Naked Lady, Janitors Only, Cow's Face: How some ski runs got their names in Colorado
Nov. 2—A ski run is an adrenaline rush. It's a mellow cruise. An easy way to catch a view. A peaceful commune with nature.
A ski run is a lot of things. It's history, too. See what's behind some of the unique names:
Tom's Baby: Breckenridge's hard-charging regulars know about this one, shooting fast down Peak 9. It's named for miner Tom Groves and his record. It's said he wrapped his 131/2-pound gold nugget in a blanket and carried it around town like a precious newborn.
CJ's: This run flows steep and straight from high on Peak 7, fitting for the man who broke speed records on skis in the 1980s. C.J. "Crazy John" Mueller still resides in Breckenridge and skis regularly. Though, lately, he's been just fine frequenting the greens and blues.
Wild Irishman: This is but one Keystone trail named for surrounding mines that popped up during the silver rush. Wild Irishman's manager was Terrence Connors, who had a saying: "You never heard an ass bray when he had grass."
Baldy's Chute: This double black diamond at Winter Park is just how Jim Baldwin would've liked it. As previously reported by Colorado Public Radio, he was a beloved member of the ski patrol in the 1970s before he died doing what he loved at a nearby glacier.
Janitors Only: When the previously out-of-bounds terrain entered the Steep Gullies expansion in 2017, Arapahoe Basin longtimers could appreciate it. In the 1980s, the Atomic Janitors skied all day on the mountain, cleaned at night, slept in an A-frame and did it all again the next day.
Wapiti, Dead Spike and Bull Run: At Purgatory, these runs are named for elk. Wapiti is a Native American word for the animal. Spike is the word for a young elk; one was found dead during construction. Another was seen running during another job.
Naked Lady: Hal Hartman was the man assigned to trails in Aspen Snowmass' first years. He was boss to the mischievous son of the sheriff. The kid tacked a wide-open Playboy magazine to a tree one day. The magazine was removed, but the name stuck.
Riva Ridge: Vail has the 10th Mountain Division to thank for its creation — the World War II-era soldiers who trained on skis at nearby Camp Hale. One of the unit's great achievements came on Riva Ridge in the mountains of northern Italy.
Zip, Zippity Split, Zip Basin Street: These trails at Loveland seem to suggest gravity's pull. But actually they're a nod to the Zipfelberger Ski Club, some of the ski area's early regulars.
Cow's Face: Vail founder Pete Seibert named this run after a description he heard from a maintenance man at Loveland. The man found some slopes "steeper than a cow's face, and her a-grazin'."
