A few final notes: 1. This video was painful to research, script and edit. For pacing reasons, I did not include everything that went down at Ski Rio. It just would have made this video too long and confusing. 2. Apologies for this video going out so late. This video ranks with the Lake Louise video for the most work put into a video (well over 100 hours for each). 3. Finally, thanks to SRG Skiing and the others for their contributions to this video!
These videos make me so grateful that people are willing to undertake the daunting and risky task of opening and running a ski resort. Thank God there are people willing to do it, it clearly is difficult and complex.
Thanks for doing this one. I skied there multiple times in the late 80’s. Always had a good time and there were never any lift lines. I remember the water going out at the hotel one of the times I went. Place always seemed like it had a lot of potential but you had to drive through Red River if coming from OK/TX and through Taos if coming from the south, which probably didn’t help.
I grew up going to SKI RIO, it was such a fun mountain. Obviously as a kid I never knew all the stuff that was going on in the background, but such a shame because it was a family oriented, fun mountain and would be neat to see it come to life again.
I don't think so. The owner seems to want to re-wild the ski resort, and keep it as a private mountain for himself. His website was recently put into private mode, but you can still read his statement on archive.org when his website was public. Just scroll down a little bit. web.archive.org/web/20241130172025/www.endlessblueresort.com/
Man, nice job on this one!! Crazy lawsuits and bleeding of money. The 20% interest rates in the early 80s were tough. The bonds probably went for 11 or 12%, I would guess. Any time you have multiple players on both ends of transactions, you know the fraud is abundant!!
So, about ten seconds before they mentioned a fire burned one of the lodges, I thought, "The next thing that is going to happen is the lodge will burn down"
If the access road had come from the south it could have drawn from Santa Fe and Albuquerque, the only population centers in the region. But the road came from the north and there is nothing up that way. Also, no nearby airport to pull visits from Texas which is a big part of the New Mexico ski market. In short, inaccessible
This is quite a sad example of a ski resort not being properly financed and equipped with the right lifts from the very start. Those two factors doomed the place from the very start.
The financing was all over the place. And the sketchy business deals, like Poma's 1982 promissory note. But had Ski Rio been able to draw from a population base, I have to imagine they'd still be around today.
@@vhalmrast probably the biggest issue SKI RIo had, I grew up in Santa fe and Ski Rio was just too far and out of the way to daytrip when more established mountains like Taos are an hour closer and tend to have better snow due to sitting at higher elevations.
I bet it is very interesting but I couldnt listen due to the horrific elevator music. It looks well researched so Cheers to you! I will catch the next one.
Here is the Google docs link to my video script. Word for word the same as the video. docs.google.com/document/d/1uFP4-iPLEP8NPJjds1-VT6QqfPAKeLEEEfUyAH1vqFE/edit?tab=t.0
A few final notes:
1. This video was painful to research, script and edit. For pacing reasons, I did not include everything that went down at Ski Rio. It just would have made this video too long and confusing.
2. Apologies for this video going out so late. This video ranks with the Lake Louise video for the most work put into a video (well over 100 hours for each).
3. Finally, thanks to SRG Skiing and the others for their contributions to this video!
These videos make me so grateful that people are willing to undertake the daunting and risky task of opening and running a ski resort. Thank God there are people willing to do it, it clearly is difficult and complex.
LOVE how this turned out. Worth every minute of the wait!
@@SRGSkiing Thank you so much!
Thanks for doing this one. I skied there multiple times in the late 80’s. Always had a good time and there were never any lift lines. I remember the water going out at the hotel one of the times I went. Place always seemed like it had a lot of potential but you had to drive through Red River if coming from OK/TX and through Taos if coming from the south, which probably didn’t help.
This is an absolutely fantastic piece of work. Keep up the great work!
skied here in 93 while we were at taos for the winter. thanks for the history
My brother loved going there back in the day. 👍👍👍
Merry Christmas ❤❤
@@wt5626 Merry Christmas!
Wow incredible!!!!
I grew up going to SKI RIO, it was such a fun mountain. Obviously as a kid I never knew all the stuff that was going on in the background, but such a shame because it was a family oriented, fun mountain and would be neat to see it come to life again.
We're the assumptions about how the place skied in the video correct?
my grandfather had told me about this mountain and said it was quite a nice little spot to ski in
Will it ever become a ski destination again? Seems like great terrain and vibe?
I don't think so. The owner seems to want to re-wild the ski resort, and keep it as a private mountain for himself.
His website was recently put into private mode, but you can still read his statement on archive.org when his website was public. Just scroll down a little bit.
web.archive.org/web/20241130172025/www.endlessblueresort.com/
Used to love Ski Rio when I lived in NM.
Man, nice job on this one!! Crazy lawsuits and bleeding of money. The 20% interest rates in the early 80s were tough. The bonds probably went for 11 or 12%, I would guess. Any time you have multiple players on both ends of transactions, you know the fraud is abundant!!
So, about ten seconds before they mentioned a fire burned one of the lodges, I thought, "The next thing that is going to happen is the lodge will burn down"
@@grizzkid795 Sketchy things happened at Ski Rio
should have added a lawsuit counter in the corner
Worse than Shasta…
Lol
Damn this place was cursed - so many owners and so much failed financing
If the access road had come from the south it could have drawn from Santa Fe and Albuquerque, the only population centers in the region. But the road came from the north and there is nothing up that way. Also, no nearby airport to pull visits from Texas which is a big part of the New Mexico ski market. In short, inaccessible
This is quite a sad example of a ski resort not being properly financed and equipped with the right lifts from the very start. Those two factors doomed the place from the very start.
It also didn't have a population pool to pull from.
The financing was all over the place. And the sketchy business deals, like Poma's 1982 promissory note. But had Ski Rio been able to draw from a population base, I have to imagine they'd still be around today.
@@vhalmrast probably the biggest issue SKI RIo had, I grew up in Santa fe and Ski Rio was just too far and out of the way to daytrip when more established mountains like Taos are an hour closer and tend to have better snow due to sitting at higher elevations.
A new video? I'm in.
@@knuktunes Thanks for watching!
I bet it is very interesting but I couldnt listen due to the horrific elevator music. It looks well researched so Cheers to you! I will catch the next one.
Fair. If you skip the intro, the music is much more in the background.
Here is the Google docs link to my video script. Word for word the same as the video.
docs.google.com/document/d/1uFP4-iPLEP8NPJjds1-VT6QqfPAKeLEEEfUyAH1vqFE/edit?tab=t.0
bummer guy
Free rio