Telluride

For those wanting to enjoy Telluride’s renowned steeps and bumps, Lifts 9 and 6 provide the advanced skier with plenty of thrills. These two lifts are an advanced skier’s paradise on powder days. The Plunge, located on Lift 9, is the must-hit trail. This black diamond bump trail descending 3,140 vertical feet (958 m) from the top of the Mountain into Telluride is like an “upside-down egg carton turned vertical”, but the trail is made less formidable by split-grooming, which leaves one side of the trail bumped up, and the other half groomed. 

Bushwacker, Mammoth, Joint Point, and the testing Kant-Mak-M and Spiral Stairs, also located on Lift 9, provide a variety of steep trails and moguls. Also, the thrills of the bumps and trees can easily be found on Lift 6, which is heaven for advanced skiers on powder days. Apex, located on Lift 6, is a great place to do some tree skiing while the aforementioned Plunge, located on Lift 9, is a great combination of bumps and corduroy.    

Powder skiing in Telluride
For powder hounds in search of the “sweetest powder shots,” Gold Hill is the place to go and find Colorado’s renowned “Champagne Powder,” and the terrain under the new Gold Hill Lift provides experts with steep chutes, open bowls and leg-burning bumps. Telluride also offers a variety of inbound hikes to expert terrain off Bald Mountain in Prospect Bowl.

In addition, experts have access to a back-country gate at the top of the Gold Hill Lift, and in good snow conditions this provides some amazing powder stashes. The terrain out of the gate is out of bounds and is not patrolled. It is only recommended for expert skiers with a broad knowledge of the backcountry and avalanches. It is an extremely dangerous area and involves intricate route-finding and challenging skiing through a variety of risky conditions.  

The San Juan Hut System backcountry experience
For the ultimate backcountry experience, the San Juan Hut System beckons. It’s a 45-mile (73-km) expanse of trails from Telluride to Ouray with intermediate and expert trails up and over the Sneffles Range. Guided trips are available for day-trips and longer. The huts provide shelter and overnight accommodation (padded bunks, wood-burning stoves, chopped wood and a kitchen) and are spaced every 6–9 miles (10–15 km). And if that isn’t enough to challenge you, heli-skiing is also an option here. Helitrax—the only helicopter skiing in Colorado—will whisk you from Mountain Village to the secret stashes of the San Juan Mountains.