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Thread: cuchara?
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02-09-2010, 11:22 AM #1Registered User
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cuchara?
anybody know what's up with Cuchara?
guess the lift is gone, what about access for sleds or skins?
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02-09-2010, 11:42 AM #2
I think www.coloradoskihistory.com has updated information on public access.
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02-09-2010, 12:34 PM #3
HA!
Cuchara. Learned to ski there at about 6. I remember lots of snow in the town as a little kid. Not sure how worthwhile it would be to skin and ski, other than the novelty, but surrounding mtns like the Spanish peaks could be interesting.
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02-09-2010, 12:58 PM #4
Check with Edge Ski and Sport in Pueblo. The owner has tons of local knowledge and still skis there often. He knows about sled access too. Good Guy.
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02-09-2010, 02:05 PM #5Registered User
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damn! the ski history deal says they only had 350ft of vert? didn't know it was that bad.
i've only been there in the summer, and was there long enough to drink some shots and move on.
it's close to me and thought it might be cool for a quick trip if there was snow.
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02-09-2010, 02:23 PM #6
Cuchura Basin = small; Cuchura Valley = bigger (~1500' vert)
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02-09-2010, 02:28 PM #7
I have heard there is a hassle with private land at the base and the owners calling the sheriff if you trespass.
Consult the Powder Ghost Towns book, I believe he described hiking in from way around the side or back, descending most of the way and then ascending back up to get out the way he came in.
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02-10-2010, 09:49 AM #8
Are you in Raton? You could see about access at Sugarite.
If there's ever a year to poach that, this would be the year.
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02-10-2010, 10:52 AM #9Registered User
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not Raton. i live near Walsh, CO. Raton would maybe be just a tad closer than Cuchara for me.
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02-11-2010, 11:58 AM #10
Well, then you could always try Capulin itself, and there's a few peaks along the road between Raton and Clayton, near Des Moines, I've always wondered about.
There's a bunch of closed ski areas in the southern Front Range, like up on La Veta pass, and Conquistador, that are small but may be on public land.
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12-11-2019, 11:08 AM #11Registered User
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Old thread, but here's an update: As of 2017, the base area is public -- it's now a park owned by Huerfano County. The new Cuchara Mountain Park provides (legal and public) access to the old runs on National Forest land.
Cuchara Mountain Park
Some cool stuff going on down there. In fact, right now there's a grassroots fundraising effort to support a crew that's working on getting at least one of the lifts running again to provide limited and low cost skiing and snowboarding on good snow years, and -- even better -- lift served mountain biking in the spring, summer and autumn. Rumor is that the lift passed the cable inspection and could be open to the public early spring, 2020.
As a county park, the idea seems to be to provide public access and affordable services to the community -- not to make a few people rich.
Here's a short video of the guys running the lift earlier this summer after it sat unused for nearly 20 years:
Last edited by Chuxson; 12-11-2019 at 11:12 AM. Reason: clarity
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12-11-2019, 11:35 AM #12
Good to know for those weird southern upslopers
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