Slow season at Ski Santa Fe
Resort taking in less than half the normal revenue; officials hope storm allows them to open more lifts
Ben Abruzzo spent the weekend on a snowcat examining the upper ridges of Ski Santa Fe, where a few too many stumps and rocks are still showing.
With a bit more snow, the general manager hopes to open the top half of the mountain later this week. More terrain would mean more capacity and more revenue for the ski area.
While lift tickets sold out between Christmas and New Year’s, fewer people are hitting the slopes this winter because of the coronavirus pandemic. Abruzzo said revenue at Ski Santa Fe is below 50 percent of normal.
“We’re just trying to keep our employees and give people a place to ski,” said Abruzzo, who oversees 28 full-time staff and more than 300 seasonal workers. “A lot of people have told me it’s the only thing that has felt normal.”
Typically, Ski Santa Fe’s parking lot is overflowing this time of year. It can accommodate 7,683 skiers and riders when all chairlifts and trails are open. But under the state’s public health orders, it can operate at only 25 percent of capacity, which is currently 840 people.
If there’s enough snow, capacity could rise to 1,900 people, which is about equal to attendance on a non-holiday in previous years.
Christian Tercero and his
younger brother, who were in town from Las Cruces for the holiday weekend, said they don’t feel at-risk of catching COVID-19 while on the mountain.
“Even if it is just me coming up here and biffing it, it’s never a bad time,” said Tercero, a 21-year-old snowboarder. “Yeah this year sucked, but this is one way to enjoy it.”
Since they traveled within New Mexico, the Tercero brothers weren’t subject to a state-mandated 14-day quarantine before riding. Online and over the phone, Ski Santa Fe is reminding ticket buyers of the mandate, although the parking lot had plenty of license plates from Texas and Arizona.
“There is no business in New Mexico with enforcement capabilities. The state is the only body that can do that,” Abruzzo said. “When you call the ski school, we ask, ‘What’s the deal with quarantine? You shouldn’t come if you’re not going to spend two weeks.’ But what people do with that information, we don’t have control over.”
In past years, especially when there was snow on the weekend, there would be a line of cars on Hyde Park Road waiting to get into the parking lot. This season’s reservation system, which combines pay-per-use season passes with limited oneday tickets, has simplified the commute for skiers and riders from beyond Santa Fe.
“Normally we have to get up [at] the crack of dawn and stay until sunset to get 10 runs in,” said Tom Hagan, who drove from Albuquerque to the ski basin on Saturday with his two daughters. “Now we can get here at 10 and be done at two.”
A storm on Monday and Tuesday could bring 4 to 8 inches of fresh powder to the highest part of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and a dusting of snow along the foothills, according to the National Weather Service. Abruzzo hopes the storm brings enough snow to open Ski Santa Fe’s two highest chairlifts — Millennium and Tesuque Peak — and increase capacity.
Over Christmas weekend, skiers and snowboarders seemed grateful for whatever runs are available this season.
“We’ve been up every weekend,” said Melissa Barry, whose 4-year-old son, James, skied on his own for the first time over the weekend. “It’s so amazing to come up here, and it’s quiet. It’s a magical experience for little kids without too many people.”