thebutress

hey y'all,

My wife and I survived our first now board trip to OR in OK fashion. Coming out of it with 1 injured thumb ( my poor wife ) and a new addiction.

My wife went ahead and booked us a weekend in telluride 3/7-10. I was wondering if any of y'all had any thoughts to offer on telluride, be it places to eat, see, lift tickets, etc.

seems like tell isn't the cheapest of destinations, and i honestly havent seen alot of conversation about it on the snowboarding sites, maybe for that reason?

Any thoughts you have would be apppreciated, even a little advice would help. Being new to snowboarding AND every mountain we visit can be a little nerve-wracking for us (and annoying for everyone else I'm sure)

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killclimbz

The main reason you haven't seen a lot of discussion about it is that it's remote. Telluride is probably the most remote resort in the state of Colorado. So remote, it's the only major I haven't been too. Something like an 8 hour drive from Denver. The terrain is supposed to be fantastic and looks great from what I have seen. The town is definitely a ski town. As far as discounts go and such, yeah it's pricey and they don't really exist. T-ride is sort of becoming a second coming of Aspen. A playground for the mega rich and famous.

rubbertoe

I've been once and it was kinda pricey. There is a small shop in the center of Telluride that serves a blue plate special for dinner that is affordable. I can't remember the name of it and its not fancy but decent filler for around $7. My son and I paid $40 for 2 hamburgers and 2 waters in mountain village. If you shop around for lunch there is a soup bar that has pretty good food for considerably less. If you are beginner to intermediate I would suggest lift 5. It shows mostly blues and double blues. The blues are the same as greens in other places with enough slope for a snowboarder. The double blues are not that aggressive and I can ride a lot of the blacks where I ride blues other places. If there is fresh powder stay off the catwalks, they groom nothing when they have freshies and the catwalks are murder. They show that they are blue but without grooming there is not enough slope to move. If you stay in Telluride and have a big snow dump ride the tram to lift 5. Lift 7 drops you in a big flat and you can't get to the mountain village side of the mountain without considerable struggle. If you're into blacks take it and ride back down into telluride. Stay off the zig zaggy blue that drops into Telluride. They have some hike to Killclimbz type of terrain, but I live in the desert and don't do that. Lift 4 is pretty good too. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask.

rubbertoe

My favorite is just across the mountain from it. Purgatory at Durango is a pretty good slope for those of us that like to ride the lifts. It has excellent cruising terrain for me and I think every run has 20 to 30 jumps for my son. We end up at the bottom about the same time with his jumping and my cruising. I'm 52 and he's 29. It is relatively inexpensive compared to the other resorts and Extremely friendly. Friday is snowboard day with all the college students from Durango riding that day and Saturday seems to be skier day with all the old foaggies in their one pieces. The Hermosa lift and the very back lift are my favoites. Up front there is a green called Mercy that would be a blue or double blue at Telluride that is a nice green. Like all of southern Colorado it seems they have received at least 2' of snow a week since the 1st of December

thebutress

Kill,
I was starting to get that feeling about t-ride. My wife has this knack for picking the high end needle out of any haystack. Makes me feel good and nervous at the same time... heh. The pictures that i've seen are all amazing, and pretty much all skiers too... lol. this should be interesting at the least.

RT,
Thanks for the input. We are both brand, spankin new so we will definitely stay to the easy trails. between getting to know our new boards, and my wife needing to get more comfortable turning toeside, we'll be staying on the gentle slopes, and hopefully some wider ones as well. Any recommendations in that direction would be really helpful.

Our first actual "run" was up at timberline in or. I think we picked the flattest run in the state (which i'm told tline is very mellow anyway). between being cautious, not good, and having lame rental boards, i did lots of skating/pushing. I'm doing damn good at that part of snowboarding.

I'm sure we'll find our way to purg, wolf creek, angelfire, etc at some point over the next year or two. maybe even one of em this year if the snow stays a while...

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fear the llama. find my pants. hump.

rubbertoe

TB I didn't notice where you were from earlier. I'm from Hobbs, my son lives in Levelland. Angel Fire is nice and about the closest nice resort to West Texas. Durango would be my 2nd choice only because of the longer drive. Wolf Creek is more for the Powder snobs. You really have to smoke through the steeps up top to make it across the flats at the bottom when the powder is deep. The backside requires a lot of walking and as far of a drive it is for us I don't care to spend that much time walking. Both Prugy and Angel Fire will leave some runs ungroomed so you can enjoy the powder after a snow. If you need some info on Angel Fire I can help you out. I would highly recommend it for beginner/intermediate riders. It also has a couple nice parks if you want to try that out. There is a cheap place to stay over in Eagle Nest about 8 miles of straight road from the slopes.

thebutress

again, thanks for the info. I'd definitely like more info on angelfire, as i think its about the closest place for us. is it generally pretty crowded? how long does the snow stick around there?

__________________
fear the llama. find my pants. hump.

rubbertoe

On Saturdays the catwalks at the top of the lifts that lead to all the runs get a little crowded. Sundays the crowds are gone. The lifts have about a 15 min wait when they are busy. The mountains of NM usually get their biggest snows in March. This year is a bit different so who knows. It usually starts warming up pretty good in March so you have to hit the slopes pretty quickly after it snows to get into the powder. the slopes will close around the 1st of April. In my opinion the 2 prettiest places I have seen are Copperstown, NY and the Moreno Valley. Angel Fire sits at one end of the Moreno Valley.

quicksilver1689

telluride as a mountain rocks, it has a good vertical, lots of steeps, they have no opened up more in bound "back country" terrain i think or more hike to terrain, the gondola system from mountain village to town are efficient and kinda cool. They run until i believe 12 at night so u can stay in town for awaile, there is also a drunk bus that leaves at 2:15am in the town square or something, i was pretty intoxicated when someone was explaining the bus situation. If money is a factor in your trip, maybe you might want to look elsewhere, they definetly make their money off tourists. The scenery is beautiful, mountain rocks, pricey, but you gotta pay to play.