28 Jan 2014, 6:46pm
Colorado Podcasts Skiing & Snowboarding Telluride:
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More Expert Ski and Snowboard Instruction and Fun in Telluride

André Koslowski:  Ski Instructor/Yoga Teacher Extraordinaire

André Koslowski: Ski Instructor/Yoga Teacher Extraordinaire

Annie Vareille-Savath with Her Women's Week Ladies

Annie Vareille-Savath with Her Women’s Week Ladies

Instructor Patty Lowe and Her Lady on Top of the Telluride World During Women's Week

Instructor Patty Lowe and Her Lady on Top of the Telluride World During Women’s Week

Telluride Ski Instructor Vince Boelema Skiing Fresh Pow (photo credit:  Tommy Pyatt)

Telluride Ski Instructor Vince Boelema Skiing Fresh Pow (photo credit: Tommy Pyatt)

There hasn’t been much of a January lull this year—at least not for me—and it’s been hard carving out time at my desk. I’ve been busy teaching and training with the Telluride Ski & Snowboard School and have also managed to eke out some “free” ski days to enjoy the wonderful snow we received mid month. Lately we’ve been blessed with super sunny days, glorious, near March-like weather which has left visitors and locals grinning.

People lucky enough to travel to Telluride Ski Resort outside of the busy vacation weeks feel like they have the mountain to themselves and, of course, never wait in a lift line (a rarity at this ski resort even during busy times). Now with Telluride Ski & Snowboard School’s new Multi-Day Camps, there are new benefits to coming outside of peak times. These clinics offer several days of instruction on a variety of themes including Ski Biomechanics, Nastar Race Camp, Ski, Ride, Yoga!, Intermediate Breakthrough, Heli Ski Camp and Women’s Week, a long-standing program that has existed for over three decades. The others are new yet hopefully they’ll become part of the regular lineup in Telluride as word gets out about all there is to learn and experience on the mountain with the assistance of T-ride’s professional ski and snowboard instructors. (Some of these camps include fun and relaxation off the slopes, too.)

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8 Jan 2014, 2:55pm
Colorado Mountain Living Skiing & Snowboarding Telluride:
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Teaching, Training and Torchlighting with the Telluride Ski & Snowboard School

A Chairlift Selfie with One of my Charges

A Chairlift Selfie with One of My Charges

Phew! What an incredibly busy few weeks it has been. Today is my first real day off in almost fourteen days and I’m happy to be relaxing with my feet up while sipping a coffee and balancing my MacAir on my lap. It’s nice not to put ski boots on or bomb around in my big, puffy ski school uniform layered up and prepared for teaching people all day long out on the hill no matter the weather. I’m saving my sunny attitude for myself today and enjoying the fact that I can sit here quietly without having to flick the switch ON.

Indeed, we all do a tremendous amount of outputting at the Telluride Ski Resort all season long, however, most especially during the holiday period, our busiest time of the year. The pace quickens dramatically from zero to a hundred and fifty by the time December 20th hits and most of us go full-on until right about now. Building up to the season, most at the Telluride Ski & Snowboard School train, train, train, perfecting our own skiing and teaching skills, so that we can be ready for our guests. Come the first week in January, instructing continues at a slower pace while training resumes and we’re back out there perfecting our turns, working on rotary, edging and pressure skills so that we can convey the right technique to our clients if they so desire. (Sometimes—whether they’re kids or adults—they just want to play and ski or ride the day away with us as guides.)

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17 Dec 2013, 3:40pm
Colorado Fashion & Style Shopping Skiing & Snowboarding Telluride:
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The Look on the Slopes: Early Ski Season 2013-2014

Me Posing at Telluride Ski Resort

Me Posing at Telluride Ski Resort

Life has been getting pretty colorful around here at the Telluride Ski Resort lately. Most of the mountain is open and we’ve had many classic Colorado bluebird days. The holiday visitors have yet to arrive, however, I’ve been seeing oodles of punches of color throughout our sparsely populated slopes. I’ve been so busy with wrapping things up at my desk and ski school training, that it wasn’t until last weekend that I spent some quality time perusing this year’s fashions at Bootdoctors, one of my favorite outdoor gear and clothing retailers in T-ride. This time, I wanted to chat with the girls in the shop—Sooz and Pam—and get the lowdown on this year’s look on the mountain. And, of course, how could I resist trying on a number of outfits and even modeling my favorite one here for you?

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2 Dec 2013, 4:21pm
Colorado Shopping Skiing & Snowboarding Telluride:
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Telluride Ski Resort Opening Weekend: A Great Kickoff to the Season

Selfies Are Even Sweeter When You're Skiing at Almost 12,000 Feet the First Day of the Season with Your Sweetie

Selfies Are Even Sweeter When You’re Skiing at Almost 12,000 Feet the First Day of the Season with Your Sweetie

Nice Corduroy

Nice Corduroy

Woo-hoo! What a fun few days it has been. I’m giving my legs a rest today after having skied a bunch with friends, my hunny and by myself over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Telluride Ski Resort had one of its best openings ever, thanks largely to an abundance of storms in November, improved snowmaking, blue skies and pleasant temperatures. There was so much of the mountain to explore off of our familiar loop—the network of trails connecting lifts 4, 5 & 6—that my legs are screaming.

It was all so good that it was hard to stop. (Usually when I ski into shape—from my sedentary writer’s life—I start out with just an hour a day and increase an hour each day out. But no, this year the snow was too sweet.) We also received a lot of nice, wet snow last month which pasted in the mountain amazingly well. Indeed, the coverage is fantastic and with more snow forecasted for tomorrow, it looks like we’ll have one of the best early seasons ever.

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Ski Fever

Snowmaking on Top of Fresh this Week at Telluride Ski Resort---YES

Snowmaking on Top of Fresh this Week at Telluride Ski Resort—YES

Woo-hoo! Boy, has the snow been piling up here in Colorado.

Many people around the U.S. dream of a White Christmas. Here in Telluride, that’s a given. Ditto for Thanksgiving. And often we even have a white Halloween. This year’s Hallow’s Eve turned out to be super white—so much so that (as the pictures below or on the next page show) locals and Telluride Ski Resort workers alike hiked up the mountain and hit the trails to indulge in some sweet pow.

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Fall in Colorado: A Beautiful Time for Sightseeing and Winter Travel Planning

Fall in Telluride

Fall in Telluride

Fall in Aspen

Fall in Aspen

As you can see from the photos featured in this post, we are in full fall splendor here in Colorado. The foliage is peaking now, yet there’s still a lot of green on the trees. So it should remain beautiful in the mountains for another few weeks. Now we’ve entered the autumnal phase of white beginning to replace the gold, russet, burnt umber and bronze that currently punctuate our alpine panoramas. Yes, as the snow fills in, this harvest of fall colors fades into the landscape and we’re left increasingly hopeful about the opening of our ski resorts and the promise of the winter season in the Rockies.

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22 Apr 2013, 1:26pm
Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Skiing & Snowboarding The Rockies Utah:
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Heber, Midway and Blue Boar Inn: Embracing European Tradition in Utah’s Heartland

The Dining Room at Blue Boar Inn

I’ve been thinking a lot about Utah lately. Maybe it’s because although we’ve had a ton of snow here in Colorado, it seems as though the Utah ski resorts have even bigger snow totals, especially once you consider their base. It was almost a year ago that my boyfriend and I enjoyed a spectacular weekend of spring skiing at Snowbird and now we’re itching to go back.

The year before that, we called Sundance home for five days and reveled in experiencing Utah’s top ski resorts including Deer Vally, Park City and the Canyons. Then and also last year, we drove through Heber City, a vast, flat area only twenty minutes from Utah’s world-renowned mountain destinations and towering peaks. Settled by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the late 1850s and named after a Mormon apostle, Heber Valley of today still appears pastoral and low-key. Dairy farming continues to reign supreme, a tradition started by Swiss settlers ages ago. Ranchers claim a fair piece of action as well.

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Mountain Travel News and Spring Blizzards

Aspen/Snowmass Spring Blizzard: The Pow Just Keeps on Coming

How do you book travel? Do you go directly to websites such as Expedia.com to check out any alluring offers they’re showcasing? Or perhaps you’re more destination or theme oriented and and you sift through info. at sites such as Ski.com and On the Snow.com? Do you troll the Internet for stories from travel publications and blogs to read about places from a firsthand perspective? Or maybe you flash on video and photo postings your friends have put up on Facebook?

All the above are valid ways to research and book travel and it should come as no surprise that people are turning even more to the Internet and social media for all, including travel planning. This is some of what I gleaned last week from the Mountain Travel Symposium (MTS) I attended in Snowmass, Colorado. The largest gathering of mountain travel professionals in North America, MTS also marks the beginning of the sales cycle for the next ski season. Attendees come from around the world to conduct business and to learn about what’s new and happening in the snowsports industry. This year’s 38th annual MTS brought together leaders and innovators from the ski and travel tech industries to provoke conversation and solution-seeking ideas for the1,200 professionals gathered at this dynamic event.

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