New Mexico Ski Trip

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We’ve always done CO but are looking at NM this year. What is the best/most charming mountain towns in New Mexico?

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Taos is probably your best bet, though Taos proper isn't really a charming mountain town in the traditional sense, but it is a cool town. Taos has gotten expensive for lift tickets and such, but it's got the terrain and amenities to back it up. I will say that Taos has a reputation for being a "hard" mountain that caters to more advanced skiiers.

There isn't much in Angelfire at all, though I love it for mountain biking in the summer. Red River is pretty small as well.

Ski Santa Fe is actually a pretty good mountain and takes about 30 minutes to get up there from Santa Fe. Nothing at all at the base, though, other than a lodge with cafeteria style food. But the town of Santa Fe more than makes up for the lack in the mountains. We love it because we can literally snowboard on the mountain one day then be riding mountain bikes the next day in the high desert (depending on conditions).

A lot of people talk about Cloudcroft, but I would think it might be a bit of a crapshoot.

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I did this last year and drove. The flights to colorado were too high. big mistake. does not compare to CO.

we are going back to colorado. Much better atmosphere, mountains, snow, etc.

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Curious where you went? I know quite a few front range folks who actually come down to Taos now instead of Colorado because they prefer the terrain, conditions and lack of crowds.

So you basically drive up 30 minutes from the dessert to the mountain. The mountain is mid-sized.
660 ACRES, 86 RUNS, 1725 VERTICAL
1 QUAD CHAIRLIFT, 2 TRIPLE CHAIRS, 2 DOUBLE CHAIR 2 CONVEYOR LIFTS

It's basically the size of Sol Vista / Granby Ranch if you're familiar with that. So as the other guy said, it's not going to be anything like a large Colorado mountain. Might also be more similar to Monarch in size and vertical feet than Granby.

Seems like a nice vacation. I’ll look into it! Thanks man

We go to Taos every year and I am a big fan. I used to live in CO and skied all over, backcountry, etc. and can’t find a reason to drive past Taos for a family trip.

That said, everywhere else I have skied in NM is complete garbage. Better than nothing, but not worth your time if you have options.

your wife should take a lesson or two at Taos, they have an excellent ski school.

Santa Fe is good if there is a storm before you arrive but it is the cold mountain. Sounds strange since it is further south but...

The ski area is really high, base is over 10k feet and there is open high desert in front of you with no mountains to block the wind, so if it is blowing...brrrrrrrrr

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Curious where you went? I know quite a few front range folks who actually come down to Taos now instead of Colorado because they prefer the terrain, conditions and lack of crowds.

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We did TAOS. Have also done angelfire in the past.

Taos is nice and the mountain is narrow and fairly difficult due to the steepness. Lots of fun though.

Ski Apache is skiing at its basic level. Town of Ruidoso is neat and small. Basic though. You have to drive up each day as there is no hotel on Ski Apache.

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If you are used to the big Vail/Epic resorts then Taos is a letdown.

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This is a great example of different strokes because as a former epic pass holder I could not disagree more. The big attraction to Taos for me is it has terrain that is as good/better than 90%+ of the big Colorado resorts while being much less crowded and easier to get to. The only downside is that there is less of it overall, but I've never run out of things to ski. It's also very easy to still find good snow 2+ days after a storm as there aren't as many skiers overall and even less that know what they're doing.

I've also never been in a ski area parking lot that didn't get my truck muddy in the spring with the exception of the vail garage. If that bothers you, well...different strokes

Possible waste of money if you are looking at NM and I say that with all due respect.

If and I mean if you get a decent snow the only two to look at is Angel Fire and Taos with Taos being the better of the two. You want something different then go West to Utah.