Telluride Sledding Hill ~ January 30, 2010

For some years now, we've dashed north to Ouray Colorado for some wintersport and geothermal recreation. Some years, we've snow shoed in the amphitheatre or Ironton Park. Most years we've broken out the old Black Prophets and climbed the ice in the Ouray Box Canyon Ice Park. But either our age or my daughter's age are compelling us to - theoretically - less strenous outings. After all, it takes a very very long time to go a quarter mile on snowshoes when someone has to stop and make snow angels every three feet.

Last year, we tried sledding in Ouray and in Telluride for the first time. I turned the thermonuclear-orange sled into a tree-seeking missile with great success on the Ouray hill (FYI: slick as sn*t), saving the sled from damage by using my ankle to protect it from said tree. Daughter somehow didn't want to ride with me after that.


Then we tried Telluride. The Telluride sledding hill is far less famous than its world-reknowned skiing empire, er, business. After all, no gondola, schools, rentals, food or Gucci is available at the sledding hill. It is however in the center of a wonderful nordic sports park, with a cross country skiing track, an ice skating rink, and a hockey venue. It is a delightful facility, superlative in its offerings and also small-town in its feel.

We parked the rental monster in the commuter lot, and rode the Galloping Goose and the gondola to visit Mountain Village. My daughter remembered the ski school from last year, and remembered her opinion of it. On the up side, she hadn't changed her mind about not needing to do that again. "No thank you" in the words of the miniature four year old.

Somehow, there is no longer the 40% off lift ticket coupon for staying in the Ouray hotels, which makes the Telluride lift ticket, well, more expensive. Last year, I skiied and Mitch snowshoed after we took the chair lift high up past a Mardi Gras tree. Aiga tried the ski school, being something like ten days older than the absolute minimum age for trying it. It wasn't probably the right thing for her to try then :)

The gondola, however, is a huge hit - and it's free, subsidized by those in the know to make Telluride and Disneyland the successful money sinks they are. We had a hoot on the gondola.
One of our friends had an iPhone app that could identify the neighboring mountains (Yes, there's an app for that) so the Gondola was a perfect place to try that. We also noted some killer grade schoolers snow plowing down some black diamond slopes, and were torn between admiration and feeling pain vicariously in every part of our bodies.


After the gondola, we strolled the town, checking out the consignment store (Frank Sinatra era, seriously) and a bakery and having a chat with the nice man with the nice portugese water dog; the dog drives out with him from Manhattan every season. He (the man) has a house in Manhattan and one in Telluride - awesome!

Telluride has its share of wellknown as well as rich. Neil Armstrong, the first human to walk on the moon, has a home there and is a big supporter of community events such as the Telluride Tech Festival. There's a semi science meeting every year. It has great summer traffic for four-wheeling and mine country exploration and of course scenery.

And of course, it has a sledding hill.