Lost ski areaColoradoGrand MesaRocky Mountains
Mesa Creek
Ran 1940–1966. A club-run rope-tow and Poma hill on the Grand Mesa, called Old Powderhorn by locals, that closed in 1966 when Powderhorn opened below it.
Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Mesa Creek, which many locals call Old Powderhorn, was a club-run ski hill on the north side of the Grand Mesa, along Highway 65 above today's Powderhorn. Colorado Ski History's page on the area says the Grand Junction Ski Club opened it in 1940, when a membership cost about a dollar.1,2,3,4
Read the whole historyTodayThe old runs are still there, and backcountry skiers climb to them from the Highway 65 sledding hill.1,3
Timeline
7 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Mesa Creek, 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 Mesa Creek
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Years not yet collected · 10.7 mi away · ColoradoA small club rope-tow hill on Highway 65 at the south side of Grand Mesa above Cedaredge, also called Rimrock, used from the 1940s into the 1970s.
- 1948–1953 · 45.1 mi away · ColoradoA volunteer-run tow hill on Rio Blanco Hill, 15 miles north of Rifle on Highway 13, started by local plant workers, that ran from 1948 to 1953.
- 1960–1961 · 47 mi away · ColoradoA one-T-bar beginner hill at Redstone in the Crystal River Valley that ran for a single winter, 1960–61.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 4 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Mesa Creek, which many locals call Old Powderhorn, was a club-run ski hill on the north side of the Grand Mesa, along Highway 65 above today's Powderhorn. Colorado Ski History's page on the area says the Grand Junction Ski Club opened it in 1940, when a membership cost about a dollar. The same site's Powderhorn history dates skiing at Mesa Creek to just after World War II, and Wikipedia to the 1950s. By 1950 it had two rope tows and two runs.1,2,3,4
Bob Beverly and Pat Paterson formed a volunteer ski patrol in 1954. One tow became a Poma lift in 1956 at a cost of $20,000, and the other was replaced in 1961 by the Lions Lift. Mesa Creek closed in 1966, when Powderhorn opened about two miles below it, and the Lions Lift moved to the new area, where it ran until 2005.1,2
TodayThe old runs are still there, and backcountry skiers climb to them from the Highway 65 sledding hill.1,3
Timeline
- 1940Grand Junction Ski Club opens the area, by Colorado Ski History's date1
- 1950Two rope tows serve two runs3
- 1954A volunteer ski patrol is formed1
- 1956One tow is replaced by a Poma lift costing $20,0001
- 1961The second tow gives way to the Lions Lift1
- 1966Mesa Creek closes as Powderhorn opens two miles below1,2
- 2005The Lions Lift, moved to Powderhorn, is taken down1
Sources for this history (4)
- 1Colorado Ski History · Mesa Creek Ski Area
- 2Wikipedia · Powderhorn Resort
- 3Just a Colorado Gal · Abandoned Colorado Ski Resorts: Mesa Creek (Heather Balogh Rochfort)
- 4Colorado Ski History · History of Powderhorn Ski Area
Photos
No photographs of Mesa Creek 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 Mesa Creek, in their own words.
Facts
Location
39.0654° N · 108.1064° W · Colorado · Grand Mesa
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1940–1966
Closed after the 1966 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