Susan Serven

My family are big skiers (after a fall down a mountain in Lake Tahoe NV that resulted in two knee surgeries I figured it’d be okay for me to be the outlier).

We’d been skiing out west before (Utah, beautiful!) but never to Colorado, so the decision-making began – Aspen was famous but crowded, Breckenridge and Vail were supposed to be beautiful, but nothing can beat the rugged mountains of Telluride. 

Telluride is an historic old mining village tucked into a box canyon surrounded by 13,000 and 14,000-foot peaks. The town is just eight blocks wide and twelve blocks long.It was founded in 1878 as a mining camp (named for the gold-bearing ore, Tellurium) and later grew into a thriving community due to its rich deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc. The mining industry attracted a diverse population of immigrants, though it also presented dangerous working conditions.

The mining boom ended in 1918, but mining activities continued to sustain the town until 1941 when gold mining was banned during World War II.After a steady and prolonged decline in the post-WW II era, the decision was made to develop some areas of Telluride and take advantage of the area’s natural beauty and opportunities for hiking, fishing and, especially, skiing. The area’s first ski resort opened in 1972.

Because of its significant role in the history of the American West, the core area of Telluride was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1964.

We stayed at the gorgeous Fairmont Heritage Place - Franz Klammer Lodge – since it was four of us we booked a two-bedroom suite with a kitchen and living area complete with fireplace.

The rooms are amazing, the whirlpool tub is DEEP and when you’ve just gotten back after a long day out in the brisk cold of a winter day in Telluride there is nothing you’d rather do than soak in that tub for an hour at least.

The Franz Klammer Lodge is a ski-in ski-out resort which offers a beautiful spa and many nice shops around the main square. There is a gondola that will take you into the town of Telluride and to a few other spots – the local grocery store is only a five-minute (fun!) ride away.

While my daughters were riding the chair rail to ski down the impressive heights of Wilson Peak (14,023 feet (bring oxygen, not kidding) I rode the gondola down into the town of Telluride and spent the whole day there. The main street is Colorado Avenue, you'd recognize it from pictures, it's really wonderful and easy to navigate.

There’s a lot to explore, fun restaurants, very authentic Western-y shops, and a fantastic historic district for intrepid visitors (none of the roads were plowed after a recent snow so I needed pole to get to the places I wanted to visit – snow shoes would have been good too, tbh).

It's a bit of a haul getting to Telluride – there’s at least one stop from wherever you’re flying in from – but the natural environment, snowy beauty in the winter, golden weather in the other three seasons, food, sports, shopping and hospitality is all just wonderful.