Sunday, September 19, 2010

Ski Stoner and you can ski anywhere



The first time, on long wooden skis, heavy leather boots,
They laced both front and back.
It started there and progressed up slope —
Until you got the knack.
With bamboo poles, a jacket snug and
Cable bindings snapped down tight.
To the bunny hill, a glove-eating monster
A hundred kids, like ants, on hills of white.
The diesel smell and clang of fitful starts and stops,
The rope tow’s safe, you know
Oscar Hamilton will save you fingers, if only treated right.
As you aged and skied and learned the ropes,
The T bar loomed, the ridge, the trees,
The bumps, the open track.
On holidays and weekends, for just nine bucks
Stoner slopes always asked with grace,
Nudged politely, said its piece,
“Please come back.”
The red plastic locks would form a chain on winter coats,
and tell of countless visits,
Chili in the lodge and hundreds of people
Drinking in the mountain spirits.
If you helped the Clarks, and stayed at the lodge,
You knew you may be scrubbing dishes.
The T-bar spring was a deadly tool.
It would take your hat, rip your shirt, rake your back,
Snatch you bald, and prove the fool.
The trick it seems, you skied it twice
On boards, its true, both up and down the hill
From ‘51 to ’83, to the slope, the kids they came,
From towns along the river,
but the special use permit was not renewed,
and Tramway asked for things that area just couldn’t deliver.
It closed, they pulled the hut, the T-bar was taken down.
By ’91, the deed was done. The area was no more.
But if you learned it there, skiing up and down its slopes,
‘Ski Stoner,” they said. “And you can ski anywhere.”



poem by Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com
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15 comments:

Anonymous said...

More than one Dolores High
school student came to school monday morning wearing a cast of some sort ... joe bowden '58

Anonymous said...

My grqand mother, mother and two aunts cooked up there when Aikens Had it. I spent many a seasons there, I even worked there with my grandmother when the Clarks had it

Anonymous said...

Loved skiing at Stoner from the 1950s through the 60s and early 70s. I believe the saying. Very special memories with the kids from Cortez, Dolores and Rico.

Ralph Reagan said...

Lousy communists that shut it down.

Anonymous said...

Is there any part of that area still accessible to take pictures of or does anyone have any they can post? I like now and then pictures of such places.

Anonymous said...

Is there any part of that area still accessible to take pictures of or does anyone have any they can post? I like now and then pictures of such places.

Anonymous said...

I have such memories of the Lodge my parents Ruth and Henry Clark owned the lodge from 64 to 73. I have fond memories of waking up on Saturday mornings to the smell of homemade cinnamon rolls, and pies in the oven. My sister and I would eagerly wait for the school buses full of skiers from Cortez and Dolores. We could not go skiing until we had peel the 100lbs of potatoes each morning used to make french fries. In 1964 an all day ticket was $2.50 and a large basket of fries was 25 cents and pie was half price after 2 pm on Sundays. I learned to ski at Stoner and have ski all over Colorado, New Mexico,Utah,Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon and California It really is true if you can ski Stoner you can ski anywhere. Thanks for the memory Angie(Clark)Marin

Trudy Eslick Watkins said...

My Dad used to drive us kids all the way from Moab, Utah to ski Stoner back in the 50's. The only injury any of us got was me learning to ride the T-bar and it hit me on the ear. Loved that place, so sorry to learn it no longer exists😒

John Fiene said...

I ran the T Bar for one winter, or at least part of one winter back in 1974-5. The engine that ran the ski lift was so loud that I found myself a bit deaf after a while. Now my favorite words are "Huh?" and "What?"

Shannon Hampton said...

I remember watching the snowmobile races when I was a kid. Mid 80’s

Anonymous said...

Hi...helen Swank here

Anonymous said...

Such a great place! Learned there in 74. MCHS ski club, good stuff!

Anonymous said...


Stoner! The best thing this community ever had as well as the best place I've ever lived. How much I miss those early morning frozen Tbars that would carry you up the hill like a chair lift till they thawed and the joy of the small kids when one of many of the good hearted adults would help them learn to ride the tbar and ski the hill. The best part of my life can be told by that mountain for it was the place the Lord blessed me with my son. If do overs in life were possible let me tell you that's where I would be,cooking steaks and making snow for all the locals to ride the new chairlift and ski!! I was up there last night at the ranch next door having Christmas dinner with friends that lodge has brought to my life and this Christmas morning I saw this post and will have a tear in my eye and a smile on my face this special day as I snowboard telluride knowing it was Stoner that showed me the way.. God bless all the people that ever skied that hill and the ones that just came up to enjoy the lodge and thank you God for blessing me and my family with the place for many years!!! Boss Wright

Anonymous said...

Which ones?

Anonymous said...

I was on the lift the last time it broke down. One of the 3 remaining wooden towers wrenched and split. The tower threw off some large pieces of sharp wood but fortunately no one was injured. It was shut down for safety issues. What a loss. Stoner was such a cool place and asset for our little part of the world!!