Angel Fire Resort Reviews

• Overall Rating 4
• Family Friendly 4
• Downhill Terrain 4
• Terrain Park 4
• Nightlife 2

Pros: fairy large area, varied terrain, good for beginners

Cons: not in a good location for reliable snow

Recommended Skill Level: Intermediate
Recommended For: Families
Date Visited: Mar, 2009

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Full review

Report as of Sunday, March 8 ,2009:

I went to Angel Fire for a one-day outing this Sunday, 3-8-2009. Conditions are not quite as dire as the last posts might indicate. The lifts had to temporarily close a few days ago because of extreme high winds, necessitating riding a bus to the back area. On one day, they even had to close everything down. The lifts are now open again, and will probably remain open until closing day, barring any more high winds. Many of the black expert rails are closed. The majority of the green novice and blue intermediate trails are open, on both the back and front sides. However, portions of them are closed, and they are starting to show a lot of ice, bare spots and grass. The “Lower Domingo” trail under the Chili Lift is melting fast, and only has snow across half of its width. I don’t know if they’ll use machine-made snow to fill the snow back in. Partly because of a recent dusting of a couple of inches of snow, some trails were actually quite good.

I would estimate that in terms of surface area, about 35% of the mountain was closed, 35% was open with caution required due to ice and bare patches, and 30% was actually fairly good. (This wouldn’t seem to agree with their posting of “67 of 74 trails open”. Snow reports originated from the area’s owners are almost always “optimistic”. The “38 inches” is doubtlessly measured somewhere way back under the trees, out of the melting rays of the sun and the strong wind. This is typical practice for most ski reports.)

It should be possible to go there over the next couple weeks, and still have a good time. For 2009 they have supposedly set a closing date of March 29. Barring a large snow storm, the snow will continue to worsen. The weekend of the 14th will still probably be OK for the trails that are still open, and the weekend of the 21st may at least be tolerable, if you need to make one last run.

I have been skiing at Angel Fire for several years. I usually have a good time. On a good snow year the snow is perfectly adequate; but it usually starts to get worse by late February, except on the very best years. On a bad snow year it may not be worth going at all. This area “IS WHAT IT IS”. Don’t expect perfect snow all the time, like some of the truly large areas. (Which don’t always have “perfect snow”, either.) It has a lower base elevation (8,600 ft.) than many other ski areas, even in New Mexico. The top of the mountain (10,650 ft.) is fairly high. (But some other areas even are higher.) Because of the elevation difference, the lower half of the mountain is often in worse shape than the upper half. It is also located on the eastern side of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, essentially in the rain shadow of the prevailing weather. They partially compensate for the low altitude and the so-so location by a fairly good snowmaking system; however this is only fully implemented on a few selected trails. Late in the season with less people coming, they typically allow the snow deteriorate, to save snow-making costs. It is rare for every trail to be completely open, even in mid-winter. The expert black trails tend to often be closed more often, as the snow gets scraped off them faster. For this area, dodging around bare patches in spring season is to be expected. You do have to watch where you're going. (Actually, grass sticking up from the snow, without any rocks also poking through, usually won’t scratch your ski bases by any noticeable amount.)

What this area does offer is a fairly large area (at least for New Mexico) with a good selection of trails. It has a good selection of easy, relaxing novice and intermediate trails, with beautiful views of the surrounding scenery. Some of the easier trails area perfect for skiers who are just starting out. There is also a selection of more difficult trails, although as noted, they often close earlier. Except over Christmas, it usually is not crowded. It has somewhat down-to-earth family atmosphere, at least compared to the truly large areas. Personally, I find this agreeable. I do think their prices might be a bit high for what the area really is. The owners should acknowledge that Angel Fire will never be in the same league as Aspen or Vail, somewhat lower their prices, and promote it as a pleasant medium-sized family-oriented area.