Ski Instructor Wally Dobbs Promotes Skiing, Hometown

Wally Dobbs, 65, patiently helps an 8-year-old boy and his grandmother onto a chairlift, and then hops aboard to escort the novice skiers to a gentle, snow-covered slope that winds through aspens at Red River (N.M.) Ski Area.

"Welcome to my office," he says, pointing to a breathtaking view of the surrounding Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Ascending the slope, Dobbs spins stories, cracks jokes and warbles a tune to calm the anxious skiers. Learning to relax on skis is the first step to enjoying the winter sport, according to Dobbs, ski school director at the family-owned resort in the one-street town of Red River (pop. 484).

"My job is to make sure they're having fun getting from the top of the mountain to the bottom," he says cheerfully.

His strategy apparently works. Each year, thousands of skiing enthusiasts visit Red River, many inspired by personal interaction with Dobbs, a passionate and prolific ambassador, both for alpine skiing and for the former mining town near Colorado's border.

"People call up and first thing they ask, 'Is Wally still there?'" says Lauren Judycki House, 31, a spokeswoman for the resort.

Dobbs prides himself on hitting the slopes each day during Red River's five-month ski season, which begins the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and ends in April when grass begins peeking through the melting snow.

For 17 years, the Mesquite, Texas, native devoted the off-season to promoting his adopted hometown throughout the central United States, driving his colorfully decorated 1951 Willys station wagon with a ski bolted to the front bumper and a sign on the side inviting strangers to "Ask me about Red River." He passed out brochures and restaurant coupons and gave his personal testimony about New Mexico's powdery slopes to anyone who would listen. During the summer of 2000, the ambitious Dobbs visited more than 700 ski, sports and travel groups.

"Wally put Red River on the map," says Paulette Kiker, 45, a shopkeeper who was director of the town's Chamber of Commerce from 1989 to 1998. "He drove around in his funky truck inviting everybody to Red River, from the waitress serving him coffee to the driver filling up next to him at the gas station."