What is your background, and what drew you to the Santa Fe area?
I spent almost 20 years working in the management consulting industry where I traveled extensively and built strong leadership and project/event management skills. My passion for a second career is to promote team-building as well as healthy and adventurous lifestyles. Our family fell in love with Santa Fe because of its unique combination of great outdoor recreation, arts, culture, dining and weather while still being a relatively small city. Santa Fe provided a perfect setting for the creation of Santa Fe Mountain Adventures in 2005.
Describe the outdoor appeal of northern New Mexico
Surrounded by the scenic Sangre de Cristo Mountains, expansive blue skies and mesmerizing sunsets, Santa Fe is a unique destination that blends great outdoor recreation with famous arts and culture. Outdoor adventure opportunities include thrilling whitewater rafting on the Rio Grande, hot-air ballooning, geocaching challenges, high-country horseback riding, heart-thumping mountain biking, serene fly-fishing, scenic snowshoeing, and interpretive tours of Native American ruins.
What unique programs do you offer groups?
Our Mountain Southwestern Cooking Scavenger Hunt blends some of the best experiences that our destination offers. With advanced GPS devices in hand, teams search for a series of hidden locations, where they unearth clues and undertake challenges to help them find the next destination.The teams also gather resources and information to create a gourmet meal, participating in a hands-on southwestern cooking class overseen by outstanding local chefs.
Staged at a famous movie ranch, our Western Adventure Challenge and Party includes team challenges such as dummy steer roping, archery and cowboy relays, followed by a Western-themed party and BBQ dinner.
Another distinctive option is our Native American Cultural Adventure and Voluntourism Project. After exploring Native ruins at locations such as Bandelier National Monument led by native guides, groups enjoy a traditional Pueblo Feast luncheon while viewing a Native dance performance, before then participating in a volunteer clean-up or gardening project.
Groups can also explore some of the wonderful attractions in the surrounding area by undertaking a Taos and High Road Adventure Tour or an Abiquiu and O’Keeffe Country Tour.