Wild Bill’s Ski & Snowboard Shop

The employees and owner are all very nice people. They have all the answers to questions and refer people to other goo places around Red River. They get the job done, and they do it right,

After many trips to the Enchanted Circle area for winter ski adventures over the past 20 years, we have found our favorite lodging spot at the 4 unit ski lodge above Wild Bill’s in Red River. Yes, you can rent your ski & boarding equipment for a great price at Wild Bill’s, but you can also ski in/​ski out and have a great view of the mountain from your 2^nd floor porch overlooking The Face and the Platinum chairlift.
Like many Texans, we are semi-​annual skiers. Going on such a family vacation is very expensive (in travel time & money), and when we go, we have a few top priorities that can be hard to meet at an affordable price: 1, we want to be close enough to walk to the easy slopes; 2, we want to have a full kitchen so we can make our own meals, and 3, we want private sleeping quarters for the grownups. Wild Bill’s offers all of the above, plus the bonus of discounted ski equipment (20% off) with your onsite lodging.
We rented out the 2 bedroom Pueblo (unit #3) and the adjacent 1 bedroom efficiency Zia (unit #2) for 5 nights for our group of 4 adults & one child. We could have fit another 3 – 4 people in there if we were so inclined, but as it was we had plenty of room for quiet & privacy at night (a must for me). Per person pricing was comparable or less than that at most of the other nearby options, and Lyn gave us an additional discount for renting both units. Units #1 (not available for travelers) and #4 (Durango) were also occupied during our stay, and we hardly heard a peep from those tenants.
My favorite features of lodging at Wild Bill’s were:
– Free, reliable wi-​fi in the unit.
– Super friendly owners (Lyn and K) & staff. If you need anything, just ask and they will do their best to make you happy. BTW, K also performs music at Bull o’ the Woods.
– Very comfortable mattresses with high thread count bedding & towels; no skimping at all on the linens here. Never had a problem with sleeping in these comfy beds.
– Extremely warm & effective heating. The temp got down to –34 degrees (that’s below zero, folks) at night during our stay and we were never chilly inside.
– Full-​sized gas stove, microwave, coffee pot, and toaster, plus (by request) a 6 quart stoneware crock pot for overnight braising (pork shoulder to red chile posole). It took a bit of work to make sure the stove’s pilot lights were working properly, but after that, smooth sailing. We ate like kings during our trip! We recommend stopping in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, or Taos on your way into town to do your big grocery shopping for the week, but if you forget anything…
– Impressive grocery store (Der Markt) just down the block for all of those last-​minute items like paper plates, hot cocoa packets, and flasks of the hard stuff.
– Fully stocked kitchen ware, utensils, glassware, etc. We always bring our own cutlery and storage containers, since you never know what you’ll find in a vacation rental.
Things I wished were different:
– Shower stalls only, so no hot baths after a grueling day on the slopes. If there were some way to add a tub to Unit #3, it would be dang near perfect.
– Rattling HVAC unit in the front wall of Unit #3 that makes a very loud clanging vibration sound every time the door is opened/​closed.
– No closets at all in Unit #3; all hanging clothes go on pegs in the hallway or bedrooms, and the rest stays in your luggage on the floor.
– No way to block out light in the bedroom windows. Adding some black out curtains (in addition to the existing wooden blinds) would be helpful.
– Cable TV spotty. The PBS station had no sound, but we didn’t mind too much since we weren’t watching much TV. Anyhow, the wi-​fi made it easy to download some appropriate shows onto the iPad for the kid’s enjoyment.
– DVD and Playstation (nice touches!) didn’t seem to work (at least not on the discs we tried). Again, no big deal for us since we didn’t plan to use these things, but it may have been a bummer for a family set on watching DVDs or playing Madden. If this is essential for you, bring your own player to hook up to the quite nice flat screen TV.
If you have no first-​timers in your group, it is a snap to store your equipment downstairs at Wild Bill’s and just pick it up at 8am and walk across the street to the Platinum lift each day. However, if you are planning to take lessons at RRSA, you’ll have quite a walk to/​from the school over there (it’s totally doable for adults, but if you have small ones, just take the free shuttle or drive over). We dealt with this by renting overnight ski/​boot storage at RRSA for the days that we were dealing with lessons for the kiddo. After 2 days of lessons, when the kid was ready, we could then take the Platinum Way path from the top of Goldrush over to the Lift House and then just walk back home from there.
Bottom line, we had a fantastic time on our Red River trip this year, and I’m sure we’ll be coming back to stay at Wild Bill’s for our future visits. Thanks, y’all!

Lyn and all the staff are AMAZING at Wild Bill’s.
My husband and I stayed in one of the rooms in January, the décor was beautiful and comfy and we had an beautiful view of the mountain with only a 5 minute walk to the lifts. The guys in the shop were so helpful and gave great advice. We are longtime skiers but first time snowboarders.
We are taking the kids this year and we all have countdown clocks going til our arrival. We wouldn’t stay anywhere else in Red River!
Come see Lyn and everyone here at Wild Bill’s!
~Laura