Taos Mini-Gathering 2020 - Jan. 25th - Feb. 1st

[mdf]

Any condos available?

@dbostedo , @Dean and I shared a condo within walking distance of the lifts last year. dbostedo did the powderhorn the year before. (The condo we rented was large and in a great location, but only came with one parking space and was kinda pricey.) @Tony S had an AirBnB in the town. I think @Pumba and @Unpiste and his group stayed in town too.

After the other two left last year, I stayed the last night in the Sagebrush Inn in town. I liked it, idiosyncratic architecture and absurdly large rooms. (The new building is not as nice.)

If it is just me, I will probably do the walking distance thing again. If my son can go, I will probably want something a litte cheaper. Maybe try to organize a VRBO/Airbnb in town or Arroyo Seco (the half way point).

 

[Tony S]

Worth noting: On top of being cheaper, sleeping in town is a welcome respite from the altitude, for flatlanders like me. I think it helped me survive the week.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

We're in! I just booked a studio condo at the Sierra del Sol condos at the base. Hopefully, it's decent. The pics looked good. There were some really great places in Arroyo Seco. We almost grabbed one there for half the price of the base. We're planning on taking the lessons though so being at the base will make the mornings easier! We'll drive there from SoCal so we'll have our truck to head to town for après meet ups.

ETA: If the snow is decent, we may hang in Flagstaff for a couple of days on the front or back end and try out Snowbowl.

 

[Coach13]

Just saw this - cool. On hatteras island, frisco.

Small world, we have an oceanfront home in Avon on Hatteras.

 

[MarkP]

Folks, let's try to remember NM is as close to a 3rd world country as you get get without leaving the US.
A bit of patience shall be required.

At a recent Airbnb stay at Taos. @A Grump commented the rental was a bit sketchy. Mamie commented, "The whole NM is sketchy."

If it's gonna be sketchy, make art out of it.

https://newmexicoartleague.wildapricot.org/

 

[KingGrump]

The land of entrapment.

 

[James]

Don’t people worry about not making it from Taos to TSV if snowing?
I’ve only been once years ago and stayed at the Abominable Snow Mansion in Arroyo Secco. Not really worth it if more than 1.

 

[Bruuuce]

Don’t people worry about not making it from Taos to TSV if snowing?
I’ve only been once years ago and stayed at the Abominable Snow Mansion in Arroyo Secco. Not really worth it if more than 1.

We've stayed in town twice. The first time up in the snow felt challenging, but after that we got used to it and it was no problem. It's actually a nice drive. It is a solid 30-40 minutes though so we'll probably stay at the mountain this time so we can sleep in.

 

[Dean]

@dbostedo , @Dean and I shared a condo within walking distance of the lifts last year. dbostedo did the powderhorn the year before. (The condo we rented was large and in a great location, but only came with one parking space and was kinda pricey.) @Tony S had an AirBnB in the town. I think @Pumba and @Unpiste and his group stayed in town too.

After the other two left last year, I stayed the last night in the Sagebrush Inn in town. I liked it, idiosyncratic architecture and absurdly large rooms. (The new building is not as nice.)

If it is just me, I will probably do the walking distance thing again. If my son can go, I will probably want something a litte cheaper. Maybe try to organize a VRBO/Airbnb in town or Arroyo Seco (the half way point).

I also rented a condo near the Bavarian on a family trip a few years back. Not quite as pricey as the base area, but even higher (1000 feet?) it's more isolated and AWD is required on the road up. Not too far from the lift but definitely not ski in/out. Makes more sense if you're inclined to mostly eat in.

 

[KingGrump]

The drive from town to the valley is pretty flat and clean until after Arroyo Seco. The road gets a bit twisty after that. There is usually no snow except for the last few miles. TSV keeps that road very clean and sanded.

A rental car with all season tires usually have no issues getting up to the valley on the road.
YMMV.

 

[Blue Streak]

Going to have to check this one off the bucket list this year.

 

[JohnL]

@dbostedo , @Dean and I shared a condo within walking distance of the lifts last year. dbostedo did the powderhorn the year before. (The condo we rented was large and in a great location, but only came with one parking space and was kinda pricey.) @Tony S had an AirBnB in the town. I think @Pumba and @Unpiste and his group stayed in town too.

If my son can go, I will probably want something a litte cheaper.

Dad of the year!

 

[Olesya C]

I just spent about five minutes trying to use their website to check availability. Useless. At least on a phone.

I did my reservation through the web-site last year (on the computer though, not phone) and it was fine. This year I emailed and asked to reserve the same room as I stayed in last year and they emailed me the reservation confirmation the same day I think. You may want to email or call them. I agree with @ADKmel , I think it's a great place to stay too and very reasonably priced. I love their homemade breakfast. I will be in Taos this year too, but not the same week as pugskiers unfortunately.

 

[KingGrump]

Going to have to check this one off the bucket list this year.

Just make sure you don't kick the bucket with your newly refurbished big toe before you get there.

 

[ForeverSki]

Finally found some time to chime in. New member here who planned a solo trip to Taos then was informed pugskiers are going the same week. Hope you don’t mind my crashing your party.

I will be staying at Snakedance condo from 1/25 Saturday to 1/31 Friday. I will be doing a Ski Week. I have the IKON base pass so will miss one of the week days, unless I decide to forgo a car and do the TSV shuttle from and to ABQ. In that case I will ski Sun-Thur and leave on the shuttle Friday morning.

For those who might have stayed at Snakedance before, how’s the grocery store there? If I forgo a car, all my groceries will obviously come from there.

 

[KingGrump]

Finally found some time to chime in. New member here who planned a solo trip to Taos then was informed pugskiers are going the same week. Hope you don’t mind my crashing your party.

I will be staying at Snakedance condo from 1/25 Saturday to 1/31 Friday. I will be doing a Ski Week. I have the IKON base pass so will miss one of the week days, unless I decide to forgo a car and do the TSV shuttle from and to ABQ. In that case I will ski Sun-Thur and leave on the shuttle Friday morning.

For those who might have stayed at Snakedance before, how’s the grocery store there? If I forgo a car, all my groceries will obviously come from there.

Welcome. Don't worry about the trash talk. That's is what a gathering is for.

If you have to miss a day. Most skiers skip Wed. Give the body a rest.
Friday is when the instructor wraps up the ski week. Gather together all the loose thread. Usually the most interest terrain of the week for the graduation. You can also get a good feel of the improvements over the week.

Bumps is the small grocery store at the base of Snake Dance. Good for over priced milk and eggs. If you plan to use that for your grocery. Shall we say, it'll be more effective than weight Watchers.
Talk to the others who are staying up on the hill. Some of them will make grocery runs into town. Buy them a beer. I am sure you can hitch a ride with them.

 

[skiki]

I have the IKON base pass so will miss one of the week days,

Think about keeping your options open in case you decide you don't want to miss out on any ski week days. You can always get a discounted ticket from getskitickets.com, a NM Costco, or if very last minute see if another Ikon person will share one of their buddy discounts.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

Welcome! We’ll have a car so can shuttle you for groceries if you need!

 

[mdf]

Think about keeping your options open in case you decide you don't want to miss out on any ski week days. You can always get a discounted ticket from getskitickets.com, a NM Costco, or if very last minute see if another Ikon person will share one of their buddy discounts.

Last year I had a full Ikon, so 7 days, but I skied 8.
Some of us were thinking of doing buddy pass discounts for each other, but advanced purchase mid-week tickets from the Taos website turned out to be about the same prices as the discount (which is computed from the full walk-up rate). So I cashed in 4 days on Ikon, skied one purchased day, and then cashed in the other 3..

 

[ForeverSki]

Welcome. Don't worry about the trash talk. That's is what a gathering is for.

If you have to miss a day. Most skiers skip Wed. Give the body a rest.
Friday is when the instructor wraps up the ski week. Gather together all the loose thread. Usually the most interest terrain of the week for the graduation. You can also get a good feel of the improvements over the week.

Bumps is the small grocery store at the base of Snake Dance. Good for over priced milk and eggs. If you plan to use that for your grocery. Shall we say, it'll be more effective than weight Watchers.
Talk to the others who are staying up on the hill. Some of them will make grocery runs into town. Buy them a beer. I am sure you can hitch a ride with them.

That was my original plan, skip Wednesday and maybe go to the hot springs. I am leaning toward having a car for maximum flexibility at this point.

Good point about prices at the Bumps. Kinda like popcorn at the movies.