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Title: |
The waiting is almost over |
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Author: |
By Katie Klingsporn |
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Date: |
11/25/2009 |
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The waiting is almost over
Telski is hard at work this week getting the mountain ready to open this Thursday. Here, Sno-Cat operator Joe Stiles levels out the snow underfoot at the skier loading area for Lift 1 while lift operators Molly Johnson and Sam Last assist. [Photo by Merrick Chase]
Telluride Ski Area opens on Thursday
By Katie Klingsporn
Associate Editor
Published: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 9:58 PM CST
Snow blowers blast geysers of white stuff onto the hills. A new crop of employees is trained in the art of ticket checking. And skiers count down the days, finding promise in each early season snowfall.
On Thursday, all the preparation pays off when the Telluride Ski Area fires up its lifts for the first day of the 2009/10 winter season.
The ski season commences at 9 a.m., when Lift 4 will haul its first load of skiers up the mountain. The Chondola will also be running.
Telluride Ski and Golf Company CEO Dave Riley said the ski area is hoping to get Lifts 5 and 6 going as well, but with a few spots still pretty thin, that will be a last-minute decision. If those two lifts were running, they would only allow skiers to access See Forever, he said. “Even if we don’t get it for Thursday, those areas should be open shortly thereafter,” Riley said.
So on Thursday, skiers should expect the usual collection of first day cruisers: those easy to moderate groomers around Lift 4.
While the ski area will open with a puff of smoke — only offering a fraction of its runs — the coming season brings big promise in all kinds of terrain available for the taking.
Telski will open Gold Hill Chutes 2 through 5 to skiers, along with new, easier access to the Gold Hill Ridge. With the addition of 2 through 5, skiers will have access to all 10 of the steep, cliff-hugging chutes that fall off Gold Hill Ridge.
Over the summer, Telski crews spent a lot of time blasting a new Sno-Cat road from the top of Revelation up to the Gold Hill Ridge, which should make the trek up there a lot easier, Riley said. In addition, crews built a new “European style” bridge between Chutes 8 and 9.
Riley said most people haven’t experienced Chute 9, a sweet run that pours into wide-open Palmyra Basin. But they should.
“It’s really big. It’s really going to blow people away, and we’ve made it easier to get to know with the short hike,” he said.
For the past few years, Telski has pulled back the curtains on more and more terrain — building a new lift in Revelation Bowl, opening Black Iron Bowl and Gold Hill 6 through 10.
And this year, the opening of Gold Hill 2 through 5 isn’t the end of the story. The U.S. Forest Service will be installing two new backcountry gates on the mountain. A gate near the top of Lift 9 will allow skiers passage into Lower Bear Creek, and a gate atop the craggy Palmyra Peak will allow skiers to travel off its backside into Lena and Alta Lakes basins.
In addition to the on-slope work, Telski has built a three-tiered deck with seating for 50 at Alpino Vino — the resort’s tiny bistro, which is perched near the top of Gold Hill. Down at the base of Chair 4 at the Hop Garden, meanwhile, Telski has opened a new outdoor bar and beer garden.
Riley said that much of Telski’s early season preparations have been devoted to creating a world-class course for the upcoming 2010 Visa U.S. Snowboardcross Cup — a World Cup event slated to land in Telluride Dec. 17-20.
The importance of this event shouldn’t be understated, Riley said, as the event has the potential to reveal this little pocket of Colorado to a global audience.
“I think the most important thing is that it exposes the world to Telluride,” he said, adding that Telluride will be splashed in papers and on television in places where people have never heard about it.
With the recession and the cut backs in spending that have come out of it, Riley said he doesn’t exactly expect a banner year. But he knows that the skiers will still come.
“We’re cautiously optimistic. I think we could see somewhat of a repeat of last year. We had people here, but they were not spending as much,” he said.
But bookings and reservations look strong so far, he said, and the early season storms definitely helped. Telski’s approach, he said, is to continue to offer skiers an outstanding experience.
“The economy will eventually be better, so we want [our guests] to remember their experience here,” he said.
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