24 AMERICANWAY
NOVEMBER 15 2009
C O L O R A D O
ButchCassidy lovedTelluride for purely larcenous
reasons. These days, itwouldbe a crime to ignore
its stunningbeauty and rich history.
ByRobStory
Ticketto ’Ride
WHEN YOU SKI TELLURIDE, COLORADO,
you slide some of North America’s driest snow
andbiggest vertical drops. You also experience a timewarp. Say you’re staying at the land-
markNew SheridanHotel, which added the “New” back in 1895, when a brick structure
replaced theoriginalwoodenhotel that hadburneddown. Youdonyourhigh-techwicking
base layer, top itwith aGore-Tex laminate jacket, and then cross the street towhereButch
Cassidy robbedhisfirst bank in 1889. (Cassidyabscondedwithmore than$20,000,which
wouldbuya lot ofGore-Tex.)Western lorehas it thatCassidyhad tolda local horsebreeder
he andhis cohortswere track racers from theEast andneeded the fastest steeds available.
The next day, they knocked off the bank and easily escaped the slower horses of the posse
that chased them.
Look toyourrightandyou’ll spot thesign
noting that after goldwas discovered in the
San JuanMountains in 1858, miners built
350 miles of underground tunnels here.
Walk toward the nearby in-town lifts and
marvel at the consistent WildWest Victo-
rian architecture— a contributing factor of
Telluride’sbeingdesignatedaNationalHis-
toricLandmarkDistrict. You almost expect
tohear the creak of leather saddles and the
jingleof spurs. Instead, there’s the clompof
theheavyboots of skiers and snowboarders
bent on riding freshpowder.
AtStationTelluride,boardthesleekmod-
erngondola,whichwasbuilt100yearsafter
theNewSheridanHotel, and riseabove the
12-by-8-block core of Telluride (the town
today is about the same size as it was in
Cassidy’s day). Stepout at 10,551 feet above
Clockwise from top:
DowntownTelluride,
NewSheridanHotel
Bar, and the gondola
