The Routt County Board of Commissioners has revoked a special use permit for Thunderstruck Adventures, which operates in north of Hayden, after the snowmobile tour company was found to have violated the conditions of approval.

“We heard the evidence from both staff and from Thunderstruck,” said Angelica Salinas, Routt County commissioner. “They were in violation in May of 2023, so this was not the first hearing in front of the commissioners where we were reviewing permit violations from this permittee.”

On Tuesday, Thunderstruck owner Clay Hockel was back in front of commissioners responding to complaints that Thunderstruck violated its special use permit again.

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“It’s not ideal for me, but I’m more concerned with the 18 employees I just left out on the road, that are homeless,” Hockel said.

Hockel has not laid anyone off at this point and said Thunderstruck is in the process of moving his operation to Grand County, where he hopes to get his employees back to work by Wednesday.

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The county said violations include fuel tanks at the location that did not match the site plan with two non-approved tanks located onsite, an outside generator that is not part of the approved site plan, and portable toilets at the venue did not match approved site plans with one non-approved portable toilet onsite.

Among the other issues was a dumpster and dumpster-shed onsite that were not part of the site plan and that Thunderstruck was not meeting the condition that all tours be guided and limited to a maximum of eight clients, with a 1-to-6 guide-to-client-ratio.

The county also found issues with outside equipment storage, the lack of a fencing to mitigate store snowmobile crates and problems with lighting, according to county documents. The county asserted that Thunderstruck was trespassing by staging on adjacent property, operating on bare country roads and the business failed to submit proof of insurance for 2025.

It was the second time the Routt County snowmobile operator has been in this position after commissioners reviewed their special use permit in May 2023 and required compliance to avoid revocation. 

At that time, the terms of the permit were reviewed and it was made clear that the permit did not include unguided tours, which was one of the violations cited. It also addressed concerns related to the number of snowmobiles on the site, the number of tours operating daily and equipment stored in the county road right of way.

Commissioners required Thunderstruck to comply with the existing permit, and amendments were made with hopes they would resolve the issues. Salinas said it was made clear in 2023 that the board of commissioners wanted to work with the permit holders.

Following Tuesday’s hearing, Hockel said he shut down bookings, contacted clients that had scheduled tours and began planning to move operations to Grand County.

During the hearing Tuesday the county staff said it had received credible complaints from the public about this operation not following conditions of approval. Staff members said the investigation into those complaints confirmed the conditions of approval were not being followed.

“Our biggest role as county commissioners is upholding land use decisions and permits and making sure those permits are being followed, and we take that really seriously,” said Salinas, who was not serving as a commissioner during the first hearing on the permit.

A notice of those violations was sent to Hockel on Jan. 28, giving him 10 days notice of the hearing. He didn’t feel like that was enough time to prepare, and felt that Thunderstruck was not able to fully address many of the complaints.

He added that he had reached out to Routt County on Oct. 17, 2024, requesting changes the included additional portable toilets and the additional fuel storage and felt that he had been given approval to move forward.

“There was no due process yesterday,” Hockel said. “I think the commissioners did a job that they were hired to do, but I think the county staff did not do what they were supposed to do.”

He said some of the issues may be tied to the start of the 2024-25 season, when Routt County Road 80 was plowed to the intersection of Routt County Road 80 and Routt County Road 56 to perform a geotechnical drill because of a landslide that had occurred.

Hockel said the timing, and the result, was detrimental to his business. He said trailers and shuttles were used to take guests to the snow line.

“Yes, the road was plowed, but that doesn’t excuse violations,” Salinas said. “If there’s no snow on the ground because it’s a low snowpack year, or because of natural causes that doesn’t excuse violations either. We are responsible for that road in that area, and we did notify the landowners we would be doing work.”

Thunderstruck was first issued a special use permit in 2021 to operate a snowmobile tour company on the south end of Routt County Road 80 just outside of Hayden. That permit was amended in December 2022 to include a new storage building and expanded permit boundary to include a 35-acre parcel. That same month, Routt County staff received the first complaint related to Thunderstruck’s operations.

In the summer of 2024, Thunderstuck paved area around storage structure getting permits from public works but not informing the Planning Department of this activity. Thunderstruck then requested a site modification to their site plan, but further material was needed, and no approval had been given in October 2024.

While Hockel said he would continue to try to work with Routt County, Salinas said that it was made clear in 2023 that the commissioners wanted to work with permitting, wanted to help Thunderstruck get into compliance and that if further violations occurred the permit would be revoked.

“I watched (the video of the 2023 hearing) in preparation for this meeting, and those are the exact same comments we heard two years ago,” Salinas said. “I think it was a combination of we kept hearing, ‘Oh, I want to work with you, I want to be in compliance and this permittee kept doing things without approval and then asking for forgiveness and was continuously in violation. So I think it is important, going back, and understanding that this was not a first time offense — it was ongoing.”