Idaho Springs, CO – The owner of Echo Mountain, the closest ski area to the Denver metro area, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the Denver Post is reporting.

Unable to repay debts totaling approximately $1.5 million, including the one who financed the purchase of Echo Mountain in 2012, Echo Mountain owner Nora Pykkonen is looking for a way to repay unsecured creditors.

After first turning Echo into a private 226-acre ski race training facility, Pykkonen reverted to public ski and snowboard operations at Echo Mountain this season.  She told the Post that over the Christmas holidays, Echo Mountain was flooded with beginners taking lessons.

“Over Christmas, we were just shocked by the number of never-evers coming up to take lessons,” she said, adding that more than 90 percent of Echo Mountain’s visitors this season are out-of-staters who had never skied before. Mostly Texans, they searched the Internet for the closest ski area to Denver and found themselves learning to ski at Echo. “Opening to the public was definitely the right thing to do. We are definiately in the black with a very healthy bottom line.”

Pykkonen has promised business as usual at Echo Mountain while she presents the court with a new plan to repay her creditors.