Any day now, a ski lift installed more than four decades ago at Cuchara Valley in southern Colorado will haul passengers for the first time in 25 years, providing affordable skiing and riding with an emphasis on serving young people in one of the poorest areas in the state.
Efforts by the non-profit Panadero Ski Corporation to revive Cuchara and rehabilitate Lift 4, first installed in 1981, have taken six years. Thanks to non-profit funding and countless volunteer hours, the long wait is almost over as Panadero wraps up the final paperwork with the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board to license the lift for operation.
Ski patrollers underwent mandatory lift evacuation training this past weekend in preparation for the resumption of service for a lift that has been idle more years than it has operated since it was first erected.
“They have told us if everything is complete, it will be a two- to three-day turnaround and (then) we will have a license to operate that thing for the public,” said Ken Clayton, a Panadero board member. “They said, ‘Congratulations on a huge milestone.’”
Cuchara is located on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo range, 30 miles southwest of Walsenburg and 25 miles north of the New Mexico border. The current iteration of Cuchara is described by Panadero officials as a community-based non-profit, year-round outdoor recreation area that has brought skiing back through grassroots efforts to operate in the public interest.
The Cuchara Valley ski area operated off and on under a series of owners from 1981 until 2000, when it was abandoned. In 2017, the Cuchara Foundation purchased land in the base area for $150,000 and transferred it to Huerfano County, which has operated it as a park.
Panadero was formed to pursue rehabilitation of the lift and bring skiing back to one of the most beautiful places in Colorado. In 2022, it reached agreement with the county to manage and operate Cuchara Mountain Park.
Cuchara served skiers the past three seasons with uphill access provided by a snowcat that hauled an 11-seat contraption dubbed the Ski Bus. Actually it was a converted car hauler with 11 repurposed school bus seats and a safety wall welded to the frame.
The two-person Riblet chairlift opening soon is something old, something new. The lift towers, seats and steel haul rope are original, but the old electrical and drive systems had to be replaced.
The lift will provide access to 47 acres of skiing with 11 trails and a vertical drop of 300 feet. The upper part of the mountain above the lift also will be open to skiers and riders willing to hike for their turns, and Panadero has applied for a permit with the San Isabel National Forest to allow snowcat skiing. They are hoping to open for the season around New Year’s.
“We have no snow, but we’re excited,” Clayton said. “And, actually, had it started snowing in November, we wouldn’t have finished (work on the lift). So it’s been great that it has been dry for us, but now we need the snow.”
Clayton said Cuchara has typically been able to open between Christmas and New Year’s. They do have some snowmaking, but they haven’t yet had temperatures cold enough to run the snow guns.
“We’re eager to open because of the status of the lift,” Clayton said, “but it’s not that odd that we’re not open yet.”
Cuchara is a mountain with a mission — to serve the young people of Huerfano County, along with neighboring Costilla and Pueblo counties.
“We’re one of the poorest counties in the state, and we’re creating jobs that haven’t existed on that mountain for 20-plus years,” Clayton said. “Our mission is to bring affordable skiing back to southern Colorado and open up winter sports to families that can’t afford driving up to the big resorts. We expanded our kids program this year to where if an adult buys a lift ticket or a season pass, their child gets the equal free.”
They also are creating a lift ticket scholarship fund for kids whose families can’t afford it.
“Our goal is to get kids up on that mountain skiing for almost free,” Clayton said, “if not free.”
