Earlier this week we reported on the battle waging at Colorado ski areas over smoke shacks, the illegally built huts in the forest where skiers go to get high. Thanks to a sensationalized news report on the huts by Inside Edition, Breckenridge ski patrol blew up Leo's (video here), the granddaddy of all smoke shacks. Leo's had been around for at least 8 years and was a hand-built, two-story pot paradise complete with windows and stairs. So why did Breckenridge blow Leo's to smithereens? It's all about the money, you see, and Vail Resorts can't afford to alienate potential tourists by having their Colorado ski areas (Breckenridge, Vail, Beaver Creek, and Keystone) associated with marijuana. Aside from the pot and skiing debate, these hand-built structures are pretty intense. Each smoke shack is unique, with multiple stories, some 30 feet off the ground, others hidden into the rocks, and all with more 4-20 decor than you can imagine. In honor of poor Leo's, Curbed Ski brings you a photo gallery of the best of the best in smoke shacks from around the country. And don't count smoke shacks out quite yet, a new Facebook page called Leo's Rebuild Project already has almost 3,000 likes.
At this point, it's hard to know which smoke shacks are still standing and what the future holds. We're opting out of providing locations for the shacks in an effort to stay above the fray.
Here's the BEFORE photo of Leo's:
And here's what it looks like now:
· Resorts Are Blowing Up Smoke Shacks in Colorado [Curbed Ski]
· All High Times Coverage [Curbed Ski Archives]