Any advice about Ski Apache (Ruidoso, NM?)

[weHEARTmickey]

My Mom was supposed to go with us on this trip. Watching her kids+grandkids ski was the 2nd thing on her "bucket list." You may have seen my "whale watching" thread last year, where Mom got to live out her #1 dream the week before she died of breast cancer. My two brothers, my DH, DD10, & DS7 are still taking this ski trip, even though Mom can't be there. So it will be a special, yet hard trip for all of us. Thanks for any advice you can offer. You were all so helpful with planning the whale watching trip.

We leave Fri am for a week of snow skiing. (Unfortunately, we'll be skiing on man-made FAKE snow) Just wondering if anyone knows of any ski lift deals? Who's the best shop to rent ski equipment from? Any good restaurants around? God bless you

 

[weHEARTmickey]

 

[nunzia]

I live less than an hour from Ruidoso. You might go to the Inn of the Mountain Gods website and see if they have anything offered. I know if you stay there they often have packages that include skiiing. Have you tried the Ruidoso city website? They might have coupons. It's been pretty darn warm so far this year, so am not surprised there is no real snow. Now LAST year...we got hit pretty hard. There are several nice non chain restaurants in Ruidoso, a big city quality theater (Spencer) that might have a show for you to see, The Museum of the Horse by the Racetrack is fun and of course, you can always lose money at the Inn or the second casino run by the Mescalero Apaches, the Travel Center. I have seen several ski rental shops on the main drag through Ruidoso (Sudderth), but don't know that one is better than the other. If you have time there is also neat stuff to see in Lincoln (Billy the Kid) and just an overall pretty area to explore. Really, I'd check out the Ruidoso site for info and ideas
Have fun!

 

[weHEARTmickey]

Thank you Nunzia We are staying in a timeshare condo, so we won't be eligible for any "stay & play" type discounts. DH & I don't gamble, but my brothers do. Hopefully they won't spend too much time at the casinos. I have looked at several different websites, but I'll check out all the places you mentioned. Thanks for your help!

 

[malibuconlee]

Where are you staying? Ski Apache is quite the drive from Ruidoso itself. I didn't realize you go up the mountain and down into the valley on the other side to get to the lifts. Plan on at least an hour from Ruidoso and the road itself is quite interesting especially in the large truck we were driving.

Personally I find Ruidoso to be more adult oriented with the casinos. Wilmons Prime Grill has fantastic food, but is expensive and not sure it's very child oriented.

Hall of Flame Burgers were much better than I thought they would be.

On skiing days I would definitely just plan to eat lunch at Ski Apache's restaurant. Haven't actually been there during ski season, we made the drive up when we were camping in the area last year and everything was closed for the season.

If you are just out exploring other towns in the area Cloudcroft is a cute little town. The Lodge there has excellent food. We ate there a couple of months ago when we were camping outside of town.

We live in El Paso and I was surprised to see anyone talk about Ski Apache! Where are you driving in from?

Also, sorry about the loss of your mother.

 

[jstbcuz]

My uncle lives in Alto, which is right close to Ski Apache. Ive been several times to visit him, but I've never gone skiing, so cant give any advice on that.

I do know that there are several interesting places around. We went to Lincoln, Cloudcroft, Alamagordo, and even drove to see White Sands.

 

[nunzia]

Where are you staying? Ski Apache is quite the drive from Ruidoso itself. I didn't realize you go up the mountain and down into the valley on the other side to get to the lifts. Plan on at least an hour from Ruidoso and the road itself is quite interesting especially in the large truck we were driving.

Personally I find Ruidoso to be more adult oriented with the casinos. Wilmons Prime Grill has fantastic food, but is expensive and not sure it's very child oriented.

Hall of Flame Burgers were much better than I thought they would be.

On skiing days I would definitely just plan to eat lunch at Ski Apache's restaurant. Haven't actually been there during ski season, we made the drive up when we were camping in the area last year and everything was closed for the season.

If you are just out exploring other towns in the area Cloudcroft is a cute little town. The Lodge there has excellent food. We ate there a couple of months ago when we were camping outside of town.

We live in El Paso and I was surprised to see anyone talk about Ski Apache! Where are you driving in from?

Also, sorry about the loss of your mother.

Hello El Paso!!
Yes..it's quite a drive from Ruidoso itself and the road is kinda..well..can be awful.
Cloudcroft just had a bad fire this week and a good chunk of the historic shopping district was lost but the Lodge would be a very nice experience. We love it there..so pretty.

 

[malibuconlee]

I had missed that about Cloudcroft! That's too bad.

 

[apnep]

My Mom was supposed to go with us on this trip. Watching her kids+grandkids ski was the 2nd thing on her "bucket list." You may have seen my "whale watching" thread last year, where Mom got to live out her #1 dream the week before she died of breast cancer.

OP,I hope you know you're mom is still going to be with you on that ski trip and that you all have a wonderful time in her memory.

We live in El Paso and I was surprised to see anyone talk about Ski Apache!

Wow! First post I've seen from El Paso, but I knew it wouldn't be long before I saw one. That's my hometown! I'm also a Miner.

Sure could use some good Mexican food right about now.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

I have no advice ~ but I hope you have fun! But... who goes to NM to ski - next time come to UT *we have the greatest snow on Earth ya know?? It also seems a little early to be skiing, not enough good snow...

I'm sure it'll be beautiful

ETA ~ why we have the "greatest" snow ~

From Wikipedia ~ *Lake Effect Snow
The southern and southeastern sides of the Great Salt Lake receive significant lake-effect snow. Since the Great Salt Lake never freezes, the lake-effect can affect the weather along the Wasatch Front year around. The lake-effect largely contributes to the 55–80 inches (140–200 cm) annual snowfall amounts recorded south and east of the lake, and in average snowfall reaching 500 inches (1,300 cm) in the Wasatch Range. The snow, which is often very light and dry because of the desert climate, is referred to as "The Greatest Snow on Earth" in the mountains. Lake-effect snow contributes to approximately 6-8 snowfalls per year in Salt Lake City, with approximately 10% of the city's precipitation being contributed by the phenomenon.

 

[weHEARTmickey]

We are staying in Ruidoso b/c my dad gave us a timeshare week to keep the costs down. We got the LAST AVAILABLE RCI condo in ANY ski resort w/in driving distance of Texas. So, I'm sure it's going to be an amazing resort. We had just realized that 2 bros & 1 sis couldn't afford the whale watching trip, so Mom still wanted SOME sort of trip w/ the whole family. Soooooo, THAT is how we ended up in Ruidoso

My lil' family & I skied (how in the world do you spell that?) in Taos, New Mexico Thanksgiving 2006. *Surprise* there was no snow then, either. We thought SURELY we'd get some snow in mid-December! No such luck. In fact, I'm thinking: if you ever wanna go snow skiing, just make sure you avoid the state we're heading to!

And, yes, I know Mom will be with us in spirit Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!