Wolf Creek.
The most snow in Colorado.
For anybody familiar with the ski resort located in the Rio Grande National Forest in Southwest Colorado, the two terms are synonymous. An average snowfall of 465 inches has justified the superlative for the no-frills joint located on U.S. Highway 160 between Pagosa Springs and South Fork. But as Denver Post staff writer Jason Blevins reported earlier this week in the weekly Outdoor Extremes section: .
While the state’s northern and central mountains have enjoyed a snowy start to the ski season, Wolf Creek has (until recently) gone without. And had cancellation policies never been tied to lodging reservations, I would not have seen Wolf Creek without its characteristic carpet of light powder.
In what’s become an annual rite of ski passage, my wife and I drive the approximately 4 1/2 hours from Denver for Wolf Creek’s powder nonpareil. This year, however, with four friends in tow, a base depth some 70 inches lower than recent season awaited us.
 |
| DenverPost.com sports producer Bryan Boyle shamelessly poses for a photograph that he mistakenly believes will easily pass for an action shot. On an irregular basis within the Wide State of Sports series, Boyle chronicles his experiences on the slopes of . * Dec. 16, 2005: |
For two days, we remained visibly perky, managing to suffer the squalid snow with mild cheerleading. “It’s not so bad,” “It’s about getting away from the city” and “It’s about being together” fused into a common chorus as we savored views of the San Juan Mountains from the 11,900-foot summit — no need to hurry — before slaloming through the ice, the rocks and the tree stumps along a vertical drop of some 1,600 feet.
On the third of our three-day stay, we’d mostly had it. The view from the window of our cabin in South Fork, more of a big intersection than a small town situated 17 miles east of Wolf Creek, did nothing to confirm suspicions of the resort staff. They had called for a windfall from the heavens. And a local’s report that morning of 2 inches hitting the mountain did little to divert us from the prospect of lounging around the television for a double-dip from the NFL playoffs.
Then somebody said something about cabin fever, with an urgency reminiscent of Bluto’s was-it-over-when-the-Germans-bombed-Pearl-Harbor pep talk from “Animal House,” and four of us returned to Wolf Creek for one last day.
Once we nestled the station wagon behind a snowplow at a steady clip of 30 mph as the snowfall started to thicken, we knew we would not regret forsaking football for fluff. By the time we’d reached the free parking, we were grinning from earmuff to earmuff. Two inches, my ski boot!
By our 11 a.m. arrival, the mountain was swollen with the light powder for which Wolf Creek is renowned.
|
WOLF CREEK
|
|
|
On one side of Wolf Creek, five lifts (not including a “moving conveyor lift” for beginners) service a typical ski-resort layout, with myriad trails of varying grades and difficulties. With the rocks and tree stumps buried by the day’s snow, it was an intermediate skier’s paradise, open for sampling the trees or the moguls with the comforting knowledge that exit strategies abound.
On the other side of the resort is a snowrider’s stream of consciousness. Serviced by a single quad lift, this portion of the resort is wide-open. Trails are merely suggestions in an expanse of over 1,000 tree-freckled acres that afford glades and chances at extended stints of spontaneous snowriding solitude — the latter such a rarity at any ski resort.
Since that snow-kissed day prior to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Wolf Creek has become more of its old self. The base is up 20 inches since our visit, and yesterday’s announced 19 inches falling in the past seven days, and 12 in the past 24 hours. Snow — it’s all that was uncharacteristically missing to complete the purist’s vision of the skiing/snowboarding experience.
An online exclusive that runs each Friday, examines the memorable, less visible and lighthearted aspects of Colorado’s sports landscape. DenverPost.com sports producer Bryan Boyle can be reached at bboyle@denverpost.com.
From the columns
“Mike Shanahan says the Broncos’ salary cap situation is ‘pretty typical.’ As in, they’ll have to carve out some space if they’re going to pursue an impact free agent or two. The good news, courtesy of Al Wilson, is that Dove Valley figures to be a destination stop for free agents.”
From the mailbags
“NBA reporters feel like they’ve been on a stakeout with no action for months. We’re just sitting and staring out the window for hours, with no interruption save the occasional bathroom break. The most likely explanation is the Ron Artest Domino Theory.”
From the message boards
“Let’s add coaching to the list of needs for the Avs this season, right along with a couple good D-men, and some Rolaids for us fans for the rest of this season while the team learns to gel.” — bennice
From the online exclusives
The National Hockey League is not the only organization to add a shootout. Are you able to maneuver the hockey puck past our virtually shifty netminder? The rules are easy; the goals are not. Give it a shot in the Online Arcade!
A look back
 |
| AP / David Zalubowski |
Snow at the bottom of the hill around the lodges at the Wolf Creek Ski Area, which is located between South Fork and Pagosa Springs on U.S. Highway 160, is groomed on April 20, 2005. A state district court threw a curve Oct. 13, 2005, to developers of a huge village at the base of the ski area by ruling that Mineral County officials made a mistake when they approved building permits for a commercial and residential development. To read a November 2005 report about the dispute surrounding the proposed $1 billion resort village, . |
