New Mexico’s Sandia Peak will become the 12th ski area in Mountain Capital Partners’ fast-growing resort collective. Closed since 2021 and located near Albuquerque, Sandia Peak features three double chairs operated by the Abruzzo Family for decades. Under a joint venture agreement announced today, the Abruzzos will continue to run the Sandia Peak Tramway and restaurant while MCP will operate the ski hill. “Skiing in the Southwest offers unique challenges that have been amplified over the last several years,” noted Sandia Peak General Manager Ben Abruzzo. “This partnership will help address those challenges and provide a future for skiing in Albuquerque,” Abruzzo continued. In addition to the tram, the Abruzzo family will continue to own and manage Ski Santa Fe in Northern New Mexico.
Sandia Peak is MCP’s fourth new mountain in two years. In April the company acquired Lee Canyon, Nevada from Powdr and quickly began work on a new chairlift. Earlier this year MCP acquired a majority stake and assumed operation of Valle Nevado in Chile. Prior to that, Mountain Capital Partners reached a joint venture to operate Oregon’s Willamette Pass Ski Area. MCP also operates two other New Mexico ski areas, resorts in Arizona, Colorado and Utah as well as a lift-served bike park near Austin, Texas. “The foundations of our company were built on the lessons we learned from skiers and snowboarders in New Mexico,” said James Coleman, managing partner of Mountain Capital Partners. “Sandia Peak presents an incredible opportunity for us to bring the best practices we’ve learned for the benefit of Albuquerque and visitors from around the region.”
The reopening timeline for Sandia Peak’s ski operations has not been determined. When it does welcome skiers back, Sandia will join the Power Pass family of season passes.
Lift Blog 
Are they going to rehab Chair 1?
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I doubt it. I bet they install the planned quad instead. It’s already approved on the master plan.
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Pls just a double because I love the drive building. If they build the quad, the drive would be further up to save it
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In one week, one ski area has sadly closed (Black Mountain, NH) and another has reopened (this one). What a week!
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Cockaigne, NY closed. Black Mountain changed their mind and plans to operate. Sandia will need some major snowstorms for their East facing runs to open. Here’s hoping!
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YES!!!!!!!! After so long! By the way, a tree fell on Chair 3 over the summer. I have a video on my channel showing it. Can’t wait to go soon!!
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Would be cool to see that.
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I do have a video on the actual Chair 3 page
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What channel would that be?
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@PorterTheFanCollector
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This is awesome news for Sandia. I was hoping for this. It seems the current ownership gave up many years ago. Worked up there for 4 years before going to work for Vail and Breckinridge. Lots of questions though. Will they be able to open this season? I know they said last year that they had let lifts get in disrepair. They haven’t had a steady mechanic and often pulled 1 down from Santa fe to help out. So they probably need to start pulling chairs asap and get NDT’s and such underway. Chair 3 is one of the most unforgiving chairs I’ve ever worked on. Super squirrely, bullwheel loader and that carriage moves drastically when fully loaded. Seen counter weight hit top of snow shed and lift it up a few times. Called it the meat grinder. So that Chair is not at all fit for summer service which I believe they absolutely need to help offset poor winters. Loved Chair 1 the Stadlie. Was like working on a 57 Chevy. Very simple well built machine. Can upload bikes and download people every 4th Chair. But slow as hell and parts are non existent. Both are very long lifts at about 7500 feet. Only angelfire beats it in length in NM I believe so will be expensive to replace. Not many used lifts of that length. To me a fixed grip Skytrac 3 seater would be perfect. Has the length for high speed quad but very expensive to maintain for a small area. I know MCP will do there best to open every year even if that’s only Chair 4 which is the way they used to do it. Limited water rights will restrict how much terrain they can open. But if you have 4 going have staff and snow flies easier to open mountain. Now they wait for snow and open when they can hire people which takes a couple weeks. Welcome to Burque MCP glad to see you here and get those bike trails going next year.
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A High Speed Quad is already approved in their masterplan. So my guess is they pursue that or a fixed grip quad.
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Oh man, the meat grinder! I patrolled there for a season, and management asked us not to call it that (but we still did, ha!)
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There is potential for Sandia Peak. In the winter they could build a great terrain park, run after school ski lessons and have night race leagues. Summer time can be open for mountain biking, mountain coaster, and glamping. If Walt was able to go to Sandia for a night time race league he probably wouldn’t have gotten into the meth business. Walt, Gus, Mike, and Saul would all be on the same team trying to get to the regional championships in Cloudcroft. Jesse would be a park rat with a part time job in the cafeteria.
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