Ski Santa Fe Proposes Snowmaking Upgrades After Just 70 Inches of Snow Fell Last Season

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Ski Santa Fe, New Mexico, tends to fly under the radar for many American skiers, but don't let the mountain's lack of name-brand awareness cloud your judgement.

Ski Santa Fe is a medium-sized western ski resort with over 1,700 vertical feet of elevation gain, 660 acres of skiable terrain, and 225 inches of annual snowfall.

Last season will go down as one to forget at Ski Santa Fe, with just 70 inches of natural snowfall, according to the resort's general manager, Ben Abruzzo. "The winters are so variable—anywhere and certainly in New Mexico," Abruzzo told KOAT 7 News.

Ski Santa Fe ended its season two weeks early last year due to the poor snowfall. To prevent this from happening again, Ski Santa Fe has proposed a massive snowmaking overhaul to the United States Forest Service (USFS). Ski Santa Fe's boundaries are entirely within USFS-owned land.

The proposal, now open for a 30-day public comment period, would include a 4.5-million-gallon water tank and new snowmaking pipes. Ski Santa Fe hopes this new snowmaking infrastructure will allow the resort to open terrain on the Millennium Chair (Chair 7) earlier, "improve terrain consistency and skier circulation on Sunrise ski run," and to "enhance snowmaking capabilities and expand coverage to allow for the early-season opening ofski terrain and to maintain critical run connections during periods of low snowfall."

The proposal, if approved by the United States Forest Service, would likely take two years to complete, according to Ski Santa Fe.

The new water tank and snowmaking guns could benefit the resort in a wildfire situation, too, according to Abruzzo. "We have the ability then, in the case of fire, where we can use the water out of those tanks to basically put a giant cloud of water in the air and help with firefighting," Aburrzo told KOAT 7 News.

Snowmaking systems have saved multiple ski resorts from wildfire destruction in recent years. Most notably, Tamarack Resort in Idaho used them to prevent a fire from spreading further into its boundaries last year , and Sierra-at-Tahoe saved some of its infrastructure with snow guns during the destructive Caldor Fire years ago.

A decision on Ski Santa Fe's proposal is expected by August of 2027, according to documents on the official USFS proposal site.

Related: Summer Snow Falls on Mountain Bikers at Mt. Bachelor, Oregon

This story was originally published by Powder on Sep 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Powder as a Preferred Source by clicking here.