Lost ski areaColoradoSan Juan MountainsRocky Mountains
Ski Dallas
Ran 1962–1976. A one-T-bar ski area beside Highway 62 west of Dallas Divide, near Ridgway, that ran from about 1962 into the mid-1970s.
Overview
Look around
Loading the ground…
Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
Counting who skied it…
The area stood beside Highway 62 about four miles west of Dallas Divide, on the road from Ridgway to Telluride, and took the name Ski Dallas after 1967. A single T-bar climbed 800 feet, from 8,200 to 9,000 feet, to terrain for three levels of skier.1,2
Read the whole historyTodayTrees grow on the old runs, and the lodge is part of a house built on the former parking lot.1
Timeline
4 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Ski Dallas, 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 Ski Dallas
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Years not yet collected · 28.9 mi away · ColoradoA short-lived rope-tow ski hill at Cerro Summit on U.S. 50 east of Montrose, used in the 1930s or 1940s and now part of a city recreation area.
- 1951–1985 · 41 mi away · ColoradoA club-run ski area on Highway 145 at Stoner, 26 miles from Cortez, with T-bars and a large vertical drop for its size, open from 1951 to 1985.
- 1976–1986 · 42.4 mi away · ColoradoA small beginner ski hill run by the Tamarron resort north of Durango, with a rope tow from the mid-1970s and a short double chair from 1981.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 2 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
The area stood beside Highway 62 about four miles west of Dallas Divide, on the road from Ridgway to Telluride, and took the name Ski Dallas after 1967. A single T-bar climbed 800 feet, from 8,200 to 9,000 feet, to terrain for three levels of skier. It opened on weekends from December into April, with one patroller on most days, a ski school, rentals and a small snack stand, and local families could earn tickets by working at the hill. Each season closed with Dallas Daze, a day of gate racing, tandem runs and costumes, and its young racers competed against skiers from Telluride, Steamboat Springs, Crested Butte and Aspen.1,2
A group of partners ran it until 1968 or 1969, then sold it to a California owner who hired young Telluride skiers to manage it for a few more seasons. Colorado Ski History dates it 1962 to 1976 and The Colorado Skier about 1962 to 1976, though a partner's family member recalls managed operation only through about 1974, and a photo by Paul Hauk is captioned as showing it running in the late 1950s. The T-bar was gone by 1991, while buildings remained.1,2
TodayTrees grow on the old runs, and the lodge is part of a house built on the former parking lot.1
Sources for this history (2)
- 1Colorado Ski History · Ski Dallas Divide
- 2Colorado Ski History · Lost Areas #4 (The Colorado Skier newsletter, August 28, 1992)
Photos
No photographs of Ski Dallas 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 Ski Dallas, in their own words.
Facts
Location
38.1042° N · 107.9564° W · Colorado · San Juan Mountains
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1962–1976
Closed after the 1976 season. It stays here as part of the record of U.S. ski areas.
Its numbers
all 4all 4, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain