It takes a delicate forecast of wind—but not too much wind—and a patient pilot to put to flight one of the oldest flying mechanisms around: hot air balloons. The Telluride Balloon Festival took flight in early June on a calm Saturday morning from the Town Park and put into motion a slew of multicolored balloons on a path to the west.
Hot air balloons were the first airborne contraptions to carry humans setting flight in the late 1700s, and today these nylon carriers are the theme of hundreds of festivals across the country. Telluride’s Balloon Festival first landed in the Town Park in 1983 and has since been a favorite photographic and weather-watching weekend.
It can be tricky when the fickle mountain weather makes for a guessing game as to whether the balloons may fly or not. The first weekend of June each year, balloonists from all over the West gather in the Town Park at 6 a.m. sharp and begin to inflate these immense stretches of nylon—if weather allows they take off.
Saturday night main street shut down and balloons were tethered and nearly inflated for the Main Street Glo, but winds denied the balloon glow. Winds, however, didn't stop a different type of glow; balloonists ignited propane-fueled fires.
By Kara Tatone
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Flying Telluride's friendly skies, balloonists and their nylon carriers took on high alpine heights. Sky watchers witnessed a handful of balloons on an early June morning making their way west.
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