SKIING IN THE CRYSTAL VALLEY MAKES MANY TURNS
by Sue McEvoy
Since the mid-1880’s, Colorado has hosted over 175 ski areas, utilizing everything from rope tows, t-bars and double-chair lifts to snow cats and helicopters to carry skiers and boarders to the top of a slope. Today, there are approximately 30 ski areas in operation in the state, leaving 145 dormant or vanished.
And, the Crystal River Valley is no exception to this phenomenon, having been the site of two lift-served ski areas, several groomed Nordic ski trails and a Heli-skiing operation. In addition, major developments including gondolas rising from the Redstone Inn, chair lifts high up in the Bear Creek and Spring Creek drainages of Coal Basin, and a destination resort featuring skiing, golf and tennis in Marble were all in the design phase.
The first skier of record in the valley is Albert A. “Al” Johnson, a native Canadian who came to Crystal in 1880 to prospect for silver. According to the Colorado Ski Museum, Al was Crystal’s first postmaster and carried the weekly mail between the mining communities of Crystal and Crested Butte on eleven foot long snowshoes (skis). The dangerous route, nicknamed the “Snowshoe Express”, took him through Crystal Canyon, the Devil’s Punchbowl and over 10,700’ Schofield Pass.
For twenty years, he was a living legend, “seen in a racer’s tuck, the fifty pound mail sack on his back, his eyes squinting against the bright sun, and his scarf waving in the breeze as he rocketed down the narrow trail in Crystal Canyon at speeds of sixty miles an hour on the last leg of his homeward journey carrying the Snowshoe Express.”
In 1959, Frank Kistler, the new owner/developer of the Redstone Castle, installed a t-bar ski lift on the property and commenced plans to make Redstone a world-class, year-round resort. The cost was $2 a day, but the base never exceeded 14 inches. Frank’s designs included a lift running from Redstone Ranch Acres up the Hawk Creek drainage and a lift from Redstone up East Creek.
The 1970’s witnessed the beginning of a major development in the small town of Marble. Proposed as the Marble Ski and Golf Resort, the Master Plan included hotels, condominiums, shopping centers, 2 ski lifts and a gondola. One double chair was installed in 1972; it traveled 4,266’ and rose 1,050’ vertical. Built on geologically unstable ground and partially on Forest Service land, plans were abandoned in 1974, leaving the one lift and an unfinished base lodge.
Nordic skiing brought winter enthusiasts to the Crystal Valley in the late 1970’s and 1980’s. Bob McCormick and Clark Cretti operated Redstone Nordic Sports on the boulevard, where they sold and rented cross-country equipment. They also had a permit to set track on McClure Pass road and people came from Glenwood Springs and Carbondale to ski in the aspen forests.
In the 1980’s, Bob and Deb McCormick opened the Redstone Ski Center on the land behind the coke ovens, setting and grooming track with snowmobiles and charging $3 a day. Deb recalls 30 – 40 skiers a day coming to Redstone with the highlight being full moon tours by headlamp.
At this same time, much of Redstone belonged to the Mid-Continent Mining Corporation and the mines were in full operation. As part of their proposed land use reclamation plan, Mid-Continent hired Forest Service ski area planner Paul Hauk to do a complete study and design a lift served ski area high up in Coal Basin. These plans included a gondola from town to the top of Bear Creek, several chair lifts and a warming hut.
Further up the valley, Colorado First Tracks, a heli-ski operation, moved its base from Crested Butte to the edge of Beaver Lake in 1980. They operated with a permit to serve 25 square miles from the back of Red Lady, in Crested Butte to Whitehouse Mountain in Marble, often providing 25,000 vertical feet of skiing to their guests.
More groomed skiing came to the valley in 2000 – 2003 when Larry and Dana Darien operated The Ute Meadows Nordic Center to compliment their Bed and Breakfast outside of Marble. With 17 kilometers of rolled surface, novice and experienced skiers enjoyed set track and skate skiing. Season passes were offered and Ute Meadows was most famous for allowing people to bring their dogs on the groomed trails.