Greetings from the High Desert

[HDSkiing]

Lurked here for awhile, mostly in the late summer when my mind wonders off to the mountains...

I hail from the High Mountains of New Mexico where I am for lack of a better description, a Ski Bum. It was'nt always this way, I did have a career in law enforcement, retiring the first time at age 42 then working as a trainer then a Police Chief before I retired for the 2nd time, except for the 80-100 days I spend working as a Ski Instructor at Ski Santa Fe, my only real current job.

I started this addiction when I was pretty young, about 1970 or so where I learned to ski at a happy little place called Mt. Brighton, Mi just outside Ann Arbor. I did the Ski club thing, then went into youth racing running the icy rutted gates that is typical of a midwestern race course at night when its like 3 degrees and the snow makers are blasting away, blowing snow accross the course. I'd like to think I learned how to stay over my skis then, but mostly I just learned to treat my skis like a Bobsled, hey it was a technique, jump out of the rut and there was no getting back in and have a decent time. Ingemar Stenmark, the Mahre brothers and Franz Klammer were my heros among others.

Later I went to school in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan where I skied more than I studied. All I can say is the cold race nights at Mt. brighton were a tropical paradise compared to the 1200 foot peak of Marquette Mountain (formerly Cliff's Ridge) rising up from Lake Superior when the winds kicked up off the lake.

Eventually I ended up in New Mexico, where I was actually born, funny how things come full circle. Anyway I've been here since 1982. Taos, just north of Santa Fe as the crow flys is the largest ski area in the state with Ski Santa Fe being second, tied with Angel Fire. Santa Fe has similar terrain to Taos, and like Taos the best skiing is in the glades that are are not easily accessed by the faint of heart. Our little Ski area is among the highest in the lower 48. You are at 10,350 feet in the parking lot. The peak goes up over 12K. The high elevation mixed with the arid nature of the "High Desert" often delivers light fluffy powder by the foot.

If you're ever in the area, stop in and say hello, best is to visit during the week. Weekends and especially holidays can get quite packed.

 

[dbostedo]

Welcome! There are quite a few folks who ski in NM... mostly at Taos. I'll be there myself this season for a ski week in fact. Nice to have someone with good knowledge of other NM places too.

You might be interested in checking out the Four Corners thread that covers conditions and questions about skiing AZ, NM, and southern CO and UT : https://forum.pugski.com/threads/the-2017-2018-four-corners-thread.5483/

There's also a Taos thread here : https://forum.pugski.com/threads/taos.5635/ ... though some think they have their own thread just because they're snobs.

 

[HDSkiing]

Welcome! There are quite a few folks who ski in NM... mostly at Taos. I'll be there myself this season for a ski week in fact. Nice to have someone with good knowledge of other NM places too.

You might be interested in checking out the Four Corners thread that covers conditions and questions about skiing AZ, NM, and southern CO and UT : https://forum.pugski.com/threads/the-2017-2018-four-corners-thread.5483/

There's also a Taos thread here : https://forum.pugski.com/threads/taos.5635/ ... though some think they have their own thread just because they're snobs.

Cool a Taos thread! Taos is an awesome place, I used to be a season pass holder there and if it didn’t add another hour to my commute each way I think it would be an awesome place to teach, getting students for a week at a time is a great program. Sadly I rarely get up there unless it’s for a clinic as I work so many days at Ski Santa Fe. It seems the only areas I get to these days are the ones hosting a PSIA clinic and usually that tends to be more early season. In fact if you or anyone in your group is a PSIA member I think you can join the Fri afternoon clinics, there are some legendary Ski Instructors and trainers there.

Lots of changes going on at Taos if you haven’t been there recently. I think generally for the better but a lot of the locals, long timers and even staff feel it’s lost the original feel. But the fact is it has become a world renowned destination resort and modernization was probably in order.

The neat thing about Taos is that you can zip along all day on groomed terrain if you like, or you can jump into some of the glades or even ski some chutes. Most of the resort visitors will be on the groomed stuff. But even days after a powder dump you can find nearly untouched stashes in the trees, although some of the entrances look really tight there are plenty of nice glades.

I’ll have to check out the four corners forum. Thanks!

 

[Drahtguy Kevin]

Welcome, @HDSkiing. Keep us updated on Ski Santa Fe. I think one of my passes has days there. Have skis, will travel...

 

[Brock Tice]

Hey guys, I'm a transplant from that other skiing forum that shut down, the past several seasons there was always a Taos Ski Valley seasonal weather/stoke thread. I looked to make sure I wouldn't duplicate it and came across this thread.

Is it ok/good if I start one? It got plenty of traffic over there to justify being separate from the 4 corners thread(s).

EDIT: Looks like that other dedicated Taos thread is it -- I may suggest they change the thread name.

 

[PisteOff]

Mt. Brighton! Hail fellow Michigander! Welcome.......

 

[HDSkiing]

Mt. Brighton! Hail fellow Michigander! Welcome.......

Mt. Brighton, cool! I probably have not skied Brighton since the mid 70’s, I learned to Ski and later race there. Then in high school the club I was in moved to Pine Knob. It’s probably been 35 years since I skied east of the Rockies. Great memories growing up and skiing in Michigan. I used to ski at Boyne, Boyne Highlands and Sugarloaf which I now understand is closed. I remember skiing the bumps on Awful-Awful.

One thing about Midwest and east coast skiers is I think that we all learned how to carve, skidded turns tended to be self correcting...I used to tune my skis every time I went out, making sure I had sharp edges. Now I have to de-tune them lol.

 

[PisteOff]

Mt. Brighton, cool! I probably have not skied Brighton since the mid 70’s, I learned to Ski and later race there. Then in high school the club I was in moved to Pine Knob. It’s probably been 35 years since I skied east of the Rockies. Great memories growing up and skiing in Michigan. I used to ski at Boyne, Boyne Highlands and Sugarloaf which I now understand is closed. I remember skiing the bumps on Awful-Awful.
One thing about Midwest and east coast skiers is I think that we all learned how to carve, skidded turns tended to be self correcting...I used to tune my skis every time I went out, making sure I had sharp edges. Now I have to de-tune them lol.

I live 1/2 mile from Pine Knob. I usually buy a season pass there and hit it a few times a week after work or on weekends for NASTAR. It's enough to keep me in shape and sharp for when I go out west. Funny you mention detuning your skis. I was skiing last winter at Knob with a guy from British Columbia. He said he had to take his skis into the pro shop and get them tuned. Said he hadn't sharpened them since he bought them a couple years prior!! Sugarloaf was just purchased. It had been closed for a long time. The new owner plans on spending a few million there. Should be nice. Locals still skin or hike to the top just to ski it. I usually go to Caberfae when I go up north. I was just out in Taos for the last weekend of the 15/16 season. Kachina was a sheet of ice with rocks poking out here and there and most the lifts were down. They didn't open 4 (pretty sure it's 4) until midday and after a few people were witnessed tumbling down the slope very few were too interested in going up LOL. Would be nice to have been there on a powder day or earlier in the season. Strange layout there. Definitely a place where I'd like to hang with some locals who know all the sweet spots if I went back. My profile pick was taken in Taos.

 

[HDSkiing]

Pine Knob was cool, I remember when I went over there with the youth program we had to ski The Wall with linked parallel turns to get our black diamand patch It was pretty intimidationg at the time lol. I often wonder how I would look at it now after skiing some really steep (and long) stuff out here.

Cool that you live so close and you can just zip up there. I still have family and friends that live in that area, although I never visit during ski season. Different story out here, there is always a (often snowy-icy) steep mountain road involved, particulalry at Ski Santa Fe. Taos is a little more of a mellow drive but a longer commute for me. Glad to hear that Sugarloaf was purchased. I always thought it was a neat place to ski.

I think I remember the day that you are talking about at Taos, as it was almost as nasty that day at Santa Fe. Those upper ridges can really get wind swept and then they get crusty and the snow wont stick to them and then you get ice, or as close to ice as we get here lol. Last year Taos extended the closing by a week or two as it was snowing like crazy in late March and early April. Taos offers an upper level ski guide/lesson combo where you explore the mountain, depending on the group you are with they will take you all over the mountain.

Kachina Peak is actually probably the easiest double black on the mountain and everyone wants to go up there. You used to have to hike it and now with the lift which makes it much more accessible it also often makes it skied out. A lot of the boarders, and I imagine a few skiers push the snow down the slope. The slopes to the west off the Highline Ridge will have better snow as not nearly as many skiers/boarders go there as you still have to hike that portion, they wont let you ski down from the peak lift to that part.

Same with the West Basin Ridge which some of the locals refer to as the High Traverse, as you dont neccessarily have to hike it, depending where you want to drop in. Blitz and Blitz Trees are fairly close to lift 2 and ussually have really good snow. The same with Staufenberg, its steep but seldom bumpy or chopped up as there is a bit of a hike involved. The farther to the west you go, and the more you hike the less skied out areas you will find. But some of those chutes over there are really steep and narrow in places!

Taos is full of hidden gems that most resort visitors wont ussually ski and so the powder lasts even days after a dump. But the steepness, buried boulders and fallen trees neccessitate that some of those runs have a lot of snow. To the left of Lift 6 in the trees also has really good skiing you can access it from the top of the chair or from the other side off of Bambi and down Castor.

Long horn and some of the trees above it, also have hidden powder stashs. After you get your Kachina Peak run in, drop down into Hunzinker Bowl and then down into High Noon. Alot of the resort visitors won't venture that far over and ussually it will have good snow.

Taos and Santa Fe already have snow up on top. But we have less reliable snow early season than Colorado just to the north gets, although it varies from year to year. Feb/March/April are the snowiest months, and December often gets more snow than January, which tends to be cold and dry, although last year it snowed a lot from the holidays on.

 

[PisteOff]

Pine Knob was cool, I remember when I went over there with the youth program we had to ski The Wall with linked parallel turns to get our black diamand patch It was pretty intimidationg at the time lol. I often wonder how I would look at it now after skiing some really steep (and long) stuff out here.

Cool that you live so close and you can just zip up there. I still have family and friends that live in that area, although I never visit during ski season. Different story out here, there is always a (often snowy-icy) steep mountain road involved, particulalry at Ski Santa Fe. Taos is a little more of a mellow drive but a longer commute for me. Glad to hear that Sugarloaf was purchased. I always thought it was a neat place to ski.

I think I remember the day that you are talking about at Taos, as it was almost as nasty that day at Santa Fe. Those upper ridges can really get wind swept and then they get crusty and the snow wont stick to them and then you get ice, or as close to ice as we get here lol. Last year Taos extended the closing by a week or two as it was snowing like crazy in late March and early April. Taos offers an upper level ski guide/lesson combo where you explore the mountain, depending on the group you are with they will take you all over the mountain.

Kachina Peak is actually probably the easiest double black on the mountain and everyone wants to go up there. You used to have to hike it and now with the lift which makes it much more accessible it also often makes it skied out. A lot of the boarders, and I imagine a few skiers push the snow down the slope. The slopes to the west off the Highline Ridge will have better snow as not nearly as many skiers/boarders go there as you still have to hike that portion, they wont let you ski down from the peak lift to that part.

Same with the West Basin Ridge which some of the locals refer to as the High Traverse, as you dont neccessarily have to hike it, depending where you want to drop in. Blitz and Blitz Trees are fairly close to lift 2 and ussually have really good snow. The same with Staufenberg, its steep but seldom bumpy or chopped up as there is a bit of a hike involved. The farther to the west you go, and the more you hike the less skied out areas you will find. But some of those chutes over there are really steep and narrow in places!

Taos is full of hidden gems that most resort visitors wont ussually ski and so the powder lasts even days after a dump. But the steepness, buried boulders and fallen trees neccessitate that some of those runs have a lot of snow. To the left of Lift 6 in the trees also has really good skiing you can access it from the top of the chair or from the other side off of Bambi and down Castor.

Long horn and some of the trees above it, also have hidden powder stashs. After you get your Kachina Peak run in, drop down into Hunzinker Bowl and then down into High Noon. Alot of the resort visitors won't venture that far over and ussually it will have good snow.

Taos and Santa Fe already have snow up on top. But we have less reliable snow early season than Colorado just to the north gets, although it varies from year to year. Feb/March/April are the snowiest months, and December often gets more snow than January, which tends to be cold and dry, although last year it snowed a lot from the holidays on.

That is great information. Great post. Well if you ever get out this way when the snow is flying send me a PM. If I head back down to NM I will do the same. The furthest south I plan on going this year is Telluride but we're still up in the air on that........