BEAVER CREEK — It’s not nearly the size of Blue Sky Basin, but Beaver Creek has been given the OK to expand by adding two trails in the popular area known as “Pauli’s Plunge.”

The resort is allowed to build a 4,000-foot trail that runs parallel to the Red Buffalo and Rip Saw runs on the east side of the mountains. To create the route, an acre of dead and downed timber, along with some live trees, will be removed at the top of an area called the Stone Creek Chutes.

The second trail will run from the bottom of the Stone Creek Chutes to the bottom of Rip Saw by the Rose Bowl lift. Trees will have to be removed on about 2.5 acres of forest to build this trail, the Forest Service said.

“This area has been skied for several years by people ducking under the ski area boundary rope lines,” White River Forest Supervisor Maribeth Gustafson wrote in her report approving the expansion.

In 1996, an estimated 400 skiers were riding the area each year. In the 2002-2003 ski season, about 1,000 skiers rode the area, including two incidents in which skiers were caught in avalanches, Gustafson said.

“The decision will allow construction of two ski trails to facilitate access for both the skiing public and for ski area personnel to conduct avalanche control and search-and-rescue work,” she said.



Vail, Colorado