“It’s hard to have a bad day on the mountain,” says Ski Santa Fe’s marketing director, Eric Thompson as we rode up the old Tesuque Peak Chair as the 2024-25 season wound down in late March. We were talking about the meager snowfall of the winter, and despite that, the fact the skiing had been as good as it was. Sprinkle in a few rounds of powder, lots of bluebird spring days and corn, and the thrill of riding a new chairlift, the public went away pleased when it closed a week early on March 30.
In Like a Lion…
After an impressive start with a three-foot storm in early November that allowed the ski area to open a week early, the snow train shut down for almost eight weeks. With around half the normal snowfall in the Sangre de Cristos and San Juans, it was a frustrating and anxious winter. Still, Thomson concludes “We are all very happy with it overall. We didn’t get a lot of help from Mother Nature but worked really hard as a team, especially the snowmaking and grooming crews, to provide a good experience. Without them, the season would not have been the success it was.”
He estimates that skier days on the mountain was “down slightly” over previous years, a testament to the excellent job they did on making and maintaining snow. “It wasn’t just out-of-state visitors, either. We have a very loyal body of locals who were up here a lot, enjoying themselves and having good times.” Intrepid boarders and skiers who ventured onto the expert runs and abundant tree and glade terrain were wise to note the caution signs saying, “Thin Cover.” But even they found on a handful of days following storms some fine runs despite a few hidden sharks.
High Grades on the Social Media Report Card
Some comments off the ski area’s social media accounts noted:
“I’ve seen years we couldn’t open the top due to a year like this one. Our crew pulled off another SSF miracle! We have the best groomers of any mountain; a lot have been here decades! Thanks so much guys and thanks to Totemoffs crew who always have a smile and works so hard!”
Donna Jay
“I want to compliment the mountain operations team for the great way they farmed a below average amount of snow throughout the season. I found it made for very relaxed cruising.”
Tommy Thompson of Bernalillo, NM
“Thanks to the staff. Some days I was expecting it to be so so but it was always good conditions in my eyes. One of those pow days was my son and I’s best day ever.”
Britton Blanc
The New Chair – A Game Changer
The season was notable too in that the ski area’s first new chair since 2005 was opened, its first high-speed quad. It cuts the ride to the top of the lower mountain to a quick 4 minutes.
The Leitner Poma lift, dubbed the Santa Fe Express, installed at a cost of about $6 million last summer and follows the exact same line as the previous chair.
“It’s been an absolute game changer here, for sure, in cutting down the lift line that used to build in the base area,” notes Thompson. “But it’s also changed the way people ski the mountain. A strong skier can now get in eight to nine runs in an hour on the lower mountain, so on a nice powder day I’ve been spending a lot more time in this zone versus the upper mountain. It used to be a big rush to get to the upper slopes; for me, not so much any longer. And, uphill capacity is now right where we want it. We are moving people through the lift lines quickly but not overwhelming the slopes.”
One of the ONLY DIY Ski Areas in the Nation
Ski Santa Fe is one of the few ski areas in the nation that has the skills to build such a lift almost entirely on their own. A helicopter was used to help get the lift towers in place and a professional spliced the lift cable, but the digging of tower foundations, making forms, pouring concrete, assembling the towers and far more was done by Ski SF. This, explains Thompson, “is to keep our employees working through the summer. We want them to see the ski area as a career; as some place they can learn and grow, and not just as a seasonal job.”
Another New Chair This Summer
This summer the Ski SF crew will replace the beginner Easy Street chair with a section from the old Super Chief quad, which will double their beginner area lift capacity. It will run the same length and alignment as the old chair. “We’re really happy to be getting to improve the experience for beginners,” says Thomson.
In addition, this summer the team will do some thinning work in the forests, and there will be small projects to base lodge and Totemoffs, the mid-mountain bar and restaurant. In the near future, the area will beef up snowmaking at the top of the mountain near the terminus of Millennium Chair on Sunrise. The spot gets lots of sun and wind, making it hard to hold snow.
Special Events
The ski area pulled off a handful of special events this season, including a new one; expect to see all of them back next year. “We were really pleased with the response to the new event,” adds Thompson, “a series of five ski mountaineering comps. Although billed as a race, they were really just a gathering of friends, a community get together, held on Wednesdays after the lifts had closed. Typically it was two laps to the top of the quad, and there was some competition among the top skiers, but people would bring up pizza ovens and it was just a real fun time.”
The Fireball Rando, a returning ‘skimo’ event, brought in competitors from several states, including Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado. It consists of a race from the base to the top of Tesuque Peak Chair at an altitude of more than 12,000 feet, and down, plus some demonstrations of mountaineering skills and climbing. Not for the meek.
Backcountry and uphill skiing is part of the culture of Ski Santa Fe, which has perhaps the nation’s most liberal policy for “uphill” skiers and split boarders. “Not only do we allow it, we embrace it and encourage it,” says Thompson.
Thompson’s Story
Thompson was raised in Albuquerque but did not grow up skiing. “I moved to Taos Ski Valley in my early 20s, I thought just for a short while. Had an opportunity to serve as a caretaker on a friend’s place there for a summer, while figuring out what my next step would be. I fell in love with the mountains and people, and decided to stick around for the winter, working for the ski area. So, I actually learned how to ski that first winter, 2008-2009. My first job was as a phone receptionist, helping in customer service.” He would remain at TSV through 2015, going on to work in the accounting department and then a bit on their website.
His Journey to Ski Santa Fe’s Marketing Head
“At one point I approached the management, which at the time was the Blake family, and said, ’Hey, there’s this new thing called social media. We should start a business Facebook account, we should do Instagram.’ From there, I went on to managing the season pass program, then the whole ticketing office. I eventually moved into the marketing office full time, before moving on to a job in Santa Fe with the state tourism department.”
This is Thompson’s third year as Ski Santa Fe’s marketing director. His insider tips: fave run on lower mountain: Thunderbird to T’bird Trees to Slalom; upper mountain: Roadrunner to First Tracks. Try the Ski Patrol Special at Totemoff’s (green and red tamales and a bowl of green chile pork stew), or at the base lodge, ramen bowls (new item) and on weekends fresh sushi indoors or BBQ on the deck.
As we close out the day with another smooth glide down Gayway overlooking the immense Rio Grande Valley, we stop for a look-see. So, what’s the attraction to this life for him? “It’s the time outdoors, the sense of freedom, just cruising along, exploring the mountain. I really enjoy the community on the ski hill, taking a few laps with friends and seeing them blast past you on a powder day hooting and hollering. It’s an uplifting place to work. It’s the wind in your face.”
Amen.
