In the snow

A look at what’s new at local ski areas this season

by Tracy Chamberlin

With some early snow in October and even more forecasted this week, the 2013-14 ski season is already under way in Southwest Colorado.

Wolf Creek Ski Area, which gets an average of 430 inches of snow annually, was again the first to crank up the lifts this year. After an initial blanketing in October and a recent dump of 16 inches, the playground on the pass is already 93 percent open.

Get out the gear

Durango Mountain Resort
Opens: Nov. 29
385-2168 or
800-525-0892
Deal of the day: 2-Day and 3-Day Punch Passes for $79 and $149 respectively, plus Locals Benefit Days for $40
 
Wolf Creek Ski Area
Opens: Already 93
percent open
264-5639
Deal of the day: Locals Days for $38; first one Sunday, Nov. 24.

Up at Durango Mountain Resort, snowmaking crews have been spreading the white gold since Nov. 1. They started that same date last year, but with Thanksgiving a week later plus 16 new tower guns, a new fan gun and two new snowcats, they’ll have time and equipment on their side.

“Our crews have been working hard … with the goal of providing top-to-bottom skiing from Lift 1 for opening weekend,” said Director of Communications Kim Oyler.

Opening day at Purgatory is scheduled for Black Friday, Nov. 29, the day after Thanksgiving. Lift 4 will definitely be open on the frontside, and with some help from Mother Nature, the resort hopes to also have Lift 1, the six-pack, running. The final decision will be made next week on the DMR website. 

The snow guns began coating the trails at Telluride on Oct. 28. This year they’ve added 60 new guns and upgraded the existing snowmaking throughout the Lift 4 area in Mountain Village. Add in some snowstorms and low temperatures from Mother Nature, and north side of the San Juans could have a big opening day on Thanksgiving, Nov. 28.

Along with new snow-making equipment, local ski areas also have added lifts, deals and amenities.

The most significant change at Wolf Creek is the Treasure Stoke chairlift, a new Doppelmayr detachable high-speed quad that replaced the Treasure Lift. The new lift makes loading and unloading easier and faster, getting guests to the top in six minutes instead of 12. However, the old lift won’t go to waste: Wolf Creek plans to re-engineer it as the Elma Lift.

The Treasure Stoke lift is just part of the larger picture at Wolf Creek, which began taking public input on long-term expansion plans in the spring of 2012 and has been ticking off its to-do list ever since.

The projects next in line include the Elma Lift, the Sports Center remodel, the Race Hutch and a new water tank. They’ve all have been approved by the U.S. Forest Service and are expected to be completed over the next two to three years.

Eventually, Wolf Creek hopes to expand into the San Juan National Forest, growing the area’s skiable terrain by hundreds of acres. With the long-awaited release of the San Juan National Forest Management Plan this year, which gives federal agencies guidance on future forest management decisions, those plans can begin moving forward.

Durango Mountain Resort’s been blowing snow since Nov. 1 and hoping to have Lift 4 and Lift 1 running for opening day on Nov. 29./Photo by Steve Eginoire

But it’s still one step at a time for the family-owned operation. “We call it ‘organic growth,’” said Rosanne Pitcher, Vice President of Marketing and Sales, “cause we can only grow as our finances allow us to.”

But upgrading facilities and planning for the future of Wolf Creek wasn’t the only thing the area had to contend with over the summer.

The West Fork Complex Fire burned almost 110,000 acres in the San Juan and Rio Grande national forests north of Pagosa Springs. Consisting of three lightning-caused blazes that ignited in early June, the fires caused evacuations, road closures and air-quality warnings in southern Colorado.

“You just don’t know if the fire is going to wipe out everything you’re building,” Pitcher said.

Spot fires did crop up within Wolf Creek's boundaries but were quickly snuffed. The main cause of a short delay in construction planned for the summer was when workers had to stop building to help fight the fires.

Whether removing potential hazards or erecting fire lines, Pitcher commented on how hard the crews worked to complete projects and get the area open Oct. 26.

The primary fuel for the West Fork fires was beetle-kill trees, which remain a concern for foresters and Wolf Creek owners. One thing guests can do to help with the situation is to avoid running over young and new growth trees. “We are counting on that regeneration of the forest floor,” Pitcher added.

Now that the fires are out and the ski season is under way, Wolf Creek can turn to its guests. For area residents that means bargains like Locals Days, when lift tickets are just $38. The first one is Sun., Nov. 24. Others throughout the season are Dec. 4 and 11; Jan. 8, 22 and 25; Feb. 2, 19 and 26; March 5 and 30; and, April 2 and 6.

In the land between perdition and paradise, the biggest deals for locals are the Multi-Day Punch Passes, Locals Benefit Days and $45 Thursdays.

Not theirs for the taking: Forest Service changes course on water rights

The Forest Service announced last week it will be backing off from a rule implemented in 2011 that essentially forced ski resorts to turn over privately owned water rights in order to operate on public lands.

The controversial rule was a clause added to ski area's permit application. Without the permit, they could not open. So, ski areas like Powderhorn needing to renew permits for the 2011-12 or 2012-13 seasons were left with no choice.

The clause caused an uproar in the skiing and snowboarding industry, as well as other businesses operating on public lands like farmers, ranchers and even municipalities, who figured they could be next.

The Forest Service’s main argument was that the ski resorts that owned the water rights could sell them off for profit, and they were seeking to protect those rights for future owners and operators of the ski area.

Those in opposition to the clause, including the National Ski Areas Association who filed suit against the Forest Service in 2012, saw the new rule as the federal government overstepping its authority and an outright “takings” of private property.

The NSAA ultimately won the battle in a lower federal court that ruled the agency failed to follow proper procedure when implementing the rule. They did not take public comment ahead of its implementation.

Since that ruling, Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, with bipartisan support from Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, and Colorado Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., introduced H.R. 3189, intending to protect ski area’s water rights. It’s called the Water Rights Protection Act and is making its way through house committees.

Last week, during testimony on that bill, the Forest Service made a public statement that it would no longer require ski areas to agree to the clause in order to receive a permit. Although it’s considered a win for those in opposition to the rule, some are still touting the benefits of Tipton’s bill as a way to protect ski areas in the future.

The Forest Service’s next move will be to publish a new policy in the Federal Register and begin the rule-making process by accepting public comment on it. As for Tipton’s water rights act, it continues to make its way through the legislative process. 

-Tracy Chamberlin

Purgatory is also offering a 2-Day Punch Pass for $79 and a 3-Day Punch Pass for $149. Both are on sale now at DMR’s Bodo Office but do come with some conditions and blackout dates. Details are available on the resort’s website. DMR also has a four-punch Locals Day Pass for $99, which is available at the ticket office on the mountain, but all the others need to be purchased at Bodo.

Another way to save is $45 Thursdays. Every Thursday this season, the resort is offering $45 lift tickets. No coupons are needed, but some blackout dates apply. “We wanted to offer something new this year,” Oyler said, “… motivate people to get up more and experience the mountain more.”

Then there’s the annual return of Locals Benefit Days, but this year is comes with a twist.

Each year four local nonprofits were selected, and one highlighted on each of the four Locals Days throughout the season with a portion of the proceeds going to support the organization.

This year, however, Purgatory will highlight all four, splitting the proceeds collected on each of the four days between the four recipients. The benefactors for the 2013-14 season are Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Southwest Colorado, Annie’s Orphans Dog Shelter, Sexual Assault Services Organization of Durango and the Medicine Horse Center. The dates are Dec. 15, Jan. 12, Feb. 9 and March 2.

By partnering all four nonprofits over the four days, they can support and promote each other throughout the season, according to Oyler. “There’s a lot of synergy when partnering together,” she added.

The difficult 2011-12 season asked the question when – and if – ski areas would open, and half of the industry’s resorts opened late. A year later, the 2012-13 season witnessed a record uptick with 56.6 million skier and snowboarder visits, resulting in the largest year-to-year gain in 30 years, according to the National Ski Areas Association.

Ski areas in the Southwest didn’t suffer as much as other Colorado resorts in 2011-12, so they also didn’t have as much to gain. Purgatory opened later than usual in 2012-13, but also extended the season through April. Oyler said DMR's skier visits were essentially on par last year. Wolf Creek also had a late start, but recovered to end the season with 201,000 skiers.

With forecasters like the Old Farmer’s Almanac and the National Weather Service predicting average to below average temperatures and above-average precipitation for the area in 2013-14, local ski areas are hopeful for a season rich in white gold.