I've been talking about going to Telluride for a few years, I've finally was able to cross it off my bucket list. 

Given the lack of snow this season, I was impressed with the conditions. I'm a blue/black skier that sticks to groomed sloped for the most part.  It was very crusty in the morning, but softened up nicely as the day warmed up.  That last day it made it to 50's degrees during the day and I stopped skiing by 2:00 because it was too sticky.

My impressions...

- Take the free mountain tour the first day.  It's a little hard to navigate the entire mountain, so getting the lay of the land is a good thing.

- Being able to ski almost 3k vertical from the top to the bottom in one run on just one or two trails (See Forever from the top) is impressive!  Had to stop once or twice to give my legs a rest. 

- The view from everywhere on the mountain were amazing.  I do think it's probably the most picturesque resort in Colorado.

- The lack of crowds was nice,  never waited more than 1-2 minutes in line - even on the weekend. Maybe it was the lack of snow keeping folks home?  You will never get this on the Front Range resorts on a weekend. 

- I thought most of the blue trails were not as steep as other places out west (eg. Copper, Steamboat, Winter Park, A-Basin). 

- There were very few groomed black slopes.  Some days there were none.  A few would have been groomed the day before so there weren't many moguls, but they were very icy.  The Plunge was one of these.  The lack of snow no doubt played a part. 

- If Revelation Bowl bowl is open (was only open 2 days), get back there for the views.  There will usually be a groomer from the top. 

- Having a free gondola to connect the town and Mountain Village was great.  Very easy to get to both places without a car.  It runs all day, well into the evening.  

- Be ready for a long travel day to get there .  Flying from BWI, had to stop at Denver (with the obligatory layover) and then onto Montrose.  Then throw in a 1.5 hour ride into town, it's a long day.   

Overall, Telluride is a very steep mountain along with Arapahoe Basin.  Steamboat is not a steep mountain, and Winter Park is in between.  I think the difference with the blues at Telluride is because they break up the trail ratings into green, double green, blue, double blue, black, and double black.  Their double blues are like our double blacks, and some of their blacks get up to 35 degrees.  Because they have more categories they can call a blue trail a blue trail, whereas a blue trail at some other places like A basin can be 18 degrees or 30 degrees.  The steeper ones really shouldn't be called a blue, but it doesn't quite make it to their black status.

itdoesntmatter wrote:

I've been talking about going to Telluride for a few years, I've finally was able to cross it off my bucket list. 

Given the lack of snow this season, I was impressed with the conditions. I'm a blue/black skier that sticks to groomed sloped for the most part.  It was very crusty in the morning, but softened up nicely as the day warmed up.  That last day it made it to 50's degrees during the day and I stopped skiing by 2:00 because it was too sticky.

My impressions...

- Take the free mountain tour the first day.  It's a little hard to navigate the entire mountain, so getting the lay of the land is a good thing.

- Being able to ski almost 3k vertical from the top to the bottom in one run on just one or two trails (See Forever from the top) is impressive!  Had to stop once or twice to give my legs a rest. 

- The view from everywhere on the mountain were amazing.  I do think it's probably the most picturesque resort in Colorado.

- The lack of crowds was nice,  never waited more than 1-2 minutes in line - even on the weekend. Maybe it was the lack of snow keeping folks home?  You will never get this on the Front Range resorts on a weekend. 

- I thought most of the blue trails were not as steep as other places out west (eg. Copper, Steamboat, Winter Park, A-Basin). 

- There were very few groomed black slopes.  Some days there were none.  A few would have been groomed the day before so there weren't many moguls, but they were very icy.  The Plunge was one of these.  The lack of snow no doubt played a part. 

- If Revelation Bowl bowl is open (was only open 2 days), get back there for the views.  There will usually be a groomer from the top. 

- Having a free gondola to connect the town and Mountain Village was great.  Very easy to get to both places without a car.  It runs all day, well into the evening.  

- Be ready for a long travel day to get there .  Flying from BWI, had to stop at Denver (with the obligatory layover) and then onto Montrose.  Then throw in a 1.5 hour ride into town, it's a long day.   

Yes, they have "double" greens, blues and blacks.  And just about all of the double blues were ungroomed, so I didn't venture down those.   

Stephen wrote:

Overall, Telluride is a very steep mountain along with Arapahoe Basin.  Steamboat is not a steep mountain, and Winter Park is in between.  I think the difference with the blues at Telluride is because they break up the trail ratings into green, double green, blue, double blue, black, and double black.  Their double blues are like our double blacks, and some of their blacks get up to 35 degrees.  Because they have more categories they can call a blue trail a blue trail, whereas a blue trail at some other places like A basin can be 18 degrees or 30 degrees.  The steeper ones really shouldn't be called a blue, but it doesn't quite make it to their black status.

itdoesntmatter wrote:

I've been talking about going to Telluride for a few years, I've finally was able to cross it off my bucket list. 

Given the lack of snow this season, I was impressed with the conditions. I'm a blue/black skier that sticks to groomed sloped for the most part.  It was very crusty in the morning, but softened up nicely as the day warmed up.  That last day it made it to 50's degrees during the day and I stopped skiing by 2:00 because it was too sticky.

My impressions...

- Take the free mountain tour the first day.  It's a little hard to navigate the entire mountain, so getting the lay of the land is a good thing.

- Being able to ski almost 3k vertical from the top to the bottom in one run on just one or two trails (See Forever from the top) is impressive!  Had to stop once or twice to give my legs a rest. 

- The view from everywhere on the mountain were amazing.  I do think it's probably the most picturesque resort in Colorado.

- The lack of crowds was nice,  never waited more than 1-2 minutes in line - even on the weekend. Maybe it was the lack of snow keeping folks home?  You will never get this on the Front Range resorts on a weekend. 

- I thought most of the blue trails were not as steep as other places out west (eg. Copper, Steamboat, Winter Park, A-Basin). 

- There were very few groomed black slopes.  Some days there were none.  A few would have been groomed the day before so there weren't many moguls, but they were very icy.  The Plunge was one of these.  The lack of snow no doubt played a part. 

- If Revelation Bowl bowl is open (was only open 2 days), get back there for the views.  There will usually be a groomer from the top. 

- Having a free gondola to connect the town and Mountain Village was great.  Very easy to get to both places without a car.  It runs all day, well into the evening.  

- Be ready for a long travel day to get there .  Flying from BWI, had to stop at Denver (with the obligatory layover) and then onto Montrose.  Then throw in a 1.5 hour ride into town, it's a long day.