Angel Fire Resort — Attraction in Angel Fire

I want to start this by saying this review is not reflective of the non management staff at the mountain. The Lifty’s, Ski patrol and overall mountain staff was great. This being said me and my girlfriend's trip to Angel Fire mountain was a nightmare.

We had our first ski day 1/13/25 and we were planning on skiing the full week. We rented our equipment for the week and got our ski tickets. She started on the bunny hill with the really slow lift that had no bar that went down over your lap. She was almost done with her first run and she lost control. She went into the fence at the bottom of the hill and by what I could tell went through the fence and into the solid wooden deck. Something cut her from the top of her right eyelid all the way through her forehead and far down the back of her head. Her top of her head was flapping off her skull and there was blood everywhere. The width of the cut went as wide as 2 inches. The helmet she rented did nothing to help the impact. The ski patrol came and got her into an ambulance heading to Taos hospital. They stabilized the wound there along with did all the scans to see if there was any permanent damage or internal bleeding. She was stable but they were unable to give her the treatment she needed. They transported her by air to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque.

The whole friend unit I was with went who all only skied one hour the first day went all the way down to Albuquerque to support her. This included one of my good friends and his Aunt and Uncle. The short of it is she had 60 stitches (3 levels of stitches) and will have a permanent scar across her face. She had a lot of trauma to her upper body as well. Normal movement was hard for her the rest of the vacation and still to this day.

What just dumbfounded me and just felt so wrong was how the management at angelfire treated us. The ski patrol returned her skis, helmet and boots an hour after we started skiing right after the accident. We only skied one hour and they charged us for the full week and would not refund us. They also refused to refund us for our lift tickets or give us any credit stating the “no refund policy”. If we got sick, sprained something or just did not like to ski and we asked for a refund I would understand. However my girlfriend's head was split open on their mountain in a very serious injury and she was flown in a medical plane. The lack of sympathy for her and the scar she will have for the rest of her life and us flying all the way out there from New Jersey to ski their mountain and not giving a darn took me back. To me it would have been the right thing to do knowing there is a big plane bill and all the cost of travel and lodging going to waste. I

To make it even worse a bunch of the Lifty’s told me they have a bunch of accidents at the bottom of that hill. There is nothing at the bottom of the hill to help you slow down or stop. They also added a new fence (sometime in between monday and friday) not replacing the old fence but in a new location that would help others avoid doing what she did. I have been a skier since I was 3 and it is odd to have that steep of a slope connected to a bunny hill..

Writing a review like this is something I have never done. I just feel like the negligence at the bottom of the hill and the fact that they could care less what we went through is just wrong…Not really sure what we are going to do next. I have pictures of what it looked like before the stitches I did not feel it appropriate for public review. It went all the way behind her...

First-Time skier/parent of young children Compared to other places to ski that I've read about and heard of, Angel Fire is affordable and family-friendly, so I'm definitely giving it 5 stars. However, as a parent of small children, I'm also going to provide info that I would have wanted to know and prepare for. We did not stay at the main lodge ($625/night); instead, we rented at a different local lodge ($242/night for 2 Queen beds). We used the ski lift ($109/adult), and we rented ski equipment from a local shop ($54/adult and $39/child under 6). The ski lift provided free access to kids under 6 in the month of January, which was much appreciated. Angel Fire offers tubing ($10/person), sledding ($15 for 4 people at a time), and sleigh rides. There is also a golf course. Night skiing lift access is offered at a much more affordable rate than daytime skiing. If you're a first-time skier or have children, the beginner slopes at The Bunny Hill are steeper and more fast-paced than we thought they would be for young children and/or beginners. Notably, the lift for the Bunny Hill does not stop to let people on/off, and it only seats two people each, and it did not have a protective bar to keep small children from falling out, as we noticed other slopes at Angel Fire had. Once the Bunny Hill ski lift reaches the top, it does not stop for anyone to get off of it, and you must immediately ski down a small hill upon exiting the lift, which was a bit scary for me and my friend as beginners and for our three young kids. There is at least 100 yards of uphill walking to get to the ski lifts from the nearest driveway, with heavy ski equipment in an altitude that makes it more difficult to breathe, if you're not acclimated. Our three young children (5 & 6) were cranky from walking uphill in cold snow and wind, wearing layers of clothing and heavy ski boots, and carrying their ski equipment. We noticed many other children in the age range 0 - 9 having meltdowns as well. By 10am, the snow on the beginner Bunny Hill was more compacted than we expected it to be, so it was not as soft and powdery (for falls), as we had hoped it would be. There are quite a few deep potholes in the entrance road that need to be patched up. Even while it was snowing, we were able to use a compact front-wheel drive Hyundai Sonata to access main thoroughfares without tire chains, thanks to snow ploughs. It is recommended to bring snow chains for tires, just in case. They did not plough the parking lot of our lodge, which was located across the main thoroughfare. There are several parking lots that are free surrounding the mountain, but they are not closest to the ski lifts; however, the free shuttle service allows you to get a free ride to and from the ski lifts in a heated bus (driven by patient drivers) that arrives regularly, which is super convenient! Although having three children with us under 6 was very challenging for first-time snow skiing, Angel Fire offers an affordable experience, which allows families to be able...

The mountain at Angel Fire is great and snow was perfect this year. I have removed 3 stars due to the staff and the resort itself. The staff is unfriendly and unwelcoming. Here are a few examples.

We booked lessons for 2 in our party two weeks prior to our visit. Days after making our reservations and paying in full we decided to arrive 1 day early and therefore wanted to move the lessons up by one day. I was told "There is a fee to make a change on lessons, see the policy below: Changes and rescheduling (if available) to reservations will incur a service charge of 35% of the sale." I could accept the fee or forfeit the lesson and loose the entire payment.

This would have been almost $300 dollars just to change the lessons by one day after they had already told me there was plenty of availability. After much effort on my part and threatening to move our entire trip to another mountain they finally agreed to reduce the fees to $111. Again, just to come a day early.

The lessons themselves were sub-par. Our first timer was put in a group with varying abilities. They spent a few minutes on the bunny slope learning to snow plow and then were quickly taken up the chairlift with very little instruction. This obviously resulted in falling while getting off the lift and falling all the way down the hill. By the end of day she wasn't able to get off the lift or link turns. When she asked her instructor what she should do the next day regarding lessons he told her "just go up and try it by yourself to see how it goes". Angel Fire states on their web site that they will provide free lessons until a student is able to do those things. This was never mentioned to the student. Instead she gave up after a frustrating day.

We also had a 12 yr. old in ski school for the last time. Since there were few students in class with her she was grouped with children younger than her and at a lower ability level. For reference, last year we were skiing blues and she spent the day on green runs. When I asked what she worked on or learned she said that she didn't really learn anything new.

The next several days spent on the mountain were great. The snow was perfect and we had a great time. Members of our family have taken lessons now from Taos, Red River, and Angel Fire over the past few years. Based on these experiences, if you have brand new skiers or kids that are in ski school looking to advance I would recommend either of the two nearby resorts (Taos or Red River) before going Angel Fire. If you are not in any need of lessons and just looking to spend time on the mountain with little interaction from resort staff then Angel Fire might be worth checking out.

Also, if going to Angel Fire do not buy multiple day lift tickets. They must be used consecutive days and they will not give you a refund or allow you to move a ticket to another day. They don't offer discounts on multi-day tickets either so there really isn't an incentive to give them your money in advance. We found this lesson out the hard...