Chapman Hill Ski Area had a great season despite complications caused by Mother Nature, including bleak snowfall and a lightning strike that required repairs ahead of the season’s start, said Matt Nimetz, recreation facility operations supervisor.
Nimetz said from an operations standpoint, last season ‒ which ended on March 12 ‒ was one of the best seasons Chapman’s had in years. It logged about 5,700 skier visits during its 77-day season.
The ski hill used 2.7 million gallons of water for snowmaking ‒ about 700,000 more than it typically uses in a season, as a result of mild temperatures and having more surface area to cover since the ski hill’s redesign with the introduction of new tow lifts and expansion of the skiable slope in 2024.
Based on the city’s commercial and industrial water rates of $4.77 per 1,000 gallons, snowmaking would have cost about $12,879 this season.
The Durango Herald requested a cost for snowmaking and winter revenues for Chapman Hill on March 18. Nimetz said he was still working on compiling seasonal numbers as of Tuesday.
“We had to blow more just to cover the acreage, and the stuff at the top seems to melt off faster, for obvious reasons,” he said. “It’s just flat up there. Doesn’t get any shade.”
Chapman’s new Poma lift installed in 2024 takes skiers all the way to the top of the hill, giving skiers a longer run and requiring more snow to be made, he said. The ski area was also expanded toward the ice rink to the north, requiring more snow to be blown.
“I would love not to blow snow. Like, that’s not something I look forward to doing,” he said. “It’s super hard work. It’s at night and you don’t get any sleep. I would love to not have to do that.”
He said staff performed snow blowing on about 22 nights this season. If the winter was colder, he estimates staff would have needed to blow snow only about 12 nights out of the season. Staff would start around 12:30 a.m. and continue all night.
Snow blowing nights were “brutal,” he said, but the team at Chapman proved they can do it. Nimetz said he’s optimistic about future seasons despite the mild winter.
“I don't know if this is the future of the weather. I assume it wouldn’t be. I would think we’ll get some snow in the future,” he said. “... I’ve worked here since the 90s. These seasons are a little exceptional, especially considering we didn’t get the temps.”
Nimetz said ideal snowmaking weather is cold temperatures ‒ around 20 degrees ‒ and low humidity, and it was unusual to not have those conditions in November and December.
Still, Chapman had a strong season. He said the new base of the ski area, which includes a retaining wall and drainage to divert snowmelt past the parking lot directly into the Animas River, is much improved from what it used to be.
The new retaining wall is about 95% completed, he said, with just some dirt work and reseeding pending.
Logistically, the retaining wall was necessary because the city can’t have snowmelt running through the Chapman parking lot and into a roundabout on Florida Road, he said. Ice in the roundabout is a hazard for drivers.
He said the flat, gravel base at the bottom of the ski hill allowed by the retaining wall is great for skiers and retaining snow too.
The gravel base prevents the area from muddying up. Previously, skiers would trudge through the mud to reach the old lifts, and the mud would “fry” the snow at the base of the hill, he said. Employees would have to shovel muddy areas, and now there’s less maintenance required at the base.
The base is also a great place for parents who are watching their children on the hill, he said. More gravel was placed in front of the patio outside the ice rink, which is another improvement. The area gets plenty of sunlight during the day, making it a nice place to hang out.
Another challenge Chapman faced was a lightning strike in the fall that fried lift equipment and befuddled electricians.
“We got a direct strike on the light tower that’s at the top right. That was terrible,” Nimetz said.
The lightning fried the maintenance shack at the top of the hill, rode down the hill ‒ via the communication lines, he suspects ‒ and hit the lower maintenance shack, sparking through 10-amp fuses and into a voltage cabinet, he said.
Nimetz said he doesn’t want to deal with anything like that again. His strategy between seasons is to keep as many systems on the hill disconnected as possible.
“All bets are off with lightning,” he said. “Even if I had the resources to do it, it’s hard to figure out what the lightning affected and didn’t.”
He said the systems on the hill require specialty parts that aren’t easy to replace.
“I can’t just go to Kroegers and get them. I’ve got to order them from Salt Lake. If Salt Lake doesn’t have them, they have to order from Italy,” he said.
Despite its share of challenges this season, Chapman is doing well, Nimetz said. He said he’s noticed a rebound in the quality of employees being hired at the ski hill.
“We’re getting really great employees,” he said.
He said hiring during and after the COVID-19 pandemic proved difficult ‒ people didn’t want to work. But there’s been a turnaround there.
“Now, not only are we able to get people to work, we’re getting people that want to work there and that take a lot of pride in working there,” he said.
He said many of the employees are skiers and snowboarders and they have a stake in running the ski hill well.
Nimetz said he doesn’t expect future winters to be as mild as this one. But even if they are, Chapman’s proven it can keep the ski area open with snowmaking operations.
cburney@durangoherald.com
