Colorado Ski Resort Shows Off Work On Terrain Expansion
Durango, Colorado — The big Colorado terrain expansion debuting next winter will be at Purgatory Resort.
The Gelande parking lot will now be served by a fixed-grip triple chairlift (named the Colorado Couloir), reducing the need to travel to Purgatory’s village. To make things sweeter, the expansion will be full of new and cleaned-up expert terrain.
In a video shared last Friday, Purgatory Resort showed some of the terrain that will be part of the Gelande expansion. They showed off some of the future chutes and glades.
About The Expansion
The new expansion will feature “steep, technical, unapologetic high-alpine skiing.” This will include several new trails, along with some very steep glades. The signature run is bound to be the new lift line, which is full of cliffs and a slanted fall line. For perspective on its steepness, the new lift’s grade will reach 60%. Some of these are already glades, such as the Monkey Gullies and Brimstone. However, Purgatory has also cleared glades in between those existing glade zones. A new egress route to the bottom of the Colorado Couloir has also been created.
“Colorado Couloir will give guests a new way to experience Purgatory this winter. It expands advanced and expert skiing on the front side of the mountain, creates a new access point from Gelande and helps us evolve in a way that stays true to what makes Purgatory special,” said Dave Rathbun, CEO of Purgatory Resort and Managing Partner of Mountain Capital Partners.
This new terrain pod will be served by a fixed-grip triple chairlift, with some parts coming from the old Plunge lift at Telluride Ski Resort. Here are the chairlift’s stats: a length of 4,439 feet, a vertical rise of 1,625 feet, an uphill carrying capacity of 1,445 skiers per hour, and a ride time of around nine minutes.
Last month saw the pouring of concrete for the future lift towers. Next up is the flying in of the lift towers, which is expected to happen over the next few weeks. The goal is to open the chairlift in December 2026.
Image/Video Credits: Purgatory Resort
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