Ski Taos

Today we headed out to Taos Ski Valley Resort for more skiing on big mountains. The ride out to the ski area was uneventful. We would have loved to have a few photos, but there was not enough space to pull off heading into the valley. Cool road although it has no guard rails where there really should be according to Cindi anyway...it was on her side coming back that really got her.

After we parked and got our gear on we headed off walking. Gotta tell you that walking uphill at 9000 feet elevation in ski boots & carrying your gear is NOT FUN! We really should have waited for the shuttle...actually it was a truck with chains pulling a wagon full of crazed skiers & boarders. It would drive through the lot and everyone would hop on...except us. The walk was a good warm up even though we both were short of breath by the time we hit the lift ticket window.


As we headed for the lifts what was the first thing we saw?...a sign saying not to panic & the steepest possible slope we'd seen in a long while...maybe ever! It didn't stop us though as we headed off to see what Taos Ski Valley had to offer. Thankfully we had some idea where to start thanks to the ticket window staff who was nice enough to point out which lifts would lead us to the greens & blues rather than the dreaded double diamond slopes. He even pointed out which run would lead us back at the end of the day from the far side of the resort. We had no idea just how large an area was available until we switched lifts and hit the top elevation served by the lifts at 11,000 plus feet! It was so awesome that words don''t do it justice for that matter not sure the pictures do either.

Man does it have some steep terrain and some crazy people who hike up the ridge line to ski/board down through the steeps & trees. Not sure why anyone would want to hike along a ridge to take the hard way down, but plenty of people seemed to be doing just that. Fun to watch...no way did either of us want to join them. Another thing we wondered about was why ski through a forest of trees when the slopes were clear of obstructions? Better yet, why ski on a trail that had a very large rock which had been kindly marked as a cliff by ski patrol...we saw people on the trail as we rode the lift overhead, but no one went off the cliff. Must say we were disappointed.


At the end of the day though we got braver & decided to try skiing the Hunziker Bowl...well one of us went first and dragged the other protesting for another go on our last run of the day. Who do you think was the guinea pig? Yep, it wasn't the girl. Must say that the bowl was the best part of our day on the mountain. A small hike up to a break that opened up into a very large bowl shaped area. So beautiful and quiet, except for the 2 Air Force jets that buzzed the area. Plenty of powder still on the slopes and we even beat the instructor & his students down through the moguls...whoohoo! What a perfect way to end our day.