We are the Panadero Ski Corporation, a 501c3 non-profit. We have been working to repair and refurbish Lift 4 at Cuchara Mountain Park for the past 3 years. Lift 4 hadn't carried skiers and snowboarders since 2000 when the old ski area closed. But thanks to a grassroots, community-based effort and a lot of hard work we were able to get skiers and snowboards back on the mountain in 2023 with our Cuchara Mountain Park Ski Bus (a sled pulled by our snowcat - check out the video above!). But this isn't the finish line! We still have some work to get Lift 4 certified, bring back snowmaking to at least a few runs, and hire a workforce so we can provide the most affordable and family-friendly ski experiences for residents and visitors of southern Colorado!

 As a registered 501c3 nonprofit organization, your donation is tax-deductible per IRS rules.

Our mission is to bring lift-aided skiing and year-round, lift-served recreation to Cuchara Mountain Park, ensuring that fun, affordable, and educational opportunities are available for everyone. We aim to provide a truly affordable, beginner, and family-friendly ski hill that will help break down barriers to participation in snowsports and other forms of outdoor recreation. We plan to do this both by offering affordable lift tickets (and soon rentals and instructions) and community-based programs to introduce kids to the joys of year-round recreation. Furthermore, returning skiing at Cuchara Mountain Park will provide an economic impact that will help support a year-round local economy that currently goes dormant in the winter.

In 2022, we made an immense amount of progress on repairing Lift 4 and acquiring other aspects of operating a ski area, including safety and medical equipment, building our snowmaking capacity, and solidifying our snowcat/groomer fleet. 

But we still have some final hurdles before we can open lift-served next winter and need your help! We've set a fundraising goal of $60,000 before the leaves change color and the snow starts to fall in autumn 2023. Your donation will help us pay for our final electrical repairs on Lift 4, allow us to contract or hire an experienced ski operations workforce, cover insurance costs, and round out our snowmaking capacity.  

If you believe in our mission to bring affordable skiing/snowboarding and year-round outdoor recreation to Cuchara and Southern Colorado, we humbly ask for your tax-deductible financial support. Any amount will make an immediate impact and your donation will be applied directly to our remaining start-up costs so we can open for skiing this winter! Thank you!