After spending three decades transforming a failing cross country ski operation on Tennessee Pass into a successful backcountry resort with an extensive trail network, gourmet cookhouse and overnight yurts, owners Ty and Roxanne Hall say it’s time to step aside.

It’s not that business is bad at the Tennessee Pass Nordic Center, Cookhouse and Sleep Yurts, 10 miles north of Leadville at 10,500 feet on the Continental Divide. For example, stays in the toasty yurts are already sold out for next winter.

“We’re selling because it’s that time of life,” said Ty, 59, who has spent more than half his life running the business with Roxanne, a Leadville native and former schoolteacher he met when they were students at nearby Colorado Mountain College. “I feel like my wife and I have taken it as far as we can at this phase of our life and our age. I would like to sell it to the next young Ty and Roxanne and watch somebody expand and grow the business even more.”

Candlelit multi-course dinners

The pair bought what was then a small, struggling cross country operation in 1993 for $5,000. With just a couple of trails and a trailer, the previous owner was on the verge of going out of business, they said.

Read more from John Meyer at DenverPost.com