December 2007 - Posts
December 26, 2007
Hi Folks,
I can't decide what I like best about Telluride, the regular fresh snow or the blue sky / low wind days? Maybe all of the above...
Conditions are great and the forecast is for another good-sized storm tonight and tomorrow!
In the words of NOAA: EXPECT SNOWFALL TO BECOME WIDESPREAD
WITH THIS SFC CONVERGENCE. MODEL QPF REMAINS LIGHT BUT STILL A VERY
LOW DENSITY SNOWFALL ON THE ORDER OF 25 OR 30:1 WILL PRODUCE
SIGNIFICANT FLUFFY SNOW ACCUMULATIONS.
I grabbed some pictures last weekend which I'm posting below for your enjoyment. Telluride is truly Unmatched in North America!
Genevieve holds the snow fresh for days after a storm on her high, north-facing slopes:
Andy's Gold and the top of Chair 14 - Gold Hill:
Nice grooming in Prospect Bowl under Chair 12:
Bald Mountain has been open for some great hike-to pow turns:
Nice views from upper Galloping Goose trail:
Looking northeast from High Camp Warming Hut at runs served by Chair 14 and Chair 6:
San Sophia range from High Camp:
The ski conditions are great and the lift lines are short - business as usual at Telluride. Enjoy.
- Dave
P.S. Feel free to post a comment or question - we love to hear from you.
December 23, 2007
Hi Folks,
The ski patrol department opened the remainder of Black Iron Bowl - up to Mountain Quail today. This spectacular expert hike-to terrain off of the top of Chair 12 is really incredible.
I'd like to sincerely thank our entire ski patrol team, Pat Ahern - Director of Ski Patrol and Risk Mgmt., and Jeff Proteau - VP of Mtn. Ops. for making this happen in December - it's a phenomenal accomplishment of which you should be very proud. You've all made a lot of people very happy with your performance. Great job!
Please feel free to post a comment. - Dave
P.S. I'd like to post some pictures but my community software is not allowing uploading to the blog for some reason :( I'll get it fixed asap.
Hi Folks,
Patrol is marching their way up Prospect Ridge. They were able to open Westlake and Lakeview for public skiing today in Black Iron Bowl. More updates to come. Stay tuned and feel free to post a comment. Thank you. - Dave
December 15, 2007
Hi Folks,
It was a beautiful day again. Everyone was tearing it up today - having the best time. Jeep King of the Mountain Skiercross was today - a very impressive competition.
Here are a few pictures I captured today. I'll start with a view from the top of Chair 12:
Terrain under Chair 14:
Telluride guests skiing Little Rose with Palmyra Peak and Black Iron Bowl in the background:
View of San Joaquin Bowl from the top of Chair 14:
Lower San Joaquin Bowl:
Start of the Jeep King of the Mountain course right below Gorrono Ranch:
Sunset Plaza in Mountain Village:
Super nice beginner terrain, views, and grooming on Ute Park, Chair 11:
Off the top of Chair 11 looking at Gold Hill on the left and Palmyra Peak on the right:
Top of Chair 12:
View of Alta Lakes from the hike up to Genevieve above the top of Chair 12:
A little exercise up Prospect Ridge:
Almost there!:
Patrol has started avalanche control work in Black Iron Bowl. With the high pressure and zonal flow forecast for the next several days, we might be able to open it before the next storm. You can see the remnant of an avalanche from the center to lower left of this picture. Stay tuned to the Blog and Website for details on how Patrol's work progresses. In the meantime, until we announce it's open, please stay out of this area.
Telluride Ski Resort is "Unmatched in North America" - on many levels. Enjoy!
Feel free to post a comment - we love to hear from you! - Dave
December 14, 2007
Hi Folks,
It's going to be a great, fantastic, wonderful, amazing, and incredible weekend at Telluride Ski Resort!
All chairs will be turning. Here are some additional details regarding trails:
All runs on Chair 14 / Gold Hill are scheduled to open (with the possibility of a delay for avalanche control but patrol tells me it's looking good).
Chair 12 / Prospect Bowl, will be open with excellent conditions. All runs will be open except Patrol says that Confidence, Crystal, La Rosa, Genevieve might open Saturday but don't hold them to it and don't expect these runs open early - due to additional avalanche work.
On the north side of the resort, of course all runs off Chair 9 are open except East Drain. Additional access down to town is also available on Telluride Trail, Coonskin, North Chute, Jaws, and Bail Out.
On Lift 10 the following runs will be open: Sundance, Enchanted Forest, and Double Cabins.
Please do not ski any closed areas.
Enjoy the fantastic conditions! Feel free to post a comment - we love to hear from you! - Dave
December 12, 2007
Hi Folks,
It was clearly some of the best ski conditions, if not the best, for opening day at Chair 9. Lots of people came out for the fresh snow and blue sky.
We had the lift stop for about 20 minutes early afternoon due to an electrical problem that has been since fixed. I appologize for the inconvenience.
All is good and it was a day to remember! Here are a few pictures:
Lower Bushwacker - perfect coverage:
Upper Plunge:
Pinhead, no sticks, no stones:
So nice:
Perfect North Slopes:
Prospect Basin opens this Saturday:
Beautiful Telluride view:
My assistant, Elaine Giuliani is all smiles at the top of Chair 9. Thanks for all the great work you do Elaine!:
This coming weekend and the X-Mas holiday is going to be really great. We're opening all the chairs Saturday. More details will follow regarding terrain in the next blog. Stay tuned, relax, and enjoy Telluride! - Dave
P.S. Please feel free to post a comment, we love to hear from you!
December 10, 2007
Hi Folks,
I want to share with you our plan for opening the rest of our lifts. This is the ramp up:
December 11 - Chairs 4,5,6, Gondola, Chondola.
December 12 - Chairs 4,5,6,7,9, Gondola, Chondola. Notes: Access from top of 7 to bottom of 9 via Telluride Trail to Lower Lookout. Access out of 9 from the top terminal to See Forever. Lift 7 open all day for uploading and downloading.
December 13 - Same as December 12.
December 14 - Same as December 12.
December 15 - All lifts except 2 (platter lift). New Magic Carpet TBD. Notes: Lift 8 provides lift access only to 9. Lift 12, all trails will be open but hike-to terrain is TBD later this week. Lift 14 ski-out on See Forever only and other trails off 14 TBD later this week. Backcountry gates TBD later this week.
It's snowing again, conditions are awesome, and Telluride is set up for a great season! Let me know if you have any questions or comments by posting a comment. Thank you - Dave
December 9, 2007
Hi Folks,
It was a beautiful day on the slopes today. We've enjoyed three snow storms over the last three weeks which has really turned things in Telluride's favor.
The Ski Patrol Department, Grooming Department, and Snowmaking Department are all working hard to prepare the mountain for a great season. Elevation Imaging (located at Mountain Village), was kind enough to provide me with a picture of our winch cat using a custom roller to compact the snow on the steep terrain off gold hill:
The views were perfect today:
Polar Queen is so nice:
No wind, blue sky, and a great Sunday with fresh snow:
Palmyra's nice soft bumps:
Late afternoon turns:
This afternoon's weather maps are showing a good possibility of yet another snow storm Monday night into Tuesday with continued cold temperatures. That would be icing on the cake!
Stay tuned - Dave
P.S. Please feel free to post a comment - we love to hear from you!
Hi Folks,
Just wanted to let you all know that Chair 9 will open for the season at 9:00 am on Wednesday, December 12th. It will remain closed until then.
We've already been grooming it and we're all hoping for additional snow tonight and potentially another shot on Monday or Monday night. We'll groom it again, let it cure, then enjoy on Wednesday. I highly recommend being here if possible for this opening - it will be very worthwhile.
We realize some people would like us to open Chair 9 earlier. We believe this is the best thing to do to in order to prepare this pod for a very high-quality and sustained opening. It will ski and look great by approaching it this way - promise.
-- Good things come to people who wait --. Thank you for your patience. - Dave
Hi Folks,
As many of you know, Chair 9 at Telluride Ski Resort is considered "Unmatched in North America" for big, long, steep, advanced runs. As you can see, the sky was getting dark with the approaching snow storm this afternoon:
I wanted to go check out how the conditions were looking in the Chair 9 pod today so I grabbed Jeff Proteau, VP - Mountain Operations plus some local 2 plankers from the Telluride Daily Planet to do a little product evaluation (PE) today. Here's a picture of Reilly Caps, Jeff Proteau, Matt Beaudin, and Nick Wolcott:
Here's Matt and Jeff tearing it up:
Your's truly with Matt looking on. The light was flat but the snow was sweet:
Patrol has been dealing with some avalanche activity in the pod:
Jeff was lovin' it:
Matt wanted to throw himself off these cliffs but had to restrain himself until we open:
We're not going to open the Chair 9 pod for the public until we get another good snowstorm, patrol does it's work, grooming does it's work, and the snow cures a bit. I want to make sure it's really good and stays that way - this is the way to go. It should be soon with this good initial base coverage and the weather forecast.
The NOAA weather forecast says:
...SNOW ACCUMULATIONS BEGIN TONIGHT AND INCREASE ON THURSDAY...
FOLLOWED BY A STRONGER STORM THAT WILL BRING SIGNIFICANT SNOW TO
THE MOUNTAINS THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY...
We received two big snow storms over the last two weekends. Let's make this weekend three in a row!
Feel free to post a comment, we love to hear from you! - Dave
Hi folks,
I had the good fortune to check out the conditions in the Chair 12 (Prospect Basin) area today. The Ski Patrol was out today doing extensive avalanche control work on Bald Mountain and Prospect Ridge, with significant results. They also accomplished some great ski packing on some of the steep terrain on the north faces of Prospect Ridge. Grooming used the giant roller / winch cat on the steep terrain and a packer bar on the more gentle terrain. Lift Operations was busy building the loading and unloading ramps. A sincere THANK YOU goes out to the team!
We're not quite ready to open Prospect Basin but it's getting close. Below are some images I grabbed today.
Tom Watkinson, TSG Communications Manager, and I hosted a group of people from Skiing Magazine for 4 runs of untracked in an area that didn't interfere with mountain operations prep work. Needless to say, the lucky group was thrilled!
The beautiful High Camp Warming Hut at 11,815' awaits guests:
The Skiing team clearly knows how to utilize pow efficiently for maximum thrills:
The view north toward the San Sophia Range can't be beat:
Except possibly by the view of Palmyra Peak from Chair 12:
Black Iron Bowl looms large:
The forecast maps are interesting for later this week. Let's keep our fingers crossed for more of the good stuff.
Feel free to post a comment. We love to hear from you! - Dave
Hi Folks,
Okay, for those of you who were not here today, you may not want to continue reading this blog post. It could cause extreme frustration :)
It was one of those Telluride days that will be hard to forget! You know what I mean - listening to people in the trees and on the lift yelling "whoa", "yeah", "wow", "whoo hooo".
Face shots of pow, corduroy, sunshine, no wind, temperature in the mid-teens, etc., etc. Life was really good for those who were fortunate enough to partake. Below are a few images I captured.
By afternoon the Palmyra run under Chair 5 had started to form nice round soft bumps:
Chair 6, Woozley's Way, Wilson Peak:
Nice view of the box canyon:
Wison Peak from Gorrono Ranch:
Gorrono Ranch awaits the powder hounds for lunch:
Skiers enjoying the new menu at Gorrono Ranch:
Leaving happy tracks:
Making snow all day in the teens on Misty Maiden - getting ready for Jeep King of the Mountain:
Gold Hill, Prospect Basin, and the famous hike-to terrain of Palmyra Peak and Black Iron Bowl - opening soon:
The Plunge awaits opening - soon folks, soon:
Afternoon delight:
I hope you all had as much fun as the Riley family did today!
Post a comment - we love to hear from you! - Dave
December 1, 2007
Hi Folks,
All is good at Telluride Ski Resort!
Last night it actually rained for a period and then it turned to snow after midnight. Rain is very unusual in this area in the winter but a really strong southern warm front pushed up from Baja ahead of a cold front. It was pretty interesting. Since it started snowing again, we've received 16+ inches of new and now have a 38 inch base. It's still snowing this afternoon and it's likely to continue snowing through the night. Sunday is going to be awesome!
Actually, I like the fact that it rained last night. This is a perfect way to build a bomber base. Fresh cold powder is now falling on top of the first layer as the temperature has fallen back to normal this afternoon (20 degrees F).
This "perfect storm" allows us to open more terrain and runs for Sunday, December 2nd. We'll add Chair 5 and all its runs. We'll also add Chair 6 but only for the See Forever run until the Ski Patrol Department decides to open more. We will also open additional runs off of Chair 4 - Upper Boomerang, Peek-A-Boo, and Butterfly.
Below are some pictures I captured today.
Here is a Piston Bully winch cat heading up to Chair 5 to groom the steeper runs:
Here is a picture of Jeff Proteau, Senior Vice President of Resort Operations. Jeff and I were skiing over to Chair 5 this afternoon to check things out and he had a double-toe release cart-wheel experience in deep pow. He's actually a very good skier - it happens to the best of us! I'd like to personally thank Jeff for his hard work and leadership!
The Lift Operations crew was working hard installing new chair pads on Chair 6 today. They're sporting new Patagonia uniforms - a big THANK YOU goes out to them!
The Ski Patrol and Snowmaking crews were working together to install snow fences on lower See Forever. Good teamwork guys, THANK YOU!
Setting snow fence:
Grooming crew on Chair 5 runs this afternoon. They've been working their butts off too - THANK YOU!
My wife and daughter in today's snow storm. They love Telluride like so many people do!
It's really pounding snow early this evening - Sunday is going to be epic.
Feel free to post a comment or question - we love to hear from you! - Dave