Lynx pays visit to slopes

Skiers at Purgatory resort near Durango treated to rare sight

A rare Canada lynx stunned onlooking skiers and snowboarders this week when it crossed a run at Purgatory resort near Durango.

The lynx’s hijinks happened on the resort’s Demon run and was captured on video by a resort patron identifying himself as Airrick Hix, who posted it to Facebook with the message, “That just happened!!! The majestic Lynx!!!”

Purgatory spokeswoman Kim Oyler said the resort is prime lynx habitat — lots of trees and deep snow — and resort employees sometimes spot tracks or other signs of the animals. But a sighting in broad daylight on an open slope is practically unheard of.

“It’s something that we normally don’t see on a regular basis on our slopes,” she said. “They’re pretty elusive animals.”

The Durango Herald first reported the lynx sighting.

A spokesman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife said the lynx on the video looks healthy and doesn’t appear to be suffering from an injury. The lynx isn’t wearing a tracking collar, indicating it was born in the wild.

Parks and Wildlife spokesman Joe Lewandowski said the lynx’s casual behavior around humans could be a concern — wildlife officials don’t want animals to become too habituated to people. But he also said the lynx, at the top of the food chain in its habitat, wouldn’t likely be easily intimidated.

“Wild animals do what wild animals do,” Lewandowski said. “And we just do ask that people don’t try to feed them or try to approach them. View them from a distance.”

Lynx had once been extinct in Colorado, but, in 1999, state wildlife officials began reintroducing the cats in the San Juan mountains of southwestern Colorado. Parks and Wildlife estimates there are now 150 to 250 lynx spread out across Colorado, and Lewandowski said the San Juans — in which Purgatory sits — remain a “stronghold” for lynx. The lynx on the video is likely three or four generations removed from those first reintroduced cats, Lewandowski said.

Lynx are medium-sized cats — about 20 to 30 pounds — and are distinguished from bobcats by their grayish fur and tufts on their ears. They have large paws, which they use like snowshoes to walk on top of heavy snow. That’s something the Purgatory lynx will need, because the resort has a 42-inch base and an expectation of up to 2 more feet of snow this weekend, Oyler said.