This ticket was used during the mid-1940s at Berthoud Pass. Dwight Sullivan owned and operated the ski area from 1943 to 1946, so this ticket can easily be dated to a range that includes only 3 ski seasons.
The first rope tow was installed in 1937, so this is among the earliest lift tickets that can be found from Berthoud Pass.
The rope tows on Berthoud Pass did not operate during the winter of 1942–1943. The war had taken many young skiers away from Colorado and brought shortages of gasoline and tires, so the previous owner, Frank P. Conroy, did not even attempt to operate the rope tow that season.
There were two rope tows here by the winter of 1943–1944, but Sullivan only purchased one tow (the smaller one) along with the U.S. Forest Service permit to use it. The second tow was owned by the Denver Winter Sports Council. Sullivan had planned to negotiate for its use when he made the purchase.
The Growing Berthoud Collection
This is the fourth vintage lift ticket from Berthoud Pass to join the collection. You can see these tickets along with the rest of the lift tickets in the Coloradotopia Archives Collection here.
1940s Pico Peak Lift Ticket Voucher
This ticket is not from Colorado, so it won’t officially be considered part of the archives. It is just a cool addition to the personal collection. Pico is located in Vermont, along the same ridgeline as Killington.
The ticket measures approx. 7.5” across. It was probably not an actual ticket that would have been used in order to ride the rope tow and alpine lift, which was a T-bar at the time. It looks more like a voucher that someone could hold onto in order to redeem a complimentary ticket.
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Thanks for sharing this bit of history.