Opening Day at Ski Santa Fe

Climbing the catwalk alongside another set of tracks

Delayed from what looked like a possible Thanksgiving Weekend opening, Ski Santa Fe is officially running the lifts today with a reported 18" base. I'll be chained to my office desk most of the weekend but I did make it up top for a few runs early this morning. The timely storm that arrived last night left much less new snow than advertised. I thought there was probably 2-3in. of new up there this morning, but it might have snowed another 1/4in over the couple of hours I was there. No complaints from this guy however, this morning being my seventh ski day of the year - complete before the year's first skier even boarded the quad on opening day.

Not a lot was groomed or even roped off up there. In fact, I noticed all of the clocks weren't even showing the correct time. All still unplugged or needing fresh batteries or whatever. Kind of funny considering the place was opening in a few hours. Talking with ski patrol a bit later they told me the only open skiing would be Midland and lower Easy Street. Those were in fact, the only runs I found to be groomed. So, hope for a bit more snow up there today and this evening. The discounted full day lift price of $48 might be a bit optimistic for that kind of ski-able terrain.

Visibility low looking up towards the top of the Quad Chair

The fog was working over Midland most of the morning. My new skill with telemark turns made the descents a lot more fun and a lot less evel-knievel

I saw a few others during my loops, skinning up for tracks of their own. The one guy I stopped to chat with up above lower Parachute happened to be Chris Keyes, Editor at Outside Magazine here in town. Cool guy. I'd been on a trail run with him once before with mutual friends but it's been a while. We talked about the snow and my Rossignol cross-skis. He mentioned that he and friend used similar equipment in a few tries on the Elk Mountain Traverse a few years back. I've spent time contemplating that beast of a race, but need another season or two to sharpen my backcountry skills before taking on a trek that serious. Anyway, good to hear and see that Chris finds time to get out and rip it. Santa Fe needs a bit more snowfall though if the ripping will continue in the short term.

Roping off upper Easy Street just below Totemoffs. I'm sure they have their reasons but this one puzzled me.