Lost ski areaColoradoRocky Mountains
Rees Ski Ranch
Ran 1948–1953. A 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.
Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Skiers from Union Carbide's uranium-vanadium mill in Rifle and the Bureau of Mines oil shale demonstration plant started Rees Ski Ranch on Rio Blanco Hill, 15 miles north of Rifle on Highway 13. Engineers from the two plants built its 1,600-foot gas-powered tow, with emergency stops at the top, middle and bottom.1
Read the whole historyTimeline
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Photos
Memories
Skied Rees Ski 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 Rees Ski Ranch
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- 1941–1952 · 34 mi away · ColoradoA single-chairlift ski area on Red Mountain just west of Glenwood Springs that ran from 1941 to 1952.
- 1965–1966 · 34 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.
- 1940–1966 · 45.1 mi away · ColoradoA 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.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 1 page below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Skiers from Union Carbide's uranium-vanadium mill in Rifle and the Bureau of Mines oil shale demonstration plant started Rees Ski Ranch on Rio Blanco Hill, 15 miles north of Rifle on Highway 13. Engineers from the two plants built its 1,600-foot gas-powered tow, with emergency stops at the top, middle and bottom. Volunteers ran the ski patrol, kept up the slope and the tow, and tended the fire in a small cabin that served as the warming hut.1
The hill opened mostly on weekends and charged a dollar a day, which paid for gas and tow repairs, and the schools ran a Saturday bus to it. As ski areas opened near Glenwood Springs in the 1950s, it lost skiers, and it closed in 1953.1
Sources for this history (1)
- 1Colorado Ski History · Rees Ski Ranch
Photos
No photographs of Rees Ski 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 Rees Ski Ranch, in their own words.
Facts
Location
39.7056° N · 107.9403° W · Colorado
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1948–1953
Closed after the 1953 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