Summer

The Colorado sun glints off the distinctive alpine rooftops and glazes the Sunset Plaza grass the color of amber. It’s dusk in Mountain Village, and Heritage Plaza is full of people sipping Telluride Brewing Company’s Russell Kelly Pale Ales and cocktails mixed with Telluride Distilling Company spirits — both have tasting rooms nearby. Soon, the main courses will arrive and the sun will set, but for the moment, time seems to stand still — golden hour in Telluride’s high-alpine twin.

Mountain bikers descend to the base of the Telluride Ski Resort Bike Park before spraying a day’s worth of dirt from their bikes at the cleaning station at the bottom of Lift 4. Rubber disks float and fall on the free Double Cabins Disk Golf Course. Kids and parents alike toss sandbags outside of the Madeline Hotel & Residences. A fly angler casts an elk-hair caddis from the wooden dock at Elk Lake, hoping one last rainbow trout trip sips her fly from the surface before it’s too dark to see.

With its wealth of summer activities, Mountain Village is the ideal summer basecamp, and if you haven’t spent time there during the summer, you’re missing out.

The ski resort now has a lift-served downhill bike park that is currently comprised of 15 trails and 17 miles of varied terrain.

Of course, these new activities coexist with tried and true pastimes. The disk golf course, created in 2005, is a free ski-run-turned-disk-golf paradise. Don’t have a disk? Bootdoctors rents and sells them. Prefer using a golf club? The 6,739-yard, 18-hole Telluride Golf Course sits at roughly 9,500 feet above sea level, enabling golfers to make longer drives because of the altitude. Miles of hiking trails crisscross the base of the mountain, from the village center to the San Sophia Station and beyond.

Adventure Rock is a free bouldering area, next to the Telluride Conference Center. It’s a perfect spot for beginners to try out climbing in a controlled environment, as well as for advanced climbers to test their mettle on the rock’s more difficult bouldering problems. Nearby, in Heritage Plaza is the famed bungee trampoline, while next to the Peaks and operated by the Telluride Golf Club are tennis, pickle ball and paddle courts. And, not only is Elk Lake a great fishing spot, but water sports enthusiasts can also enjoy the lake from a kayak or stand up paddle-

MOUNTAIN VILLAGE IS THE board. The bustling Market

IDEAL SUMMER BASECAMP, on the Plaza is a week-

AND IF YOU HAVEN’T SPENT ly farmer’s market held

TIME THERE DURING THE in Heritage Plaza every SUMMER, YOU’RE MISSING OUT. Wednesday throughout the summer and offers shoppers bounties of fresh produce, sustainably raised meat, and original artisan creations. Meanwhile, most days, free outdoor live music is available on the plazas that dot the Village Center. Mountain Village may be a winter wonderland at the moment, but come summertime, it also makes for the perfect basecamp. As of press time, the activities mentioned in this article were scheduled to operate during summer 2021, but this is, of course, subject to change. Visit tellurideskiresort.com and townofmountainvillage. com/events for the latest information.

BASECAMP MOUNTAIN VILLAGE

Telluride’s high-alpine twin offers lots of summertime fun

BY SAGE MARSHALL