Snowfall finally arrives in Cloudcroft and business owners could not be happier

CLOUDCROFT, New Mexico – It's a winter wonderland for those visiting Cloudcroft, New Mexico this time of year. 

After experiencing no snow for weeks leading up to Christmas, visitors are happily surprised to see a blanket of snow that they can enjoy going into the new year.

Rick Bonnell, Ski Cloudcroft Ski Director, said that this has been an unusual year. 

He said they have had warm weather up until a few days ago but the snowfall has made up for it: his resort is seeing about 8-10 inches of snow. 

Bonnell said they are seeing 60% of the skiers that they see on a normal year.

He said he was forced to open the resort on man-made snow. 

“But without natural snow it's affected pretty much all of New Mexico and Southern Colorado this year. So everybody that's in this storm right now all the ski areas, we've been on the phone with everybody the last day or two and everybodys really happy because it really cuts into business when you don’t have natural snow,” said Bonnell.

Hope Douglas, owner of Ski Palace, said she was thankful to see snow. She said they heavily rely on it for business.

“So with that comes some negative, which means that we don't always get the moisture at the right time of the year, so we are very thankful that we do have snow at this point,” Douglas said.

Visitors coming from different regions are more than excited to be able to spend the new year tubing and playing in the snow. 

They tell ABC-7 that they came at the perfect time. 

“We’re happy, you know we’re happy, we have my daughter who was wishing for a white christmas so we got it this year,” said Yadira Isais.

Bonnell gives tips to those preparing to make their way to the snow.

“If you're going to come to the mountains, be prepared for the mountains because the mountains are cold and if you do have car trouble or get stuck or anything, you want to be able to warm and dry. That's the key: just stay warm and dry and you'll be safe,” said Bonnell.