{"id":44123,"date":"2021-10-14T17:37:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T17:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wolf-creek-ski-area-to-open-this-weekend-making-it-the-first-in-colorado\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:17:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:17:20","slug":"wolf-creek-ski-area-to-open-this-weekend-making-it-the-first-in-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wolf-creek-ski-area-to-open-this-weekend-making-it-the-first-in-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"Wolf Creek Ski Area to open this weekend, making it the first in Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A fall storm dumped 14 inches of snow this week at Wolf Creek Ski Area, just enough to allow the ski area near Pagosa Springs in Southwest Colorado to open Saturday and Sunday. (Courtesy of Wolf Creek Ski Area)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Wolf Creek Ski Area near Pagosa Springs in Southwest Colorado announced it will open this weekend, making it the first in Colorado to open for the 2021-22 ski season.<\/p>\n

The ski area reported receiving 14 inches of new snow this week, which will allow it to open the Nova and Lynx lifts from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, said owner Davey Pitcher.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got a little snow. We\u2019re going to pull it together, but it\u2019s pretty thin,\u201d Pitcher said Thursday. \u201cIt\u2019s important to stress that it\u2019s very early season conditions, and that it\u2019s about the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it is a fun time of year to ski, because the aspen leaves are still in their fall colors.<\/p>\n

Pitcher wasn\u2019t aware his mountain was the first to announce its opening in Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s snow to play around on, and the people who have been uphill skiing and coming down all have a grin on their face,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I think the early season experience is worth taking a stab at opening up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado Ski Country USA, a trade group for the state\u2019s ski areas, confirmed Wolf Creek is the first to announce its opening, unless another ski area pulls off a major surprise.<\/p>\n\n

Pitcher said several factors are at play for opening early, including that skiers help tramp down the base layer, and the opening gets people back to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a very loyal return staff, and they\u2019re ready to start working,\u201d Pitcher said. \u201cWe\u2019ll keep them busy. We do a lot of handwork with bringing snow out of the woods and patching thin spots.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Wolf
Wolf Creek Ski Area will open Saturday and Sunday with 14 inches of snow, making it the first in Colorado to open for the 2021-22 ski season. (Courtesy of Wolf Creek Ski Area)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Lift tickets will cost $60 this weekend, and $40 for the beginner lift.<\/p>\n

The restaurant and bar will be open, and the upper lodge will have a limited menu. Ski rentals and ski lessons will be available, Pitcher said. Face coverings are required for all indoor public settings.<\/p>\n

Pitcher said he expects Wolf Creek Ski Area will remain open during weekends. It will depend on Mother Nature for when the ski area can open seven days a week, he said. The ski area has limited snowmaking capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to do our darndest to stay open with the upper mountain for the rest of the season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Opening day brings an \u201cinteresting combination\u201d of people, he said. Some are experienced skiers who know what \u201cearly conditions\u201d mean, he said. It also brings beginners, because they know it won\u2019t be crowded and they can have more room to learn. It also draws snowboarders, who tend to be less critical of early conditions, because boards float on the snow better than skis, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re also very careful to talk to all the customers, do skier education prior to them deciding if they\u2019re going to buy a ticket,\u201d Pitcher said. \u201cWe make sure we don\u2019t have somebody that\u2019s got a brand-new pair of $1,200 skis on.\u201d<\/p>\n

shane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

of early season conditions, with 14 inches of new snow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[378,28,372],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-44123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-alpine-skiing","tag-headlines","tag-wolf-creek-ski-area"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85981,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44123\/revisions\/85981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44123"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=44123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}