Light Transport
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT; Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach
Procedure; Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors
I was the Pilot in Command/ Pilot Monitoring to ELP; the flight went just fine up until the last 10 minutes or so; almost 10 minutes; 20 miles from the ELP we were given the choice between Runway 4 and Runway 8R; we chose Runway 8R for landing because it favored the winds; also the weather was Sky Clear with 10 SM of visibility. We were instructed to descend down to 6000 ft. and given a heading that placed us on a right downwind for Runway 8R; at the 5 mile downwind mark the First Officer initiated a right base turn (which I found to be normal procedure for a visual) as we both noticed the airplane coming into close proximity to the mountain; the First Officer made a swift decision to sharpen his base turn; we knew for certain we were clear of the mountain because it was visual and we can see; however we triggered a 'TOO LOW TERAIN; PULL UP' aural message which the First Officer responded to immediately and pulled up with my assistance. By the time we leveled off and started down again for the runway we hit a thousand feet and weren't stable; we were very close to stabilization and I didn't see a compromise to safety so we continued on and the First Officer made a good safe landing. Upon reaching the gate I realized it was probably a better idea if had instructed the first officer to go around and attempt another approach.  It would help if the runway had an approach given the close proximity to the mountains; also it would have helped if ATC said something along the lines of 'maintain 6000 ft. until a 5 mile final'. Would not recommend this approach at night.
Light Transport flight crew reported un-stabilized approach due to mountainous terrain resulting in go around.