My wife and I just returned from a Southwest Road Tour, the first of many in the motorhome we purchased last Summer. Previously, the only place we've skied South of the state line is Taos, and like most, we loved the place.
We've eyed Sipapu and Pajarito for years. Quite a few of our passes over the years have involved some free days and we tend to love off the beaten path areas. We've talked about a trip for years, but never managed.
This year El Nino made us take it more seriously. However, we got so much snow locally I didn't have a hope of getting the motorhome out (buried in 3-6 feet of settled snow) before Mid February. My wife is a schoolteacher and in her final semester of grad school, so being spontaneous didn't work either. We had to schedule for March and rely on the typical strong el-nino March to pay off- and it didn't. We've had almost no snow since Early february. It turns out we were pushing the season pretty hard and had to scrub Pajarito due to lack of snow. As the pictures show, Sipapu was pretty far past its prime, but the corn harvest was stupendous.
We didn't really know what to expect from any of these places, but we found a lot of neat skiing and will definitely do more than Taos with our next pass through.
All in all we had a great time!
Wednesday, I picked my wife up from work and we rolled down US 550 from Durango to Ski Santa Fe. We drive straight up to the ski area and got there about 9:30 at night. It was about 5 1/2 drive. We parked outside the gate, fired up the furnace, and went to bed. We felt like we were the only people within 20 miles, but could hear the droning of the groomers and see occasional headlights up on the hill.
The next morning, I woke up and got a parking spot up front. We made breakfast, and ventured out to actually lay eyes on the hill we would be skiing...
Our camper "Nelly" (picture taken returning from lunch). The bunny hill area was just across the street.
We met this dude on our first run. The stache was impressive.
The entire face served by the two Summit Chairs looked really great. Tons of fall-line bumps, good looking trees, and rocky steeps and chutes. If Taos wasn't an hour away, a ton more people would be talking about this place. Unfortunately, even the sunny stuff was pretty bulletproof and we didn't get on most of the stuff we saw. On the plus side, snow preservation is really good here.
Tasty.
Ski Santa Fe is up there- its base is over 10,000 feet and the summit a bit over 12,000. You could see forever off the top, even on a day with some inversion layers adding haze. Great views of Santa Fe and surrounding topography. It was weird looking off to the horizon and seeing no snow save for what you were skiing.
I was pretty impressed with the groom.
Their Quad chair has a conveyor loading system. It was weird. This was Spring Break, and even with this contraption, this lift stopped every other chair.
I am pointing at Sandia Peak. I'll ski there when I can find somebody to recommend that I should.
Groomer Zoomin'
Lots of glades and steeps between the two Summit Chairs.
Another infinity view from the top.
After lunch, We were able to meet back up with Mr. Bob Lee. We did a couple of laps through Raven, which was the only bump line that had fully thawed. He also took us to put eyes on some sidecountry haunts, and wow,, there is some good stuff right past the ropes.
He invited me back to do a closing sweep, but we didn't realize the time (yay time change) and were too late to get back on a lift.
This is a great mountain, and I'd recommend someone planning a Taos trip to seriously consider a day or more at Santa Fe. After skiingh there, I would seriously consider taking Santa Fe on a powder day over Taos, as there is a lot of great terrain and competition for the goods should be less.
We've eyed Sipapu and Pajarito for years. Quite a few of our passes over the years have involved some free days and we tend to love off the beaten path areas. We've talked about a trip for years, but never managed.
This year El Nino made us take it more seriously. However, we got so much snow locally I didn't have a hope of getting the motorhome out (buried in 3-6 feet of settled snow) before Mid February. My wife is a schoolteacher and in her final semester of grad school, so being spontaneous didn't work either. We had to schedule for March and rely on the typical strong el-nino March to pay off- and it didn't. We've had almost no snow since Early february. It turns out we were pushing the season pretty hard and had to scrub Pajarito due to lack of snow. As the pictures show, Sipapu was pretty far past its prime, but the corn harvest was stupendous.
We didn't really know what to expect from any of these places, but we found a lot of neat skiing and will definitely do more than Taos with our next pass through.
All in all we had a great time!
Wednesday, I picked my wife up from work and we rolled down US 550 from Durango to Ski Santa Fe. We drive straight up to the ski area and got there about 9:30 at night. It was about 5 1/2 drive. We parked outside the gate, fired up the furnace, and went to bed. We felt like we were the only people within 20 miles, but could hear the droning of the groomers and see occasional headlights up on the hill.
The next morning, I woke up and got a parking spot up front. We made breakfast, and ventured out to actually lay eyes on the hill we would be skiing...
Our camper "Nelly" (picture taken returning from lunch). The bunny hill area was just across the street.
We met this dude on our first run. The stache was impressive.
The entire face served by the two Summit Chairs looked really great. Tons of fall-line bumps, good looking trees, and rocky steeps and chutes. If Taos wasn't an hour away, a ton more people would be talking about this place. Unfortunately, even the sunny stuff was pretty bulletproof and we didn't get on most of the stuff we saw. On the plus side, snow preservation is really good here.
Tasty.
Ski Santa Fe is up there- its base is over 10,000 feet and the summit a bit over 12,000. You could see forever off the top, even on a day with some inversion layers adding haze. Great views of Santa Fe and surrounding topography. It was weird looking off to the horizon and seeing no snow save for what you were skiing.
I was pretty impressed with the groom.
Their Quad chair has a conveyor loading system. It was weird. This was Spring Break, and even with this contraption, this lift stopped every other chair.
I am pointing at Sandia Peak. I'll ski there when I can find somebody to recommend that I should.
Groomer Zoomin'
Lots of glades and steeps between the two Summit Chairs.
Another infinity view from the top.
After lunch, We were able to meet back up with Mr. Bob Lee. We did a couple of laps through Raven, which was the only bump line that had fully thawed. He also took us to put eyes on some sidecountry haunts, and wow,, there is some good stuff right past the ropes.
He invited me back to do a closing sweep, but we didn't realize the time (yay time change) and were too late to get back on a lift.
This is a great mountain, and I'd recommend someone planning a Taos trip to seriously consider a day or more at Santa Fe. After skiingh there, I would seriously consider taking Santa Fe on a powder day over Taos, as there is a lot of great terrain and competition for the goods should be less.
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