Telluride, Colorado is a mountain paradise few Australians know about

For most Australian visitors, this Colorado resort is off the radar, but it’s a place where skiers, boarders and lovers of the après are spoiled for choice.

Jeremy Drake

5 min read

October 20, 2024 - 4:46PM

Lifestyle

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“They call us Matinee Mountain,” my rental gear assistant tells me with a broad, cheeky smile. “We open at 9am most days, maybe 11am, but by 1pm, you might be skiing.”

His comment is delivered with the spoilt confidence that can only come from a snowboarder who has learned to pick and choose his riding days in the idyllic San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. Like most tourists who visit the Rockies in winter, I’m the opposite. I’m awake at 7am, have breakfast by 8am, and am always first in line as soon as the lifts start turning. That’s how much stoke I have for these hills.

But here in Telluride we’re a long way from the traditional ranges and ski resorts you might find in Summit County just outside Denver. The peaks here – about a seven-hour drive from Colorado’s capital – are huge, untamed and rugged and receive more snow and sun than anywhere else in the state. It’s a slice of mountain paradise that doesn’t get the typical crowds and is largely unknown to Australian visitors.

The picturesque Telluride Mountain Village.

And when I say “slice”, I use the term metaphorically and literally. The mountain town of Telluride (elevation 2667m) is etched into a box canyon like someone has used a giant cake knife to dig out the cowboy-era saloons, colourful matchbox homes and boutiques that now line the streets. There’s just one road in and out of the town, surrounded by gargantuan 4000m precipices draped in mist and snow.

I tackle my first morning on the mountain cautiously with a snowboard under my feet, my vision slightly blurry from an overindulgent night before. We’d dined in an upmarket Japanese restaurant called Kazahana, hidden in a nondescript basement, before bootscooting beneath the pressed-tin ceilings of the New Sheridan Hotel.

After one too many Flatliners (a famous local cocktail of vodka, Kahlúa, Baileys Irish Cream and a shot of espresso) at the Last Dollar Saloon, I should have listened to the advice of my rental guy from earlier and gone for the matinee show today. But our guide has promised me a tour of the famous Revelation and Prospect bowls and an early lunch at one of Telluride’s two fine-dining European restaurants perched on the mountain.

Telluride in the San Juan Mountains. Picture: Visit Telluride

That is the great contradiction visitors often face in a place like Telluride. You might want a slow afternoon matinee, but you’re guaranteed a prime-time show every day you’re here.

At Bon Vivant restaurant, we sip prosecco in the Colorado sun, sharing food from dishes splayed on the table in front of us. Our host, Tom, is warm and friendly (maybe it’s the 11am prosecco talking), but I’d happily name my next son after him. There’s an unmatched friendliness and hospitality that comes from an isolated, independent mountain town.

It’s showtime again, and we set off after lunch to tackle more of the 800 skiable hectares of terrain. From the steepest run, Senior’s, on Palmyra Peak, with its neck-craning, heart-thumping 52 degrees of pitch to the longest run on the mountain (the Galloping Goose), a 7.4km gentle sojourn through dappled light that pierces the aspen trees on either side, there’s something for all abilities here.

Skiing Telluride. Picture: Visit Telluride

The best part of Telluride’s diversity of terrain is that you don’t have to be a professional skier or snowboarder to be treated to the real Colorado on-mountain experience. No one should fly to Colorado’s Rockies and get stuck on the bunny slopes without any views.

After skiing, most visitors will take The Plunge as their final descent. This classic run offers views of the old town and surrounding peaks. But for those who just can’t bring themselves to leave, Telluride’s famous “Snow Beach” at Gorrono Ranch has the best afternoon island vibe of any ski mountain in the world, supposing Swiss and French après culture is the current Instagram-worthy benchmark you’re used to seeing online. This historic saloon (a Basque sheep herder’s farm back in the 19th century) now has festoon lights, live music, chilli bowls, affordable craft beer and views, elevating the American après experience to another level.

Watch locals and tourists mingle and sway to tunes from the ski lifts, lounging on deck chairs around open fires, their jackets off but goggles still on, as the sun slowly drops behind Mount Wilson.

The Telluride Gondola to Mountain Village.

All accommodation, dining options and bars are split between the historic town and a second on-snow mountain village. The Mountain Village, as it’s aptly named, is a modern, more upmarket contrast to the old town. They are linked by a free gondola and shuffling between them is simple. It’s also part of the Telluride experience.

The owners and team at Lumière with Inspirato have capitalised on the duality of this unique Coloradan offering by giving guests a taste of both Mountain Village and Downtown, splitting stays between Lumière and their other property, Dunton Town House.

Lumière is small compared to most on-mountain ski chalets I’ve visited in Aspen, Vail, or even the nearby mega-resorts in Utah. With just 11 hotel rooms and 18 residences in one- to three-bedroom configurations, guests have a fully self-contained experience with a concierge, breakfast hamper on arrival, access to a fitness room, spa, sauna and warm plunge pool, and a ski valet for on-site equipment rentals.

Penthouse hot tub at Lumiere with Inspirato, Telluride.

After dinner and another night of wandering the streets (yes, more Flatliners are consumed), we retire to one of the two common areas in the four-room renovated cottage for carte blanche access to an extensive whiskey bar and fully stocked kitchen.

We drink and laugh into the night, conjuring up visions of Butch Cassidy and his cronies, who might have done the same thing in one of these cottages just before they robbed their first-ever bank in Downtown.

In the late 19th century, before wide-eyed miners or cowboys like Cassidy made the perilous journey to Telluride to seek their fortunes, they were warned with the phrase “To hell you ride!”

Snowmobiling in Telluride. Picture: Jeremy Drake

So it’s only fitting that our time in Telluride ends not at the resort but perched on the back of a snowmobile, exploring a 100-year-old abandoned mine with local touring company Telluride Outfitters.

If the resort is Matinee Mountain, we’re most certainly now in its uncompromising and raw backstage. As explorers would have experienced on horseback, the rugged peaks disappear into the thick cloud cover before us as we ascend the snowy trail.

To hell you may ride, but in Telluride you’ll find your own kind of paradise. With so much history, independence, gastronomical adventure and remoteness, this mountain drama is one I’ll be dying to attend an encore performance of soon.

The writer was a guest of the Colorado Tourism Office.