Tom’s Tour: An Outing With ‘Telluride Tom’ on Telluride Ski Resort

By Erin Spillane

You could say that Tom Watkinson, director of public relations at the Telluride Tourism Board, has made a career out of his love of Telluride.

It’s a long-lasting love. His family moved to Telluride in 1974, on Watkinson’s third birthday. He remembers his neighbors as a mix of mining families and ski bums. 

His parents moved the family to Grand Junction shortly before his senior year of high school, but Watkinson wasn’t deterred. In his words, he never really left, spending most weekends and every college summer back in Telluride. When he moved back for good, it was the 1990s, and like most twentysomethings in ski towns, Watkinson held an array of jobs: river guide, bartender, sports reporter. Eventually, he found his way to Telluride Ski Resort where his bosses quickly discovered that Watkinson was good — really, really good — at communicating the uniqueness and brilliance of Telluride to others.

“I found that very easy,” Watkinson says. “Telluride is like no other destination. The community, the history, the beauty, the laid-back feel, the festivals and arts, the quantity and quality of the dining, everything is walkable — and there’s the mountain, which is exceptional.”

After his time with Telluride Ski Resort he transitioned to the Telluride Tourism Board, where he now oversees public relations. Says Watkinson, “My role is to work with the media and to help them get to know Telluride.” 

One of the ways he accomplishes that is by taking them on a tour of the ski resort.

“Tom’s Tours” are something special. Visiting journalists get to experience the mountain, but they also learn what makes the ski resort so exceptional. The tours take about two hours and take place “all over the mountain.”

And here we come to the first thing that “Telluride Tom,” as he is often referred to, likes to point out: The ski resort’s uniquely varied terrain means that even beginners and intermediates can get up high and take in sweeping views that, at many resorts, are reserved only for experts.

Says Watkinson, “Every lift on this mountain accesses groomed intermediate runs. You can go up to Gold Hill (Lift 14) and see some pretty extreme terrain, but you don’t have to ski it. There’s an intermediate run right off that lift for you instead.”

He also points to Prospect Bowl (Lift 12) and notes that there, the starkly beautiful Palmyra Peak, the highest point on the ski resort, “is looming just over your shoulder. You’re at 12,000 feet and if you are a beginner skier you can turn and ski the longest run on the mountain. This happens nowhere else.”

From there, Watkinson touches on the ski resort’s connectivity. “We are one ski run from pretty much anywhere on the mountain,” he says, adding that the way the tour unfolds exemplifies that.

“My loop is basically Lift 4 over to 5,” he says. “From there, we go into Prospect Bowl, but first I stop at the map at the bottom of Gold Hill Express and explain where we are and how easy it was for us to get across the mountain.” 

After making turns in Prospect Bowl, Watkinson leads the group back to the base of Gold Hill and, after riding up the express quad, presents guests with views into Bear Creek and Revelation Bowl. From there, they descend See Forever, stopping to take in the views.

Throughout the tour, Watkinson says he enjoys extolling the virtues of the ski resort’s on-mountain dining options, including a few favorites: Gorrono Ranch, a historic huddle of buildings known for its classic ski-lodge menu and fun atmosphere; Bon Vivant, an outdoor French eatery that inhabits a lively deck with some pretty unforgettable vistas; and Alpino Vino, a high-alpine cabin serving Italian fare.

“With Gorrono, the saloon was part of a Basque sheep herders ranch from the 1800s, which is incredible,” Watkinson says. “And Bon Vivant, are you kidding? Your view is a 13,000-foot peak and the food is off the charts.” He adds that Alpino Vino is “the highest fine dining restaurant in North America” and boasts direct views of the Wilson Range, including the mountain on the Coors logo (Wilson Peak). 

The tour even includes a quick geology lesson, revealing how this dramatic landscape came to be. The key takeaway? Nearly everything in sight — from the jagged Wilson Range to Telluride’s signature box canyon — was shaped by volcanic fire and glacial ice. “The Wilsons are volcanic, Lizard Head is a volcanic plug, and the wide, flat Telluride valley owes its shape to the erosive power of glaciers,” Watkinson explains.

The conversation with Telluride Tom winds down, but he has time to chat just a little more about the mountain and community that he loves showcasing. 

“Sometimes even locals stop and listen to me while I am giving a tour and they tell me they never thought of this place in that way,” Watkinson says. “Telluride is one of a kind and there is nothing like it.”