Ski Season Gets an Early Start - Santa Fe, NM

Quad Chair and Tesuque Peak with a 40' base of early season snow

Most New Mexico ski areas will open for Thanksgiving thanks to last week's giant storm. I got up to check conditions last Saturday and found them to be rather good. Good not just for mid-November but for mid-season. I'd found a sweet deal on climbing skins to use with an old pair of tele-mark skis I've had stored in the garage, and I got it all working and stomped my way up Open Slope to try them out. Worked like a charm though descending (as always) was a bit more trying. Though the snow coverage was great the ski trails were un-groomed (packed but chunky) and I flailed all the way down. Very enjoyable flailing though, and I was happy to see how easy it is to skin up a trail. In past years I've used my beefy nordic skis to track up the catwalks then tele-mark down. Climbing time with skins was nearly identical, ~25min from the base to the top-of-the-quad. A helmet is recommended for either option. Free-heeled skis can result in some fairly violent and uncontrolled crashes.

Conditions at NORSKI were hard to beat

There was a fair number of folks like myself climbing to ski. As I was heading down the mountain around 830ish, I saw what looked like dozens more skiers on their way up. People are excited.

I brought along my nordic setup just in case I'd failed sizing my skins or some other overlooked gear problem, and ended up skiing a loop at NORSKI where the snow was fantastic. I found three downed trees that have since been removed by the More-ski NORSKI organization. Had never heard of these guys but sounds like they're on top of things up there.

Hoping for a bit more snow to come along and really establish a lasting base of snowpack. Sounds like the northern areas may get a bit this weekend so we'll see if any of it carries south to our end of the Sangres.

Related Posts:
 - Santa Fe's New Ski Shuttle
 - Cross Country Skiing NORSKI trail
 - Santa Fe's First Snow of the Season - 2015
 - Ski Touring Deception Peak






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Santa Fe's New Ski Shuttle - 2015

courtesy of The Santa Fe Reporter

Although the season's first snow arrived in the mountains three weeks back, this year's much hyped El-Nino-fueled ski season is only now at our doorstep. Can't say I was the only one roaming REI this weekend looking to upgrade gear and compare lift pass deals.

Right, so this winter also marks the rollout of the city's first mountain ski shuttle. Often discussed through the years, never seriously planned or proposed due to the problem of funding. In a continuing effort to promote Santa Fe as more of an outdoor destination the funding problem has been overcome via a patchwork of dollars sourced from the city, county, RTD, and Ski Santa Fe itself. Planners are expecting 11,000 trips during the winter season and hoping demand for the shuttle can support it's viablity for future seasons.

So I ask myself, would I use the shuttle? I think so particularly if I wanted to ski a few more runs and Mrs. Dirt wanted to head home early. I could also see myself riding up with the nino who could appreciate the whole thing as an adventure. As a kid of the '80s we would have loved this shuttle. Many of us would be dropped off by our parents on lower Artist Rd on weekends where we'd hitch to the top. At the end of the day we'd often ski Big Tesuque down to the campground, throw snowballs at the fleets of Baptist Church group vans, then hitch down to Ft. Marcy where we'd lineup and call our parents on the pay phone. My guess is that this shuttle will be used heavily by those who can't drive (kids) and those visiting from out of town. I'm optimistic it will work.

The Mountain Trail Shuttle, as it is officially named, has planned stops in town and all along Hyde Park road including most trailheads (w/ the exception of Borrego and NORSKI), and including Ten Thousand Waves. The RTD website shows there's an app to track shuttle location, here, however I'm seeing that the 255 Mountain Shuttle hasn't yet been added (as of Nov 17) and I have no idea how well this might work. The ride schedule shows three planned weekday trips, and seven on weekends. Best parking options are Fort Marcy at Murales Rd (next to the Zozobra kick-stand), and Dale Ball at Sierra del Norte. Bikes won't be accommodated for the time being which people are griping about, but I mean it's winter - there's a lot of snow about, so if that's your thing than Winsor MTB ascents will remain part of the deal.

Cost looks to be $5 per trip (each way), with corresponding discounts provided by both Ski Santa Fe and Ten Thousand Waves. Meaning that lift passes for shuttle riders will be discounted $5 at the top with proof of ridership, and stops at the Waves on the way down appear to have the same benefit. Apres ski for the win (I'm looking at you Izanami).

Mountain Trail Shuttle stops_.pdf
Schedule and pickup map
Mountain Trail Shuttle Details
Shuttle Tracker app

Update (6.30.16):
Winter ridership in the mountain shuttle's pilot program totaled approx. 5,000. Considered 'very successful' per the SFCounty Economic Development Director. Funding and operation of the shuttle will continue in the 16-17 winter season, and bike racks will be installed for the summer season July 1 - Aug 31. SFNewMexican Article (6.30.16)


Related Posts:
 - Santa Fe's First Snow - 2015
 - Trading the Downhill Skis for Nordic
 - French Alps Freeskiing - Candide Thovex

Snowpack at Santa Fe and Taos Fall Short of Last Season

Sunday was the final day of the ski season up at Ski Santa Fe. The final day as well up at Taos Ski Valley including the final day the resort will be operated by the Blake Family since its founding.

Not a great year for skiing in northern New Mexico due to the dry weather and light snowfall. Continuing a trend of below average years, this season's snowpack came in below last season even though the snow arrived a month early for us. Pajarito Mountain never opened. The departure of Santa Fe Mountain Sports marks the second ski retailer to close up shop in the last four three years. All a bit sad for those with memories of snow and wintry seasons of years' past.

Below are some interesting year-over-year comparisons, from this season and last, of reported base depths at Ski Santa Fe, Taos, and Crested Butte, CO. They're sourced from onthesnow.com , my go-to snow/ski app for tracking ski conditions (which is not at all helpful in NM since the next ski season is nine long months away). The base totals in red for Santa Fe and Taos clearly show the large early accumulations in Nov/Dec then very meager additions for the rest of the season until late the final month. Colorado saw quite a bit more in the way of moisture and storms beginning in February that just didn't sweep south to our end of the Rockies. Last year most of the Colorado snowpack tracked fairly evenly with ours, an average base depth at the Butte of 40-50in (not an impressive amount).


Lots of other cool snow stats to click through for recent years at the website, showing a highwater mark of 258in of total snowfall in calendar year 2010. Just 71in in 2007. Last year's snowfall, which mirrors this one, recorded 147in of total accumulations.

Related Posts:
 - Taos Ski Valley Bought up by Wall Street Financier
 - Sangre de Cristo Mountain Works Closes its Doors
 - New Mexico River Levels Spike to 30 times Average

Sochi Olympics Trance

Ligety running a gate at a horizontal 50mph

can't. stop. watching. Olympics...

The Olympic Games as I see it, is this giant parade of total badasses. They show up every few years in their colors and banners on the world's biggest stage, showcasing one's certain perfected style or specialized technique, mad-skills in specific disciplines (I'm looking at you Netherlands and Norway), and in some cases their victory is so incredible and sudden that it's cast in carbonite, forever iconic. Sometimes their effort ends in failure so devastating and complete that it achieves similar status.

Incredible to watch all this, NBC commentary aside of course. My favorites are the skiing events, alpine or nordic, doesn't really matter. The amazing strength required to rocket down those alpine courses! Did anyone else see how technical and vertical those downhill/super-G courses were!? Good Lord. The other-worldly endurance and power of the nordic racers and biathletes - the Scandinavians are absolutely mesmerizing. To be a champion Norwegian skier is to be a modern day Norse God.

Team Norway crushing the collective dreams of several nations

It was nice to see Bode Miller stand on the podium one last time. I'm more of a Ligety guy, but Bode is hands-down the most successful American skier of all-time (he and Lindsey Vonn that is). Long ago I worked with a Swiss chef and he was big on alpine skiing. That was his sport. Every Sunday during the winter months he'd pass through the kitchen with the Boulder sports page hanging out of his back pocket asking us all rhetorically if we'd seen 'what da' hell' Bode had done in Europe the day before (pronouncing his name BOE-dey MEEL-ah). Chef was crushing hard on Bode because he was single-handedly preventing the Austrians from total domination on the World Cup circuit. My man Suissa couldn't stand his rival Austrians and he was equally appalled at the complete collapse of the Swiss alpine team. Bode allowed him to read the WC results and season standings for several years without crying in his espresso. Twelve years later the Swiss still suck, and Bode is still rocking championship podiums. USA...USA...USA...

Related Posts:
 - New Years at Squaw Valley
 - The Summer Olympic Vortex (London 2012)
 - A Brief Meeting with Billy Mills

Santa Fe Winter Brew and All Things Beer

This Friday is the 3rd Annual Santa Fe Winter Brew sponsored by the New Mexico Brewers' Guild. Good times, tasty beverages, a helluva lot more fun than your regular happy hour. In fact they sold clear out of tickets on Tuesday. In honor of Winter Brew I thought I'd pen some beer related write-ups this week. Here goes:

Duel Brewing became the newest Santa Fe craft brewer when they opened shop on Rufina St. this last summer. The place specializes in Belgian brews and serves waffles, so it's an awesome addition to the current options in town. If you haven't been out there you'll find they did a more than admirable job building out a warehouse space on Rufina. A recent report in the New Mexican notes that they're already tripling their space under lease to increase production demands.

Duel Brewing

This same New Mexican report states that Santa Fe Brewing Co. continues to grow apace under owner Brian Lock. Now solidly a regional brand, the company just purchased an extra 3 acres of property adjacent to their facilities off NM 14 in an effort to continue expansion. They hope to eventually ramp up their production from 30,000 barrels (already the state's largest by volume) to as much as 200,000 barrels in a few years.

Lastly, Embudo's own Blue Heron Brewery, long a staple on the drive up the Rio Grande Gorge to Taos, has presented plans for a second location on the west side of the river in Espanola, in a now defunct restaurant space near the Espanola Plaza. If approved and finalized they'll be the first brewpub in the Espanola valley, and an extra rest/food option on the road between Santa Fe and Bode's up in Abiquiu.

All of the above brewers will be sampling their wares this Friday at the Farmers' Market Pavilion. Consider that I'm in need of an extra ticket to Winter Brew if you happen to 'know a guy'. Email is at the top of page.


Related Posts:
 - Craft Beer in New Mexico
 - Santa Fe Winter Brew (2012)
 - New Belgium Brewery and their Awesome Beer



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January Cycling

Moon and the Santa Fe River Valley at Frenchy's

On the bike this morning for a ride on Super Loop. It was pretty eff-ing cold - needed the sunglasses just to keep my eyes from icing shut. It's January, yes, but had sold myself on this week being warm. Not how it works on a bike. The water in my bottle turned to slush in an unfunny attempt of further ridicule.

If the snow won't fall at least it means the trails are clear for riding.

Curiously, didn't see too many folks out. First on at La Tierra and had the trails to myself. My old friend the moon sat above the blue horizon of the Jemez and would say hello each time I veered to the west.

19mi, 934ft, 1hr45min

The improved NM 599 bike underpass to La Tierra

NM 599 on the right

Overkill with a buncha' needless bridges

La Tierra

Moon and the Jemez from the east La Tierra Ridge

Related Posts:
 - La Tierra - Trail 34
 - Moonlit Ride in the North Hills



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Converting a Bicycle Into a Snowmobile

Rockin' fat bike through National Forest access

Over the last couple of years there has been this growing new product line in cycling of giant Fat Bikes. Or rather, bikes with giant wheels and adjusted gearing and components. I never quite got it. Thought maybe it was just some breaking-from-the-herd type of concept for the non-conformists, like the barefoot shoe thing.

Turns out it's a natural progression of what happens when a bunch of punk kid bmx'ers living up in Michigan's UP turn snow plowed parking lots into frozen half-pipes and freestyle courses, then turn their bike tires into studded ice-grippers, then turn snowmobile trails into winter bike trails.

Yoopers for the win. These guys are awesome.


Related Posts:
 - Winter Bike Descent - Rio en Medio
 - Ski Commuting British Columbia

Los Alamos - How Physicists Once Cleared a Ski Hill

Niels Bohr out on the hill, January 1945

I've been reading an interesting book about life in Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. There are several sections that talk about recreation and how the principal physicists and engineers would spend their time outside the labs and away from their calculations.

When the British contingent arrived in 1944 they brought with them most of the brightest minds who had fled the continent, included were nobel laureates Niels Bohr and Enrico Fermi, as well as (future laureate) Hans Bethe who were all big skiers. Sort of a precursor to the 10th Mountain Division men, who would return from the war and build European inspired ski hills across the U.S. Bohr and Bethe would skin up the hills, then free-heel back down, and actually got a few other non-skiers interested in doing the same.

By the winter of 1945 there was a need for a greater variety of ski slopes. Someone felt that Sawyers Hill southwest of town was a decent location (just west of the present day intersection of NM-4 and Hwy 501). Trees had to be cleared though, so skier and demolition expert George Kistiakowsky took it upon himself to clear the hill. He brought in his explosives team, the team who would ultimately be responsible for designing the proper charge for the world's first fission reaction weapons, and together they rounded up some detonation cords and C-4, wrapped the trees marked for clearing, and with one blast, cut them all to the ground. Fittingly, this was Los Alamos' first purpose-built ski hill.

The now widely used image of Bohr (above), went unseen until the 1950's since it was strictly classified who was involved with the Project, or who might have been jaunting around the hills of the Pajarito Plateau on skis during the winter of 1945.

Related Posts:
  - Nordic Skiing Guaje Canyon
  - Frijoles Canyon and Bandelier National Monument
  - Lummis Canyon and Bandelier National Monument

Quiet Happy Snow Running

A serene view in the Arroyo Chamiso - 12/5

Fluffy white snow is billowing down on the City of Holy Faith today. A very pleasant surprise. Another storm is scheduled to pass through this weekend bringing even more snow our way. If your skis aren't yet tuned and ready to throw in the truck you've got another day or two to get things squared away.

Perhaps you're the type that doesn't get snow-happy, and are already pining for next year's trail running & racing schedule. I should now have one posted through the spring. One new event on the schedule is the Santa Fe Rando Fireball up on the ski slopes, part of the Colorado COSMIC series. Sounds pretty legit, glad they added us to their race series.

Related Posts:
- 2014 Trail Racing Calendar
- Charms of Winter Running
- Santa Fe's Arroyos
- I Heart Snow



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The Charms of Winter Trail Running

Sunrise along the Santa Fe River - Picacho Peak in outline

The shorter days can sometimes crush the motivation for getting out. Tights, hat, a pair of gloves and weekends are a solid defense for this insidious malady. Along with a few friends I've been diligently keeping the rust at bay with morning runs that canvass the foothills above town. The rewards of trail outings in the off-season are the near total solitude and the incredible beauty of snow and winter light.

Morning light on the Sangre de Cristos from Dorothy Stewart

Moon and sun mountains cast tall shadows toward the Sandias

Atalaya's north ridge with new snow - Sangres in the distance

Sending one of the steeper sections on the Atalaya Ridge - Hadji and his two wonder-dogs up ahead

Morning summit of Atalaya - views over the Rio Grande Valley of the Ortiz and Sandia Mountains

And a few gratuitous non-running images:

The snow covered Jemez from La Tierra - Caballo Peak partially obscured by cloud

Winter weather and snow descend on the Sangres before breakfast

Thompson Peak and snow-filled Valentine chutes at sunrise with morning storm clouds 

Thompson Peak at left from a closer vantage on Dale Ball trail, Hadji and Adam at center, Picacho Peak at right. 

Mini-me enjoying a run with Dad past a sunset so dazzling it obscured the photo

Related Posts & Trail Maps:
  - Atalaya Mountain
  - La Tierra Trails
  - Dorothy Stewart Trail