Skiers line up for lift tickets at Pajarito Mountain Ski Area Saturday morning. Courtesy photo

BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter.com

Pajarito Mountain Ski Area had its best opening day in several years, area manager Tom Long told the Los Alamos Reporter Saturday afternoon.

“The weather was great, the conditions were fabulous and we had an enormous crowd,” Long said.

Unfortunately, the Aspen Lift suffered a mechanical malfunction early in the day which resulted in more than 75 skiers being evacuated by members of the Pajarito Mountain Ski Patrol. It took the Patrol less than three hours to lower all skiers on the lift safely to the ground with no injuries. The Patrol trains extensively annually in anticipation of the need to such occurrences.

“We apologize for the delay and interuption for skiers but people had a great day out there with 40 of our 44 runs open. The Spruce Lift, the Beginners Lift and Mother Lift are all open and we expect to open the Townsite Lift in a few days,” Long said.

Mechanics are slated to be onsite Sunday morning to assess the Aspen Lift.

“The mountain has had more than 32 inches of snow in the past week. We plan to be open every day through January 6. After that we will be open Wednesdays through Sundays with lifts running from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.. Long said.