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Sunday, December 26, 1999

A Brief History of Winter Park

Nothing official here. I’ll just pass on what I remember reading over the years.

Winter Park probably goes back to trapper days with cabins on the mountain, but I’ll start with the first known development at the base. It was a construction village for a railroad tunnel.

Fraser Valley was already settled just north here and a railroad magnate named Moffat thought a rail line here would be profitable. The Atlantic and Pacific railroad to the south and the Union Pacific to the north served the country well, but left the western slope of Colorado isolated.

Construction on the Moffat Tunnel began around 1922 and ended in 1927 with the opening of the tunnel, and rail service to central and eastern Colorado. The 6.2 mile tunnel is bored through the Continental Divide at 9,000 feet at the West Portal and lower at the East Portal. The two portal villages were created to house the workers. East Portal became a town and West Portal was abandoned.

In the Thirties, Scandinavian Denverites made their way to West Portal to ski, staying in the ghost town and building the first flimsy Poma Lift. Winter Park, situated as it is on the Divide at a point north and west of a major “L” or curve in the range, gets the best snow in the Rockies — about 350 inches per year.

With the start of ski area in place, a farsighted director of Parks and Recreation, George Cranmer, decided that Denver should have a municipal ski area and acquired West Portal and a Forest Service lease for the mountain.

Winter Park Ski Area officially opened January 28, 1940. Thus Winter Park became the first city-owned ski resort in America. Winter Park Recreation Association was created to manage the area as a nonprofit corporation and they did it very well, spending thoughtfully on capital projects so the resort would meet the needs of future generations.

The Board of Directors voted to double the size of Winter Park in the Seventies by opening an adjacent ski area named Mary Jane. Winter Park now serves more than a million skiers per year, roughly ten percent of all skiing in Colorado.

This season Village at Winter Park, condos and shops, opens in what used to be a parking lot for day skiers, making Winter Park base a world class address.

Yellowstone Park Journal - July, August, September, 1999

Copyright ©1999 Ben Benton -- All Rights Reserved

Ben Benton

124 North San Francisco Street, Suite 100

Flagstaff, Arizona 86001-5250

(520) 779-5300

Facsimile (520) 213-8425

e-mail [email protected]

*Winter Park Journal*
	Hi. I’m Ben Benton from Flagstaff, Arizona. I believe that you will enjoy my daily journal from Winter Park, Colorado, Ski Resort during Christmas break 1999-2000. I left downtown Flagstaff Wednesday morning, December 22 with my skis, duffle, and laptop computer, and ended up at Snoasis, a lodge midway up the mountain in Winter Park. My journal will continue through the first week of January. You’ll read about Winter Park Ski Resort, Snoasis, Sunspot Lodge, the great people who work here, and anything else I can think of to write about. I’m the author of “National Park Employment Data,” a guide to working in national parks, which is available for purchase on my web site at www.gorp.com/nped/. I’ve been working in national parks and ski areas off and on for over twenty years. Because I want the data in my book to always be fresh, I continually test the concepts, employers, and tips that I provide. I first worked at Winter Park in the late 70s while I was a student at Arizona State University.	Official Mug Shot
Previous Journals 12/22 12/23 12/24 12/25	Sunday, December 26, 1999 A Brief History of Winter Park Nothing official here. I’ll just pass on what I remember reading over the years. Winter Park probably goes back to trapper days with cabins on the mountain, but I’ll start with the first known development at the base. It was a construction village for a railroad tunnel. Fraser Valley was already settled just north here and a railroad magnate named Moffat thought a rail line here would be profitable. The Atlantic and Pacific railroad to the south and the Union Pacific to the north served the country well, but left the western slope of Colorado isolated. Construction on the Moffat Tunnel began around 1922 and ended in 1927 with the opening of the tunnel, and rail service to central and eastern Colorado. The 6.2 mile tunnel is bored through the Continental Divide at 9,000 feet at the West Portal and lower at the East Portal. The two portal villages were created to house the workers. East Portal became a town and West Portal was abandoned. In the Thirties, Scandinavian Denverites made their way to West Portal to ski, staying in the ghost town and building the first flimsy Poma Lift. Winter Park, situated as it is on the Divide at a point north and west of a major “L” or curve in the range, gets the best snow in the Rockies — about 350 inches per year. With the start of ski area in place, a farsighted director of Parks and Recreation, George Cranmer, decided that Denver should have a municipal ski area and acquired West Portal and a Forest Service lease for the mountain. Winter Park Ski Area officially opened January 28, 1940. Thus Winter Park became the first city-owned ski resort in America. Winter Park Recreation Association was created to manage the area as a nonprofit corporation and they did it very well, spending thoughtfully on capital projects so the resort would meet the needs of future generations. The Board of Directors voted to double the size of Winter Park in the Seventies by opening an adjacent ski area named Mary Jane. Winter Park now serves more than a million skiers per year, roughly ten percent of all skiing in Colorado. This season Village at Winter Park, condos and shops, opens in what used to be a parking lot for day skiers, making Winter Park base a world class address.
	Yellowstone Park Journal - July, August, September, 1999
	Copyright ©1999 Ben Benton -- All Rights Reserved Ben Benton 124 North San Francisco Street, Suite 100 Flagstaff, Arizona 86001-5250 (520) 779-5300 Facsimile (520) 213-8425 e-mail [email protected]

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