I see there are several places at about 9000 feet base. Anyone ski in mid March in New Mexico or Arizona?? Can anyone suggest the "bestest/closest" place. My home mountain is Whitetail, so I am happy with anything.
Would appreciate your thoughts if you have been that way.
Not near las cruces which is near the Mexican border. The resort there, Ski Apache, run by the tribe, is highly regarded when it has good snow. New Mexico locals claim it gets the lightest driest powder in the country due to the dry desert air. I'm intrigued.
https://www.skiapache.com/trail-map/
i have skied Pajarito, Los Alamos' local hill, Santa Fe, and Taos. All are excellent but are200+ miles north of Las Cruces. In a big snow year, I'd rather be at Taos than any other ski area in North America. It happens about 1year out of 4 or 5, and I have hit it this way several times.
wojo wrote:
I see there are several places at about 9000 feet base. Anyone ski in mid March in New Mexico or Arizona?? Can anyone suggest the "bestest/closest" place. My home mountain is Whitetail, so I am happy with anything.
Would appreciate your thoughts if you have been that way.
In NM, the biggest ski resort is Taos Ski Valley. If you like a steep mountain, with the high likelihood of plenty of areas for bumps and trees, then go check out TSV. Recently finished another week at TSV. Last winter I went twice because of the Taos Ski Week. TSV is getting lots of snow in February so snow depth and coverage on black and double-black terrain should be quite good in March.
Have read about AZ Snowbowl as a fun place.
Going on a weekend or midweek?
Actually, the southern most ski area in NM is Ski Cloudcroft. It's maybe 50 miles due east of Alamagordo. A fun drive is to take a road out of Alamagordo to Cloudcoft. The road takes you thru about four distinct climate zones from desert to high alpine. The area is south of Ski Apache.It's a little bitty area more like a Mid Atlantic ski area than a Rocky Mountain ski area. Opened in 1963.
https://skicloudcroft.net/
There's also Sandia Peak in Albuquerque (not very good), Ski Santa Fe (which is pretty good), and Pajarito (originally built by the nuclear scientists at Los Alamos. Open weekends and Federal holidays) IMO the second best hill in NM. I think it's still operated by a ski club at the nuclear facility.
Onthesnow list all except Cloudcroft. Don't know why that is, but that is the way it has always been.
https://www.onthesnow.com/new-mexico/ski-resorts.html
Denis wrote:
In a big snow year, I'd rather be at Taos than any other ski area in North America. It happens about 1year out of 4 or 5, and I have hit it this way several times.
Agree with you. My best day ever on snow was at Taos. 36 inches of fresh, and I skied all day. I was exhausted at 3:30 and decided to check my pulse: 156 - it had probably been there all day.
bob wrote:
Actually, the southern most ski area in NM is Ski Cloudcroft. It's maybe 50 miles due east of Alamagordo. A fun drive is to take a road out of Alamagordo to Cloudcoft. The road takes you thru about four distinct climate zones from desert to high alpine. The area is south of Ski Apache.It's a little bitty area more like a Mid Atlantic ski area than a Rocky Mountain ski area. Opened in 1963.
https://skicloudcroft.net/
There's also Sandia Peak in Albuquerque (not very good), Ski Santa Fe (which is pretty good), and Pajarito (originally built by the nuclear scientists at Los Alamos. Open weekends and Federal holidays) IMO the second best hill in NM. I think it's still operated by a ski club at the nuclear facility.
Onthesnow list all except Cloudcroft. Don't know why that is, but that is the way it has always been.
https://www.onthesnow.com/new-mexico/ski-resorts.html
This is the kinda advice I want!! Thanks Bob.
