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Ghost-Busting at Rock Creek Ski Area

Below the top of Rock Creek’s abandoned ski area, you’ll find a few open, soft turns. But the deepest goods await in the trees. PHOTO: Matt McDonald

Atop Point 10,810, a promontory on the edge of Colorado’s Indian Peaks Wilderness, my brother is kicking himself.

Below, foggy pines guard the abandoned home of Rock Creek Ski Area. It’s 1,700 feet down to the modest meadow where a 1926 Dodge engine once powered a rope tow. Despite growing up on the Front Range and spending a couple decades exploring the mountains above Boulder and Lyons, Chris had never heard the Rock Creek history before we schemed this trip—much less skied here. I console him with a “better late than never” cliché. Then we slash through powder-choked alleys, 33 degrees and waist deep. Exuberance leaves us breathless.

Skinning the ridge to Point 10,810 can turn into a bushwhack with a couple false summits. GPS recommended. PHOTO: Matt McDonald

The History

Skiing in this area predates the nearest settlement, Allenspark (population circa 600). In his guide book Powder Ghost Towns: Epic Backcountry Runs in Colorado’s Lost Ski Resorts, Peter Bronski pinpoints 1896 as the year 10 men plotted the town’s location. “One of them,” Bronski writes, “‘Big Jim’ Scobee, was the first to have skis. He made them himself using wood flooring boards that were 4 inches wide. Other men in town teased him that his skis were “large enough for Paul Bunyan.’”

Today, of course, four-inch- wide (or 101 millimeter) boards profile as worthy all-mountain powder skis. Even without the freeride rocker of my Rossignol Soul 7s, “Big Jim” was way ahead of his time.

Rock Creek’s rise-and- fall narrative unfolded similarly to other locations in Bronchi’s guide. With multiple rope tows, a jump and several ski-and- stay packages at nearby lodges priced from five to ten dollars, Rock Creek’s popularity peaked around 1948. But the area closed three years later, doomed by mechanical and logistical issues that led to lack of funding. When no one bid on a revival and expansion plan pitched by the Forest Service in 1958, the book closed. Little evidence remains.

On the menu: nuts, chocolate, summer sausage, Argentinian Malbec. PHOTO: Matt McDonald

The Terrain

In 2017, directing a fellow skier to Rock Creek feels a bit like describing Valhalla. “In Allenspark, turn onto Ski Road. Drive past the Rock Creek Tavern and Pizzeria and a collection of small cabins until the road splits into two Forest Service tracks. Park. Skin.” From the split, a gradual four-mile ascent can take you to Point 10,810 or to the 12,162-foot summit of Saint Vrain Mountain. Most (*but not all*) of the skiable pitches in the Rock Creek drainage, including the east face of Saint Vrain, follow low-angle terrain, making the area a generally safe option when avalanche danger rises on steeper slopes.

Go-getters can link the descent of Saint Vrain Mountain to the slopes at Rock Creek without much difficulty, accessing two or three descents with relatively little climbing. For less experienced skiers, open trees along the access road offer a more moderate route.

The Allenspark town square: Tavern and pizzeria across from the entrance to Ski Road. PHOTO: Matt McDonald

The Ghosts

After about 600 vertical feet of season-making turns, the pines pinch, forcing Chris and I to bushwhack between tight-but- skiable shots. “Big Jim” and company have given us a taste, but they’re hiding the full meal. They challenge us to come back and keep exploring.

In return, we help them with their name selection. “No wonder this place died,” Chris says, “with a name like ‘Rock Creek.’”

“Powder Creek” it is. At least for we two humble seekers.

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