Skiing in New Mexico

[2planks2coasts]

I got kicked out of The Bull of the Woods Saloon in Red River for drinking underage....in 1996. Pretty sure you can still rent little cabins near the lake in Eagle Nest, halfway between Angel Fire and Red River. Find a local to take you night touring by headlamp off Palo Flechado Pass.

 

[MadPadraic]

Anyone know when the NM areas really get going? In CO it's usually best to wait until at least Jan 10th to get the full Western Experience (but Tahoe and Washington State are sometimes full on by Mid Dec). Is it similar for NM? Context is that we are spending Christmas there, but have to come home on St Stephen's Day. We were thinking of heading out a few days early and getting a few turns around 12/20.

 

[jaytrem]

Thanks for this. The pass is sold out, do you know if they open up more sales as the season approaches?

Probably not, the various state passes tend to sell out pretty quick and not sell more. Figure it's good for future reference though.

 

[Smellytele]

What is St. Stephen’s Day?

 

[urungus]

What is St. Stephen’s Day?

Day after Christmas, aka Boxing Day

Saint Stephen's Day - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[jaytrem]

Sounds like Sandia is back this year.

 

[Tonyr]

In NM I've skied 1)Taos, 2)Ski Santa Fe, and 3)Red River. They are listed by my preference. I skied Red River one day with my son and then we followed that with two days at Taos. His comment later in the trip was, "Dad, why didn't we just ski three days at Taos?"

I was solo the day I skied Santa Fe. It would be a badass mountain if set in the East. It was a beautiful day in the early 1990s. Late in the afternoon the Sangre de Cristo mountains lived up to their name and lit up with red alpenglow. Real easy to spend an off-day sightseeing in Santa Fe, which I found to be a more interesting than the town of Taos.

Outside of skiing, Santa Fe is definitely more interesting than Taos!

 

[Tonyr]

Anyone know when the NM areas really get going? In CO it's usually best to wait until at least Jan 10th to get the full Western Experience (but Tahoe and Washington State are sometimes full on by Mid Dec). Is it similar for NM? Context is that we are spending Christmas there, but have to come home on St Stephen's Day. We were thinking of heading out a few days early and getting a few turns around 12/20.

Taos will probably be rough at that time in December, it doesn't get a ton of snow there. It's like trying to ski Crested Butte or Telluride during that timeframe too. All three of those mountains need a lot of snow to fill in the steep areas. I wouldn't plan on visiting any of those places until late January or February. Maybe a place like Ski Santa Fe is a better bet since the terrain is not as steep but I don't know. The infrastructure looked old when I was there two summers ago so I wouldn't bet that they have great snowmaking.

 

[4aprice]

Sounds like Sandia is back this year.

Saw that. MCP, hooked up with some good southwest partners. El Nino, probably a good year to do it.