Gearing up for the season: Ski area opertors always worry about the weather. This season they're also worrying about the after effects of September 11

New Mexico Business Journal, Nov, 2001 by Mike Stauffer

The area's big on-mountain push next season will be the construction of a new triple chair into a new part of the mountain, opening additional intermediate and advanced terrain while spreading skiers and boarders out more on the upper slopes.

Pajarito Mountain

The Las Alamos Ski Club, which owns Pajarito Mountain Ski Area, has hired Norm McKinnon as the new general manager at the mountain. McKinnon has managed Mt. Hood Meadows, Mt. Ashland and Boreal. The old lodge has been renovated, expanding the size of the old retail area and allowing the relocation of the ski area's offices from town to the mountain. Also new is a coffee cafe in the main lodge; the ski club also invested in state-of-the-art tuning equipment to service skiers, boarders and Pajarito's rental skis and boards.

On the slopes, six runs are being changed from single black to double black: Little Mother, Oops, Nuther Mother, Sidewinder, Breathless and Precious. Off the slopes is a new, larger directional sign, making the Pajarito turnoff easier to find.

Enchanted Forest

Enchanted Forest, the state's only cross country siding facility, is still waiting word from the U.S. Forest Service on a possible expansion into new terrain to the east of the area this winter, which would increase trail capacity from 26 to 30 kilometers.

Judy Miller, co-owner of the Enchanted Forest, said the area had about 4,500 skier visits last year, compared to 1,300 the year before. "After the year before, it was a great year for us," Miller said. But she added that 4,500 are still down from the ski area's heyday in the mid-1990s, when 7,000 skiers a season was not uncommon. The slide has been gradual," she said, "and I think that is true industry-wide. We don't just compete with downhill, we compete with cruise lines that offer family fares, with Las Vegas (Nev.), with anyone in the family recreation business."

MIKE STAUFFER IF A FREELANCE WRITER BASED IN TAOS.