Angel Fire Resort Reviews

• Overall Rating 3
• Family Friendly 5
• Downhill Terrain 4
• Terrain Park 3
• Nightlife 1

Pros: Great Instructors, Variety of Activities, Nordic, Downhill & Bobcat Bob's Snowmobile Tours

Cons: Nowhere to eat, HIGH prices on essentials, unfriendly townspeople

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

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Full review

Week of 3/17/09

We went with my 14 year old son, my 2 sisters & their husbands. We had a wide variety of ability levels. There was something for everyone. We went cross country, downhill, snowboarding, playing in the snow and snow-mobiling with Bobcat Bob's. The latter was a 15 minute drive and WELL worth it. We got to play freely for 2 hours. The other major outfit in AF was outrageous and wanted a $250 deposit per machine to be charged up front, THEN refunded after the ride!

The AF ski instructors were fantastic. This alone is worth the trip to AF. It was my son's 1st attempt at snowboarding and when he came back from his lesson, he said, "That totally rocked"! I was worried he wouldn't be able to do it. And for me, the last time I skied, I totally blew out my knee-had to have surgery, long rehab and all-so, I was very nervous coming back. But the instructor was patient and soon had me doing downhilling by the end of the lesson....without that monkey of fear riding on my back.

For cross country- go to the Enchanted Forest Nordic Center-they were VERY friendly and helpful. In fact, we took the rest of our party back on another day.

There were only 3 places to eat-the best of which (a pizza place) didn't open until 3:00 daily! Luckily we had a kitchen in the house we rented, or that part would have been terrible. We made a grocery run to Taos-I don't imagine things can be THAT much cheaper in Texas,but everything was triple the price we are used to paying. A pack of hamburger buns was $5! Now, I do understand making an extra buck, but triple the going rate makes you feel like you got more than the shaft. I felt like they knew they were going to have low snow season, and were trying to make all their money off of us that went the last week before the end. ALL food everywhere was this expensive, so bring your own.

The townspeople were awful....sometimes downright, outwardly rude...it was as if they were annoyed or angry that "these ski people" were there, but yet they didn't mind taking our money. But, then again, we are from Texas-friendliness & hospitality re our second nature. I never realized that so clearly until AF. When you were around the ski area, the resort workers, that was fine-everyone was really nice-kind of like a surfer dude culture. Overall, we had a great time, got to do lots of stuff-no one was injured.

Would I go back? After all the price gouging, I said at the time that I would never just because of the money. I mean, it wasn't like I was in Bail or Breckenridge. People choose more remote places like AF for a fair deal and family friendliness. After being home now, i've cooled about that. And it did have a little bit of everything. It's not too steep or difficult for beginners, so I don't know....I guess I might for the variety and quality instruction. And it is remote, so it was nice being away from the "real world".