Mountain Blog

What an incredible weekend of skiing this past weekend. Smiling faces, sunny weather, and great snow, it was a terrific time to be at Pajarito. As we look forward to this weekend, we are planning to be open Friday-Sunday. Friday we will be running the Beginner, Magic Carpet and Aspen lifts, with Mother added for Saturday and Sunday. We are planning to groom and open more terrain, check our snow report for more details as we get closer to the weekend. 

We will have lessons available, and the cafe will be open, but we still will not have the rental shop ...

It’s going to be a great weekend at Pajarito, with a foot of fresh powder on the ground. Winter has FINALLY arrived. We’ll have the beginner lift, the magic carpet, Aspen and Mother open for all your powder fun. The cafe will be running, as well as the store, plus lessons. We’re working on getting rentals available soon. Come out and enjoy an amazing weekend, we can’t wait to welcome back all of our friends! 

 

We are so glad to see the snow fly! We’ll be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week with the Beginner lift, Magic Carpet, and Aspen open. I’m really hoping to get Mother open for Saturday and Sunday. Stay tuned to our social media for information on that. 

Here are a few details about this weekend: 

The Cafe will be serving limited food from 11a-3p

No rentals. Please visit Cottam’s in Santa Fe for rentals. 

Store is open 8:30a-3:30p

Lessons are available, reserve online at www.pajarito.ski

Tickets start at $27, and are available online by clicking here

Look forward to seeing you! 

Saturday’s Opening Day was a delight! While we had extremely limited terrain open, the people who came had a fantastic time, with lots of families and kids skiing, snowboarding and having a lot of fun. It was terrific to see all the smiling faces. We also enjoyed seeing our longtime pass holders out supporting us and enjoying a perfect bluebird day. It was encouraging for our staff to get back to what we are trained to do — provide the freedom to ski! We’re watching the weather and anticipating this storm system to dump so we can open more of ...

We finally got the snow we needed! We will be opening January 29-30 to test the waters and see if the snow will stick around to keep up open! We’re expecting a dusting tonight, and more snow, up to 7″ is in the forecast. 

We are opening the Beginner’s Lift ONLY with only the beginner runs open. A current lack of staffing and snow coverage makes opening the rest of the mountain impossible this weekend, but we are working hard to get our “on deck” staff up and ready for next weekend, when we hope to open much more terrain. 

 

A few ...

Well. The weekend was a bust. However, OpenSnow and NOAA are producing another weather disturbance this week and February is looking more promising for precipitation. It’s been a dry January across the Southwest.

 

Work continues on the mountain with Dog Patch cleared of trees and compactor bar work completed. Sundance has the trees removed and compactor bar work has been started.  The main bodies of the trail network still have a pretty good base with our usual troublesome areas showing the wear from sun and warm temps.  The Volunteer crew has done some more burning of fallen wood so we are ...

Photo by @kati-explores January 5, 2022

It looks like NOAA weather is showing some snow this week! Wednesday evening and Friday evening into Saturday is predicting snow showers.  I don’t know if there will be enough snow from these weather disturbances to get much snow, but at least it is a change in the pattern. It was very warm over the weekend, our bare patches have grown a bit, but the main trails seem to be holding up well – and preserving our base.  Our fingers are crossed for enough snow.  Work on the mountain continues!  Come on SNOW — ...

Photo Courtesy of Brian Foley

We are working hard over here! From the volunteers to the mountain ops team, we are humming.   The mountain, despite warmer temps, has been holding up pretty well. The forecast is constantly changing on upcoming snow, so we’re not counting on that. We are still experiencing staffing issues and are getting together a plan to help us get open. I’m not ready to announce an opening day yet, but hopefully soon! If we can get a little more snow….   The team has been working hard on the slopes with a compacter and doing some grooming, with ...

Dear Pajarito Family: 

As you witnessed the New Year’s storm at Pajarito, no doubt many of you are scratching your heads asking “why isn’t Pajarito open?” While it looks snowy and beautiful up here, we are encountering several challenges to opening. We love winter and know you do, too, and no doubt you’re as eager as we are to hit our slopes. 

First, we are experiencing some staffing issues. Omicron has hit Pajarito. Most of our employees have been sick or in quarantine due to COVID. In addition, we are finding it extremely difficult to find employees to work. From our cafe ...

Another Season Comes to a Close….

With high temps, spring has sprung, and Pajarito closes out the 2020/2021 season. We are so grateful to have the opportunity to give our guests the opportunity to ski our beloved mountain. This year has brought many challenges, from COVID-19 to drought-like conditions. I’d like to take the time to thank all of our loyal passholders and guests for their continued support, and the few powder days we shared were awesome! Thanks, too, to the mountain operations and base operations staff for their perseverance and dedication this season. As well, I’d like to thank our ...

Great news! We have approval from the state to open — all we need now are cold temperatures and some cooperation from Mother Nature. Our original opening date was to be December 11, but with the lack of moisture, we are pushing that date until there is more snow on the ground. Hopefully, this week’s storm will provide much-needed snow that will allow us to open before the holidays. 

We have been busy preparing the base area to comply with New Mexico regulations regarding COVID and our resort team and volunteers have been prepping the mountain. 

 

 

@nathan.burnside

An Update on Winter 2020/2021

Dear Pajarito Family, 

The unique challenges over the last five months have tested our resiliency, but they haven’t dampened our spirits. Never has our mission to give people the freedom to ski felt more important than right now. 

The scheduled opening day for Pajarito Mountain is TBD. Our crews are busy preparing the slopes, lifts, and all other services in anticipation of snow! We can’t wait to welcome our guests back to enjoy skiing and riding

Skiing and snowboarding are inherently low COVID risk activities, it’s the ancillary services that require more thought and planning. We have ...

Getting the Mountain Ready for a Terrific Season

Autumn is looking fantastic on Pajarito this week. Warm days and cool nights have made for some great days for our volunteer chainsaw crew to geton the mountain. They’ve been busy clearing the Fab Four and are heading east to Boomer, clearing dead wood and sprigs to create a smooth surface for this winter. We appreciate them so much! Those piles you see on your hikes up the mountain? Those are our many burn piles. We can’t burn them until after a snow, but as soon as the flakes fall, we’ll start the ...

It is with a heavy heart that I announce that Pajarito Mountain will not be opening for summer operations. With all the COVID restrictions and social distancing guidelines in place, we can’t make it happen. It’s simply not sustainable for us to be open at a reduced capacity. We are saddened to miss out on Summerfest, but at this time we just can’t find a way to host those big events in a safer way. 

But remember, the mountain itself welcomes you. While our facilities may be closed, the mountain is still here for your enjoyment. We invite you to take ...

Dear Pajarito Passholders: 

What a strange time we find ourselves in. As I reflect on the past winter, I can’t help but think about how grateful I am to you for supporting Pajarito, both in good times and with the abrupt closure of the mountain due to COVID-19. As the pandemic continues to affect all of us, our thoughts and prayers are especially with those who are hurting or grieving, with our essential workers and healthcare workers who are out on the front lines of this thing, and the first responders who are helping us stay safe. 

Throughout slim snow seasons and ...