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Ski Resort Preview
What's new, What's cool and What's hot this season at 11 Four Corners' ski resorts
El Niño is the kid. And in July, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced his arrival. El Niño typically brings a lot of precipitation to the arid Southwest, and hopefully it will boost the ski season in the Four Corners. Because there are many resorts that have something new to offer skiers and riders. So be kind to the kid, and try to be a giver and do a celebratory jig as a way to be grateful. We want the kid to come back again.
ANGEL FIRE RESORT
Angel Fire, New Mexico
angelfireresort.com
Opening day: Dec. 12
I'm pretty sure God ? the one of your choice or in whatever form ? wants us to take advantage of the powder that
falls on any day of the year. And it shouldn't break the bank to do so. Angel Fire helps those who schuss on the
Lord's day (if that's how you view Sundays). The resort has come back with its popular Sunday Only season pass, and
it cost only $149. That's an angelic deal for skiers, so if it suits you, take the northern New Mexico resort up on
this offer. And it wouldn't hurt you to get down on your knees and say a prayer of thanks, too. Also new this year
will be a skill-building ski trail for kids, which will have adventure-themed features they can ski and ride on,
over, under and through.
By the way, Examiner.com, an online Denver-based news site, named Angel Fire's Chile Express lift one of the Top 10
chairlifts in the West. The site ranked it as the longest chairlift, with it being 11,000 feet long. (The other two
are Sunshine Lift in Telluride and Village Express at Snowmass.)
Flagstaff, Arizona
arizonasnowbowl.com
Arizona Snowbowl has been in the news for the past few years, and it's not entirely related to the fact that some weather systems just miss the ski resort in the northern part of the state. Rather, it's been a long legal battle for the resort to get approval to use effluent water to make snow. Area Native American tribes fought the plan because of its intrusion on land that is spiritual to them. After many back-and-forths, the case made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to review. However, the court refused to hear the case after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Snowbowl and U.S. forest Service.
With the scope of the project, the resort won't implement its snowmaking system this year. So, Snowbowl riders and skiers can expect status quo this year and hope that winter storms spread their reach and dump on the resort enough to ski, knowing that next year things will look a bit better.
MONARCH MOUNTAIN
Salida, Colorado
skimonarch.com
Monarch celebrates its Platinum anniversary this year. For clarity, that means 70 years. You can imagine that after
70 long years in business, the resort has had opportunities to upgrade infrastructure. This year, it is doing it up
with a new entrance to the Ski & Ride Center, new rental equipment - $55,000 worth, new boot dryers, new
lighting, new hydration station, expansion of the Tilt Terrain Park and a new weather station on top of Mirkwood.
Monarch got a bit of grooming, too. According to the resort: "Tree islands have been removed on Mirage, Turbo,
Snowburn, and Short & Sweet. The trees will be used in the K2 Organic Terrain Park to build more natural
features. The Tilt terrain park that was put in for kids and beginners looking for smaller terrain features was so
popular that is has been more than doubled in size. Tilt will still have smaller less intimidating jumps, berms and
rails but now there will just be more of them."
With all this, Monarch is looking good at 70.
Durango, Colorado
durangomountainresort.com
One-hundred-and-twenty-five. One-thousand-two-hundred. Thirty. Ten. That's how it adds up to DMR's new Legends area for the upcoming ski season. There, the resort is adding 125 acres of expert terrain, featuring 1,200 vertical feet of glade tree skiing, boosting the expert trails by 30 percent and the total skiable acreage by 10 percent. The expansion is just west of Elliot's run. DMR says the project is the first phase of a series of changes it plans to boost the Legends area to "one of the best zones for upper-intermediate and expert skiing in the Southwest." Eventually, the resort will replace Chair 8 with a high-speed quad.
Don't live in Durango but like to ski at DMR? Be smart and check out when and where the resort will show up at winter shows in the Four Corners (and a wee bit beyond). If you live in one of these places, you can pick up deals on eight-day passes, regional passes and four-pack passes.
Red River, New Mexico
redriverskiarea.com
Opening day: Nov. 25 (weekends only); Dec. 18 (daily)
Red River is swiftly putting in place a new Fixed Grip Triple chair to replace the Red Chair. Besides a snazzy new chairlift, skiers there can jump on specials such as half-price weekends and college days. More literally, visitors to the resort can jump on a frozen turkey opening weekend and race down the mountain.
SILVERTON MOUNTAIN
Silverton, Colorado
silvertonmountain.com
Time flies when you're skiing vertical. Who would have guessed that 10 years have passed since Aaron and Jen Brill's
concept of a rad ski mountain in Silverton started operating? It's been a fruitful 10 years for the low-key,
high-adrenaline resort. The season begins Dec. 5, when from that date to Jan. 10, the mountain is open for unguided
skiing. Jan. 14-March 28 is guided-only skiing; unguided returns April 2-18.
The resort recently bought an Astar B3 helicopter for mountain operations. It will help them monitor and give guests
access to large reaches of its terrain.
SKI HESPERUS
Hesperus, Colorado
ski-hesperus.com
It's tough to know what Mother Nature has in store for this humble but worthwhile hill west of Durango. Because of
the unknowns, it's also tough to know what is coming up new for this season. Suffice it to say that when the snow
falls on its runs, the little ski hill that could will make it well-known when it's open and what it is offering.
SKI SANTA FE
Santa Fe, New Mexico
skisantafe.com
The New Mexico Business Weekly voted Ski Santa Fe as the No. 1 New Mexico Tourism Attraction. The resort will open
again this year with all assets intact, using the fairly new Millennium triple chairlift to get skiers there.
TAOS SKI VALLEY
Taos, New Mexico
skitaos.org
Millennium Passholders at Taos Ski Valley get a raging deal this year. The resort has whitened some previous blackout
dates, notably spring break and Presidents Day weekend. Besides three free days of skiing at Crested Butte, Durango
Mountain Resort and Telluride, these passholders will receive five half-price tickets to ski at Jackson Hole Mountain
Resort in Wyoming and also for Kirkwood in California.
TELLURIDE SKI RESORT
Telluride, Colorado
tellurideskiresort.com
Corny as it may be, "there's gold in them thar hills." Well, at Telluride there is Gold Hill Chutes 2-5. It's expert
skiing terrain that opens this year at the resort, not long after Gold Hill Chutes 6-10 opened in 2007, and Chute 1
last year. Chutes 2-5 has couloirs above treeline and chutes that drop 1,600 vertical feet.
Interestingly, to handle the expert terrain in the Chutes areas, Telluride has been using two World War II-era
howitzers to control the snow and danger in the area.
WOLF CREEK SKI AREA
Pagosa Springs, ColoRADO
wolfcreekski.com
Yet another Platinum anniversary. This one at Wolf Creek Ski Area comes with last season's lift ticket prices. Along
with the Pitcher family trying to maintain traditions it has had since 1939, Wolf Creek's upcoming season has a lot
of new at the old mountain.
The Raven's Nest day lodge, a $1.5 million project, opens mid-mountain at the top of the Raven chairlift. The day
lodge will serve food and drinks and be a warming area for skiers and riders. Also, the rental department added 50
new sets of skis, snowboards and boots to its stash.
AMY MAESTAS is a contributing editor to Inside/Outside Southwest.
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