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Taos Ski Valley, Jan 1-5, 2022

TNtoTaos

Angel Diva
I arrived in Taos Ski Valley on Sunday morning, only to discover that the holiday blackout on my pass extended until Monday (duh), so I had a day to hang out around the village. Luckily, the weather was beautiful, so I spent the day shopping around, checking out ski demo possibilities, etc. Got a couple of ski demos set up at Le Ski Mastery. Spent that night camped out in my van in the Van/RV lot, and woke up to a Bluebird day on Monday, went and picked up my skis, and headed out. Of course, all of the trails had the fresh powder skied-on by then, but the conditions were still beautiful, and despite it being 20° out, it was so sunny that within minutes I was unzipping my jacket.

View up Honeysuckle
Looking up Honeysuckle.jpeg


View down Honeysuckle
View down Honeysuckle.jpeg

Although Lift 4 was still not open, the front side off of Lift 1 and the back side were open, and the snow was great.

Pocupine bumps
Porcupine bumps.jpeg

From the bottom of Lonestar
From bottom of Lonestar.jpeg
I skied again on Tuesday, and by the afternoon the winds started tp pick up a bit. Wednesday was another Bluebird day, though, and I skied all AM before heading to visit my brother in Springer, NM. I had originally planned to head over to Wolf Creek, CO, on Wed afternoon, but they were predicting 40-50mph winds, gusts to 65 mph, up there, so I bailed on that option in my van.

Some observations about TSV for trip-planning (I’ll also post this section in the Taos Ski Week MOTH thread):
  • The Covid situation has hit NM, and esp TSV, very hard in terms of employment; e.g., they are short-staffed everywhere, between those out sick and just lack of people to hire, so several restaurants were closed this past week, including 192 (at The Blake), The Hondo, Martini Tree, The Phoenix, and The Blonde Bear. I’m not really sure if the St Bernard was open at all.
  • Those places that were open had irregular, spotty hours, incl The Brownell Chalet food truck and 38 - The Taos Ale House (which has replaced Tim’s Cantina). Rhonda’s was serving burgers outdoors only.
  • Tenderfoot Katie’s (the cafeteria) and The Whistle Stop were serving grab-and-go food, and required proof of vaccination to sit indoors. The Bavarian was open for lunch.
  • The best place to eat seemed to be Cid’s Market, which was doing a very brisk business in prepared foods, grab and go, packaged salads and sandwiches, baked goods, etc. They also had a very limited amount of groceries available, as well as a wine selection, and their hours were very consistent.
  • The ice cream/juice bar was also very consistently open, as was the convenience/sundry shop/liquor store.

The take-away from this is that those staying in TSV for a Ski Week, etc, should plan on stopping for groceries in Taos on their way to TSV, and plan to prepare food in their room as much as possible. Also, bring snacks/peanut butter, etc, for the daytime, and some sort of collapsible water container, as water is available in the cafeteria and the lobby of Tenderfoot Katie’s, to avoid having to pay $2+ for a bottle of water.
 

bsskier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Great TR! So, I know many of us are curious about your demo experience. Did you find your skis?
 

TNtoTaos

Angel Diva
Oops! I forgot to add that I ran into @RJ* and her new DH while in Le Ski Mastery! She actually recognized me from my photo here, LOL! Looking forward to skiing with her in my Ski Week group!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Oops! I forgot to add that I ran into @RJ* and her new DH while in Le Ski Mastery! She actually recognized me from my photo here, LOL! Looking forward to skiing with her in my Ski Week group!
Her DH must be happy to have found someone who speaks French. :smile:
 
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Reactions: RJ*

RJ*

Angel Diva
@TNtoTaos so cool to meet you there! And looking forward to our Ski Week. Adding to your comment about the food situation in the village, we too realized Cid’s was the best option but it’s best to go early. We went on Wednesday and they had nothing left. I’ll be stocking up on food next time I drive up for sure.
@marzNC this was totally orchestrated. I booked Alain to ski with him for 3 days, and voila. He’s a skier again! I couldn’t be happier. ;)
 

TNtoTaos

Angel Diva
@TNtoTaos so cool to meet you there! And looking forward to our Ski Week. Adding to your comment about the food situation in the village, we too realized Cid’s was the best option but it’s best to go early. We went on Wednesday and they had nothing left. I’ll be stocking up on food next time I drive up for sure.
@marzNC this was totally orchestrated. I booked Alain to ski with him for 3 days, and voila. He’s a skier again! I couldn’t be happier. ;)
I noticed that Wed seems to be an off-day for food there, so Cid's is probably twice as busy on Wednesdays.
 

yecatstrip

Certified Ski Diva
This looks magical! We head to Taos (for the first time) from 6th Feb - 9th Feb. We'll be staying in their lot in our microcamper.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
This looks magical! We head to Taos (for the first time) from 6th Feb - 9th Feb. We'll be staying in their lot in our microcamper.
You're in luck! There will be quite a few Divas around while you are at Taos. Look for a PM (envelope icon) since you don't have enough posts yet to see the Meet On The Hill threads in the Divas Only section.
 

TNtoTaos

Angel Diva
This looks magical! We head to Taos (for the first time) from 6th Feb - 9th Feb. We'll be staying in their lot in our microcamper.
I did that during the 1st wk in Jan. The lot is cleared, but there are NO services (except for a couple of Porta-Potties way down the lot, which I'm sure would be freezing to use, LOL! FYI, numbering of the lots starts from the road, so #1 is the first one facing the resort, #2 is the first facing away from the resort. You definitely need reservations, which you can do online (a couple of guys show up around 5 to check the lot and post the reservations onto the posts). The ski shuttle doesn't stop in Gila Lot regularly, but it's a short walk to the main lot where the shuttle runs, and if you're standing at Gila when they go by they'll stop. They'll also stop to drop you off.

Was about to note that the Divas will be there that week, but I see that @marzNC beat me to it, LOL!
 

Latetotheparty

Certified Ski Diva
Wow, I haven’t skied Taos since the 70’s- those pics really take me back! So incredibly beautiful. I really have to find a way to get back there. Hope you are having the best time!
 

yecatstrip

Certified Ski Diva
You're in luck! There will be quite a few Divas around while you are at Taos. Look for a PM (envelope icon) since you don't have enough posts yet to see the Meet On The Hill threads in the Divas Only section.

Cheers, thank you so much! I'll be a posting machine to unlock those other sub-categories.
 

yecatstrip

Certified Ski Diva
I did that during the 1st wk in Jan. The lot is cleared, but there are NO services (except for a couple of Porta-Potties way down the lot, which I'm sure would be freezing to use, LOL! FYI, numbering of the lots starts from the road, so #1 is the first one facing the resort, #2 is the first facing away from the resort. You definitely need reservations, which you can do online (a couple of guys show up around 5 to check the lot and post the reservations onto the posts). The ski shuttle doesn't stop in Gila Lot regularly, but it's a short walk to the main lot where the shuttle runs, and if you're standing at Gila when they go by they'll stop. They'll also stop to drop you off.

Was about to note that the Divas will be there that week, but I see that @marzNC beat me to it, LOL!

Thank you, that's good to know.

My husband and I booked in Site #5 at Taos and super excited to be kicking our trip off there. We tested our microcamper last week when we went to Mammoth - granted where we booked in for our stay did have facilities. I figure during the day we'll have access to proper toilets. We'll just wipe down with some adventure wipes if we get too stinky. But nothing like a nalgene bottle for overnight relief LOL
 

TNtoTaos

Angel Diva
Thank you, that's good to know.

My husband and I booked in Site #5 at Taos and super excited to be kicking our trip off there. We tested our microcamper last week when we went to Mammoth - granted where we booked in for our stay did have facilities. I figure during the day we'll have access to proper toilets. We'll just wipe down with some adventure wipes if we get too stinky. But nothing like a nalgene bottle for overnight relief LOL
Exactly my routine. What do you do for heat in your camper? Is it a teardrop?
 

yecatstrip

Certified Ski Diva
Exactly my routine. What do you do for heat in your camper? Is it a teardrop?

We have a 2022 Toyota Sienna Woodland Edition that we've managed to temporarily convert for our ski trips. We really love it because 1) it's hybrid, 2) it's raised 1" more than the standard Sienna and 3) it's AWD.

At the moment staying warm is a combination of a heated blanket to pre-warm our 0°F double sleeping bag and a Rumpl blanket on top of that... then snuggling with the hubs. When we were in Mammoth last week the coldest it got was -6°C and we were still extra toasty. We did toy with the idea of having a smaller space heater, but haven't found one that makes energy efficiency wise.

How about your heating set up? Always looking for other tips!
 

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