Powder Puff Mountain Ski Area

Powder Puff Mountain near Red River, New Mexico, was a small beginner ski area on the west edge of town off State Highway 38, in the Carson National Forest. Lester Lewis started it as the E-Z Ski Area in 1962, by New Mexico Magazine's account, and renamed it Powder Puff Mountain in 1964 after building a chairlift out of parts from oil derricks. Other sources, including the New Mexico Ski Hall of Fame, give 1965 as the year Jan and Lester Lewis opened it.

In 1970 John and Judy Miller bought the area from the Lewises with partners Gary and Fran Starbuck. John ran the mountain, Gary directed the ski school, Fran kept the books and Judy handled customers and publicity. The hill was short: a 1970s area guide lists a base of 8,700 feet, a top of 8,850 feet, a double chair, a platter lift and two rope tows, with half the terrain rated for beginners. One run was named Expert, and it was short enough to ski straight down without a turn. A full day ticket cost $6. Brochures promised that anyone could learn there, sold short skis and a helping hand teaching method, and pointed out that the hill was within walking distance of the motels in town.

Powder Puff was one of the first ski areas in the West to make its own snow. A 1977-78 brochure put a tall plume from a snow gun on the cover with the caption We make snow, and boasted of five lifts and no lift lines. The Millers sold the area in 1979 or 1980 to the bigger ski area next door, which renamed it The Woodlands Ski Basin and kept it running as a beginner hill for about three more seasons. Around 1983 the beginner lessons moved to the main mountain and the Woodlands closed. The old lifts were still standing in 1994 and gone by 2006. The site is now a subdivision, and one of its streets is named Powder Puff Trail.