Initial Thoughts on Telluride’s Proposed Capital Plan

Telluride’s Lift 7 in March 2020. This lift is on track to be replaced with a fixed-grip triple.

UPDATE 12/7/2021: Telluride has confirmed that work on the Lift 9 replacement will commence in 2022.

Background

Earlier this year, Telluride announced a series of major upgrades as part of a massive capital plan for the coming winters. The resort plans to upgrade four of its lifts and is considering relocating the ski school to the top of Lift 10. The resort is also planning a series of snowmaking upgrades as well as investments in hotels, affordable housing, on-mountain restaurants, avalanche control, and IT.

According to Liftblog, which looks to have attended the community meeting detailing the plans, Telluride’s first lift project will likely be a high-speed quad replacement for its Lift 9, which is currently a fixed-grip triple chair. Other projects include a six-pack upgrade for Lift 4, a Lift 10 replacement—potentially a gondola with a mid-station at Market Plaza, and a fixed-grip lift replacement for Lift 7.

Snowmaking upgrades will come in the form of additional snowmaking guns on the slopes and a pump station on Oak Street. Projects in Ilium and Mountain Village’s Meadows area are planned to create 150 units for employee housing, with the former planned for move-ins as soon as this upcoming summer.

Our Take

Telluride is already one of the most well-rounded resorts in Colorado, but one area where it could use some improvements is in its lifts. Some areas still see slow, fixed-grip lift service, while others—chiefly extreme terrain zones—require hiking to reach. While this plan won’t address the latter issue, it should go a considerable way to tackling the former.

Telluride’s Lift 9 is one of the longest fixed-grip lifts in operation at any destination resort. The lift chiefly services leg-burning expert terrain, but it still takes an agonizing 12 minutes to get to the top—a wait that is entirely unsuitable at a resort of this caliber. If replaced as intended, the new high-speed quad will completely revitalize this area, making it much more enjoyable to spend time across Telluride’s tree-defined expert runs.

Lifts 4 and 10 already provide high-speed lift service in their respective areas, but both are key base lifts that see among the highest traffic at the resort. Telluride rarely sees crazy lift lines, but when the holidays hit, these two are where the longest waits will be. At less than 25 years old, Lift 4 is not directly in need of replacement for age reasons, so we imagine we’ll see some sort of capacity upgrade, such as a six-pack or chondola. Lift 10 is quite a bit older, having been constructed in 1986 as Telluride’s first detachable lift; we’re reasonably confident that we’ll see some sort of gondola replacement here, especially if the planned ski school relocation comes to fruition (given it will allow beginners to load and unload without wearing ski equipment).

While Telluride is replacing Lift 7, it doesn’t seem the resort is going any further than they have to. Based on a master plan doc from a few years back, the resort looks to be proposing just a fixed-grip triple to replace the existing double chair, with concerns about age spearheading the decision. It’s possible the resort will switch to a high-speed quad if the town of Telluride plans more short-term accommodations in the immediate vicinity, but given the close results of rental-limiting housing referendums this November, this seems very unlikely. Even if Lift 7 doesn’t see a detachable lift replacement, the high-speed Mountain Village Gondola system essentially serves most of the same terrain anyway.

While information about Telluride’s planned snowmaking upgrades is not readily available from this capital plan, the resort’s 2017 master plan suggests a radical transformation could be in the works, with near-universal coverage across mid- and lower-mountain areas possible. This could prove a worthy investment for Telluride, as the resort doesn’t see quite the same natural snow totals as the Colorado Front Range but preserves its accumulation well due to its high elevation. The resort was forced to push back its planned opening date by more than a week this year, and while this year was certainly an anomaly, such investments may allow the mountain to offer earlier, more consistent opening dates in future winters.

Considering a trip to Telluride? Check out our comprehensive mountain review, and check out how the resort stacks up in our Colorado rankings. If you’re planning on buying lift tickets when you visit Telluride, check out detailed ticket price information here.