Lift-powered skiing at Cuchara next winter is in sight, with an operating agreement and money in place

HUERFANO COUNTY, Colo. — Cuchara Mountain Park, home to a once-abandoned ski hill now in the midst of a revival, is “closer than ever” to offering lift-powered skiing for the first time in a quarter-century.

That’s according to Ken Clayton with Panadero Ski Corporation, the park’s nonprofit steward for the last several years that earlier this week inked a 40-year deal with Huerfano County to continue operating the park.

Clayton said Panadero is “actively scheduling” the work needed on Lift 4 and has a promise from a contractor in the Pacific Northwest that it will be done before the snow falls next winter.

“We feel really good about where we sit,” Clayton told Denver7 on a video call Friday. “Of course, then it's a matter of getting the state down to run us through the acceptance test and the certification, but we're on their schedule as well.”

• Denver7 has followed the southern Colorado mountain's quest for revival over the past two years. See the latest developments in the video player below:

This past winter, Cuchara offered snowcat skiing for the second straight year. A “ski bus” – bus seats welded to a car hauler that’s attached to the back of a snowcat – would haul skiers and riders to the top of Lift 4 for them to make their way back down the hill. Clayton called this past season a “huge success,” telling us the ski park tripled its numbers by logging roughly 1,200 skier visits.

"We had families from Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, and all up and down the Front Range come to us last year after hearing about us because of the great stories that you and others have done," Clayton said. "People now know about Cuchara Mountain Park, and a lot of people know that it's an affordable place to go, ski, snowboard, snowshoe – it's just a great family area that's, for the most part, attainable financially."

The new developments this week come after funding recently came through via a Department of Local Affairs grant awarded to Huerfano County. An agreement between Pandero and the county allocated that money to go toward Lift 4.

A $250,000 State Outdoor Recreation grant Panadero received in December was only allowed to go toward operational costs.

Lift 4 is the only chair completely on park land and thus doesn’t require special permitting to operate like the ones on U.S. Forest Service land. Lift 4 would serve about a half-dozen runs on the roughly 50 acres at the base of Cuchara Mountain.

In addition to an encouraging outlook for the chair lift, Clayton said Panadero has secured approximately 100 sets of rental ski equipment from an outdoor retailer it hopes to be able to rent on-site, pending certification to do so.

“People [would] no longer have to go an hour out of their way to get rentals,” Clayton said. “They can get it right at Cuchara Mountain Park.”

• Back in 2023, Denver7 Gives viewers donated $3,000 to the effort to resurrect Lift 4 after we visited Cuchara to share the mountain's story. Watch that report in the video player below:

Overwhelming support

A relieved Clayton spoke to Denver7 Friday over Zoom, about 40 hours after the agreement was signed designating Panadero Ski Corporation as the park’s operator for the next four decades.

That agreement materialized after a 30-day public comment window showed overwhelming support for Panadero. Of 167 respondents, 90.4% were in favor of a long term agreement with Panadero to operate the park.

The agreement also prohibits lodging on Cuchara Mountain Park grounds. In that same public survey, 73% of respondents were opposed to allowing lodging within the park.

“I think that a lot of people recognize Cuchara Mountain Park as a kind of an untouched area in southern Colorado,” Clayton said. “A lot of them have also seen the development and failures of the ski area over the years, and don't want to relive that. They realize that as a small nonprofit is the way to go... We have some ideas of what we want to do in the future, but we want to run a 50-acre ski park or ski area for right now, and I think that aligns with what the community envisions for the park.”

Fifty-nine percent were in favor of allowing restaurants or cafés and 82% were in favor of retail sales or rentals on park grounds. Only 41% were in support of hosting large concerts at the park.

Summer plans

Panadero’s mission doesn’t stop when Lift 4 starts turning. The nonprofit wants to make Cuchara a summer destination, too.

This summer, the park plans to host a pair of bike camps for kids. Clayton said the camps will be geared toward kids who don’t regularly have the opportunity to get up to the mountain and will integrate STEM education into recreation and teach kids bike maintenance.

The park will also once again host a summer concert fundraiser, a disc golf tournament and other small events, Clayton said. Future summers could see an effort toward constructing bike trails on the mountain.

“The short answer is, we're focused on the lift right now,” Clayton said.

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