C O L O R A D O
NOVEMBER 15 2009
AMERICANWAY 27
wine bar/stube that seems as though itwas
airlifted from the Alps. Sit by its crackling
fireplace, peruse a wine list so extensive it
needs a bookmark, sample gourmet chees-
es, and shareanantipastoplate.
For après-ski, check out the town’s old-
est tavern, the New Sheridan Bar, which
is in your hotel. Opened in 1895 along
with the hotel, the New Sheridan Bar
didn’t even close during Prohibition. Ex-
cept for one quiet, unobtrusive TV, it still
vibes nineteenth-century elegance, with its
stately billiard tables, mahogany paneling,
hand-carved bar, lead-glass divider panels,
andagiant, vintagepaintingof aPeterPaul
Reubens–stylenude.
Inaddition to thebar, thehotel originally
hosted two restaurants. The Continental
Room Restaurant boasted 16 velvet-lined,
curtained booths, each equipped with a
button fordiscreetly summoning thewaiter
only when needed. Who knows what kind
of bodice ripping and ascot loosening oc-
curred within. The service and cuisine of
the adjoining American Room, which was
a more traditional emporium, claimed to
rival the Brown Palace Hotel dining room
sea level, click intoyourbindings, andgape:
Telluride occupies the southwest corner of
Colorado, where the geology gods did some
of their best work. Fourteen-thousand-foot
peaks melt into red-rock mesas here, as
countless stands of spruce and aspenwatch
in awestruck silence. Aside from the ski
lifts and TomCruise’s house, youwon’t see
muchcivilization.Telluride, afterall, sits39
miles from the nearest traffic light and is
more than a two-hour drive from the near-
est interstate.
At this point, you could glide down one
of the first runs cleared when Telluride
Ski Resort opened in 1973, See Forever, so
namedbecause it offers views all theway to
CanyonlandsNationalParkofUtah.Oryou
couldmakeyourway to thePlunge, another
classic Telluride run. Even the most jaded
experts still tingle on the Plunge, which of-
fers a classic Telluride experience: staring
throughyour ski tipsat the town thousands
of feet below while you prepare to tackle
mogul-infestedpistes.
Or head up, up, and up some more, to
Revelation Bowl, which houses Telluride’s
newest slopes. Opened for the 2008–2009
season, Revelation Bowl sits a stunning
3,845 feet higher than the town of Tellu-
ride. It boasts European-style terrain; far
above the tree line lies a natural open bowl
that offers big-mountain skiing in a setting
so stunning youhave tododge photo snap-
pers just todrop in. The sides ofRevelation
Bowlmaintain steep, unmanaged snow for
experts, while a groomed pitch down the
middleappeals to intermediates.Whenyou
slide off Revelation’s Lift 15, you’re 12,570
feet above sea level — significantly higher
than any skiable peak in California, Mon-
tana,Utah, or Idaho.
WHENSKIINGORSNOWBOARDING
burns
all your calories — which it will here, as
Telluride’s remoteness all but guarantees
short lift lines — a number of eateries vie
to replenish them. Burgers, chili, and other
casual fare awaitmidmountain at Gorrono
Ranch, a former Basque-sheep ranch. In
town, there’sBaked inTelluride, theregion’s
oldest restaurant (it opened in 1976). Its
chocolate donuts, ham-and-Swiss-cheese-
filled croissants, and turkey empanadas
promise a high carb-to-dollar ratio. The
newest restaurant is thousands of feet high,
near the See Forever run; Alpino Vino is a
IfYouGo…
Alpino Vino:
565 Mountain Village Boulevard,
located near the top of Gold Hill and See Forever
run;www.tellurideskiresort.com
Baked in Telluride:
127 South Fir Street, (970)
728-4775;www.bakedintelluride.com
GorronoRanch:
565MountainVillageBoulevard,
locatedunder theVillageExpress (Lift 4);
lurideskiresort.com
NewSheridanHotel:
231West ColoradoAvenue,
(800) 200-1891;www.newsheridan.com
TellurideSkiResort:
565MountainVillageBoule-
vard, (970) 728-6900;www.tellurideskiresort.com
Baked inTelluride
withsomanykiller
locations,
youdefinitely
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