Nordic Skiing in Chama - Edward Sargent Wildlife Area

Winter trip to Chama this last weekend. Drove up to spectate some of the racing at the annual Ski Classic. Originally planned to do some racing myself but this happened to be my first outing of the year so that plan went out the window.

Instead we toured around at the Edward Sargent Wildlife Area. They manage the area in winter giving the west side of the WFA over to skiers and snowshoes and the north/east side to the snowmobilers. It was nicely signed and tracked-out, and we navigated across and along the Rio Chamita in a 6km loop, leaving other loops to explore for future visits.

We chatted with a group of snowshoers that were part of a Ski Classic tour I believe. Saw a half dozen other skiers including a friendly guy from Santa Fe who tells us he has a place in Chama and happened to be putting up several of our friends from Santa Fe/Los Alamos for the weekend's race. Saw plenty of animal sign, but no actual animals other than eagle calls from across the valley. There may also have been a low snoring/growling sound, possibly coming from the small child in our tow-sled. Fascinating insight into the human condition.

Panoramic photography skills courtesy of the Desert Babe (not to be confused with the Desert Toddler)

Related Posts:
 - Nordic Skiing, Cumbres Pass
 - Chama Chile Ski Classic
 - Neff Mountain Yurt Trip, Chama NM

Chama Chile Ski Classic - Race Report

I was fortunate enough to be up in Chama this weekend for their annual Chama Ski Classic. It was the first time I'd made it to the event but probably not the last. There was all kinds of madness going on with races, clinics, costume contests, backcountry tours, a beer sampling table....impossible to not have a good time at an event like this.

Jim, Todd, and I made it up on Saturday evening so we missed the freestyle ski racing from earlier in the day. My man Marc Esposito skied to a second place finish in the 7.5K race, edged out by Mark Seaton of Colorado. Tove Shere of Santa Fe skied to a second place finish in the women's race.  Podium results were as follows:

15K Overall: 1) Caleb Thompson, 49:18; 2) Clay Mosley, 49:55; 3) Ken Kisiel, 52:56.  W1) Sanna Sevanto, 54:21; W2) Jessica Kisiel, 1:00:12; W3) Brianne Marshall, 1:03:24
7.5K Overall: 1) Mark Seaton, 34:12; 2) Marc Esposito, 36:42; 3) Dave Wykoff, 39:35;  W1) Dina Pesenson, 41:15; W2) Tove Shere, 42:52

Waiting for liftoff

I don't recall if this one was before the race or the after-party

Snow fairies leading the way

We were helping with the timing of Sunday's races, the Classic 10K and 5K events, the 5K snowshoe, and the combined events.  All of these were running concurrently. It was a blast. There were snow fairies, I saw an astronaut, there were at least two guys racing in dress suits, one racer had his kid strapped to his back in a kid carrier, Southwest Nordic out of Los Alamos had a large contingent, there were young and old and everyone was having a great time.  One guy had a killer fake mustache that stayed affixed to his face during the entire race and after-party.  A true thing of beauty.  Podium results were as follows:

10K Overall: 1) Clay Mosley, 44:11; 2) Steve Ilg, 47:30; 3,W1) Sanna Sevanto, 49:01; W2) Jessica Kisiel, 53:34, W3) Dina Pesenson, 1:04:45
5K Overall: 1) David Wykoff, 34:35; 2) David Burdette, 36:27; 3,W1) Janie Miller, 37:12; W2) Dana Price, 38:13; W3) Donna Berg, 38:20
5K Snowshoe Overall:  1) Jurgen Montgomery, 33:12; 2) Daryl Dagel, 37:49; 3) Robert Parks, 39:14;  W1) Annie Sewell, 39:44; W2) Tove Shere, 45:43; W3) Samantha Fernandez, 47:01
King of the Mountain (10K Combined Champ) - Daryl Dagel, 1hr 29:19
Queen of the Mountain - Graciela Perez, 2hr 42:52
Prince of the Mountain (5K Combined Champ) - Kirik Reinhart, 1hr 23:13
Princess of the Mountain - Tove Shere, 1hr 30:20

King of the Mtn - combined winner Daryl Dagle

10K champ Clay Mosley

The folks on the front end were moving.  Many of the Southwest Nordic crew were there for business and they were killing it out on the race loop.  I got out on my skis at day's end and the best I could muster was a 41min loop (5K).  For reference, the top ten 10K finishers all came in under 50min, so I would have had my backside handed to me by this field.

On the course looking east

Groomers heading north towards the pass

Race director Mary Ann DeBoer and her crew of volunteers did an absolutely first-rate job. Awards were announced and given out at the High Country Restaurant and Saloon in town. The place was great - packed with racers and snow-mobilers and people in costumes, a blue-grass band playing, terrific beers with New Mexico and Durango microbrews all on tap. The owner of High Country even skied in the race and took home his age-group title for the second straight year, (Che Johnston, 41m34s). That is badass. Medals and chile ristras were given out to the winners.

Spoils of the victors

Next year I'm racing this thing and bringing home some hardware although I'll need to think of a decent costume that will incorporate a fake mustache. I'll also need to get faster.

Freestyle Ski Results can be found here (.pdf)
Classic Ski and Snowshoe Results can be found here
Photo Album can be found here






View Chama Chile Ski Classic in a larger map

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Related Links:
  - Chama Race Report - Southwest Nordic
  - Pagosa Springs Winterfest
  - Feb 13th NM Cup - Low O2 Challenge

Colorado Hut-to-Hut, Neff Mountain

Touring gear, polka dot skins, and neck high snow pack

We were invited by friends on a backcountry hut trip for New Years.  The hut, or yurt in this case, was just north of Chama and Cumbres Pass in southern Colorado.  For years I'd wanted to check out the 10th Mountain Division Huts in Colorado, but I was unaware of a hut system in New Mexico.  Aside from the area where we spent New Years which is more or less the Chama area, the same outfit - the Southwest Nordic Center - has a system laid out in Taos and apparently Red River has built a few out their way as well.  So there you go.

The crew in queue, Tyson in rear guard

Strapped with six-packs of roman candles. And my Rossignols.

Was there anything not to be psyched about on a trip like this?  We drove up in a snowstorm that slowed us down a lot. We found the parking pullout just north of the pass, but initially had some route-finding problems because the snow was stacked so high on the road sides.  Foreshadowing perhaps.  Finally on the correct trail, we had figured an hour and a half for the 2.75mi hike in.  What we hadn't figured on was mechanicals with some of the gear, having to break trail through thigh deep powder in some places, and that our approach would stretch into darkness, semi white-out conditions, and below zero temperatures (-13F in Chama that evening).  There was a delicate period just near the end of what turned out to be a 3.5hr hike where the trip unnervingly began to exhibit all the hallmarks of an epic.  An epic in outdoors parlance meaning 'really bad evening'.

As night falls on our blind winter approach, smiles still abound

Our crew had a lot going for it though: We had at least three hand held GPS systems with the coordinates of our hut, we had hand and footwarmer packets bought impulsively at SDC Mountain Works earlier that morning (a brilliant stroke of luck), and we had a strong team with at least three Search and Rescue volunteers, a couple marathoners (what up!), an upstate New Yorker, and a mauy thai boxer/kettle bell enthusiast.  At the time that conditions began looking a bit grim, our trail breakers belatedly made the decision to dump the 40lb packs and b-line this thing to the hut.  The strategy cut a lot of time, and the GPS handhelds lead us right to the front door of our yurt.  In the end, the trip did unfold into an epic, except the epic included champagne, hot chocolate and brandy, home cooked meals with elk sausage and bacon, an Espanola-roadside-stand fireworks artillery show, and powder so freaking deep that Justin and John were launching half-gainers off the wood pile.

Justin firing up some fine New Year eats

Amy and John with dinner, champagne hoard, and warmth.
Note the ice on the bottles, they were frozen.

New Years!  John sets the night afire.

Shooting stars

There was much telling of tall stories, including the one that had just occurred, and much drinking of spirits.  The stars came out and it was lovely.  We made our own stars with roman candles and sparklers.  The next morning was even lovelier.

Casa Mt. Neff

Bluebird, boards, and miles of white stuff 

Winter above the Chama Valley

Leah touring the bright new trails

Tyson during our snow shear test

We trekked around camp, but found the snow to be unstable for any downhilling.  In fact we saw that it was unstable for sitting on hill tops.

I actually saw this guy slide.  Most likely wind-loaded.

I got out on my cross-skis later, backtracking the trail we'd come up the night before.  Took me less than 15min to backtrack what had taken us 75min to get through with packs and post-holing.  Better views the second time as well.

The second night was grand but we'd run through all our fireworks.  Food, brandy, and the telling of stories were still in abundance.  We packed it out on Sun. morning to greet the new year back home in Santa Fe. 

Yours truly bustin' trail

Christina and snow-bowed pine stands

I ought to mention our stop for lunch in Chama at the High Country Saloon.  Fun place, decent food, and a bar stocked with just about every local microbrew available.  On tap were Marble, SF Pale Ale, Alien Amber, Ska Blonde, and bottles of Monk's Ale visible in the cooler.

If you haven't made a trip to Chama lately, or planned a hut-to-hut trip you ought to, because it is awesome as hell.  Be safe, know your route, and get to where you're going in the daylight.

  Related Post:
   - New Years 2011-12: Bull of the Woods Yurt - Taos, NM



View Neff Mountain Trail - FR 116 in a larger map


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Related Links:
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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
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