December 17, 2006 (Pagosa Springs, Col.) – Ski areas and developers often march hand in hand, but in the case of a mid-size, family-run mountain in southern Colorado, an area owner and a potential developer are butting heads about a parcel of land at the area’s base – and Nordic skiers are caught in the middle.

Wolf Creek owner Dave Pitcher and Texas billionaire B.J. “Red” McCombs were once partners in a planned real estate venture to develop 274 acres, but Pitcher rethought the concept to build big so near his ski mountain.

The sticking point is that the land is an in-holding surrounded by U.S. Forest Service acreage. McCombs still wants to build the Village at Wolf Creek to accommodate some 10,000 people on a high, dry and ecological fragile parcel 10,300 feet above sea level. In order to access his land, McCombs needs approval of various government entities to build a road.

Pitcher, who runs the simple, no-frills Wolf Creek ski area no longer wants a massive village at his doorstep. Lawyers are wrangling over the issues of access across USFS public land to benefit a private developer, plus the environmental toll a huge development would take and former agreements made and broken. The case is now in U.S. Federal Court.

Why does this matter to Nordic skiers? For three decades, the ski area has groomed some 10 kms of trails for classical, skate skiing and snowshoeing near the base of the mountain. Use of these trails – the only groomed routes for miles around – has been free. Alas, they lie on McCombs’s land, and this season, he forced the ski area to stop grooming them and is keeping skiers out.

No matter how the development scenario plays out, Nordies on nowhere. As long McCombs and Pitcher are at loggerheads, there will be no grooming. If McCombs eventually prevails, the village will be built, and there will be no open land on which to ski. Only if the impasse is settled in Pitcher’s favor might cross-country trails be restored.