Berthoud Pass, Colorado

Berthoud Pass, on the Continental Divide, is crossed by Highway 40. A plaque dated 1929 says the pass was discovered and surveyed by Captain E.L Berthoud in 1861, aided by Jim Bridger. A toll road opened in 1874, and an improved highway opened in 1923. With an average of 30 feet of snowfall per year, and as much as 60, the Colorado Department of Transportation employs a number of methods to minimize avalanche risk at the pass, including automated propane-fueled concussive blast cannons that explode gas in drilled holes, shaking the earth itself to knock down looming snowdrifts. The pass was best known as a ski attraction, and was one of the earliest ski hills developed in the state. Before the lifts came, people used their own cars to drop skiers off at the top of the Divide, taking turns to pick them up at the bottom of the run and drive them back up again. While a private resort near Colorado Springs installed a rope tow in 1936, it’s possible that Berthoud Pass became the first public ski area in the state when it installed one a year later. A lodge was built after World War Two, when the Forest Service issued a permit for the ski hill to operate on their land. One of the first double chairlifts in the state was installed here in 1947, and lifts operated on both sides of the road, up and down the Divide. The operation continued for five decades, a small but friendly and reasonably priced skiing option, less than 60 miles from Denver. The ski hill closed in 2002, citing financial reasons, lawsuits, and the expense of improving water collection and sewage treatment facilities. The lifts were taken down in 2003, and the lodge was demolished by the Forest Service in 2005, replaced with a functional warming hut, as the site is still used by self-serve backcountry skiers and snowboarders.