Vadito, New Mexico — Mountain Capital Partners loves building up its ski resorts. The Southwestern-based ski resort conglomerate has been expanding its resorts with new lifts and terrain. This winter, this includes expansions at Purgatory Resort and Lee Canyon, plus a massive snowmaking project at Pajarito. It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that they want to grow all three of their New Mexico ski resorts, including Sipapu.
Yesterday, the Carson National Forest announced it accepted an application from Sipapu Ski & Summer Resort to expand by about 915 acres. This means it has not approved the plan, but has begun the review process.
Details so far are scant, and the Forest Service’s proposal is frankly vague. But the proposal also included two maps that give us a sense of what they want to do in the future.
Here’s a breakdown of what Sipapu is thinking about for the years ahead.
Winter
Two major terrain expansions are being proposed, which would add approximately 200 acres of new trails. This would almost double their skiable terrain.
The first expansion would increase the vertical drop by going higher up the mountain than the existing lifts. The new Chair A would access it, with a mid-station slightly above the existing terrain network.
At the top of this area, a new beginner area would include a couple of carpets and a new chairlift. More ski resorts have moved their beginner areas to the top, giving guests a more mountain-themed learning experience. As a result, Lift 2, their existing beginner lift, would be removed.
Served by the new Chair 2, the second expansion would serve mostly beginner and intermediate terrain. This would drastically widen the skiable footprint and also spread out guests. To cover the new and existing trails, the plan includes a snowmaking expansion.
The base area would also see buildout. This would include new parking lots, a skier bridge, and a new maintenance shop.
The new proposals follows the installation of Lift 3 last winter. The new-to-them double chairlift replaced a surface lift.
Summer
At this point, Sipapu doesn’t have a bustling summer attraction lineup. Their current activities include hiking trails, fishing, and a disc golf course. With the expansion and new lifts, it opens up opportunities to make it more lively in the offseason.
With the addition of Chair A, they are eyeing attractions at the new summit. This could include a mountain coaster, a new disc golf course, a zip-line/canopy tour, an aerial adventure course, summer tubing, and a mountaintop restaurant. The plan also includes building an extensive lift-served mountain biking trail network.
You can learn more about the proposal here.
Image/Video Credits: Sipapu Ski & Summer Resort
