When the owner of a ski area turns a hobby into an effective technique for speeding up the growh of his area, hundreds can be expected to come out and watch—especially if the technique is as colorful as the one employed recently by Ben Abruzzo, president of Sandia Peak Ski Co.
On April 7, Abruzzo—who raced in the world’s Hot Air Balloon Championships staged in Albuquerque last February—launched his balloon from midpoint at the 1.5-mile “Exhibition” run at the ski area as at least 500 skiers stood by.
The red-white-and-blue balloon rose to an altitude of 200 feet above the slope, and was tethered there while Abruzzo and Robert Stephenson, professional engineer and surveyor, potted new trails and lift lines for the next five hours.
Sandia has announced plans for a major chairlift within the next two years, opening a whole new area of the mountain north of the existing resort. More lifts are expected, and work on new trails was started this summer.
Abruzzo believes it may have been the first time in history that an aerial survey for a ski area has been made from a stationary aerial platform.
Abruzzo’s balloon is owned jointly with oilman Maxie Anderson and attorney J. J. Monroe, both of Albuquerque. The 55,000 cubic foot, 70-foot tall balloon, manufactured by Raven Industries of Iowa, was then released and Abruzzo guided it over the 10,378-foot high Sandia Mountains to land at the edge of Albuquerque.
Just before flying off from the ski area, Abruzzo made like an Eastern bunny, dropping candy sticks to the skiers 200 feet below.
Abruzzo and board chairman Robert J. Nordhaus have pushed the ski area from one with a rope tow accommodating several hundred to one that has an hourly uphill capacity of more than 2,000 skiers per hour.
