What's on in Telluride, United States through the year

Busy — Winter / Christmas break in United States, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Ski season (26 Nov – 5 Apr (usually))

Busy — one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Ski season (26 Nov – 5 Apr (usually))

Busy — Spring break in United States

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Ski season (26 Nov – 5 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Closure

  Mud season

  10 Apr – 20 May · usually

  Between the last lift and the dry trails the town half closes, and the gondola shuts for several weeks of maintenance in both spring and autumn. The box canyon is very quiet without it. Source ↗

Still on: Ski season (26 Nov – 5 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Mud season (10 Apr – 20 May (usually))

Peak crowds — Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Summer break in United States

• Festival

  Telluride Bluegrass Festival

  17–23 Jun · usuallyMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  Four days in the town park on the third weekend of June, with a tarp line that forms before dawn and a population several times the town's own. Beds sell out the year before. Source ↗

Busy — Summer break in United States, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Nature

  Alpine wildflowers

  5 Jul – 10 Aug · usuallyWildflowers & blooms

  Columbine and paintbrush in the basins above town, best on the Bear Creek and Bridal Veil trails in the second half of July. The high passes hold snow into early summer.

• Season

  Monsoon storms

  5 Jul – 5 Sep · usuallyRisk

  Thunderstorms build over the San Juans most summer afternoons, and the exposed ridges and via ferrata above town are no place to be caught. Start early and be down by early afternoon.

Busy — Summer break in United States, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Alpine wildflowers (5 Jul – 10 Aug (usually)), Monsoon storms (5 Jul – 5 Sep (usually))

Peak crowds — Telluride Film Festival, Aspens turning

• Festival

  Telluride Film Festival

  2–8 Sep · usuallyCrowded

  Labor Day weekend, and the programme is not announced until the morning it opens, which is the whole point of it. Passes are expensive and the town is unbookable that week. Source ↗

• Nature

  Aspens turning

  20 Sep – 10 Oct · usuallyAutumn colourCrowded

  The San Juans do this better than anywhere else in the state, and the Last Dollar and Dallas Divide roads carry the traffic to prove it. Peak is usually the last days of September.

Still on: Monsoon storms (5 Jul – 5 Sep (usually))

Busy — Aspens turning

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Aspens turning (20 Sep – 10 Oct (usually))

Busy — Thanksgiving break in United States

• Season

  Ski season

  26 Nov – 5 Apr · usually

  The season runs Thanksgiving to early April, with the free gondola between town and Mountain Village doing the work a road cannot. The high, hike-to bowls open weeks after the base lifts. Source ↗

Busy — Winter / Christmas break in United States, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Ski season (26 Nov – 5 Apr (usually))