Is Taos on the bucket list?

[marzNC]

Wondering if there are other Divas who have Taos on their bucket list. Ever since I heard about the Taos Ski Week, I've been thinking about heading there at some point. Southwest flies into Albuquerque and the town sounds like fun. A NY Times article on 1/3/16 has me thinking about Taos again. Taos was added to the MCP for 2015-16 so that's another factor too.

 

[VickiK]

I went many years ago, but remember it as a very fun place, for skiing and other (eating, sightseeing, etc.)

 

[Kimmyt]

Yup.

 

[COchick]

Yep and I might be going next week! Maybe. Depends on snow.

 

[badger]

I am going to be in Taos the week of January 23. It is not one of the listed weeks for the.Snowsports school, but I do intend to take a three-day lesson package. Taos seems intimidating based on every review I have ever read. I figure no matter what, if I am engaged in a lesson the superb reputation of the Ski school will be the best resource, inspiration, and mountain guide any level skier could ask for.

 

[marzNC]

I am going to be in Taos the week of January 23. It is not one of the listed weeks for the.Snowsports school, but I do intend to take a three-day lesson package. Taos seems intimidating based on every review I have ever read. I figure no matter what, if I am engaged in a lesson the superb reputation of the Ski school will be the best resource, inspiration, and mountain guide any level skier could ask for.

I'll be very interested to hear what you think. Like many destination resorts with a lot of advanced/expert terrain, almost all the written reviews are about the difficult terrain. I've read trip reports by a few advanced intermediates or low advanced guys who had a good time in recent years, as well as a few who learned to ski at Taos. Since Alta also has a reputation for being for advanced skiers only, and I know first hand that beginners and intermediates can have a lot of fun there and learn to ski well because of the quality of the ski school, I'm guessing that the situation is similar for Taos.

 

[callmijane]

Taos is awesome! An intermediate skier can have tons of fun there! Just remember- you can ski down to the base without skiing Al's run!

 

[badger]

I will surely share my trip report! @callmijane, I was thinking of you Sunday when skiing Wolf Creek. Had a great time visiting that mountain this week. The weather could not have been more beautiful and the snow was fabulous. A very fun place!

 

[ling]

Like many destination resorts with a lot of advanced/expert terrain, almost all the written reviews are about the difficult terrain.

Expert terrain is what makes that mountain special so it's only natural expert skiers write about expert terrain.

But that's not to say the mountain has no terrain for less expert skiers. It does. The only question is whether a non-expert skier find it special enough to worth the trek. After all Taos is not the easiest to reach.

The ski school has a strong reputation. If that appeals to you, then it'll be worth the trek FOR YOU.

I skied it twice in years past. First time as a shaky intermediate. I seem to recall I enjoyed my time there but wishing I have more skill to explore the rest of the mountain. Second time I was more of a advanced intermediate. The mountain was far more enjoyable, yet I still didn't do half of the mountain. It's just I found enough fun ski that I didn't care all that much of the expert terrain I didn't touch.

I'd say a solid advance intermediate who is a bit adventurous will find a lot of terrain to explore and enjoy.

 

[marzNC]

Sounds a lot like how I felt about Jackson Hole as an intermediate. It didn't seem worth the extra travel time/expense given how many other ski destinations I hadn't check out yet. Having spent a few days at JH as an advanced skier in recent years, I think my advice to an aspiring intermediate would be to consider waiting unless they were going with someone else who really wanted to go to JH for whatever reason.

 

[ling]

unless they were going with someone else who really wanted to go to JH for whatever reason.

That "whatever reason" maybe the drop dead gorgeous scenery?

(which applies to both Jackson and Taos)

But you're right, for skiing alone, neither places are special for intermediate level skiers.

 

[BrookeK]

A friend just got back. He spends christmas there and makes at least another trip. His pictures and stories and absolutely amaaazing.

 

[va_deb]

I went to Taos in the off season and it's beautiful. We drove up to the resort and hiked around a bit. Looked intimidating to us but we were newbies. I bet you'd like it, @marzNC.

Sounds like they have shuttles from both the airports (2-3 hours to get there). Wonder how that compares in terms of costs to renting a car or SUV? Not sure I'd want to drive without AWD or 4WD in the winter.

 

[just jane]

I feel the same way about Crested Butte. I didn't enjoy their intermediate terrain at all and I'm not good enough for their advanced stuff (which DH loved). There was only one run that I really enjoyed. I wouldn't go back to ski unless I get MUCH better. The town is awesome though.

 

[santacruz skier]

I thought Crested Butte was really great....albeit the freakin coldest place on earth.... also got the flu really bad when there and only skied 3 days......

 

[just jane]

The area I was in just wasn't the kind of terrain I like to ski. The runs were relatively short, steep for a blue at the top (I'm fine with that), but then they flattened out and there was a lot of flattish boring terrain back to the lift. Hmmm... just looked at the map and I can't remember exactly where I was, probably off of the Paradise Lift. The runs are rated double blue at the top, which makes sense from what I remember. The run I really enjoyed (it was closed the first of the two days we were there because wind) was International, off of the Silver Queen. I was doing laps on it. It's a lot more like the terrain I'm used to - wide-ish, long, groomed runs, similar to what I ski at Copper. Super fun.

 

[santacruz skier]

I think we skied double blues and some blacks...... also remember the Ice Bar but I was shivering....... didn't know I had the flu until I got back to the condo with 102 degree fever.....

 

[just jane]

That's such a bummer! I would hate to get sick on a ski vacation.