Sangre de Cristo Mountain Works Closes its Doors

The guys over at Sangre de Cristo Mountain Works made an abrupt announcement last Thursday that they're closing up shop after 17 years at their current location on Manhattan Ave.  Fortunately we still have Alpine Sports down on Water St. which has been around for as long as I can remember, but Sangre de Cristo brought with it more of an outdoors/mountain culture to town, and it's a shame to see all that just slip away. Not to mention their backing of the annual Banff Film Festival screening at the Lensic, the annual North Face Speaker Series which brought Conrad Anker and Jimmy Chin through town in '09, and the Reel Rock Climbing Film Tour for the last several years.

Really sad to see the place go but apparently four tough economic years, in addition to the opening of REI across the street in 2008, in addition to a crumby ski season this last winter, and finally this summer's fires and related trails and National Forest closures were enough to push Kent to hang it up and direct his pursuits else where (like on the slopes). Best of luck to him and the staff.

The loss to Santa Feans will be felt most by the backcountry folks, the free-heelers and backcountry-ski set, and the rock climbing dirtbag types. Cheers to these guys for all the years they supported the outdoors community. They will be running a liquidation sale down at the store through Aug. 15th when they will be shutting the doors for good. Drop off a bomber or six-pack for the staff like a proper Irish wake, pass on your regards, and take a look through what's left on the racks and pick something up before it's all gone.

Santa Fe's Other Outdoors Businesses
If there's a silver lining with this week's disappointing news it would be that The Running Hub is getting set to celebrate its 10 year anniversary. John and Liz will be running specials and promotions beginning Thurs. Aug 4th, for ten days up to the anniversary date on Sun. Aug 14th. Stop in to congratulate them and scope out what's new.

To rev the gear mania up to a fever pitch, both Alpine Sports and New Mexico Bike 'N Sport are also hosting summer sales through the week, ending this Sunday. It's almost a pre-Ski-Swap Ski-Swap going on out there with all the deals to be had. Which reminds me that season passes for Ski Santa Fe went on sale Monday (Aug. 1).