![]() ![]() He doesn't like to go a year without checking on it. Pitch is no longer the Stanford University skier who raced through his 20s, no longer the 12-year-old who strapped on wooden skis and headed to the Sierras with school friends and discovered the sport's "tremendous pleasure." He is still the family patriarch who cares deeply about his creation, still visiting Wolf Creek every winter. He is "Pitch," according to the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame that credits him as being an industry pathfinder. This is where his 97-year-old father, Kingsbury Pitcher, stays when he's not at his home in Santa Fe. He arrives to his planned visit at a house off a dirt road in the Pagosa Springs countryside, where the San Juans rise clear in the distance. He has a square jaw and a shock of whitening hair that inspired one writer to make the comparison to Doc Brown from "Back to the Future." "As I get older, I'm working less," he insists on his drive down Wolf Creek Pass. In his 15th season as the ski area's CEO, he says he's allowing himself to depend on his staff more, but he's apparently struggling with that. "Roger," the worker responds, sounding a bit annoyed.Īnd it seems Pitcher, 54, is a bit annoyed at himself for having to leave at the moment. ![]() "10-4," the worker says back, and Pitcher pauses briefly before thinking of something else. "OK," a worker responds, before Pitcher continues. Instead, he's at the wheel of his Toyota Sequoia, making one radio call after another, rattling off instructions however miniscule. Hard-hat workers zip about in tractors and loaders, manipulating controls that Pitcher prefers being behind. Pitcher is set on seeing that happen in this 40th year of his family owning the famously quaint ski area in southern Colorado. The wooden skeleton of a $1.2 million conveyor lift facility is up, and there's work to be done if it is to be finished and fully operational at some point this winter. It was an exhausting day, but one I’ll always remember.PAGOSA SPRINGS - Another morning at Wolf Creek Ski Area, and Davey Pitcher is scrambling. Everyone in our group wound up swamped at some point. ![]() ![]() Snowboards grind to a halt on anything but the steeper terrain. Skiing in 2.5 feet of fresh snow is hard. It was a weekday but on such days, who in nearby Alamosa would go to work? Just getting there on dicey roads was a challenge, but that was nothing compared to what awaited us. If you love deep powder, then you’ll love Wolf Creek. For tree lovers, two-thirds of the mountain consists of skiable forests. Or hike the Knife Ridge for an insane chute run. Skiers can take the 25-minute hike up Alberta Peak for a bucket-list plunge down its steep face. The area has its share of blue and green runs, but it’s the more inaccessible stuff that makes it legendary. Lift tickets are among the cheapest in Colorado, and several times a year the mountain holds Local Appreciation Days, with half-priced tickets. When the storm cycle really gets going, skiers from around Colorado leave their home mountains to flock here. It’s stress-free powder, enough of it that fresh tracks can be found two days after a storm if you know where to look. Through a combination of geography and meteorology, the ski area gets huge dumps when storms thick with moisture come out of the Southwest. It’s the powder-an average of 450 inches a year-that makes it a gem. This southern Colorado resort is in a class of its own, not for the terrain (though it offers some of the best hike-to runs in Colorado). There are Colorado ski areas, and then there is Wolf Creek. Hiking Mountain-biking Running Sightseeing Skiing-snowboarding Snowshoeing Wildlife Skiing-and-snowboarding ![]()
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