Telluride Ski Resort Facilities and Services

The town of Telluride and Telluride Mountain Village have very well established facilities for skiers and snowboarders. These are not contained within day lodges. Telluride is too upmarket for that! Rather, the services are either privately owned or are set up within tasteful buildings.

Telluride ski resort offers special touches such as complimentary ski valets at Mountain Village that check your equipment during the day and offer water and sunscreen to guests.

Telluride Ski Rentals and Snowboard Rental

The Boot Doctors in Telluride is a good place for ski rentals and snowboard hire. They are located in the Telluride Mountain Village on the north side of the Heritage Plaza near the base of the gondola station. Initially gaining a reputation for fitting ski boots for purchase, The Boot Doctors have now also acquired a good reputation in the ski and snowboard rental space. They stock a good range of rental equipment and offer basic and performance rental packages as well as try-before-you-buy demo programs. Brands galore are on offer including the ability to demo a pair of Wagner custom skis (Telluride is home to the Wagner Custom skis company).

Otherwise you can rent your equipment from one of the six Telluride Sports shops – a behemoth chain of ski and snowboard shops where you’re not guaranteed of good service.

[AdListings collection="USA" category="Telluride" subcategory="Facilities Rentals"]

Telluride Ski School

The Telluride Ski and Snowboard School operates out of the Mountain Village plaza offering alpine, telemark and snowboard lessons in group and private format. Telluride also has an adaptive sports program and snow biking lessons.

For adults, the Telluride ski school runs morning group programs with a maximum of 4 guests per instructor or for those that want a leisurely morning, there are lessons that go from 11am to 3:45pm.

For kids, group lessons are held for kids aged 3-14 for skiing and 5-14 for snowboarding.

The Telluride ski school also offer private mountain guides who can help you explore the vast off-piste terrain and hidden stashes, and the famous hike-to-terrain.

Facilities for Children Telluride

Telluride ski resort has a nursery with childcare for ages 2 months to 5 years. It is conveniently located at the Mountain Village ticket office next to kids’ ski school.

Ski Cubs is for children ages 2 to 4; a program that incorporates child care and 1 to 1.5 hours per day of sliding around on skis.

Telluride has an Afternoon Kids Club which is a supervised program from 3-4pm so that kids are entertained after ski school whilst parents finish skiing (or their après drinking session!). This club is complimentary for all children enrolled in the ski and snowboard school.

A Kid’s Night Out program is also on offer on weeknights for children ages 4-12; an evening filled with dinner, movies and great activities. Telluride also has various babysitting services available, with the hotels able to provide referrals for this. Otherwise try Annie’s Nannies.
 

Eating On Mountain

Without a nasty day lodge cafeteria in sight, Telluride offers a great range of tasteful mountain restaurants, and scores the “best USA ski resort” award for the on-mountain restaurants.

The Bon Vivant restaurant in particular puts Telluride ski resort up there as a culinary front runner amongst USA ski resorts. Bon Vivant is located at the top of the Polar Queen Express chair lift, and offers decadent outdoor dining on a deck (with heaters). The French cuisine is diverse, the silver service impeccable, and the views are fabulous. Even the restrooms are top notch!

Another option for a delightfully sumptuous lunch is haute cuisine and fantastic views at Allred’s at the gondola mid-station (Station Saint Sophia). Alternatively the European style hutte Alpino Vino is an upscale option for a lunch of fine wines (first and foremost!), fine cheeses, antipasti, or soups. Alpino Vino is situated at 11,966 feet elevation and also makes the most of the amazing views that Telluride is famous for.

Gorrono Ranch is located mid-mountain and is popular for a quick bite from the barbeque or a lazy recline in one of the deck chairs.

Giuseppe's at the top of the Plunge lift is a bit of a rustic locals favourite. It’s just a little cabin serving New Orleans inspired fare and beverages. There’s only a small amount of indoor seating, but plenty of outdoor seats to take in the amazing views.

Big Billie’s at the base of the Chondola and Sunshine Express is an ideal family friendly lunch spot featuring all-American food.

In addition to the on-mountain restaurants, there are also easily accessed cafes at the base of the gondola in town or within the Mountain Village. As an example, Tracks Café and Bar near the Mountain Village gondola is only a stone’s throw away from the slopes. With simple food such as soups and sandwiches, and with tables outside, this is a good spot for an inexpensive feed whilst sunbaking and people watching.

Health

The Telluride Medical Center (500 West Pacific Avenue, Telluride) provides 24 hour emergency care and treats the many musculoskeletal complaints that get dropped off by the ski patrol blood buckets. Unfortunately we had to review the Telluride medical clinic personally. The quality of clinical care is great, but it’s far from cheap, so double check you’ve got ski insurance.

Other than sprains and fractures, another health concern at Telluride is altitude sickness (Acute Mountain Sickness). With the ski resort maximum elevation at 12,515ft and the Mountain Village at 9,545 feet (2,921 metres), the symptoms may become evident for some visitors, particularly those who usually reside at sea level. Symptoms may present about 6 hours after ascent and may include headache, nausea, fatigue, dizziness, increased heart rate, shortness of breath, and insomnia. Exertion (ie skiing or boarding) aggravates the symptoms, and in more severe forms symptoms may include a wet cough (from pulmonary oedema), unsteady gait (like drunken walking), in-coordination, vomiting, and loss of consciousness (from cerebral oedema ie brain swelling). So altitude sickness is not something that should be taken lightly.

Prevention is the best cure. Take it easy for the first couple of days, increase fluids but not of the alcoholic variety, and avoid sleeping tablets (which is unfortunate if you’ve got insomnia). Acetazolamide aka Diamox is a prescription medicine that can be taken a day or two prior to ascent to speed up the acclimatisation process, or Dexamethasone is effective if you get side effects from Diamox. Apparently Viagra is also effective in preventing Acute Mountain Sickness, so long as you can cope with the “side-effects” of the little blue pill!

Treatment for mild altitude sickness includes rest and fluids, with symptoms likely to resolve within one to two days. Descent is a very effective treatment, and for moderate or severe illness, medical treatment should be sought.