Telluride
Telluride is a world-renowned destination offering a spectacular mountain village experience and breathtaking scenery.
Nestled in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, the resort boasts over 2,000 acres of skiable terrain, with almost 150 trails, the majority of which are geared for the expert skier. Telluride offers an array of terrain features, including the legendary terrain of Palmyra Peak and the wide-open expanses of Revelation Bowl.
Take a scenic gondola ride from downtown Telluride to the resort's base village, and enjoy stunning views of the surrounding peaks. The free pedestrian gondola is a unique and convenient way to access the ski area and explore the historic town.
The resort also features Gold Hill, an expert-only terrain area that provides some of the most challenging skiing in the country. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, Telluride offers something for everyone.
With the Epic Pass, guests can enjoy unlimited skiing and riding at the Telluride Ski Resort all season long. The resort's ski season typically runs from late November to early April, with ample snowfall and ideal skiing conditions.
After a day on the mountain, head back to the charming downtown Telluride to experience the town's rich history and vibrant culture. Whether you're looking for world-class dining, unique shopping opportunities, or just a cozy place to relax, this historic town has something for everyone.
We recently ranked all of Colorado's ski resorts, so you can see where Telluride stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Telluride is a part of the Epic Ski Pass network. This allows you to buy one season pass, and ski at most of the Vail owned and operated slopes with it throughout the year. There are a handful of types of Epic lift ticket passes available, ranging from 3-7 days, to season-long.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Telluride around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Telluride Mountain Resort Terrain Overview
Telluride has a total of 148 ski trails, which are serviced by 17 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. The amount of skiable area in this park is huge, with a maximum of 2,000 acres available to skiers. This area is equivalent to 809 hectares, 3.1 square miles, or 8.1 square kilometers.
Telluride's slopes see on average 280 inches (7.1 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 23 feet every year!
Total Runs
148
Lifts
17
Skiable Acres
2,000(8 km2)
Annual Snowfall
280"(711 cm)
Telluride Ski Resort Elevation
Telluride Ski Resort has a summit elevation of 13,150 feet, or 4,008 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 8,725 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 4,425 feet (1,349 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
The summit of 13,150 feet makes this ski resort one of the highest in the country. The average ski slope summit is around 4,000 feet, so this is extremely high compared to its peers.
Summit Elevation
13,150'(4,008 m)
Vertical Drop
4,425'(1,349 m)
Base Elevation
8,725'(2,659 m)
Telluride Ski Resort Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
90.2out of 100
DID YOU KNOW?
At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level
Telluride has 2,000 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Seeing as Telluride is one of the hardest ski areas in the country, it's no surprise that over 84% of its trails rated as either intermediate or expert-level. This leaves only 16% of its skiable acres as beginner terrain.
Beginner
16%(320 acres)
Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.
Intermediate
30%(600 acres)
Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.
Expert
54%(1,080 acres)
Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.
Is Telluride Ski Resort good for beginners?
This is one of the hardest ski areas in the country to ski at, so it is not great for beginners. Telluride Ski Resort ranks in the top 10% of the most-difficult ski resorts in the country. It has 54% of its trails rated as expert, or black-diamond level.
Telluride Ski Resort Location
Telluride Ski Resort is located in the state of Colorado, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Telluride, CO.
Address:
Telluride, CO 81435 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
tellurideskiresort.com
GPS Coordinates:
37.94000, -107.82000
Getting to Telluride Mountain Resort
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Telluride Ski Resort), its coordinates of 37.94000, -107.82000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Telluride, CO to get close.
By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.
A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Telluride.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Durango-La Plata County Airport | DRO | Durango, CO | 55 mi |
| Grand Junction Regional Airport | GJT | Grand Junction, CO | 90 mi |
| Aspen-Pitkin Co/Sardy Field | ASE | Aspen, CO | 102 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Telluride Ski Resort, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.
Other Nearby Ski Resorts
Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Telluride Ski Resort.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee's Ski Hill | Ouray, CO | 0 ft | 0% | 10 mi |
| Silverton | Silverton, CO | 13,487 ft | 100% | 12 mi |
| Kendall Mountain Ski Area | Silverton, CO | 9,596 ft | 20% | 13 mi |
| Lake City Ski Hill | Lake City, CO | 8,847 ft | 0% | 28 mi |
| Purgatory | Durango, CO | 10,822 ft | 53% | 34 mi |
| Chapman Hill Ski Area | Durango, CO | 6,555 ft | 51% | 45 mi |
| Powderhorn Ski Resort | Powderhorn, CO | 9,850 ft | 60% | 46 mi |
| Hesperus Ski Area | Hesperus, CO | 8,888 ft | 49% | 46 mi |
| Wolf Creek | Pagosa Springs, CO | 11,904 ft | 52% | 65 mi |
| Cranor Hill Ski Area | Gunnison, CO | 7,000 ft | 0% | 67 mi |
| Crested Butte | Crested Butte, CO | 12,162 ft | 77% | 78 mi |
| Monarch | Salida, CO | 11,952 ft | 53% | 91 mi |
| Aspen Ski Resorts | Snowmass Village, CO | 12,510 ft | 70% | 98 mi |
| Aspen Snowmass | Snowmass Village, CO | 12,510 ft | 68% | 98 mi |
Telluride Ski Resort Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 13,150 ft |
| Base Elevation | 8,725 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 4,425 ft |
| Trails | 148 (16% Beginner, 30% Intermediate, 54% Expert) |
| Lifts | 17 |
| Skiable Acres | 2,000 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 280 inches |