my choice if I were “watching closely” and hadn’t decided where to go just yet. Both of those mountains rock!

I took a look at the Telski website today to check the snow report (which happens to be 3″ in 24 hours and 6″ over 48 hours” — which by the way is DEFINITELY the short end of the stick relative to the Colorado region), and saw some very interesting photos … one of which was a sort of close up of a large commercial jet which I believe was at the airport in Montrose (MTJ). It couldn’t be at the Telluride Airport (TEX), unless there was some special permit issued or such … given there’s not commercial jet service to the Telluride Aiport.

What struck me about the photo is:

- it was very good
- all other photos in the rotation where excellent as well
- it was easy to allow one’s mind to create the illusion it was a “big airport”

Reasons for that last point:

- the way the MTJ terminal is pictured in the background offers the possibility that it’s one section of a much larger terminal
- same as above, there’s an airplane pictured in the background which is far off in the distance (photo’d???) with a take-off trajectory (as if there’s lots of jet activity at MTJ)
- there are light poles and a service vehicle in the background …as if there’s a large “complex” in the background
- the text blurb super imposed on the photo mentions “Telluride”, but not “Montrose”

NOW, anyone who’s ever flew into Telluride knows they haven’t flown in on a jet of that size. Similarly, anyone who’s ever flown into Montrose knows that it’s a tiny little airport. It’s just one building, one counter, one conveyor belt (luggage), and almost exclusively serves smaller aircraft such as the regional jet and turbo props. The larger jet service is much less frequent and typically seasonal to select cities.

From a PR point of view, I give this photo a 10 out of 10.

From a buyer beware point of view: this is an extremely misleading photo if you’re considering air travel to Telluride or Montrose … as it’s not a “typical reflection”. It’s akin to that “front page best face” photo you’ll find in a real estate listing of a property, only to find yourself saying “ohhhhhh, so THAT’S the photo” once you get to the property in person.

This is not to say either the Telluride or Montrose airports are not viable choices for air travel to the region (as well as Durango, Grand Junction, Cortez, and even Aspen for direct jet service), it’s just that I believe that photos is an overstatement of the facts (at least the facts based on a statistical average).

According to the press release on the Telluride Ski Resort website, the competition begins on 12/15 and concludes Sunday 12/18.

It’s definitely a great thing to see some of the top athletes in their discipline compete at such a high level … especially in a sport which I happen to love, snowboarding!

What kind of gets at me though is the way the ski resort has set the pricing of a single day lift ticket in Telluride during the “early season” at $73 for an adult through December 17 (then it goes up to regular rate of $98), even though only a limited number of runs are open …. most of which are not exactly within the most challenging terrain to ski or snowboard either.

It’s also easy to see a big chunck of terrain closed off to the public (with a lot of energy being invested to shape it no less). I’m not really sure of the exact percentage of overall open terrain, but I would venture a guess it’s about 10% of all currently open terrain give or take … which is a fair amount even in light of snowmaking/patrol’s best efforts to deploy the rest of the mountain (which to their credit have recently opened up peek-a-boo, ophir loop, and most notable Woosley’s Way [in that it will allow people to do limited-laps on 6]).

Again, I don’t begrudge the competition at all & am all for it’s mutual use co-existence with public use of the ski area; however, what I am opposed to is what I believe to be a disproportionate early season fee of $73 for a single day lift ticket given that:

1.) There is a relatively small amount of terrain open to being with
2.) Complete public accessis curtailed due to the competition is using at least a statistically significant portion of skiable acreage

Again, it’s not the competition, it’s the pricing I don’t like.

If I had the time (maybe I’ll re-visit this later), I’d compare a calculation of the percentage of terrain open vs. the early bird rate as a percentage of the regular rate. My suspicion is there would be an enormous disparity in so far as the early bird rate being a much higher in “cost per open acre (or runs/lifts)” … even if a seasonal average were utilized vs. a best possible total acres open.

I don’t know, maybe the high rate could be intentional as a means of delivering “negative advertising” to dissuade larger numbers of skier visits due to safety/capacity issues?

I realize the competition will be over within a week, so it’s not a permanent issue and I’m not looking harp on competitors for doing what they love to do … especially since we share a similar “love of the game”. It’s really about how the ski area is “rolling with this” in so far as keeping the lift tickets at $73 which bothers me.

I suppose it might be considered arbitrary for me to say $50 is fine, but $73 is not … although I’m willing to bet a lot of business owners would agree that lower ticket rates during times of relatively lean snow would have a positive influence on the local economy … especially when visitors are more keen on following weather and snowfall trends online and deciding where to go more at a moment’s notice. I realize the ski company needs to cover it’s costs and so forth, but I wonder if they’ve considered building in a “reserve fund” to make flexible downward adjustments as needed? I’ve seen lots of capital improvements recently, almost too many to mention … so it’s difficult to say. Having the full rate pushing $100 might also be a part of the equation … maybe from their current starting point, a $73 ticket represents a sufficient discount. Not looking to minimize the number of factors at play in pricing considerations, but just saying that it’s kind of getting out of hand from my perspective. Who knows really, but I just know I’m not exactly a fan of the pricing.

Regardless of all my ramblings, I do wish all of the competitors the best of luck and to enjoy the moment (& your stay)!

I saw Pretty Lights at the Telluride Mountain Village Conference Center this weekend. It wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, but it was still fun. Mostly a younger crowd, many of whom were visiting from out of town, I barely saw any of the usual locals suspects who see live music on a regular basis around town.

Pretty Lights Telluride Mountain Village Conference Center 2010

Speaking of which, there really hasn’t been a lot of live music lately … which is a shame given that many bands will visit Colorado mountain towns yet Telluride seems to get skipped a lot. I believe Pretty Lights is the only show which was booked at the conference center between now and the recently announced Leftover Salmon show on February 25, 2011 … which you can still get tickets at:

http://leftovertickets.jambasetickets.com/evlist.php

Saturday marked the day where lifts 5 & 6 were fired up and carried skiers to the top of lift 6 for a version of what is known as “going around the horn” with an egress for skiers and snowboards to make their way down the See Forever Ridgeline back down to the bottom lift 4. The terrain under lifts 5 and 6 are actually closed until we receive more snow, so it’s currently just a way to access Upper See Forever.

This actually helps tremendously to relieve some of the pressure created by a lot of skiers & snowboarders who are confined to a relatively small area … since it spreads people (of differing ability levels) out over more terrain. The top layer of snow is mostly man-made, but is actually of good quality and coverage.

I’ve continued my pursuit to try and learn to snowboard with a goofy stance for my second day on the mountain in Telluride. While it’s clear it’s going to be quite a challenge to attain the level of expertise and confidence I’ve been used to with a regular stance, I have made more progress & am at least feeling slightly more comfortable. Started to feel a pain in my left quad, which I take as a good sign in that I’m starting to achieve a better posture. I don’t know exactly what’s in store, but I can see that it’s going to be an incremental learning process whereby I will need to practice patience … but breakthroughs will happen. Having said that, I switched the bindings on my snowboard back to regular for my final ride down … since I was kind of stuck at the bottom of lift 6 when there were mechanical issues. I realize too, that it will help to ride regular a bit too … simply to experience the “correct” way in hopes I can mimic it on a goofy stance.

Otherwise, the word I kept hearing on the mountain is that many folks are upset regarding the whole charging for parking at the TMV parking structure.