Cuchara for the People
Colorado is known for its big, flashy ski resorts, but Cuchara Mountain is not one of those. On a Friday last winter, local school kids in rental gear piled into the rebuilding ski area’s “Ski Bus”—a vintage snowcat hauling a 22-passenger trailer—to ascend the lower flanks of the mountain. There are currently no operating chairlifts at Cuchara, but plans are in the works to reopen Lift 4, a double chair installed in 1981 that’s still standing and accesses the lower 300 vertical feet of the mountain.
“We’re inches away from being able to reopen that lift,” says Mike Moore, a Cuchara resident and former general manager of the ski area who worked under the last two owners from 1994 until 2000. “We’re not trying to become the next Breckenridge. We just want a place for local kids to be able to learn to ski. We’re making it for and by the people.”
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