Turntastic in Telluride/Silverton, CO – death of 2006!

Date:

December 28th-30th, 2006. The year of 2006 nears a decaying death.

Location:

Telluride and Silverton, Colorado, United States of Yanks

Weather & Temp:

We arrived in Telluride the night of the 27th while racing the cold front of the Tahoe storm. After 15 hours of driving, we arrived to the following forecast…7 inches during the day, 16+ overnight. Killer aye? Well, the storm spit 2 inches by morning, then turned into "California dreaming" for the rest of the trip. Oh well…at least people in Denver were skiing waist deep

Husband and wife team:

666 and Mrs. 666.

Music: Vex’d – Bombardment of Saturn

The Drive:

So we figured driving from Tahoe on my favorite American road (Hwy 50)would be the best, easiest, and cheapest scenario to avoid any DIA transfer headaches to Montrose or Telluride. A 3:30 am departure during a Tahoe snowstorm gave us a 7:30 pm arrival in Telluride. That’s a hell of a lot of Howard Stern there folks. Of course, being the man that I am, I did not allow the Mrs. to drive. Needless to say, she really didn’t mind.

The photoblog:

Mile 0 looked like this….

Near Zephyr Cove…hoping its not like this for 900 miles.

Approaching Fallon, Nevada. Sadly, no aliens were spotted.

The roads were dry from Carson City to just before Eureka. However, Eureka to Ely was not very fun.

Did someone say Utah??????

Ok, so we decided to drive through Moab, then weave our way to 145 enroute to Telluride. This way SUCKS! Two trillion deer, one million cows, 15 mph turns, and road damage mean anything to you?

Hey there buddy…which way to Telluride?

Day one in Telluride…Chair 8 looking into town.

Scary…

Since, both of us haven’t been here since the new Prospect lift, we decided to roll a few early morning laps.

Mrs. 666 having some flat-light fun…

Transylvania stylee…

There’s going to be a recurring theme in this TR…

Inbounds Telluride has few places to rack in the gnar points, but Prospect has a few short offerings of fun…

And what would a trip to Telluride be without lapping both sides of Gold Hill? Mrs.666 gets an early start…

Yep, she’s on fire….

The snow thinned out quite a bit at the crux below but a few scratches has never killed a pair of skis aye?

Kind of insult to serve espresso in paper cups don’t you think? Hell, its even Lavazza beans….the horror.

No comment…

The possibility of a storm is now long gone…but the views aren’t too shabby.

Main Street…

So the Mrs. hasn’t skied too much this year. Naturally, her big toes turn black after her first full day of skiing. Might as well, RELEASE THE PRESSURE!

Day two:

I had one of those "high altitude you ain’t sleeping" nights and decided to make it a cruising day around the hill. Laps on a groomed Bushwacker, the Plunge, and long runs down to Mountain Village were the order of the day. I did have a generous offer to hit the BC with a local but I just wasn’t feeling it that day.

Mrs. 666 – skier’s left off of Gold Hill

This is when the storm left for Denver…

Might as well get a drink at the Peaks with the views of Mt. Wilson…

Day THREE: Silverton Mountain

After a half bottle of Tylenol PM, I finally got my needed rest. We then headed out to Silverton Mountain for our first time. The town of Silverton…

A couple coffees later (under two hours via Red Mountain Pass) we arrived at the RESORT, and after checking in at the TENT, we were on the high-speed detachable 8 person chair….

Ahhh, so cute…..(print and put on your fridge)

Rope Dee Dope/Tiger Claw was the furthest we could go up the ridge being an unguided JONG and all. The winds almost blew me to Durango.

And the views to the West…

Mrs. 666 on the hike…

Definitely some of the best mountainous views I’ve ever seen in Colorado (besides Eldora that is)

Mrs. 666 drops in…

So it wasn’t bottomless, but it was bluebird, perfect temps, and FAST!

She was enjoying herself….I think.

Terrain shot….not many pics floating around the site so I thought I’d contribute.

Coverage was good, not many hidden snowsnakes, shark fins, etc…

Ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhh…….

We rallied next to the boundary for the best snow…

She’s been in a lot of pics aye?

Terrain shot #2. Quite a few people made it up on this day….

Terrain shot #3…

….#4. If you’ve never been there before, they open up gates up along the ridge and then its fair game. Certain areas need more snow, but would be fun with better coverage…

Some guy in a millimint coat lapping Riff and Raff….

666 tries to milk one for the family…

Pretty cool…

We ventured pretty much everywhere…from Rope de dope to Riff, to Waterfall to Colorado, to the front side…got a good feel of the terrain. Mrs.666 in Colorado’s log vertical down to the UPS truck (I mean, shuttle bus.)