Conditions Report
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Given the current skiing status around the greater Lake Tahoe area, a quick decision was made to skip town and head to Telluride to find some snow over the Martin Luther King holiday. I have been frequenting Telluride almost yearly since 1998 and whether Winter or Summer, it is definitely a place that the whole family can enjoy…even for a stubborn father looking for some steeper turns.
With amazing bluebird weather in the low 40s and total snowfall around 130 inches, it was the ideal weekend to ski with the kids and for dad to explore on the Ski School days. As far as terrain, everything was basically open except for the lines beyond Mountain Quail up to Palmyra and a few on the middle Gold Hill Chutes. The early morning groomers were fast and chalky with equally impressive views. At the end of the day, we really enjoyed lapping Revelation Bowl due to the ridiculous views of Bear Creek and the Wasatch Trail to the steep groomer of Silvercloud and the smooth windblown and fun cliffs near the Boundary. Other than that, some great meals, and the Telluride Fire Festival were icing on the cake to a perfect weekend on the slopes.
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Day One – Mt. Wilson says hello to bluebird skies…
Who’s stoked to ride?…
My buddy Dan tagged along on the family trip…
Telluride views are decent…I guess.
My 6 year old attempting to race Dad on Polar Queen…
Dan was really loving these groomers…
Off to Revelation Bowl…
Hey Bro, can you ride black diamonds???
After lunch Dan and I ventured over to Dynamo off Gold Hill…
I searched for some features on the 2nd lap…
You can really see forever on See Forever…
Picked up the 3 year old and she still wanted to ride…
For the last lap of the day, my son and I headed up Chair 10 to ride Sundance. The views of Palmyra Peak and adjacent backcountry were an added bonus…
The Telluride Fire Festival ran all weekend…and now my son wants to go to Burning Man.
Day Two – Without kids in tow, Dan and I headed straight to Revelation Bowl for some fun…
Revelation Bowl is located just above the infamous Bear Creek…
I spy Dan performing his invisible gate technique…
The skier’s left gully had some nice pockets of smooth windblown…
The skier’s right side held another smooth line down to the chair…
Dan finds some rocks near the bottom boundary…
I followed him…
Dan was having a blast…
Did I mention the veiws of the surrounding backcountry?
On the way to lunch, we did a few laps on Gold Hill…
Dan finds some cut up freshies in the sun…
A salad can be THAT good…
Day Three – Our itinerary included doing a few walks up to Dihedral Chute and Gold Hill Chute #7…Palymyra Peak needs a bit more love to open.
Between lapping groomers are first objective was the Dihedral area…
Usually stuff that requires a hike leans more on the ‘good’ side…
We skied the main Dihedral Face that had a intimidating rollover…
Rollover mitigated…
Here is a view of our second hike of the day…Palmyra Basin and Gold Hill Chutes 7-10
But before heading up there, Dan and I skied Upper Nice Chute in Black Iron Bowl…
Only a few tracks…we’ll take it!
I always go off this…why not?
A bit lower, I traversed into Review and found some untracked turns with a few rocks…
On the hike to the Gold Hill Chutes, the San Joaquin Couloir came into view with a few tracks inside it…
Dan begins to lay down his descent into Gold Hill #7…
Its a bit sharky in here…
A few more moguls than I would have hoped but its REAL SNOW!
On the exit, we found some ‘toes up’ pow turns…
Time to grab the kids and my 3 year old still wants to ride more chairs…
And how did you feel when the lifts closed???
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fkna nice trip, and nice TR!!