Eco Adventures: Another Way to Explore

05 Mar Eco Adventures: Another Way to Explore

Telluride is a winter playground. The skiing is obvious. But what might not be so obvious, especially to the common visitor, are all of the other ways to explore this majestic valley, especially with kids and especially in the winter. Enter Eco Adventures.

Based in the Mountain Village core and own and operated by the Telluride Ski Resort, Eco Adventures aims to show guests everything non-skiing. Kids ages four to to 12 can enjoy full day or half-day programs including lunch ranging from $90 to $140.

Eco Adventures offers everything from indoor craft and science projects to outdoor exploration including snowshoeing, ice-skating, and snow cave building. Passionate instructors also sneak in engaging mini-lesson about the local ecology, winter habitats, and basic outdoor survival skills.

According to Eco Adventures instructor, Jula Daly, a day with Eco Adventures is the perfect option for kids when they need a day off ski school or crave for something else to do while in Telluride.

“A lot of times we get kids after four days of ski school and they’re just burnt out,” she said.

On a Sunday afternoon, Daly met my two daughters, ages four and seven, and me to show us what an Eco Adventures tour might look like. She took us to the top of Gondola and on a short hike through the snow to some “secret caves”.  Immediately my daughters began running, falling in the snow and laughing, looking for the treasure Daly had promised.

We came to a flat area in an opening in the aspen trees where three mounds of snow sat with small openings. Daly handed them portable shovels from her pack and they began digging out the openings and crawling through the snow caves. They made the caves bigger and asked if they could make a new own—make their own.

Daly took advantage of the opportunity to explain how to build a snow cave and ask why one might need to make one. She asked why you might want to keep the cave as well as the opening to enter small. When it was time to leave, they asked if we could make one in our backyard.

Next, we continued on the Gondola to town and walked the river trail to the Beaver Pond. Here, under Daly’s encouragement, the kids noticed the big mound in the middle of the pond. With small prompts, Daly told stories about the beavers that lived in the snow covered beaver lodge. The kids laid in the snow listening and asking questions.

Daly showed me one possibility for an afternoon program, but explained that the options are endless and often depend on the interest of the children in the program on that day. Sometimes, if it’s cold and windy, leaders will take the kids to the library and stage a scavenger-hunt, information-gathering, activity for kids before they explore.

“We try to have a running theme and gauge the kids’ interest,” she explained. She continued to list the programs she does with kids, grinned and said, “I love my job.”

For more information about Eco Adventures call: 970-728-7300 or go to TellurideSkiResort.com/ecoadventures. Eco Adventures offers full day and half day programs for kids and adults and works with partners to book adventures such as mountaineering, ice climbing, snowcat skiing, snowmobile touring, heli-skiing and fly fishing.