It’s great fun to go skiing at Wolf Creek Pass and enjoy the incredible views of the wild San Juan Mountains and the landscapes far beyond. Great to hike there in the summer too and see the wetlands that fill the lower creeks with water knowing that the woods are full of animals like lynx. These wonders have been threatened by a Texas billionaire who wanted to build a mini-Aspen next to Wolf Creek Ski Area called the “Village at Wolf Creek” and turn this beautiful wild area into a money machine for already rich people who live in Texas cities.
Situated on the pass between Alamosa and Pagosa Springs, almost on the New Mexico border, Wolf Creek Ski Area experiences more snowfall than virtually any other ski area in the southern Rockies. Wolf Creek is almost a secret among powder lovers with its wild setting, big bowl and sparse crowds. You have to want to go to Wolf Creek. By the standards of city people, it is out in the middle of nowhere, a long drive from Denver or Albuquerque.
Consider that Wolf Creek Pass straddles the gap between the Wemanuche and South San Juan Wilderness Areas. US Highway 160 slices between the two large areas of wild land and it terrifies anyone who dares drive over the pass in a snowstorm. There are decades of stories of trucks over the sides, cars crumpled against cliffs and snow blowing in sheets out of the dark night sky. The wildness takes over.
Highway 160 comes out of Missouri, crosses into the San Luis Valley to the east and crosses over to Pagosa Springs and on to Durango and thence to the Four Corners monument and into Arizona. Wolf Creek Pass is by far the most dramatic part of the highway. The Continental Divide Trail (CDT) crosses the highway close to Wolf Creek Ski Area. The ski area sits against the mountain on the north facing slope of Wolf Creek Pass just east of the summit.
And Wolf Creek can get up to 400 inches of snow in a season. In late December 2018 Ski Santa Fe has around 45 inches while Wolf Creek, only about 70 miles north, has 135 inches. Both ski areas are leased land from the US Forest Service so Wolf Creek lacks hotels, but it has good warming lodges, food, and ski shops. Wolf Creek sits on top of a pass with vast views of the San Luis Valley to the east and the San Juan Basin and South San Juan Mountains to the west.
Looming Threats
For the last 30 years, the beautiful wild setting of Wolf Creek has been threatened by a Texas capitalist B.J. “Red” McCombs, who literally wants to build condos and shopping centers on a chunk of land surrounded by the Rio Grande National Forest. Mr. McCombs built his fortune selling cars and oil in Texas. He owns sports teams and is 90 years old.
The “Village at Wolf Creek” as McComb’s company dubbed it would have housed 8,000 people and generated large amounts of sewage into the headwaters of the Rio Grande. It would require new power lines and put tremendous pressure on the nearby public lands with new population and their vehicles.
Importantly, the US Forest Service has decision power over the proposed Village as they needed to approve a land exchange for McComb to get the 300 acres he desired on the pass. The Forest Service parsed the laws applicable to such land exchanges and decided the land exchange itself would have no impact on the national forest and that county regulators would decide on what happened on the land once it was private. (Courts had already rejected county planning efforts for the property.) In 2017 a federal judge was pressed by a group of public interest groups to review the Forest Service decision. Federal District Judge Richard Matsch rejected the Forest Service decision, calling it an “error in law.”
Last May the Forest Service faced a deadline to appeal the ruling and the Forest Service did not appeal. That means that the agency’s Environmental Impact Statement and decision on land exchange have been nullified by the court and the agency would have to start over to revive the Village.
From this event we learn once again that the public, using the rule of law, can defeat billionaires, even in the age of Trump by organizing, having great lawyers, persisting and working together. By joining and helping public interest groups you can protect the skiing, outdoor experience and the natural world at places like Wolf Creek Pass.
The San Juan Citizens Alliance was a key group fighting the Village. Rocky Mountain Wild helped along with the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council. Many thanks to all the people who pulled this off on behalf of wildlife, humans, watersheds, and posterity.
