Chapman Hill Ice Rink and Ski Area’s winter season is nearing its end, marking the end of an era for Durango’s prized in-town ski amenity.
The historic big tow is set to be decommissioned after the facility closes on Sunday.
The big tow was installed at Chapman Hill in 1966 after it was transported from Camp Hale in Leadville. It was used in training for soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division during World War II.
The ski area’s little tow is also getting taken down this summer, although the big tow is particularly noteworthy because of its historic past, Matt Nimetz, Chapman Hill supervisor, said.
Chapman Hill will be redesigned after the winter season ends. Passersby traveling past the ski area on Florida Road will likely notice crews performing brushwork and clearing trees this spring.
Grade work will also be performed on the hill. Aside from new tow ropes, including a platter or poma lift that will take skiers from the base of the hill approximately 300 vertical feet to the summit, the city will install new dark sky compliant light poles on the hill.
A new little tow will be installed on the north side of the hill currently covered in ponderosas and other vegetation.
Kelli Jaycox, assistant recreation director for the city, said a neighborhood meeting will be held in late March to notify residents near Chapman Hill of the work they’ll likely notice through the summer.
By the next winter season, skiers will have more open space on the hill, which currently has one rope tow cutting down the middle of it, Nimetz said.
“Not only do we have to like clear brush away from the new lines, we’ll have to do grading,” he said. “We’ll phase in how we do that. We’ll have an excavator here and mainly clearing brush, cutting down all the poles. We’ll recycle that metal. Taking it down is going to be a lot easier. That’s kind of the easy part.”
Chapman Hill has already had its fair share of maintenance this year, with new rubber flooring installed inside the facility to mitigate water seeping through the floor. That’s been a recurring issue because the Chapman Hill facility was built on top of a natural underground spring.
“That was a big project,” Nimetz said.
The new matting required facility doors to be cut down because the rubber mats effectively raised the floor level by a couple of inches.
The mats are durable and high quality, Nimetz said. People can walk across them in ice skates, and crews can easily use dust mops to clean up spills on them.
“That (maintenance) coincided with us opening the rank as well,” he said. “So we’re still doing construction in here while trying to be open for some of the public to be here.”
At a Durango City Council study session last week, Durango Parks and Recreation Director Kelly Schmidt said the ski hill had a better January this year than last year, pulling in $24,778 more in revenues compared with January 2023.
She said staff members attribute the higher revenues to an increase in private ice skating and ski pass sales in addition to more routine maintenance on the ski hill with a designated park crew “that keeps the features and courses fresh and fun, which attracted a lot of new users.”
At the study session, Councilor Dave Woodruff asked what will happen to the big tow once it’s retired.
Schmidt said it should be placed in a museum or memorialized at the Chapman Hill ice rink.
Mayor Melissa Youssef suggested pieces of the tow rope could be auctioned off to residents.
Schmidt said Durango Parks and Recreation is in talks with other city departments to potentially hold a community interpretive panel to honor the historic nature of the big tow.
No final decisions have been made about what will ultimately be done with the equipment.
cburney@durangoherald.com
