Taos Invasion

[RDY_2_Carve]

Wednesday is approaching fast!!

It looks like we'll have myself and another (Spil) carver there to represent the finer side of snowboarding...

Any other stragglers???

I'll be taking stills and video of this epic event!

And of course a ride review!!

From what I hear from the local skiers Taos is the best resort in New Mexico. I'll find out Wednesday what all the hoop-la is about! :D

[boarderboy]

This opening definitely puts New Mexico on my gotta ride list.

Good luck!

[DiveBomber]

man I almost forgot, hmmmm any cheap places to stay downthere?

[skatha]

man I almost forgot, hmmmm any cheap places to stay downthere?

We're going to be at the Super 8, it certainly sounds cheap!

My son's insisting on riding....he's 9 and all the experience a native Texan has with snowsports...should be interesting.

My skiing husband gets a hard-on talking about Taos. We will be rooming with the kids so I won't be able to confirm....

I'll be looking for you guys...remember I'm a 2 planker for now...

[andreac]

How was it? any pics? any good comments from skiers you need to share? we're waiting!

[RDY_2_Carve]

Here's the trail map so you understand my review...

It's a very nice resort. Pretty much all of the blues and greens are groomed daily. Lifts are pretty fast, especiall lift #8 (West Basin) and lift #4 (Kachina) since they are both high speed quads. If you are carving you'll spend most of your time on these lifts. My favorite carving runs were Lower Stauffenberg and Bonaza/Mucho Gusto/Firleflanz under Lift 8. On the other side of the mountain Honeysuckle, Shalako, Lower Patton near lift #4.

All of the blacks are moguls besides the hike chutes. Not sure if that will change next year or not. Maybe they will groom one or two blacks starting next season? No way they're grooming them now. The hike chutes would be moguls too if they were lift serviced. ;)

The chutes look amazing. I didn't do the hikes, but I saw a good number of people taking the walk. It seems lift #2/6 will get you to the West Basin and Highline Ridges. I assume you get to Kachina Peak from lift #4? It would be quite a hike. That peak is pretty far, but the chutes there seemed to be the least used and looked pretty sick.

Taos is much bigger than anything in New Mexico. It was busy yesterday, as expected. Talking to one of the parking lot guys they estimated 4200 people yesterday...their busiest day this season by far. They were thinking 4500 people this Saturday. The parking lots were pretty full, but they have a nice shuttle system there so you don't have to hike to your car.

Despite all of the people the only lift line I waited longer than two minutes in was the initial lift at the base area (1st lift of the day). I was there early and it seemed they started the lifts early. The site didn't mention anything about this so I thought getting there around 8am would be good enough. I was wrong. I had my pass around 845 and the lifts were already running with tons of people already going up. After that initial rush at the base area the lines were gone for the rest of the day. Pretty much riding right up to the lift all day long. Quite impressive how the mountain could handle all of us considering how busy it was. The runs, however, were pretty busy so it wasn't the best day to be on a 13m Coiler. I made some pretty good turns regardless, especially when the spring break crowd headed to lunch.

I saw four other hardbooters at Taos yesterday. Two guys were older just using plates on their twin tips. One guy was on an arbor element with plates and older Raichles. Another guy with some funky rear clip burtons? One guy on a AM shaped board with Indys. This was the only guy I ran into on the mountain and I stopped to say hello but he was disinterested in me. Probably because he was there with his friends? Who knows. I told him "not many HB'ers in NM", and he didn't really comment so I rode off. Last HB'er I saw was ripping it up under lift #8. Red Deeluxes and a true race shape. Perhaps a F2 but not sure. He knew what he was doing though and was a much better carver than me. Excellent bomber style technique. Never caught this guy but we were close a few times.

I switched to softies around 1pm, ate lunch, and bombed the runs for the rest of the day. It was getting soft in the afternoon anyways. Never hiked the chutes as that's not my thing. I'd probably kill myself trying to see how fast I could go.

Taos seemed like an excellent choice for just about any rider. Chutes/Steeps, plenty of bumps if you're into that (I'm not), fast/wide groomed up blues and greens with excellent pitch for carving. Even the long catwalks back to the base area were no problems with good pitch. I never had ANY problems getting around the mountain without poles. The resort itself is pretty big so there's lots of variety for food and such and a number of shops. The base area reminded me of Snowmass with all the shops and restaurants.

It seemed like they were more concerned with quantity of grooming than quality. I'd say the grooming at Angel Fire is slightly better quality, and the guys at Santa Fe still have the best quality grooming hands down of any resort I've been too (yes it's that good). Taos was a bit uneven at times especially under lift #4. Not as bad under lift #8. That can be fun though as you can do air transitions off the little mounds and stuff. For a non-advanced carver like myself I'd prefer the perfect cord but it was pretty nice regardless. Taos definately has the edge on variety and length of runs...Lifts are much faster than Santa Fe too.

I'll go back next year, probably in late Jan early Feb on a non-holiday weekend. The "newness" will have worn down by then so it will be fun to have the whole mountain to myself-which is typical for NM resorts for the most part during non-peak times.

[RDY_2_Carve]

I did take some video, but not much as my camera died. I charged it and for whatever reason it was almost dead when I started filming. So the video isn't as much of me carving/riding...more video of the chutes, terrain, other snowboarders, views, etc. I'm about to shove off for a nice trip to my parents in Oklahoma so I won't be processing that video until after Easter. I'll post a link once I do.

[spil]

Hope you had a good time. I was at Red River all week, but the day before taos opened, I broke the cant adjuster thing on my boot and hurt my ankle. I was going to rent a hardboot setup (or at least boots) from Experience Snowboards in Angel Fire, but all they had for rent were boots w/o intec (I had to explain to him what an intec heel was) and I have intec bindings. Then I thought I would rent a softboot setup and ride taos with that, but the soft flex hurt my ankle too much... So I decided to learn to ski. Wednesday I was on the beginner lifts learning to snowplow and parallel; the second day I started doing some blues; and by the third day I was carving. It was pretty fun, but different than snowboard carving, definitely a lot faster. I guess some good came out of this, but I still wish I could have made it to Taos!

I wanna see some pics and video of what I missed! It sounds like you had a good time, and I will definitely have to go their next season.

[redriver]

Hey RDY- Where in OK? I'm from there too and ride AF and NM each year.

[RDY_2_Carve]

Hey RDY- Where in OK? I'm from there too and ride AF and NM each year.

My parents live in Edmond and I just got back to ABQ. Sheesh it's friggin HOT here! Two weeks left in the season...last weekend coming up for Angel Fire. :(

Ugh I hate it when the season is almost over.

Just rode the Loaded Pintail down to the mailbox. I guess it's time to hit the ditches...

[RDY_2_Carve]

Hey folks!

Feedback is appreciated!

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I also have the 51MB full rez .wmv but I'm looking for a host.

Enjoy!

[b0ardski]

great vid, lots of stoke, taos looks like a worthy mountain, that bump run had me droolin'

[Kaida]

What did that sign the skier was holding read?

[RDY_2_Carve]

What did that sign the skier was holding read?

I didn't actually read it, but he was protesting the boarders being there.

[RDY_2_Carve]

Having trouble with the YouTube vid for whatever reason...

Here's the google link.

[Randy T.]

Hey folks!

Feedback is appreciated!

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I also have the 51MB full rez .wmv but I'm looking for a host.

Enjoy!

Cool video thanks for posting that. Who's in front of you on the chair riding plates on an Arbor? Which board is that?

[RDY_2_Carve]

Cool video thanks for posting that. Who's in front of you on the chair riding plates on an Arbor? Which board is that?

No idea who it was. Random HB sighting. Saw four HB'ers total that day...

[asdfzxcv]

RDY2Carve, that was a great description of Taos. I agree with everything he said. Except maybe the part about me being a "much better carver" - I was the 4th hardbooter you saw on the opening day, with the red deeluxes. I was riding a 171 Donek Freecarve I. Sorry, I missed you, I really was looking out for other hardbooters, but never met up with any all

week. I didn't post because I wasn't sure whether I would be skiing or snowboarding that week - I met up with my cousin & his wife & their 4 kids, and promised to play ski instructor in return for free room & board. In fact, it was just a lucky coincidence that the week I was there, they opened to snowboards. And as luck would have it, I was riding on the lift with this nice lady (a skier!) who gave me her raffle ticket to be on the first 10 chairlifts... so I was on the 3rd chairlift up on the day they allowed snowboards! It was really exciting - there was so much energy in the crowd that morning!

So here's my take on Taos: this is an AWESOME mountain - at the top of the lift, you're at 12,000 feet. I had a pounding headache the first night I stayed there because of the elevation. I know everyone blames "the altitude", but I definitely know that altitude was making me tired, when I was breathing hard after just bending down and buckling my boots. I always thought of New Mexico as desert, not realizing the Rockies extend straight down from Colorado.

Personally, I thought it was a bit steep for me. I would never take anyone here to learn how to snowboard, much less learn on an alpine board. I like to warm up on easy runs - but the problem with Taos, is that you have to go through several steep runs to get to those "warm-up runs" :) The people there will tell you that some of the marked "Green" runs used to

be marked "Black", but were changed to "Green" for marketing purposes so the mountain could claim there was a "Green" run extending from the top of each lift. Some of the "Greens" are steeper than the "Blacks" in Wisconsin (where I usually go). My few attempts into the bumps almost always ended in disaster because they're just so steep. And since it didn't snow all week, I didn't even think about attempting any of the chutes.

However, I think the challenging terrain brings this great added advantage (and makes it ssssooo worth going): Taos is one of the least crowded resort that I have ever been... in Colorado, Tahoe, Wisconsin, Michigan, or Vermont. I was there all week, and that was during the Texas spring break, and it never got close to as busy as I'm used to here. Even on the day with all the snowboard craziness, it wasn't bad at all. I was considering trying out Angel Fire for a day, but then changed my mind, when I talked to all these skiers that went to Angel Fire thinking they would avoid the "snowboard crowd" at Taos, only to discover that Angel Fire was a crowd disaster. And Taos remains uncrowded even with slow lifts! RDY2Carve claims that Taos has high-speed chairlifts, but if they were high speed, they were the SLOWEST highspeed chairlifts I've ever seen. (Though I agree, Ski Santa Fe was slower!). I'm hoping the added revenue from the snowboarders will allow Taos to upgrade. Though, I think even with allowing snowboards at Taos, you're never going to have the huge crowds that you see at other resorts because of the challenging terrain. Which is why I will definitely come back every year! I've been totally converted.

My favorite runs were Bonanza into Firlefanz and Lower Totemoff. In general, Lift #8 is definitely where you want to be, and this is why: everyone takes the main lift #1 and #5 (#5 lift is always less crowded because you have to take off your snowboard and walk up the stairs). All the beginner skiers go down White Feather. Everyone else skis down and sees the #2 Lift, and take that lift not realizing that there is another lift further behind. On the morning they opened up to snowboarders, I went straight to the #8 lift and just camped out there all morning. I must have done 5 runs before even 15 people got there. The only crowds you see are the ski instructors with their students, because they know that it's the best place to practice carving (for both snowboarding and skiing!)

Once you've carved up those runs, then you take the #2 lift to the top of the mountain. Follow Honeysuckle down, smiling for the action photographers (no digital, they use real film!), but after the first steep drop you want to make a left into Lower Totemoff. This is my second favorite Taos run because the entrance isn't very well advertised, looks narrow, icy, and even inclines upwards slightly. Hence, nobody goes there! But it immediately opens up into an absolutely beautifully WIDE

groomed run. This might actually be the most perfect carving run at Taos, if it weren't so short. At the bottom of the run, you can take lift #7 (with a nice view of the terrain park), and repeat as many as times as you like.

When you get bored with that, I would take lift #7 and immediately take the "7th Heaven Lift" back to the other side of the mountain and do the Bambi run down to lift #2. Nice fun rolling hills.

Only after doing all of this, would I suggest that you take Honey Suckle down to the Kachina #4 lift. These runs are nice, but the Kachina lift is ALWAYS crowded because there is a restaurant at the bottom of it, so I generally avoided this lift as much as possible. These runs were also the most crowded. It's nice and open at the top, but it all funnels down

through this path under the lift, and for some reason, the skiers like to congregate right there. It seemed like everytime I went down the run, I would think, "What a cluster#@?!" But once you get past that part, the top of Baby Bear is pretty sweet (and incidentally, where the action photographer is).

I actually thought "catwalk" run (Rubezahl) back to the main lodge was fun. I did see some snowboarders unbuckling, but if you're on a carving board, you should have no problem just cruising right through (well, except if it's slushy and 2pm).

One other note, that I feel I must mention.... the people at Taos are GREAT. All the skiers were incredibly nice and even supportive of the snowboard movement. If anything, they were just curious at how the snowboarders would handle the bumps and steeps. And I definitely got a lot of questions about my board. (I mentioned this website a ton of times, and there was definitely interest among the skiers). I didn't meet anyone all week, who was upset about the snowboarders (well, except my cousin's wife). And I actually skied 4 days at Taos, so it wasn't because I had a snowboard. One of the old timer locals put it this way, "Taos is about enjoying the great mountain. No one I know really cares about the

snowboarders. It's only the yuppies that come from out-of-town that are complaining. But that's not Taos. They're the ones that are destroying Taos."

In general, I like everything about Taos. The people, the mountain, the food, the lodges, the weather. The chocolate store at the base of the mountain, the cute photographer at the top of the mountain. If you don't mind the steeps (and you're carving more than you're sliding), than this is definitely a worthwhile mountain. I skied 4 days and snowboarded 4 days, and still wished I could've stayed longer.

[asdfzxcv]

What did that sign the skier was holding read?

The skier's sign said "Ernie weeps" and had a picture of Ernie Blake, the founder of Taos with a tear in his eye. Supposedly, on his deathbed, Ernie asked his childern never to allow snowboarders. But like I said, in my previous post, there wasn't any hostility, and even this guy was laughing with everyone else. Even funnier, his sign was mispelled. It said, "Ban Snowboaders".