Purgatory Resort is making a bold prediction that the start of the ski mountain’s 50th season will begin before Thanksgiving.
A statement released Tuesday announced skiers will be able to hit the slopes for the first time this season on Saturday, Nov. 21, and the mountain will be open every day Thanksgiving week.
And while Purgatory officials say Nov. 21 is the earliest expected opening date in the mountain’s history, a few of the old-time ski patrollers remember an even earlier opening in 1972.
“Halloween it just dumped on us,” Paul Folwell one of the first members of Purgatory’s ski patrol team recalled. “It was crazy. It was just one of those freak storms that hit us.”
Folwell, 76, said when the snows hit at the end of October, Purgatory was one of the few ski areas open in the country. That drew the U.S. Ski Team, members of the pro-circuit and other big names.
“We had the who’s who of skiing here at the time,” he said. “It was really exciting for a lot of the locals to see the ski world – the glitter and glamour of it. It was really something.”
Regardless, it’s been a big year for Durango’s closest ski mountain, with the resort changing hands to new owner James Coleman, whose first act was to change the name from Durango Mountain Resort back to the original Purgatory Resort.
And, ski enthusiasts are holding a great deal of hope and anticipation this year, as most weather reports expect El Niño to be the largest in well over a decade, and that could translate into many days of fresh snow.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
