Northern New Mexico ski areas beef up staffs, embrace tech as ski season set to begin

Nov. 14—Sipapu Ski and Summer Resort, as customary, will be the first Northern New Mexico ski area to open Friday, and Sandia Peak already is the first to cancel its entire 2022-23 season after also canceling the 2021-22 season because snow did not come to Albuquerque until late January.

The worker shortage plaguing the American economy since mid-2021 continues to make hiring an ordeal at local ski areas, but they are reporting adequate staffing as other ski areas plan to open Thanksgiving weekend and into December.

Natural snowfall has dusted the region, and the nights have been cold enough for snow-making on selected runs, unlike last year's balmy November nights.

Opening days will have limited runs available everywhere — unless a snow dump comes in the meantime.

Ski Santa Fe, scheduled to open Nov. 24 — Thanksgiving Day, will have the Santa Fe Super Chief quad (four-person) lift open to bring skiers to the one run that snow-making will have adequately covered: Upper Midland, Midland, Lower Midland and Easy Street.

"We're making snow from the top of the quad to the base," Ski Santa Fe operations manager Tommy Long said. "Depending on what Mother Nature gives us, that can change drastically."

Sipapu will open with the Bambi beginner run available.

"We will have the beginner run open from top to bottom," said Cristiana Hudson, marketing director for Sipapu and Pajarito Mountain. "In the past, we have not had a beginner run."

Taos Ski Valley, the state's largest ski area, plans to open Nov. 24 with Lift 1 and the Pioneer lift serving the beginner area running, and the Powderhorn and lower portion of White Feather trails open, CEO David Norden said.

"We are ahead of what we have typically seen in the past [with snow-making]," Norden said. "Our goal is to open new terrain and additional lifts as quickly as possible."

Norden expects to have a full complement of 800 employees in place by Christmas. Taos Ski Valley was the first ski resort to become a B Corp benefit corporation, and it just announced it was awarded CarbonNeutral certification by Climate Impact Partners.

"There is a buzz," Norden said. "People want to be here. Our talent pipeline has been robust and strong."

Taos Ski Valley has created employee housing for about 220 employees. Six or seven years ago, Norden said, the number was 10 percent of that. TSV set its minimum wage at $17.10 per hour, the appropriate living wage assigned to Taos County by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"The median [employee] wage is well above $20," Norden said.

Norden estimates 80 percent to 85 percent of lift tickets are now bought in advance online, even months ahead of a visit. And many more people are renting boots and skis online now than just three or four years ago.

"Five, six years ago, there were long lines at the ticket windows," he said. "That has gone away."

Ski areas had to create new reservation systems during the pandemic to meet visitor limitation requirements. That played into Taos Ski Valley's "quality over quantity" philosophy.

"We do pricing based on day of week and week of year," Norden said. While this has been done for several years, he said, "It's done much more diligently now. We're trying to move people from peak periods to off-peak periods. We are trying to avoid high peak days."

Red River Ski & Summer Area has a Nov. 23 opening posted but will only be open through Nov. 27. It will then reopen the following weekend, Dec. 2-4, then open seven days a week starting Dec. 9.

Hiring has been a bear for Ski Santa Fe, which received 85 applicants at a Nov. 5-6 job fair seeking 150 workers, and had a second job fair Saturday.

"I think the worker shortage is similar this year to last year," Long said. "This year, we're trying to be pretty aggressive to get out in the community."

Ski Santa Fe ultimately needs 300-plus employees. Starting pay is $14.50 per hour, with higher wages based on experience.

"I think we'll get pretty close," Long said. "I think the people who are coming out are excited and enthusiastic. We just need more."

Hiring at Sipapu is better this year than last. The resort held a job fair in October, but Sipapu is still eager to hire.

"People can get hired on the spot if they are a good fit," Hudson said. "I think everyone is struggling right now still. There is not a silver bullet for what the solution is."

Sipapu does not have a shortage of high-tech innovation.

"We don't sell tickets at the ticket window anymore," Hudson said. "You have to buy tickets online. How can we make it easier for people to ski? I can purchase a ticket online. I can go straight to the lift. You can order rentals online and skip that line."

Pajarito Mountain, owned by the same company as Sipapu, expects to open in early to mid-December, as the Los Alamos ski area relies on natural snow.

Ski Santa Fe is bringing back the OnePass, which was introduced in 2020 in the depths of the coronavirus pandemic when there was uncertainty with government restrictions on capacity and whether the ski areas would remain open.

"It's our pay-as-you-go product," Long said. "You activate it by the day. That was a major change for us."

Ski Santa Fe still has an in-person ticket booth, but online sales are brisk.

Angel Fire Resort expects to open half its runs Dec. 16 and be fully open for the Christmas-New Year's week. Angel Fire traditionally has the latest opening in Northern New Mexico (unless Pajarito doesn't get enough natural snow).

"A lot of it is dictated by school schedules," marketing director Greg Ralph said. "Most of our skiers are destination skiers — young families from Amarillo, Lubbock, Dallas or Albuquerque and Santa Fe."

Angel Fire isn't experiencing a labor crunch. Starting pay for most positions is $18 to $20 per hour.

"We are kind of surprised," Ralph said. "We have over 300 seasonal workers. We already have 180 workers. We will get 80 international workers just before we open. Sixty are returning workers."

Ralph said Angel Fire aggressively recruits at job fairs and colleges, especially New Mexico State University, the University of New Mexico and Adams State University in Alamosa, Colo.

Angel Fire has a new automated walk-up kiosk, where people can buy tickets without interacting with anyone, and the ticket office is still open. Like many ski areas, Angel Fire has embraced online advance ticket and rental sales.

"People want to know they have reservations in advance," Ralph said. "Before, just lodging was done in advance. Now they want to get tickets and rentals in advance as well."