ESTES PARK, Colo. — A couple strapped in their snowshoes, children ran their sleds back up a hill and backcountry skiers practiced using avalanche beacons — an average winter day at Hidden Valley, tucked along a curve of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP).
The former ski area is now home to the only sledding hill in the park and is a great launching point for wintry backcountry adventures. Picnic tables dot the base near the parking lot for respite after a long day, and a warming hut is open on weekends and holidays to escape the cold. On most weekends, the parking lot fills up as people make memories of sledding, skiing and riding in Colorado's most popular national park, which turns 109 on Friday.
But the simple pleasures that are enjoyed these days are informed by a much more complicated past.
Digital Originals
Rocky Mountain National Park turns 109: A timeline of notable events and figures
Hidden Valley's beginning reaches as far back as 1917, when skiers first began ripping down the slopes. The Rocky Mountain National Park Ski Club, which was established in 1931, held a ski tournament at Hidden Valley that June, which helped stimulate more interest, according to the National Park Service (NPS). The paving of Trail Ridge Road in 1936 brought even more people to that part of the park.
In 1939 alone, the NPS reported that 90% of the skiers who visited the park used the "three narrow and dangerous ski trails at Hidden Valley." Skiers, as well as winter sports clubs, had complained about the "skimpy facilities" at Hidden Valley, and they sent letters to the Colorado congressional delegation asking for upgrades, according to the NPS.
During the winter of 1949-1950, nearly 9,000 skiers visited Hidden Valley — a 47% increase from the previous season, the NPS reported.
The Estes Park Chamber of Commerce decided by late 1950 that Hidden Valley was the only desirable place, among other local choices, for winter sports development.
"Park Ranger Ernest Field, a member of the Winter Sports Committee, told Chamber officials that although the Park Service frowned on permanent ski developments, the Hidden Valley area might 'grow gradually with demands,'" according to the NPS.
Meanwhile, the number of skiers skyrocketed — visitation in December 1950 showed a whopping 377% increase over the previous December.
The NPS agreed to conduct a survey of the Hidden Valley ski area in October 1952 and then again the following February. The next year, the Colorado State Senate approved a request to authorize construction of a lift. Finals plans made in 1954 called instead for a T-bar lift — something less destructive to the scenery than a chair lift — and actual construction began on Oct. 5 of that year.
By the following summer, Hidden Valley ski area had two disc-type ski lifts — the first ever used in the country — with the lower lift able to carry 400 skiers an hour and the upper lift able to carry 800 an hour, the NPS reported. Construction was also completed for the 400-car parking lot. The ski lodge constructed at the base would be home to a snack bar, ski rentals, lockers, first aid, a cafeteria and a lounge.
Among much fanfare, the ski area officially opened in December 1955.
For many years, the skiing was good. Visitors could reach 11,400 feet of elevation and secluded runs that would satisfy and challenge all skills levels. In the winter of 1964-1965, 60,000 people visited Hidden Valley, according to NPS.
While skiers, snowboarders and town officials in Estes Park supported the development, park managers were struggling with a dilemma.
"They also understood the scenery, and protection of the scenery was part of their mandate," Patterson said. "And so trying to balance how do we protect the scenery while providing recreational opportunities was a real struggle."
Park Director Conrad Wirth visited the park its opening year — 1955 — and was forced to weigh "today's requests against the possibility of destroying tomorrow's heritage," the NPS said.
"It was impossible to satisfy both naturalists and sportsmen with the ski area development," the NPS reported. "Skiers wanted some trails, a larger building, and more facilities. Nature enthusiasts mourned the loss of the trees already removed for the present modest development."
By the mid-1970s, a new SNO-Engineering, Inc. report recommended that all development at Hidden Valley should stop. With that move, the National Park Service took ownership of the ski area.
As new ski resorts began popping up in places like Vail, Winter Park and Steamboat, the small ski area in Rocky Mountain National Park became less economically viable.
"Because of the lack of consistent, dependable snow, the concessionaire at the time asked the National Park Service if they could make snow, which obviously would have impacted the the water that was so necessary for the resources and for the headwaters of rivers and streams," Patterson said. "And so certainly the National Park Service at the time said, 'We will not support making snow.'"
By 1989, the NPS wanted out of the ski business, and Hidden Valley finally closed in 1991, with most of the structures gone by the end of the decade.
"So today, it is simply a part of the national park and the ski area has been virtually erased from the landscape," Childers said.
While the ski area is gone, its legacy lives in... just in a new way.
Backcountry skiers and snowshoers still love visiting the area, and it's become a popular place for sledding and practicing avalanche rescue skills at the beacon training park.
"And so there still is very popular winter recreational activities there," Patterson said. "But they're much more primitive. So for skiers, something called earning your turns."
Related stories:
- The massive effort behind snowplowing RMNP's Trail Ridge Road each spring
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- Rocky Mountain National Park hikes: From waterfalls to least crowded, here are our 7 best picks
- 'A forest that is completely changed': In-depth look at a century of wildfires at Rocky Mountain National Park
