Arizona/New Mexico Taos & Santa Fe Questions

[noobski]

Trying to plan a mid-winter trip and my wife would like to go to New Mexico again. We were there once in the Fall a few years ago and covered Taos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque over two weeks. It was amazing. Probably one of our best trips ever.

We've never been in winter. Thinking sometime in February to hopefully optimize regional ski conditions.

I'd like to ski Taos at least 2 days, Santa Fe at least one day and maybe Red River if time and conditions allow. We can only do a full week (Sat to Sun) and she'd prefer one location however flexible to staying at two if strongly recommended by others.

My wife can't push the way I do for skiing and so ideally would want other things to do beyond skiing. Santa Fe seems optimal for that.

Kids (10 and 12) would come along as well. Both intermediate/advanced. Daughter (12) can ski A-Basin east wall no problems as an example. Kids also don't want to ski every day.

I was wondering if we could simply make Santa Fe the home base and then for the days I want to ski Taos area, just drive up there? Or is that dumb with a lot of time lost? I'd prefer being flexible to snow conditions as well if possible, which is why I'd be okay driving up each day instead of locking into a couple nights if conditions favored other days. I would also be open to booking just one or two nights at a motel/hotel in Taos last minute without losing the SF home base. I would also be open to booking Taos as the home base if there's other things to do versus Santa Fe.

Taos apparently is requiring reservations this year. Is that as hard to manage as Jackson hole was a few years ago? We have Ikon and we had to book dates way in advance since days appeared to sell out quickly and it made flexibility difficult.

A couple initial wild cards are car rentals and airfare. Both are looking exceedingly cost prohibitive at this point, but like last year, they both came down in price and eventually became doable. I'm hoping that happens here.

Anything else to consider?

Any reason not to go?

 

[pais alto]

Santa Fe is a good idea for the spouse to do things besides ski, a really good idea. History, activities, museums, eating, shopping, etc.

It’s about a two hour drive from SF to TSV. I do it all the time, but it’s up to you whether you want to. If you’re only going to ski there a couple-three days that might not be too bad for you. If the weather’s nice, and you’re not in a hurry, driving back along the High Road afterwards is a nice (somewhat longer) diversion. Red River is kind of long for a day trip.

Taos requiring reservations is news to me. Got a reference link? I’m a local pass holder and haven’t heard anything about that.

 

[martyg]

Another big wild card will be weather. We are looking at another LaNina winter. It can be such a crap shoot. It could be desperate, or one big storm (like last year) could transform it.

Telluride might be an option. You can stay in the village, and a free gondola takes you right to DT. Fly into Montrose, take a shuttle. No need for a rental car. Check out Inn at Lost Creek for lodging. Make a reservation now for Alpino Vino and Alreds. The beginner terrain is amazing. Gentle to bottom runs that go for miles.

Driving from Santa Fe to Taos…. Not a big deal in an appropriately equipped car with AWD and snows. In a random rental, not so much.

 

[skiki]

@noobski If going in Feb, keep in mind the mini gathering at TSV - Feb 4 - 11.

@pais alto - reservations are for Ikon only, not passholders. You have to make the reservations through the Ikon site.

 

[mikel]

Taos requiring reservations is news to me. Got a reference link? I’m a local pass holder and haven’t heard anything about that.

it’s an Ikon thing. If you have an Ikon pass you have to login on the Ikon site and make a reservation

 

[noobski]

Another big wild card will be weather. We are looking at another LaNina winter. It can be such a crap shoot. It could be desperate, or one big storm (like last year) could transform it.

Telluride might be an option. You can stay in the village, and a free gondola takes you right to DT. Fly into Montrose, take a shuttle. No need for a rental car. Check out Inn at Lost Creek for lodging. Make a reservation now for Alpino Vino and Alreds. The beginner terrain is amazing. Gentle to bottom runs that go for miles.

Driving from Santa Fe to Taos…. Not a big deal in an appropriately equipped car with AWD and snows. In a random rental, not so much.

Yeah, the weather thing is a big concern. Wasn't just a few years ago the area was under 20% coverage for most of the season? But then of course last year I think it was an amazing snow year?

I was thinking that if that were the case, it might be best to last-minute plan the trip, but then it's likely all the other costs go up, not down.

Re Telluride. The flight there is pretty expensive and hard for where we live. Right now not the best options for us to get there. The family also doesn't want to ski everyday, so we want/need the car for optionality and doing non-skiing things.

A back up idea for us is possibly Targhee / JHole. Flights are not the cheapest, but lodging is reasonable and one of my good friends lives in Victor.

 

[martyg]

Yeah, the weather thing is a big concern. Wasn't just a few years ago the area was under 20% coverage for most of the season? But then of course last year I think it was an amazing snow year?

I was thinking that if that were the case, it might be best to last-minute plan the trip, but then it's likely all the other costs go up, not down.

Re Telluride. The flight there is pretty expensive and hard for where we live. Right now not the best options for us to get there. The family also doesn't want to ski everyday, so we want/need the car for optionality and doing non-skiing things.

A back up idea for us is possibly Targhee / JHole. Flights are not the cheapest, but lodging is reasonable and one of my good friends lives in Victor.

Non-ski things in Jackson or Telluride would be about the same. We used to have a place in Victor - before the golf resort went in. You should be able to get a direct from O'Hare to Montrose. If going to Jackson, airport service can be inconsistent. If flying into Idaho Falls, Teton Pass closures are frequent. If going to Jackson book a private with Tim Petrick. Truly an industry legend. Great Thai restaurant in Driggs. Targhee is one of my faves.

Another option, if sun isn't important, would be Crystal in WA. This would be a major destination resort anywhere else in the country. Huge terrain. Huge side country. Top to bottom gondola. Seattle is an hour away, so lots of non-ski activities. Lower elevation may be a plus for your family. Maybe a day or two at Baker. Call Dan at Mt Baker Lodging for a cabin in Glacier, WA.

Enjoy.

 

[Jerez]

Plus 1 for Santa Fe as a base. We day trip to Taos often, or a one night in a motel up there makes sense. There is plenty of culture to keep your non-skier busy for a day or two in Taos too. Galleries, museums and the Pueblo. If you want to splurge you can stay at El Monte Sagrado. Your kids wil love the imaginative indoor pool there.

We have even been known to day trip to Wolf Creek. Three hours from our door in Santa Fe to the mountain. Not usually a big difference in snow between SF and Taos, but it can be huge between them and Wolf Creek. Not much to do in Pagosa Springs except the hot springs unless she likes to cross country or snow shoe or snowmobile.

Ski Santa Fe will surprise your kids with some challenging terrain. But Meow Wolf is a good non ski day for young and old too.

 

[noobski]

Quick update: car rental pricing is so variable. ABQ & DEN pricing over $1500/week on Sat to Sat Full Size AWD SUV; Jackson Hole over $2,000 to $2,500/week! No thanks. I messed around with travel dates flying on weird days (Monday) for example and found I could get an ABQ SUV rental for $810 a week. Still really high, but that's about half the price if you go Sat to Sat. So I still might try to keep Santa Fe here if I can find air and lodging.

 

[noobski]

Plus 1 for Santa Fe as a base. We day trip to Taos often, or a one night in a motel up there makes sense. There is plenty of culture to keep your non-skier busy for a day or two in Taos too. Galleries, museums and the Pueblo. If you want to splurge you can stay at El Monte Sagrado. Your kids wil love the imaginative indoor pool there.

We have even been known to day trip to Wolf Creek. Three hours from our door in Santa Fe to the mountain. Not usually a big difference in snow between SF and Taos, but it can be huge between them and Wolf Creek. Not much to do in Pagosa Springs except the hot springs unless she likes to cross country or snow shoe or snowmobile.

Ski Santa Fe will surprise your kids with some challenging terrain. But Meow Wolf is a good non ski day for young and old too.

Wolf Creek sounds like a fun idea to possibly add to the itinerary. If we did something like that one day, I assume it's best to do a one night hotel room up there?

My kids did Meow Wolf once and loved it.

 

[Ken_R]

Trying to plan a mid-winter trip and my wife would like to go to New Mexico again. We were there once in the Fall a few years ago and covered Taos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque over two weeks. It was amazing. Probably one of our best trips ever.

We've never been in winter. Thinking sometime in February to hopefully optimize regional ski conditions.

I'd like to ski Taos at least 2 days, Santa Fe at least one day and maybe Red River if time and conditions allow. We can only do a full week (Sat to Sun) and she'd prefer one location however flexible to staying at two if strongly recommended by others.

My wife can't push the way I do for skiing and so ideally would want other things to do beyond skiing. Santa Fe seems optimal for that.

Kids (10 and 12) would come along as well. Both intermediate/advanced. Daughter (12) can ski A-Basin east wall no problems as an example. Kids also don't want to ski every day.

I was wondering if we could simply make Santa Fe the home base and then for the days I want to ski Taos area, just drive up there? Or is that dumb with a lot of time lost? I'd prefer being flexible to snow conditions as well if possible, which is why I'd be okay driving up each day instead of locking into a couple nights if conditions favored other days. I would also be open to booking just one or two nights at a motel/hotel in Taos last minute without losing the SF home base. I would also be open to booking Taos as the home base if there's other things to do versus Santa Fe.

Taos apparently is requiring reservations this year. Is that as hard to manage as Jackson hole was a few years ago? We have Ikon and we had to book dates way in advance since days appeared to sell out quickly and it made flexibility difficult.

A couple initial wild cards are car rentals and airfare. Both are looking exceedingly cost prohibitive at this point, but like last year, they both came down in price and eventually became doable. I'm hoping that happens here.

Anything else to consider?

Any reason not to go?

Taos is far from Santa Fe. Its about a 2 hour drive to the ski resort in good weather. For me its just too much to do before and after a ski day unless I am by myself.

Santa Fe is a really cool little town with plenty to do. There are some really nice accommodations in town. Plenty to choose from.

Santa Fe ski area is awesome IF and thats a big IF they get good snow and conditions are good. With the resort 100% open it is awesome. Beware that the drive up requires a good vehicle with winter tires if there is any snow on the road.

Taos is more of a resort but still has a tiny village compared to most Colorado resorts. You can stay in Taos town but it is pretty dingy. The drive up to the resort is not bad. Staying up in the resort will maximize your ski experience and its worth it imho.

Again, beware of conditions. The ski area can be very limited if they are having a bad snow year which happens frequently.

With both of these resorts I cringe if I need to plan a trip to them in advance. I never have. I wait until I am sure they have plenty of snow and open terrain.

Wolf Creek sucks except on really good powder days if you guys are good skiing powder. It is an average ski area with no amenities. On the plus size NO ONE will be skiing there unless its a big powder day and it will hold powder many days after a storm. If its 100% percent open the ski area is great to explore. The drive up the pass in stormy conditions is super sketchy. You definitely need winter tires and awd/4wd. Most times its easy and well maintained. Not much to do in the towns nearby. It is in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Ken_R]

Quick update: car rental pricing is so variable. ABQ & DEN pricing over $1500/week on Sat to Sat Full Size AWD SUV; Jackson Hole over $2,000 to $2,500/week! No thanks. I messed around with travel dates flying on weird days (Monday) for example and found I could get an ABQ SUV rental for $810 a week. Still really high, but that's about half the price if you go Sat to Sat. So I still might try to keep Santa Fe here if I can find air and lodging.

Heck give me $2,000 USD and I will rent you my Subaru Forester with winter tires for a week. Il throw in the roof box for free.

 

[noobski]

Heck give me $2,000 USD and I will rent you my Subaru Forester with winter tires for a week. Il throw in the roof box for free.

No kidding! You can actually do that if you want. There's a VRBO for car rentals now called Turo.

"Normally" these rates drop as you get closer to the travel date. Last year we had CO spring break plans. We were about two weeks to go without a rental car and then finally got a Full SUV for about $600/week. Which was coming off of $2,500. But we'll see.

 

[noobski]

Taos is far from Santa Fe. Its about a 2 hour drive to the ski resort in good weather. For me its just too much to do before and after a ski day unless I am by myself.

Santa Fe is a really cool little town with plenty to do. There are some really nice accommodations in town. Plenty to choose from.

Santa Fe ski area is awesome IF and thats a big IF they get good snow and conditions are good. With the resort 100% open it is awesome. Beware that the drive up requires a good vehicle with winter tires if there is any snow on the road.

Taos is more of a resort but still has a tiny village compared to most Colorado resorts. You can stay in Taos town but it is pretty dingy. The drive up to the resort is not bad. Staying up in the resort will maximize your ski experience and its worth it imho.

Again, beware of conditions. The ski area can be very limited if they are having a bad snow year which happens frequently.

With both of these resorts I cringe if I need to plan a trip to them in advance. I never have. I wait until I am sure they have plenty of snow and open terrain.

Wolf Creek sucks except on really good powder days if you guys are good skiing powder. It is an average ski area with no amenities. On the plus size NO ONE will be skiing there unless its a big powder day and it will hold powder many days after a storm. If its 100% percent open the ski area is great to explore. The drive up the pass in stormy conditions is super sketchy. You definitely need winter tires and awd/4wd. Most times its easy and well maintained. Not much to do in the towns nearby. It is in the middle of nowhere.

Great feedback. Thank you.

The conditions issue is the big wildcard for us. Very hard to plan for. I can save a lot on flights and have more lodging to pick from right now, but the snow conditions turn out poor, it kind of ruins it. Hard to really know.

A friend of mine who used to guide at Taos told me that Taos skis mostly "advanced to expert" until they get about 80-90% filled in or usually by around February. Then it becomes more "all-skier" friendly. Not sure if I'm remembering his comments exactly, but does that kind of ring true?

 

[James]

friend of mine who used to guide at Taos told me that Taos skis mostly "advanced to expert" until they get about 80-90% filled in or usually by around February. Then it becomes more "all-skier" friendly. Not sure if I'm remembering his comments exactly, but does that kind of ring true?

Sounds kind of backwards.
@KingGrump , @dbostedo ?

 

[noobski]

Sounds kind of backwards.
@KingGrump , @dbostedo ?

Sorry, if confusing...to expand, what I think he meant was, until the mountain gets filled into about 80%+ it's really an advanced-experts mountain and not necessarily all-skier friendly. I think that's what he was implying and why he suggested waiting until February to plan a trip there for the whole family so that there was plenty of time for the mountain to fill in.

 

[martyg]

Again, beware of conditions. The ski area can be very limited if they are having a bad snow year which happens frequently.

Wolf Creek sucks except on really good powder days if you guys are good skiing powder. It is an average ski area with no amenities. On the plus size NO ONE will be skiing there unless its a big powder day and it will hold powder many days after a storm. If its 100% percent open the ski area is great to explore. The drive up the pass in stormy conditions is super sketchy. You definitely need winter tires and awd/4wd. Most times its easy and well maintained. Not much to do in the towns nearby. It is in the middle of nowhere.

This.

With regards to Wolf Creek. I am an hour + away. I have only skied it once. Don't see the attraction.

 

[Jerez]

Ski Santa Fe has a bus service to the mountain that is essentially free. You pay $5 and get a $5 token good at the any mountain dining or store. Very useful if some in your party don't want to ski and want a vehicle without having to drive up and down the mountain twice.

Taos is dingy??? Wow. It ain't Disneyland thats for sure. But it is a cultural mecca with galleries, restaurants, world class museums and historic sites.

We used to do Wolf Creek as a day trip but not anymore. And the drive up is two lane roads through very rural areas.. beautiful but somewhat desolate. So a hotel for one night is advisable. We like the Fireside Cabins. Well located, not expensive and they have two bedroom cabins with a futon couch in the living room and full kitchens.

I like Wolf Creek a lot. Powder for days and days after a storm. Everything is pretty much fair game. So you have endless opportunities to explore trees and wherever. You have to be a bit adventurous to get the most out of it. And, like Taos, be willing to hike a bit. I would say it is probably hellish if you snowboard. Lots of flat run-outs. Not many cruisers except to get from one place to another. That said, there is a new-ish area of very easy gladed terrain that is a perfect intro to off piste tree skiing. It s definitely in the middle of nowhere which is another reason I like it. Pagosa Springs is the nearest town and it has maybe three decent restaurants and the hot springs and not much else. It is definitely not a "resort." None of these places is a resort, although Taos is doing its best to get there.

I think your friend meant the other way around. Taos will have greens and blues and some black runs open without a lot of base. But the iconic expert terrain requires a pretty big base to open. If you look at photos of the area in summer you will see why. It is the Very Rocky Mountains. In between, when terrain is open and not fully covered that it may be even more expert. That may be what your friend meant.

 

[pais alto]

What @Jerez said.

Taos is mostly beginner-intermediate (aka all-skier friendly) until it fills in, usually sometime in January.

 

[Ken_R]

Ski Santa Fe has a bus service to the mountain that is essentially free. You pay $5 and get a $5 token good at the any mountain dining or store. Very useful if some in your party don't want to ski and want a vehicle without having to drive up and down the mountain twice.

Taos is dingy??? Wow. It ain't Disneyland thats for sure. But it is a cultural mecca with galleries, restaurants, world class museums and historic sites.

We used to do Wolf Creek as a day trip but not anymore. And the drive up is two lane roads through very rural areas.. beautiful but somewhat desolate. So a hotel for one night is advisable. We like the Fireside Cabins. Well located, not expensive and they have two bedroom cabins with a futon couch in the living room and full kitchens.

I like Wolf Creek a lot. Powder for days and days after a storm. Everything is pretty much fair game. So you have endless opportunities to explore trees and wherever. You have to be a bit adventurous to get the most out of it. And, like Taos, be willing to hike a bit. I would say it is probably hellish if you snowboard. Lots of flat run-outs. Not many cruisers except to get from one place to another. They said, there is a new-ish area of very easy graded terrain that is a perfect intro to off piste tree skiing. It s definitely in the middle of nowhere which is another reason I like it. Pagosa Springs is the nearest town and it has maybe three decent restaurants and the hot springs and not much else. It is definitely not a "resort." None of these places is a resort, although Taos is doing its best to get there.

I think your friend meant the other way around. Taos will have greens and blues and some black runs open without a lot of base. But the iconic expert terrain requires a pretty big base to open. If you look at photos of the area in summer you will see why. It is the Very Rocky Mountains. In between, when terrain is open and not fully covered that it may be even more expert. That may be what your friend meant.

I havent been to Taos town in 6 years maybe its nicer now? Taos Ski Resort is nice. Even back then.