1. Red River Ski Area
City: Red River, NM
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (505) 754-2220
Description: There aren’t many ski towns where you’ll find old mines on the slopes—and that’s only one of the things that makes Red River Ski Area special. Established in 1959, this family-oriented area has been compared to a dude ranch for skiers. The ski mountain towers above a town settled more than 100 years ago by hardy souls in search of gold. The setting gives Red River its Old West flavor. Some visitors have compared a visit to Red River to a trip back in history, to the simpler days when everything you needed was on Main Street. Red River has 57 trails, evenly divided among expert, intermediate, and beginner, and three mountain restaurants. The trails are served by seven lifts—four doubles, two triples, and a surface tow. Lift capacity is 7,920 per hour, second only to Taos, so skiers hardly ever have to wait. To supplement the average snowfall of 218 inches, snowmaking covers about 87 percent of the Red River mountain. The area has a vertical drop of 1,600 feet and a peak elevation of 10,350 feet. Before you ski down, you can stop at the Ski Tip Restaurant on top of the mountain for hot chocolate, lunch, or a snack. From there beginners can ski easy runs all the way to the base area. Advanced hot doggers can take the more challenging runs.Another place that adds to Red River’s charm is the Moon-Star Mining Camp, an attraction that’s especially popular with children. You can ski right up to an old miner’s cabin and through a tipi. The camp stands in an aspen grove, and the terrain is flat enough that even the most novice skiers usually have little trouble. The camp adds to Red River’s extensive beginner area—some might call it beginner paradise. The Red River Willows welcomes snowboarders and offers a terrain park.You can take lessons at Red River, choosing from a range of classes for children and adults. Red River’s adult programs include all the basics as well as specialty workshops for bumps, powder snow, and racing. The area offers recreational racing on the NASTAR course. To make it less expensive for families to enjoy the sport, many hotels and lodges participate in the Kids Ski Free/Stay Free program. For each paying parent who stays a minimum of three nights and purchases at least a three-day lift ticket, one child stays for free and receives free lift tickets for the same number of days.While there are more challenge places for experts to ski, visitors appreciate Red River for its convenience. To start with, you won’t have to hunt for a parking place because 90 percent of the lodges sit within walking distance of the slopes. Two of the seven chairlifts rise directly from town. If you need rental equipment, the ski area itself operates two rental shops, one on Main Street and one in the Ski Chalet at the area’s base. You can book packages of lessons and lift tickets there and rent what you need for skiing, including high-performance packages that include the latest ski designs.The area hosts some 500,000 people during the summer and about 200,000 in the winter. As a popular summer destination, Red River offers scenic chairlift rides, jeep tours, horseback riding, camping, hiking, biking, fishing, and more.
2. Enchanted Forest Cross Country Ski And Snowshoe Area
City: Red River, NM
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (800) 966-9381 (Miller’s Cross
Address: 106 miles north of Santa Fe
Description: You’ll find 33 kilometers of 12-foot-wide trails at Enchanted Forest, a 5-minute drive from the heart of the village of Red River. New Mexico’s largest full-service cross-country ski area, it offers groomed and natural trails through 500 acres of aspen groves in Carson National Forest. The area usually opens before Thanksgiving and serves skiers into April, depending on the weather. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.Skiers can explore trails that wind through the trees. The system is groomed with one side tracked for diagonal stride (the more conventional cross-country skiing) and the other side smooth for snowshoeing and freestyle or skate-skiing. You’ll cruise on trails such as Northwest Passage and Jabberwocky. The alpine vistas and the solitude of the Rocky Mountain forest are truly spectacular. Bring your camera. The Enchanted Forest receives an average of 240 inches of snow a year—about 2 feet more than the Red River Ski Area. The ski area elevation ranges from 9,800 to 10,030 feet.Owners John and Judy Miller opened the area in 1985 with a special-use permit from the Carson National Forest and have been catering to cross-country skiers and their families ever since. They added to the warming hut at the base area and offer a nice menu including pizza and chimichangas in addition to snacks. In addition to Nordic skiing, Enchanted Forest also has snowshoeing, and has added an additional 15 kilometers of trails for showshoers only.