ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – For Burqueños who love to ski, it doesn’t get much easier than a quick drive up to Sandia Peak. 

“I lived in Albuquerque for a decade, Sandia is very familiar for me. So, for me personally, this is fantastic. I am excited, and we are all excited that we are bringing more skiing to people in Albuquerque and the surrounding areas,” said Stacey Glaser, head of marketing of Mountain Capital Partners. 

For the past couple of years they’ve had to travel a little farther to enjoy the slopes. Now, thanks to a partnership with Mountain Capital Partners, officials are hopeful to open Sandia Peak Ski Area in the near future. 

“We are focused 100% on preparations. We are finalizing things with the Abruzzo’s, we are working with the Cibola National Forest, and we are really focused on getting our lifts operational. So there is a lot of work that is going into how we can finally get Sandia to open,” said Glaser. 

Sandia Peak hasn’t set an opening date for this season, but it isn’t out of the realm of possibility. 

“Once we have our agreement in place with the Abruzzo’s our first step will be lifts, then moving on to snow making. No snow making guns at the moment, but those will be in our sights soon,” Glaser said. 

They also have jobs posted for Sandia Peak operators on their website for anyone that is interested.

“We have a small team right now, but we will be moving very quickly once we have those agreements,” said Glaser. 

Up north in Sipapu you can already see the snow piling up on their ski cameras.

“Sipapu is scheduled to be the first ski area to open in New Mexico, they will be opening on Nov. 17. They’ve got snow guns going out there, they have been ahead of the curb, but we are still waiting to announce exactly the trails that will be open, but I would encourage people to follow them on their website,” said Glaser.

Just a few miles south, Ski Santa Fe has been making snow for about a week. With a record-breaking year for visitors last season, they are ready for another strong season.

“Last year was one of our best years in a long time. We had close to 200,000 skiers come and visit us last year. The outlook for this year is for a very strong El Niño which means good snowfall for us. We are anticipating having a fantastic ski season,” said Ben Abruzzo with Ski Santa Fe.

They are on track to open on Thanksgiving.

“We’ve had our hiring affair, and we’ve hired quite a bit of our staff, there are still some open positions, but we are looking good in that department,” said Abruzzo.

South of Santa Fe, Ski Apache is also in good shape. Between natural snow and their snow machine they aren’t anticipating any setbacks from their Nov. 25 opening date.

“The snow factory produces us about three acres of snow that builds our base. We still need more natural as well as snow making and we get there. It usually takes us two weeks of hardcore snow making,” said Ken Marlatt, the director of Ski Apache.

For those who can’t wait to hit the slopes, Wolf Creek is opening up Nov. 11, 2023.

“We get a lot of skiers from New Mexico. We are hoping New Mexico has a good season. When all the ski areas are open it is better than when only one place is open,” said Davey Pitcher, with Wolf Creek Ski Area.

The ski resort will have their beginner lift open with the Nova and Susan’s trails for skiers and snowboarders.

“We were hoping for more snow, but we also think people would like to come up, maybe try their boots, get a little fresh air. Maybe try out the deck and have a burger and enjoy the day. We are excited to get the ball rolling,” said Pitcher.