Mail Carriers on Skis: How Red River Became a Ski Town
Near Red River, New Mexico
The first skiers in Red River were not tourists. In the early days of the mining camps, when winter snow was too deep for horses or mules, skis are said to have been a working tool for getting mail and supplies through the mountains. It was not recreation.
Later, skiers began arriving in Red River for pleasure rather than work, and town residents could see that the mountain above the valley held good terrain. Construction of a proper ski area began in the late nineteen fifties, led largely by Oklahoma businessman Stokes Bolton. The ski area opened in December of nineteen fifty-nine with basic lifts and runs carved from the mountain above town.
The Red River Ski Area sits at a base elevation of eight thousand seven hundred fifty feet, making it a high-altitude base area, and it expanded steadily over the following decades. The ski area's summer Moon Star Mining Sluice Box is a nod to the mining history of the same mountain the lifts now traverse. The chairs run over ground where men once went looking for ore. The skiers above them are looking for something else entirely.
