Wolf Creek: Don't Tell Your Friends
Every time I sat on the lift with someone new, I had to go on and on about the quality of the snow there at Wolf Creek. Finally, one of the locals grinned and said, “Don’t tell your friends!” I laughed; it wasn’t the first time I’d heard a remark like that.
Wolf Creek boasts the ‘Most Snow in Colorado’. They make zero inches of snow. The ski area is in just the right geographical location. Go a few miles down the road, and epic snow conditions might just turn into open dry land. The only thing more remarkable than the quality of the the snow conditions, is the total and utter lack of significant development.
You have two towns relatively close to the ski area. We stayed in South Fork. It was the cheapest option, and we were on a budget. The town boasts very little; but you can find a warm room for the night at a good rate. About equal distance in the opposite direction is the town of Pagosa Springs. There’s a small resort on top of the suflur hot springs in the middle of town. Pagosa is just big enough to offer a commuter airport. Mostly, I remember seeing lots of hotels.
Meanwhile, the ski area itself is small and usually under-crowded. This is about to change. Everyone dreams of finding that last little ski town. A fellow named ‘Red’ McCombs apparently dreams of building it from scratch. He’s calling it the Village at Wolf Creek. Ironically, while trying to research the venture (for potential personal investment), I found the most valuable information on the opposition’s website:
Texas billionaire developer “Red” McCombs seeks to construct a city of up to 10,000 people just below the Continental Divide at Wolf Creek Ski Area, one of the snowiest spots in Colorado. – Friends of Wolf Creek
There’s also a large amount of surprisingly up-to-date information in the Wikipedia entry:
And a bit on this fellows blog: The Glory of Southwest Colorado
I’m excited about the whole thing. I’d like to buy one of these new condos and live at Wolf Creek for a season. I imagine myself working from home and snowboarding until I can’t snowboard any more. Here’s hoping…
Go get a Condo somewhere else. This village will totally ruin everything that is good about wolf creek.
I hear ya… I hear ya…
As a resident of Pagosa Springs it is getting hard for me to sit and watch the hypocrisy over the Wolf Creek Village. The majority of the individuals that oppose the project and live in Pagosa Springs reside in the Pagosa Lakes area (including myself). A once pristine open ranch that is now a massive housing development. Somehow its ok for them to have moved here and continue to allow people to build houses, but reject the idea of someone else building a small housing development at Wolf Creek. To protest a Village in a different county but yet not say one word about the reopening of a mine in Creede, CO has the tones of bias.
The individuals that oppose the Wolf Creek Development that reside in Durango are even more hypocritical. A town that has a ever expanding ski area just north of it and has never made a protest of any means against it. To fly over the area just south of Durango is a heart breaking vision of gas well after gas well in the hundreds. Not a word is said about that and these are things in their own country. Obviously the population of Durango is more concerned about the economics of a Wolf Creek Village on their tourism, then the stewardship of the land.
This village will RUIN the eco-system that HE wants to build it on.
Keep dreaming loser…Your laziness is nothing to brag about…Go to Vail if you want to ski out of your million dollar condo.
The altitude alone is gonna break this deal…
How many rich 60 and 70 year olds can come from out of town to nearly 11,000 feet without getting sick.
The area is a Wet-land-Hence the name “Water fall” area…Look behind you when your at the Alberta lift…That flat land isnt just flat by chance…In the summer its a watershed for a HUGE area….
The planned “mega-resort” will not only destroy it but it will destroy the economy of Pagosa as well…Whose gonna go down the hill to eat when theres five-star accommodations for those fat texan slobs right there on the actual ski resort.
Listen folks….this is not going to happen and I can guarantee that.
Its a horrible plan by a horrible man.
An alcoholic, obese, billionaire who owns an NFL team and lives in texas…His Red-dace is not natural….He’s pure trash and I swear this plan is going to go down in flames should he even attempt it.
The entire ski-community does NOT want this.
Recomb continually pays off the forest service.
He wants to build right underneath the lifts on the farthest edge of Wolfcreek…An area that is for pure snow lovers and rarely see’s a family…Its an expert ski area essentially.
He wants to ruin Wolf Creek…
If the family EVER sells out…
We will take this mountain back by force…Environmental force.
Drive up the hill like everyone else…This is not a place to bring your luxuries….Its a place to enjoy nature and rip some seriously deep powder.
Get real or get out.
You lazy assholes dont deserve to snowboard…I bet your not even that dedicated anyways…
You want to be in OUR culture…learn to respect the land.
Surfers dont put up with fags coming from out of town and hurting their scene…and neither will we.
Im gonna ask people this year about their interest in this…If on the lift with me and you seem to like the idea…
Prepare for a confrontation.
Its about our mother…
If you dont understand this then dont support it…Go learn from the friends what its all about.
Learn about the filth that doesnt listen to the community…
Or like I said before…Go to the industrialized ski resorts that remind you of the cities you came from….This ones ours.
On a more rational note…
Cuz Im going nutty with this severe lack of snow.
The problem has come down to environmental aspects that many people are only beginning to understand.
If theres one thing that pisses me off its people destroying this planet for trivial things like being able to take one step out of an already beautiful experience.
Wetlands,Wetlands,Wetlands….Not an easy or even really practical place to build a giant resort…And this is a GIANT resort he has planned.
The person who has not wanted to listen to the community is this McCombs “fella”
He’s not someone to talk environmental gibberish with…He’s a lot like that guy from “Out Cold” who wants to ruin their fictional mountain with upscale condos and such.
You might say its inevitable hippy but I say that protecting the eco-system means not building this thing at all…Put a train that goes from town…Set-up car pooling (which they are), Use wind power, think out of the box…
This mountain is sacred to me and I want to be able to share it with my kids the way it has been for me…
Development can and should continue in both Pagosa and South Fork.
Please visit friends of wolf creek website for more information
and look for yourself into the man who seeks this atro-city.
I believe his name is “Red McCombs”
but you can call him another out of touch oil-tycoon.