Arizona/New Mexico Taos black runs by difficulty

[Eddie S]

On my first visit to Taos Ski Valley – only my second time skiing – it was all I could do to navigate Honeysuckle with decent control (it had several inches of fresh powder, which I hadn’t encountered before). On my second visit, after skiing elsewhere a couple of times, I handled several blues without difficulty. On my third visit last February, I skied all the blues with good control, and mustered the courage to ski a few of the easier black runs with my more accomplished brothers: Hunziker Bowl, Papa Bear, Ruby Gully, Moe’s, Raspberry Hill. Only Ruby Gully made me a bit anxious at first, because of its relative narrowness, but I got comfortable with it.

I plan to return this January, after a lesson and warm-up days at Wolf Creek. If I can continue improving, I would like to ski more of the black runs – there are many left! Of these, which are, (comparatively, of course) easier, more difficult, and most difficult? My ultimate goal is to be able to ski Blitz and/or Reforma with good control, so as to continue on to Lower Stauffenberg, a run I just love, and Firlefanz.

Planning a progression of these would be of great help in continuing to develop my skills:

High Noon
Staub
Showoff
Papa Bear
El Funko
Street Car
Walkyries Bowl/Bob’s/Walkyries Glade
Lorelei (love to ski trees!)
Zagava
Blitz
Reforma
West Basin
Tell Trees & Tell Glade
Rhoda’s
Inferno/Lower Inferno
Spencer’s
Snakedance/Showdown
Edelweiss & Edelweiss Glade
Psycho Path

Apologies for the long post, and sincere thanks in advance you for your guidance!

 

[Jerez]

Do a Taos ski week. They are the very best deal going and your instructor will know the best progression for you.

You get daily lessons for six consecutive days, all for $220.

The Hotel St. Bernard has a package with meals, tickets and the ski week included. Not so cheap but probably worth it! $2,500 for the week.

Lots of folks here have done it. I have not, but I did get to have lunch one day with the crew and OMG was it great.

 

[Snowfan]

You are on a great progression path. Put El Funko lower on the list with an asterisk. Extra snow required. It can be a handful.

Depending on conditions and snow quality and quantity, if you can ski one or two of those, you can ski them all. When done, go here...

 

[Tricia]

@KingGrump and @dean_spirito to the white courtesy phone.

 

[Snowfan]

@KingGrump and @dean_spirito to the white courtesy phone.

Dangit...I was the Taos ambassadude at Epic and you forgot me....

 

[Tricia]

Dangit...I was the Taos ambassadude at Epic and you forgot me....

I didn't forget you, ambassadude. You were already posting in this thread.

 

[Eddie S]

You are on a great progression path. Put El Funko lower on the list with an asterisk. Extra snow required. It can be a handful.

Depending on conditions and snow quality and quantity, if you can ski one or two of those, you can ski them all. When done, go here...
View attachment 30762

Hello, snowfan. My dream is to get there and ski those runs with forum friends! All in good time, I hope.

The list wasn't in any particular order of (perceived) difficulty or desire to ski them. I was just copying them from the trail map, which I enjoy studying during our long hot summers.

Thank you!

 

[Eddie S]

Do a Taos ski week. They are the very best deal going and your instructor will know the best progression for you.

You get daily lessons for six consecutive days, all for $220.

The Hotel St. Bernard has a package with meals, tickets and the ski week included. Not so cheap but probably worth it! $2,500 for the week.

Lots of folks here have done it. I have not, but I did get to have lunch one day with the crew and OMG was it great.

Hello, Jerez. Thank you for the suggestion! I've heard that the ski week is a magnificent way to develop ski skills, make friends and to explore the mountain. I hope this is the winter when I can put together six days to be there - it would be worth it.

 

[clong83]

Putting these into tiers for you, from easiest to most difficult:

Tier 1:

Papa Bear
Street Car
Psycho Path
High Noon
Tell Glade* (An easy glade run, but it can be difficult depending on the line you take. But rest assured there are easy ways down and it's a good way to get into tree skiing)

Tier 2:

Showoff
Lorelei
Staub (Trees)
Totally Wierd
Walkyries Glade area(Trees, but not too steep)
Zagava* (Just because it is so often ridiculously icy and windswept)
Funko* (It's easy on a powder day, but otherwise more difficult. It is generally best to avoid it if there is no fresh snow)

Tier 2.5:

Rhoda's
Inferno
Spencer's

Tier 3:

Blitz/Reforma/West Basin
Snakedance/Showdown (Weird gully terrain bumps this to 3 I think)
Al's (Just because it is so long)
Main Street

I am sure others can chime in and debate some of these and/or add more. Edited to add Main Street to Tier 3.

On my first visit to Taos Ski Valley – only my second time skiing – it was all I could do to navigate Honeysuckle with decent control (it had several inches of fresh powder, which I hadn’t encountered before). On my second visit, after skiing elsewhere a couple of times, I handled several blues without difficulty. On my third visit last February, I skied all the blues with good control, and mustered the courage to ski a few of the easier black runs with my more accomplished brothers: Hunziker Bowl, Papa Bear, Ruby Gully, Moe’s, Raspberry Hill. Only Ruby Gully made me a bit anxious at first, because of its relative narrowness, but I got comfortable with it.

I plan to return this January, after a lesson and warm-up days at Wolf Creek. If I can continue improving, I would like to ski more of the black runs – there are many left! Of these, which are, (comparatively, of course) easier, more difficult, and most difficult? My ultimate goal is to be able to ski Blitz and/or Reforma with good control, so as to continue on to Lower Stauffenberg, a run I just love, and Firlefanz.

Planning a progression of these would be of great help in continuing to develop my skills:

High Noon
Staub
Showoff
Papa Bear
El Funko
Street Car
Walkyries Bowl/Bob’s/Walkyries Glade
Lorelei (love to ski trees!)
Zagava
Blitz
Reforma
West Basin
Tell Trees & Tell Glade
Rhoda’s
Inferno/Lower Inferno
Spencer’s
Snakedance/Showdown
Edelweiss & Edelweiss Glade
Psycho Path

Apologies for the long post, and sincere thanks in advance you for your guidance!

 

[crgildart]

I think you folks are over thinking this as happens in every "what's more or less difficult than that" thread. Conditions are almost as big a factor as pitch or other terrain variables. I wouldn't show up at any resort with a drop dead list of run a first, b second, etc this far away from the planned ski days because on any given day the "hardest" run might be skiing easier than the 5th hardest run on anyone's particular list. Go to Taos, reach out to someone here or there who really knows the terrain and try to hook up with them to help achieve your goals. If they can't ski with you that day, they can probably give you a lot better info on how those trails are skiing that week and help facilitate a better plan than looking at a trail map 4 months in advance..

 

[clong83]

I think you folks are over thinking this as happens in every "what's more or less difficult than that" thread. Conditions are almost as big a factor as pitch or other terrain variables. I wouldn't show up at any resort with a drop dead list of run a first, b second, etc this far away from the planned ski days because on any given day the "hardest" run might be skiing easier than the 5th hardest run on anyone's particular list. Go to Taos, reach out to someone here or there who really knows the terrain and try to hook up with them to help achieve your goals. If they can't ski with you that day, they can probably give you a lot better info on how those trails are skiing that week and help facilitate a better plan than looking at a trail map 4 months in advance..

Yeah, a lot of it is this. My 'guide' is just a rough sketch of how they usually play. Conditions can scramble it quite a bit.

 

[KingGrump]

@Eddie S , it’s good to see you are planning out you trip to Taos this coming season. IIRC, this will be your third or fourth season skiing. I have quite a bit of admiration for your ambition and commitment to tackle the more difficult terrain at Taos. Since I have not seen you ski and not sure of your technical abilities, I’ll refrain in making recommendations online. Sound like you’ll be there the second week of Jan. I should be there also during that time period. Shoot me a PM and we’ll get together for a few turns. I am sure I can recommend some fun terrain that you’ll find to be challenging and enjoyable.

 

[green26]

If they can't ski with you that day, they can probably give you a lot better info on how those trails are skiing that week and help facilitate a better plan than looking at a trail map 4 months in advance..

Hey, what could be better than dreaming over trail maps 4 months in advance!?

 

[crgildart]

Hey, what could be better than dreaming over trail maps 4 months in advance!?

Sharing that dream with thousands of strangers and asking for MA on it

 

[Eddie S]

Putting these into tiers for you, from easiest to most difficult:

Tier 1:

Papa Bear
Street Car
Psycho Path
High Noon
Tell Glade* (An easy glade run, but it can be difficult depending on the line you take. But rest assured there are easy ways down and it's a good way to get into tree skiing)

Tier 2:

Showoff
Lorelei
Staub (Trees)
Totally Wierd
Walkyries Glade area(Trees, but not too steep)
Zagava* (Just because it is so often ridiculously icy and windswept)
Funko* (It's easy on a powder day, but otherwise more difficult. It is generally best to avoid it if there is no fresh snow)

Tier 2.5:

Rhoda's
Inferno
Spencer's

Tier 3:

Blitz/Reforma/West Basin
Snakedance/Showdown (Weird gully terrain bumps this to 3 I think)
Al's (Just because it is so long)
Main Street

I am sure others can chime in and debate some of these and/or add more. Edited to add Main Street to Tier 3.

Thank you, clong83! That is just perfect for making some rough plans for the trip. I do understand that conditions can alter any individual run, and perhaps I'm trying too hard to plan things out too far in advance, but guidance from experienced skiers like you really help me improve at a reasonable pace. Again, many thanks for your list!

 

[Eddie S]

I think you folks are over thinking this as happens in every "what's more or less difficult than that" thread. Conditions are almost as big a factor as pitch or other terrain variables. I wouldn't show up at any resort with a drop dead list of run a first, b second, etc this far away from the planned ski days because on any given day the "hardest" run might be skiing easier than the 5th hardest run on anyone's particular list. Go to Taos, reach out to someone here or there who really knows the terrain and try to hook up with them to help achieve your goals. If they can't ski with you that day, they can probably give you a lot better info on how those trails are skiing that week and help facilitate a better plan than looking at a trail map 4 months in advance..

Hello, crgildart, and thank you for your very sensible comments. You are entirely correct, of course. I'm much too disorganized to plan a run-by-run itinerary, but as I wander from lift area to lift area it helps me to have some gauge of the relative difficulty of various runs - if only for the shallow reason of building confidence after successfully navigating a run that is commonly considered rather difficult. I hope to take another lesson (or even better, participate in a ski week) and will certainly ask questions, but I also enjoy having a general guide such as clong83 provided. One of these days, when I've gotten much better, I hope to never need to ask, but that day hasn't arrived yet. Thanks!

 

[Eddie S]

@Eddie S , it’s good to see you are planning out you trip to Taos this coming season. IIRC, this will be your third or fourth season skiing. I have quite a bit of admiration for your ambition and commitment to tackle the more difficult terrain at Taos. Since I have not seen you ski and not sure of your technical abilities, I’ll refrain in making recommendations online. Sound like you’ll be there the second week of Jan. I should be there also during that time period. Shoot me a PM and we’ll get together for a few turns. I am sure I can recommend some fun terrain that you’ll find to be challenging and enjoyable.

Hello, KingGrump! Thank you for your kind remarks. Yes, this will be my third full season skiing. I didn't plan to spend so much time on a difficult mountain - its just that Taos is closest to me, and in my ignorance I didn't know any better!

It would be a pleasure to meet you, and an honor to take a few turns with you. I hope I get a chance to meet you at Taos this winter - which will also give me a chance to test my theory that your alleged grumpiness is only skin deep.

 

[Eddie S]

Hey, what could be better than dreaming over trail maps 4 months in advance!?

Few things provide a better escape when living in a climate where summer lasts about seven months!