Blue Mountain

Blue Mountain sat in the Blue Mountains about five miles west of Monticello. The Utah Lost Ski Area Project says it opened in 1950; the Deseret News gives the 1950s, and the Salt Lake Tribune says run cutting began in the late 1950s. A Poma lift served the slopes, joined by a pony tow in the project's count and a T-bar in Moab Gear Trader's; the Deseret News counted two runs, the project three. Skiers recalled it as steep and full of moguls. A small lodge with a fireplace served hot drinks and grilled food.^1,2,3,4

Townspeople skied it in winter, helped with daily chores and cleared the runs in summer, and skiers came from Bluff, Blanding, Moab and even Colorado. By the 1980s, areas in southern Colorado offered more, and snow was unreliable. Sources name dry winters, costly liability insurance and an expiring Forest Service lease. The project gives 1990 as the last season and the Tribune says about 1990; the Deseret News says the 1980s. The Forest Service later removed the lift towers and cables.^1,2,3,4

TodayTwo overgrown runs, a parking lot and the old lodge remain, and the slopes are used for backcountry skiing, sledding and snowshoeing. (2017)^3,4