Telluride, Colorado is known for its pristine snow and expensive mountain getaways and happens to be the focus of this week’s blog. Inspired by a family ski trip I had the privilege of taking this past week, I decided to learn about how the popular Rocky Mountain ski resort handles environmental issues. Well it just so happens that Telluride is leading the pack.
After lugging my bag up three flights of stairs I sat down to catch my breath and snuggled up with a trail map in search of the best runs on the mountain. On the very first page of the trail map in the upper left hand corner, the Telluride Ski & Golf Resort couldn’t wait to tell me about “Sustainability.” Although 'sustainability' is typically a word I loathe, I read on for the sake of education. According to the trail map and the squeaky clean town, the entire community has come together to “meet common conservation goals.” So, at first this seems a little vague with a public relations spin. But, as it turns out, Telluride is actually concerned with maintaining an environmentally friendly ski resort.
The towns of Telluride and Mountain Village are divided by the mountainous terrain that is home to the ski resort, but despite the ‘rocky' inconvenience maintain a fabulous public transportation system. It’s a gondola, also known as a glorified ski lift enclosed by glass. The gondola takes visitors and locals soaring above cabins directly to the grocery store or straight over the mountain to the Town of Telluride.
After lugging my bag up three flights of stairs I sat down to catch my breath and snuggled up with a trail map in search of the best runs on the mountain. On the very first page of the trail map in the upper left hand corner, the Telluride Ski & Golf Resort couldn’t wait to tell me about “Sustainability.” Although 'sustainability' is typically a word I loathe, I read on for the sake of education. According to the trail map and the squeaky clean town, the entire community has come together to “meet common conservation goals.” So, at first this seems a little vague with a public relations spin. But, as it turns out, Telluride is actually concerned with maintaining an environmentally friendly ski resort.
The towns of Telluride and Mountain Village are divided by the mountainous terrain that is home to the ski resort, but despite the ‘rocky' inconvenience maintain a fabulous public transportation system. It’s a gondola, also known as a glorified ski lift enclosed by glass. The gondola takes visitors and locals soaring above cabins directly to the grocery store or straight over the mountain to the Town of Telluride.
Lift four, one of Telluride’s most popular lifts, has a sponsor that is helping to alleviate the damage being done to the environment from running the chair lift day after day. Cliff Bar purchased enough renewable energyoffsets equivalent to the annual electricity use for chair lift four. They proudly boast this environmentally friendly deed on every chair on lift four. In addition, on each pole skiers and snowboarders pass on the way up the lift there is more information about the amount of energy that is saved through the Cliff Bar sponsorship. Check it out!
Telluride Ski & Golf has won:
-National Ski Areas Association 2002 Golden Eagle Award for Environmental Excellence
-2006 Silver Eagle Award for Fish and Wildlife Habitat Protection
-2002 Regional Forester’s Honor Award for Land Stewardship
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