NEDERLAND, Colo. — Ski season at Eldora Mountain will open eight days ahead of schedule on Thursday morning, according to resort officials. Ahead of the opening, Eldora Mountain Resort debuted its new Caribou lounge, which includes a new ski school for kids and adaptive athletes.
The 12,000-square-foot facility has three floors, with the first operated by Ignite Adaptive Sports, a Colorado non-profit for athletes with disabilities. In years past, volunteers had to push Ignite athletes 300 feet uphill to reach the ski lifts. The new lounge has an elevator to the third floor, which connects to a 100-foot bridge that takes students directly to the lifts.
"It’s gonna make it much easier for us to do lessons," said Kevin Wilson, an instructor and adaptive athlete with Ignite.
Wilson has always been a powder hound, skiing since he was a child. However, in 1990, the then-16-year-old Wilson was involved in a car accident, which left him paralyzed. It took crews six hours to pull Wilson from the wreckage, and it took him 34 years before he tried to ski again.
Wilson started training with Ignite in 2019 and became an instructor for the program in 2021.
"I wrote down two goals," said Wilson. "My goal is to ski the whole mountain and work for Ignite one day. One down, and the other one’s close.”
Although passionate about the Eldora ski resort, Wilson agreed that the facility needed an upgrade. Ignite's athletes used to grab their gear in two trailers on the resort, which were hundreds of feet away from the lifts. Wilson said that last year, they had to turn away 20% of their students because they didn't have enough volunteers to push the athletes to the lifts.
"It was a lot of work," said Keith Jimmerson, an Ignite volunteer instructor.
Jimmerson started volunteering in 2009 and said the new accessible ski lounge has been in the works for nearly a decade.
"The new place is tremendous," said Jimmerson. "It gives them a sense of freedom that they don't have, maybe elsewhere in their lives.”
The new lounge is located at Eldora’s learning area, which is around 1,000 feet southeast of the main base. In addition to Ignite, the building has a children’s ski school and kitchen on the second floor. Eldora marketing director Sam Bass said one of the best features is the public bathrooms, which were scarce before.
The building also has a heated sidewalk in the front to prevent ice accumulation. The second floor features a deck where parents can watch their children learn how to ski.
"This is going to be a huge improvement," said Bass. "We see a lot of people who are really eager to be here on opening day.”
Ignite currently has more than 300 volunteers. If you would like to volunteer, you can find more information here.
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