After our previous trip to Taos, Susan swore that we'd never drive to go skiing again. I'm not sure what changed her mind, but she agreed to let me drive (my car, this time) us out to Taos for four days of skiing. We spent Christmas Eve at my parents' in Austin, then drove out to Abilene on Christmas Day to spend the night with my grandmother. We hit the road about 6:45AM on the 26th and arrived in downtown Taos about 3:30, New Mexico time. The roads were clear all the way up. Didn't see any overturned vehicles this time. :)
We stayed at the Adobe and Stars B & B midway between the town and the ski resort. Very nice place with friendly staff, a nice room with radiant heat floors and a kiva fireplace, great breakfasts, and the second biggest cat I've ever seen. Susan really loved the jacuzzi tub in our bathroom, which means I never convinced her to let us try the outdoor hot tub. I would've preferred our breakfasts to have been served a little earlier, as we never did get to the mountain before the lifts opened. I still ended each day with my legs begging me to quit, so I guess I can't really complain too much about not getting enough ski time. Now, if there had been any fresh snow...
All four of our ski days were pretty much the same. We'd head up top and back over to the Kachina Bowl area for a warm-up run or two, then start looking for good bumps, steeps, and trees. We did the short hike up to Hunzicker Bowl a few times each day. Lorelei was again a favorite, with the best snow being in the trees on the steep section on the skier's right. Longhorn was open this time, but had lots of rocky spots to dodge. They had the upper entrance closed the last day we were there. On the afternoon of the first day, we went back to the run where Susan had her scary fall on our previous trip: Jean's Glade. This time Susan didn't have any problems with it. By the fourth day, it had become one of her favorite runs. We also got in some good runs each day on Castor and Pollux on the upper part of the mountain, as well as Rhoda's, Spencer's, and Inferno on the lower face. Lots of rocks to dodge on all the black and double-black runs. The one time we tried the High Traverse over to Blitz, I uncovered some nasty rock outcroppings. Didn't help my skis much, but no major damage. Just reopened some old base wounds that had already been patched several times. The snow was pretty good between the rocks, although some areas were getting pretty worn.
I never was able to convince Susan to hike up the ridge with me, and since I was too lazy to find another ski partner, I never made it up there. The entrances to most of the chutes were pretty rocked out, so it's probably just as well. Guess we'll have to go back some time when it's later in the season for most of those runs. Same goes for Sir Arnold Lunn and Walkyries Chute. We only did a couple of high-speed cruiser runs, and usually only to get down to the lift after running out of bumps to play in. Never got around to running the NASTAR course either.
Susan didn't have any major falls that I can recall. I had a few "unplanned stops" in the bumps when I would dig in the tip of a ski. The only time I released a ski was when I sort of straddled a tree trying to bail out of the icy entrance to Ash Pond. I hate breakable crust. Susan was quite amused watching me crawl out on my knees. I just didn't feel like "post-holing". Beneath the icy crust was soft snow and I would've sunk to my waist with each step. We had skied that run the day before, but Susan decided we should go around to the entrance to Walkyries instead after I had already started down it. My tree encounter is what I get for trying to take a shortcut under a rope instead of sidestepping back up to the gated entrance. Oh well, only damage was a bruised shin and the usual damaged ego. Gotta do something stupid or it wouldn't be a complete ski trip.
On Saturday (or was it Sunday?), I saw something I had never seen before. On the lower section of Winkelried (a slick cat track used by everyone to get to the lift), a ski patroller came whizzing through the designated slow section. I had stopped at the edge of the run while waiting for Susan and had a great viewpoint to watch the patroller skid into the back of a woman, knocking her down. Had that been me, I would've had my ticket pulled for sure. I later told another ski patroller about it, as well as one of the mountain ambassadors. At most mountains, hitting a customer while in uniform means you're out of a job. Don't know what punishment he got, but he definitely deserved at least a suspension, as he was skiing way too fast for the conditions and location. Don't know why he was in such a hurry, as after he checked on the woman he hit, he went down and sat on a snowmobile for a few minutes.
I only skied a few runs without Susan on this trip. On most days, I'd give her a head start at lunch while I snuck in an extra run. At the end of each day, she would head back to the base around 3:30, leaving me to fight the crowds for a last few runs. If my legs hadn't been so tired each day, I might have tried harder to find someone to hike up and ski the ridge. As it was, I usually hit some more cruisers with occasional bump forays and enjoyed the views. The snow on the blue runs was usually pretty scraped off by the end of each day. I could really tell that my skis have lost a lot of edge-holding ability the last few years. If I weren't so cheap, I'd buy some new ones or start renting.
For dinner, we usually drove down into town. The first night we had some good burritos and quesadillas at Tim's Stray Dog Cantina up at the mountain after renting Susan's skis. The next night we went to one of my favorites, Michael's Kitchen. We also tried Orlando's New Mexican Cafe. Excellent food and good prices. The highlight there was the "waiting room"; a bunch of plastic lawn chairs outside surrounding a bonfire under the stars. We also ate at the Bent Street Deli and Cafe, followed by a stroll through the Plaza. Susan was disappointed (and I was somewhat relieved) that most of the high-priced shops were closed at that time of night.
After our last ski day, we packed up the car in the parking lot of the resort and drove down to Santa Fe for the night. Didn't have any time for shopping there either, as we drove back the next morning to Abilene for New Year's Eve with my grandmother. Made great time and I ended up averaging over 31 miles per gallon for the trip. For the four days of skiing, we had mostly blue skies and lots of sun and moderate temperatures. My ability to dodge rocks hasn't improved as much as I'd like. Hopefully that won't be an issue when we go to Jackson Hole with the Clear Lake Area Ski Club for the week of February 15-22.
Until then, Think SNOW!!!