Getting Out of Purgatory, Into Durango

Telluride has the glitz, Taos the mystique. And Purgatory, the third largest ski area in the mountains straddling southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, has an unfortunate name.

Until now, that is. This season, Purgatory becomes Durango Mountain Resort, even though names of runs that were inspired by the link to punishment in the afterlife--Demon, Styx, Upper and Lower Hades, Salvation--won’t change.

The resort’s original name comes from the Spanish explorers, who called the river that runs through here Las Animas Perdidas en Purgatorio--River of Lost Souls in Purgatory. The resort’s new owners, who also preside over Kirkwood in South Lake Tahoe, changed the name to link skiing more closely with the town of Durango, 20 miles south, a popular summer vacation destination.

Indeed, a large part of the ski area’s attraction is the variety of non-skiing activities in the neighborhood. Durango was a rich mining town in the 1880s and ‘90s, and much of its Victorian architecture is well preserved. The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad operates daily in winter. Trimble Hot Springs stays open well into the evening for post-ski soaks. And Mesa Verde National Park is 37 miles away, less than an hour’s drive in good weather.

On a ski trip last March, I found that Durango and the ski resort have grown much more sophisticated during the last few years.

New restaurants (with prices well below those in other big Colorado ski villages), an array of good shops, more upscale accommodations and a wider variety of ski terrain make the total experience far more than the sum of its parts.

I arrived in time to sample some of the season’s best conditions--a storm had left several feet of snow the week before--and was able to join a guided trek into divine, untracked territory high above the lifts. I felt as if I had rediscovered a cache of Southwest snow that was, um, heavenly. Too bad the South Lake Tahoe ski area already has that name.

First things first: the mountain. I had remembered it from a visit eight years earlier when it had only 675 skiable acres, rather small by Colorado standards. It has grown to 1,200 skiable acres, making it even larger than Telluride. Although there are no steeps to equal Telluride’s legendary Plunge, nor Volkswagen-sized bumps like those on Al’s Run at Taos, Durango does give all comers opportunities to exert themselves on tough and semi-tough glider runs, tree-studded glades, rolling freeways and meandering narrow gorges.

The variety of layout and terrain rewards skiers and snowboarders with major-league pleasures, especially for intermediate and advanced (but not necessarily super-expert) skiers and riders.

New this winter is a six-passenger, high-speed chairlift directly from the heart of the base area. There, Purgatory Village has not changed its name, but its spiffed-up pedestrian mall boasts heated brick walkways.

Arriving in the afternoon, I jumped on the first lift I saw, right in the center of the base area, which afforded me several choices for a warmup run. The one marked “Paradise” sounded appropriate for the former Purgatory. Halfway down this comfortably groomed, intermediate boulevard, I could have moseyed over to Lower Hades, a black-diamond mogul field, but I stuck with the intermediate road to the bottom. A gentle alternative is the green road called Mercy--not to be confused with the severely pitched No Mercy.

In the next few days, using the Hermosa Park Express, a high-speed lift that starts just west of the village, I explored runs--some mellow, some difficult. Hermosa serves some of the most popular groomed slopes, a group of intermediate trails including Zinfandel, Boogie, Legends and Dead Spike. Two other lifts, Grizzly and Legends, take advanced skiers to more challenging territory. One of these spots is Cathedral, a wooded area that turns more demanding as the spaces between the evergreens grow ever more narrow.

A local had tipped me off that the top of Legends gets the afternoon sun, so that’s where I spent my time after lunch.

Not only is the new Durango’s topography easy to negotiate, even for a first-time visitor, but the view also is breathtaking from the top of each chairlift and the upper reaches of all the runs. The ski mountain faces the Needles, a set of pointy-tooth peaks within the San Juan range that looks different, and always beautiful, as the hours pass.

The opportunity to get up into virgin snow was irresistible, and I jumped at the chance to take a day’s outing on a Sno-Cat--the huge, tank-like grooming machine that scours the slopes on treads. I joined a dozen other skiers at the base area for the short chairlift ride to the spot where the Sno-Cat waited, stocked with sandwiches and soft drinks--and avalanche beepers and shovel packs. After an hourlong crawl in the Cat, our guides helped us hop out into the snow at 12,000 feet, far from the lifts, above the tree line. Behind us, Slide Rock Ridge jutted into the cobalt-blue sky like a miniature Matterhorn.

After I rented a pair of wide powder skis, my initial apprehension about handling deep snow vanished as we took warmup runs on a moderate treeless ridge. The 360-degree majesty of what are sometimes referred to as America’s Alps wrapped around our field of vision like a Cyclorama. Next, we sailed through pillowy mounds of the ridge into a glade of evergreens. After a lunch break, the better skiers went for more tree runs while I and other less accomplished powder hounds practiced on a shallower side of the ridge.

When the cat finally dropped us back at the ski area, my thighs burned but my spirit was soaring. Sno-Cat skiing requires more time inside the lumbering vehicle, but it is less intimidating (and cheaper) than helicopter skiing. And Bob Rule, owner of the Sno-Cat venture, says the machines can get to snow fields after the lifts close down in late March or early April.

As delicious as the skiing is, the pleasures of the town are tempting. Founded in 1880--silver ore mined from the nearby mountains was processed at its smelter--Durango has multiple personalities. On its southern outskirts are a Wal-Mart and moderate lodgings such as Holiday Inn, Quality Inn and Doubletree; on the north side, toward the ski area, there’s a strip of mostly budget motels, including Comfort Inn, Travelodge and Dollar Inn.

The center of town is a genuine historic district. And in just the past few years, its attractions have been augmented by a boom in excellent restaurants, fine shops and art galleries showing reputable Native American and contemporary art.

From its handsome Victorian depot in town, the Durango & Silverton train still operates as a sooty, scenic voyage into the Old West. The coal-fired, steam-powered engine and its bright yellow passenger cars trundle off at 10 every winter morning for a five-hour ride through Animas River Canyon. (Reservations are essential; see Guidebook.)

Frontier buffs can enhance their ski trip by staying at one of Durango’s restored historic hotels. The Strater, a landmark that has operated continuously since it was built in 1887, has rooms filled with huge, hand-carved black walnut Victorian furniture. The General Palmer, situated, like the Strater, on Main Avenue near the depot, also is filled with antiques and period reproductions. The Rochester, built in 1892, has the advantage of being on Second Avenue, away from the traffic of Main; it is decorated throughout in a “cowboy funky” style to reflect the many westerns filmed in the area, among them “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “City Slickers.”

Additional Victoriana: The Palace, a restaurant and tavern on the first floor of the General Palmer, which sports furnishings from the 1890s and a contemporary steakhouse menu, and the Old Tymer’s, a cafe a few blocks away set in a century-old drugstore.

Although the Historic District strikes me as a mite hokey in summer, its busiest season, it seems to radiate authenticity in winter. There’s a trolley that tootles all around downtown, and if you walk down Third Avenue between College Drive and 13th Street, you’ll be rewarded with a stretch of handsome Victorian residences--unpretentious ones, unlike their tarted-up million-dollar cousins in Aspen and Telluride.

Those who enjoy eyeballing Victorians but prefer dining and shopping in more contemporary settings have many choices. My favorite for dinner is Ken and Sue’s Place, which manages to be stylish, intimate and informal at the same time, with cosmopolitan entrees at very reasonable prices. Examples? Cedar-planked Atlantic salmon with basmati rice, or chipotle-honey-glazed New York strip steak, each $16.95.

Nor are the lodging choices limited to Victorian hotels or chain motels. Two standouts are Tamarron, a Southwestern-style resort run by Sheraton that offers ice skating, snowmobiling, sleigh rides and cross-country ski trails on the premises; and the Apple Orchard Inn, a wonderful B&B; that the Denver Post declared the best in Colorado in 1999. I stayed there on a visit this fall (I used a friend’s condo in March) and enjoyed the most comfortable featherbed I have ever encountered in ski country.

What drew me to Durango in winter was the promise of superior skiing. But what ultimately won me over was how successfully it packages the ski experience in a gift basket of Old West nostalgia and contemporary comforts. It reminds me of Aspen and Telluride, the Colorado ski towns I once loved most, before they overdosed on chic. Can Durango avoid the same fate?

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GUIDEBOOK

Getting the Drift on Durango

Getting there: Flights from LAX to Durango involve plane changes in Denver on United or in Phoenix on America West; restricted round-trip fares begin at $198.

Durango Central Reservations, telephone (800) 525-0892, can put together air, lodging and ski lift packages.

Getting around: A one-day adult lift ticket is $45 ($39 before Dec. 22 or after March 21). For children 6-12 and seniors, the price is $24. For Ski Purgatory information, tel. (970) 247-9000. A full-day Sno-Cat ski outing is $150 from the San Juan Ski Co., tel. (970) 259-9671.

The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad winter train departs daily at 10 a.m. and costs $45 per adult.

Where to stay: I like the Strater, 699 Main Ave., Durango 81301, tel. (800) 247-4431, Internet https://www.strater.com, where a standard double is $99 per night in winter; and the General Palmer, 567 Main Ave., Durango 81301, tel. (800) 523-3358, which charges $98 for a winter double. At the Rochester, 721 E. 2nd Ave., Durango 81301, tel. (800) 664-1920,Internet https://www.rochesterhotel.com rates are $109 to $209.

Other places I can recommend are Tamarron Resort, U.S. 550, Durango 81302, tel. (800) 678-1000, Internet https://www.tamarron.com, where doubles start at $98, and the Apple Orchard Inn, 7758 County Road 3, Durango 81301, tel. (800) 426-0751, Internet https://www.appleorchardinn.com, where rates start at $85 for a room, $100 for a cottage.

The Purgatory Village Condominium Hotel, about $229 per night for a one-bedroom condo, and East Rim condos can be booked at (800) 693-0175.

To access chain motels, visit https://www.durango.org/vp/hotelmotel.html or call the Chamber of Commerce at (800) 525-8855 for a vacation planner.

Where to eat: My favorites in town are Ken and Sue’s Place, 937 Main Ave., local tel. 259-2616, and the Palace, 2 Depot Place, tel. 247-2018. The Red Snapper, 144 E. 9th St., tel. 259-3417, is good too.

See https://www.durango.org/vp/dining.html for more.

For more information: Colorado Travel and Tourism Authority, 1127 Pennsylvania St., Denver, CO 80203; tel. (800) COLORADO or (303) 832-6171, https://www.colorado.com.