area was located on the north slope of North Star Mountain.
Imagine this: a perfect site for a ski area is found on Jan. 27, 1938. On Feb. 6, 11 days later, 150 people, including Count Phillippe De Pret of Belgium, ski instructor at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, are skiing there. Sound impossible? It's true! The ski area was located on the north slope of North Star Mountain.
This "sports mecca" was the project of the South Park Lions Club. The club hired Bill Bergren of Alma to "make it all happen - quickly." In 1934, the building of Hoosier Pass Road split the Bemrose Placer into two unequal parts. Bergren utilized structures on the bigger (east) section - two large buildings and a few cabins (one of them this 500-sq.-ft. log cabin with a semi-convex, asphalt-covered roof) - in the ski area project.
By January 1939, the site boasted a restaurant (a large room with booths and tables, a bar, a dance floor and a "rock-ola with records installed"), rest rooms, a warming hut/drying room (most likely this cabin), cabins for lodging, a storehouse and a glassed-in observatory that was connected to a two-story boardinghouse. The latter had a porch and a spiral staircase. The site also sported a bobsled course, three ski runs, a ski jump and a Chevy truck engine-powered 800-ft. tow line.
The sports area stayed open until at least 1949, but skiers had to hike to the tops of the remaining two runs and small jump, carrying their skis, because the tow line didn't work. Today, visitors can see the cable for the tow, slash from the sawmill, a cookstove, part of a foundation and some boards from the storehouse and this intact cabin.
Directions: The Hoosier Pass Cabin is located on State Highway 9 south of Breckenridge and Blue River. From Blue River Plaza in the center of Breckenridge, proceed south on Main Street (Highway 9) out of Breckenridge and toward Hoosier Pass and Fairplay. Proceed approximately eight miles through the town of Blue River. The log cabin is located on the left (east) side of Highway 9 on a sharp curve, approximately 50 feet from the roadway.