New Mexico Ski Resort Announces Largest Investments in 70-Year History
As Pajarito Mountain Ski Area heads into the 2026-27 winter season, the New Mexico ski resort is getting ready to show off the biggest infrastructure updates in the resort’s 70-year history. Updates to the mountain come as part of Project Pajarito, the multi-year, multimillion-dollar investment plan to improve guest experience across the board.
Perhaps the most notable updates to Pajarito Mountain, which was founded in the 1950s by Nobel Prize-winning scientists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Los Alamos Ski Club, are to the ski area’s snowmaking systems and capabilities.
A new snowmaking pipeline has been installed at the mountain, which will transport water from a storage tank up to the snowmaking pond to support and increase snowmaking capacity by increasing available water capacity by 2700%. New snow guns have also been installed, which, all together, will increase overall snowmaking capacity by 50%.
Electrical upgrades have also been made, such as new switchgear and transformer locations, which will better handle the increased power demands of the new snowmaking system.
In addition to snowmaking updates, Pajarito has also updated Alpine Lift. Integral lift components such as the bullwheel bearings and comm line have been updated to better support the reliability of the 1,107 ft chair.
“This investment is a game changer for Pajarito,” said Jasen Bellomy, general manager of Pajarito Mountain Ski Area, in a press release. “With consistent water feeding our snowmaking, skiers can count on a reliable season from day one. And with snowmaking now running from top to bottom on more trails, we’re able to open up the mountain for everyone.”
Pajarito Mountain was run by volunteers until 2014, when it was purchased by Mountain Capital Partners.
The mountain sits roughly 30 minutes from Santa Fe and offers 1,200 vertical feet of skiing across 750 acres. As of now, the resort is planning to open for the 2026-27 season on December 4.
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