Telluride Ski Resort Colorado

The name “Telluride” was possibly adapted from a mumbled “to hell you ride”, but to ride at Telluride ski resort is far from hell – it’s absolutely paradise! Telluride has a colourful mining history and now the town has made the progression from pick to powder. Once upon a time Telluride ski resort had a reputation for being the best kept secret in Colorado, but there’s nothing hush hush about Telluride nowadays. Telluride has definitely transformed into a high profile destination resort.

Apart from the great skiing and snowboarding, a drawcard is the spectacular setting of the box canyon with dramatic steep mountain vistas. The contradictions of Telluride also have an allure. The town has fantastic historic charm and the culture is very easy going, yet the infrastructure of the town and ski resort is modern and well developed, especially up in the Mountain Village. Telluride finds the perfect balance between sophistication and unpretentiousness.

Pros & Cons of Telluride Colorado

Pros 

• Telluride is an amazing ski resort as an all-rounder. We’ve rated Telluride as the best overall ski resort in the US!
• There is great terrain for all ability levels and the runs are graded into 6 different ability levels which helps with progression. Telluride has scored a “best Colorado ski resorts” award for the overall terrain.
• You can pick from convenient ski-in ski-out lodging in the Mountain Village or the charm of the historic town.
• Ski Telluride for amazing on-mountain restaurants, and for après ski there are also has plenty of sophisticated dining and drinking options.
• Telluride Colorado offers lots of eye candy.
• Besides skiing and snowboarding, there are plenty of other Telluride activities on offer.

Cons

• If you want a cheap ski vacation, Telluride Colorado is probably not for you.

Pro or Con Depending On Your Perspective

• Telluride is a little harder to get to than many other Colorado ski resorts, but the advantage of this is that it keeps away some of the hordes.
• Telluride is on the Epic Pass for a limited number of days of riding, which has increased visitation a little.

Ski Telluride - Terrain

The Telluride ski area is 2,000 acres (810 hectares) in size, which is above average for a Colorado ski resort, and it has an impressive lift-serviced vertical drop with 3,845 feet (1,172 metres) of thigh burning pleasure.

Of the 17 lifts, 2 are high speed gondolas and there are also various high speed chair lifts. Considering the tempo of the lifts, the thighs will definitely be burning with pleasure.

To-Hell-You-Ride has terrain to keep everyone very happy including gentle bunny slopes for those on the “L” plates, great long groomers for intermediates, and terrain parks with enough hits to keep any shredder permanently bruised. Telluride has been gaining more notoriety for its advanced and expert slopes, especially considering the above tree-line Revelation Bowl and the Gold Hill chutes, as well as other expert to extreme hike-to in-bounds terrain.

Where is Telluride Ski Resort?

Telluride sits in southwest Colorado in the four corners region where Colorado meets Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Nearby are the Telluride and Montrose regional airports with flights available from various North American cities. To get to Telluride from the airports, there are various ground transportation options. See the Telluride travel page for more information.

Once there, getting around Telluride is fuss-free with a gondola that links the town to the Mountain Village, as well as the Galloping Goose (yes you read that name correctly!), a shuttle that whizzes around town. To hell you ride on a galloping goose!

Telluride Hotels & Lodging

Telluride lodging is either down in the historic town or up in the mid-mountain village, and the two areas are connected via the free gondola that operates from 7am to midnight. Staying in the town has benefits because it’s stumbling distance from restaurants and nightlife, whereas the modern mountain village is often preferred by families for its convenient access to the beginner slopes and kids’ facilities. Both the town and the Mountain Village have ski-in ski-out accommodations, although the town's ski-in access is only via intermediate slopes.

Telluride lodging includes luxury hotels, condos, and vacation rentals. Many of the accommodations are upscale, but there are a couple of Telluride hotels that are suited to moderate budgets.

Telluride Accommodations Listings

Activities

There are a diverse range of Telluride activities to complement a ski or snowboard vacation. Activities in the area include winter fly fishing, sleigh ride dinners, dog sledding, or a treatment at one of the many day spas. Or for those who want to keep the adrenaline levels high there’s ice-climbing, snowmobiling and glider rides, or you can pretend to be a cowboy and go horse riding. Telluride shopping is also reasonably impressive.

Get to Telluride Colorado for a ski vacation soon so that you can steal its most precious treasure. Tell Butch Cassidy to move over!