Lost ski areaColoradoElk MountainsRocky Mountains
Red Mountain
Ran 1941–1952. A single-chairlift ski area on Red Mountain just west of Glenwood Springs that ran from 1941 to 1952.
Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Red Mountain Ski Area was on the slope of Red Mountain directly above Glenwood Springs. It traces back to 1937, when J.E.1,2
Read the whole historyTimeline
6 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Red Mountain, 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 Red Mountain
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- 1965–1966 · 0.9 mi away · ColoradoA one-chairlift ski area on Red Mountain west of Glenwood Springs that operated in 1965 and 1966 before its lift was sold to Sunlight.
- 1960–1961 · 26.1 mi away · ColoradoA one-T-bar beginner hill at Redstone in the Crystal River Valley that ran for a single winter, 1960–61.
- 1971–1974 · 32.7 mi away · ColoradoA one-chairlift ski area on Mount Daly above Marble, the first piece of a large resort and real estate plan that collapsed in 1974.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 3 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Red Mountain Ski Area was on the slope of Red Mountain directly above Glenwood Springs. It traces back to 1937, when J.E. Sayre gave part of the mountain to be used for skiing. After a Forest Service meeting in 1940 on a proposed lift, Conservation Corps crews helped clear the run and the lift line, and a single chair about a mile long, built with parts from a steel mill near Ouray, was finished in 1941. Colorado Ski History's lift timeline says it stood on wooden towers, later replaced with steel. Soon after it opened, a chair caught on a tower and a skier was hurt, and the lift was modified.1,2
The area opened to the general public in 1942, but World War II kept use low, and from 1943 it ran on weekends only, at $1 for adults and 60 cents for children. It closed about a decade later, as ski areas with more snow were built. A later area, Glenwood Mountain Park, ran on the mountain above it.1,3
Timeline
- 1937J.E. Sayre donates part of Red Mountain for skiing1,3
- 1940Forest Service meets to discuss a proposed ski lift1
- 1941Mile-long single chairlift is finished and opens in the fall1
- 1942The area opens to the general public1,2,3
- 1943Wartime weekend-only schedule; adult tickets cost $11,3
- 1952Closes as snowier ski areas are developed1
Sources for this history (3)
- 1Colorado Ski History · Red Mountain Ski Area
- 2Colorado Ski History · Colorado Ski Lift Timeline
- 3Vail Daily · 'Lost' ski resorts in Colorado (Vail Daily staff report, November 26, 2008)
Photos
No photographs of Red Mountain 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 Red Mountain, in their own words.
Facts
Location
39.5446° N · 107.3375° W · Colorado · Elk Mountains
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1941–1952
Closed after the 1952 season. 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