TELLURIDE — After several years of softening, Telluride Ski Resort has rediscovered its core.
It has, of course, been there all along, looming large in the form of the iconic 13,319-foot Palmyra Peak. Lately, though, the rock-solid swagger of one of Colorado’s most reputable big-mountain terrain haunts had arguably been a bit overblown, the belt unbuckled a notch or two to accommodate the economic girth of a swelling Boomer ski market.
By name, the argument was known as the 2001 expansion into the terminally intermediate terrain of Prospect Basin. Turns out, that was just the beginning.
“Telluride has always been known for its terrain,” said Matt Skinner, the ski area’s marketing chief. “About six years ago, we expanded our beginner and intermediate offerings by opening up Prospect Basin. And now we’ve complemented that at the other end of the spectrum with Palmyra.”
Indeed, the spectrum has been stretched significantly with the Feb. 12 introduction of Palmyra Peak to Telluride’s in-bounds ski offerings. There are the hard numbers: 2,000 additional vertical feet of skiing for a top-to-bottom drop of 4,600 feet; 200 more acres; six new double black-diamond runs accessible from a ridge topping out at a rarefied 13,150 feet.
They paint a pretty good picture, but really only a small portion of the entire Palmyra experience.
That’s because Palmyra is as much about the uphill as it is the down. There are no lifts serving the upper reaches of this craggy behemoth in the heart of the San Juan Mountains, and even the fittest hikers can expect to spend an hour bootpacking the 1,350-foot elevation gain. Everyone else is likely to spend closer to two hours on the long, steep walk up some of the most exposed terrain you’re likely to find at any ski area in the nation. Think Highland Bowl on steroids, Crested Butte’s Extreme Limits at 13,000 feet, Silverton from the bottom of the basin.
“As far as big-mountain terrain goes, it’s pretty unique,” Skinner says. “It’s something you won’t find anywhere else in America, except maybe Silverton.”
The move up Palmyra Peak is a natural extension of the 2006 expansion into Mountain Quail/Black Iron Bowl and a return to the roots of what made Telluride so great in the eyes of big-mountain skiers through the years. The terrain has long been a part of the area’s operating permit, but closed off to skier access from the resort in recent years.
As a result, a quiet powder-poaching rebellion has brewed among Telluride’s core community since the Prospect Basin expansion in 2001, which also included a somewhat controversial lift to the top of Gold Hill, to the east. The entirety of Palmyra was declared off-limits to all but guided groups, and the former hike-to inbounds terrain favored by locals and hardy visitors willing to hump to Gold Hill’s 12,250-foot summit for soft snow with no moguls morphed radically once access was improved with a four-minute zip up a convenient high-speed quad.
In some ways, the expansion actually diminished access for those few with the savvy to safely savor the bounty the region offered, places just outside the ropes yet still visible from within that went a long way toward Telluride’s big-mountain reputation. As intermediates thrived at the bottom of the bowl, the experts, it seemed, were all but banished to the backcountry.
No one’s saying the poachers won the war, but those who have been coveting the precipitous couloirs and enticing bowls of Palmyra through the years are now rewarded with an unguided but avalanche-controlled addition worthy of Telluride’s big mountain repute.
“I’m calling it the best new ski run in North America,” said Kim Havell, a 12-year Telluride local. “It’s totally different outdoor experience from anything out there.”
Truth be told, the hiking experience is more of a backcountry sampler than the actual skiing. Although Palmyra can no longer be considered backcountry skiing, it should be considered a backdoor to big-mountain front-country. Quality, high-alpine front-country with some intimidating steeps, at that.
Expert skiers and snowboarders interested in testing their mettle on Palmyra Peak don’t need the standard backcountry accoutrements of beacon, probe and shovel, but they will want a backpack capable of carrying their boards (along with water and snacks) so they can keep their hands free on the climb. There are some slightly technical moves above the Mountain Quail cutoff point at 12,250 feet, and once skiers pass through the upper gate, they are committed to a strenuous climb to at least 12,700 feet (a 900-foot vertical rise from the lift). Due to exposure and footing, attempting to walk back down the trail is more dangerous than going up. Rubber-soled boots are recommended.
Telluride Ski Patrol does its best to keep a patroller somewhere on the peak at all times. That doesn’t mean you can show up soft, however. This is big-mountain skiing at its core.
Scott Willoughby: 303-954-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com
