{"id":1317747,"date":"2020-01-17T18:45:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-18T01:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=992724"},"modified":"2020-01-19T08:44:38","modified_gmt":"2020-01-19T15:44:38","slug":"sunlight-trails-the-stories-behind-the-ski-run-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/sunlight-trails-the-stories-behind-the-ski-run-names\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunlight Trails \u2014 the stories behind the ski run names"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Winter brings renewed wonder when locals and visitors alike take to the trails at Glenwood Springs\u2019 own Sunlight Mountain ski resort.<\/p>\n

Each of the more than 60 ski runs at Sunlight has a name, and with each a little story behind the name, according to some of the long-time staffers at the resort.<\/p>\n

Many of the ski runs simply honor the region\u2019s geography, culture, history and natural wonders:<\/p>\n

Crystal<\/strong> \u2014  for the Crystal River and the historic mining boom town of Crystal City, located above Marble toward Schofield Pass.<\/p>\n

Ute<\/strong> and Peacepipe<\/strong> \u2014 In honor of the earlier native inhabitants of the region, the Ute Indians.<\/p>\n

White River<\/strong> \u2014 For the National Forest on which Sunlight is permitted to operate.<\/p>\n

Defiance<\/strong> \u2014 The name given the frontier fort that was established near the confluence of the Grand (Colorado) and Roaring Fork rivers, which preceded the incorporation of what became Glenwood Springs.<\/p>\n

Frying Pan Alley<\/strong> \u2014 For the Fryingpan River Valley.<\/p>\n

Columbine<\/strong> \u2014 The official Colorado state flower.<\/p>\n

Sun King<\/strong> \u2014 The name of one of the many historic mining camps located south of Glenwood Springs; among them Sunlight<\/strong> itself.<\/p>\n

Holiday Hill<\/strong> \u2014 The small ski hill that preceded Sunlight.<\/p>\n

Midland Express<\/strong> \u2014 Named for the Midland Railroad that operated in the Roaring Fork Valley during the mining boom.<\/p>\n

And, Zephyr<\/strong> \u2014 Named for the famous California Zephyr<\/strong>, the historic passenger train line that came through Glenwood Springs. The name is still used by the Amtrak line.<\/p>\n

Some of Sunlight\u2019s runs got their names through naming contests, including Beaujolais<\/strong> \u2014 a name submitted by Charlie Sprick<\/strong>, grandfather of local artist Dan Sprick. Dan\u2019s grandmother, Mary, also submitted \u201cLoopity Loop,\u201d which became simply Loop<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

Others of Sunlight\u2019s trails are named for people who contributed in some way to the ski area\u2019s legacy. Many of them have since passed, but others are still living and remain influential.<\/p>\n

Among the latter lot is Tom J\u2019s Glades<\/strong>, formerly Upper Glades, named in honor of longtime Sunlight general manager Tom Jankovsky<\/strong>, who is still a part owner and financial officer for the resort, as well as a three-term Garfield County commissioner.<\/p>\n

And, more recently, three runs on the famed East Ridge were named Aligator Alleys<\/strong> (A1, A2 and A3) in honor of current U.S. Ski Team member and New Castle resident Alice McKennis<\/strong>. McKennis got her ski legs under her skiing at Sunlight as a small child with her father, Greg McKennis.  <\/p>\n

As for the in-memorium honors, there\u2019s Dawson<\/strong>, located on the west side of the main bowl. It was named in memory of \u201cMonk\u201d Dawson<\/strong>, who died in a Jeep rollover accident while helping with the construction of the Segundo ski lift. Speaking of which, Segundo<\/strong> itself honors the region\u2019s Spanish heritage. Segundo means \u201csecond\u201d in English. The lift was the ski area\u2019s second. The original bottom-to-top lift had a midway option to disembark \u2014 thus the run named Midway<\/strong>.  <\/p>\n

Joslin<\/strong>, another popular west-side run, includes a plaque at the very top of the run honoring the memory of Jim Joslin<\/strong>, an active member of the Sunlight Ski Patrol. Joslin was among the 12 Rocky Mountain Natural Gas employees who died in a tragic propane gas explosion at the RMNG distribution warehouse on Devereux Road on Dec. 16, 1985.<\/p>\n

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SunlightTrails-gpi-011820-3<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Teed\u2019s Run<\/strong>, located on the East Ridge, is named for Teed Stoner<\/strong>, who died in an avalanche while snowboarding on the ridge in the early 1990s. Afterwards, Sunlight decided to officially open and maintain the area, which has become popular with steep-and-deep expert skiers and boarders.<\/p>\n

Not far from there is Tod\u2019s Ride<\/strong>, named for Todd Elston<\/strong>, a long-time ski patrol director who was injured while doing avalanche mitigation work before the East Ridge was officially opened.<\/p>\n

Ivy\u2019s Run<\/strong>, a short trail descending from Columbine to Ute, is named in memory of Ivy Adler<\/strong>, a former member of the Sunlight Ski Team who died in a tragic car accident on Highway 82.<\/p>\n

Not far from there is Charlie\u2019s Glades<\/strong>, named in memory of a child who died after hitting a tree while skiing through the woods between Cornice and White River.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also Perry\u2019s Plunge<\/strong>, named for the late longtime Carbondale-area rancher Bob Perry, an original Sunlight investor; Gibson\u2019s Glade<\/strong>, named for Ed Gibson<\/strong>, a longtime Sunlight building and grounds and general maintenance worker; Sherman Forest<\/strong>, named for Tom<\/strong> and Olly Sherman<\/strong>, founders of the 100 Club ski and hiking group in Glenwood Springs; Little Max<\/strong>, named for the late Max Doose<\/strong>; and Cassanova Glade<\/strong>, named for the late Tony Cassanova<\/strong>, another longtime Sunlight volunteer ski patroller.<\/p>\n

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Leonard\u2019s Lookout<\/strong>
Leonards-Lookout2<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Finally, though not a ski run, there\u2019s also Leonard\u2019s Lookout<\/strong>, an archway framing Mt. Sopris and the Elk Mountain Range that\u2019s named for the late long-time part owner Leonard Lorentson<\/strong>. His son, Todd, now holds those shares of the company, and his granddaughter, Tiffany, sits on Sunlight\u2019s Board of Directors.<\/p>\n

jstroud@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Winter brings renewed wonder when locals and visitors alike take to the trails at Glenwood Springs\u2019 own Sunlight Mountain ski resort. Each of the more than 60 ski runs at Sunlight has a name, and with each a little story behind the name, according to some of the long-time staffers at the resort. Many of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1317747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 05:02:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1317747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1317767,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317747\/revisions\/1317767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1317747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1317747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1317747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}