Lost ski areaColoradoFront RangeRocky Mountains
Chautauqua Mesa
Ran 1948–1963. A city ski hill and jumping site on Chautauqua Mesa in Boulder, run on and off from 1948 to 1963 with a single rope tow.
Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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The ski area sat on the mesa south of Baseline Road, on the edge of Boulder's Chautauqua Park below the Flatirons. Skiing History says sporting goods merchant Bert Street asked the city for a ski hill in October 1947 and a children's jump was in use by January 1948.1,2,3
Read the whole historyTodayTraces of the old jumps remain on the mesa, now part of Chautauqua Park and popular with sledders. (2025)2,3
Timeline
6 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Chautauqua Mesa, 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 Chautauqua Mesa
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Years not yet collected · 13.5 mi away · ColoradoA one-rope-tow ski hill at the old mining camp of Cardinal, off Caribou Road three miles west of Nederland, that ran in the 1940s.
- 1947–1952 · 17.4 mi away · ColoradoA rope-tow ski area on Highway 7 near Allenspark, about 19 miles from Lyons, that opened in 1947 and ran into the early 1950s.
- Opened 1947 · 17.7 mi away · ColoradoA weekend rope-tow hill with a lodge at the old mining town of Apex, north of Central City, that ran from 1947 into the 1950s.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 3 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
The ski area sat on the mesa south of Baseline Road, on the edge of Boulder's Chautauqua Park below the Flatirons. Skiing History says sporting goods merchant Bert Street asked the city for a ski hill in October 1947 and a children's jump was in use by January 1948. That October, store owner Ross Chivers and CU ski coach Steve Bradley rallied National Guardsmen with bulldozers, ski clubs and scouts to clear the slope, and the grand opening came in January 1949.1,2,3
A 200-foot rope tow, run by volunteers and driven by the engine of a World War II Dodge army truck, pulled skiers up. The next season its motor shack was moved 850 feet uphill, with field telephones linking the operators. Tickets were $1 for adults and 50 cents for children, lights allowed night skiing, and there were three jumps. The city recreation department took over the tow in 1949–50.1,2,3
Thin snow, chinook winds and vandals wore it down. It ran when snow allowed until 1953, when vandals cut the rope to pieces. The Boulder Junior Chamber of Commerce reopened it with a free tow in January 1962, but in March 1963 the tow's ignition and telephones were stolen, and the snow melted before it could run again.1,2,3
TodayTraces of the old jumps remain on the mesa, now part of Chautauqua Park and popular with sledders. (2025)2,3
Timeline
- 1947Bert Street asks the city for a ski hill in Chautauqua Park3
- 1948Children's jump in use; volunteers clear the slope in October1,2,3
- 1949Grand opening in January with a 200-foot rope tow1,2,3
- 1953Vandals cut the tow rope and the hill is left idle2
- 1962Junior Chamber of Commerce reopens the hill with a free tow1,2
- 1963Stolen tow parts and melting snow end the last attempt1,2
Sources for this history (3)
- 1Colorado Ski History · Chautauqua Mesa Ski Area
- 2Boulder Reporting Lab · The lost ski area on Chautauqua Mesa, once Boulder's winter playground (Silvia Pettem, October 27, 2025)
- 3International Skiing History Association · Resorts: Boulder's Chautauqua Mesa Ski Hill (Jeff Blumenfeld, Skiing History, September–October 2025)
Photos
No photographs of Chautauqua Mesa 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 Chautauqua Mesa, in their own words.
Facts
Location
39.9969° N · 105.2854° W · Colorado · Front Range
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1948–1963
Closed after the 1963 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