Telluride Opens Palmyra Peak

[Telski]

Some really good terrain is being controlled and opened at Telluride.


Telluride Daily Planet

http://www.telluridenews.com/homepage/x870927061

Telski adds yet more extreme hike-to terrain

The ski mountain just won’t stop growing.

A month after opening a half-dozen new runs of hike-to terrain in the Prospect Basin, Telluride Ski and Golf has upped its ante. Last week, the resort unveiled plans to open the craggy Palmyra Peak to skiers looking for unreal turns down the sheer face of the 13,320-foot mountain.

Opening Palmyra adds 200 acres and 2,000 new vertical feet of steep and pure unguided hike-to terrain. It’s a peak that offers mammoth drops, 50-degree chutes, couloirs as skinny as a pig trough and endless views of the Telluride region.

The ropes will drop for unguided skiing and snowboarding as soon as snow conditions permit, Telski said.

Telski is opening nine named runs on the mountain’s north face. They are dubbed Tram Shot, Sunrise, Electric Shock, Capitol and Sunset, among others. Just glancing at a map of them pulses your adrenal glands, and makes you want to run outside and sacrifice small animals to the gods of snowfall, in hopes that this Indian summer ends soon.

In announcing the opening of Palmyra, Telski called the new runs “some of the most spectacular in-bounds terrain in the country.”

“Palmyra Peak was the natural next step in expanding the area,” said CEO Dave Riley, in a statement. “Telluride has always been known for its legendary terrain, and opening Palmyra Peak will further demonstrate that Telluride Ski Resort is unmatched in North America.”

Riley could not be reached yesterday to talk further about Palmyra.

The ski resort has been on a spending spree lately, buying new snocats and installing new underground snowmaking pipes. Add to that a new avalauncher that made opening Palmyra possible. It will sit at Gold Hill No. 5 and allow Telski to bomb the runs for avalanche control.

Avid skier Brian O’Neill (have you ever noticed we always call them “avid skiers”? Seriously. Every time.) said skiing Palmyra is an unreal experience.

It’s a two-hour climb from Lift 12 to the top of Palmyra, a steep scramble that will wring the air from anybody’s lungs, O’Neill said. But more than worth the effort.

The prevailing winter winds pack snow onto the north face of the mountain, and though the area is naturally prone to breaks and slides, it’s not as fragile or frightening as skiing into Bear Creek.

“It’s a phenomenal ski,” O’Neill said. “I think the northeast face is the money shot. It’s pretty steep off the top — in the high 40s — and once you get halfway down, it starts to ease up.”

Right below Palmyra, of course, is the second-newest addition to Telluride’s hike-to terrain, the Black Iron Bowl. A month ago, Telski opened Mountain Quail and the unforgettable runs next to it for unguided skiing.

This year, dedicated skiers will be able to drop the face of Palmyra into the Black Iron Bowl, then into the bottom of Prospect Basin and catch Lift 12 back to the top. A gold star to the first person who does the full circle three times in a day

[Tap]

yep....people been doing that for years...here's some shots from '94

[deeppo]

This is big. Palmyra has been never opened as in bounds but was open through a backcountry gate before they put in the prospect lift. It definitly big news for telluride. Its certainly big terrain. Its around 1:30 minute hike to the top if you are going at a good clip. Its a pretty steep hike too. Alot steeper and more exposed then lets say Kachina or even baldy from alta. When on top you feel like you are on top of a peak. Knife ridge going to silver mountain. Big steep chute going into bear creek(hopefully this will be an option). Definitly some of the biggest baddest inbounds terrain in the country.
Now all we need is it to snow
Deeppo

[Telski]

Nice pics. I've never gotten up there.

[skier666]

Here's hoping for a massive early snowfall so this can be accessed near New Years....

[slim]

Here's hoping for a massive early snowfall so this can be accessed near New Years....

Take photos and forward them to Kirkwood. Open the Cirque.

[rideit]

Some of my best BC days were off of Palmyra.
It's gonna be a zoo.

[alto]

A zoo? Golfing doesn't necessarily get you in shape to hike peaks.

[deeppo]

I dont think it will be a zoo. First its a long steep hike. Out of shape tourists will not make it up there. They could barely make it to Mountain quail last year. If they get it open on a decent basis, it will be an area that will ski well with a couple inches of snow and wind(something telluride has been missings since the gold hill lift). The area holds snow well and keeps it. I would not plan on it being open early in the season but you never know. It might be like baldy with spotty openings but who knows. The new avy launcher should help out to get thing open
Deeppo

[Telski]

I'm guessing Feb 1 is a decent expectation.

That area gets pretty good blow-in from Southwesterlies during storms...and is somewhat shielded. More so than Gold Hill.

[skier666]

Take photos and forward them to Kirkwood. Open the Cirque.

Just sent an email to Coop.

[skibiker]

Telluride was approved by the Forest Service in 1999 to run a lift up Palmyra Peak and to build a lift into San Joaquin Basin. The passage below was excerpted from SkiNet and outlines plans made years ago. TelSki has completed Phase 1 and part of Phase 2 of the plans by building lifts 11 - 14.

Does anyone know anything about when a lift up Palmyra Peak and a San Joaquin Bowl lift might be built? How awesome would those two make the place? Awesome beyond words.



Expansion plans were revived in 1992 and submitted to the Forest Service for approval. After seven years of scrutiny and contemplation of environmental impact, the Forest Service approved the expansion of Telluride's lift-served terrain into Prospect Basin, Gold Hill, and San Joaquin Basin. Albeit lift-served, this terrain will be preserved as it has naturally developed- a collection of tight glades, walled chutes, and open swaths of powder.

Initial expansion plans include two lifts that should be completed by the summer of 2001. The Gold Hill Lift will run straight up Gold Hill for 1,500 vertical feet, dropping skiers off at a peak formerly accessible only by a twenty-minute climb. The Prospect Bowl Lift will carry skiers 1,010 vertical feet to the previously inaccessible Prospect Ridge, opening up Bald Mountain and a series of intermediate and expert chutes along the ridge.

The second phase of expansion includes three more lifts and two restaurants. The San Joaquin Lift will follow the eastern ridge of Palmyra Peak for 700 vertical feet, giving skiers access to the Bear Creek Canyon backcountry. The second will connect the top of Lift 10 to novice terrain going to the bottom of the Prospect Bowl Lift. A final lift is planned, contingent upon the ski patrol's ability to control avalanches, to access Palmyra Peak. Restaurants are planned for the tops of Lift 10 and Gold Hill.

[Nguyen Jong]

Telluride look like the bomb.

[freshie247]

Looks Righteous ,now if they only get some big snow.

[killabuzz]

I remember drueling at Palmyra skiing Gold Hill years ago when I lived in TRide. I'll have to head back. Between there and Silverton, you can't beat it in Colorado.