How is traffic out of Telluride to Montrose on Monday after fest? Have to catch a flight out of Montrose at 7AM. Should I leave Sunday evening??
At the time you need to leave, you will have no problem. Since it takes about 1.5 hours to get to Montrose, if you are on the road at 4 AM, you won’t hit much traffic, and you will get to the airport with time to spare. A suggestion would be to get tickets for the Punch Brothers Nightgrass show Sunday night at the Sheridan, and by the time that wraps up, it will nearly be time to leave.
Traffic leaving Telluride is slow on Monday during the day, from like 8-3, because folks are leaving town, plus the speed limit is 15 mph. But once you get downhill, past the airport and traffic circle for Mountain Village, unless there is an accident, traffic is fine.
Just beware of deer and such driving at night.
I routinely take the first flight out of Montrose to Denver Monday at 630 or 7am and the “Go to Punch Brothers Nightgrass and leave shortly thereafter” plan is exactly what I’ve done. It’s a great way to close out the festival and I’m back in Boston mowing my lawn by about 2pm Monday. What I do is take the Telluride Express shuttle to Montrose airport so I can doze off and let someone else do the driving. There are usually at least 5 others on the van doing the same thing. I can vouch that there is zero traffic the whole way at that hour!
Is the Telluride Express reliable though?
My experience for 5+ years is they are very reliable. They will call your cell the day before pickup to confirm time and location.
Without wanting to sound mean, my experience hasn’t been so good recently. I was left stranded at the airport at Montrose last year after flying in from Australia. No one at TE would help despite numerous phone calls. They kept telling me they were very busy and someone would call me back ( no one did) . It was bewildering as I had paid and I had the email confirming my pick up but TE kept telling me that they didn’t have me listed and no one was available. It was pretty awful and I was stuck at Montrose airport by myself for over three hours. I was quietly crying trying to work out how I could manage the last leg - I don’t drive in the US and I had had nearly 24 hours on the road flying coach from Australia so was a bit exhausted. Eventually a man from another counter managed to locate a TE driver who he knew personally and he drove me to Telluride.
It left me a bit upset. My previous experience with TE was fantastic and am hoping it doesn’t happen this year! I have booked ( and paid) for another Montrose pick up. It can’t happen twice can it? 