Sandia Peak
Sandia Peak Ski Resort is a ski area located in the state of New Mexico in USA. The resort is in the town of Cedar Crest, NM.
We recently ranked all of New Mexico's ski resorts, so you can see where Sandia Peak stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Sandia Peak is not a part of any nationwide lift ticket system. Passes such as Epic, IKON, or Mountain Collective allow pass holders to ski at multiple mountians with a single purchase. Unfortunately, none of those passes work with Sandia Peak Ski Resort. To purchase season passes, you'll need to visit Sandia Peak's website.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Sandia Peak around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Sandia Peak Mountain Resort Terrain Overview
Sandia Peak has a total of 35 ski trails, which are serviced by 4 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. Sandia Peak is considered a smaller than average ski area, with only a maximum of 200 acres available to ski. This area is equivalent to 81 hectares, 0.3 square miles, or 0.8 square kilometers.
Sandia Peak's slopes see on average 125 inches (3.2 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 10 feet every year!
Total Runs
35
Lifts
4
Skiable Acres
200(1 km2)
Annual Snowfall
125"(318 cm)
Sandia Peak Ski Resort Elevation
Sandia Peak Ski Resort has a summit elevation of 10,378 feet, or 3,163 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 8,678 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 1,700 feet (518 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
The summit of 10,378 feet makes this ski resort one of the highest in the country. The average ski slope summit is around 4,000 feet, so this is extremely high compared to its peers.
Summit Elevation
10,378'(3,163 m)
Vertical Drop
1,700'(518 m)
Base Elevation
8,678'(2,645 m)
Sandia Peak Ski Resort Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
38.8out of 100
DID YOU KNOW?
At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level
Sandia Peak has 200 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Sandia Peak is a beginner-friendly ski area, with about 35% of its trails as easy. However, it also has a fair share of more difficult runs - which account for the remaining 65%.
Beginner
35%(70 acres)
Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.
Intermediate
55%(110 acres)
Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.
Expert
10%(20 acres)
Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.
Is Sandia Peak Ski Resort good for beginners?
Sandia Peak can be beginner-friendly, depending on the runs you take. While it ranks in the lower half of all North American ski areas in terms of overall difficulty, it still has 65% of its trails rated at or above intermediate.
Sandia Peak Ski Resort Location
Sandia Peak Ski Resort is located in the state of New Mexico, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Cedar Crest, NM.
Address:
Cedar Crest, NM 87008 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
sandiapeak.com/ski-area
GPS Coordinates:
35.21000, -106.45000
Getting to Sandia Peak Mountain Resort
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Sandia Peak Ski Resort), its coordinates of 35.21000, -106.45000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Cedar Crest, NM to get close.
By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.
A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Sandia Peak.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albuquerque International Sunport | ABQ | Albuquerque, NM | 15 mi |
| Durango-La Plata County Airport | DRO | Durango, CO | 152 mi |
| San Luis Valley Regional Airport/Bergman Field | ALS | Alamosa, CO | 157 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Sandia Peak Ski Resort, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.
Other Nearby Ski Resorts
Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Sandia Peak Ski Resort.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ski Santa Fe | Santa Fe, NM | 12,075 ft | 55% | 47 mi |
| Pajarito | Santa Fe, NM | 10,440 ft | 48% | 51 mi |
| Sipapu | Vadito, NM | 9,255 ft | 49% | 82 mi |
| Taos Ski Valley | Taos Ski Valley, NM | 12,481 ft | 73% | 97 mi |
Sandia Peak Ski Resort Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 10,378 ft |
| Base Elevation | 8,678 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 1,700 ft |
| Trails | 35 (35% Beginner, 55% Intermediate, 10% Expert) |
| Lifts | 4 |
| Skiable Acres | 200 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 125 inches |