Aspens of Telluride

Telluride lies several hundred miles southwest of Aspen - actually, it's just over an hour's drive from the Four Corners area where Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona all touch.  It has one foot in the desert country, and one foot in the San Juan Mountains, an offshoot of the Rockies that is millions of years younger. As a result, the valleys tend to be deeper and steeper, and the peaks sharper.  But somewhere in these more alpine peaks they have managed to insert one of the most challenging - and beautiful - ski areas in the country. Telluride is one of the most storied mining towns of the Rockies.  I know because I worked inside the mine when I was a ski bum in the 70's.  Apparently there are enough tunnels in the surrounding mountains to stretch from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and all of the gold in the state capital came from Telluride. As as we all know, Butch Cassidy robbed his first bank there.

This picture was taken from "Mountain Village," an entirely new village (like Vail or Snowmass) that was created on the 'easier' side of the ski mountain in a series of large meadows.

Telluride sits at the end of a steep dead-end canyon.  The drive up San Miguel canyon is beautiful in the autumn, when the colors of Aspens changing contrasts with the deep red of the cliff walls.

A unique transportation system connects Mountain Village with the much older town of Telluride: a free gondola that runs day and night over the top of Coonskin Mountain. It's quite a thrill, any time of day.

The Aspens of Telluride...