Page 13 - Winter Park 75 Years

CHAPTER ONE
The Grand Beginning
Skiing has been
Above: The tollhouse on Berthoud Pass in the 1870s. GCHA
Opposite: A ski jumper competing at the Hot Sulphur Springs Winter Sports Carnival in the 1920s. GCHA
a part of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains from the earliest days prospectors moved into its
valleys and peaks in search of gold and silver. Early mountain residents used Norwegian snowshoes (skis) as the most efficient means of transportation in the heavy snows that covered the high country many months of the year.
One of the earliest records of skiing in Middle Park and the area to become Grand County, Colorado, was the ill-equipped D. C. Oakes party. They averted disaster in December 1866 by making their way to the cabin of “Colorado” Charley Utter near Hot Sulphur Springs. Having lost their pack animals and on foot, the party faced certain tragedy if not
for the skill of Utter and his resourcefulness. Colorado Charley outfitted and taught the Oakes party in the use of Norwegian snowshoes as the practical method of transportation in Middle Park’s deep powdery snow. Furthermore, Major Oakes persuaded Utter to escort the party over Berthoud’s Pass, where they could safely traverse to Denver. Oakes’s journey was recounted in two articles published in the Rocky Mountain News on January 26 and 27, 1866, titled Notes of a Trip Across the Snowy Range To The Middle Park.
THE GRAND BEGINNING 11