Competition winner Aly Magat shares her experience staying and skiing at Telluride Ski Resort in Colorado with her family.
Last year we ran an exclusive ski competition in Ski & Snowboard with Kids magazine, allowing one lucky Aussie family of four to experience the delights of Telluride Ski Resort in Colorado. Valued at more than A$26,500, the prize package included return flights to Denver with Delta Air Lines and a host of other goodies including accommodation at Mountain Lodge and skiing at Telluride. Our winner was Aly Magat, who travelled with her husband and two children aged 11 & 16.
After a stay in Denver, the Mile High City, Aly and her family hired a car for the drive to Telluride, rather than flying. “We wanted to enjoy the drive and do it in our own time,” Aly said. “The rich tapestry of the landscape punctuated by soaring rocky outcrops and snow-capped mountains watching over wide plains and huge natural lakes reflecting the impressive vistas was majestic. The higher we climbed, lakes turned solid, and we saw people ice fishing from the car as we drove by.”
“Our accommodation at the Mountain Lodge Telluride was a beautifully cosy two-bedroom log cabin apartment. From the full kitchen to the living room with electric fireplace leading out onto the balcony that had metre-long icicles lazily growing from the roof, we were smitten. The master bedroom shared the electric fireplace with the living room and had its own private bathroom. The second bedroom and bathroom were up a flight of stairs. We prioritised a grocery shop, to stock up on food supplies allowing us to cook our own meals while up the mountain. My children seem to always be hungry!
“We found the ski school and booked in the kids for the next couple of days. Like any good ski resort Telluride Ski resort caters for families with a range of options. Ski School runs from 9am – 3pm and includes a hot lunch. We jumped on the free gondola that connects Mountain Village and Telluride, and descended down to this picturesque community. A former mining town, Telluride has remnants of the era in the quaint homes lining the streets coupled with the glorious backdrop of the towering mountains.
“As for the skiing, we were there really early in the season, so there were no queues. The kids skiing lessons, were, as expected excellent. Lessons are usually capped in numbers but conveniently, our 11-year-old was in a group of three and our teen ended up in a group lesson by herself so had virtually a private lesson. There were not many runs open but this didn’t bother our family as we were just out of training wheels on skis.
“We could have stayed another week. We adored our stay at The Mountain Lodge and Telluride but all good things come to an end. Our early morning departure was met with a rather rude -17-degree start. Concierge had our car snow scraped and preheated so we were able to jump into a toasty vehicle for our trip down the mountain.
“Telluride is a winter wonderland that we will be talking and reminiscing about for years to come. Seriously, go check it out for yourself, Telluride and Mountain village have a great vibe and offer a great family friendly ski holiday option.”
Denver International Airport (DEN) is large and spread out, as in, you need to catch an internal train to collect your bags. Most locals catch the train for the 20-minute trip into the city. The A line is conveniently located a two-minute walk from the airport, underneath The Westin Denver International Airport, which is the only hotel at DEN. The A line offers a 24-hour ticket for around $10 per person and delivers you directly to Union Station, downtown Denver.
There are plenty of accommodation options a short distance from the train line on the way into the city. If the budget stretches, The Westin Denver International Airport serves as a brilliant first stop after a long-haul flight, only needing to brave the elements for about 50 metres before entering the hotel entrance. It’s also worth noting if you stay at the Westin on your homeward-bound journey, the hotel concierge can wheel a luggage trolley with your bags to check-in with your airline at the airport.
Check Walmart for souvenirs. We found a Walmart with a huge selection of generic Colorado souvenirs, trinkets, and T-shirts along with plenty of Denver Broncos (NFL) and Denver Nuggets (NBA) merchandise. Or maybe, like my teen, your child will want a bag of ‘Lucky Charms’ cereal as big as her torso as her souvenir.
We hired a car while in Denver so we could take the seven-hour journey up to Telluride in our own time. There is also the option to fly into Telluride, it is on the expensive side however a good option if time is limited or you aren’t keen on driving in the snow. It’s also worth noting while we were on the mountain, we didn’t use our hire car at all.
Our visit to Denver was at the beginning of December, so while it was still cold, we didn’t encounter much snow on the roads and didn’t need to engage the AWD features of the car.
After Google Maps suggested the I70 for our road trip to Telluride I rerouted us through Colorado Springs (because I liked the sound of it and it reminded me of Radiator Springs, from Cars the movie.) We didn’t take the time to explore, so the detour was a bit wasted, but I like to think we soaked in a bit more of the scenery. This added an extra two hours but did offer us site seeing opportunities at the Garden of the Gods and the largest sand dunes in the country…. Yes, sand dunes at the aptly named Great Sand Dunes National Park which also offers sandboarding, sand sledding, hiking, fat biking and fishing in the warmer months. We were on a mission so didn’t stop by for a closer look, but we could see the sand dunes in the distance from the road.
The drive offered a scenic kaleidoscope of winter hibernation in browns, greys and reds getting ready to be wrapped in a thick white blanket for the season. The rich tapestry of the landscape punctuated by soaring rocky outcrops and snow-capped mountains watching over wide plains and huge natural lakes reflecting the impressive vistas was majestic.
As for directions, even with international roaming turned on my WiFi was being difficult. My 11-yr-old shared a useful nugget of knowledge and I learned that you could download Google Maps for the area you are travelling to your phone when you have stable WiFi. I will be doing this on future travels as this meant not having to rely on WiFi. As we got higher into the mountains, both phone reception and WiFi was patchy. I ended up downloading most of the state so I had all bases covered, and you can delete it to regain storage space after you leave.
Our first day was an enthusiastic start, the hotel concierge at Mountain Lodge gave us the lay of the land and we learned that we only had a five-minute walk to the free gondola station at Market Plaza. The hotel offers a free shuttle to ferry guests to the gondola station and a few other locations around the mountain. We were quickly reminded that physical exertion at altitude makes you feel incredibly unfit. With lots of puffing, panting and a few rest breaks to admire the scenery, we completed the five-minute walk in about 12 minutes and used the guest shuttle the rest of the time.
Aptly named, Market Station boasts a well-stocked small supermarket, liquor store, coffee shop and a taco takeaway shop.
Telluride Ski Resort has 148 trails across 2000 skiable acres, 17 lifts including 2 high-speed gondolas and three magic carpets. Ski School runs from 9am – 3pm and includes a hot lunch. Otters (3-4yrs), Bears (5-6yrs), Eagles (7-14yrs) 2023/2024 prices range from USD$100 – $165 per day inclusive of lift ticket, skis, boots & helmet per child.
Telluride Adaptive Sports also has modified skis (a seat on a double ski) available for guests who are mobility impaired.
Telluride is a picturesque year-round community of about 2500 people. The “Galloping Goose” is a free town loop bus service for locals and tourists alike to get around the village.
Last tip: It might seem obvious but if you can avoid driving up the mountain on the weekends, you will avoid major crowds. We departed Telluride early Saturday morning and passed LOTS of traffic making their way up the mountain.
This article originally appeared in Ski & Snowboard with Kids magazine. Subscribe to the latest issue here.
© Images supplied by Telluride Ski Resort unless otherwise noted
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