Leadville (Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Aspen: houses, buying, college)

[peterc6]

Looking for info from locals in Leadville about what's it like to live there.

[mrkool]

It's a pretty small town, so I doubt you'll get anyone in this forum that actually lives there.. but I've been there a few times.
Very high altitude (takes some getting used to), cold much of the year (due to altitude), a little isolated. Got to drive over 1/2 hour for any decent shopping, etc., in Frisco and other towns. Quite close to Copper Mountain if you like skiing and whatnot. Very pretty natural setting, with views to the west of both Mt. Massive and Mt. Elbert, the 2 highest mtns in the state. An old mining town, with quite a few neat little gingerbread and Victorian style houses. Lots of sunshine year round, but with MANY days and nights of cold temps. Quite a bit of snow, but there are worse places.

[mrkool]

You're quite welcome for the assist

[ReturningWest]

I used to live there. it was quite a while ago. But if you like to ski it's ideal. but don't look at a map and think your going to Aspen during the winter...that road is closed and you have to go all the way around.

It has quite a history and almost was the state capitol. Baby Doe Tabor lived there. Was famous for it's silver/gold mines and you can still see the tailing piles. Many folks "hobby" mine during the short summer months and can make anywhere from $3-5000 with their hobby. In one of the old bars has a real gold dust mirror. You can drive south and see parts of the old stage coach road well the ruts anyway.

At one time the big claim to fame was it was 1/2 way between Ball town and Climax...not kidding. Ball town is south and has an old bar and motel. It is also the turn off to Aspen during the summer. The drive over is breath taking in more ways than one. the road is very narrow and twisty and they allow huge RV's that take up more than their fair share of the narrow road. Climax was the name of the mining town next to the Molly mine. They moved the WHOLE town to what was then the out skirts of Leadville and you will see a subdivision with 50's style tract homes and these were the ones moved down the MT.

Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the northern hemisphire...Not a good retirement place.

I haven't lived there for quite some time but the views every morning were spectacular...down side...no summer you have winter, winter and more winter, early spring, a bit of fall and then good ole winter again. I remember playing softball in July and it started snowing!

BUT if skiing/snowboarding is your passion it might be a place to live.

[COflower]

Umm, you are sort of mistaken.

Colorado City which is known now as "Old Colorado City" in Colorado Springs was the original capitol of the state before it became a state, aka it was a territory.

Colorado City was four miles west of C Springs and was the original place to be thought to be the eventual capitol of Colorado when it was coming for the vote to become a state.

Do a little history reading on it and you will find that Leadville was in the running but not a serious candidate for it like Colorado City was.

No, we aren't talking about Colorado City south of Pueblo, we are taking the one that has been incorporated into Colorado Springs.

[ASPEN1USA]

Lived in Leadville during the late 70's while working at the Climax Mine. Form Crew 600 Ft level. Ahhh, those were the days!

[Rumblebelly]

I noticed they had a brewpub so it can't be all that bad.

[sunsprit]

With the closing of most of the mines, it's been mostly a bedroom community at the high altitude. (Although Climax Molydenum announced a re-opening of their mine with the recent upsurge in Moly demand ...)

The climate is winter, mud season, fall, and winter again. Lots of snow up there. It's very cool, even in the summer months.

The downtown caters mostly to tourists, who come for the historic bars, restaurants, and mining related history.

Reasonable access to skiing at Vail or Copper Mountain, and many locals commute to those resort towns for jobs.

Colorado Mountain College has a Leadville campus.

Property prices tend to be low compared to the higher profile resort areas because of the extreme climate and lower level of economic activity.

[tfox]

I think there's been some longstanding concerns about environmental hazards to residents from decades of mining pollution. I'm no expert -- suggest you research the issue.

[sunsprit]

The Fed's built the Leadville Mine Drainage tunnel complex some time ago to address the issues of heavy metals leaching out into the water supply from the abondoned mines and sites. They take the water coming out of the mines ... literally hundreds of miles of tunnels and natural water flow ... and run it through a water treatment plant to bring it up to standard.

The Leadville municipal water system is good water.

If you're on a well, then you should have your water checked for heavy metals. There are ways to mitigate this if a well is over standard for domestic use, and you should have the well tested and know the expected costs of treatment before buying a property.