Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year! Looks like COVID19 will not totally stop this ski season, even though the virus will change the way it works. You know the drill by now: keep six feet between parties; wear masks whenever possible; wash hands often; stay home if you’re sick. Also, you must have a pass to ski at resorts.
The last event to interrupt skiing in Colorado in such a way, apart from skimpy snow years, was World War II. Only a few hills and areas remained open as Americans turned their focus to fighting.
The B-Hill or B-Slope was one of these hills. It was here that the Tenth Mountain Division of the US Army’s Eighty-Seventh Mountain Infantry Regiment, which was created in 1941, trained recruits to ski. Lost Ski Areas of Colorado’s Central and Southern Mountains tells the story and gives the exact location of the hill in Eagle County.
Glen Cove in Teller County managed to stay open. The Pikes Peak Ski Club turned the area over to the military to use. In 1944, they held a military meet there. Lost Ski Areas of Colorado’s Front Range and Northern Mountains tells that story.
After World War II, Tenth Mountain Division soldiers led skiing forward in Colorado with an emphasis on Alpine skiing. Skiing had been Nordic before. What will be different about skiing in Colorado when we get through this pandemic?