New Mexico & SW Colorado Road Trip
New Mexico is not often the first place people think of when they think skiing or snowboarding in the USA however they have some nice small to medium ski areas such as Angel Fire Resort, Red River Ski Area, Ski Apache and Ski Santa Fe and the big kahuna;
Taos Ski Valley.
New Mexico doesn't receive the abundant snow falls that Colorado is renowned for however due to its dessert location and high-elevation the snow quality can be exceptional. But it is not all about the skiing & snow boarding; travelling around New Mexico is a highlight with its rich history, diverse culture, dessert landscapes and unique architecture.
Conversely
Colorado is famous for its incredible world-class ski resorts and abundant falls of quality snow. In south-west Colorado you will also find some great ski towns, ski resorts that aren't as busy as those around Denver, some of the highest snowfalls in Colorado (and the USA for that matter), and spectacular mountain scenery.
This is one of the best road-trips we have ever done in the USA and look forward to doing it again in the future.
Check out the map & itinerary for this awesome trip here >>
Getting There
You can start this trip anywhere you please as it is your self-guided adventure after all!
If you are planning on visiting ski areas in New Mexico, Albuquerue is the best option with the most domestic flight options and no problems with inclement weather.
Check out flight options here >>
Getting Around
All of the roads on this trip are major or minor highways so they are well patrolled and cleared of snow regularly.
There are a couple of mountain passes so we would recommend you rent an SUV AWD or 4WD with winter tread tyres as a minimum.
Check out car rental options here >>
Where To Stay
On-Mountain
Many of the ski areas on this trip (apart from Silverton and Wolf Creek) have on-mountain lodging. However this always comes at a premium and can be more difficult to check in to due to it being in the snow so if you are only going to visit for a day or two it may not be worth the hassle and the extra cost.
View on-mountain lodging options here...
Ski Towns
This trip visits some of the best western towns in the USA such as Taos, Durango, Pagosa, Silverton & Telluride. Winter is mostly off-season for these towns so competition is generally ripe with great value lodgings to be found. Telluride is the exception here which it is a true ski town where the lifts go directly out of the town and the runs come back in to town.
If you are only hitting an area for a night or 2, staying in a nearby town is a simpler and more economical option.
View down-town lodging here...
Lift Tickets
Telluride is covered by the EPIC pass (7-days) and Taos is covered by the IKON Pass (7-days) & the Mountain Collective (2-Days); so if you have either of these passes you will be able to use them at the respective resorts.
The other independent ski areas don't belong to any discount passes as far as we are aware however their day-tickets are generally substantially cheaper than the major resorts on the passes above.
Planning Your Trip
My Powderhounds
To help you plan and manage your trip, we at Powderhounds.com have created a helpful tool called "My Powderhounds" whereby you can add anything of interest on our website to a "trip list".
For example you might create a trip list called "New Mexico & SW Colorado 2024". Or "Bucket List Tour in Colorado".
In that list you can add items like resorts you want to visit, details within those resorts like activities pages, accommodation listing pages and / or specific properties you are interested in, heli skiing, cat skiing and other tours you might be interested in....pretty much anything on the website.
You can also invite family and friends to view & comment on lists you choose to share so everyone can have their say and you can eliminate items like resorts that don't make the short-list.
And once you are on the road you can always refer back to your list to book tours & lodging.
Get started adding items & sharing here >>