Jake123
New member
I am near El Paso, TX on a business trip and had today off so I went to the nearest ski place, Ski Apache which is owned/run by Apache tribe members I guess. The hotel clerk said it was okay skiing and suggested Angel Fire instead which is an extra 3 hours to drive. So I am driving up there expecting it to be like a small mountain and poor skiing since only 45% of the mountain is open right now. I was suprised to see tons of snow (not sure why the entire mountain wasn't open). Mostly groomed packed powder and plenty of powder at the top around a foot. And it was a good sized mountain. I guess this is west coast skiing. I was also suprised to see so many mexicans skiing which I am not used to being from new england.
Ticket was $39 and rental was $20. Chair lifts had no safety bars but I never felt in danger even during some big wind gusts. Speaking of wind gusts, I was shocked they had the lifts running with some of the winds they had there! And the lifts were slow but luckily no lines to wait in. Great view to hike the extra hundred feet to the top and see White Sands National Monument 50 miles away which I had gone running at that same morning. Overall everyone was very nice and not to many annoyances.
I skied the right side of the mountain since the left was not open. I fell only once when I thought I was about to ski on packed powder but it turned out to be a foot and a half of powder. Made for a soft landing. Mostly skied the green and blue.
My first west coast ski trip was very positive. I would put it in the same category with the bigger mountains I have skied at in New England. Could use a nicer/bigger lodge though.
Ticket was $39 and rental was $20. Chair lifts had no safety bars but I never felt in danger even during some big wind gusts. Speaking of wind gusts, I was shocked they had the lifts running with some of the winds they had there! And the lifts were slow but luckily no lines to wait in. Great view to hike the extra hundred feet to the top and see White Sands National Monument 50 miles away which I had gone running at that same morning. Overall everyone was very nice and not to many annoyances.
I skied the right side of the mountain since the left was not open. I fell only once when I thought I was about to ski on packed powder but it turned out to be a foot and a half of powder. Made for a soft landing. Mostly skied the green and blue.
My first west coast ski trip was very positive. I would put it in the same category with the bigger mountains I have skied at in New England. Could use a nicer/bigger lodge though.
