Olive Bolander

Olive Bolander died on Saturday 7 November 2026 at her home in Vadito, New Mexico, aged 98. She would have turned 99 in December. Sipapu announced her death in a news release on 11 November, and no cause of death was given.

The resort's general manager, John Paul Bradley, said: "They were both so passionate about sharing their love of the sport. Olive was truly a pioneer of the ski industry. I speak for our staff and community when I say we are so grateful for what the Bolanders started." A celebration of her life was announced for 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday 12 December 2026 in the day room at the Sipapu Lodge.

Olive Bolander was born in December 1927 and was born and raised in West Texas. As a young woman she spent time working in the mountains of northern New Mexico, and according to the Taos News she met her future husband, Lloyd Bolander, at a picnic in 1948. Lloyd had been born in Dulce, New Mexico, and raised in Penasco, and skied for the University of New Mexico. The couple married in 1949, and Olive lived in New Mexico for the rest of her life. Both began skiing at the Agua Piedra Ski Club, later known as Tres Ritos, up the valley from the future Sipapu site.

In 1950 the Bolanders bought 13 acres of land along the Rio Pueblo in the Tres Ritos area of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, near Penasco. They first operated a general store and summer lodge on the site. In 1952 they opened Sipapu with a 100 foot portable rope tow brought down the valley from Tres Ritos, three basic ski trails and lift tickets at 50 cents. A year later they started a rental department with 30 pairs of skis.

Over the next three decades the couple steadily expanded the resort, adding and replacing lifts, building new trails, putting up slopeside lodging and opening a rental shop, restaurant and store. Sipapu became known as an affordable, family oriented ski area, in contrast to the larger jet set resorts elsewhere in the Rockies, and drew loyal visitors from Texas, Oklahoma and across the region. Olive was a longtime certified ski instructor as well as a co-owner.

The Bolanders retired from daily duties at Sipapu in 1984. In 2000 the resort was bought by James Coleman, and the couple continued to contribute to its operations. In 2004 Lloyd and Olive Bolander were inducted together into the New Mexico Ski Hall of Fame.

Olive and Lloyd Bolander raised their two children, Bruce and Susan, at Sipapu, and both children helped run the family business. Lloyd died in 2014 at the age of 86. Olive remained an avid hiker and outdoorswoman into old age. Her son Bruce said she climbed to the top of Jicarita Peak almost every year up to her 92nd birthday, and that one of her greatest joys was visiting with the people who came to the resort. Sipapu described her as a skier, motorcyclist and lover of the outdoors. She is survived by her daughter Sue Bolander and son-in-law Bill Leslie, her son Bruce and daughter-in-law Winonah Bolander, three grandsons and seven great-grandchildren.

Sipapu, which grew from a single rope tow into a well established regional resort, remains the Bolanders' lasting legacy. Ski New Mexico credits the couple with building a family oriented oasis on the Rio Pueblo for skiers who still enjoy a pioneer sort of winter recreation. In 2026, the year of her death, the resort announced plans for a major expansion of its ski terrain and summer recreation offerings.