First rule of ski and snowboard life is to ski and snowboard where and when it snows. Right? Wrong. The town that is my home, Telluride, Colorado, can be a cold place when it gets snow in the winter. One winter in 2015, the snow fell late and I opted not to come to town at all. A drive to Colorado ski country in late winter is no fun.
However, flying to Colorado in late winter is a dream come true. The last January week, I was due to go skiing but was unable to leave Connecticut for three days. I thought I would send one email to my travel contacts in Colorado telling them I was on the waiting list at the rental shops in Telluride and they would turn me away if I didn’t have a reservation.
Well, I did have a reservation. I was going to rent a pair of bindings because they don’t have any in Telluride at the moment and then I would ski bare feet on the skis. The altitude was quite high and I also put on my hiking boots, because I wasn’t going to bother tying any bindings to my ski boots.
The slopes were crowded and traffic was heavy. It’s not uncommon to fly into Telluride and then stroll up to the back gate to reach the lifts. So, I waited for the tour bus from the rental shop down the hill, back onto the ski trail, down the next chair lift and then into the ski shop. It was 15 minutes of waiting in some pretty crappy weather. Finally, a guide came over to pick me up, informed me that there were no rental ski bindings in Telluride, and that they were out of a pair or two pairs of boots in my size at this time.
I rented both skis and boots from on the web and got them all packed. The price was reasonable. So that’s what I did. I was going to leave, trying to get my ski boots over the Christmas holiday, and there was snow up there in Telluride.
When I woke up the next morning, I’m about 70 miles outside of Telluride. I passed through a snow covered gateway and skied all the way through the woods to the top of Loveland, a major ski run in Colorado. I flew to Denver Airport in the afternoon and a rental company to drive to Telluride to pick me up for the snow rental shop. Oh my gosh! I was skied by the boss. Go Telluride!
The snowfall in Telluride didn’t turn out to be as severe as it was predicted to be. I saw some real brown forest on the way up from Loveland, though.
It’s all about getting to know the hometown. As I mentioned, I booked reservations at Telluride rental shops online, where I got my skis and boots. It’s a very local, very laid back town. Let’s just say the lines didn’t come to be as long as I expected them to. And, also, the rental shops weren’t as expensive as I anticipated them to be. I opted to rent my gear from the web and I loved the ease of accessing rentals through the web. There were also second-hand shops in town. I went to Firehouse Subs and ordered a burger for the shop. A fun dinner.
I also rented a pair of ski boots from Telluride Boot Rentals, but that was to get in shape for another, as I said, long day of skiing. So the end result was that I spent more than I should have to skis and boots, but that’s my story.
Colorado is a great destination for people who like to ski. They are incredibly snow bound during the winter and that’s beautiful. I’m there all the time and don’t mind the weather. As a matter of fact, every once in a while, I buy a jacket because it looks nice, but wearing them is not that fun. The real fun is taking a day off with my family and at that point, anything goes.
And that’s Colorado, my home.