Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Cross Country Skiing - Cumbres Pass, CO

Stand tall noble Rossi's
Got out on the boards over New Years just north of Chama on the other side of Cumbres Pass.  I had the foresight to tote the skis along on an overnight ski/snowshoe trip and the weather and snow conditions cooperated nicely.

I had picked up my skis at this year's ski swap and my first outing with them didn't go so well.  The edges were scaled with rust spots and grime, so I spent an hour with a filing tool removing most of that junk.  My effort was rewarded with heavenly gliding in Colorado's backcountry and built-up excitement to get up to Santa Fe's Norski trails as soon as possible.

I skied down through a ~1mi. track we'd cut in the new snowfall the day before.  The fading light gave off some extraordinary orange and pinks over snow caked hills.  Made the climb back up to base camp without problem.  Stopped several times for photos and to admire the views of a new year.  Recovered with hot chocolate and brandy, my lovely wife, and good friends.


Now if I can string together another 364 days like this, my year ought to be pretty freaking awesome. 

Snow madness
Self portrait with the year's first sunset

Backcountry colors

Neff Mountain Trail - Clickable map below


View Neff Mountain Trail - FR 116 in a larger map



Related Posts:
  - Area Nordic Trails Listing
 - Colorado Hut-to-Hut - Neff Mountain
 - Chama Valley Ski Classic - Jan 15-17

2 comments:

  1. For fellow snow sport enthusiasts, the annual Snow Shoe Classic race is this Saturday (Jan 8th) starting at Norski trail head. For more info: http://www.santafestriders.org/race_info/event_info.aspx?eventname=SnowShoe2011

    ~CNM

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's no lie, I'll even be up there making sure things run smoothly. All kinds of local snow shoe and ski events this month. We've got a calendar working now with dates and links to more information, on the Tabs at the top of the page. Thank you for the heads-up.

    ReplyDelete

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