The Hesperus Ski Patrol Holds Its 63rd Ski Swap This Weekend, Hill Or No Hill

In 1963, about 20 people carried long skis and wooden poles into the basement of Durango's old courthouse, leaned them against the walls, and looked over what everyone else had brought. That is how the Journal told the swap's origin story for its 50th anniversary. After that it ran for some years in vacant storefronts on Main Avenue. By 2013 it filled every corner of the La Plata County Fairgrounds pavilion and spilled out into the breezeways.

This Saturday, November 7, the Hesperus Mountain Ski Patrol holds its 63rd Annual Ski Swap at those same fairgrounds, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The swap started out as a way to pay for a volunteer patrol on a small hill west of Durango. The hill hasn't run lifts in several winters, but the swap keeps going, and the patrol now uses it to fund work well beyond the ski area. For people in Hesperus, it has become the most dependable winter event that still carries the name.

The Lift Stopped, and the Patrol Kept Going

The Bighorn lift is the only chairlift at Hesperus Ski Area. A gearbox it depends on broke before the 2023–24 season, and the Journal reported in September 2025 that the repair would cost about $200,000. In its 2024 operations update, the ski area said it would not run downhill skiing, uphill skiing or tubing in 2024–25. It said the decision "ultimately comes down to a matter of water," because the hill has no reliable access to water for snowmaking. James Coleman, founder of Mountain Capital Partners, bought Hesperus in 2016, a year after buying Purgatory Resort.

The hill stayed closed again in 2025–26. That same Journal report said there had been no further announcement on funding for the gearbox or on an agreement for snowmaking water. That report only covered last winter. For this season, the ski area's own channels are the place to check before planning a day there.

That leaves the patrol in a strange spot. It is an all-volunteer member of the National Ski Patrol. Its members hold certifications ranging from Outdoor Emergency Care to EMT, paramedic, RN and MD, and it has been at Ski Hesperus for more than 50 years. The 2024 update said patrol training and the work patrollers need to keep their certifications would move to Purgatory Resort. The patrol described its own position plainly in last year's listing for the 62nd swap:

"The Hesperus Ski Patrol may not be actively patrolling the slopes, but we're still very much alive and serving our community! ... We're evolving our mission but keeping our commitment to community service stronger than ever."

That listing ran on What's Happening Durango. The money from this weekend shows what that "evolving mission" means in practice.

Where Saturday's Money Lands

The patrol's swap page lists four community beneficiaries for 2026. The first three each serve people the patrol used to look after on the hill: skiers who need adaptive help, people in trouble in the backcountry, and anyone whose heart stops before an ambulance can get there.

The patrol also keeps part of the proceeds. According to the swap page, the money covers community donations, patrol medical supplies, equipment, patroller training, facility upkeep and upgrades, and uniforms. With the hill closed, that training budget is what keeps volunteer medics certified and ready for whenever the lift turns again, plus any other call they answer in the meantime.

The swap still draws on a broad base. The patrol says there will be more than 10,000 items for sale. Vendors bring new gear, local residents sell their used skis and boards, and shoppers also turn up hiking gear, packs and car racks. At the 50th swap, the Journal talked to a mother who outfits her family from the swap alone. "We're here to get the next size up on all the clothes and boots and jackets," she told the Journal. Kids grow out of boots every year whether or not the closest hill is open, and that steady need is a big part of why the swap has lasted.

The Weekend, Day by Day

This post goes up on Thursday, November 5, which is drop-off day. If your garage has outgrown boots, a snowboard nobody rides anymore, or a car rack from your last vehicle, here's the schedule from the patrol's swap page:

1. Thursday, November 5, 3 to 8 p.m. Public gear check-in at the fairgrounds. This is the only way to get personal gear into Saturday's sale. Selling costs $1 per item, and each item has to be priced at $5 or more.
2. Before you drive over. You can fill out your manifest and get tag numbers in advance through MySkiSwap Public Check-In. The patrol asks sellers not to print tags or tag items at home. Tags are printed at check-in.
3. Friday night. Swap volunteers get to shop early. If you've had your eye on something specific, volunteering is the way in ahead of Saturday's crowd. Sign-up runs through the patrol's main site.
4. Saturday, November 7, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The sale is open to everyone at the La Plata County Fairgrounds.
5. Sunday, November 8, 8 a.m. to noon. Sellers pick up unsold gear and their checks. Anything still there after noon is treated as a donation to Hesperus Mountain Ski Patrol. Checks that aren't picked up get mailed the following week.

The Sunday noon cutoff is the one to put in your calendar. If you miss it, your old skis end up supporting the patrol, which is a reasonable outcome but maybe not the one you planned.

The Rest of the Hesperus Calendar Keeps the Same Pattern

The swap isn't the only community event holding up the local winter calendar out here. Six days later, the Friday Afternoon Club Market sets up at the Breen Community Building, 15300 Highway 140 in Hesperus. The market describes itself as a new, growing market in the Breen and Hesperus area and the only one between Durango and Mancos. It meets on the second Friday afternoon of each month, with more than a dozen vendors selling things like goat milk soap, sourdough, USDA meats, tallow balms, herbal teas and upcycled totes. The Durango Telegraph listed October's market for 3 to 6 p.m. Going by the second-Friday pattern, the next one falls on November 13. Check the market's listing to confirm before you go.

Up the road, La Plata Canyon has its own seasonal deadline. On the San Juan National Forest's current conditions page, updated October 27, 2026, County Road 124 is listed as open until December 15, or until four inches of snow are standing at the gate, whichever comes first. The same page says La Plata County has finished repairing damage from the October 2025 flooding. Columbus Basin, Forest Road 498, opens and closes with the canyon road. After the gate shuts, the canyon stays open to people on snowmobiles, skis, snowshoes and fat-tire bikes. That means some of the gear that changes hands Saturday could be in La Plata Canyon by Christmas.

Kroeger and Snowslide campgrounds, both about five miles up CR 124 from Hesperus, are marked closed on their Forest Service pages, which list their usual seasons as late spring through September. Before the gate closes, the canyon road is open for late-fall drives that don't involve camping.

If the swap is how you clear out the garage before winter, think of Eric Roark as the same kind of help when the gear is a whole house. A coach plans the season before it starts. If this winter is the one when your Hesperus place, or the next one, needs a plan, let's talk it through. Let's Coach You Home with a Relocation Strategy Session.