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Sunlight enjoys one last hurrah

Amanda Holt MillerWestern Garfield County
Post Independent Photo/Kelley CoxChris Lloyd, right, and James Gorman tote their snowboard gear as they thumb a ride up to Sunlight Mountain Resort for Sunday, the last day of the 2004-05 ski season at the resort.
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Yasch Olszanski is a die-hard skier. He was glad Sunlight Mountain Resort opened for an encore this weekend. “It’s great conditions,” Olszanski said. “It’s too bad they’re going to close. I would say it’s winter conditions out there.”Olszanski will continue to ski at Vail and then Arapahoe Basin, but he appreciates Sunlight for its convenience.”I was headed for Beaver Creek today, but I’m from Rifle, and this is so much closer. I knew there was a lot of good snow up here.”

Sunlight was scheduled to close April 3, but the snow has been so good lately, the resort reopened for one last weekend.”These are the best conditions we’ve ever had after our scheduled closing,” said Kevin Horch, the communications manager at Sunlight. “It’s been good all winter. We had fresh powder three fourths of the season.”Bryon Thompson and Crystal Dowe, who go to school at Colorado Mountain College in Glenwood Springs, were thankful for one last chance to hit the slopes.They both said they planned to put their equipment away for the season after they made their way back down the mountain Sunday.

There was only one lift running during the weekend, though all of the terrain was open. The resort operated with a smaller staff than usual. “We just called up the ‘A Team,’ and everyone was stoked to work another weekend, get a few more hours on the slopes,” Horch said.Sunlight didn’t need a big staff for the weekend; the mountain was quiet compared to previous weekends.”A lot of people think it’s already closed,” Thompson said. “I knew about this because I go to school with some people who work here.”



Olszanski said he figured people put their ski jackets away early in favor of spring and summer sports.”It works out just fine because now we have the mountain to ourselves,” Olszanski said.Horch said the weekend was slow.”It’s been mostly locals coming up for their last hurrahs,” Horch said. “There have been a lot of smiles, a lot of laughs. We owe a thank-you to all the locals who came up all season.”


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