Main Street in Telluride, the kind of vista that makes downhill enthusiasts pick up stakes and move to Colorado.
Main Street in Telluride, the kind of vista that makes downhill enthusiasts pick up stakes and move to Colorado.
TELLURIDE
RECOMMENDED BY Paul Zabel
It didn’t take very long for Paul Zabel to fall in love with Telluride.
“It was the winter of 1992, and I was living in Detroit at the time,” Paul began, “and had driven out to Colorado for an extended ski-bumming trip. I had skied many of the big mountains, and was at Breckenridge when I had a call from my mom. She mentioned that a family friend was also visiting Colorado, at a place called Telluride. I’d never heard of it, but she encouraged me to give her a call, so I did. Mom’s friend said, ‘You should come down here, it’s just unbelievable.’ I asked her where it was from Breckenridge, and she said it was five hours south. I drove down. As I drove east on Highway 145 into the historic section of the town, I told myself, ‘If you ever take this view for granted, then you should leave.’ I spent two days in town. Then I drove back to Michigan, quit my job, canceled the lease on my apartment, borrowed $1,000 from my folks, and drove back. Right now I’m seven months into my twenty-first year.
“It’s difficult to say why after two days in Telluride I made the move. The formula includes a number of factors. First, there’s the scenery. Most of the land around Telluride [including the ski area] is national forest property; the undeveloped surroundings always put Telluride near the top of the best-of lists for ski area scenery. Then there’s the historic Victorian town, the quality of the ski area, the weather (three hundred days of sunshine a year), the friendly locals … and the fact that the nearest stoplight is sixty-five miles away, which was quite a change from navigating the six-lane highways around Detroit. Overall, there’s a special vibe that makes Telluride a nirvana for someone who likes the outdoors.”
Telluride’s transformation from mining town to skiing town came relatively recently compared to other Colorado resorts. The first lift went up in 1972; the last mine closed six years later. The area grew slowly at first; development efforts were hampered by several bad snow years. But founder Joe Zoline persevered. Music and film festivals drew outsiders to the region, and as the area grew, it developed a “best kept secret” reputation … which of course drew even more visitors. The mountains around Telluride were rumored to be a drop-off point for Mexican drug smugglers, and this burnished the town with a bit of a Wild West image; it was even featured in the song “Smugglers Blues,” by the Eagles’ Glenn Frey, on the ubiquitous cocaine-centric TV series Miami Vice:
They move it through Miami, sell it in L.A.,
They hide it up in Telluride,
I mean it’s here to stay.
As more and more celebrities descended on the southwestern Colorado town, the counterculture reputation gave way to one of rugged mountain chic. But limited development has helped reinforce the proposition of Telluride’s tagline: “The most beautiful place you will ever ski.”
With more than three hundred inches of dry snow and 3,845 feet of vertical (4,425 feet if you’re willing to hike a bit) spread over two thousand acres, Telluride offers plenty of terrain to explore. Paul shared a few of his favorite spots. “Bear Creek is one of those skiing landmarks that is always a point of contention. It’s one of the holy grails of off-piste in North America but it comes at a price. The San Juan Mountains have a notoriously unstable snowpack, and Bear Creek has taken many lives. There is also a property dispute with mining claim owners over whether or not skiing there is trespassing. That being said, if you are a savvy backcountry enthusiast and know the lines, it provides for some of the most scenic, steepest, and deepest runs anywhere, runs that extend for over three thousand feet. Chair 9 is an iconic triple on the north side of the area that holds great snow and has long, steep, thinned-out tree shots. You’ll enjoy the long, dry, north-facing powder lines and snow-eating grins at the bottom. If you have the energy, another must for advanced skiers is Palmyra Peak. It’s more than thirteen thousand feet and an hour’s hike from the top of Chair 12. Follow the billy-goat path up and drop into one of the biggest inbounds lines anywhere. The Gold Hill Chutes are to the skier’s right—ten more huge hike-to lines that are also inbounds.
“When you get a powder day at Telluride, you’ll want to have your skis in line at Chair 8 as early as you can. You’re probably fifteenth in line if you get there an hour before the lifts start up. Next, run over to Baked in Telluride for a coffee and bagel. Standing in line with all of the hard-core locals, you just feel the energy as everyone anticipates getting into the fresh champagne powder. Every local has their own private hidden stash. You’d make a couple of quick laps off Chair 9, then drop into the trails off of Chair 6 until the patrol drops the rope accessing Gold Hill. When I can’t stand up anymore I’ll go to Gorrano Ranch—a midmountain food service that used to be an old sheepherders’ cabin—to drink a bunch of water, then beer. As friends gather—you never ski with anyone on a good day because it will just slow you down and, as the saying goes, ‘There’s no friends on a powder day’—you make plans to hot tub somewhere before the après-ski parties. I usually go to the Last Dollar Saloon, locally called the Buck, and then finish at the Sheridan Bar, which has been around since the mining days. Sometimes we’ll go out for a nice dinner at Hongas, a pan-Asian favorite, or just grab a dog from Eric’s Diggity Dog cart on Main Street.”
One of Paul’s most memorable days on the slopes at Telluride came in the winter of 1995. “It had snowed for five or six days in a row, with a minimum accumulation of twelve inches per day,” he recalled. “I got up early for work and had to wear my bibs for the walk across town. When I got there, I saw other employees heading out the door so I grabbed a snowboard and just went to the lift line. The actor Kiefer Sutherland was in line in front of me and my bosses were behind me. I knew my time was short so I took Chair 7 and then cut over to 9. I didn’t like the traffic on the runs off 9 from my vantage point on the chair, so I dropped off the back into Apex Glade. On my way, I saw people just starting to cut over to Gold Hill, so I decided to commit and just go for one glory run. As I made my way across the top to a gladed area, I noticed that the snow was as deep and light as I’d ever seen … ever! I made my way down through the trees. Looking back at the snow coming off my board, it appeared just like a water-ski spray. My heel cuts would kick the snow up almost like a tunnel or a wave tube and then I’d board out of it. My whole body was touching the snow on every turn, like dragging your elbow waterskiing. I was sure at the time that that run was the pinnacle of my downhill life and it would never get that good again.
“Thus far, it hasn’t.”
PAUL ZABEL graduated from Haworth College of Business (Western Michigan University) in 1992 with a degree in management and a minor in general business. He moved to Telluride in 1993. Paul has been involved in a number of successful property management and real estate entities in Telluride. Today he is co-owner of Elevation Vacations and Telluride Property Services. Paul is a passionate skier, and also enjoys traveling, snowmobiling, dirt biking, rafting, hiking, camping, and fly-fishing. His favorite spots outside of Telluride are Spain, Costa Rica (where his son was born), and the Bahamas.
If You Go
Getting There: The Montrose-Telluride area is served by Allegiant (www.allegiantair.com), American Airlines (800-433-7300; www.aa.com), and Delta Airlines (800-221-1212; www.delta.com).
Season: Telluride is generally open from late November through early April.
Lift Tickets: A two-day ticket at Telluride begins at $127. Multi-day tickets are available; discounted tickets may be purchased seven days in advance at www.tellurideskiresort.com.
Level of Difficulty: Telluride’s 125 trails are classified as 23 percent beginner; 36 percent intermediate; 41 percent advanced.
Accommodations: Visit Telluride (888-605-2578; www.visittelluride.com) lists hotel options around the ski area. Elevation Vacations (888-728-8160; www.elevationvacations.com) offers a host of rental properties.
