Lost ski areaColoradoFront RangeRocky Mountains
Rainbow Valley Ranch
A one-run, one-tow ski hill off Highway 67 between Divide and Cripple Creek that operated in the 1960s.
Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Rainbow Valley Ranch had a single run served by one tow, off Highway 67 between Divide and Cripple Creek, and it operated in the 1960s. Little more is known: Colorado Ski History has an old advertisement for it and photos from 2003 of the cut of the run, with the tow line along its left side.1
Read the whole historyTodayThe land is private property; the run's cut was still visible in 2003. (2003)1
Timeline
1 event · swipe
Memories
Skied Rainbow Valley 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 Rainbow Valley Ranch
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Opened 1924 · 5 mi away · ColoradoA jumping and rope-tow area at Glen Cove on the Pikes Peak Highway, where in 1936 the Pikes Peak Ski Club rigged what is credited as Colorado's first rope tow.
- 1936–1984 · 5.5 mi away · ColoradoThe Pikes Peak Ski Club's area on the Pikes Peak Highway, first at Glen Cove from 1936 and later at Elk Park, which closed after the 1984 season.
- Opened 1948 · 6.4 mi away · ColoradoA small ski area on Tenderfoot Mountain, about two miles from Cripple Creek, built by the Cripple Creek Ski Club in 1948 and closed in the 1950s.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 1 page below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Rainbow Valley Ranch had a single run served by one tow, off Highway 67 between Divide and Cripple Creek, and it operated in the 1960s. Little more is known: Colorado Ski History has an old advertisement for it and photos from 2003 of the cut of the run, with the tow line along its left side.1
TodayThe land is private property; the run's cut was still visible in 2003. (2003)1
Timeline
- c. 1960Operates in the 1960s with one tow and one run1
Sources for this history (1)
- 1Colorado Ski History · Rainbow Valley Ranch
Photos
No photographs of Rainbow Valley 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 Rainbow Valley Ranch, in their own words.
Facts
Location
38.8594° N · 105.1658° W · Colorado · Front 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 2all 2, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain