OpenSnow forecasters give some clues about when and why the big snow falls at Colorado ski areas
Purgatory ski area
Posted inNews
Purgatory ski patrollers form union, push for better wages as part of national resort labor movement
Pete Kemery spent last winter living in his truck camper parked at a friend’s house. “I wasn’t paying rent so I was able to make my job work,” said the ski patroller at Purgatory ski area outside Durango. “That’s pretty common for a lot of us. And I guess we’ve reached a point where we […]
Posted inBusiness, Growth, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Purgatory and Silverton Mountain float interest in Silverton’s community ski hill
Durango’s Mountain Capital Partners and local Silverton Mountain answered Silverton’s initial call for possible partners at the 16-acre Kendall Mountain ski area. And the two operators have different visions for the community ski hill. Mountain Capital Partners, or MCP, which owns Purgatory and seven other ski areas in four states, sees opportunity in a proposal […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Smaller ski areas retain their workers with help of federal coronavirus stimulus money
At least 10 of Colorado’s smallest ski areas together received at least $5 million — and as much as $12.7 million — in federal loans from the Paycheck Protection Program. While the big-league operators like Alterra Mountain Co., Vail Resorts and Aspen Skiing were too large to qualify for the federal stimulus loans, the so […]
Posted inCulture, Outdoors
Skim or swim: Colorado ski season winds down with a splash, not a schuss
Spring break, long ago, Stowe, Vermont. Eight inches of powder. And then, something I remember even better: The ski area had filled a lined pit with water and I stood agog watching one person after another ski across or swim, cruise or cartwheel into the drink. Only two girls entered, neither getting far, and I […]