Telluride, Colorado — We’re approaching MLK weekend, which is one of the critical periods for ski resorts. While many locals in ski towns dread the crowds, locals in Telluride are hoping that people show up.
Last Thursday, the Telluride Ski Patrol Union reached an agreement with the ski resort. The ski resort began growing its trail and lift count on Saturday. But how are the ski resort and the area doing now?
CBS Colorado reported earlier this week that businesses are still struggling despite the ski resort gradually opening up more terrain and lifts. Bookings are reportedly down 50% compared to the same time last year due to those who cancelled because of the strike. However, businesses are offering discounts to bring locals back.
“It feels like COVID,” said Mary Kenez, owner of a local pet store. “It’s almost a ghost town downtown … people are talking about asking for rent reductions because we don’t know when it’s coming back.”
Business owners played a big part in ending the strike. Last week, a rally was held to ask ski patrollers and TelSki to reach a deal. The two sides reached a deal one day later.
“A week ago we didn’t know where we were going,” said Josh Klein, a local restaurant owner. “Now we’re struggling to figure out how to get back on track… It’s a ‘hurry up and get it back together and tell everybody’ message right now. Everyone knows Telluride is good, and people come back here.”
Ultimately, ski patrollers got less than they were hoping for and a less decisive victory than the Park City ski patrollers.
“It [the economic situation] was worse than we expected,” said Bailey Mallette, a member of Telluride’s ski patrol and union. “We saw how bad it could be, but this was the only leverage we had…We’re counting our wins. But we know a lot of people were affected. These are our neighbors, this is our community…”
The ski resort is now up to 82 trails and 14 lifts open. Ski patrollers continue their work to get terrain open, but it is being impacted by Colorado’s extremely slow start to the season. So far this winter, Telluride has only received 59″ of natural snow.
Still Not For Sale
This weeke, it was revealead that there were talks during the strike about a group of affluent locals coming in to purchase a controlling share of TelSki. However, it appears outspoken TelSki owner Chuck Horning isn’t interested. You can learn more about that offer at the Colorado Sun and The Telluride Times.
Image/Video Credits: Telluride Ski Resort, CBS Colorado
