Hit the slopes
Don’t let dry weather fool you: Snow-making up north is in high gear, and mild days make it a great time for lessons
Snow-making, warm days mean it’s a great time to ski or to learn
We get it. It’s hard to think about skiing when it’s 60 degrees outside. But regional ski areas say this is a great time to learn to ski. Snowmaking is in high gear, (plus there was some new mid-week snow) it’s mild and sunny in the afternoons and (did I mention) January is National Learn to Ski & Snowboard Month.
Spencer Weimar, director of marketing, said the lack of early mountain snow in northern New Mexico doesn’t mean there’s no skiing.
“We geared up our snow-making this year, and there’s plenty of terrain for those just starting out,” he said. “It’s been warm in the afternoon — we’ve had people skiing in T-shirts — and the night skiing has been great.
Angel Fire announced this week that night skiing at the area will be free with a paid day lift ticket for the rest of the season. Along with ski & stay packages, the area is offering children’s learn-toski packages starting at $50.
Weimar said the fact that the area has fine-tuned the Flaik system into its teaching makes for a great learning experience for children and parents alike.
“We’ve got the system down, so a firsttime skier can walk up to the ski school and be on the mountain in about 30 minutes,” he said.
Flaik uses a GPS-based system that allows parents to not only know where their children are on the mountain at all times, but it also produces real-time analysis of students’ turn shape, vertical feet skied and other performance statistics.
“The program also allows instructors to pull up the child’s ski analysis for review at any point,” he said. This means if a child skis two days in a row or has four weeks between their lessons, the instructor can review that student’s Flaik file and help the student progress to the next level without any wasted time going over skills the student has already learned.
Sipapu also continues its familyfriendly ways. The area offers numerous skiing and lodging deals all season; a great one for beginners is the Frequent Sliders Club. This offers first-timers up to three free lessons with the purchase of a full-day, full-price lift ticket. This deal is good all season.
At Sipapu, it should also be noted that the following ski free every day: ages 6 and under, fourth-graders, fifthgraders, sixth-graders, 40-year-olds, 60-year-olds and ages 70 and older.
Eight New Mexico ski areas, including Angel Fire and Sipapu, are participating with KOAT-TV in the fifth year of its “Learn and Winter Sports Month.” For $50 a day, children ages 6 to 12 get a lesson, lift ticket and equipment rental.
Other areas participating include Pajarito, Red River, Sandia Peak, Ski Apache and Ski Santa Fe.
Reservations are required (contact the resort directly) and are being taken through Jan. 31.
At Purgatory, near Durango, January brings back the “1, 2, Free” program. Participants who purchase two days of lift tickets, rentals and group instruction and get their third day’s lift ticket free. They also get a discount card for the rest of the season for rentals, lessons and lift tickets if they complete two days of lessons.
First-time skiers and snowboarders also qualify for one free two-hour group lesson and up, those who sign up for the Frequent Sliders Club, can get up to three free lessons with the purchase of a full-day, full-price lift ticket.