Telluride PhotosPhotos of Telluride Ski Area, Snowboarding, Hiking

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).

The opening of lift nine is always the mark of the “start of the season” as far as I’m concerned. It was day seven of the season for me, but it’s really the first day I had some serious fun. That magical place I call “home” (lift 9) is now accessible, although one must ride chairs 4, 5, & 6 to get there … as it’s currently “orphaned” without the Telluride Trail open to enter or Cats’ paw or Easy Out to exit. Still, there’s great coverage up high … took two runs down Mammoth Fingers, Spiral Stairs is open, Log Pile is excellent at the top (but west drain is a bit sketchy).

So, rode regular today … couldn’t resist, it’s part of the plan anyhow. Probably ride regular again tomorrow … or as long as the new snow keeps coming. Apparently, southern California is getting hammered with rain at the moment. While this is a precarious situation for them (especially where the wild fires scorched the vegetation — leaving it susceptible to mud slides), it normally bodes well for us … since storms typically track east / north east from that point.

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)!

Yesterday I went up for my fifth day on the mountain and riding goofy, which is a consecutive day after my fourth day on the ski mountain in Telluride. I’m definitely feeling a bit more confident and have developed a decent rhythm on most advanced beginner runs, but am a bit hesitant on ski runs with a steeper pitch or variable snow conditions.

Nonetheless, I still believe that incremental progress will yield new breakthroughs & realize I just need to be patient … I’m just THAT good riding regular to expect an instant transformation! I’ve found that engaging specifically in “drills” which require a focus on a particular skill helps. For instance, trying to a quick sequence of 10 jump turns in a row on steeper turns helps to simply get in to a groove by linking together turns … even if they’re not picture perfect yet.

Otherwise, the big controversy in Telluride today is the closing of the access gate to Upper Bear Creek. The official line is that the regional administrator made a decision to try and stem the trespassing on private land by those who exit the access gates directly from the Telluride Ski Area. I’m not exactly sure what to believe at this point, given the apparent expansion ambitions of the current CEO of the ski area Dave Riley? It seems possible the ski area might be jockeying for position to only allow access to upper Bear Creek under the auspices of an official expansion … which could involve a larger “deal” with the current private landholders in Upper Bear Creek who are apparently seeking to enforce “no tresspassing” on their property.

… more on this later

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

Made it up for my third day this past Saturday & stuck with the Goofy stance. I definitely made a little more progress & actually found a bit of a rhythm in so far as linking turns. I did notice the following:

- I switched from my Burton Fish to the Burton Malolo, which made it a lot easier to hold an edge turning from toe-side to heel-side … didn’t want to wash out as much. I’ve realize the Fish is a very technically challenging board to ride correctly. While embraced as a design offering by Burton (and to some extent other manufactures), the pintail with aggressive side-cut design is still nonetheless a very small niche. It seems most manufactures have sought out the lowest common denominator in so far as making it easy to learn how to ride as quickly as possible, even though there’s a tradeoff in so far as not being conducive to the best possible posture.

- Was able to ride a neutral edge (where the board is flat on the snow) with more confidence.

- Was able to get off the lift a little easier

- Didn’t ride switch as much, only in high traffic narrow areas and where it was steeper.

- Found steep flat & icy spots to be difficult. It would probably help to learn the jump turn a little better and to incorporate just being able to stick an edge into the snow … and leave the perfect carve for later (but always try for it if possible). The jump turn or even a simple wash out turn which is under control will allow me to access more terrain & gain more confidence. The perfect carve will come in time.

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.

I made it out on opening day for a few runs on Thanksgiving Day. As expected due to the lack of sufficient natural snow at lower elevations, there was limited terrain open … with the typical opening day with man made snow off of lift 4 allowing part of Misty Maiden and Village Bypass to be the primary routes. The snow was actually not bad. Although it was very cold (below zero overnight), many folks were up on their skis and snowboards … apparently more than yesterday for the Telluride Ski and Snowboard Club donation day / pre-opening day.

So I was able to ride exclusively goofy, although readily switched to ride regular through high traffic areas … definitely not the best day to start this, but I’m taking it seriously & figured I might as well give it a go. I learned a few things:

- A pain on the side of my upper right leg seems to show it’s face a bit due to the manuevering of the goofy stance. Might have to stretch a bit more.

- I was a bit thrown back on my first run and everything felt awkward, but noticed being a bit more comfort after having the first run under my belt. I realized I’ll have an advantage (over complete beginners) in that I’ll know that to look for as far as “when things work”, but I need to always push myself to make sure it’s the best it can be. I’ve found the heel to toe side turn to be a lot easier than the toeside to heelside … which I haven’t been able to routinely carve & more often than not my back end washes out.

- Being able to switch out to a “regular” stance (left foot forward) and be an “expert” for a moment or two comes in handy & probably accelerate my learning curve … although being on a Phish & having my stance all the way back doesn’t exactly give me “equal time” in the regular direction. Might have to see how things work out on a more symmetrical board.

Otherwise, I had a hard time digesting the whole pay for parking situation in the Telluride Mountain Village Gondola parking structure. I’ve decided to avoid driving to the TMV (which entails shopping there), unless its necessary. More on this later.

All in all, it was a nice day to be up on the mountain, with much to be thankful for.

So today is the unofficial opening day, otherwise known as “donation day” … which happens to be the first time in three years it has occurred. Traditionally, the official opening day of the Telluride Ski Resort is on the Thursday of Thanksgiving. In previous years, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was known as “donation day” & everyone was required to ante up a reduced fee for a single day lift ticket … with all of the proceeds to be donated to the Telluride Ski & Snowboard Club.

If the weather were better or the amount of terrain open were greater, I’d probably fork over the $25 and join in on the fun, but I can wait one more day (so too can my back).

The Telluride Ski Resort is reporting a 32″ base with 2″ new in the past 24 hours and 12″ over the past week. Not bad for Thanksgiving.

I had recently spoken with an Ophir neighbor who had just come down from an excursion in the backcountry on monday evening in waterfall canyon and said the snow as pretty good up high … confirming that there is close to 3 feet up top. Of course there is probably nowhere near 3 feet of snow at the base area; however, it is still good news to hear there’s a decent amount higher up. This situation normally entails that a good storm or two should bridge the gap and allow for much of the mountain to be opened up.

I will give a first hand account tomorrow & more on my switch to being “goofy”!

I just received a promotional email from the Telluride Ski Resort titled: “Epic Savings on Telluride Skiing!” in reference to an upcoming locational sale in Montrose, Colorado on October 16.

OK, I just looked up the word “epic” at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/epic and came up with the following:

–adjective Also, ep·i·cal.
1.
noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style: Homer’s Iliad is an epic poem.
2.
resembling or suggesting such poetry: an epic novel on the founding of the country.
3.
heroic; majestic; impressively great: the epic events of the war.
4.
of unusually great size or extent: a crime wave of epic proportions.

I’m guessing numbers 1 & 2 don’t apply, and number three is definitely a stretch in the literal sense; so that leaves number four. However, I don’t see a reference to such a metric being relative, therefore I’m not so sure it’s an appropriate word to use in the context of the sale. In other words, while there might be a relatively good “bargain” of the early bird rates of season passes vs. the regular rates, I don’t know if an average reasonable person who saw the rates would immediately come to the conclusion that such rates are “epic”. In fact, I believe I’d bet my house that it would NOT be the case.

There was a recent letter to the editor which appeared in the Telluride Watch newspaper which seemed to run contrary to the notion of Telluride Ski Area passes allowing for “epic savings”. Here is a direct link:

http://www.telluridewatch.com/view/full_story/9856559/article-Six-Day-Pass-Too-Pricey-for-This-Senior-Skier-?instance=secondary_stories_left_column

I’ve extracted a quote from the above letter:

Last year I paid $345 for a six-day pass. This year, the six day pass is $450 (or $75 a day). I’m afraid that’s out of my price range; it wasn’t too long ago that seniors at age 70 skied for free. I think there should be a price break for seniors; after all we brought all our friends, children and grandchildren to Telluride.

This doesn’t sound like epic savings to me.

Consequently, I have a question for the National Forest Service: is there an upper limit to which ski area operators can charge for access to National Forest Service (public) lands which are being leased to such operators?