Our first ski trip to Sunrise happened 28 years after the Ski Resort started — Christmas Day of 2020 marked the 50th year that Sunrise has been in business. And I know that there are 50 years’ worth of stories just like ours. Stories that reach back much farther than ours.

Sunrise Park Resort was the brainchild of Chairman Ronnie Lupe and several other Tribal members. They were considering a ski resort in the Hawley Lake area in 1962 until Chairman Lupe took them to look at Sunrise Peak. By 1965, the Bureau of Indian Affairs completed their feasibility study and, in 1966, an Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant application for initial infrastructure was submitted. In 1969, lease negotiations with LTV Corporation and Boise Cascade Tribe began. By 1970, the Council approved funding for the first ski lift; the EDA increased the original grant to $1.6 million and, despite a fire that burned down a 50-room wing of their hotel, Sunrise Park Resort was ready for their opening on Christmas Day of that year.

There are still many locals who remember the transition from Big Cienega, a smaller hill located behind the Railroad Grade Trail off of State Route 260, to a bigger and much better Sunrise Peak. In an earlier interview, Bob Derosier, avid skier and former owner of Skier’s Edge, told me it all started with just three trails: Spruce Ridge to the west; Crown Dancer to the east and Lupe, which ran under the chairlift. He told me he never skied Big Cienega but once Sunrise opened, he made sure to buy a set of poles, a pair of boots and three skis for $35 from the Big Cienega Ski Rental Shop. “I needed three skis because I had to take parts off of one of them to make a pair,” he explained. He painted them black so no one would know they were rentals, and he spent every weekend — and even some weekdays when he was supposed to be in school — on Sunrise Peak.

Each year, Sunrise would cut more runs and make more improvements. They kept expanding and went through a couple of managers and then they hired Ron Malfara. “He was a big Canadian guy,” Derosier told me. “He came to Sunrise as a ski patroller from Colorado; became mountain manager and then left for Idaho and ran a small ski hill there for a couple of years. Then he came back as General Manager in 1979.” Malfara had a great passion for skiing -- and especially racing. In the early eighties, he instigated the expansion of Sunrise and Apache Peak and Cyclone were added. “It went from a one-mountain ski area to a three-mountain ski resort,” Derosier said. In 1985, they opened the lodge on Apache and they would hire helicopters to fly customers up to the top of Apache so they could dine in the fancy restaurant there and then they would fly them back down. “If you didn’t want to fly, Derosier told me, “you could ride to the top in ‘Miss Piggy,’ a Tucker Snowcat that they customized to look like a bus which could seat several people.”

Sunrise was the catalyst that got everything going. Before it was built, everything shut down in the winter. Everything changed in the eighties. The hotel was rebuilt in 1973-74 — about the same time they paved the road from Payson to Show Low and the small White Mountain communities started pulling in over 10,000 skiers per day (weekends). The towns started attracting more businesses like chain hotels, restaurants and ski shops.

“We all worked at Sunrise as ski patrol volunteers,” Krissie Almour, avid skier and former owner of Krissie’s Ski and Board, told me in an earlier interview. “We hung around it all of our lives. We would show up for work early in the morning and work until the “sweep” at the end of the day —when you had to ski all of the runs to make sure everyone was off the mountains.” Because of large crowds, “pro-patrol” would park cars, work in the ski rental shop or even flip burgers. Almour and her late husband Jeff, owned and operated ski rental shops on Apache Peak at Sunrise and in Mesa. She also owned Krissie’s Ski and Board, previously Action Ski, for years until she just sold it at the end of last year. 

Sunrise Park Resort has played a major role in the growth of our small White Mountains communities. It opened up a lot of opportunities, brought in economic growth and changed the careers of some ski-driven people. 

Today, Roger Leslie is the interim General Manager (GM) at Sunrise Park Resort and has an extensive business background. With a bachelor’s degree in Business Management, he started his working career by managing the Tribal Fair and Rodeo, one of the largest events the White Mountain Tribe holds every year. His management style and work ethic were noticed by the Tribal Council and they selected him as the first Tribal Assistant General Manager of Hon-Dah Resort Casino in its first year of business. After six years, he moved into the General Manager’s position. During his six years as GM, he was able to build a bridge between their tribal enterprises and the local communities by developing and participating in the marketing groups that benefitted the entire White Mountains. His leadership led to, not only being rated as the number one Casino in Arizona but helped bring the Governor’s Conference to our towns and exposed our local areas to participants from around the state. 

Leslie started getting inquiries from other tribal Casinos for his training capabilities and he decided that he wanted to travel the world — and get paid for it. He left Hon-Dah Resort Casino and traveled and trained other Native Gaming facilities until the economic crash in 2008. Many Casinos discontinued their special events, training and marketing and Leslie changed his course and went into the regulatory side of Indian Gaming. He worked at Sandia Pueblo in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he was a gaming commissioner and then went to San Felipe Pueblo, north of Albuquerque where he was the executive director of their Tribal Gaming Regulatory Agency. While there, he was voted into the New Mexico American Indian Gaming Commissioners Association and served as the chairperson for a year. Then he moved back to Arizona and took a position as General Manager for Mazatzal Casino in Payson.

After leaving Mazatzal, he applied to San Diego State University and was accepted into the Hospitality and Tourism Master’s Degree Program. He graduated but moved home to focus on the care of his late mother and sister. Just as he was dusting off his resume, Tribal Council and the new 2020-2021 season has brought him to Sunrise Park Resort, where after opening day on December 18th, 2020, he is focusing on establishing safe and fun experiences for skiers and snowboarders.

This year brings many challenges to the ski business – including to Sunrise Park Resort. With COVID-19, there are new regulations such as mandatory face masks and social distancing. To prevent the possibility of congregating, the locker rooms will not be open and guests need to use their cars to store their belongings and get ready for skiing or snowboarding. There will be markers on the ground to indicate a 6-foot distance while standing in line and the number of people allowed on the chairlift will be determined by individual skiers or same-group parties and families. Sunrise Park Resort will also have several hand sanitizing stations around the property.

Tickets must be purchased in advance online and then guests get their “One Pass” scanned at the ticket office where everything is cleared of any issues that may appear before they reach the lift lines, ski and board rentals and/or ski school. Leslie is hoping that this will prevent unnecessary wait times or guests having to return to the ticket booth to resolve any problems. The Day Lodge at Sunrise Base is open for “Grab-n-Go” food services. They also have the Pizza Shack and Crown Dancer Café open at the base. The Cafe at Midway is also open with limited indoor dining, outdoor dining and “Grab-n-Go” service. This year, Sunrise Ski Hill is cashless.

Sunrise hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily and they are open to Midway. Go to Sunrise.ski to check out ticket pricing, ticket purchasing, snow reports, COVID-19 regulation and other information.

Happy Anniversary, Sunrise!