Lost ski areaColoradoRabbit Ears RangeRocky Mountains
Bluebird Backcountry
Ran 2020–2023. A ski area with no lifts on Bear Mountain between Kremmling and Steamboat Springs, where skiers climbed under their own power, open for three winters from 2020 to 2023.
Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Bluebird Backcountry had no chairlifts. Skiers and snowboarders climbed marked skin tracks on their own power, and the area rented gear, taught lessons and offered guides so people could learn backcountry skiing in a controlled setting.1
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Memories
Skied Bluebird Backcountry, or worked there?
Tell us what you remember, or what this page has wrong. Memories show here, credited to you, after we read them; facts are checked against a source before they change a figure.
Lost near Bluebird Backcountry
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- 1950–1953 · 6.8 mi away · ColoradoA family-built rope-tow ski area on Baker Mountain at Muddy Pass, on the east side of Rabbit Ears Pass, that ran from 1950 to 1953.
- Closed 1985 · 23.5 mi away · ColoradoA free rope-tow hill on a ranch just north of Oak Creek, run for the town from the mid-1960s until March 1985.
- Years not yet collected · 23.7 mi away · ColoradoA free town ski hill in Oak Creek with a self-service rope tow, used from about 1960 to 1966.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 2 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Bluebird Backcountry had no chairlifts. Skiers and snowboarders climbed marked skin tracks on their own power, and the area rented gear, taught lessons and offered guides so people could learn backcountry skiing in a controlled setting. It began as a six-day trial in spring 2019 with 171 guests at two places, then ran a 14-day test season at Peak Ranch outside Kremmling the next spring.1
Backed at first by a Kickstarter campaign, it opened on Bear Mountain, a private ranch on the Continental Divide, on December 31, 2020, the first new ski area in Colorado since Silverton Mountain in 2002. Its first full winter had 28 runs, 11 marked skin tracks and more than 1,200 acres. Over three winters it drew more than 19,000 visitors, added cabins and lodging domes for overnight guests, and saw its busiest day, 300 people, in March 2023.1,2
On July 10, 2023, the company announced it would close for good. Chief executive Jeff Woodward said Bear Mountain had good snow and terrain, but more than 60 percent of guests lived on the Front Range, hours away, and the business could not go on without a multi-year capital partner. Its base buildings, domes and equipment were offered for sale.1,2
Sources for this history (2)
- 1Steamboat Pilot & Today · Colorado's ski area without any chairlifts, Bluebird Backcountry, announces permanent closure (Tom Skulski, July 10, 2023)
- 2Ski Area Management (SAM Magazine) · Colorado's Lift-Free Bluebird Backcountry to Close (July 10, 2023)
Photos
No photographs of Bluebird Backcountry we may republish yet
Its old photos and trail maps live on the sites that collected them, and Google finds the rest.
Memories
What skiers remember of Bluebird Backcountry, in their own words.
Facts
Location
40.3075° N · 106.5069° W · Colorado · Rabbit Ears Range
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
2020–2023
Closed after the 2023 season. It stays here as part of the record of U.S. ski areas.
Its numbers
all 2all 2, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain