“Winter Thrills on Lone Star Mountains.”
Fantasy Slogan for Ski Texas
If the founders of the Republic of Texas had known in 1845 that the real estate they eventually sold to pay off the nation’s debt would have generated enough income to cover those debts (many times over) they might have decided to hold out a bit longer, rejecting the calls and pressures of annexation to the United States. But our forefathers didn’t know that that real estate would become a money-magnet, not only in the gold and silver extracted from from those lands, but also, in time, in the gold and silver paid by those who ski those lands.
Show the average American—or non-American, for that matter—the boundaries of the Lone Star state and they’ll almost always recognize the shape as being that of Texas. But ask those same folks whether Texas has mountains and there’s a good chance they’ll laugh at you. “Don’t be ridiculous,” they’ll say. “Texas doesn’t have mountains.” At which point, you can let out a chuckle because Texas does have mountains. It’s just that our mountains aren’t skiable, being that they’re located in the high desert of West and Southwest Texas. This doesn’t mean the mountainous regions of Texas are devoid of snow, however. Even the ironically named town of Alpine, which is situated some eighty miles north of Big Bend National Park on the Rio Grande, gets an inch of snow on average—when it does snow. It’s just that you can’t ski on an inch of snow, not even if the place is called Alpine.
It’s always been true you couldn’t ski Alpine, but it hasn’t always been true you couldn’t ski Texas. Prior to the great sell off, the shape of Texas was just as distinctive looking as it is today, it just looked different. Back then, the Panhandle of present-day Texas extended further west and north, until it narrowed into what is often referred to as “the stove pipe,” which continued northward into present-day southern Wyoming.
Situated within that western and northern section of the old Republic of Texas were snow-covered mountainous parcels of present-day New Mexico and Colorado—and some of the best skiing in the United States. If you overlaid the Republic’s outline onto a modern map of those two states, the following ski resorts would all be in Texas.
New Mexico:
Cloudcroft
Ski Apache
Sandia Peak
Santa Fe
Sipapu
Taos
Angel Fire
Red River
Colorado:
Monarch
Crested Butte
Sol Vista
Aspen
Breckenridge
Howelsen Hill
Steamboat Springs
So, if the founders of the Republic of Texas, after winning independence from Mexico, had refused annexation and retained its hard won independence, along with the Republic’s original shape, instead of skiing New Mexico or Colorado you’d be skiing Texas.
I came to Texas because my father took a new job as a Security Director for GTE which then was then located in San Angelo. I had spent my first year of college at the University of Kentucky where we had lived since the early 70s and followed my family to San Angelo. Imagine a madras-wearing preppy getting of of a turbo-prop and landing in Texas. “Hey look, it’s a rodeo clown-let’s kick his ass!” Texas was everything I hoped it would be-a place where independent and strong-willed people came to become the people they were meant to be. After a couple of bar fights I was fine. Since then I have grown to love Texas. Let’s be clear, far right or far left politics are beyond my comfort zone. I can’t see Jesus putting up with either. From my studies, Jesus wanted Israel and the world to be United in the betterment of the world-creating a planet where we relentlessly work to make sure everyone is represented and all of us have the power to create a productive life where we all can benefit and grow in the power of love and provide a path forward for our families and neighbors.