If AA Milne, National Geographic and Hunter S Thompson created a ski town together, that town would be Telluride. A little bit of childhood magic, a Hollywood backdrop created by nature and a lively party scene for the après obsessed.
Enter the one road in same road out box canyon of 14 000 foot peaks and prepare to be beguiled. Home to a mere 2500 locals, Telluride’s Main Street exudes silver mining history with a saloon style swagger and a ski mountain that will rock your ski socks off.
Over 2000 acres of skiable terrain with a 1172 metre vertical rise, divided between 23% beginner, 36% intermediate and 41% advanced and expert will keep your thighs burning for days. For a powder filled ride through an enchanted forest try the tree run known as Log Pile, for big powder turns hit up Revelation bowl and for boasting rights take the stairs to the chutes and sing out loud with joy on the way down.
Telluride does that to you, gets under the skin and has you tingling from within. It’s not just the famed Mitch Morgan bourbon and bacon shots at The Oak either, it’s the French Onion soup at Bon Vivant on the ski in ski out deck under the sun, the hot chocolates at Giuseppe’s to warm your soul on the top of the mountain, the antipasto at Alpino Vino.
But wait, there’s always more. The grapefruit martini at There Bar, the giant cinnamon rolls at the Butcher and Baker, the coffee at the Coffee Cowboy caravan on Main Street, sundowners at Allred’s for dreamy vistas, Rustico for authentic Italian and Taco del Gnar for taco fusion.
Photo: Taco del Gnar
The town of Telluride has been serving up moonshine and nosh since Butch Cassidy days. It is here, on the Main Street, you’ll find the first bank Mr Cassidy robbed. You’ll also find the Telluride Museum to take you back in time to the days of silver mining where you can step back into a world that cemented this beloved Colorado mountain town.
Locals here plant stickers on their bumpers saying “I came for the skiing, I stayed for the library.” Who can blame them? The Wilkinson Library hosts numerous free thought provoking events, loans out GoPros and Karaoke machines alongside books, all for nix.
They are not the only things for free either in this community driven ski town. The Free Box sits streetside and is filled with one man’s trash that could be your treasure from old skis to clothes, nick nacks, bikes and more. When locals are done with something they pay it forward and leave it in the box for the next person.
Ride the bio fuel bus (it’s free too), take in a show at The Sheridan theatre, ride horses in the snow with Roudy the cowboy, take a chopper and heli ski with Helitrax or go ice skating in Mountain Village. Whatever you do find time to talk to a local, sit streetside with coffee in hand and pat the dogs this town is known for. They don’t bite but they do, like the town they live in, cast a friendly spell.
