Faulty Chairlift Mechanism Forces Hesperus To Close This Season
Ski Hesperus' 35-year-old double chairlift wouldn't start up at the start of this season and, consequently, the Durango-area locals' hill will not open for the 2023-2024 season.
Crews worked on the chairlift's gearbox during the offseason but could not get it to do what it's supposed to do: connect the motor to the bullwheel so that chairs can spin.
"The only viable option is to remanufacture the original gearbox, making it impossible to open Hesperus Ski Area for the 23-24 season," mountain officials said.
So Hesperus' only lift, and 80 acres of trails with 700 vertical feet will lie dormant for this winter. All facilities will be moth-balled and locked, including parking lot, and popular uphill and hike-to tubing. The mountain's minimal base operations will be shuttered as well.
Mountain managers have come up several options for passholders, including a limited season pass credit/exchange with Purgatory and credit toward a 2024-2025 Hesperus pass. The resort is covered by the Power Pass.
Since 1962, Hesperus has been a true locals' hill where many Durango-area youngsters learned to ski and ride, and where adults could get a few turns in after work. It sits conveniently along U.S. 160 west of town. Night skiing has been a staple of the operation for decades, with lights from top to bottom.
The ski area does not have snowmaking and only minimal grooming, and it's on the bottom edge of the San Juan Mountains storms. However, the base sits at 8,100 feet in a narrow pocket, so on good years, Hesperus gets plenty of cover. Half of the mountain's 13 named runs are rated black, and regulars find personal powder stashes off-piste in the scrub oak.
The existing double chair was purchased from Mt. Bachelor in 1988 and went up in 1988 to replace a treacherous rope tow ride. In 2016, Durango-based Mountain Capital Partners purchased the lease for the 160 acres on which Hesperus sits. Purveyor of the Power Pass, the firm has Purgatory and owns or operates nine other American resorts, including Pajarito, Sipapu and Sandia Peak -- local hills like Hesperus.
