Wyoming's Sleeping Giant To Remained Shuttered For 2024-2025, Joins Hesperus In Multi-Year Closures
A combination of factors have forced ownership of the Sleeping Giant in northwest Wyoming to close the locals' mountain for a second straight season.
"As you know we faced a lack of snow last winter, a small flood this spring, and most recently vandalism to our Big Horn lift in August involving the brand-new communication line that we purchased for it the previous year," management said recently. "None of these problems are insurmountable, but taken together with the need to hire many seasonal staff made it clear that rushing to try to get open for the season did not make sense."
Over the years, the 186-acre ski and snowboard area an hour west of Cody has had its snowfall-challenged seasons. Only nine inches fell in 2015-16, and 20 inches total in 2021-2022. The 10-year average is 68 inches, topped by 147 inches in 2013-2014.
Currently, only 18 acres of Sleeping Giant's terrain gets hit by snow guns at this point. Owners recently bought some $100,000 in new snowmaking equipment, but the aging pipe network that was installed in 2008 must be rejuvenated first.
Located an hour's drive east of the eastern entrance to Yellowstone National Park, Sleeping Giant has spun its lift Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with night skiing on Saturday evenings.
It opened in 1936 -- one of the first in the northern Rockies -- and operated a T-bar annually until 2004. After a four-year hiatus, it reopened with a triple chairlift, under the auspices of a community nonprofit. A local resident bought it in 2020.
In Colorado, Ski Hesperus will shut down any access to its 80 acres and 700 vertical feet again this season. Located 17 miles west of Durango, Hesperus was purchased nine years ago by Mountain Capital Partners, which owns nearby Purgatory. Management said night-skiing favorite Hesperus has made money in just one of them those years, and lift spun only three times for the revenue-critical Christmas holiday.
"... at this moment, as we face this extremely expensive repair, we have to consider Hesperus’ longevity," the owners said in a press release. "This decision ultimately comes down to a matter of water. It is imperative for us to be able to make snow to guarantee reliable conditions that keep guests coming year after year."
