Lift 4 is officially spinning again at Cuchara Mountain Park.After years of rehab, the long-dormant chair lift brought skiers up the slope Saturday as the small southern Colorado ski hill held its grand re-opening.Sean Parker an d Chelsey Parker rode the first chair at 9:30 a.m. A functioning Lift 4 had represented the Holy Grail of sorts in the ski revival at Cuchara, spearheaded by nonprofit park steward Panadero Ski Corporation. It took years of fundraising to get to this point, and Panadero received its license to operate the lift from the state earlier this month.A ski bus towed skiers to the top of the chair lift the past two winters as the quest to restore the lift was ongoing.Tickets for lift-powered skiing cost just $45 and a season pass will run you $250. The goal is to open for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays this season.For Panadero, the north star for the yearslong renovation has been bringing affordable skiing to a low-income part of the state, and to make the sport accessible to all age groups."We're really focused on getting youth on that mountain, people that can't afford to go anywhere else," Panadero board member Ken Clayton told Scripps News Denver recently. "We hope they can come up here. We've got a full rental fleet now of skis and snowboards, so we're trying to make it a one-stop shop for people who want to get into the sport." Read Denver7s extensive coverage of the ski area revival at Cuchara below: ...read more read less