Hesperus Ski Area
Hesperus Ski Area is a ski area located in the state of Colorado in USA. The resort is in the town of Hesperus, CO.
We recently ranked all of Colorado's ski resorts, so you can see where Hesperus Ski Area stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Hesperus Ski Area is not a part of any nationwide lift ticket system. Passes such as Epic, IKON, or Mountain Collective allow pass holders to ski at multiple mountians with a single purchase. Unfortunately, none of those passes work with Hesperus Ski Area. To purchase season passes, you'll need to visit Hesperus Ski Area's website.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Hesperus Ski Area around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Hesperus Ski Area Terrain Overview
Hesperus Ski Area has a total of 26 ski trails, which are serviced by 1 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. Hesperus Ski Area is considered a smaller than average ski area, with only a maximum of 60 acres available to ski. This area is equivalent to 24 hectares, 0.1 square miles, or 0.2 square kilometers.
Hesperus Ski Area's slopes see on average 150 inches (3.8 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 12 feet every year!
Total Runs
26
Lifts
1
Skiable Acres
60(0 km2)
Annual Snowfall
150"(381 cm)
Hesperus Ski Area Elevation
Hesperus Ski Area has a summit elevation of 8,888 feet, or 2,709 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 8,188 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 700 feet (213 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
The summit of 8,888 feet makes this ski resort one of the highest in the country. The average ski slope summit is around 4,000 feet, so this is extremely high compared to its peers.
Summit Elevation
8,888'(2,709 m)
Vertical Drop
700'(213 m)
Base Elevation
8,188'(2,496 m)
Hesperus Ski Area Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
49.1out of 100
DID YOU KNOW?
At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level
Hesperus Ski Area has 60 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Hesperus Ski Area is a beginner-friendly ski area, with about 19% of its trails as easy. However, it also has a fair share of more difficult runs - which account for the remaining 81%.
Beginner
19%(12 acres)
Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.
Intermediate
31%(18 acres)
Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.
Expert
50%(30 acres)
Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.
Is Hesperus Ski Area good for beginners?
Hesperus Ski Area can be beginner-friendly, depending on the runs you take. While it ranks in the lower half of all North American ski areas in terms of overall difficulty, it still has 81% of its trails rated at or above intermediate.
Hesperus Ski Area Location
Hesperus Ski Area is located in the state of Colorado, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Hesperus, CO.
Address:
Hesperus, CO 81326 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
ski-hesperus.com
GPS Coordinates:
37.29900, -108.05500
Getting to Hesperus Ski Area
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Hesperus Ski Area), its coordinates of 37.29900, -108.05500 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Hesperus, CO to get close.
By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.
A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Hesperus Ski Area.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Durango-La Plata County Airport | DRO | Durango, CO | 19 mi |
| San Luis Valley Regional Airport/Bergman Field | ALS | Alamosa, CO | 120 mi |
| Grand Junction Regional Airport | GJT | Grand Junction, CO | 129 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Hesperus Ski Area, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.
Other Nearby Ski Resorts
Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Hesperus Ski Area.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chapman Hill Ski Area | Durango, CO | 6,555 ft | 51% | 10 mi |
| Purgatory | Durango, CO | 10,822 ft | 53% | 12 mi |
| Kendall Mountain Ski Area | Silverton, CO | 9,596 ft | 20% | 42 mi |
| Silverton | Silverton, CO | 13,487 ft | 100% | 42 mi |
| Telluride | Telluride, CO | 13,150 ft | 90% | 46 mi |
| Lee's Ski Hill | Ouray, CO | 0 ft | 0% | 54 mi |
| Lake City Ski Hill | Lake City, CO | 8,847 ft | 0% | 64 mi |
| Wolf Creek | Pagosa Springs, CO | 11,904 ft | 52% | 70 mi |
| Powderhorn Ski Resort | Powderhorn, CO | 9,850 ft | 60% | 85 mi |
Hesperus Ski Area Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 8,888 ft |
| Base Elevation | 8,188 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 700 ft |
| Trails | 26 (19% Beginner, 31% Intermediate, 50% Expert) |
| Lifts | 1 |
| Skiable Acres | 60 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 150 inches |