Durango resident Alex Mickel has watched Chapman Hill grow from an insignificant snowflake into a raging blizzard.
Whether blowing through powdered snow on the ski hill or cutting through the ice on the inside rink, thousands of local residents and visitors come play at the in-town hill every winter. The addition of a mountain bike park next to the ski slope off of Florida Avenue could turn the area into a year-round sporting venue.
Chapman is a regional economic draw, said Mickel, a hockey player and ski coach.
“It’s just come to life,” he said. “I think it’s important to realize that recreation is not just recreation for people who live here, it’s economic development.”
Adding the bike park could greatly contribute to the already-rising numbers of park users.
“They’re quite popular,” said Cathy Metz, Parks & Recreation director. “That’s something we have a desire to build.”
The 38-acre city park was built in the 1950s but wasn’t significantly improved until 2001 when the ice rink was refrigerated. The city installed a snowmaking system in 2009 and started churning out snow for the ski hill, Metz said. The new and consistent snow has encouraged more hillside activities, including skiing and snowboarding events.
Visitors have increased year-over-year since 2007, Metz said. About 18,000 people use the ice rink annually, and about 2,600 climb the hill using the rope tows.
The proposed Chapman Hill Bike Park would spread over 25 acres between Florida Road and Rim Drive, east of the Chapman Ice Rink and Pavilion. The trails would descend from College Mesa through dense woods northeast of the ski slope.
“We anticipate that the bike park will help keep more of our local cyclists in Durango and also attract riders from well beyond the Four Corners region,” said Mary Monroe Brown, director of Trails 2000.
The park is supposed to accommodate all skill levels and age groups, including 3-year-olds and up. The space would have a couple downhill trails, a racetrack and an obstacle course. A memorial forest also is envisioned to honor Peter Carver, who was killed in an avalanche last year while backcountry skiing near Silverton.
The Fort Lewis College cycling team has a lot of downhill and cross-country riders, said Dave Hagen, team administrator. It’s an opportunity to build skills and have fun.
“I know there’s many, many people in the community itself, too – it’s not just about us – that would love to have that sort of resource in their town,” he said. “I think that’s a great venue for those sorts of things since the ice rink’s already there and Chapman Hill skiing in the winter is already there – just a nice little spot in the center of town.”
A large stumbling block to the bike park is money. It was first proposed at Chapman in 2010 and was estimated to cost around $430,000. Durango submitted two failed grant requests to Great Outdoors Colorado, which awards state lottery proceeds for park improvements and the acquisition of natural lands.
Future upgrades also could call for replacing the current rope tows with another type of surface lift, such as a T-bar or a poma lift.
smueller@durangoherald.com
