Alpine skiing - The Durango Herald

Hesperus Ski Area to remain closed for 2025-26 season

Hope remains that one day lifts will resume spinning at local hill

DATE: Sep 18, 2025 | CATEGORY: Local News

Brian Buerger steps down as Durango Winter Sports Club freeride ski director

Coach says greatest joy is introducing kids to skiing and watching them grow

DATE: Sep 14, 2025 | CATEGORY: Local News

Purgatory Resort’s new chairlift won’t open this winter as planned

Regulatory delays push construction to 2026; bike park expected to reopen next summer

DATE: Sep 9, 2025 | CATEGORY: Local News

Colorado ski areas report 13.8 million visits in 2024-25, marking the third busiest season ever

High numbers an affirmation that pandemic bump was not an anomaly

DATE: Jun 6, 2025 | CATEGORY: Outdoors

U.S. ski resorts report second-highest showing on record for 2024-25 season

Early numbers show ski areas invested $624.4 million in resort improvements

DATE: May 12, 2025 | CATEGORY: Outdoors

Snowboarder who fell from Keystone chairlift in December has died from his injuries

A witness said the man was adjusting his snowboard bindings; his mother disputes that

DATE: May 8, 2025 | CATEGORY: Regional News

At least 13 people died on Colorado ski slopes during the 2024-25 season

Survey shows eight skiers and five snowboarders died following falls or medical events

DATE: May 2, 2025 | CATEGORY: Regional News

Durango Winter Sports Club to host awards party, remember Ian McKnight

Beloved Alpine coach passed away Feb. 17

DATE: May 1, 2025 | CATEGORY: Sports

A Silverton backcountry skiing phenom has climbed millions of vertical feet. He’s only 13

Griff Pinto hopes to someday travel the world and make ski movies

DATE: Apr 10, 2025 | CATEGORY: Outdoors

Durango Winter Sports Club ski, snowboard teams finish season strong

Numerous athletes won events, finished on podium this season

DATE: Apr 5, 2025 | CATEGORY: Sports

Here’s which Durango winter athletes made all-state

Remec made first team for hockey; multiple skiers made first team

DATE: Apr 5, 2025 | CATEGORY: Sports

Mikaela Shiffrin powers through tricky course to win the slalom at the World Cup finals

SUN VALLEY, Idaho (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin smoothly navigated a bumpy course to easily win the women's slalom Thursday at the World Cup finals. The first-run leader, Shiffrin found another bu...

DATE: Mar 27, 2025 | CATEGORY: Sports

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Photos: Cowboy Gathering Social and Parade

Photos: High County Cattle Auction

High Country Cattle Auction brings top-notch stock and country charm to Southwest ColoradoFamily run, generational business dates back to 1940s

BREEN – The family-owned and operated High Country Cattle Auction is “in the bones” of the Cugnini family, said third-generation owner Chris Cugnini. The business was founded by Chris’ grandfather, Pat Cugnini, in the 1940s. Pat then passed the business down to his son, Duane Cugnini, who then turned the business over to daughters, Becky Hawkins and Chris Cugnini, whose daughters plan to take over the family business one day. The auction, which takes place once or twice a month from April to January at 13062 La Plata Highway (Colorado Highway 140) near Breen, attracts ranchers, farmers and those in the cattle industry from far and wide.

Former Durango resident Steve Greenburg has been attending the High Country Cattle auction for more than 40 years, and continues to travel to Breen all the way from Arizona, where he now lives. He attended the September auction last week, where around 1,200 animals were up for sale. Greenburg said effective bidding takes concentration and a practiced hand. “You want to make sure you don’t pay too much,” he said. “And if you do, you want to buy the business.” Amber Belvin, employee of 15 years and Chris’ operations “sidekick,” said bidders are most often looking for signs of good health in an animal, like a plump, filled-out body. If bidding on a herd, a look of uniformity among the animals is key to a good purchase, she said.

Despite Greenburg already having a handful of filled out bidding cards marking the cattle he had won within an hour of the Sept. 23 auction, he said the day was young. One sale day last year culminated in Greenburg taking home 22 semi-trucks worth of cattle, he said. Chris said Greenburg is one of the auction’s longest-term and most generous supporters. “(Greenburg) pays top-dollar,” Chris said. “And (that) makes me feel good, because we’re giving back to (the sellers). I know these people around here, and they’re the hardest working people on the planet. If I can get them 10 or 20 cents more per pound, then that makes us happy.”

Cattle auction prices have gone up in recent years, both at High Country and nationally, Chris said. This year, animals are going for $2,500 to $3,000 a head – double and triple the average prices from last year. The increase, Chris said, is in part because of a screw worm making the rounds in cattle in Mexico, which has lowered the number of cattle coming in from the south, along with people subdividing and selling cattle branches, and local cattle herd numbers diminishing, which has increased demand.

Chris called the price increase “good and bad.” “It’s great if you’re a seller, because there’s prices that you’ve never seen before,” she said. “Older men come in, (and they) can’t believe the prices. Some of them do this for a living, and they count on that, so they’re so happy.” Belvin said some smaller farmers opt to buy less cattle during price surges like this, but echoed Chris’ sentiment about sellers being ecstatic about the unprecedented profit.

Local cattle farmer Lawrence Martinez entered 59 steers and 95 heifers in the auction Tuesday. Martinez has been involved in the High Country Cattle Auction “pretty much forever,” but recent years have been especially fruitful for sales, he said. “These last few years, we’ve been coming here to sell, because this is the place to go,” he said. “I wouldn’t sell anywhere else. (The market here has) been so good.”The auction’s community roots and generational touch doesn’t stop at the Cugnini family: Shane Hatch, the auctioneer, took over the job after his father’s death, Belvin said.

The auction serves as an opportunity for community members to get together and bond, Belvin said. “When we do have an auction, it’s a great place where local farmers and ranchers can get together and talk,” she said. “They come to the cafe, and they talk about the hay, and the drought situation, and I think it’s a good connecting point.” Chris and Belvin both expressed feeling glad the auction can supply so much generational value to the local farming and ranching community. “I mean, what other business can you think of around here that’s the same, right?” Belvin said. “We’re fair, and we’re very meticulous at our jobs. We take it very seriously, because this is (some peoples’) livelihood.”

For the Cugninis – and long-term employees like Belvin, who have become an honorary part of the close-knit High Country Cattle Auction family – the heart of the business aligns with the heart of the local farming and ranching community. “We’re just good, hard working people – Americans – that want to make a good living, and live off this great land,” Belvin said. epond@durangoherald.com

Family run, generational business dates back to 1940s