Lost ski areaColoradoRabbit Ears RangeRocky Mountains
Drowsy Water Ranch
A steep ski slope at a guest ranch west of Granby, offered to winter guests for a few seasons in the 1940s.
Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Drowsy Water Ranch, a dude ranch since the mid-1920s, lies in a canyon north of U.S. 40 between Granby and Hot Sulphur Springs.1,2
Read the whole historyTodayDrowsy Water Ranch still runs as a summer guest ranch on private land, and its old ski trail is a horse trail. (2018)1,2
Timeline
1 event · swipe
Memories
Skied Drowsy Water Ranch, 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 Drowsy Water Ranch
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Opened 1952 · 3.1 mi away · ColoradoGranby's first ski area, a volunteer-built hill on Mount Chauncey west of town that the Middle Park Ski Club opened in 1952 and ran for only a few seasons.
- 1947–1952 · 4.2 mi away · ColoradoA rope-tow ski hill about two miles southeast of Hot Sulphur Springs that ran from 1947 to 1952.
- Opened 1911 · 4.2 mi away · ColoradoA small hill in Hot Sulphur Springs where Carl Howelsen gave a ski-jumping exhibition in December 1911, later the town's ski slope with a rope tow.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 2 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Drowsy Water Ranch, a dude ranch since the mid-1920s, lies in a canyon north of U.S. 40 between Granby and Hot Sulphur Springs. For about three years after World War II it offered skiing to winter guests, hoping for business all year. The narrow valley left room only for a steep slope, so a road was built to let beginners get down, and one of the ranch buildings was turned into a ski lodge.1,2
Skiers rode up on a single sled hauled by a winch and cable; the Sky-Hi News describes a set of stairs built on the sled and winched up by an old Model T. Colorado Ski History notes that the few boat tows of the period usually ran two cars back and forth, which made this one unusual.1,2
The ranch now takes only summer guests. The old lodge is its dining hall, the beginners' road and ski trail are horse trails, and the cut for the tow is nearly grown in.1,2
TodayDrowsy Water Ranch still runs as a summer guest ranch on private land, and its old ski trail is a horse trail. (2018)1,2
Timeline
- c. 1940Skiing offered to winter guests for about three seasons after the war1
Sources for this history (2)
- 1Colorado Ski History · Drowsy Water Ranch Ski Hill (Bill Fetcher)
- 2Sky-Hi News · LEFT BEHIND: Exploring Grand County's skiing past through abandoned hills (December 4, 2018)
Photos
No photographs of Drowsy Water Ranch 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 Drowsy Water Ranch, in their own words.
Facts
Location
40.1117° N · 106.0469° W · Colorado · Rabbit Ears Range
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
not yet collected
Closed for good; the year it closed is not yet collected. It stays here as part of the record of U.S. ski areas.
Its numbers
all 1all 1, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain