Lost ski areaColoradoSan Juan MountainsRocky Mountains
Cowboy Hill
Ran 1957–1959. A family rope-tow hill on the Yeager Ranch west of Durango that ran from 1957 to 1959.
Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Cowboy Hill was a small slope on the Yeager Ranch, off U.S. 160 west of Durango, used mostly by the landowners' family and friends.1,2
Read the whole historyTimeline
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Memories
Skied Cowboy Hill, 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 Cowboy Hill
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- 1976–1986 · 18.4 mi away · ColoradoA small beginner ski hill run by the Tamarron resort north of Durango, with a rope tow from the mid-1970s and a short double chair from 1981.
- 1972–1983 · 21 mi away · ColoradoA small beginner hill built for the Forest Lakes subdivision north of Bayfield, open from 1972 to 1983.
- 1951–1985 · 29.5 mi away · ColoradoA club-run ski area on Highway 145 at Stoner, 26 miles from Cortez, with T-bars and a large vertical drop for its size, open from 1951 to 1985.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 2 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Cowboy Hill was a small slope on the Yeager Ranch, off U.S. 160 west of Durango, used mostly by the landowners' family and friends. Colorado Ski History lists two beginner runs and one rope tow driven by a flathead Ford V8, with no lodge or snowmaking, from 1957 to 1959. The hill was given up after someone stole the tow rope. The Yeagers, one of Durango's best-known ski families, kept several private rope tows on their land north and west of town, the Durango Herald notes.1,2
Sources for this history (2)
- 1Colorado Ski History · Cowboy Hill
- 2The Durango Herald · Even before Purgatory, skiing popular in San Juans (Ann Butler, 2016)
Photos
No photographs of Cowboy Hill 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 Cowboy Hill, in their own words.
Facts
Location
37.2640° N · 107.9644° W · Colorado · San Juan Mountains
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1957–1959
Closed after the 1959 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