Skiing Santa Fe - This mountain is my home mountain. I could write about it for hours on end, but I will spare the reader such drudgery and instead just focus on the finer points. Santa Fe's base elevation is 10,500 feet above sea level- the highest in North America and one of the highest in the world. In these changing climates, I have seen it rain at nearly every resort in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, California, and the Pacific Northwest (which is not anything new), but I have never seen it rain at Santa Fe ski area. The mountain reaps all the benefits of the New Mexican sun but none of its harsh punishments. It holds a view throughout the area of more than one dozen mountain ranges and two dozen New Mexican townships and cities. Mount Taylor is visible 200 miles to the west, even on dusty and hazy afternoons. The terrain was steep enough to train me for a (semi) successful pro skiing career and is mellow enough to warrant repeat visitations from all around the world by other skiers who prefer their secret diamond in the rough but gorgeous southwest. Despite all those repeat visitations, Santa Fe boasts some of the shortest liftlines and crowd-free slopes in the industry. And when all that is over, don't forget to stay up there for the sunset. There's a reason why the range is called the Sangre de Cristo Mountains (blood of Christ): immaculate daily desert sunsets bathe the mountain in dark red for twenty or so minutes every evening. I personally enjoy waiting up high on the hill for this and skiing down in red snow! Joey Smallwood