Thursday 2-6 Pajarito Mountain

Having fun skiing down the slopes

Today we woke up to blue skies, wind and 22 degrees. At least there was no snow or ice on the windshield. 

This morning we decided to try out Pajarito Mountain ski area, it is located five miles west of Los Alamos. Pajarito means little bird in Spanish. It is located on property owned by Los Alamos National Laboratory. It opened in 1957 with no water, no toilets, no grooming, no modern lifts and very short slopes. In the late 1960s they purchased an additional 400 acres. In the summer of 2011 the Las Conchas Fire burned 10 of the 44 runs and damaged two chairlifts but they still open for the season with four lifts and 34 runs. They still haven't opened the burned area. The Pajarito Mountain Ski Area was built because the Los Alamos National Laboratory employed people from Europe and they liked to snow ski. They wanted them to have a place to ski.

We had not been to Pajarito Mountain Ski Area before because they were only open on the weekends, now they are open Wednesday thru Sunday. Larry had read if you purchase tickets online the day before or earlier you can get a discount. A couple of nights ago Larry went to their website and was able to get full day lift tickets for $15.00 each. What a deal, today the same ticket was $57. Because we had snow the other day and the temperature has been below freezing we weren't sure if we could get up the mountain without all wheel drive. If we couldn't get up the mountain we were only out $30. Larry didn't have any problems at all, the roads were in great condition. When we got to the top of the mountain the temperature was 12 degrees and there was a little wind but the sun was shining so it didn't feel that cold. 

We were lucky we arrived when we did because a group of 55 kids came in fifteen minutes later. They were prepared for the group, they had their skies and equipment ready for them. They just called their name and handed the child their equipment.

We were a little disappointed because they were only running two lifts. They are going to run a third one tomorrow. We got there a bit before 9:00 and were done about noon, we were tired. It was our third day of skiing. The trails were wide and well groomed. The employees were friendly. We had lunch at the lodge, we had a bratwurst sandwich and an order of onion rings. The food was delicious.

Welcome to Pajarito Mountain

Tired of poling so I decided to walk

Kids having fun on the beginner slope

A ski walkway that takes you to the beginner lift

Kids having fun learning to snow board

Finished my stroll on the slope

After skiing we decided to start our journey home. We drove to Lubbock which was about halfway. Larry drove about six hours. The drove was two lane highways and divided highways. I was proud of myself because I stayed awake. We had a long day but it was fun.