One of Colorado’s favorite little ski areas is dreaming big. 

Near Leadville, Ski Cooper is looking to its opening day scheduled for Dec. 10 while also looking deeper into the future. 

This offseason, operators submitted a master development plan to the U.S. Forest Service — a detailed set of proposals that would vastly grow Cooper’s skiable terrain, which is currently listed at about 480 acres. 

The expansion would include a long-cherished realm in the ski area’s uppermost reaches. 

The draft master plan calls the south and central basins of Chicago Ridge “rich with upper intermediate and advanced terrain … as well as incredible powder skiing above treeline and in the natural gladed areas below.” It’s the kind of terrain that proudly family-friendly Ski Cooper “still dramatically lags behind the skier/rider market,” the plan reads. 

Parts of Chicago Ridge have been accessed via snowcat tours. The plan calls for a fixed-grip double chair in what’s known as the Sawmill area of the central basin — providing easy access to about 250 acres. Operators foresee hike-to access across 820 acres beyond. 

More lift-served terrain is envisioned along the west-southwest face of Cooper known as Hoyt’s Folly. About 60 acres would be reached from the Hoyt’s double chair, which would “travel up the intermediate meadows of Hoyt’s and terminate at the top of Cooper Hill in the approximate location of the existing ski patrol headquarters facility,” according to the plan. 

The proposal also calls for a new fixed-grip quad rising from the base area to the top of the mountain, located between the existing 10th Mountain chair and magic carpet. Additionally, operators seek to replace the Buckeye Platter with a new T-bar. 

And “[w]hile Ski Cooper continues to pride itself on its all-natural snow, lacking even modest snowmaking capability is increasingly challenging,” the plan reads. Water rights would be needed for the 5 million-gallon tank  meant “to ensure early season viability and to offer reliable and expanded terrain park options.” 

Those are among more infrastructure upgrades and additions Ski Cooper seeks over the next 15 years, pending Forest Service approval. 

“Ski Cooper’s greatest deficit currently lies in its lack of indoor guest space,” the proposed plan reads. Hence “the first major remedy that Ski Cooper intends to undertake as soon as possible:” a new, 12,000-square-foot lodge for dining, ticketing, restrooms, rentals and more. 

A project of similar scope was approved in the ski area’s previous master plan from 1999. The updated plan includes several other upgrades identified 26 years ago. 

“The lack of completion of these projects is primarily due to Ski Cooper’s financial difficulties between 1999 and 2012,” according to the updated plan, which details the ski area’s unique function as a 501(C)(4) nonprofit overseen by Lake County. 

“Ski Cooper’s financial situation has greatly improved since 2012,” the plan continues, citing a growing demand for more affordable skiing. By 2019, the ski area was able to afford new lift-served terrain in Tennessee Creek Basin — an earlier attempt to add more advanced skiing. 

Operators report visitation averaging 93,500 over the past five years. That’s a 63% increase from trends a decade ago, according to the plan. 

The plan spreads work across three phases over the next 15 years, with total costs estimated around $39.5 million. The new lodge and out-of-base quad lift are listed under the first phase, with the lift-served expansion to Chicago Ridge under the second phase, and the Hoyt’s expansion under the third phase.