When it doesn’t snow for an elongated period in Telluride, there is an established and predictable set of emotional stages, not much different than the five stages of bereavement, that the local ski bum must endure. Although these stages have not yet been published in...
Twenty years ago, when I moved to Telluride, my first job on the ski area was as a lift operator, bumping chairs. I did it because the job came with a ski pass. I didn’t realize the real fringe benefit: Watching people get on and...
The storm for the next few days is an upper-level trough hovering along the California coast. A closed-low will form along the Mexico/Arizona border tomorrow night. It will then move down south along the Baja Peninsula before lifting and moving east into Texas. Before the storm...
To be honest, at the start, there wasn’t very much enthusiasm about hiking up Mountain Quail, a ski run perched at the outer edge of Telluride’s Black Iron Bowl. It sits at roughly 12,500 feet and is only reached after a 30 to 45 minute...
In an effort to increase backcountry safety protocols, the Telluride Mountain Club promotes the use of Backcountry Access Link Radios. Over the past 20 years, Telluride Mountain Club (TMtC) has been fighting to keep access open to Bear Creek, some of Telluride’s most pristine and accessible...
The San Juans are currently between storms with partly cloudy skies and warming temperatures, but by this afternoon an upper level low pressure trough currently forming in the Great Basin will move into western Colorado and mix with moisture flowing into the 4-corners from the...
It’s Thursday morning December 18th. There are four or five inches of new snow, and a thousand reasons why I shouldn’t be in the lift line at 8:45a.m: The Christmas cards I haven’t sent, the stack of papers I haven’t graded, the emails I haven’t...
Clouds are beginning to move into the 4-corners this morning ahead of the next San Juan storm. By later tonight/Sunday morning scattered snow showers will increase as an upper level trough moves into the mountains. With a lack of strong storm dynamics don’t expect more...
PRECIP WILL START SUNDAY MORNING BEFORE BECOMING MORE STEADY NOON ONWARDS WITH THE HEAVIEST PRECIP EXPECTED FROM SUNDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH MONDAY MORNING. SOME HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE A FOOT TO OVER 2 FEET OF SNOW FOR THE PARK/GORE AND ELKHEAD MTNS MAINLY DUE TO A WRLY FLOW...
As parents, we’re supposed to document it all. Her first word, her first tooth, her first step, and if you’re a former ski racer: her first arc. That’s right. The first time she actually arcs her ski using legitimate shin-to-tongue, front-of-the-boot pressure, angulation and the entire...
