Okay, the New Mexico ski areas are closed, but over the weekend of April 11th and 12th we got about a foot and a half of fresh snow in our Santa Fe mountains. Happy Easter! Skiing Easter Bowl on Easter was pretty cool.
This seems to happen every year – we get some of the best skiing conditions of the season in mid-April. The skiing was awesome last weekend, but you had to work for it. I’ve already put up a blog about the art and science of skinning (http://mtnworks08.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/whoo-hoo/), and hopefully everyone has the right gear on hand, so now is the time to go, enjoy the mountains, and have some extended ski season fun.
Last April there was powder skiing in the mountains above Santa Fe too. I took this picture of Abigail Chapman on April 17th:
April powder skiing brings a smile to Abigail
I’m never sure when my last skiing of the season will take place. If you’re willing to hit the backcountry and work a little, you can often ski into June in New Mexico. Last May 31st I skied Middle Truchas Peak with Hugh Driscoll and Matt Hastings and had a fantastic time. Finding the traihead and negotiating the hike and climb in presented a few challenges, but this was our reward:
Middle Truchas Peak, a spring skiing playground
Sure, there was a little climbing involved:
Up, up, up - spring skiing can involve a little bit of work
But the turns were worth it. Hugh shows us how it’s done:
Yes, Hugh is a Level 3 PSIA tele instructor
So, if you find yourself complaining about ski season ending in early April, you only have yourself to blame. As a friend of mine once told me, “If there’s snow, it must be skied. To do otherwise is wrong.”
Don’t forget your sunscreen, lots of water, and your avalanche awareness and gear. Just because it’s spring doesn’t mean that there’s no avalanche danger as a recent report from Hugh shows. He and another guy headed out to Santa Fe Baldy on the Saturday before Easter and ran into some issues. Read about it at the Northern New Mexico Avalanche Exchange site (and please post about any backcountry snow adventures that you may have): http://www.nnmae.org/cgi-bin/sprec.cgi?sprecid=119
See you out there,
Bob
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Backcountry Skiing, New Mexico Backcountry Skiing, Having Fun Outdoors, Spring Skiing
