Thought of Pioneer Ski Hill resurrection gaining steam

“The money to build it will come"

Pioneer Ski Hill re-founder and community facilitator Al Smith is summoning the spirits of Pioneer skiers past and pushing forward with his plans to resurrect the old community ski hill near Crested Butte South. But the initial reaction from the Forest Service is one of caution.

Smith is the chief proponent for the project and he has the public’s ear. “The goal is to create inexpensive skiing for people in Gunnison County—affordable for everyone,” Smith said. He plans to get an advisory group together before he submits the proposal to the Forest Service.
“We’re trying to build the coalition of folks that think it’s a good idea,” Smith added. “It’s imminently doable, but you do have to assuage people’s fears that it’s just another real estate deal.”
The goal would be to do something like Mad River Glen, in which people buy shares in the project.
According to Bill Jackson, Recreation Manager for the Gunnison Ranger District, “We’re trying to get hold of Al and get on the same page as him. We haven’t received anything in writing. The only thing we’ve seen so far is what we’ve read in the paper.” Smith met with Forest Service representatives late Tuesday (see letter on page 17)
Jackson said Smith has to submit a proposal that identifies the “who, what, when, where, why and how” of the project, as in, what is the activity, when would it occur, and is it an appropriate use of the National Forest system, among many other questions.
“Whether or not we would accept a proposal on something like this… Most likely we would not, based on our Forest Plan,” said Jackson. “That hill is over 50 years old, it is not zoned for downhill skiing and is not considered as a potential downhill ski area in our Forest Plan. We have three existing ski areas in the GMUG (Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison)—Telluride, Powderhorn, and Crested Butte Mountain Resort—and the Forest Plan guidelines are to work with those resorts first.
“On the GMUG, there appears to be available capacity at those three resorts. Is there a need for another ski area on the forest, given that there is available capacity, not only at CBMR but at other resorts as well?” Jackson said. “Also, there’s no infrastructure, except an old lodge at the top. Fifty years is quite some time, a lot of the forest has recovered and regrown, and the Pioneer Lodge is already an existing permittee.”
Smith thinks the current economic climate makes Pioneer a prime idea. “Pioneer was built by local ski enthusiasts in conjunction with WPA [Works Progress Administration; later renamed Works Projects Administration] funds during a difficult economic climate,” said Smith.
The WPA was a New Deal agency formed in 1935, designed to combat unemployment while also stimulating the economy. During the Depression years, the WPA was one of the largest employers in the United States.
“It would be fitting if Pioneer Ski Hill was resurrected by locals during our own slowdown,” said Smith.
“We have heard from a number of folks hoping to push the Pioneer Ski Hill project ahead, including one person with experience resurrecting old ski hills,” Smith said. “Another reputable entrepreneur intimated that if we can resurrect the permit, the money to build it would come.”
According to Smith, the Pioneer Ski Hill proposal will include an initial operating plan that entails using snowcat(s) similar to the recently resurrected Irwin snowcat ski operation.
“This would allow for a very fast start-up while we work out the issues of a proper lift from the valley floor,” said Smith. “We have a modern snowcat offered up by an interested supporter, and an excavator offered at a bargain rate to dig the tower footings. An inexpensive fixed grip lift can be had for $30,000, and local folks are available for the install. The engineering for the lift is expensive but may be had for a lesser fee than normal due to the community nature of the project and the lack of other things going on.”
Local historian and Western State College professor Duane Vandenbusche is also a supporter of the Pioneer resurrection. He knows the history of Pioneer Ski Hill like none other.
He named three people who were integral to getting the ski area started in the late 1930s—Rial Lake, Wes McDermott, and Chuck Sweitzer, all avid skiers who had skied up on Grand Mesa in Grand Junction, on Marshall Pass and Monarch Pass before deciding to create a local ski hill.
Vandenbusche said the trio went to Grand Junction and talked to the U.S. Forest Service, which was happy to help them out. While they were in the USFS office, they decided they needed to have a formal club, and started the Gunnison Ski Club. They got permission to start doing some work up there, and in the early months of 1939 they started walking and skiing the major slopes. The final plans were finished in May 1939 and 40 to 45 WPA workers in addition to local people cut down trees, cleared the slopes of stumps and rocks, and filled in holes.
“They had three runs that they developed,” Vandenbusche said. “One was 4,000 feet long and had a vertical drop of 1,300 feet—that was Big Dipper. There was an intermediate slope that followed the construction road, called the Little Dipper, and was 8,000 feet long, with a drop of 1,350 feet. Milky Way was the beginner’s slope at 300 feet long, and it had a rope tow.”
The chairlift, the first in the state of Colorado, was called the Comet. They got the cable, 11 towers, and the tram from the Blistered Horn mine between Tincup and Pitkin near Cumberland Pass. They bought the tram for $50 from the Swiss owner of the mine, who happened to also be an avid skier.
According to Vandenbusche, they used dynamite to free up the towers, and loaded them onto an old World War I Army truck. They had to have five to seven people sit on the front bumper to balance out the truck because the timbers were so heavy.
The area officially opened in January 1940; the dedication ceremonies were on March 10, 1940, and Vandenbusche said they brought in dignitaries and nationally known skiers. Three hundred and fifty people came the first day, and skiers reportedly said it was one of the finest ski areas in the United States. The first year they had 30 chairs; that number grew eventually to 65 to 80 chairs.
Vandenbusche also said the lower half of Big Dipper was very steep, and related a famous quote from a skier who was caught off-guard: “My God, I didn’t bring my parachute.”
World War II caused the Pioneer to close down from February 1942 until winter 1946-47. They built a cabin up top to serve as a warming house, which still remains today. The initial cost to ski was $1, and a number of intercollegiate ski meets were held at the area. Starting in the late 1940s, the Forest Service was getting concerned it was unsafe, Vandenbusche said. And it was a monumental task for local people to do the work. Then in early 1950s, the Western State College ski team found and developed Rozman Hill five miles south of Crested Butte on the west side of the road, on the John Rozman Ranch. All those factors combined to drive the Pioneer Ski Hill to close after the winter of 1951-52.
Vandenbusche also mentioned that there are four ski areas celebrating their 70th anniversary this year—Monarch, Wolf Creek, Winter Park, and Pioneer. He’d like to see Pioneer operating again. And Al Smith is working to make it happen.
“I think it would be great—the terrain is there,” Vandenbusche said. “I skied it 35 to 40 years ago. It’s a steep area with great runs. I think the locals would love it, and I hope it goes. I’ll help any way that I can.”
According to Jackson, the age of the ski hill might drive it in another direction. Because it’s over 50 years old, and the site of the first lift-served skiing in Colorado, Pioneer may be eligible for historic recognition.
“It is likely eligible for the National Register of Historic Places,” Jackson said. “If anything, we’d want to preserve the character of how it exists right now.”