The first skiers in Red River were mail carriers around the late 1890s. In winter months, they traveled overland across the mountains from Raton to Red River City and other gold camp destinations.
Using hand-made wooden skis that measured ten to twelve feet long, which were used to keep the wearer from falling into snow-covered ditches and creeks, they brought important business and personal correspondence to the few hardy souls that spent the winter in the isolated mining camps. A pair of these long skis is displayed at the Little Red School House Museum.
Red Riverites were no strangers to recreational skiing before World War II. In fact, as recorded on another page in this magazine, the town opened a skiing area, complete with a rope tow, on Pearl Harbor Day!
Following the conclusion of the war in 1945, the community of Red River enjoyed an economic surge that lasted for nearly forty years. Buildings were built and many businesses catering to tourists visiting the mountains began operation. Places to accommodate growing families during the Post-War Baby Boom sprang up and old buildings from earlier times were demolished to make way for the new lodges, condos and townhouses, while new homes joined renovated cabins.
Red River was a summer destination for flatlanders seeking relief from the searing summer weather of prairie, plains and deserts. Winter, however, was still a time for only the hardiest of locals. Oklahoma entrepreneur Stokes Bolton, who owned the SEB Motel (currently the Alpine Lodge) had visited the Santa Fe Ski Area and decided that Red River needed something for snow enthusiasts that would help fill his lodge and the town during those cold winter months. Ski season was born!
Bolton began construction of the Red River Ski Area in 1958 with the help of many locals. The area opened the doors in December of 1959. Bolton made promotional movies to show on TV stations in neighboring states and vigorously promoted the new ski area and Red River.
Hiring the legendary Buzz Bainbridge away from the Santa Fe Ski Basin to manage the new area, Bolton and Bainbridge lured German-born ski ace Tony Woerndle, a member of the German Olympic team in the 1930s, to head up the first RRSA Ski School. With the ski area located in the middle of town, the place became a two-season resort.
Working in close cooperation with the Forest Service and the Carson Forest ranger district, the area grew and prides itself on being a good steward of the land.
In 2019, Red River Ski & Summer Area celebrated 60 years as the Ski Town Of The Southwest!
