Pajarito-Bred
New member
The storm that was forecast to dump a foot or two of fresh on the San Juans flaked out and left behind only 5" -but that's as much as fell anywhere else in CO this week (in our driving range) we decided to venture South to Telluride.
The official report was 50" on top, 49" mid mt, /PP. After a warm-up on Palmyra- their best groomed terrain we found- we headed straight for Gold Hill, to check out the new (to me) steeps. It was not a pretty sight from the lift, numerous logs, rocks, stumps, and other nastiness uncovered, exposed-- nasty teeth hungry for a bite of P-Tex. But there's a couple of chutes each side of the lift, we hoped for better in sheltered gully of Dynamo. And it was- the snow quality was nice and soft at the top- but as the chute narrowed, the moguls and rocks rose up to resist. We had to traverse thru the trees to avoid a cliff-out area, and then back to the softer bump on the run-out.
Next we headed to the Prospect lift, to explore some short, sweet chutes at the top followed by a long flat run-out. After a short hike, a blast of wind announcing the impending arrival of a storm lofted curls of spindrift into the bowl below. Watching the clouds flow across Utah's canyon country and collect on the peaks was part of the day's entertainment.
But wait! I wonder how the "old" Telluride is doing, the front face of Chair 9? Down the ridge to the top of the plunge, my skis pointed themselved down the Spiral Stairs, partway down the run, if fingers out into 3 narrow slots in thru the trees-- here many logs and stumps had thrown off their mogul blankets and grabbed at our ski edges. But I still loved finding a bit of the old front face hidden among the wide steep slick groomers.
A post-lunch run down freshly-groomed Lookout was nasty, icy, and extremely disappointing. Telluride has a long way to go to match the grooming of other CO resorts. There were other instances of this as well. Later we re-discovered Bushwhacker from the top of Nine, it had been groomed at some point, but the firmness had a good grip, and was interspersed with soft baby moguls. The lower part reverted to more challenging semi-icy solidity of too much/too little grooming -I don't know.
The drive home was a race into the impending storm, which this morning has 12" of fresh on T-ride's slopes.
This was my first visit to ski Telluride in 5 years-- which is quite ridiculous since it's only 2-1/2 hours away. That has much to do with the fact that other CO resorts have lured me away from the drought-infested south with tempting deals, and I can't do all of them every year. (but what about last year, T-Ride had awesome snow?) Well, I had plenty of days elsewhere already bought-and-paid for.
The official report was 50" on top, 49" mid mt, /PP. After a warm-up on Palmyra- their best groomed terrain we found- we headed straight for Gold Hill, to check out the new (to me) steeps. It was not a pretty sight from the lift, numerous logs, rocks, stumps, and other nastiness uncovered, exposed-- nasty teeth hungry for a bite of P-Tex. But there's a couple of chutes each side of the lift, we hoped for better in sheltered gully of Dynamo. And it was- the snow quality was nice and soft at the top- but as the chute narrowed, the moguls and rocks rose up to resist. We had to traverse thru the trees to avoid a cliff-out area, and then back to the softer bump on the run-out.
Next we headed to the Prospect lift, to explore some short, sweet chutes at the top followed by a long flat run-out. After a short hike, a blast of wind announcing the impending arrival of a storm lofted curls of spindrift into the bowl below. Watching the clouds flow across Utah's canyon country and collect on the peaks was part of the day's entertainment.
But wait! I wonder how the "old" Telluride is doing, the front face of Chair 9? Down the ridge to the top of the plunge, my skis pointed themselved down the Spiral Stairs, partway down the run, if fingers out into 3 narrow slots in thru the trees-- here many logs and stumps had thrown off their mogul blankets and grabbed at our ski edges. But I still loved finding a bit of the old front face hidden among the wide steep slick groomers.
A post-lunch run down freshly-groomed Lookout was nasty, icy, and extremely disappointing. Telluride has a long way to go to match the grooming of other CO resorts. There were other instances of this as well. Later we re-discovered Bushwhacker from the top of Nine, it had been groomed at some point, but the firmness had a good grip, and was interspersed with soft baby moguls. The lower part reverted to more challenging semi-icy solidity of too much/too little grooming -I don't know.
The drive home was a race into the impending storm, which this morning has 12" of fresh on T-ride's slopes.
This was my first visit to ski Telluride in 5 years-- which is quite ridiculous since it's only 2-1/2 hours away. That has much to do with the fact that other CO resorts have lured me away from the drought-infested south with tempting deals, and I can't do all of them every year. (but what about last year, T-Ride had awesome snow?) Well, I had plenty of days elsewhere already bought-and-paid for.
