Red River, NM – What really amazed me as we drove
into Red River is how close the ski area is to the town. It seems that you
can park just about anywhere and it would be a closer walk to the lifts than
at a large number of resorts that I’ve skied in years past. I hadn’t hit one
slope yet and I already liked what I was seeing.
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Red River’s slopes and trails drop right into town |
The town is the genuine article. Red River, New Mexico began
life as an old western gold and silver mining town, in existence for over
100 years. By 1895 Red River City was a booming gold camp and had a population
of 3,000 people, complete with 15 saloons, four hotels, two newspapers, a
barbershop, a hospital, a school, a sawmill and an active red light district.
After the gold and silver played out in the 1930s, Red River was revived in
the 1940s after the Dust Bowl era as a summer mountain retreat to escape Texas’
blistering heat. In 1958, Oklahoma oil man Stokes Bolton installed the first
chairlift constructed from old oil derricks as a scenic summer ride, and Red
River Ski Area opened in 1959 with two runs.
The resort, popular with Texans (56%) and Oklahomans (17%),
has slowly grown ever since. Drew Judycki, a former ski school director from
Massachusetts who first visited the area while attending college, most recently
purchased the resort in the mid-1980s, and it remains in his family today
after he bought out his original partners in 1998. “He’s like the Blakes
(Taos) and the Baruzzos (Santa Fe and Sandia Peak) – they’re skiing families,”
explained Red River’s eclectic Wally Dobbs. “It’s all he ever really wanted
to do, it’s a dream of his. He came here as a ski schooler, just like I am,
and now he owns the place.”
Red River currently sports 6 chairlifts and one magic carpet
surface lift stretching from a base elevation of 8,750 feet to a summit at
10,350 feet, giving skiers 1,600 feet of vertical drop. Along with its annual
snowfall average of 214 inches, Red River Ski Area has, volume-wise, the largest
snowmaking capacity in the Southwestern Rockies. On a good night, up to 1.6
million gallons of water, double the amount available prior to the summer
of 2000, can be pumped up the mountain for making new snow anywhere on 85%
of the terrain. Red River recycles 90% of the well-fed water used for its
snowmaking. As Dobbs puts it, “We’re storing water on the side of the mountain
for spring.” Meeting the needs of the skiers while respecting the needs of
the environment is important, and Red River is striving to satisfy both.
LAID BACK AND RELAXED
Morning came early on the 5th day of skiing during
First Tracks!! Online’s
Jalapeno Ski Tour of New Mexico for the filming of the Hot Chiles!
video. The rest of our group was already heading to breakfast by the time
I finally stretched out and got into my ski clothes. A bagel and a glass
of orange juice did the trick as everyone exchanged stories of the previous
day’s skiing. A great run here, a gnarly wipeout there – we all had a few
stories to tell. The conversations eventually turned to the day’s agenda and
what we might expect at Red River, the final destination of our tour of New
Mexico ski resorts. After having our fill of morning munchies, we loaded the
vehicles with the anticipation of getting to ski another resort, and headed
down the road for Red River.
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Red River’s Gold Rush slope and Ski Chalet |
The drive north from Taos
was uneventful at first, sometimes resembling the road through West Texas.
But as we drew nearer to our destination, the ground quickly grew on both
sides of us as it had each day earlier. With increasing anticipation, we drove
deeper into the southwestern Rockies, finally pulling into the town of Red
River right at the base of Red River Ski area.
Seemingly unlike everyone else, we didn’t waste much time driving
around town upon arriving, going right to the parking lot near the Ski Chalet
at the base of the Gold Chair to the unloading and the process of suiting
up. The pace at Red River was definitely relaxed. Everyone really seemed to
be laid back, just taking his or her time. This was a welcome break from the
fast pace normally associated with larger, more mainstream resorts. If the
crowd on the slopes had this same “take it easy” attitude, we’d be in for
a very enjoyable day.
The Ski Chalet offers expansive seating, a cafeteria style service
area that appears small but offers a variety of typical ski resort food rather
efficiently, the Ski School counter, the rental shop, and “The Fanny Pack”
retail operation. A generous, south-facing sun deck outside the building is
the perfect place to watch beginners negotiate the slopes while baking in
the warm New Mexico sun.
"MAINLY FOR FAMILIES"
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(click on the image to open a full-size trail map in a new browser
Red River is perfect for families |
The trail map shows that Red River is not a large resort with
57 numbered runs, but with the terrain apportioned 32% beginner, 38% intermediate
and a final 30% tagged as expert, there’s a fairly even spread for all levels
of skiing ability. With a game plan established and lift tickets attached,
we joined our escorts, Red River instructor Frank Venaglia, owner of Capo’s
Corner, the town’s Italian restaurant, and Red River Ski School Director/Marketing
Director/Jack-Of-All-Trades Wally Dobbs. Dobbs stopped often to chat with
guests on a first-name basis. He spoke with us as if we were old friends
that he was taking on a tour of his ski resort. It’s very easy to tell from
the way that he speaks that he holds a great affinity for this mountain, and
over the course of the day we were to gain an understanding ourselves.
“The ski area is mainly for families,” Dobbs explained. “Thirty-nine
percent of our lift tickets are for people under 14 years old. What happens
here is that for a lot of people, Mom and Dad don’t ski any more, but they
can let their kids go ski because everything ends up back at the same place.
You’ll see tons of kids skiing by themselves, which is good – kids can have
a vacation!” Dobbs advised that a remarkable 40% of the town’s winter destination
visitors don’t ski, but rather accompany those who do.
With all of those learners, Ski School is big business at Red
River. According to Dobbs, 20 to 25% of their daily lift ticket purchasers
end up in lessons, which he compares to an 8-10% national average. “This
has become known as the place where Texans come to learn to ski,” said Dobbs,
who with a grin added, “Once they learn the wedge, that’s all they need!”
The colorful Dobbs can get away with statements like that.
“I’m the only guy on New Mexico’s Marketing and Tourism board who lives for
8 months a year in Texas,” he says with a smile. “When I bought my house
it Texas, it was so that I could stay on the road more. There’s no reason
for me to be selling New Mexico and living in New Mexico.” Dobbs hits the
road in early April, traveling throughout Texas to promote New Mexico in a
’51 Woody with a Mustang chassis and a Corvette engine, complete with hot-rod
mufflers and parabolic skis coming out of the front bumper. “They make the
car turn easier,” he deadpans.
The snow was hard packed, icy in spots and not very forgiving
of my tired legs. Our ascent of the Gold Chair merely gained enough elevation
to reach the mountain’s primary lifts, and we had to pole to maintain momentum
across the traverse to the lower most portion of “The Face,” a short, black
run that ends at the Red double chair. The Face is a no-nonsense run, challenging
enough for intermediate skiers who like to have some fun blasting down at
full speed, but also mellow enough for advanced beginning skiers who want
to conquer a black run without getting in over their heads. The Face probably
gets its name from the fact that it’s the main face of Red River Ski Area,
within view of just about every point in town.
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The Red Chair includes a quarter-way loading point for those
who don’t want to ski to the bottom every trip down (and also for those periods
when the lower elevations encounter difficulty holding snow), and a ¾ unloading
point for the Lariat and Broadway trails, among others. It ascends the mountain’s
original liftline. During early season’s temperature inversions, it’s easier
to make snow on this middle 50% of the mountain, and the loading and unloading
stations are spaced accordingly. Just below the ¾ way unloading point lies
under the chairlift a terrain park for snowboarders and skiers with plenty
of nerve. Get off here, though, and you’ll miss the usual array of trees
decorated with everything from Mardi Gras beads (“Mardi Gras in the Mountains”
at Red River during the week between Ash Wednesday and Fat Tuesday is popular
with Louisiana natives) to a variety of undergarments – bras and panties,
mostly. Every ski resort seems to have a few “panty trees.” Why have I never
been around to see who contributes the really lacy numbers? Timing is everything,
I guess.
The view that greets your arrival to the summit is as spectacular
as any that you’ll find while skiing the Rockies. Tall aspens as far as you
can see line the trails that lay ahead. It’s not difficult to imagine why
Red River makes a great retreat in the summer as well as one in winter. Anyone
choosing to linger may do so inside the Ski Tip restaurant at the mountain’s
top, serving just the right pick-me-up or a steaming cup of hot chocolate
with its own generous sun deck for drinking in the views.
It’s here at the summit that you discover one of Red River’s
peculiar quirks: save for the gentle, open Gold Rush slope in front of the
Ski Chalet, most of Red River’s novice terrain resides not at the mountain’s
bottom, but at the top. The Green Chair serves no fewer than 11 gently pitched
novice and intermediate trails on “The Backside.” Kids will adore heading
down “Purkapiles Secret Trail,” an easy, narrow green run named after the
area’s legendary last active miner, who was mysteriously still bringing out
gold from a still-secret mine when he inexplicably burned with his camp in
the 1970s. The trail weaves through the aspens to the Moon Ridge Mining Camp,
a ski-through replica of the Buffalo Mine located 500 yards away on the Placer
Creek that brought out 1,716 pounds of gold and silver in 1929. The aforementioned
Ski Tip restaurant easily facilitates rest breaks for novices enjoying the
summit terrain, and the day’s final descent is via the appropriately named
“Easiest Way Down” and Cowpoke’s Cruise. Beginners at Red River are therefore
blessed with the ability to enjoy majestic Rocky Mountain vistas while honing
their skills.
As I examined the Moon Ridge Mining Camp, I thought of how hard
it must have been working a mine here in winter. I wondered if any miners
had ever taken the time, as I was doing this day, to appreciate the surroundings
of the area where they chose to seek their fortunes? Did they ever have a
clue of the gold mine that surrounded them in the slopes that would years
later become Red River Ski Area?
The snow was great for just cruising and working on parallel
turns on some fairly steep trails. I’d ski Broadway to the Quarter-Way loading
point and go back up and do it again and again. I could have done this the
rest of the day but decided to head to the “Backside” and ski some slower
stuff.
JUST PLAIN BULL
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Green Acres, atop Red River’s summit, is the perfect place to practice |
Green Acres is the blue liftline trail here that’s easy for
the intermediate skier but challenging enough for the advanced beginners.
It’s long enough to get a thrill from letting the skis run a little (though
it’s marked as a slow skiing zone, there were so few patrons this day that
no one was sure to object) and it’s wide enough to make big sweeping turns.
There’s plenty of room to avoid skiers who get a little out of shape or are
about to join Team FacePlant, of which I am a charter member and renew my
membership often.
As we relaxed on the mellow slopes of the “Backside” while watching
others gain their ski legs, we ran into a group of skiers who, no doubt from
Texas, were having themselves a good ol’ time. They were a loud bunch, laughing
at each person in their group who wiped out – an event which took place quite
often.
Three women in the group were coaxing a fourth down Green Acres,
and each time we rode the lift back up, she’d be laying on her side or on
her butt, laughing through her frustration. One of the guys in their group
was a big, burly dude, wearing blue jeans and an ordinary leather jacket,
a felt cowboy hat and sporting a long Fu Manchu-style mustache that gave him
a rather intimidating look behind his black wraparound shades. He wasn’t a
great skier by any means, but what made him stand out from the crowd was his
constant proclamation of “This is bull$&!^!” Every time he passed under
us while on the lift, he would look right at us and yell, “This is bull$&!^!”
“Yeah it is!” we yelled back. We would ski down again and there
he’d be on the lift, pointing at us shouting, “This is bull$&!^.” each
time with a big grin on his face.
Finally, the Green Chair’s liftie called Red River Ski Patrol
to stop by and talk to the guy. After chatting a few minutes, the ski patrol
moved on. I skied over and asked him, “What was all the ‘bull$&!^’ about?”
Without hesitation, he shouted it again so his friends could hear him, and
then turned to us and said that this was his last day to ski Red River. He
had to leave that night to head back to Amarillo, Anadarko or wherever he
was from in Texas. He was having so much fun with his friends and family that
he didn’t want it to end. He said that having to leave was just plain bull.
"A NEAT LITTLE BLEND"
“The Backside” drops from Red River’s summit to the southeast. To the
West, however, lies Red River’s third exposure, served by the Silver Chair.
A mix of ungroomed blues and gentle blacks descends the West Bowl partway
down the mountain, with gorgeous views of the Sangre de Cristos forming
the backdrop. The trails all dead-end at the Silver Chair’s loading station,
and no option exists but to board the lift and ride back to Red River’s
summit.
In between the Silver Chair’s terrain and “The Backside,” though,
lies Red River’s main face dropping all of the way into town. The mountain
is easy to understand here, gradually steepening in pitch from “Easiest Way
Down” all of the way to skier’s right, to a collection of narrow, old-school
blacks to skier’s left. I opted for Mineshaft, which with rather thin snow
on this warm February day was steeper than my tired, wobbly legs were ready
for.
Mineshaft had some good bumps in it and a short, steep drop
that took my breath away as I plummeted down its white ribbon, half in control
and half on the verge of screaming like a little schoolgirl. Maintaining control
and picking a few mellower lines as the trail flattened out a little, I survived
the Mineshaft and reveled in having successfully made the run.
Short steeps punctuate other parts of the mountain as well.
Linton’s Leap, a startlingly steep shot underneath the Copper Chair, links
with Miner’s Alley and Tailings for a black descent of nearly the entire front
side.
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Red River’s Copper Chair scoops waiting skiers and snowboarders across
The western town of Red River |
As mentioned earlier, gentler options exist on Red River’s front
side, too. Main Street is a wide, long and fast blue run that rolls and dips
with character, perfectly suited to allowing the skis to run and practice
making some turns at speed. Only one or two other skiers were on Main Street
as we came blasting down. What a rush! Halfway down, Red River’s front face
splits in two, and it’s here that skiers and riders on Main Street are forced
to decide to either turn onto the green “Cowpokes Cruise” traverse to reach
either the Ski Chalet or the Red Chair at the west side of town, or continue
in the fall line aboard the Copper Toll Road or Boom Town blues to the base
of Red River’s other base-to-summit lift, the Copper Chair. The latter is
located at the town’s east side, a half-mile away, and crosses the town’s
namesake body of water as it scoops waiting skiers and snowboarders skyward.
As both lifts essentially begin a block or two from Red River’s
Main Street, so it’s easy to stroll into town for lunch at many of the same
restaurants and taverns that offer evening selections. That night after skiing,
we opted for a great choice: Texas Red’s Steakhouse and Saloon. The food and
the service made our last experience at Red River just as enjoyable as the
skiing earlier in the day. We drank a few beers, ate some great steaks and
toasted the successes of the day as we reviewed the day’s still pictures and
video clips.
“Red River has a two-fold character,” Dobbs explained. “As
far as New Mexico goes, the town is a different fit than, say, a Taos or a
Santa Fe. It’s an old western mining town that’s 106 years old. That’s kind
of what’s neat about northern New Mexico, you have so many different characters.
We’re a big family town, but we have eight bars that sit on Main Street.
We’re kind of a neat little blend.” The town has six buildings listed in the
National Register of Historic Places.
You’ll find no slopeside condos at Red River (“All we sell is
skiing,” quips Dobbs), but the town’s year-round tourism business supports
a full complement of lodging establishments in town – 6,100 pillows in all.
Red River’s compact town core ensures that none are far from the lifts. No
matter where you stay, you’re literally within walking distance of either
the Red Chair or the Copper Chair.
Red River may not be as challenging to the real powder hound
experts who chew up black runs for breakfast, but the family resort offers
a good variety of skiing and riding for all abilities. Red River is really
a family ski resort with something here for everyone. Having to leave such
a beautiful place was, indeed, “Bull$&!^!”