The Crescent Ski Council took ~290 skiers & boarders to Telluride the week of January 15 – 22 and ETMM was represented by a dozen skiers.  Many of us had never been to Telluride but I think we would all go back after a wonderful week of skiing and fun.  The mountains are majestic and beautiful; the photos can’t do them justice.  Telluride received ~2 feet of fresh snow just before we got to the mountain so there was plenty of base and snow early in the week.  The rest of the week was spring like conditions causing us to go through several bottles of sunscreen and enjoy our afternoon lunch breaks basking in the sun.   

Several of us took a bump lesson early in the week which brought us into some of the most beautiful runs (and hairy situations) of the week.  Our instructor saved the best run for the end of the day and took us down Dynamo; a double black diamond that narrowed into a chute that looked like something from a Warren Miller movie.  Instead of jumping off the 50 foot rock face, we bailed out and took the “cat track” thru the woods to the nearest marked slope.  The “cat track” tuned out to be what our instructor called “extreme traversing” which is not an exaggeration, it was extreme.  Areas on this cat track were a few feet from other 50 foot rock faces with nothing between you and the cliff but your edges and not-so-sturdy knees.   A few of us tumbled into the 2 foot deep powder during this trek and luckily did so away from the cliffs.  All skis and body parts were found and safely returned to the condo for the evening.

Some of the most fun was had with what Dale Kennedy calls the “Wild bunch” doing some tree skiing in the “Log Pile”.  The Log Pile dumps into the West Drain and all together was probably a drop of 1,000 vertical feet thru aspen and pole pines surrounded by powder and packed powder snow.  I am sure we looked like novice Eastern skiers wading our way thru the trees, but we had big smiles the whole way down.  Another scenic area was off of lift 10, nick named the real estate run, where most of the slope side homes were located.  There were plenty of beautiful log and stone homes along the groomed trails and if you have a spare $3 or 4 Million in pocket change you to can own one of them and invite all of your ETMM friends out for a visit.

There were plenty of other actives on and off the snow, such as a scavenger hunt on the mountain, pub crawl, NASTAR race, wine and cheese party, Crescent lunch at Gorrono’s on the slopes, shopping in the rustic town of Telluride and hiking up to Bridal Falls.  ETMM was part of the winning team for the pub crawl with Lisa B and friend Petra joining forces with Francis, Terry, Linda, and Mike to answer the most trivia and have the most fun during the crawl from pub to pub.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to go on a Crescent Western trip, you have missed out on some magical moments and great times.  I highly recommend these trips and will go back to Telluride the next chance I get.

Mark Mabry