(3/13/06-3/17/06)
I visited Telluride in March of 2008. Below are some pictures. Click on any picture for a MUCH larger version. Click here for a town map and a lift map of the Telluride ski area.
I flew from San Francisco, to Denver, to Telluride. Below is a picture taken in Denver airport of the subway train system connecting DIA (Denver International Airport) terminals A, B, and C. It's a pretty good airport, it's pretty fast and straight-forward to get around in the airport.
Here the subway train stops to let passengers get on.
Below is a picture inside Denver airport. When you fly to Telluride, in the Denver Airport, Terminal A ends, but they have glued on the moral equivalent of a trailer home on the end to service the crappiest little puddle jumpers to small towns (like Telluride). Below shows where the "nice" terminal ends, and the crappy trailer-park begins. We call this "Gates A54 - A68". Notice how it goes "down to runway level".
Great Lakes Airlines runs a bunch of Beechcraft airplanes ("Raytheon Beechcraft 1900" I think is the full name of the planes). Below is a picture of this plane on the runway.
We walk right out onto the runway at Denver Airport, walk through the planes, and climb aboard our particular little plane.
There isn't any security on these little planes. Here I am peeking into the cockpit at the pilot.
Every seat in the Raytheon Beechcraft 1900 is *BOTH* a window seat and an aisle seat. Below is a picture of the inside of the aircraft.
On landing in Telluride airport. Telluride is the highest commercial airport in the United States, with the runway at elevation 9,078 feet. It's like landing on an aircraft carrier. :-) Below is the sign as you walk into the terminal.
Up the next day (Friday, March 14, 2008) Lance and I went skiing together. Lance lives in Telluride, so he has a lot of pairs of skis. Below is a picture of Lance's front door entryway.
Another angle. Each pair of skis has a different purpose, I don't think there are any duplicates in the bunch.
And here is Lance Waring standing on a slope in Telluride, Colorado. You can see the town below him in the picture.
Lance skied with me in the morning, then left me to play on the mountain in the afternoon. I really like the "Kids Adventure Zones" on ski resorts, the one in Telluride is called "Enchanted Forest" and it is at the top of Chair 10. Below is the entrance to Telluride's Enchanted Forest.
Ski resorts design these tight little roly poly tree runs for kids. But I love 'em. :-) Here is the entrance to the fun section of the Enchanted Forest.
The following is a movie of skiing through "Silver Panic" in Telluride. To get a higher quality version FOR WINDOWS ONLY, click here. The link below takes you to to a YouTube version for maximum compatibility and lower bandwidth. If you are on a Macintosh and want to watch the Windows Media Format high quality version, install this free product first: "http://www.flip4mac.com/wmv.htm".
The picture below is taken standing on Prospect Bowl, looking back at the Telluride ski area. You can see Gold Hill on the upper right of the picture.
One of my favorite runs at Telluride is "Log Pile", it's kind of hidden away and is VERY pretty to ski. Below is the entrance to Log Pile.
This is a picture taken inside of "Log Pile" at Telluride. You can basically ski anywhere, there is no main path, and the trees are pretty dense as you can see.
At the end of the day, sitting in the restaurant at the bottom of Chair 8 in Telluride (used to be called "The Wildflour"). A traditional ski drink "Kamikaze" is in the shot glass. :-)
Lise's kitty cat's name is Polo. Here is Polo sitting on a pile of pillows, acting like a queen. :-)
That's me (Brian). Lise took this picture in a restaurant. I'm a really big guy, but that's an even bigger bottle of wine that makes me look like a midget.
Lise Waring and Aaron Rodriguez in Allred's Restaurant getting a drink.
The next day (Saturday, March 15, 2008) Lise and I went skiing together. Here we are riding up chair 9 in Telluride.
Lise Waring standing on a ski slope with the town of Telluride, Colorado below her.
At the end of the day, that's Lise Waring and Amy Schilling mugging for the camera. Amy is an exceptional artist who makes jewelry from exotic materials ranging from broken guitar strings (broken by famous musicians) to "Peace Frogs" made from Brazillian rain forest scrap hardwood. You can see some of her work here.
Lise's cat Polo likes drinking running water. She likes to jump up on the counter in the bathroom and drink from your hand. Here is Lise giving Polo a drink.
A close up of Polo looking irritated at me for taking this picture. :-)
The next morning (Sunday, March 16, 2008) a picture looking down the street running in front of Lise's house.
Main street, Telluride, Colorado.
Below is a picture of main street in Telluride, with the ski hill in the background.
Below is the bottom of "Chair 4" in Telluride. The main building in the middle of the picture is the Mountain Village Gondola Station, Telluride. The ski lift to the right is Chair 4.
This is the view from pretty much the highest point in the Telluride Ski Area, up on Gold Hill (at the "Scenic Viewpoint").
I took the picture below while sitting on Chair 9 in Telluride. The lone skier in the picture is standing at the top of "Mammoth", a big mogul (bumpy) run in Telluride.
The following is a VERY SHORT movie of a skier descending down the "Mammoth" ski run in Telluride, Colorado. To get a higher quality version FOR WINDOWS ONLY, click here. The link below takes you to to a YouTube version for maximum compatibility and lower bandwidth. If you are on a Macintosh and want to watch the Windows Media Format high quality version, install this free product first: "http://www.flip4mac.com/wmv.htm".
Below is the town of Telluride, picture taken standing on the ski slope, with the Gondola passing through the picture.
The "Camel's Garden Hotel" in Telluride is sort of a gathering area at the end of the day for skiers. The bar is called "Chair 8" (the name of the lift on the right of the picture), but it also used to be called "The Wildflour".
A picture of Lise's house in Telluride, with the ski slope (Chair 8) seen in the background.
Monday, March 17, 2008, time to fly home. Here we are walking out to our plane on the Telluride (TEX) runway. You can see the fresh snow that fell overnight doesn't stop the airplanes from flying.
The inside of our Raytheon Beechcraft 1900 flown by Great Lakes airlines.
Just after taking off, looking out the window.
And finally, here we are landing back at Denver International Airport (DIA or DEN). The white pointy things are the airport terminal, very distinctive for Denver.
And that's all! thanks for reading, and if you want to give me some feedback, just email: