STRAIGHT LINE CUCHARA FOR THE PEOPLE Sunrise over West Spanish Peak and the Cuchara River Valley from the slopes of the former ski area. Photo: Amarante Anderson “Our community has donated so much time and money. We’ve been trying to fix and replace everything to get that lift certified by the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board,” says Ken Clayton, treasurer of the Panadero Ski Corporation. “The permits for those lifts expired 20 years ago, but the goal is to have that lift open this winter.” For now, you can ski the entire mountain, but you’ll need to earn your turns. The ski area has a free uphill policy and an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service to allow uphill skiers to access the upper part of the mountain—another 1,500 verti-cal feet and 230 acres of terrain—as well as the surrounding backcountry, which tops out upon 13,000-foot peaks. A local carpenter named Amarante Anderson has been ex-ploring the backcountry terrain from Cuchara’s base area since 2015. “My first year there was nobody there. The buildings were rundown,” says Anderson, who’s 30 and lives in nearby Walsenburg. “I started splitboarding at the old resort because I thought it would be a nice way to get into the backcountry.” Anderson says he likes the place for its solitude. “You show up to Teton Pass or the Wasatch and there are 100 cars and you’re fighting for a parking spot,” he says. “Whereas if you go past the resort at Cuchara, you don’t see another person.” Yet the old ski area is slowly coming back to life. In the old rental building, you can buy a lift ticket and sit by the fireplace while ’90s ski movies stream on the TV. There’s no gear rental on site, but you can head to a shop in nearby Pueblo called the Edge Ski, Paddle, and Pack. The build-ing that once housed the ski patrol headquarters and a warming hut is just a concrete foundation now, but a recent grant from Great Outdoors Colorado, as well as private donations, are helping fund facility restoration. In 2018, Chris Smith and Donna Van Treese, a couple who moved from Oklahoma, bought two buildings in the base area, 50 yards from the lift, and began cleaning them up. These days, they operate the popular Cuchara Mountain Mercantile, a deli and market slinging morning cinnamon rolls and pizza midday, as well an event space and dorm-style accommodations out of those spaces. So, will more skiers show up to support this place? The locals hope so. As resorts elsewhere in Colorado struggle with overcrowding, more adventurous skiers are heading south, when the snow delivers, for a different experience. “People who are tired of the megaresort life elsewhere have discovered these nonprofit ski areas in small communities,” says Clayton. “We’re an alternative for people who want to avoid Interstate 70. Here, families can come down and a day of cat skiing is cheaper than a burger and fries at those bigger resorts. The place is like a time capsule.” 106 The Ski Journal
The Ski Journal Volume 18, Issue 1: Page 106
