Author - News

Columns, Feature

Last month Colorado celebrated its 150th anniversary of statehood. Many of us assume that statehood was inevitable for this place we love. However, th...

September 9, 2026

Columns, Feature

Chimney Rock stands as sentinel in smoke

If you look east from Ridgway, the view of the Cimarron Range is usually a masterpiece of sharp, clear angles. At the center of it all stands the unmi...

July 15, 2026

Columns, Feature

Anniversaries a reminder of power of this place

The "power of place" is the theory that physical locations shape our lives, identities and ultimate destinies. This concept suggests that a geographic...

June 17, 2026

Columns, Opinion

War to peace: rebranding the San Juans

For decades, the San Juans were valued primarily for what could be pulled out of them. These mountains were a brutal, dangerous locale defined by the ...

May 13, 2026

Columns, Feature

A valley of broken promises and bitter water

For anyone driving the lonely stretch of Colorado Highway 141 through the West End of Montrose County, the sign for “Disappointment Valley” usually pr...

April 8, 2026

Main, News...

Popular trail needs new steward

Uncompahgre Riverway Trail founder, longtime volunteer ready to step down

By James Hanlon

September 23, 2026

Chip Marlow, the man who spearheaded the construction of the Uncompahgre Riverway Trail from Ridgway to Ridgway State Park, has maintained the multiuse path largely by himself for many years. Now 80 y...

Main, News...

‘Super El Niño’ won’t be savior for West Slope

Officials: Warming Pacific temps may bring more snow but won't wipe out drought or fill reservoirs

By Chart Riggall

September 23, 2026

GRAND JUNCTION — Amid a stream of bad news for Western Slope water stakeholders last week, Russ Schumacher had the pleasure of opening the sluice. Nearly on the far side of the state’s worst drought y...

Main, News...

Judge to hotel: End workforce housing

Injunction prohibits MTN Lodge from housing resort construction workers

By James Hanlon

September 23, 2026

A district court judge has ordered Ridgway's largest hotel to stop housing construction workers who are building a new Four Seasons in Mountain Village. In a preliminary injunction filed Sept. 16, the...

Main, News...

Investigators close case on mine shaft death

Nearly a year later, authorities conclude Ridgway resident Jennifer Nelson accidentally drowned

By Erin McIntyre erin@ouraynews.com

September 23, 2026

Eleven months after rescue volunteers found Jennifer Nelson's body in a water-filled mine shaft on Red Mountain Pass, investigators are left wondering what her final moments looked like. Their case, w...

News

City ready to cut losses with building

More than a year after purchase, council tells staff to sell empty Sixth Avenue property for reduced price

By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com

September 23, 2026

When the two-story building across the street from Ouray City Hall went up for sale last spring, Ouray city leaders scrambled to buy it, envisioning a top-tobottom renovation culminating in a new, lar...

Carolyn Snowbarger

Remote-triggered avalanche in San Juan Mountains

First responders receive first COVID-19 vaccines