Telluride

[carver]

Ok folks, What are the best carve runs in Teluride? I will be there the last week in January.

[JoelP]

what ever they groom, it's a hit or miss pending grooming. Milk run off chair 7 is awesome if it gets groomed, Bushwacker off chair 9 is great, See forever from the top but just beware of skiers flying by and that goes for the Plunge too. Completely forget about going over to chair 10...flat.. Misty Maiden is fun warm up run. Buckskin under chair 7 can be good at times.

that's about it. Can be good if the groomers hit those runs but it's not consistent.

Joel

[David Glynn]

Ditto to what Joel posted. I would add that Look Out is a great run also. There is almost something steep groomed every day. However the grooming the past couple of years has been pretty poor but they have new grooming equipment this year and maybe they will learn how to use it; I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Bushwacker was groomed ok two days ago but still a little soft but Look Out has been stellar. Milk Run is not ready yet , just bumps. Coonskin has been good.

There is also a short, steep,and narrow little shot called Cat's Paw leaving the bottom of lift 9. If its groomed ( almost every day) and empty ( only in the morning ) it's a challenging little shot of maybe 15 turns. TIGHT! Went down it today on my 181 pure race Coiler and it was quite an effort to keep it on the trail!!

Carver look me up when you are down this way.

As Joel indicated watch your back on some of the trails. Telluride is not a crowded mountain overall but like Sun Valley has some good skiers that like to go fast , and some not so good skiers that like to go fast.

[carver]

Thanks guys for the info. I'm not looking for steep. Blues that are wide and long will do just fine. I've banged all the bumps and done all the steeps I need. At 65 years old, I'll cruise. Tim

[David Glynn]

Blue runs of interest to you may be: See For Ever, Look Out, Misty Maiden, Polar Queen, Sun Dance, Boomerang and others.

Have you ever been here before?

[carver]

Dave: The last time I was there was in 1972. I snow cat skied with Billy Mahoney. Send me an email and I will send you pics of the posters. Tim

[Speedzilla]

Last time I was there I had a great time off of Chair 12.

Bushwacker can be very nice too.

[carver]

Thanks guys for the info. I know it's a skiers mountain just like Sun Valley where I ski bummed in the early 60's

[Speedzilla]

Oh yeah.....See Forever is an awesome carving run.

[David Glynn]

Speedzilla Would you by any chance know Shawn Foy

[Speedzilla]

The name sounds familiar for some reason...

[David Glynn]

Shawn is a ripping hard booter and kiter. Lives in the Saint Paul area.

[JoelP]

Indian,

Is Shawn there now? there's a guy on the snow kiting forum that goes by STF that is in tride right now and he has his kiting gear. If I wasn't so stuck here at the moment I would come down to ride and kite.

If that's him tell him I like his Avatar. Wish I had one of those to play with. it's an inside hint and only he would know what I mean.

Joel

[David Glynn]

Joel, I don't know if STF is the same guy or not. I'm very ignorant about kiting so I've never been to that site. Shawn usually gives me a call when he comes to town and I haven't heard from him. I'll see Scottie Kennett Tomorrow and I'll ask him if Shawn's around. He wouldn't pop in without calling one of us.

[Guest FaceOnMars]

Milk Run is not ready yet , just bumps.

... bite your tounge David; MR was one of the crown jewels of the mountain (especially in the springtime) before the cats were released to wreak their havoc! It was truly one of the more unique runs on the mountain. Even B.G. (before grooming), you could still carve or gs on rider's left & take a zipper line down the center.

Guess I'm in the wrong place to go on a rant, but stumbled upon this forum (which is excellent) while looking for an old '93 Kelly Slopestyle to mount up and ride (no, it will NOT go on a wall):

Anyone come across any of these for sale?

Hope all is well up the road! :)

EB

[JoelP]

When I had my shop there I sold the "No groomers" stickers, the ones that had the Cats in the No circles. Funny how things have changed.

haven't seen one of those boards for a long time, I'll look around some fo the second hand shops here in the Roaring Fork Valley.

joel

[Guest FaceOnMars]

funny about the stickers, was your store Freewheelin'?

Thanks for looking for the CK board, definitely not necessary though. I've noticed collectors are very persistent these days, so I'm not holding my breath ... my guess is they're pretty much all in collector's hands or the landfill.

[David Glynn]

Face on Mars,

I'm bitting my tounge but it's hard to do when I'm laughing.

We must be neighbors if you live in Ophir. Maybe I'll be able to guess your identity if you won't reveal yourself but it shouldn't be too hard, being that there are less than 150 of us Ophiricans.

Yeah milky was an awesome run before they started covering it with man made and grooming it, but you got to roll with the punches; and if the punch is grooming milky then I'll roll with my 181 coiler pure race.

Speaking of grooming ,Buschwacker would be the best bump run in the country hands down if they wouldn't groom it. They leave us no choice but to dig trenches. But being a bump junky I wouldn't mind it if their winch cat broke down for a season or two.

Looking at your quiver it seems that you are in need of a carving board so come on over and I'll set you up with something for a little while.

Yeah Joel , how things have changed. When I'm teaching skiing I often tell my clients that if you want to call yourself a good skier you need to learn to be good in the bumps. I then explain how the groomed is the artificial slope

and the bumps are the natural progression of the snowpack through skier traffic. If you can't ski the natural then your not good..........YET. As much as I love the bumps I must say I'm addicted to the groomed.Not to mention powder.

[Guest FaceOnMars]

David,

This is Eric B. in the new place at the base of waterfall trailhead. It wouldn't be too hard to guess ... probably more like 1/15 vs. 1/150 odds given the number of hardcore skiers in Ophir.

I wish I could roll with the punches on MR. It's about time for my annual letter/rant to the Daily Planet! I guess everyone who's been here long enough has "their run" which was hi-jacked by the ski co. Came to Telluride in '95 so a bumped out bushwacker was a little before my time, but I can imagine!

What gets me most about the grooming @ Telluride is that it's essentially been a marketing tactic to provide access to those who couldn't otherwise negotiate advanced terrain. More precisely, I believe there's traditionally been a targeted marketing drive to provide multi-day full mountain access (regardless of ability level) to those individuals profiled to purchase real estate. There's simply not a ton of naturally occurring "advanced intermediate" terrain (comparatively speaking) ... so they go out and make it. If Telluride were the carving mecca of the world (or even runner up), it'd be A LOT easier to accept and roll with the punches.

Nonetheless, I don't mean to sound elitist ... when I have visitors who ski/snowboard once a year (at most), I'm psyched to be able to bring them to the top of Gold Hill so they (and others who would otherwise not be able to get down from there if it weren't for grooming) can simply experience being in such an amazing spot!

Thanks for the offer on trying a carving setup. I'd be interested, but my feet have gotten so bad over the years that I have a hard time using all but the softest boots ... my feet hurt just looking at hard boots! You're welcome to try out a Fish as well ... it's great in the powder, trees, drains, and slush (lift 6 in the spring).

Take it ez,

Eric

[JoelP]

Okay, we kind of hijacked this thread but since it still deals with Telluride in general then I guess it's okay.

No my shop wasn't Freewheelin, it was the Ski Service Center at the base of chair 7, not there anymore as we were bought out by Kenny Gart. I moved on to the real carving mecca...Aspen..quite awhile ago but spent the majority of my time in Telluride and still feel it's my other home.

You should give SB hardboots a try, they are so comfortable, my feet scream at me in softies but I can go days in the hardboots. I ride a Fish too and only in hardboots, again the softies hurt me so bad. I can see a Fish ruling down there!!!!! David rides those damn ski boots as his hard boots. Things have changed in boots dramatically and even more so with the new titanal boards. Hard boots that flex rule and if they flex a lot even better. I ride my hard boots in walk mode and have converted a lot of people into that mode. David some day you need to try a new hard boot out but you may be stuck in the old ways..

if you ever come this way give me a shout, I'll try to get out and show you some carving.

Joel

[David Glynn]

Joel, I've got two reasons for riding in the ski boots. One is that I almost always split my day between carving and skiing. Two is that it's tough for me to afford to keep up on all the gear, i.e. I'd rather buy a new board, Three I can ride pretty well in the ski boots (Dalebello krypton pro with the soft tounge)

Four I wouldn't be .................. Hey wait a minute thats too many reasons.

Actually I would love to try some of the new boots but I haven't had the opportunity.

Eric rant on I don't mind. They have never let Bushwacker bump up on purpose but those few days that it has .............well it had #1 written all over it!