BOX CANYON FEVER
Serving you, homeowners in the Telluride Valley, with insights highlighting the abundant happenings and hidden surprises of this wonderfully remote mountain community which we call our year-round home.
Hello, At the end of October, winter came in with a huge rush! Telluride picked up 10” + depending on what side of the valley you were on and in some parts of the state more than 36” fell in 48-hours! What a way to start off winter 2009/2010! What little snow has fallen thus far has not really stuck and we find ourselves bracing for winter’s arrival. The ski resort has turned on their snowmaking equipment and the opening day will be Wednesday, November 25th. There are several new improvements at the
ski resort that occurred over the summer -see below.NOTE for homeowners, as usual we are offering you a stop and drop service for ski tunes beginning mid-month should you want to have your snowboards and skis newly waxed for the season. Waiting till Christmas is a big mistake. We advise you with the same warning as far as lining up catering for the holidays, ski lessons and rentals. Get your wish list requests penciled in beforehand via our team of concierge services. One can call Trevor at (970) 729-1326 or Marc at 729-1321 for more information on this topic.
At The Homes: During the mild weather we experienced sporadically this fall, we had sufficient time to wrap up our fall checklist items for the exterior of homes, house-by-house gutter cleaning at the homes that needed it, tending to spa overhauls for the upcoming busy winter, pick-up, delivery and return cars from the tire shop for their changeover to snow tires and so much more-
Before your next visit: Line up your season passes/ski lessons with the choice instructors/ dining options
Season Pass- If you shopped on line for the early bird deals we alerted you to then your season passes may get mailed to your primary home address. If you opted out of that selection then passes can be picked up at the season pass office located at the gondola base in the Mountain Village. For the youngsters, do not forget that you can add a set amount of meal money onto their pass so the need for cash is avoided. Pass office number is 970-728-7517. If you happen to be a Telluride Ski & Gold Member than your ski passes have been printed and are waiting for you at the member’s lounge in the TMV. Your dependants (17 and younger) will have to go to the pass office for a new photo.
Dining – On our comprehensive website we have provided you with easy access to the restaurants and caterers phone numbers. Restaurants may be closed for the remainder of off season. Some will remain shut till early December. Please feel free to give us a call if you want us to make a holiday reservation for you as soon as we see that particular restaurant reopen for the season. We just cannot express how grateful our clients have been when they have opted to hire local chefs and caterers who have prepared and either served or delivered meals. Even though everyone is out playing and cavorting in the snow, the opportunity exists for great dinners without all the hassle. Reserve meals ahead of time before the chefs are booked up for the season. Either pick up yourselves or have us arrange delivery of freshly made meals or opt for a slew of premade, sumptuous frozen select entrees by the area’s top chefs.
WINTER DRIVING TIPS- We all realize that every region of the country has unique humidity and precipitation levels helping to form a characteristic winter pattern. In November we usually get wet snow storms coupled with very cold temperatures which creates the sudden onset of intensely hazardous slick and snowy conditions on the local roads. Great for a ski base on the ski hill but crummy for driving over mountain passes and in canyons. In other months of the winter the humidity levels drop a few degrees and the roads are not as slick but still snowy. Below are some winters driving tips that are tried and true.
Traction: maintain good even traction by slowing down in general and braking gradually. Gear down ahead of going downhill. For a slick up hill, accelerate a bit before you ascend the hill, and then maintain the glide up and over. SKIDS- Having good studded snow tires ($500-$1,200) and driving with a steady pace will help you avoid most skids. Gentle pumping vs. harsh power stopping will avert a skid. Avoid braking thru turns. Gear down for both up and down hills. The heavier the SUV, the longer the braking time need to slow the car down- regardless of how many drive wheels the car is equipped with. Keep your distance from other vehicles. As far as parking in town during the winter on our uneven, sloping grades on Main Street, the south side of Main Street (the Pharmacy side) stays in the shade most of the daytime whereas the sunny north side melts off rather quickly.
Colorado Highway Maintenance plow drivers disperse magnesium chloride on the roadways. This has some limited advantage for the prevention of ice forming on the roads but creates mayhem for regular driving. Because it mucks-up your windshield with grey, greasy gook, avoid following a plow when they are dispensing this stuff. Plows have considerable blind spots because of the flying snow. Be aware of this when considering a pass.
On the ski mountain- The Hop garden restaurant located in the Plaza area of the Village core has undergone a facelift and the single slices are back on the menu items at the Crazy Elk! The revelation Bowl chairlift ramp at the top has been re-engineered so the risk of being swept around the bull wheel has been diminished- thank heavens for that! A wonderful full access ramp has been newly constructed to the Gold Hill Chutes.BEWARE: Friends don’t let Friends ski where they shouldn’t Ski! This means the entry to this EXPERT only terrain now looks safe and inviting which will probably translate into more ski accidents out there in the off piste zones! What were they thinking! Give Marc a call and he will give you the heads up on what and when to ski back there-
Expanded seating at our favorite on mountain posh spot- Alpine Vino. New outdoor decks! At your home -------Alarm systems at high alpine homes- There are many layers to protecting your mountain home-Is your Telluride home’s monitor system a candidate to get modernized to prevent flood damage, carbon monoxide emergencies and freeze protection to name a few items?
Having Kastle Keepers, LLC walk thru your home weekly is definitively taking a proactive stance on the subject of having a protection plan in place for your mountain home. Further, we want to make you aware that there are several other layers you may want to consider when piecing together a systematic protection plan. Protection from what you may ask. You think that your home is well equipped and probably won’t have any failures or any disruptions in operations. Thankfully that is true for the most part. It is seldom that we walk in on a catastrophe. When we do- we mobilize the work forces quickly and are on the scene vigorously supervising the cleanup before we even have you on the telephone line. Our promise is To Take The Anxiety Out Of Coming Home.
Events that can happen here are of the same genre as they are back at your primary residence. The only difference is that the “management” of the problem here is more complicated than it is in more urban areas. The cold weather, the town’s remote location and the availability of resources all present challenges when it comes to mitigation and cleanup. A short list of potential threats are; heat loss in the entire house (boiler breakdown) or in areas of the house (zone failures), slow or rapid water leaks, roof leaks, deck damage from ice chunk melt-off or downed trees, hot tub issues (bad thermostats), driveway snow and ice removal and so on. Although we may not be able to predict or prevent the roof from leaking into your master closet but we can handle the overwhelming A-Z list for dealing with it’s discovery, end, and the messy aftermath.CURRENT STATUS: Theoretically, many homes that we manage the day-to-day, year-to-year care of are “turn-key” by nature. They are functioning well and are ready-to-go as far as being safe, secure and operational for a family visit and use. Understandably at the time of construction or purchase the thought of considering a monitoring system of any sort was just not on the radar screen for many new owners.
>Yet when you consider the far reaching ramifications of common damages which may have been averted – hindsight is 20/20. Today we are addressing these concerns at length. Relatively inexpensive systems are readily available, they work very well and many could have caught the situation before or at an early stage.
ACTION PLAN:
> Some residences could use a review of existing preventative systems and follow-up with a modest modernization. Others need to visit the concept of preventative monitoring and review their needs from the bottom up. Give Lee or Trevor a call to discuss your home and what programs are out there. There are several levels of systems available in the marketplace.
Basic- Security and Heat monitoring system.
The basic system would be for security and often that includes, fire protection and a low heat monitor layer as well. Once you have the security and heat issues covered you would want to consider a water bug or flo logic type of system which monitors and alarms you (Kastle Keepers, LLC) that there is a leak or failure in your water operations.
Kastle Keepers, LLC offers you a trained contact person who is your eyes and ears for the weekly walk-through of your home. We catch all sorts of mild calamities and have prevented a major catastrophe here and there over the past 20-years. We walk-in on things like patio doors that have blown open in zero degree temperatures, fireplaces left on, cars running in the garage, windows open, outside irrigation pipes leaking, roof leaks, small floods happening, and hot tub plumbing breaks.. Unfortunately we have discovered floods, boiler system breakdowns and defunct spa operations.
Security: All programs require a monitoring agreement with a local alarm provider. The simplest plan sounds an alarm when and if the system is triggered. The alarm company informs you, us and alerts the local law enforcement. We think that these systems are invaluable and a necessity for several reasons. The code log tracks who is in and out of the home (if the owner pays the extra to do so and we recommend it!), assures you that we are in fact checking your home each week, and wards off break-ins, gives you access to other monitoring “layers”. Installing the security system means your house is “live “ and being monitored and you can now add layers like; Heat system alarms, water minder alarms and others.
Heat system monitoring: requires wired or wireless electrical thermostats throughout the home with direct feeds to the monitoring company. These thermostats can be placed in inconspicuous spaces, out-of-sight, but we need to work together to make sure that the heat or lack thereof is relayed to us.
While boiler system breakdowns occur frequently, regardless of quality or machine cost, the monitor systems have yet to fail at catching the heat loss when they are installed. In the mountains, if the heat goes out, you have a limited time before a freeze-up happens. On-site water bugs and water sensors: we rely and depend on them to show us when or where failures may occur or worse yet a water pipe bursts.
1st Layer: Water Bugs: there is a clever little gadget called a water bug that senses and alerts the alarm system when it comes in contact with water, Invaluable!2nd layer: Flo Logic device: this device is actually installed on the main water line and detects flow through the water pipe. When flow is detected above a normal level then the system shuts down and sends out an alarm signal. When used properly these are the gold standard!
3rd layer: Combination of the above and/ or an additional higher rated PRV valve (Pressure Reducing Valve) for Mountain Village home owners. The Mountain Village is notorious for spiking homes with excessive water pressure. These spikes often bust through the protective valves and create havoc with the house water components.
Fire extinguishers, Carbon Monoxide Detectors and Smoke alarms: These are necessities in the home. The biggest difference is that many homes could “bump up” the number of carbon monoxide detectors and fire extinguishers for additional protection in the home. Last year a tragedy occurred in Aspen, Co when a family perished due to a carbon monoxide leak from a faulty boiler. The house did not have adequate CO detectors. In addition to the CO detectors, all of the KK house checkers carry fire department grade carbon monoxide detectors as an additional layer of safety for both you and us!
Kastle Keepers, LLC news:With ski tunes, rentals, lessons and dining reservations attended to per your holiday requests, the path is clear for you and yours to pull into town, drop off your packs and hit the slopes. We will have your home in tip-top, turn-key condition with the refrigerator stocked and the wine chilled and the car waiting at the airport. There are several new things on the ski hill – from ease of access to off-piste terrain to new shops in the plaza that you may find interesting so we hope you find time to enjoy them. The MET at the Palm Theater has a schedule which you can view online and live music flows in and out of town on a regular basis. Similarly, so do yoga VIP’s, visiting artists, live theater and World Cup Snow.
If you have not had a chance to fill out your holidays forms, please do so. The calendar is starting to take shape and it looks like the Holidays are going to be really busy! If you have not received them, please drop us an email and we will get them out to you.
Have a great remaining fall and we look forward to seeing you this holiday season!
The gang at KK!
Kendahl at Spruce Tree House Ruin ceremonial Kiva on a recent trip to
nearby Mesa Verde National Park- just 2.5 hours away from mountainous Telluride!
