Clark Community Ski Hill

By Bill Fetcher

While of little historic value, the rope tow hill that served the ranching community of Clark, 20 miles
north of Steamboat Springs, was perhaps typical of weekend rope tow hill operations.

In 1955 the rope tow on Steamboat’s Howelsen Hill was relocated and rebuilt. Through a work-
exchange agreement my father, John Fetcher acquired the old rope, wheels and other parts. With
volunteer help from neighbors the tow was installed on a hillside pasture on our ranch at Clark. It was
driven by a tractor located at the top of the hill. Most ski lifts have their drive motors at the top, as it’
s more efficient to pull the load. In this instance it meant gasoline had to be hauled to the top, plus
someone had to climb the hill to start the tractor, often by vigorous cranking if the battery was dead,
which was often the case. Length of the tow was about 500 feet, an average peak length for most
rope tows as it was about all one’s arms, hands and smoking mittens could stand.

The tow ran on weekends, usually with an average afternoon crowd of 30 to 40, mostly neighbor kids
and their parents who had driven them over once their morning chores (feeding livestock for most)
and noon meal were finished. An admission was charged to offset such small expenses as fuel for the
tractor: 25 cents a day or 20 cents for an afternoon. To put this in perspective, during the ‘50s
Howelsen Hill charged $2.00 for a daily pass, $1.50 for an afternoon. Meanwhile, Aspen (Ajax)
Mountain, with five chairlifts, charged an outrageous $6.00 for an all-day pass! Some of our
neighbors were too poor to even consider skiing on Howelsen but for 20 cents they could have a
blast on our hill and indeed they did! Parallel turns were unknown while the snowplow turn and stem
Christie reigned supreme. A few subscribed to the most basic approach to skiing; point ‘em downhill
and let ‘em run. Equipment was primitive even by 1950s standards: bamboo poles, wooden skis that
may have served as barrel staves at one time (steel edges were a screwed-on “option”), leather lace-
up boots or even rubber galoshes shoved into bear-trap toe pieces and held in place by some cable
business that offered no chance of escape. Sprained knees and ankles were common. The two most
serious injuries in six years of operation were a broken leg and a broken back. (Both boys made
speedy recoveries.) The rope tow itself was involved in no accidents other than a few rope burns. As
for clothing fashions, you wore what you put on that morning. Blue jeans and heavy work coats
prevailed. I should add that after a fresh snowfall the hill had to be packed out by sidestepping. Heavy
snow and drifting would sometimes bury the rope, particularly if we'd forgotten to hang the rope up
on the towers at the end of the day. It would then have to be dug out. This offered the added thrill of
traveling through a three-foot trench on the ride up. By early spring no laborious packing would be
needed as a crust would form on the snow and we would go night skiing on the crust. . . by moonlight.

The 1960/61 season was the last for our ski hill. The Clark School, which I attended for seven years,
closed in 1961 as well, among the last of 47 Routt County school districts to be consolidated into
three: Steamboat Springs, Hayden and South Routt County (SOROCO). The two-room Clark
School, once the center of many community activities was no longer so and Clark underwent a
change as kids were bused to school in Steamboat, later to grow up, find jobs and move on. The
rope tow was dismantled and ten years later was donated to Colorado Mountain College in
Steamboat. Whether it was ever installed and put to use I can't say. (We kept the tractor, a 1953
Farmall Super-C. It’s still in service.)

I don’t know how many of those neighbor kids who skied at Clark have kept on with it. I’m certain
they’ll look back on it, as I can too, as a time when it was possible to have a lot of fun without a lot of
high-tech complication and expense.

Please Note: This area is on private property - No Trespassing