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Berthoud backers keep eye on future
New uses mulled for failed ski area

By Jason Blevins
Denver Post Business Writer
If the rocky crags above Berthoud Pass have souls, they were shining bright on Thursday.

Dozens of Berthoud Pass lovers - hikers, skiers, historians and forest guardians - rallied in Lakewood to begin shaping a recreational future for the mountain pass that has seen nine entrepreneurs come and go in a 66-year struggle to make the area a viable ski hill.

"We know there's a lot of history up there and there's also some not so successful history," said Jim Bedwell, supervisor of the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest.

But fans of the deep and steep ski area say it's too soon to give up on the pass and its aging lodge, and offered up uses ranging from a trailhead for the developing Continental Divide Trail to an avalanche training center.

Marise Cipriani, who bought the area in April 1999, tried two seasons of lift-served skiing and two seasons of guided Sno-Cat skiing before folding the operation this past summer.

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Deep discount passes offered by Vail Resorts, Intrawest and Winter Park had all but erased Berthoud's niche - affordability - soon after Cipriani bought the hill.

"It made it extremely difficult to compete under those market circumstances," said Charlie Mayfield, vice-president of Cipriani's SolVista resort company.

The lifts are gone. The 53-year-old lodge, long a refuge for travelers and skiers, will be boarded up this winter as the U.S. Forest Service explores the future of Berthoud Pass.

The Forest Service must guard public safety, but it also must make sure it is not left with an aging lodge that costs more than $80,000 a year to maintain.

"We've been very clear that the model for a downhill ski area has failed. ... We are looking for a model that will work, and we are looking to the future, but we are also looking out for public safety and any liabilities for the American taxpayer," said Bedwell, who will make the final decision about the fate of the lodge and recreation area.

Ideally, Bedwell wants a sustainable operation with a low-maintenance building that meets the demands of thousands of visitors who warm the area's slopes in winter, or stop along the highway at 11,300 feet to marvel at their proximity to the heavens.

"We know what's failed up there, and we feel there is a model that will work," said John Strand, a former volunteer ski patroller at Berthoud and founder of the new Friends of Berthoud Pass group, which is lobbying the Forest Service to sustain the area's 70-year recreational history.

Collaboration was the theme at the public meeting Thursday, where many of the 75 people present promised support for keeping the Berthoud vibe alive.

By the time a final upgrade to U.S. 40's eastern approach is completed, the Colorado Department of Transportation will have pumped $80 million into renovating Berthoud Pass.

CDOT is interested in working with other groups to create a possible rest stop on the pass and may be able to fund improvements that would include a pedestrian crossing of the busy highway, but it cannot be responsible for a rest area's maintenance, program engineer Brian Pinkerton said.

Colorado State Parks would also be interested in joining a partnership at Berthoud Pass.

Parks director Lyle Laverty said his department has "unique opportunities" for capital funding through access to lottery and Great Outdoors Colorado funds.

The Pine-based Continental Divide Trail Alliance, which is helping to complete the 3,100-mile Continental Divide Trail from Canada to Mexico, also is a willing partner.

Because of its proximity to Denver, Berthoud Pass is a good place to introduce the wilderness trail to most people, said Bruce Ward, the alliance's executive director. Ward also extolled Berthoud as a perfect locale for avalanche awareness and training classes.

And Ike Garst dismissed the Forest Service's assessment that downhill skiing at Berthoud is a failed enterprise. He would know.

With his wife, Lucy, Garst ran the ski area from 1977 to 1987, offering snowboarders their first lift rides in Colorado.

Now he's ready to make it work again, relying less on skiing this time.

"We made most of our money up there in the summer," he said.

Garst has organized a group of investors willing to return Berthoud to its recreational glory.

Garst said it could be done with a long-term permit from the Forest Service and increased operations in the summer months.

"Berthoud Pass could be successful, but in a different model. There are a lot of things that can be done up there," he said.