Wolf creek reports excellent conditions

Wolf creek reports excellent conditions

Nov. 9, 2000

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor

Reports from Wolf Creek Ski Area, located at the top of Wolf Creek Pass east of Pagosa Springs, say skiing and snowboarding is excellent right now.

The area opened Oct. 28 after some late fall winter-like storms put down a base of 28 inches. However, now those numbers have increased considerably thanks to a couple more storms which moved through the Four Corners Region.

The summit is recording 64 inches of snow of all natural snowcover with 51 inches at midway. A total of 15 inches has fallen within the past 72 hours. The surface conditions are excellent on powder and packed powder. A total of 70 percent of the mountain is open with four lifts operating. The Water Fall Area and Knife Ridge are closed but Alberta Peak is open.

In fact, the United States Mogul Team is working out there while taking advantage of the early-season conditions.

The adult all-day lift ticket is $38 and $25 for children aged 12 or younger.

Several improvements were made during the off-season. Several new trails off Alberta Peak have been cut. And on-going improvements include paving of the upper parking lot. But several projects were completed during 1999-2000 season including the new Alberta Quad lift which opened last Jan. 30. The Wolf Pup Building, which houses the Wolf Pup Program, opened in February. Other projects included remodeling of the Prospector Grill, underground burial of all power lines, and completion of the vehicle maintenance building, located across from the ski area.

Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort, Telluride Resort, and Ski Hesperus are not open. Telluride is scheduled to open Nov. 21 and Purgatory is set to open Nov. 23. However, Purgatory and Telluride are making snow during the late-evening hours on a daily basis to build a base. Wolf Creek and Hesperus rely totally on Mother Nature.

"We’ve been blowing snow on the mountain for the past several weeks, and our efforts combined with these natural snow storms will make for a great opening day," Terry Fernald, Telski’s vice president of mountain operations, said recently.

The early season reports and predictions look good for at least an average snowfall year in the San Juan Mountains, according to the long-range predictions of the National Weather Service. But according to The Farmer’s Almanac, it may be dry in February and March.

Despite the reputation for Southwest Colorado to have outstanding ski conditions, snowfall was somewhat hard to come by last season. At Wolf Creek, November and December were lost to poor conditions but January started a recovery and February matched the previous year for skier days and March set a new attendance record for the month. Telluride had fairly good conditions during November and December thanks some early storms. However January and February saw attendance drop off with a good six weeks to end the season in mid-April. Purgatory also struggled with attendance throughout much of the year because of poor snow conditions. Hesperus never did open.