Some communities are now finding a niche, offering an alternative to endless lift lines and soaring ticket prices. They're reopening, several as nonprofits, offering a mom-and-pop experience at a far lower cost than corporate-owned resorts.
LA VETA, Colorado — It’s been the longest wait, their whole lives, in fact. But Race Lessar and Landen Ozzello are finally right where they want to be, on a snowy slope close to home, molding snow into a ski jump.“I’m happy that it’s open for at least one year,” Lessar said. It opened as a nonprofit, and that may be the key. "I didn’t know that there was a hope,” he said.
Ski resorts boomed in the 70s and 80s, emerging even in areas that didn't have the climate or workers to sustain them long-term. First-time ski resort owners took on debt and quickly filed for bankruptcy after a bad snow season. Ownerships transferred numerous times before resorts calcified into ghost towns.
Finally, when cold air and snowstorms arrived in late winter, Cuchara's maintenance director had an idea. They welded old school bus seats to a car-hauling trailer and hitched it to a snowcat, a tractor with snow treads, then put out the word they would be towing people up the mountain. “We’re trying to give the community something because they’ve supported us for so long,” Clayton said.
“A high percentage of our kids would not be getting the opportunity if we weren't taking them,” Wipplinger said. “It opens up their world a little bit."If fond memories and volunteer spirit are essential to reopening an abandoned ski area as a nonprofit, so is snow, and its consistency dictates whether it can endure.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Small towns reclaim abandoned ski areas as nonprofitsUnder the gaze of the imposing Spanish Peaks in southern Colorado, the 50-acre Parker-Fitzgerald Cuchara Mountain Park is the story of so many American ski areas, only the community was determined to change the script
Read more »
Small towns reclaim abandoned ski areas as nonprofitsUnder the gaze of the imposing Spanish Peaks in southern Colorado, the 50-acre Parker-Fitzgerald Cuchara Mountain Park is the story of so many American ski areas, only the community was determined to change the script. Ski resorts boomed in the 70s and 80s, emerging even in areas that didn’t have the climate or workers to sustain them long-term. First-time ski resort owners took on debt and quickly filed for bankruptcy after a bad snow season. But some communities including Cuchara one are now finding a niche, offering an alternative to endless lift lines and sky-high ticket prices. They’re reopening, several as nonprofits, offering a mom-and-pop experience at a far lower cost than mountains run by corporate conglomerates.
Read more »
Absa Bank To Offer Energy Grants To Small & Medium Enterprises In South Africa - CleanTechnicaAbsa has announced that struggling businesses will soon be able to apply for their share of the R50 million ($2.8 million) in grants to keep their businesses running.
Read more »
British Man Hopes to Make Guinness Record History in the Half Marathon by Wearing Ski BootsTom Bracey is set to run the Great Birmingham Run in ski boots.
Read more »
‘Like he was from the moon:’ The tall tale of Tom Copa's unlikely place in Spurs’ loreHow a washed-out college basketball player turned self-described ski bum came to spend one dream-making season with the Spurs in 1991-92
Read more »