Powderhorn, Sunlight, Cooper Set Up For Nostalgic Colorado Road Trip
Three of Colorado's long-standing hometown favorites string together a convenient Indy Pass and affordable day ticket road trip off the Interstate 70 corridor.
Over recent summers, Powderhorn, Sunlight and Cooper have tweaked their mountains for more convenience. Also, the former two have bigger plans for the future.
Powderhorn sits on the edge of the Grand Mesa -- the world's largest flat-topped mountain -- about an hour's drive from Grand Junction. Since 1966, it's been the go-to hill for Western Slope skiers and riders -- and the terrain is pretty much the same as when Chair 1 and West End chair went up in the '70s.
To skier's right, the high-speed Flat Top Flyer debuted in 2015 to run farther up the old Chair 1 route to the 9,820-foot summit. The 52-year-old West End double still handles the blues and blacks on the other side of the mountain.
The mountain hasn't had on-hill overnight lodging until recently. Six new tiny homes have gone up just off the upper parking lot. Reservations can be made on Powderhorn website. Also new is more paving in the parking area.
Lately up at Sunlight Mountain, plans for the 2025-2026 season call for "out with the old and in with the new." A pair of classic chairlifts, one of which is the longest running in Colorado, will be replaced.
The Primo chair, a Riblet double that was the first lift when Sunlight opened in 1966 above Glenwood Springs, will finally come down next summer. A new four-seat fixed-grip chair will continue the only lift to the 9,895-foot summit. Also to be constructed next summer, the next-oldest chair Segundo (1973), a double out of the base, will be replaced by a three-seater to serve a forest of blue groomers on the skier's left.
Plans are in the works for a fixed-grip quad for the East Ridge expert area, which opened recently but requires a cut-off traverse or hike-out trail. And, owners hope to moderate the base terrain into a true learning locale.
A couple of hours to Tennessee Pass sits Cooper. While not an Indy Pass member, the former mountain troops training site has kept weekday prices low ($45 for adults), and those 75 and older can buy a season pass for $10. It is also a reciprocal Freedom Pass member with Sunlight.
Owned and operated by Lake County, the nonprofit hill tops out at 11,757 feet elevation -- a bit more than 1,000 feet below the Continental Divide. Snowcat tours are on hold.
The last lift to go was the Little Horse T-Bar (2019) that gave lift access to Tennessee Creek Basin -- long a locals hike-to and hike-out powder stash. That's where most of the blacks at Ski Cooper reside.
Historic Leadville is 15 minutes down the road, replete with motels, VRBOs, restaurants and old mines from the 1890s silver boom. And the newly named 10th Mountain Division National Monument is just up the road.
