Seasonal Spotlight: Wolf Creek Ski Area

No massive cement condos, no pretentious high-end shopping, no huge and impatient crowds. This experience is a throw back to when skiing was a way to commune with nature.

Family owned and operated, the entire operation is environmentally responsible. Wolf Creek has been recognized by the Forest Service for subsidizing 100% of power usage with wind power. With the ski area�s average monthly 145,900kw usage, the benefit to the environment is the equivalent to removing 241 cars per year from the road.

Two modern water-free restrooms facilities have been given final approval by the USFS. These environmentally friendly restrooms are water-free, composting and certified with zero discharge. The restrooms will be 800 square feet, heated and located at the tops of the Treasure Chairlift and the Raven Lift.

Share the Ride, Share the Fun is a new carpool program that is available to Wolf Creek guests. This program connects skiers who need rides with those who would like to share the cost of the drive or the companionship. Anyone can sign up, it�s free and easy to use and it is available to all who see the benefit of conserving energy.

Wolf Creek uses 100% biodegradable hydraulic oils in all heavy equipment. This oil is manufactured out of grape seed oil, it costs $35 per gallon and is guaranteed to break down into a completely biodegradable product in less than four weeks. As far as we know it is the only ski area in Colorado using this product -- and it has been for well over ten years.

Ski Wolf Creek -- align yourself with a nature-based culture and the preservation of the environment.

See Wolf Creek LIVE! on their Webcam.
Bookmark the current Ski Conditions.

Personal Profile: Carole M. Counihan

Between 1996 and 2006, anthropologist Carole Counihan collected food-centered life histories from nineteen Mexicanas�Hispanic American women�who had long-standing roots in the Upper Rio Grande region. The interviews in this groundbreaking study focused on southern Colorado Hispanic foodways�beliefs and behaviors surrounding food production, distribution, preparation, and consumption.

Counihan documents how Antonito's Mexicanas establish a sense of place and belonging through their knowledge of land and water and use this knowledge to sustain their families and communities. Women play an important role by gardening, canning, and drying vegetables; earning money to buy food; cooking; and feeding family, friends, and neighbors on ordinary and festive occasions. They use food to solder or break relationships and to express contrasting feelings of harmony and generosity, or enmity and envy. The interviews in this book reveal that these Mexicanas are resourceful providers whose food work contributes to cultural survival.

Carole M. Counihan is Professor of Anthropology at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she earned a BA in history cum laude from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Massachusetts. Counihan's research centers on food, culture, gender, and identity in the United States and Italy. She conducted fieldwork in Bosa (Sardinia) and Florence (Tuscany), Italy during the 1970s and 1980s, and published "Around the Tuscan Table: Food, Family and Gender in Twentieth Century Florence" in 2004. Long fascinated with women's complex relationship with food and body, she explored gender, food, body, reproduction, and culture in her book "The Anthropology of Food and Body: Gender, Meaning, and Power" (Routledge, 1999). She is editor of "Food in the USA: A Reader" (Routledge 2002) and, with Penny Van Esterik, of "Food and Culture: A Reader" (Routledge 2008). She is editor of the scholarly journal "Food and Foodways." Counihan was a visiting professor at the University of Gastronomic Sciences Masters Program in Colorno (Parma), Italy, during Spring 2009 where she began a new ethnographic research project on food activism in local chapters of the Slow Food movement.

Purchase "A Tortilla is Like Life" now for an unique look into the Cultural Heritage of the San Luis Valley.

Time Travel: The Hooper Pool

Located near the small town of Hooper, the pool offers incredible views of the Great Sand Dunes and the towering row of 8 majestic peaks, each over 14,000-feet high, in the Sangre de Cristo Range.

During the early 1930's, hot water was struck near Hooper while drillers were exploring for oil. Before being reopened in August 1995, the pool was last used for swimming in 1978. Catfish were raised in the pool in the early 1980's and then the pool sat unused for about 10 years. As the pool was deepened in the summer of 1995, three pool layers were unearthed. Early visitors swam in a dirt-covered board pool and later renovations included two cement floors, the current one being the third.

The hot well water enters the large pool at 118 degrees and is maintained between 98 - 100 degrees depending upon the season. The 24-person spa is kept at 106 - 109 degrees. The hot water well also heats the nearby greenhouses where organic tomatoes, cucumbers, and a variety of produce is grown. They sell the fresh produce at the pool concession stand either prepared in various salads and food items or by the pound and box.

The operation is family-owned and operated. You�re likely to meet Ed or Sherry when you visit. It�s a little tricky to find since it�s out there in the snow-covered desert all by itself. Look for a billboard with no words, just a graphic image of clear, blue water on Highway 17 just one mile north of Hooper. Turn east (towards the mountain range) at this billboard and follow the road to the only structure out there! This �discovery� in your winter recreation travels will make memories you�ll carry with you forever! Check out the Hooper Pool Website and plan your travels along Highway 17.

Wildlife Wonders: Winter Bird Habitat

and numerous small streams from surrounding mountains feed an immense aquifer. Agriculture, greasewood flats, wetlands, and riparian communities dominate the landscape. The Alamosa/Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge complex is the key wetland component within the valley.
  
The Colorado Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program began in the San Luis Valley in 1989. The Program was first designed to help alleviate avian cholera problems at the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge.  By creating waterfowl wintering sites away from the refuge, the refuge was able to manage for reduced waterfowl concentrations and significantly reduce cholera mortalities. Since then, wetland restoration for nesting and migrating water birds has been the primary focus, and over 10,000 wetland acres have been restored. An additional 8,000 acres of upland habitat have been managed through agreements.
   
During your winter explorations, you can expect to find 6 varieties of hawks; 14 varieties of swans, geese and ducks; bald and golden eagles; falcons; rails; plovers; owls; kingfishers; woodpeckers; shrikes; larks; chickadees; sparrow; finches and more.

Download a comprehensive list of San Luis Valley Wildlife.

There are 23 State Wildlife Areas in the Valley. Find detailed information and use the clickable state map to search under the following counties: Saguache, Mineral, Rio Grande, Conejos, Alamosa, and Costilla.

Events Calendar

• Our itinerary builder will give you the tools to plan your trip around what interests you the most.
• Secure your lodging and plan your dining with our visitor resources.
• Bookmark the San Luis Valley heritage website to ponder a place that will effect you like no other.
• Give us your feedback on this issue of the San Luis Valley Heritage News! We want to hear from you, your comments, suggestions and what you have to share about the San Luis Valley. info@slvheritage.org
  
  

The San Luis Valley is located in Southern Colorado, surrounded by majestic peaks, protected, sustainable and a meaningful place for caring people to discover.