XC Skiing Colorado’s Western Slope. Some of my favorite trails

Grand Mesa Nordic Trails

XC Skiing on the Grand Mesa might be the epitome of XC skiing on the Western Slope. The Skyway and County Line Area of the Grand Mesa offer 19 miles (30 kilometers) of groomed trails. The Ward Nordic area has another 11 miles (18.7 kilometers) of marked trails. Not all trails in the Ward area are groomed by snowmobile. Some of these are ungroomed but marked trails for backcountry skiers. The amazing thing about these trails is that they are free to use. You can make donations to the grand Mesa Nordic Council, however, to help with the cost of grooming and upkeep for all of these trails.

If it is your first time XC skiing or first time on the Grand Mesa, I recommend sticking to the County Line Area trails. These are some of the flatter trails and do not require as much ability to ski up and down hills on skinny XC skis. One of the trails that I continually find myself going back to consists of linking the Dog Loop to the Tower Trail and returning on the Overlook Trail. This makes for a nearly 6-mile loop and is a great trail if you are used to XC skiing. If it is your first time, there are many shorter loops that can be completed in this area.

You can find out more about grooming conditions and find trail maps on the Grand Mesa Nordic Council’s website here. If you are considering a multi-day ski trip on the Grand Mesa, you can stay at the Grand Mesa Lodge and be minutes away from these ski trails. The Grand Mesa Lodge features multiple different cabins of varying sizes for your group. They also have a restaurant, bar, and convenience store on site.

The townsite of Gothic

If you want to visit a neat former ghost town in a unique way, I recommend XC skiing to the townsite of Gothic. Gothic is a former ghost town because many of the old buildings were rejuvenated and turned into the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. This location is now where scientists conduct long-term high-altitude ecological studies. You can see many interpretative signs around the townsite explaining the scientific studies conducted here.

The trailhead for this ski route is located about 10 minutes outside of the town of Crested Butte and just beyond the Mount Crested Butte Ski Area. To locate this trail, look for the Snodgrass/Gothic Trailhead. There is a fair amount of parking at the trailhead. I would still recommend arriving early though as the parking lot can fill up and it is a little bit of a trek from the overflow parking areas. This trail is open to XC skiing, fat biking, and snowshoeing. There are also multiple backcountry ski options in the area for those that are competent with backcountry skiing.

The XC Skiing route follows County Road 317, which is closed to vehicles in the winter. This makes the route very wide open and accommodating to numerous trail users. The beginning three miles are mostly downhill, so it does not take long to reach the town of Gothic. Take some time to read the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory interpretive signs and have a snack and hot cocoa before beginning the trek back to the parking area. The trek back is three miles of mostly uphill skiing, so be sure to save energy for the way back.

Once back at your vehicle, I recommend heading into Crested Butte and having dinner at The Secret Stash Pizzeria. Their unique pizzas are delicious and a great way to refuel after a day of XC skiing. If you are interested in skiing other XC trails in the area, visit the Travel Crested Butte website here. If you want to stay in Crested Butte, you can find out more about hotels and accommodations here.

Ironton mining area

This ski route takes you past a ghost town near Ouray. This is another relatively easy ski route that offers some slight uphill stretches followed by some longer downhill stretches. Most of the hills are pretty tame and easy to ski in XC skis. There are a couple of different loops in this area including the Townsite Loop and the Saratoga-Iron Fenn Loop. the Townsite Loop is just over two miles long. The Iron Fenn Loop is approximately 1.5 miles long. You can combine both loops for a roughly 3.5-mile-long ski.

The townsite of Ironton is really neat to explore. There are numerous old buildings and structures here. Many of the structures also have interpretive signs telling you more about the history of the area. These trails are a quick 20 minutes from the town of Ouray. You need to travel along the Million Dollar Highway to reach Ironton, so I would only recommend going here if road conditions are good. I would not recommend driving this road in inclement weather.

Once you finish skiing, head back to Ouray to soak in the Wiesbaden Hot Springs. These hot springs are a great way to relax after skiing. You can read more about the Wiesbaden Hot Springs and Vapor Cave on my post here. You can also stay at the Wiesbaden Hot Springs Lodge if you are wanting to extend your stay in Ouray. To find out more about availability and prices for additional accommodations in Ouray, click here.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

XC skiing the Rim Road at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park might be the best way to experience this National Park. In the winter, the rim road is closed to vehicles and is groomed for XC skiing. This is an amazing way to experience the park and avoid the crowds that visit the park during the summer. I have skied out to the Painted Wall Overlook, which is the most photographed landmark in the park during the summer, and have had the overlook to myself for well over an hour as I drank some cocoa and ate some cookies.

This level of solitude in a National Park is almost unheard of and is one of the reasons I love XC skiing here in the winter. The main downside of this ski area is that the lower elevations of the park make it quite vulnerable to poor snow seasons. Unfortunately, the past three winters, the park has not had enough snow to enable reliable skiing. During a good snow year, be sure to grab your skis and head here as the opportunity to ski in a National Park and have the park almost to yourself cannot be missed.

Dave Wood Road/Divide Road Nordic Area

One of the newest XC skiing destinations on the Western Slope is on the Uncompahgre Plateau. This ski area is only a few years old and provides some great skiing right outside of Montrose. This area has approximately 7.5 miles (12km) of groomed XC Skiing trails. The Uncompahgre Nordic Association grooms these trails in the winter, and they are some of the best in the area when the ski conditions are favorable.

Unfortunately, the past couple years have had little snowpack, making the XC skiing season quite short on these trails. If the snow is good, this is definitely an area worth checking out. The Uncompahgre Nordic Association also puts on fun events like full moon ski events and introductions to classic XC skiing and skate skiing. You can visit the Uncompahgre Nordic Association’s website to find grooming reports and trail maps here.

If you are visiting these trails and looking for a place to stay for a night or a few nights, you can find plenty of hotels in Montrose. You can find rates and availability for properties here. Montrose is a central location for many winter and summer activities, so it provides a great base camp to visit the surrounding areas without spending the higher hotel fees associated with the mountain towns nearby.