Lost ski areaColoradoElk MountainsRocky Mountains
Marble Ski Area
Ran 1971–1974. A one-chairlift ski area on Mount Daly above Marble, the first piece of a large resort and real estate plan that collapsed in 1974.
Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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The Marble Ski Area was a development on Mount Daly, just east of the town of Marble in the Crystal River Valley. Denver developers Lee Stubblefield and John Zakovich formed Marble Ski Area, Inc. and sold home sites to pay for it; their 1971 master plan called for 12 lifts, two gondolas and a village with a golf course, at about $50 million.1,2,3
Read the whole historyTodayThe land is private and sold as home sites; the base of the old chair, the unfinished lodge and the warming hut, now a cabin, still stand.1,3
Timeline
7 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Marble Ski Area, 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 Marble Ski Area
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- 1960–1961 · 6.8 mi away · ColoradoA one-T-bar beginner hill at Redstone in the Crystal River Valley that ran for a single winter, 1960–61.
- Opened 1967 · 18.2 mi away · ColoradoA summer ski area with one tow on a 13,000-foot snowfield on the north side of Castle Peak, outside Aspen, run on and off from 1967 into the 1970s.
- 1939–1952 · 25.3 mi away · ColoradoA club ski area on Cement Mountain south of Crested Butte that opened in 1939 with Colorado's first chairlift and closed in the 1950s.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 3 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
The Marble Ski Area was a development on Mount Daly, just east of the town of Marble in the Crystal River Valley. Denver developers Lee Stubblefield and John Zakovich formed Marble Ski Area, Inc. and sold home sites to pay for it; their 1971 master plan called for 12 lifts, two gondolas and a village with a golf course, at about $50 million. Snowcats carried the first skiers up the mountain, and a Riblet double chair about 4,300 feet long, with 1,050 feet of vertical to a 9,800-foot summit, ran in the 1971–72 winter.1,2,3
Opposition came quickly. A 1968 Forest Service study had found the south-facing slopes poor for skiing, and in 1971 the agency turned down a permit for 4,600 acres of national forest. Residents formed the Crystal Valley Environmental Protection Association in 1972, and Marble reincorporated in 1973 to have a say. Mudslides in May 1973 crossed the ski area road, the state land use commission declared the project a public hazard, and reports of illegal lot sales followed. The company gave up its real estate license in July 1974 and filed a bankruptcy plan in January 1975.1,2
WildSnow says the chair ran for two winters; Colorado Ski History lists 1971 to 1974 as the area's years.1,3
TodayThe land is private and sold as home sites; the base of the old chair, the unfinished lodge and the warming hut, now a cabin, still stand.1,3
Timeline
- 1968Forest Service study finds the south-facing slopes poorly suited to skiing2
- 1970Snowcats take about 1,000 skiers and lot buyers up Mount Daly2
- 1971First season by Colorado Ski History's dates; Riblet double chair goes up1,3
- 1972Valley residents form the Crystal Valley Environmental Protection Association2
- 1973Mudslides hit the ski area road; the state declares the project a public hazard2
- 1974Company surrenders its real estate license; resort plans are cancelled1,2
- 1975Marble Ski Area, Inc. presents a bankruptcy plan in Denver2
Sources for this history (3)
- 1Colorado Ski History · Marble Ski Resort
- 2The Sopris Sun · Marble Ski Area fight raged 50 years ago (Lynn Burton, September 22, 2021)
- 3WildSnow · Throwback Thursday: 1971 Marble Ski Area Chairlifts, Colorado (Louis Dawson)
Photos
No photographs of Marble Ski Area 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 Marble Ski Area, in their own words.
Facts
Location
39.0864° N · 107.1836° W · Colorado · Elk Mountains
OpenStreetMap still maps 5 downhill runs here; OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1971–1974
Closed after the 1974 season. It stays here as part of the record of U.S. ski areas.
Its numbers
all 3all 3, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain