I’ve called a bunch of people and gotten what I believe are the facts. Official word about the Yule Quarry business is they lost their financial backing for the time being and will cease operations involving the road. They told employees they might re-open in April. An employee I spoke with who’s involved with road plowing says they have indeed stopped plowing the road, and have the quarry/mine mothballed till spring runoff, when they’ll need to start the pumps. We suspect operations will continue at the load-out in the town of Marble where they ship the marble after it’s come off the hill, as they’ve got a huge inventory there. It is unknown how far up the road will be plowed on the first section that accesses the residential area. Nor do we know what the parking situation will be like on the road. We’ll find out after our first big storm, and I’ll be up there checking it out as that happens.
A couple of things to remember:
– If the road is plowed a short distance, be super careful with parking as it will be limited.
– Exploration of zones closer to the town of Marble will be a good thing, but there are fewer safe routes for the uptracks, so proceed with care.
– Traveling up the road on foot or via snowmobile should be no problem, as it’s a county road.
Feel free to leave comments if you’ve got more info about the Marble Quarry Road, or want to expound on the situation.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
