Telluride, Colorado (FSC) Ski Trip ~ January 24th - 31st, 2026

We took a total of 41 to Telluride. The trip started off roughly with notification on Thursday night that bad weather in Dallas caused the cancellation of the Saturday group air flight (25). There were also 4 others on that flight who had booked on their own. It was rebooked for Sunday and then cancelled again. With 3 of my people driving and several more coming in on Friday, I chose to go out on Friday, January 23, so I could be there to help with flight issues and attend the Orientation on Saturday night. A big thank you to Ellen Parda for helping out answering questions while I was flying on Friday. After working extensively with Marcie Hawks of Ski.com, it was decided booking their own flights and getting reimbursed by American was the best way to continue. I had some of the group coming in on 4 different flights on Saturday. 10 more arrived on Sunday on 4 different flights, with the last couple getting in on Sunday night. Once Marcie gets the American Airlines refund, I will refund the 25 who used group air. I also had to coordinate with Telluride Express to give them new information on all the new flight changes for transportation from Montrose to Telluride. It is approx. 1 hour 20 minute drive.

We had 12” of snow Friday, Saturday and into Sunday morning, which was helpful because they had not had much. All who skied Telluride loved it, no lift lines, very few people there. Some of us had runs with no other people on them. There is a great variety of terrain for all types of skiers. We stayed in Mountain Lodge, which is a great location. You just walk down their driveway area to a ski rack and the Double Cabins run, so very close to being ski in/ski out. It is just a gondola ride to the Mountain Village. You can walk up to the gondola or take the Lodge shuttle to it. Once in the Mountain Village (restaurants, ski rentals, etc) you can take another gondola into the town of Telluride. Most went into town and loved it. Monday and Thursday we had our FSC parties at the Convention Center. It was large enough to hold approx. 350 attendees. The Tuesday lunch was held at the Peaks. It was accessible by skiers and non-skiers. We had our club Apres Ski at Crazy Elk Pizza in the Mountain Village on Wednesday. Mick Hatch, assistant TL set that up and it was great. We had a room to ourselves and plenty of great pizza and salad.

Some restaurants our group really liked were: The Butcher and the Baker, Wooden Ear, Stronghouse Brew Pub, The View at Mountain Lodge and Oak 221. There is also a high end restaurant called Allreds, accessible by the town gondola.

Mike Steininger was our Race Captain and we had 2 of our members get medals, RJ Luke and Sabryn Foster. We had a great group of racers.

Even with a rough start the group really loved Telluride. Lisa Morgan with group sales, Sam Barnes with Mountain Lodge and all of Telluride really embraced our group. Everyone was very kind and welcoming. They even had signs around welcoming Florida FSC. I would definitely recommend a return trip to Telluride. Marcie Hawks with ski.com was excellent again.

Debbie Steininger,

Trip Leader, Italy, September