Chapman Envisions Lift-Served Skiing in Bear Creek

Chapman Envisions Lift-Served Skiing in Bear Creek
by Gus Jarvis
Jan 24, 2011

TELLURIDE – Tom Chapman will tell you that one of his main interests in purchasing mining claims in the upper Bear Creek Basin is to defend private property rights. But that doesn’t mean he wants the Telluride Ski Area to fail in becoming one of North America’s top destination resorts.

In fact, he says, it’s quite the opposite.

In an interview on Monday, Chapman discussed his vision for what Bear Creek could look like in the future. Completed by Chapman with Google Earth satellite technology, the vision lays out the possibilities of an expanded Telluride Ski Area that includes the construction of as many as five new lifts in Bear Creek.

The lifts of Chapman’s imagination include “Lift 17,” which terminates at the top of Palmyra Peak, where skiers could drop straight down Palmyra into Prospect Basin or drop into Lena Basin on the Bear Creek side.

Chapman also envisions a “Lift 18,” which would be a “short traversing side lift over the apex backside of the San Joaquin Masiff” that would “open eyes around the world for the possibilities of skiing on the backside of Bear Creek’s southernmost ridge. This side traverse lift would be constructed 40 feet on the backside of the ridge and would not be seen by summer hikers in upper Bear Creek and, because of the distance, it wouldn’t be seen from Ophir either.

From the top of “Lift 18,” there would be another short, behind the ridge, traversing lift, “Lift 19,” to the top of the ridge at T-12. This lift would, according to Chapman, “rocket the Telluride Ski Area into a top three or so rank in the world – right along with the blue-chip masterpieces in Europe.” To the east, “Lift 19” would open up vast backcountry opportunities, to the north skiers would be able to drop down toward Bridal Veil Falls.

To bring skiers out of Bear Creek, Chapman envisions the “Nellie Return Lift” that would function as a return lift to the bottom of Revelation Bowl’s existing Lift 15. This short lift, in combination with the two lifts into the Lena Lake area and Palmyra Peak would begin “a circuit opening many hundreds of acres of deep powder,” Chapman says. It would also eliminate the ski out down the Bear Creek Rd. to Telluride and avoid trespass issues over the Bear Creek Preserve.

In essence, Chapman’s vision is a massive expansion into upper Bear Creek that would be unparalleled by any other resort in North America.

Despite many residents’ often-expressed doubts that the ski area should be expanded into Bear Creek at all, Chapman said he believes that businesses in Telluride want to be prosperous and that if the Telluride Ski Area is prosperous, they will be as well.

“If Telluride is to be prosperous and happy, first of all the ski area has to be prosperous and happy,” Chapman said. “That’s how it works.”

The success of ski areas depend on public perception, Chapman said. “Are you changing for the better? Needless to say, that is where [Telski CEO Dave] Riley has been stepping up to the plate. He’s trying to bring Telluride back from being stagnant and from being the status quo.”

Chapman said his vision of Bear Creek might be easy to put into place in a perfect world where there was perfect agreement. In the real world, an agreement on something similar to what he envisions would make “the Telluride Ski Area one of the best in the world.”

The vision cannot be realized, he cautions, without the participation of those who own land in Bear Creek.

“They should be a part of this and not be excluded from prosperity,” Chapman said.

For now, Chapman said the Gold Hill Development Company, in which he is a partner, can only do what it has the right to do as the owner of its mining claims in Bear Creek. Those claims include the Modena, Gertrude and Little Bessie parcels in Delta Bowl. They were purchased for $246,000 last March. No plans for the claims have been ruled out, Chapman said and that GHDC’s principal partner Ron Curry is interested in opening a small silver mine on the claims. There is also the possibility of building a ski hut. Or even having a mine and a ski hut built together on the lands. The mine could turn out to be a bust and devalue the mining parcels and without a thriving ski industry, a ski hut could also turn out to be a bust. Maybe one or both could see success and raise the value of the parcels.

Either way, Chapman believes the market should drive the value of the land.

“I was hired to level the field of property rights,” Chapman said. “Mr. Curry is the principal and he makes all the decisions. He wants to mine. Personally, I don’t care what the value of the property is.”

The first step in calculating the fair market value of GHDC’s claims, Chapman said, is getting its access sorted out. A step in this direction was taken last Friday when the company filed a complaint against the Telluride Ski and Golf Co. seeking the right to utilize, maintain, repair and improve the Gold Hill Road, which crosses through the Telluride Ski Area and terminates on the Little Bessie Lode.

“Right now we have a road that goes to our property but we can’t put equipment on it to remove rocks for access,” Chapman said. “The next phase is looking at opening up that road.”

Along with that complaint, Chapman said the GHDC has also submitted a series of Colorado open record requests to the San Miguel Board of County Commissioners to review its application of the High Country Alpine Zone standards as they applied to the construction of the Tempter House, Revelation Bowl lifts, including all towers, the observation deck, and new roads.

“Bear Creek has had those standards for a long time,” Chapman said. “Why was it so easy for Telski to get variances in this zone for these uses, yet a land owner that wants to use their land is restricted? We intend to execute a series of these open record requests. The first one was executed last Tuesday.”

In 2002 Chapman, representing George Greenberg, the owner of the claims at the time, listed the parcels for sale at $180,000.

“I tried to sell the property but nobody responded. Nobody gave a rip about the properties. It’s hard to believe there is so much interest in them now,” Chapman said. “I always knew the potential of Bear Creek and I am absolutely flustered as to why anyone in the community didn’t step forward to acquire those lands.

“My vision for Telluride,” he continued, “is for everyone to be prosperous and happy. I am just saying that the landowners in Bear Creek should not be excluded.”

Citing the pending legal complaint, Riley said he could not comment.