TAOS New Mexico....BETA.....?

[raisingarizona13]

Taos........Wow! That's my new favorite mountain town and ski area. The mountain is just relentless! We loved it.

A big thanks to Meadow Skipper for touring my daughter and I around Ski Santa Fe too, what a fantastic little mountain that is as well. It has some very playful terrain and some damn fine looking side country. I can't wait to get back!

[Meadow Skipper]

Taos........Wow! That's my new favorite mountain town and ski area. The mountain is just relentless! We loved it.

How were the crowds when you were there?

A big thanks to Meadow Skipper for touring my daughter and I around Ski Santa Fe too, what a fantastic little mountain that is as well. It has some very playful terrain and some damn fine looking side country. I can't wait to get back!

Fun day. Your girl is a great skier. Bring touring gear next time.

[Nevada29er]

It used to be all the telemarkers with their long radius knee drop turns. I actually like the big long moguls a lot better than the short choppy ones.


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I have not seen many telemarkers in my time there. My theory is old schoolers on skinny straight skis, making Scott Schmitt hop turns at the beginning of the season. It is Taos after all.

It's OK to let them run a little boys. Big turns are cool.

[ill-advised strategy]

I think a lot of the mogul strangeness gets established during the Christmas season when the vast majority of the ski traffic is Texans, and even among strong skiers and locals, the prospect of skiing those steeps on really thin cover makes moves tentative....and tentative moves make blocky, less-flowing moguls...and once they're there, they're there. I've definitely seen that ski area re-shaped from late December to early January...so I know that can happen.

It was arrhythmic and weird-shaped back in the 90s before fat skis, then in the 2000s with fat skis but before snowboards, now with all of it....still big weird bumps.

I see the same no-rhythm bumps at Mt. Bohemia. It's roughly the same thing too:
this is steeper and tighter than they're used to so one. complete. turn. at. a. time.

[Meadow Skipper]

I think a lot of the mogul strangeness gets established during the Christmas season when the vast majority of the ski traffic is Texans, and even among strong skiers and locals, the prospect of skiing those steeps on really thin cover makes moves tentative....and tentative moves make blocky, less-flowing moguls...and once they're there, they're there. I've definitely seen that ski area re-shaped from late December to early January...so I know that can happen.

It was arrhythmic and weird-shaped back in the 90s before fat skis, then in the 2000s with fat skis but before snowboards, now with all of it....still big weird bumps.

I see the same no-rhythm bumps at Mt. Bohemia. It's roughly the same thing too:
this is steeper and tighter than they're used to so one. complete. turn. at. a. time.

^This.

[jrredho]

Jeeeshh

No I missed that thankfully. Spent 1 hr in the wind on whatever was there before #2 at the top 20 years ago when an empty chair came around the bullwheel and swung out and grabbed the wired outside lift controls hanging and ripped it out. We were 3-4 chairs down and saw torn wires and shit go flying off the bullwheel. Thought cable was breaking and almost jumped off. Then stuck freezing cold. Not fun. Gave us hot cocoa vouchers.

Whats the story with that blue bottles glade?


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I *think* you're talking about Chair 6, which actually came after, and ran parallel to, Chair 2. When they re-worked Chair 2 and converted into a quad, they began to use Chair 6 less and less until they finally just took it out. On powder days, I still wonder if that was a mistake.

But I'm happy to hear that you weren't on Chair 1 last Sunday when it was down. I had someone tell me that Louis Bacon and a crew of TSV managers were only a few groups short of loading that chair themselves when it stopped. *That* would've been interesting.

cheers,
john (and I don't know anything about the glade you mentioned, sorry)

[raisingarizona13]

How were the crowds when you were there?

Fun day. Your girl is a great skier. Bring touring gear next time.

Crowds? Lunch was busy at the Bavarian. I guess bottlenecks were a little busy but we never waited on a lift line. Taos feels pretty darn remote up there.

thanks! She's a great kid. I definitely will. I'm really excited to explore your side country.

Irregular moguls? We found some flow on the bumped up steeps there. There's some damn fine luge like turns on some of the lines. You really need to embrace the mogul skiing there, it's part of the experience.

[skaredshtles]

We were "stuck" at the Stray Dog when Lift 1 was down. That was a good place to wait it out.

[Tomcat51]

I’ll be up Tuesday through Friday, would be great to spin a few with anyone that’s around.

[Kinnikinnick]

We were "stuck" at the Stray Dog when Lift 1 was down. That was a good place to wait it out.

We must have been snarfing down pints of beer with sausages and spatzle at the Bavarian. Got there at 11:30 when they open for a seat inside.

I might need to rally down for the next SW storm so good there when its good.




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[raisingarizona13]

We must have been snarfing down pints of beer with sausages and spatzle at the Bavarian. Got there at 11:30 when they open for a seat inside.

I might need to rally down for the next SW storm so good there when its good.




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That pretzel with beer caso dip is legit.

[Kinnikinnick]

Rallied down for the day. 8” was a good little powder day.




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[Viva]

Website reads that they're slammed today and no further ticket sales. I wonder what the rest of the week's gonna be like- over run with Colorado folks like me?

[Meadow Skipper]

Website reads that they're slammed today and no further ticket sales. I wonder what the rest of the week's gonna be like- over run with Colorado folks like me?

...and Tejanos.

[BFD]

hope it softens or there will be some carnage.

[jrredho]

[QUOTE=Kinnikinnick;5924208]Rallied down for the day. 8” was a good little powder day.[QUOTE]

Yes, it was very good out yesterday, so long as you stayed above approximately where Chair 2 loads. But there was 1.5in of water in that 8in of snow, so by later in the day, it felt a bit like Crystal on a rain day down low. Be careful out there today!

cheers,
john

[Kinnikinnick]

Website reads that they're slammed today and no further ticket sales. I wonder what the rest of the week's gonna be like- over run with Colorado folks like me?

Yeah everybody and their brother must have rerouted to Taos after almost every Co ski resort announced closing + some new snow + extended spring breaks + texas = clusterville


The only negative yesterday was there was some sort of hike-the-ridge-athon where participants had to check off every major named run off the ridge which meant that some of those runs that normally see almost no tradfic were getting hit by all those participants. Ex Treskow chute is a go- to for me, totally tracked up.




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[Vitamin I]

Website reads that they're slammed today and no further ticket sales. I wonder what the rest of the week's gonna be like- over run with Colorado folks like me?

I was hoping TAOS would stay open until 3/22. Nope. They sent me this email:

3/15/2020: "Taos Ski Valley today took the proactive step to close for the remainder of the 2019-2020 ski season effective today to help prevent COVID-19 spread. Taos Ski Valley had initially alerted skiers it planned to be open through March 22 and has now made the difficult decision to close immediately out of an abundance of caution and care for the community, employees, and guests. A press release is going out now and we will post on the website shortly."

[Viva]

I didn't receive that email. Maybe they're trying to tell you something?

[skaredshtles]

They have publically disseminated the same message via social media.

[Kinnikinnick]

Bummer


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[Kinnikinnick]

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[Lvovsky]

For jong like me, Taos was epic yesterday March 14. 7-10 inch fresh overnight. But it was crowded like I never saw before. Texas spring break, closure announcement, fresh snow - all expected contributors.

I skied with a really good (core??) skier friend who land me his 107mm Dynastars from few years back and, boy, did I have fun! Even hiked the ridge for the first time. Only 10 runs, half of them black or double black. Legs were shut. The hike did it. Had to stop like five times for a 200 ft vertical. Juarez of the ridge was cool. Photos below. On the groomers below, barely made it down to Bavarian around 1:00. The wait was an hour long. Hike back to Phoenix grill, beer, and pulled pork sandwich. Legs did not come back to life, snow was getting hard, 107s weren’t fun anymore, and I called it after one run. Even crawling down to the base via the catwalk was a chore (I blame wide skis on a hard pack )

Kachina looked royal. Pristine because avalanche control.

Great day to finish the season. Too bad it had close that early.

[jrredho]

The Ski Valley made the decision to open the Kachina Chair on their (early) last day. That was something of a pleasant surprise, and helped to soften the blow of the early close. (Oh, and it was epic. )

Stay healthy and safe out there.

cheers,
john

[CLsurf]

Unexpected and bittersweet closing weekend but at least myself and everyone else riding this weekend go to go out on top. Kachina was a special treat yesterday. See ya next year.