Telski adds yet more extreme hike-to terrain
The ski mountain just won’t stop growing.
A month after opening a half-dozen new runs of hike-to terrain in the Prospect Basin, Telluride Ski and Golf has upped its ante. Last week, the resort unveiled plans to open the craggy Palmyra Peak to skiers looking for unreal turns down the sheer face of the 13,320-foot mountain.
Opening Palmyra adds 200 acres and 2,000 new vertical feet of steep and pure unguided hike-to terrain. It’s a peak that offers mammoth drops, 50-degree chutes, couloirs as skinny as a pig trough and endless views of the Telluride region.
The ropes will drop for unguided skiing and snowboarding as soon as snow conditions permit, Telski said.
Telski is opening nine named runs on the mountain’s north face. They are dubbed Tram Shot, Sunrise, Electric Shock, Capitol and Sunset, among others. Just glancing at a map of them pulses your adrenal glands, and makes you want to run outside and sacrifice small animals to the gods of snowfall, in hopes that this Indian summer ends soon.
In announcing the opening of Palmyra, Telski called the new runs “some of the most spectacular in-bounds terrain in the country.”
“Palmyra Peak was the natural next step in expanding the area,” said CEO Dave Riley, in a statement. “Telluride has always been known for its legendary terrain, and opening Palmyra Peak will further demonstrate that Telluride Ski Resort is unmatched in North America.”
Riley could not be reached yesterday to talk further about Palmyra.
The ski resort has been on a spending spree lately, buying new snocats and installing new underground snowmaking pipes. Add to that a new avalauncher that made opening Palmyra possible. It will sit at Gold Hill No. 5 and allow Telski to bomb the runs for avalanche control.
Avid skier Brian O’Neill (have you ever noticed we always call them “avid skiers”? Seriously. Every time.) said skiing Palmyra is an unreal experience.
It’s a two-hour climb from Lift 12 to the top of Palmyra, a steep scramble that will wring the air from anybody’s lungs, O’Neill said. But more than worth the effort.
The prevailing winter winds pack snow onto the north face of the mountain, and though the area is naturally prone to breaks and slides, it’s not as fragile or frightening as skiing into Bear Creek.
“It’s a phenomenal ski,” O’Neill said. “I think the northeast face is the money shot. It’s pretty steep off the top — in the high 40s — and once you get halfway down, it starts to ease up.”
Right below Palmyra, of course, is the second-newest addition to Telluride’s hike-to terrain, the Black Iron Bowl. A month ago, Telski opened Mountain Quail and the unforgettable runs next to it for unguided skiing.
This year, dedicated skiers will be able to drop the face of Palmyra into the Black Iron Bowl, then into the bottom of Prospect Basin and catch Lift 12 back to the top. A gold star to the first person who does the full circle three times in a day
