Mountain Village, CO – Rooted in western mining history with millions of dollars worth of gold and silver extracted from the surrounding peaks, Telluride in Colorado has evolved from a rugged, strike-it-rich boomtown to a modern day, world class destination resort. Where once people came to find their fortune and change their lives, now people come to discover Telluride’s new riches — and change their lives.
In association with a recently completed Village Revitalization Strategy, which was shaped and developed by Ecosign Mountain Resort Planners Ltd. and the town’s new Comprehensive Master Plan for the community, Telluride Ski Resort has made significant strides towards improving the vibrancy and excitement of its village core. Last year saw the opening of several new retail stores including Swanky Buckle, Gold Hill Gallery, Telluride Naturals, The Resort Store and EcoAdventures. The resort will continue to diversify and add to the shopping experience this winter with the opening of another group of shops for visitors and locals alike.
Among them, Mountain Standard Time Telluride is a specialty store that offers everything from Swiss watches to sunglasses and designer bags. Alpenglow Beauty is the first and only full-service beauty boutique, specializing in cosmetics, skin and hair care products and make-up application in the Telluride region. Heritage Apparel provides a chic combination of stylish basics and designer labels, for men and women.
Ranging from the rustic and historic Gorrono Ranch to the European elegance of Alpino Vino located at almost 12,000 feet, Telluride Ski Resort offers an unmatched variety of dining for all tastes. And they’re now all under the executive direction of chef Jake Linzinmeier.
The Hop Garden continues to stake its place as one of skiing’s few iconic bars with an interior remodel that will double the size of the restaurant. A large, U-shaped bar will be installed with added flat screens, expanded seating and kitchen. With the large yellow umbrella and beer garden, Hop Garden is Telluride’s center for après ski and slopeside dining.
Telluride’s flagship restaurant, Allred’s, greets its guest with one of the most unique dining atmospheres, spectacular views and exquisite menus in the Rockies. To raise the bar yet again, General Manager Mario Petillo has been brought on board for his old world hospitality and dining expertise along with a new menu to Telluride’s must-do dining experience.
Alpino Vino continues to offer one-of-a-kind lunchtime dining at North America’s highest wine bar, with atmosphere and cuisine reminiscent of European chalets. Exclusive five-course evening dining by snowcat will be available again this winter on weekends, holidays and for individual events.
Telluride continues to dominate with some of ski country’s most elegant and convenient restrooms at High Camp, Giuseppe’s and Alpino Vino, with the newest installment this year just off the top of the Polar Queen Express (Chair 5). Skiers will be greeted with beautiful stone and mahogany finishes inside old European architecture. The Polar Queen restrooms are the first phase in a future complex of buildings that will include an additional restaurant, bar and sundeck as the ski resort works towards expanding facilities on the mountain.
In conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service, the ski resort is working on a forest stand maintenance project which will directly benefit the health of the forest and the skier experience. This process includes removing dead and downed trees while increasing light and water to healthier forest stands. This improves the forest’s strength and resilience against bugs such as the pine beetle and disease while simultaneously improving skiing and snowboarding. This fall, work will be completed in the Palmyra Express (5) area and to the skier’s right of Bushwacker on the Plunge Lift (9).
Continuing to expand controlled areas above treeline, the resort will be shifting the boundary rope on the north side of Bald Mountain to open up a new run on what is now called Bald 6, but is yet to be officially named.
With Telluride Ski Resort’s third hosting of the annual Snowboardcross World Cup coming up this December 14-17, and the terrain park located in the same general area, the resort is expanding its snowmaking infrastructure with three new fan gun pedestals around the Mountain Village base area and lower Misty Maiden. This will assist in providing more snow in less time, a premiere course for the World Cup event, terrain park features and all around snow quality for guests on the Village Express terrain. The resort will also be adding six new HKD high efficiency snowmaking tower guns on upper Lookout and four new HKD high efficiency snowmaking tower guns on upper Woozley’s. This new technology will reduce snowmaking energy consumption while increasing snowmaking productivity.
Other improvements around the resort include a new Pisten Bully 400 grooming machine, new rental equipment for children’s ski school, and a new top lift house and electrical drive for Plunge Lift (9) that will increase lift efficiency.