Telluride, CO – Several private landholdings in Telluride’s Bear Creek drainage have not only halted Telluride Ski Company’s fledgling backcountry guiding program, but have also prompted the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to close backcountry access gates from the ski area leading into the canyon.

The three access points from the Gold Hill area at Telluride ski area into Bear Creek will be removed, USFS officials confirmed this week in an action predicted earlier this month by Telluride Ski and Golf Co. (Telski) CEO Dave Riley.

“We want to be good neighbors and discourage trespass,” Judy Schutza, Norwood District Ranger for the USFS, explained this week in a prepared statement.

Shortly after Telski’s guiding service kicked off last April, land dealer Thomas Chapman, of Montrose, Colo., purchased a thin strip of mining claims that extends from one wall of Upper Bear Creek to the other, and indicated that he would pursue trespass charges against hikers or skiers crossing his newly acquired land. According to Chapman this cut off access to Upper Bear Creek from Telluride Ski Resort, including the majority of the runs in that drainage such as Deep & Dangerous and Ophir to Telluride. Ski runs that drained into Bear Creek below Chapman’s land holding, including E-Ticket and Nellie, remained accessible but other landholders voiced opposition as well.

“Telluride Ski Resort believed it was providing a much needed public service which would help people learn to safely navigate the area,” Riley said earlier this month in announcing the demise of the guiding service. “It would not surprise me if the next action is for the Forest Service to close the Bear Creek backcountry gates, based on the private landowners’ current position. It’s clearly a possibility.”

That prediction has now come to fruition. Skiers will still be able to access National Forest lands from the ski area by using access gates at Contention off Lift 9, the Alta saddle near Bald Mountain, and a new gate on the upper Prospect Ridge between Mountain Quail and Palmyra Peak, providing access to the Alta Lakes Basin.

That still doesn’t sit well with Telluride locals, who have long been skiing in the Bear Creek drainage as well as using the area for mountain biking, hiking and as a backcountry route from Telluride to Ophir. Some are calling for the town or the USFS to acquire the subject mining claims via eminent domain.

Riley said this week that they respect the decision of the USFS and that any violation of the new closed boundary will result in lift pass confiscation.

Critics assert that Chapman intentionally acquires landlocked private parcels within USFS land holdings and proposes lavish homes on the properties in order to force the federal government to acquire them via a costly land swap. Chapman was unable to be reached for comment.