The Mountain, The Skiing, and The Avalanche

The first day of ski week was focused on developing the basics from which all skiing technique for the rest of the week would stem. In our case it was focusing on using the little toe to start and finish each turn with the ski. The first few runs we took were spent on groomed runs getting a feel for this new technique. After that, we eased into some easy blue moguls. As the day progressed, we were challenged by our instructor Michael to integrate what we had been working on into more and more challenging terrain. Some of the best runs of the day were West Blitz, Lonestar and Hunziker Bowl. By far the best run of the day due to snow quality and steepness was Juarez off the Highline Ridge.

Chair 7

The snow on Day 2 was softened by a few inches of fresh snow. We jumped right into moguls off chair 7 and 7a. Michael instructed us to use a 'soft focus' so as to not overwhelm our brains with the new techniques we were learning. For those in the group that were in thier first or second ski week, this was extremely important. For me, in my 5th ski week, it was a great opportunity to refine and remember the skills Taos had taught me in the past. The best runs of day 3 were Walkries off chair 7 and Stauffenberg Trib off the West Basin Ridge. Stauffenberg Trib was probably the hardest run we did the whole week. It was a chute narrower than the length of my skis so the only option was to 'just send it' straight for about 50 ft on a 45 degree slope.

Highline Ridge

Day 3 was our steepest, yet slowest ski lesson of the week. We started off skiing Castor, a steep treed run to the skiers right of chair 2. It was at that point the spread of ability level within the group was truely brought out. The interesting thing about the spread is it was not mostly based on physical or technical ability, but mostly a mental block for some of the group. We finished the lesson with a hike on the highline ridge. The whole afternoon we spent skiing Chair 2 off the West Basin Ridge. This is where Mason and I found the best run of the trip. While we skied both the Highline and West Basin ridges but Zadarsky off the West Basin Ridge was second to none. To finish off the night, Mary and Conrad made homemade lasagna that, according to Mason, was "the best lasagna I've ever had."

My favorite lift served run at Taos

When Day 4 hit, we were blessed with some more fresh snow. Though it was probably only 4 inches or so, it made a world of difference to the skiing conditions. Ski patrol had opened up Lorelli Trees for the first time in about a week and a half. The snow there was a blast to ski and the whole group enjoyed it. Due to wind and what felt like blowing ice pellets, we gave up on trying to ski the front side of the mountain. Our whole afternoon was spent on the backside on chair 4 and chair 7/7a. By far, the run of the day for Lorelli Trees as we did it a total of 5 times. That evening we went down to the Town of Taos for my favorite stop of any trip to Taos, Taos Cow Ice Cream. They serve by far the best Mint chip icecream you will ever have, the raspberry chunk is pretty good too.

Our last day at Taos was a busy one. Going into the ski lesson, we hadn't yet decided if we would be packing up and leaving that evening or waiting until Friday morning. Our final ski lesson turned from really great, to really not great in a matter of minutes. After doing a couple runs off chair 7/7A, we saw that the Kachina lift was open. This lift is a 5 year old expert only lift servicing terrain that used to take around 45 minutes and 1000 ft of vertical to hike. Hiking Kachina, was 'the thing to do' at Taos before the lift because you could get untracked snow a week after the latest storm and the hike was not for the faint of heart (or lungs). It was a surreal feeling to be riding up Kachina on a chair. Our first run on Kachina was a pretty basic run down skiers left side of Mainstreet and then crossing over under the 'K Chutes'. The snow was a bit wind blown but it was still a great time. The second run on Kachina was off Hunziker chutes on the far skiers right overlooking Hunziker bowl. Traversing into this, I caught my left hand on a tree and my thumb stayed with the tree. A week later, I'm still not sure if it is broken but I have isolated it and can hold a ski pole so does it really matter? After skiing the chute we came down to find the Kachina lift unexpectedly closed. It turned out there was an inbounds Avalanche about the same time I hit my hand on the tree. This was one hell of an avalanche as it was estimated to be over 30 ft deep and slide at least 2/3rds of the chute. Sadly, this unexpected avalanche on the K3 chute took the lives of two expert skiers at Taos Ski Valley. It definitely makes me want to wear my Avalanche beacon, even when in bounds at a ski resort. For my last run at Taos, I made sure not to break my tradition of running all 1800ft of straight black bumps known as Al's run.