Studied snow hydrology at Colorado with Professor Noah Molotch and I wanted to mention “Dry” snow (low snow-water equivalent or SWE) has nothing to do with dry climate; rather, it is simply a function of lower air temperature at different heights in the atmosphere that lead to the formation of spikier “Dendrites” (the quintessential 6 sided shape) that traps lots of air between them and hold their shape. The interior west UT CO WY NM it’s famous for its “dry” “blower” pow because the typical conditions that bring in storms in the winter (a trough in the jet stream) also bring in much colder air than other places. Alaska and interior BC will often get “blower” despite being humid because it gets COLD.
As opposed to the common atmospheric conditions that bring snow to Cali, an Atmospheric river, that pulls relatively warm air from the ocean. Or a Nor’easter, that will bring relatively warmer air from the Atlantic. Parts of CO get “wetter” snow on average than others even for the same reason. The San Juan’s get snow from Southwest winds from generally warmer storms whereas the park range (snowiest in CO) gets snow from West or northwest winds from deeper fronts and gets much colder “dry” snow in spite of being several thousand feet lower
Grew up at ski Apache. No one believes me when I say we have a 12k elevation peak in southern NM… we had several great years back in the day… El Niño 1996/1997 we got 430 inches! Glen Plake came and visited and I showed him around as a 6th grader! Haha
the infrastructure there is falling apart, in addition to the fires that ravaged the area. this place could be a hidden gem with some cash and ruidoso is a great mountain town nobody ever heard of.
I used to live in El Paso on the Texas/mexico border. It was crazy that I could drive two hours north and get some decent skiing in at Apache, then I’d come back home and it would be 75 and sunny. Texas was bringing in a lot of visitors when I was there back in 2017-2019.
Mom and Pop hills are alive and well in NW, like Sipapu, Red River, even Santa Fe to some extent. ABQ is an underrated outdoors city. Taos is truly incredible when the snow is good but you want to go in February or March for sure. Have gotten really burned a couple times there trying to go earlier in the winter (and once in February in a really low tide year). I’d recommend waiting until the holiday season to plan that February trip to ensure the snowpack is looking good to start the winter. When it’s good I’m not sure there’s anywhere I’d rather be, seriousky
Lived in Taos for a year. Amazing skiing and very good for expert level riders. The altitude is definitely hard to get used to as the base is 1300ft higher than my home mountains summit
I just can't see it. Average 184 in snowfall being ranked above places like Alta, Snowbird, Mammoth, Kirkwood, Palisades, A-Basin, Crested Butte, Wolf Creek, Copper, Winter Park, Aspen Highlands, Mt Baker, Jackson Hole, Whistler etc not sure what the advantage could be, less crowds maybe? But I skied A-Basin and Winter Park/Mary Jane all last spring and never waited in a lift line for more that about 2 minutes.
@@proverbalizerfirst of all, if you’re an expert, the terrain at Taos is probably #1. And I’ve skied CB, Alta, Snowbird, A-Basin, etc. It’s close, but Taos edges them out when it comes to expert terrain imo. The quality of snow in Taos is also as good as it gets. I skied last year in Taos, followed by Alta the next week- Taos had received less than half of the snowfall of Alta, but I swear the snow was better at Taos. It was like pure chalk. And because Taos is extremely high, north facing, and has incredibly low humidity, the snow remains light during dry spells. A local even told me that the sun sucks moisture out of the snow, making it even drier/lighter during sunny weather. Taos is known for getting 40” inch dumps, too… Combine all this with the culture and food (green chile?!) and it’s an incredible experience.
I camped near Ski Santa Fe this summer. Never heard of the resort prior to our trip. The mountain looks amazing and I would love to come back and ski it!
If I didn't live in Colorado and all it's glory, I'd probably limit my U.S. snowboarding to New Mexico. They're still hanging on to the mountain culture before corporations killed it. Saw a spontaneous parking lot grill out at Apache five years ago, basically unheard of in Colorado now.
@ I’m not arguing. I’m saying what I do and what my East Coast friends do. Colorado is about as expensive if you’re flying from one of the coasts. Ask me how I know.
The best thing about Taos is plopping down on the lift and ending up sitting next to an acquaintance you know from town! At $650 for a season pass is a bargain too in today's world, and the food is actually good at the resort. Objectively, the area is slightly hampered by being so steep with warm stretches between storms icing it some and exposing a lot of obstacles, but they do the best with the terrain and what the weather gives them.
8:53 where is Pajarito? They get an average annual 125 inches, 23/24 season got 172 inches. This year they opened the entire mountain on nov 9th with 30-40 inches of snowfall. 1440 vertical drop, summit 10,440 base 9,000, 300 skiable acres. The views are also REALLY good, as you ski you can see the caldera, a bunch of mountains, on some runs you can look over Los Alamos especially townsite (hence the name) I just love Pajarito highly recommend it.
Your numbers on average snowfall are way off. Ski Santa fe gets 224. Sandia peak is 117. I know this live i here. You reported 27 inches for samdia because google says that, only because last year we opened late due to ownership change and they only reported the last month of the season. Its 117 has been for a long time. Used to be higher when i was a kid.
new mexico skiing/riding is only as good as the snow. but when it's good, it's really good. great place to go for a week to explore the numerous ski resorts which are relatively close by, with many of the other areas of interest as well. (los alamos. santa fe, taos pueblo) props to PR for giving NM its well deserved props.
Please be more accurate with annual snowfall totals. 27" is obviously bad data for Sandia. Their website says 117". You were way off in New Hampshire too. Tarnishes otherwise great videos.
@@PeakRankings just keep it those, please. many of those others are struggling and don't need your usual in depth truthful review (not fair to compare them to the big boys). simple highlights of pros, cons and expectations would be nice though.
environmental activists (sierra club and everything is sacred to native americans) there's also a handful of peaks in the state that could really support a ski area weatherwise and they would need man made help.
vt is plagued by small mountains and little amount of snow due to freezing elevation being too high.. NM atleast has 12000' (3500m) mountains so the freezing elevation would usually be below that so any precipitation = snow.
6:04 - Glaring error! Really, really, really bad geographical error - I have to question the accuracy of any of your videos. Wheeler Peak is in Nevada. You got the picture correct. Wheeler is just over 13,000 feet, New Mexico has many peaks taller. More scenic than California? You've never gazed upon the Ritter Range from Mammoth Mtn. Also, if you are going to rave about "Blower Powder" than please have blower footage - instead we saw firm, and chunky wet spring conditions. And, New Mexico was already on my ski bucket list.
...and if you're "that dad" who dragged his wife and kids to weeks in the usual suspects resorts, then saw them have 5x the fun and relaxation at Red River...
I took my wife and kids to red river a couple years ago. Kids had a blast (wife hates skiing) and ticket are half what they are in Colorado and the lodging was extremely reasonable as well. I don’t see a reason to pay Colorado prices so my kids can ride the bunny hill all week haha
Very small nitpick: there are actually two major summits called Wheeler Peak in the US. One is in New Mexico and the other one is in Nevada. The peak pictured in the video is the Wheeler Peak in Nevada. Regardless, great video!
I grew up snowboarding, taos didnt allow us as they used to ban snowboarders in the early 2000s still, so we never went. Angel fire was pretty fun, ski santa fe was ok, riodoso at ski apache was average but had cool views of white sands at the peaks. I moved back to OR from west TX and skiing resorts were just better overall. I took up skiing in recent years and its all I do now, not sure if taos ever changed the anti snowboarding rule. NM is definitely a unique state and fits the land of enchantment title
Wanna explain how you ended up with an uncredited photo of the wrong Wheeler Peak on this monetized video? Did you take that photo yourself and have amnesia about what state you were in or did you just type "Wheeler Peak" into Google images and carelessly steal someone else's photo of the wrong mountain without attributing it?
Studied snow hydrology at Colorado with Professor Noah Molotch and I wanted to mention “Dry” snow (low snow-water equivalent or SWE) has nothing to do with dry climate; rather, it is simply a function of lower air temperature at different heights in the atmosphere that lead to the formation of spikier “Dendrites” (the quintessential 6 sided shape) that traps lots of air between them and hold their shape. The interior west UT CO WY NM it’s famous for its “dry” “blower” pow because the typical conditions that bring in storms in the winter (a trough in the jet stream) also bring in much colder air than other places. Alaska and interior BC will often get “blower” despite being humid because it gets COLD.
As opposed to the common atmospheric conditions that bring snow to Cali, an Atmospheric river, that pulls relatively warm air from the ocean. Or a Nor’easter, that will bring relatively warmer air from the Atlantic. Parts of CO get “wetter” snow on average than others even for the same reason. The San Juan’s get snow from Southwest winds from generally warmer storms whereas the park range (snowiest in CO) gets snow from West or northwest winds from deeper fronts and gets much colder “dry” snow in spite of being several thousand feet lower
Hokkaido is a good example of a humid place with no shortage of dry powder
Grew up at ski Apache. No one believes me when I say we have a 12k elevation peak in southern NM… we had several great years back in the day… El Niño 1996/1997 we got 430 inches! Glen Plake came and visited and I showed him around as a 6th grader! Haha
the infrastructure there is falling apart, in addition to the fires that ravaged the area. this place could be a hidden gem with some cash and ruidoso is a great mountain town nobody ever heard of.
❤ beautiful
Me too, but in the 80's when it was Sierra Blanca! It seemed like we had good snow every year back then. So many great days!
The season opens there in 2 days! I'm stoked.
I used to live in El Paso on the Texas/mexico border. It was crazy that I could drive two hours north and get some decent skiing in at Apache, then I’d come back home and it would be 75 and sunny. Texas was bringing in a lot of visitors when I was there back in 2017-2019.
That’s so sick
I absolutely LOVE Taos. It has one of the most unique ski cultures and vibes I've ever experienced.
Mom and Pop hills are alive and well in NW, like Sipapu, Red River, even Santa Fe to some extent. ABQ is an underrated outdoors city.
Taos is truly incredible when the snow is good but you want to go in February or March for sure. Have gotten really burned a couple times there trying to go earlier in the winter (and once in February in a really low tide year). I’d recommend waiting until the holiday season to plan that February trip to ensure the snowpack is looking good to start the winter. When it’s good I’m not sure there’s anywhere I’d rather be, seriousky
Lived in Taos for a year. Amazing skiing and very good for expert level riders. The altitude is definitely hard to get used to as the base is 1300ft higher than my home mountains summit
Taos in a lot of people's Top 5. Even Top 3. And that's plenty of folks that have skied Colorado, Utah and Cali.
So right
I just can't see it. Average 184 in snowfall being ranked above places like Alta, Snowbird, Mammoth, Kirkwood, Palisades, A-Basin, Crested Butte, Wolf Creek, Copper, Winter Park, Aspen Highlands, Mt Baker, Jackson Hole, Whistler etc
not sure what the advantage could be, less crowds maybe? But I skied A-Basin and Winter Park/Mary Jane all last spring and never waited in a lift line for more that about 2 minutes.
Stop exposing us!!!
@@proverbalizer Yes a higher snowpack is better but that's not the main or only factor used to determine how good a resort is
@@proverbalizerfirst of all, if you’re an expert, the terrain at Taos is probably #1. And I’ve skied CB, Alta, Snowbird, A-Basin, etc. It’s close, but Taos edges them out when it comes to expert terrain imo. The quality of snow in Taos is also as good as it gets. I skied last year in Taos, followed by Alta the next week- Taos had received less than half of the snowfall of Alta, but I swear the snow was better at Taos. It was like pure chalk. And because Taos is extremely high, north facing, and has incredibly low humidity, the snow remains light during dry spells. A local even told me that the sun sucks moisture out of the snow, making it even drier/lighter during sunny weather. Taos is known for getting 40” inch dumps, too… Combine all this with the culture and food (green chile?!) and it’s an incredible experience.
I camped near Ski Santa Fe this summer. Never heard of the resort prior to our trip. The mountain looks amazing and I would love to come back and ski it!
Some of the best powder days I have ever had
It’s ok. But a feast or famine condition. Like most of the state.
New Mexico rocks for skiing ....... when the snow happens .... there, it's either snowing .... or the snow is melting .... former NM resident ....
Thanks, Peak Rankings, this is what I haven’t been telling people for years 😉
Please stop telling people
New Mexico also has the best state flag in the US
No don’t tell people!
Great, in-depth review.
Cant wait for a video on Mt. Baker
If I didn't live in Colorado and all it's glory, I'd probably limit my U.S. snowboarding to New Mexico. They're still hanging on to the mountain culture before corporations killed it. Saw a spontaneous parking lot grill out at Apache five years ago, basically unheard of in Colorado now.
NM is a good ski state. But if u had to have bet ur vacation time and $ best go to UT or CO.
@ Nah not Colorado. People are priced out and are going overseas to Switzerland and France instead.
@@ericlane3256Switzerland is not cheap. 😂. And very small fraction of people are traveling to EU to ski. A few Reddit posts is not USA
@ I’m not arguing. I’m saying what I do and what my East Coast friends do. Colorado is about as expensive if you’re flying from one of the coasts. Ask me how I know.
its 3am and i cant get Peak Rankings guy hypnotic voice out of my head, so here we are
Do a video ranking states for skiing
He ranked 10 regions a while back. Wasatch was #1. Tetons/montana #2, CO was #3. PNW came in last
They have. Plenty. And it really depends on ur time and $ budget. And skill level. That’s what make UT and CO great. Something for everyone.
AZ ain't bad, either. Our downhill area was open til Memorial Day last year. Top of the lift is 11,000. The bottom is 9k.
Flagstaff has a lot of potential for expansion. Could easily be 4000 vertical!
That's Wheeler Peak, Great Basin NP Nevada...
Hedge fund superstar Louis Bacon buy in Taos has been a huge positive for New Mexico. Very impressive what he is doing there.
The best thing about Taos is plopping down on the lift and ending up sitting next to an acquaintance you know from town! At $650 for a season pass is a bargain too in today's world, and the food is actually good at the resort. Objectively, the area is slightly hampered by being so steep with warm stretches between storms icing it some and exposing a lot of obstacles, but they do the best with the terrain and what the weather gives them.
Southwestern ski culture is the purest in North America, get there NOW before the corps boow it out
Taos might be the steepest skiing I’ve ever done.
Watching people eat shit on Al’s run from the chair lift could be a whole TV show.
Did you hit cloudcroft? I think it's the furthest south ski resort
8:53 where is Pajarito? They get an average annual 125 inches, 23/24 season got 172 inches. This year they opened the entire mountain on nov 9th with 30-40 inches of snowfall. 1440 vertical drop, summit 10,440 base 9,000, 300 skiable acres. The views are also REALLY good, as you ski you can see the caldera, a bunch of mountains, on some runs you can look over Los Alamos especially townsite (hence the name) I just love Pajarito highly recommend it.
Your numbers on average snowfall are way off. Ski Santa fe gets 224. Sandia peak is 117. I know this live i here. You reported 27 inches for samdia because google says that, only because last year we opened late due to ownership change and they only reported the last month of the season. Its 117 has been for a long time. Used to be higher when i was a kid.
It might be worth mentioning that the towns of both Santa Fe and Taos have a lot to offer for non-skiers or if conditions aren't ideal.
Looks wild. Great video
new mexico skiing/riding is only as good as the snow. but when it's good, it's really good. great place to go for a week to explore the numerous ski resorts which are relatively close by, with many of the other areas of interest as well. (los alamos. santa fe, taos pueblo) props to PR for giving NM its well deserved props.
I know that our average snowfall is low but i don't think those numbers are right
Accurate enough.
hoping for more this season! off to a pretty good start so far
They are quoting on the snow which notoriously underreports
Please be more accurate with annual snowfall totals. 27" is obviously bad data for Sandia. Their website says 117". You were way off in New Hampshire too. Tarnishes otherwise great videos.
Different sources give different numbers. Hard to really pin down actually.
Sandia has opened like 2 days total in the past 3 years plus it's in burque I don't even doubt it
Call me insane, didn't even get the crazy dry snow dump but: I would pick Taos over Whistler every single time as a Double to Triple Diamond skier
Oh shit, triple diamond!?!
Most Americans do not even know that New Mexico is a state or that it has mountains and nine ski areas. Public schools in America are pitiful.
Can we please keep Taos a secret?
I wonder if they are going to start ranking New Mexico ski resorts.
Red River, Angel Fire, and Ski Santa Fe reviews are coming soon!
Actually?!
@@PeakRankings just keep it those, please. many of those others are struggling and don't need your usual in depth truthful review (not fair to compare them to the big boys). simple highlights of pros, cons and expectations would be nice though.
@@Gary-np7hl there's a reason we chose those three 😉
you forgot....deb armstrong skicamp....greetings from chile
@@Ca_milo_G learned to ski from her. 2-3 lessons over 5 years. She's the goat
u still need to do the lift, facilities and terrain upgrades for 2024-25 season
Me encanta Taos.
Looking forward to NM Resort Reviews on Peak Rankings.
Please rank Ski Santa Fe!
Excellent.
gatekeep this information
Taos is amazing!
0:03 First thing I think of is breaking bad.
First, nice video.
What's your home resort? / Home city these days? Would love to ride with you if you're close
NYC! We'll be in VT, CO, UT, CA, MT, WY, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy throughout parts of the winter.
@PeakRankings thank you for the reply. Are you doing Stratton, Killington anytime soon? If so, maybe a peakratings meet up?
@@boardingurban probably just Sugarbush in VT this year - but will keep you posted!
you should do why Arizona is lacking in the Skiing Department
I did work as Ski patrol at Taos and I liked it but now I work at Mount Bachelor
environmental activists (sierra club and everything is sacred to native americans) there's also a handful of peaks in the state that could really support a ski area weatherwise and they would need man made help.
Audio quality seems to be below your best
What about Alabama
Cloudmont doesn't count.
Also, Mt. Lemmon in AZ is even farther south than both!
Wait till they find out Nh and Vt exist
Hopefully they don't 😅. We don't need lines up here 😂
vt is plagued by small mountains and little amount of snow due to freezing elevation being too high.. NM atleast has 12000' (3500m) mountains so the freezing elevation would usually be below that so any precipitation = snow.
@@anonymous134y Vermont gets up to double the highest (Taos) in New Mexico. But yeah, rain sucks!
@@bearclaw5115 Jay and Taos are not even in the same atmosphere
Taos has stuff that will scare the shit out of u!
this is not shocking at all for anyone who lives in the western USA... of course NM, AZ and the entire southwest is filled w/ ski resorts
PLEAAAAAASE METRIC for elevation
so the state right next to colorado has good skiing? oh wow....shocking!
6:04 - Glaring error! Really, really, really bad geographical error - I have to question the accuracy of any of your videos. Wheeler Peak is in Nevada. You got the picture correct. Wheeler is just over 13,000 feet, New Mexico has many peaks taller. More scenic than California? You've never gazed upon the Ritter Range from Mammoth Mtn. Also, if you are going to rave about "Blower Powder" than please have blower footage - instead we saw firm, and chunky wet spring conditions. And, New Mexico was already on my ski bucket list.
There's also a Wheeler Peak in New Mexico, and it is the highest point in New Mexico. But yeah, that photo is definitely the Nevada one.
...and if you're "that dad" who dragged his wife and kids to weeks in the usual suspects resorts, then saw them have 5x the fun and relaxation at Red River...
I took my wife and kids to red river a couple years ago. Kids had a blast (wife hates skiing) and ticket are half what they are in Colorado and the lodging was extremely reasonable as well. I don’t see a reason to pay Colorado prices so my kids can ride the bunny hill all week haha
@rdlangston13 Uncrowdedness and runs ending steps from the town were the biggest sells.
@@mastpgyeah we stayed at auslander condos and it’s right across the parking lot from the ski school
Very small nitpick: there are actually two major summits called Wheeler Peak in the US. One is in New Mexico and the other one is in Nevada. The peak pictured in the video is the Wheeler Peak in Nevada. Regardless, great video!
I grew up snowboarding, taos didnt allow us as they used to ban snowboarders in the early 2000s still, so we never went. Angel fire was pretty fun, ski santa fe was ok, riodoso at ski apache was average but had cool views of white sands at the peaks. I moved back to OR from west TX and skiing resorts were just better overall. I took up skiing in recent years and its all I do now, not sure if taos ever changed the anti snowboarding rule. NM is definitely a unique state and fits the land of enchantment title
Only Deer Valley, Alta and Mad River Glen are skiers only today.
Shhhh! Don't come here! Stay in Colorado!
New Mexico is all rocks and nothing else, all New Mexicans go to Colorado since there is no snow in New Mexico, only rocks....and burritos.
Please delete this. New Mexico does not need to be "found"
Skiing in New Mexico sucks. Go away!
Wanna explain how you ended up with an uncredited photo of the wrong Wheeler Peak on this monetized video? Did you take that photo yourself and have amnesia about what state you were in or did you just type "Wheeler Peak" into Google images and carelessly steal someone else's photo of the wrong mountain without attributing it?
I'm not going. It has the word Mexico in it.
Us New Mexicans need a wall on our northern border to keep the IKONers out