Aspen & Taos, with a hotspring and some sand dunes thrown in between. 2/6-16/2016

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The main destination of this trip was Aspen. I was joining the epicski.com annual gathering there. But my work schedule favors joining them half way through. No biggie. Except I didn't count on the power of the "Epic Bears" in calling in the powder dump right before the "official" gathering start. So, some of the early arrivals got their face shots. And the regular arrivals got plenty of leftovers. While I was late enough to have to work to get to the goods.

This is a trip of missed powders. I missed the foot+ big dump in Aspen at the front end, arriving ONE day too late for even leftover chopped up soft piles. And I also missed the 6-8" at the back end , the day I drive back from Taos to Denver, forgetting to check weather. Only heard about it on the local TV after the fact.

But that's not to say I didn't have a fabulous time! It just took some work to get to the softies rather than having them on the easy access runs.


2/6, Loveland, Condition: leftover chopped up powder.

My flight into Denver was several hours late. So I got up drowsy and tired at 8am. That's not counting the fact I had a cold the couple days leading up to it. I really didn't feel like getting on the plane that day. Dragging my luggage through the airport was a monumental effort. So forget about 1st chair. I had to first decide if I feel like to ski at all.

I could simply take my time to drive to Aspen on Saturday. But of course that's NOT what I did. I decided to chance the $45 to see if I can find some leftover powder at Loveland, which is on the way to Aspen.

I was not disappointed! Despite a busy day by Loveland standard (parking lot were full, had to park at remote lot and took the shuttle bus), I easily happened upon tons of leftover (chopped up) powders all over the place: at the side of the runs, just off the main traffic area...

But boy, the air at 10,000'+ was thin. And a lung barely recovering from a head cold working at reduced capacity didn't help. I had to stop from time to time just to catch my breath. Mind you, this was just from skiing, no hiking.

Still, my powder gamble paid off. Shame I really couldn't manage too many runs with the late start and frequent stopping to BREATH!


Aspen, 2/7-12
Condition: (western) pack powder
Weather: warm to HOT!

Day 1: 2/7, Aspen Highland

I missed the powder dump of a couple days ago. And the first day I joined the group, they were on their ambitious Highland Bowl hike that day! Grrrrhhh...

Fortunately, they didn't hike very far up. The previous day, they had the best snow on the east facing side of the bowl so that's where they decided to drop in, shortly after the cat drop us off.

That's good news for my flat land lungs! Though I had to be pleased I actually manage the short hike without much difficulty at all given the altitude. Sadly, the snow condition didn't turn out as they hoped. Nobody told the gang the east facing part of the bowl gets warm during the day and takes till about noon to soften up. We hit it at 11 and it was chunks of crusty snow. (the previous day, the gang hit that part of the bowl later in the day so condition was indeed very good).

To cap off my first day of woes, I had an extended slide in a narrow trail, head first. Luckily, my body missed the tree that grabbed my skis, which is how the slide stopped.

A bit shaken, I joined another group to cruise the groomers to round off the day. It's also the day everyone gone into the bar early to watch the Bronco in the Superbowl. I went to bed early (fortunately no nightmare from the uncontrolled slide)


Day 2 & 3: 2/8-9, Snowmass

The group spread all over Aspen/Snowmass because individuals find their own lodging. I lucked out with a room at Snowmass Inn. It's practically ski-in/out, with only about 20 yard walk before ski hits snow. That means the 2nd day, I got to sleep in and roll out of bed onto the slope.

A little pow-wow at the start of day, some of the gang decided to go play in the terrain park while awaits for the snow to soften up!

Now, we're a group of 100% skiers. Not park rats! So, it's kind of refreshing to hit the half pipe and table tops with a bunch of middle-aged, many first time park visitors! There were happy yells, surprised screams and a lot of high-fives. There's a guy who's a pro of some kind. He's giving instructions on how to PROPERLY do the big half pipe. Interestingly enough, it were two women (and a younger guy) who were the most daring and faithfully follow the volunteer instructor onto the higher part of the pipe. Yours truly stayed on the lower part of the pipe, still got a tiny bit of hang time which felt pretty darn good. (I was a high jumper in high school, so I actually love air time, except old brittle bones is now a legitimate concern)

Right before lunch time, the gang finally were ready to hit the Cirque!

Having followed the gang into less than good condition at Highland the day before, I opted to stay out of that initial "exploration" tour of the Cirque while awaits report on the conditions upon their return for lunch. Instead, I found some powder in the spacious trees in the intermediate playground called Big Burn.

The gang return from their scouting trip and reported the condition of the Headwall was excellent! But then, they decided to go explore another double black area at Hanging Valley. Well, that happened to be a run I knew. Only that I wasn't going to go near it! So back to lapping the pockets of powder in the Big Burn again. (I would have gone up to the Headwall, but wiser words in the group suggest we do it the next day instead)

The next day was very much a repeat the previous day. We played in the park in the morning while awaiting the snow to soften (and the Cirque poma to open @ 10:30). This time, I head straight to the Headwall with a few others. It was as good as reported, soft and creamy, with nice rounded bumps in sections. Gorgeous scenery too.

(picture to come shortly)

 

[4aprice]

Sounds like a fun trip. Read JimK's report on Epic and SJ (Did you meet up with him and Skinewhere?) . Looking forward to a Taos report as everyone knows that El Nino is great for them. Can't wait to get out west in April.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

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Sounds like a fun trip. Read JimK's report on Epic and SJ (Did you meet up with him and Skinewhere?) .

I did meet up with SkiNEwhere during the party. Not sure who JimK is in person. Might have met but not making the connection

 

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Skiers lapping up the creamy soft snow on the run out of the Cirque Headwall (I forgot to take picture of the headwall itself)


The name Headwall is a bit melodramatic, it's not that hard -- when condition is good anyway

 

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Day 4: 2/10, Ajax

Today my friend Diane from Frisco is coming to Aspen to attend a music event in the evening. So it makes sense for me to ski Ajax and meet up with her for dinner before the show.

The previous day, I got a couple of pointers from a ski instructor so today is the day to put them into practice. Gladly, Ajax obliged with plenty of sweet soft bumps and creamy groomers.

Due to the unseasonably warm weather, there's a lot of thaw/freeze going on at the lower elevations. Fortunately by now, I had gotten a handle on the different aspects of the runs so can follow the sun as it softens the snow.

Since I was skiing alone (the epic gang had largely disappearing by now), I took a couple hours to take it easy by taking a "Geology Tour" offered by the mountain (free tour). Turned out I was the only one showing up so a private tour it was. He gave me some very interesting information on what makes Ajax special. Does anyone know why all the black runs off the spine were almost the same angle? And free of trees? No, the ski area didn't trim them. Those were mining tailing dumped by the early silver miners. No vegetation can grow on them. So the land was of no good for agriculture. But is just right for skiing!

Highland Bowl, from a distance (looking across from Ajax)


Day 5: 2/11, Highland

Now that all the Epic "Bears" are all gone, I was skiing mostly by myself. So I went back to Highland, with the intention to hike the bowl. I was hoping my lung had finally recovered enough from the previous week's head cold to handle some serious hiking. Alas, it wasn't quite there yet. As I climbed up after the cat drops us off, my legs started to turn into jelly. I guess the late night with my friend the night before at Aspen didn't help either.

Another thing was the temperature. It was quite warm. And I in my haste of packing, forgot to pack a pair of UN-insulated pants. So I was sweating buckets in my thigh and waist. Fortunately my jacket has pit zips that can be opened. Otherwise, I would have been really roasting. As it was, I was overheating whenever I made ANY effort on anything.

So I only got to drop in from the area near the cat again. The snow were soft but powder it was not. Perhaps next year. It was a short day, a little disappointing.

Day 6: 2/12, Snowmass

Friday was my last day at Snowmass. The President's Day weekend crowd are coming in, it's starting to show on the lift line at the village, though not on any upper mountain lifts. The lodging rate is jumping up a big notch too so I have to leave.

Again, it makes sense to ski right next to where I stay so I can get a quick getaway.

In the morning, I decided to join the free Mountain Tour. For even though I've skied at Snowmass quite a few days, it's always on the advanced/expert sector of the mountain. I wanted to get a more balanced view of the mountain, including some of the beginner runs none of us ever bother to seek out.

Unlike tours in other mountains which only goes on green and blue trails, the Snowmass/Aspen tour includes single blacks as well. The only area the "Ambassadors" are not allow to go are double blacks. So, bumps and trees are fare game. Our group leader even led us down some "Home Owner Access" trail with a big red "No Trespassing" sign! So we got to ski right past some big name celebrity's 1 week a year vacation homes! Bit of a change of pace on my last day.

After the tour, I went back up to the Cirque and lapped the Headwall a couple more times. I was looking for other trails on the Cirque. But none of them look too enticing so Headwall it was again for a couple more times.

Last view from Snowmass


Then, it's time to pack up and head out towards Taos....

 

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Day 7, Travel Day, A historic village of Leadville, and a (clothing optional) Hot spring

The drive from Aspen to Taos is a good 7-8 hours! Rather than driving straight through the night after a day of skiing, I opted to spend the night at Leadville, a village I've come to know well. It's a convenient stopover on the way to several good destinations such as Crested Butte, and in my case, Taos.

Apart from a low key downtown with a couple of historical buildings, it boast a unique steakhouse called the Quincy's. No frill, just juicy steads! Making it a particularly attractive overnight stopping spot.

I've always have a soft spot for hot springs, especially after a few days of skiing. And Colorado has quite a few of them, in various style, from rustic natural to glitzy. It didn't take long for me to find a list of them along my way south. One of them stood out, Valley View Hot Springs. it's a non-profit land trust. There's a passing mention of it being "clothing optional" which I somehow missed.

As you can imagined, I was standing there paying for my entry, they handed me a piece of paper explaining the rules of the land. At which point the girl mentioned "you know we're clothing optional, right?". Errhh, now that you mentioned it, yes, I seem to have read it but in truth it didn't register...

So is "optional" only optional? Or was clothing REALLY optional? It's the latter! Most people choose the option of going without clothes!!!

Apart from that quirk, the hot springs consists of many natural pools dotting the hillside. Some of them with breathtaking views over the vast openness of the valley below. (hence the name "Valley View"). It's none of the sterilized version one typically see.

The whole setup somehow makes for a very relaxing experience, not just because of the hot spring water.

No pictures. You'll just have to take my words for it. Photography was strongly DISCOURAGED inside the property. I can understand. While I don't mind taking off my clothes when everyone else does the same, I'd rather not be photographed naked and have it splashed all over facebook!

(if you do happened to be passing by and wanted to go in for a soak, keep in mind they limit the number of day passes to 30. So make reservation first thing in the morning -- it doesn't cost until you show up to pay)

 

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Historic Leadville:

fjsadk;fjds

 

[Scruffy]

What about Taos? Need a report

 

[abc]

Well, I was hung up on trying to upload photos!

(Taos will come later today, after work today)

 

[jimk]

Is your name synonymous with the fourth month of the year? If so, we have met and you are a nice person! Did not interact much in Aspen as our travel dates apparently overlapped only for a couple days, but I was also at the party at Gathermeister's condo. skiNEwhere roomed with my son and I in Aspen.
I use epicski to host my photos then just copy and paste url to post here. Uncheck retrieve box.

 

[abc]

As I suspected, we've met at Aspen. I just didn't quite connect with screen names.

(and I also sometimes confused people with each other, or confused screen names with another too)

 

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Day 8 & 9, Taos!
Weather: too warm for this time of year
Condition: Chopped up powder on the higher elevations, hard-packed bumps at lower elevation, scraped off groomer,

Let's not beat around the bushes. Maybe the Texans would drive a few hours to ski Taos' handful of groomers. But if you're coming half way across the country to this out of way place, passing by half a dozen easily accessible & larger mountains such as Vail without stopping, just so you can get to Taos? You come to ski the double blacks, especially Kashina Ridge!

What's there? Picture a ridge that wraps around to about 1/3 of a circle. With the ridge face consists of rock bands, cliffs, and in between those rocks and cliffs, are endless permutation of routes of white... snowfields dotted with moguls!!!

The weather of Taos is uniquely such that it doesn't get a huge amount of snow. In between storms, bumps quickly grow... On the plus side, the weather of Taos is uniquely so that the bumps stays soft. None of those eastern icy bumps we live with here.

(Apology for not having any pictures. I simply forgot to take any)

I was there on President's Day weekend. Needless to say, it's on the busy side. So groomers were rather a giant pin ball machine! Warming up on the groomer was to be done quickly. Even then, there's no lift lines except the one at the village.

There had been over a week since the last storm. So fresh powder was in short supply. Though surprisingly, the wind had moved some of the powder into certain areas. Not being a local, I happened upon them all rather randomly, which was quite sweet.

On my way to Kachina, I took a run down Lorelei about 11am found it to be crusty, not to my liking. Still looking for something a little more challenging than groomers to prepare for the "main show" down the Ridge, I went back up the lift to do a run down Lorelei Trees, which were in much better condition (though the tree were a bit tight at places).

Feeling confident to tackle the ridge, I took the Kachina lift up the first time at nearly noon hour. (I had a rather late start on the first day there due to a problem with the motel I was staying). On the way up, I could see there were a lot more rocks poking through the snow than I remembered. Funny thing our minds do, only remember the good part of a trip. I made a mental route map of my 1st run down...

Success! I hit some nice soft, skier groomed snow patches. About 3 turns worth, that is. Then, it's picking my ways through a rock field, until I emerged from the rock field into a sea of white... bump field! Looking left, looking right. The bumps on the far right seemed smaller, and the trough appeared to have some wind blown powder. So that's where I headed... and sure enough, powder in the trough it was, and I lapped it up happily. That is, until my skis hit a series of small rocks hidden in the thin layer of blower powder!!!

OK, I now know why the bumps were smaller in that section!

But I don't learn very well. Next I found a stretch of smooth skier groomed packed powder leading into a small stand of trees. I blissfully charge my way into the trees, until the space got too tight that I had to stop. Side-slipping a couple yards found myself emerging out of the stand of trees onto another big stretch of bump field. This time, the bumps were small and the trough has powder, and NO rocks!!!

 

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Back up the Kachina lift, I eyed another route down the "Main Street", which is the section directly underneath the lift. This time, I purposely aimed for a narrow path through the cliffs (no mandatory air though), thinking perhaps fewer people ski there and the condition might be good. It turned out to be a mixed bag. Part of that path, the snow were creamy. But the path through the cliff band were just giant bumps with rocks hiding on the downhill face of each and every bump! I didn't see the rocks so my skis took the hit.

3rd run, I decided to move across the ridge further out to explore part of the ridge away from the lift. No real hiking involved, a few well-executed skate was all it needed. What I found were steeper faces and bigger bumps but no better condition.

After that, it became a bit of a blur. I was mixing up the various paths through the rocks and cliffs. And having a blast!

My legs gave up after about 2 hrs of those. Thinking I have 2 days, and not wanting to totally waste my legs on day 1. I took my time having lunch and resting. I failed to notice the Kachina lift closes at 3. So I only got in a couple runs after lunch before they shut the lift down. Ooops!

My skis accumulated enough dings and scratches in those 3 hrs of skiing the Kachina Ridge. I dropped it off for some quick edge and wax job right on the mountain. Also saves me the long carry back to my car.

....

I was more organized and better oriented the 2nd day. So a relatively early start (I'm not a 1st chair kind of skier though), and I made a beeline straight to the Kachina lift. Similar to the previously day, I made multiple runs off the Kachina chair, going wherever I THINK had the best snow. Sometimes I found powder, other times I got rocks!

 

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Day 10, Bonus day. Sand Dunes!

The plan, was to drive back to Denver after I done skiing and catch the red eye at midnight, be at work Tuesday morning. It's a 5 hr drive and I should made it leisurely. But a quick call from my Mom alerted me there's weather in the eastern seaboard. So I checked my flight status. The plane that I was to take haven't left New York yet. It may still make it to Denver and turn around to fly back to New York. Or it may not.

The airline was allowing us to change our flight to lighten their hassle in case the flight doesn't go. So I took advantage of that and changed my flight for the following day.

I could stay and ski another day. But I felt I got my trips worth already, with 9 days of skiing. Besides, on the way down to Taos, I noticed I passed by an obscured national park called the Great Sand Dune National Park. And I was curious to at least check it out. Maybe even another soak in whatever hot spring I pass by...

(because I was supposed to be flying out the previous night, I didn't pay any attention to the mountain forecast. It turned out the Colorado Front range, which includes Breckenridge and A-basin, got about 6-8" of fresh powder! Had I checked, I definitely would have speed my way back to Frisco and ski A-Basin for my bonus day! Alas)

So this is what I went instead:

Great Sand Dune National Park

 

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[skiNEwhere]

I must get to Taos, I have never been. I've heard it really doesn't correlate to any other ski area. Please post some pics if you have some! Next major storm I may try and get down there since I have the MCP this year.

 

[abc]

I must get to Taos, I have never been. I've heard it really doesn't correlate to any other ski area. Please post some pics if you have some! Next major storm I may try and get down there since I have the MCP this year.

You would like it!

The variety of lines on Kachina makes it perfect for advanced level or above skiers to get a good (but well measured) challenge!

 

[Scruffy]

Thanks for the report, abc. I'm heading there next week. I guess I'll be rock hopping.

 

[abc]

Please post some pics if you have some! Next major storm I may try and get down there since I have the MCP this year.

I didn't get ANY pictures. Reason being, every ride up the Kachina chair, I was busy scanning the face and mentally scouting & planning a different route down.

The view on top of the ridge is actually quite good, looking far into the peaks beyond the ridge. But I was too jazzed in anticipation of the run down that I just didn't feel like pulling the phone out for a picture.

(also I'm a bit jaded when it comes to photography. There's some thin high clouds both days, which really reduced the contrast. So the picture would have been kind of bland anyway. As such, lacking motivation to bother with the phone, I just focus on skiing )

 

[skimagic]

i was at Taos Feb 10, spectacular,, here's a pic fix