10 Mar Rx from the BootDoctor: A Weekend Trip to Telluride (And Wolf Creek)
“The Southwest Swing#2: A Weekend Trip to Telluride and Wolf Creek,” is another installment in a new series of curations from Penelope Gleason: “Rx from the BootDoctor.”
“Discovering Telluride is like finding the best chocolate Easter treat in a very secret hiding place. You want to stay right there in that hidden spot, savoring every bite – with no thought at all of sharing. In www.blog.Coloradoskicountry.com, Chris Linsmayer describes his quick trip to town for a few turns. To the description of his amazing adventure, we would like to add one more juicey nugget: While in Telluride, check out the most award-winning ski shops in all of the Rockies, yes folks, Bootdoctors.”
And this just in from Telski.
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View from underneath The Plunge, courtesy shot.
After one of the more enjoyable ski trips of my life in the middle of January to Silverton and Purgatory (what I dubbed the Southwest Swing) I’ve been looking for a good weekend to revisit that part of the state and check out more of Colorado’s southwest ski areas. The opportunity presented itself last weekend and I decided to check Telluride and Wolf Creek off my bucket list.
Friday
The weekend started early Friday morning (so I could duck out of work early without feeling too guilty). I cajoled two friends into coming with me, so I picked them up at 2pm and hit the road by 2:15.
First stop on the trip: Telluride, a little town nestled in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, famous for its steep and expert skiing and summer festival lineups. I made my first ever trip to Telluride this past summer for the Bluegrass Festival and knew I needed to get back in the winter after looking at the mountain from town, elevation 8,750. The Thursday night before our trip brought 8 new inches of snow after a bit of a dry spell so we were looking forward to finding some leftover powder stashes. After some heavy traffic out of Denver and off and on snow through Glenwood Springs, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset driving through Grand Junction and were able to snack long enough to make it to Telluride for dinner.
At 8:15 p.m we pulled into the Mountainside Inn, a ten minute walk from the center of town and a five minute walk to the mountain Gondola, and headed straight for Brown Dog Pizza, which was still packed. After ordering a bit too much food (our eyes were way bigger than our stomachs after six hours in the car) we went to the New Sheridan for a few drinks and games of pool, which we managed to not lose too badly.
Saturday
Saturday morning, we woke up at 7:30 to a four inch snow report. We hopped on the 15-minute Gondola ride to Mountain Village and then headed to the Plunge (#9) lift for a few warm up runs. After two quick runs, which also happened to be two of the steepest and breathtaking warmup runs I’ve ever taken, we headed to Apex (#6) and Gold Hill (#14) lifts.
After a few great laps bouncing in and out of tree and mogul runs and pockets of foot-deep powder, we headed off to the backside to the Revelation lift (#15), which besides providing open powder runs also had some intimidating views.
Typical Telluride liftline at Revelation lift and intimidating scenery in the background.
With legs and lungs a little tired, we opted for an outdoor, sitdown lunch at Bon Vivant, which is located at 10,550 ft. No matter where you eat on the mountain, you’ll be eating at altitude with Alpino Vino sitting at 11,996 ft and Guisippis at 11,885 ft. At Bon Vivant I’d highly recommend the cheese plate, the Bonparte and if you have any room left over, a crepe to reward yourself.
BonVivant with Palmyra Peak, which you can hike at 13,320 in the background.
In the afternoon we decided to do a little hiking in search of more powder and spent about 20 minutes hiking to the top of Mt. Baldy off of the Prospect Express (#12). We were rewarded with more great views of the Telluride valley, some nice glade tree skiing and a faceoff with a Porcupine (unfortunately we couldn’t get our phones out to capture the encounter) before wrapping up the day with a few cruisers and some après at Tracks in Mountain Village. One of my friends tracked the day’s progress on Strava: 23,091 vertical feet and 31.4 miles covered, not too shabby!
View from Mt. Baldy with Prospect below Palmyra Peak.
Then we were back in the car on our way to ski area number two of the trip: Wolf Creek…
More about Rx from the BootDoctor:
When the world weighs too heavy on her shoulders, The BootDoctors’ marketing whiz, Penelope Gleason, lightens her load by tuning out the headlines and turning up the volume on lighter, brighter info – such as the story above. “Rx from the BootDoctor,” is all about news to amuse – and use.
Telluride’s The BootDoctors has a well-deserved rep for community service; consider curations such as this one part of that mix.
(And for more, go to – and Like – Bootdoctors’ Facebook page.)
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