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

[donkeykong]

Everything you write here is insanely entertaining...

It reads almost like excerpts from a Jack kerouac book... It's something about your ability to describe things, and get to the truth of the situation. Its hard to describe, but you really are talented..

Working on fire crews and ski bumming is actually pretty interesting to a lot of people...

Quoted for truth...that was really entertaining, and the same is true of most of your blog/posts!

Does it make me more or less eager to visit Taos? not sure yet...

One thing I am sure of: the OP got much more than he bargained for.

[raisingarizona13]

I think you are becoming a classic in my mind YetiMan. Good honest posts man. No bs and you sure ain't scared! Nice! I think I am being inspired now for some real ski bumming posts. Here it comes, I may not hold back anymore.

[raisingarizona13]

I don't really know any of you fuckers but I did take a mag out on a bike ride last week. But.......Yetiman, I must agree with the rest of these weirdos. It's full on. Sick. Let yer head out bro.

[Lani]

Beta: the rock climbing will be good even if the skiing is not.

I like Taos and I really enjoy Yetiman's posts.

[strawjack]

wearing a helmet

one season was horrible, we had three deaths i belive. one was a young kid named Sean who was skating on the flats of rubezahl and went off the groomed with one ski and high sided into a tree. his parents were instructors at tsv...they were the first people i saw wearing helmets on the hill. i came upon another one right after it happend...maybe by powderhorn...someone hit a tree in again 'easy' terrain. i've never seen so much blood. unfortuately, i will never forget that sight.

wear a helmet.

[ill-advised strategy]

one season was horrible, we had three deaths i belive. one was a young kid named Sean who was skating on the flats of rubezahl and went off the groomed with one ski and high sided into a tree. his parents were instructors at tsv...they were the first people i saw wearing helmets on the hill. i came upon another one right after it happend...maybe by powderhorn...someone hit a tree in again 'easy' terrain. i've never seen so much blood. unfortuately, i will never forget that sight.

wear a helmet.

Yes and I think the third was that guy who sort of flew across that ditch under chair 4 and hit the other side upper body first and folded in half backwards...which was pretty gruesome and ugly. Then there was Alden.

I was on the far right seat of chair 2 with two guys I didn't know in the middle and a patroller on the left. The whole chair ride I was listening to the patrol radio because there was some incident taking place on highline ridge, but in the back of my head I was also sort of thinking about this guy I skied with there from time to time named Alden. Just all these random thoughts like thinking about how he'd come by the shop looking for a helmet and wondering if he'd found one, and like "Alden's a strong skier, wonder where he moved here from" and looking at lines over on west basin thinking I skied that with Alden 2 weeks ago that was sick....and part of my thought process was going "why am I so fixated about Alden"..."Alden is a weird name, I don't think I've ever even heard of that name before"..."I wonder if that guy is going to compete in any freeskiing events" ....on and on...and the radio traffic got sort of more intense. They were getting ready for life flight and talking about CPR and the whole thing was sounding really bad.

And then I got off the chair and went skiing and kind of forgot about the whole thing. Went back to work, then at the end of the day I went by Bumps to get a snack or something and the gal working there asked me if I'd heard about the bad news, and I said I had been on the hill and there was something going down up there but I didn't know how it turned out. She told me it was Alden and they'd taken him to Albuquerque.

I don't really know what ever happened, but I was under the impression that he was essentially immobile and possibly in a persistent vegetative state or something along those lines. I never really got a good update from anyone who would know.

It was pretty shocking, you know, and I kind of felt like there was some supernatural thing taking place there. It's one of the several events I had to reckon with as I went through school and did physiology and psychology and came to believe that there is no extrasensory perception and I couldn't have been receiving some kind of signal as this guy's soul left his body. I don't know, it's hard to process.

Taos is a dangerous place to ski fast. I think people who skied with me in Utah know that I like to ski fast, but a lot of that came from being cooped up in Taos for 7 seasons. Even the open areas like Main street are so bony that skiing really fast is risky, Swinson shattered his femur on a hidden rock up there trying to do Super G turns down Main St. Pretty much anything with good snow has bumps.

I used to try to get the first chair on Chair 1 at the beginning of the day on my 225s and tuck powderhorn into the spaghetti bowl and hit that turn onto the return trail at like 70mph right next to the fence. Then right back into the shop to get normal skis for the rest of the day because there's only one run of the day like that. There's really only a few places you could set a downhill at TSV and that's probably the best one of them.

Alain told me this story about how the french ski team would spend the early season drinking wine and just wide open full speed freeskiing on thin snowpack. I guess they didn't set courses or worry about hitting little kids or anything, they just got hammered and went tearing ass around all day. I always thought that was pretty awesome, and I guess whatever they did worked for him because he shreds.

[/sweet blog]

[buck_nasty]

If I don't win the Ultimate Ski Bum contest (see Ultimate Tits. Ultimate Gore. thread http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...um.-%28NSFW%29) I will be spending the season at Taos and hopefully be skiing with some mags out there. Props to you guys living in Espanola, that place is cholo-rowdy.

[Cyber Cop]

How do people in Espanola learn their vowels?











eeeeeeee! iou eh.

[strawjack]

I was on the far right seat of chair 2 with two guys I didn't know in the middle and a patroller on the left. The whole chair ride I was listening to the patrol radio because there was some incident taking place on highline ridge, but in the back of my head I was also sort of thinking about this guy I skied with there from time to time named Alden. Just all these random thoughts like thinking about how he'd come by the shop looking for a helmet and wondering if he'd found one, and like "Alden's a strong skier, wonder where he moved here from" and looking at lines over on west basin thinking I skied that with Alden 2 weeks ago that was sick....and part of my thought process was going "why am I so fixated about Alden"..."Alden is a weird name, I don't think I've ever even heard of that name before"..."I wonder if that guy is going to compete in any freeskiing events" ....on and on...and the radio traffic got sort of more intense. They were getting ready for life flight and talking about CPR and the whole thing was sounding really bad.

And then I got off the chair and went skiing and kind of forgot about the whole thing. Went back to work, then at the end of the day I went by Bumps to get a snack or something and the gal working there asked me if I'd heard about the bad news, and I said I had been on the hill and there was something going down up there but I didn't know how it turned out. She told me it was Alden and they'd taken him to Albuquerque.

I don't really know what ever happened, but I was under the impression that he was essentially immobile and possibly in a persistent vegetative state or something along those lines. I never really got a good update from anyone who would know.


[/sweet blog]

huh. that sounds so similar to another guy when i was there. he was from out of town but always showed up and skied a bunch every season. everyone knew him and he was solid. not a ripper per se, but just solid. he hit a tree and they life flighted him out. we never heard another thing about him, but the same as you, we don't know if he's in a vegetative state or passed or hopefully recovered. at the time it did not seem good at all. i want to say it was '93-'94 season.

my wife ran the kindercare program which was right next to the patrol first aid shack. every trauma victim was brought down in front of the kids window. it was so bad. she ended up being involved in the design of the 'new' facility, but has never seen it!

Alain...ya, he rips! crazy frenchman.

[Shredhead]

Yep, he rips!
I got to share an Astar at ARL with Alain and his client, the head of De Beers USA.
I was a little bummed at first, but Theo assured me that I would have fun. I did!

[Cyber Cop]

you wont get NM until you've had your ass kicked by a norteño while drinking in the hills...

[ill-advised strategy]

haha...


I remember at the locals races he had a little man-friend who would rub his thighs before his runs. It was possibly the funniest, gayest thing I've ever seen...but yeah, Alain is awesome.

[strawjack]

haha...


I remember at the locals races he had a little man-friend who would rub his thighs before his runs. It was possibly the funniest, gayest thing I've ever seen...but yeah, Alain is awesome.

i would almost never see him ski unless it was a powder day. then i see him ripping twice as fast as anyone down Al's throwing backflips and shit.

i lived on cliffhanger loop...scored a caretakers gig. actually, Fritz (snowcat operator, you guys know him?) got the boot and i got the nod. i felt bad...kinda...for like a half hour or so. nothing like skiing to and from work. then dog leg ripped out and the house took a hit. my gf (wife) couldn't take it anymore. freaked her out.

[Atrain505]

Damn I miss the craziness of home. Loving the stories!

[Canada1]

Northern New Mexico is a strange and beautiful place. I've had a gun pulled on me because I was white and have seen four other guns drawn because they grew up with me.

If Toas has snow, it is magic. It is usually magic 5-10 days a year. Some years it never pops. Some years it goes big. Hope this is one of those years and you timed it right. Make sure you have a full touring set up. Even in bounds, you'll want it.

As far as the locals, respect them. After a generation or two, you'll be considered one as well. Until then, don't screw with people. Understand the poaching is what puts food on peoples tables. Understand that most people look at the police as outsiders, and deal with issues themselves.

No where on earth has better food. No where I've encounterd has a more laid back attitude. Have fun and work hard and you will be respected and accepted. Screw up and you can wind up dead in a ditch with no one giving more than lip service in concern.

Remember that sleepers are everywhere on that mountain. Until you know the mountain, don't trust that it is clear under that powder unless you know it is.

Have fun. It is a mountain that will teach you to ski!!

[Cyber Cop]

As far as the locals, respect them. After a generation or two, you'll be considered one as well. Until then, don't screw with people. Understand the poaching is what puts food on peoples tables. Understand that most people look at the police as outsiders, and deal with issues themselves.

yeah, basically...

[BraddA]

yeah, basically...

Hawaii compared to Taos? More aggro, less weird... On second though, Taos sounds pretty aggro, though the cholos don't ski. Actually a pretty good comparison, though.

[Cyber Cop]

Hawaii compared to Taos? More aggro, less weird... On second though, Taos sounds pretty aggro, though the cholos don't ski. Actually a pretty good comparison, though.

where including Espanola....

arroyonm, buy land in TA esse.

[Cyber Cop]

........

[Cyber Cop]

........

what's that guys shirt say? Da Hui?

[f2f]

what's that guys shirt say? Da Hui?

"Sammy Martinez and Los Unidos - Franke Maestas and Vangie Martinez, Leroy Martinez, Rob Garcia, Delfino Martinez, and Donaldo Valdez-Espanola, '68 T-Bird, '66 Chevy Caprice, '70 Supersport, '56 Chevy, '62 Chevy, '49 Chevy, , from the "Lowriders: Portraits from New Mexico" portfolio"

[Meadow Skipper]

you wont get NM until you've had your ass kicked by a norteño while drinking in the hills...

Actually, that's pretty right on. ¿Que no?

[ill-advised strategy]

My friend who grew up about 40 yards from me in Michigan was stationed at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque when I first moved to Taos. He thought the lowriders and cholo cars were so funny that he bought a beat-to-shit factory gold 1970 Caprice Classic...
basically this car:
***2021 EDIT!**** facebook delivers...here’s the actual car!!


...for $300. In one drunken afternoon, we cut the roof off, put a tiny chain link steering wheel on it, leopard skin seat covers, red dingo balls all around the ragged edge where the roof had been cut, cut the mufflers off, removed the rear shocks, and painted the whole car flat black except for masking off the words "LOVE MACHINE" on the trunk so it said it in gold.

We drove that car around Albuquerque all the time and it was so fucking funny...this bouncing, loud as fuck, total piece of latino shit being driven by the two whitest people...from michigan no less... in the entire city. These bandana wearing cholos would smile and point. Too much fun. I would recommend.

[ill-advised strategy]

Hey man, i really enjoy reading the nm threads, and all your personal experiences you had in nm. as a native new mexican hispanic, I find the part in your last post that reads "latino piece of shit" may come off as alittle offensive. maybe you can edit, if you want. would just like to keep the thread positive. peace

Well, I found it a little offensive when I had a gun put to my head for the crime of being a white man on the Pueblo. I found it a little offensive when all the skanky women who worked with my girlfriend at El Taoseno called her "the huera" to her face instead of her name. I found it a little offensive that my little girls came home from school in tears on a regular basis because they were blonde in NM. I found it a little offensive when my boss at a federal government job told me "you white people don't mean shit to me."

You want to keep it positive...awesome, except I want to keep it honest and this is what people deal with in that place. A bunch of defensive, racist, undereducated, corrupt, entrenched local interests fighting tooth and nail to find some way to keep getting "anglo" money without having to meet "anglo" standards of craftsmanship, knowledge, and ethics.

I'm 1500 miles away so nobody from there can shoot me or stab me or break into my house because I'm white and talked some shit about the ridiculousness of driving around on tiny gold rims and hydraulics. It ain't personal. I moved to Taos with an open mind full of love and tolerance and came out like this because of all the bullshit thrown AT me...not the other way around. I'm not insensitive, quite the opposite...I'm just not prepared to accept a double standard where a tiny comment by a white guy is more of a problem than an entire local culture of violence and hostility.

Deal with it.

[Cyber Cop]

Its funny how much negative talk that valley receives from all types of people. Call me loco but I bet a young, adventurous couple, thats looking for a semi rural lifestyle within close proximity to epic skiing/snowboarding, flyfishing, whitewater, art, culture, food, farming,good people, cheap living, etc, etc, would find that valley paradise.......wait what? just got back from wal mart.....nevermind. haha

Española is indeed paradise. love everything about it.


...and you know that joke is fuckin funneh.