TR Taos Ski Week Jan. 20-25, 2019 with intermediate Divas

[marzNC]

This season I’m doing two Taos Ski Weeks. This is the first week based on the plans that @alison wong had for her second Ski Week during MLK Week. Going to try to keep up with the trip report with text at least. Photos will have to wait. The Divas doing this Ski Week are intermediates.

Here are trip reports from last season:
https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/i...4-18-1-19-18-intermediates-trip-report.22378/
https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/index.php?threads/tr-taos-feb-10-16-2018.22516/

Feel free to ask questions.

 

[marzNC]

SIGHTSEEING BEFOREHAND - Jan. 17-18

Arrived at Albuquerque airport 25 minutes early after an easy layover at Midway for my Southwest flight from RDU. Luckily easy flights well before snowstorms became an issue in the midwest and northeast. Picked up Toyota 4Runner SUV from Advantage (free upgrade) just before it was time to pick up diymom (from Boston). Had lunch at one of her favorite spots from when she lived near Univ. of New Mexico (UNM). Yummy New Mexican food a El Patio. Ever heard of Christmas chili? That means red and green chilies. We drove around the neighborhoods and campus to see how things are now, in comparison to what it used to be. The places she used to live almost 20 years ago looked about the same. We stayed at the Best Western Albuquerque InnSuites, my usual airport hotel.

I had dinner with the Sitzmarkers Ski Club. Met up with my main ski buddy, Bill, who is a member. He was heading to Steamboat the next morning. Also met Bill’s friend (recently retired) who is joining us at Big Sky. Answered questions from a woman who wondered if buying skis was worth it for 20 days of skiing per season. The topic of the importance of ski boots was discussed. ;-) Turned out that she learned to ski growing up at Massanutten and Liberty . . . small world.

Drove to Taos with a detour to Pajarito on Fri, 18Jan. Pajarito is near Los Alamos and quite a cool place, definitely “old school.” There are lots of pictures and notes hanging on the walls of the lodge about the history of the place, which opened in the 1940s. The final section of the road required 4WD or chains. Needed the 4WD to get out of the unplowed parking lot since all the spaces in the plowed lot were full mid-morning.

Stayed at the Taos Inn, right in the center of the town of Taos. Found the Wyndham Worldmark timeshare resort, which turns out to be only a few blocks away. Going to stay there for a couple nights at the beginning of the next trip in early Feb. Looks pretty nice.

Had dinner with @Gidget415 and her BF at Doc Martin’s, the restaurant inside the Taos Inn. Very good food. I had the Beef Ragout with homemade pasta and had plenty of leftovers. There was a small band playing in the lobby until about 10pm. We could hear it very clearly inside our room. There are a few rooms on the second floor of the enclosed courtyard. (Two twin beds, $119). Only downside to our room in the main building was that the central heating was too hot. Ended up cracking a window overnight.

It’s always nice when I can get two nights at lower altitude before sleeping at 9000 ft. Even better when having fun with friends and meeting new Divas.

 

[marzNC]

DAY 1 - Saturday of MLK Weekend

Drove up to Taos Ski Valley (TSV) early. Wanted to get good parking on this Saturday of MLK weekend. Parked in Bear right at the entrance to Buffalo. Now there are numbers on the signs for the different parking lot sections. But the process for getting the open shuttle to stop is the same . . . you yell “Whoa” and may need help from others to make enough noice for the driver to hear. The overflow lot (Deer) was needed.

A few changes in the village make a difference for travelers and day trippers who aren’t staying walk in/walk out. The most significant is the renovation of the public locker and the expansion of the private locker rooms.

The Season Pass office, which also handles MCP and Ikon, moved to to Taos Tent. Plenty of signs directing MCP/Ikon holders to the correct door as you walk in from the shuttle stop. Have to do separate waivers (multiple touch screen computers set up) for MCP and Ikon for some reason. The default for Ikon is 5 days, even if someone has Full Ikon. Have to go back to get the last 2 days activated. The MCP works the same ways as before. After the free days, must get a day ticket every day. Can get it the afternoon before after 3pm or so. The office closes at 4pm. The Ski School registration desk has moved into the building right next to the base of Lift 1. (Used to be next to the day ticket windows).

Figured out that the best way to get to the locker room is to go around the backside of the building instead of up the stairs.

The locker room looks completely new. No more old-style basket room. There are electronic day lockers for $10 or $15. There is a desk with a staff member handling payments for those lockers. Still okay to leave boot bags under the benches, which is what we did. The layout of the locker room is not very effective, with too much open space and not enough bench space. Hopefully will get adjusted at some point. The restrooms were completely renovated.

Skied with @diymom off Lift 8 all morning. Very nice snow conditions with almost all soft snow. Bumps are smaller than a couple years ago in early Feb when there was 100+ inches, but definitely are building. Wasn’t too much point to ride Lift 2 to go over to Lift 7 because the lines got pretty long on Lift 2 after 10:30. Lift 4 was on delay and didn’t open until early afternoon. Never waited more than a few chairs for Lift 8. All the black terrain on the west side was open.

Met up with @Susan L and her DH for lunch. They were very surprised at the long lift lines in the morning. Hadn’t ever seen that before since they moved to NM several years ago. We skied over to Lift 4 together after lunch. DH and I went down Lonestar, a blue bump run. Nice soft bumps that could be called medium-size in many places. But small for TSV.

When we got to the top of Lift 4, it was easy to spot the avalanche debris field. Or at least what was left. The bottom section had been groomed out. Really long slide. Tragic that there was a fatality.

After diymom went in, I took a couple runs off Lift 1. Took a while to get straight the new layout at the top since Lift 5 is gone and the next lift goes higher than the old Lift 1. So getting to Porcupine (blue) is a little confusing. Porcupine is the run that many Ski Week participants take as a warm up before the ski off at 9:45. That starts at the Whistlestop now.

 

[Susan L]

I have never skied with anyone other than my husband, so it was really nice to have met @marzNC, @diymom, @Gidget415 , @alison wong and her friend Eunice!
My husband and I did the “Sunrise Tracks” today, which gave us an hour to ski anywhere on the mountain before it opens to the public at 9am. Cost is $75/person and you need to make reservations with the ski school a few days in advance, and condition permitting. We showed up at the base at 8 am and was greeted by an instructor. It turned out, the owner of TSV, Louis Bacon, was also there with his wife/lady friend for a morning session to enjoy his mountain! The route for the sunrise tracks is Base 1–>2–>top->7->4. Lifties were late at 2 so we followed Bacon down 8, but lifties were late there too. We were told we had to wait because we couldn’t get on chair 1 again, BUT because Bacon wanted to ski his mountain, we followed his group down to chair 1 to go up again. By the 2nd time around, chair 2 was running so we went to the back. Did 2 runs before heading to Chair 4 but it was closed for avalanche control so we just ended our “private hour”. Would I do it again? I may IF I run into another crazy busy weekend like yesterday. It was so crowded yesterday (Saturday) that I spent more time avoiding other skiers than actual skiing, so it was really really nice to have the whole mountain to myself for an hour! The guide/instructor that took us up also let us ski whatever runs at whatever speed we wanted, and he just stayed in the back and did not interfere. It was the best hour of skiing I have ever had!

 

[Susan L]

My original plan was to stay for the week to ski with a local buddy instead of doing a ski week. I have done 3 already and really needed to practice what was taught instead of overloading myself with more information/drills. But I ended up joining a specialty ski week called Race Week. It cost $400 ($270 for normal ski week) for 6 lessons in the morning from 9-12:30 (normal ski week lessons are roughly 10-12). No ski off but it is intermediate or above to join. It will be 4 days of learning how to use the edge effectively/upper lower body seperation, and 2 days of GS training. It is the most intense and technical lesson I have ever had. I survived day 1, my knees are tired and swollen, but I already noticed changes in my turns. I will report back on what else we have learned and if I can last the whole week!

 

[Susan L]

I have been skiing TSV for 4 seasons (opening day until Texas Spring Break in early/mid- March). The busiest I have seen was when all of TX came for spring break and arriving at 8:30am would mean I have to park in the overflow lots. Yesterday (Saturday) was by far the busiest day I have ever seen. Quite a few cars had to park on the side of the road on ski valley road. Not opening Chair 4 until later in the afternoon also made the slopes more crowded than usual. It was also unusually warm making the snow softer and the runs bumpier than what I am used to.

 

[marzNC]

Had another very good ski day. Temperatures a bit warmer than yesterday, with plenty of sunshine. Not as crowded as Saturday, but still clearly a holiday weekend with good snow.

@diymom and I took the Columbine van to TSV so that we didn't have to deal with holiday traffic and parking. Works okay in the mornings. But in the afternoon it's harder to predict which time works best. I signed up for 3:30 but ended up not getting back to the locker room until close to 4:00, so took the last van ride at 4:30. Still, it's nice to have the service available.

The ski-off had few people than I expected. At most 100, and perhaps more like 75. We'll see how many people show up for the first time on Monday morning. My ski buddy, Jason, will be one of them. He has flight issues getting out of Ohio because Southwest cancelled a lot of flights due to a snowstorm. But he figured out a way to get to Taos. He can join my group since we are pretty well matched in terms of ability and interest.

The Divas were scattered in different groups. @diymom was with the friend of @alison wong. I am in a group with a few seniors from a midwest ski club. The other woman drove a rented minivan from the midwest with a few friends. There are three man. One is from Raleigh . . . small world! I skied a few runs with him after lunch. We had a very good time. Looking forward to the rest of the week with Trey.

One again, Lift 4 didn't open until the early afternoon. The Ski Week instructors were clearly disappointed.

I took Alison over to the Kachina side in the late afternoon. A year ago it was never open when she was at TSV because of low snow conditions. We took Lift 7 and 7A back over to the frontside. Those two lifts do not have safety bars. 7A is an old center-pole double.

I had a chance to take the long cat track, Rubezahl. In good conditions, learned that I can get from the top of Lift 4 to Whistlestop in about 20 min. That includes a quick ride up Lift 1 and assumes no waiting.

There were a few sections that were slick by the late afternoon. Supposed to be a little snow on Mon-Tue.

 

[alison wong]

I have never skied with anyone other than my husband, so it was really nice to have met @marzNC, @diymom, @Gidget415 , @alison wong and her friend Eunice!

Thanks again for showing us the blue runs, especially lower Stauffenburg at Taos. I've always wanted to check out Staffy but never gotten a chance to due to lack of snow last year.

 

[alison wong]

I took Alison over to the Kachina side in the late afternoon. A year ago it was never open when she was at TSV because of low snow conditions. We took Lift 7 and 7A back over to the frontside. Those two lifts do not have safety bars. 7A is an old center-pole double.

Thank you, that area of Taos I did not get to see last year, saw the debris field from the avalanche, saw Kachina chair, which is still closed for avalanche investigation.
I got to check out all blues and few bump runs, overall I felt more comfortable on the blues at Taos compare to last year.

 

[marzNC]

DAY 3 - Monday of Ski Week

Weather turned out to be better than expected. The snow conditions were very nice all over. There are bumps growing but they are all quite soft. But there is thin cover in some places. The wind didn't kick up until mid-afternoon. Stayed in the high 20s and was sunny most of the day. The big gusts were on the lower mountain. For instance, it was windy when loading Lift 4 around 3:00 but no wind at the top at all. For the last run, instructors were taking their students down White Feature to avoid the wind and scoured Powderhorn. But the groomers were good fun with plenty of windblown new snow since lunch time.

The holiday crowds are gone. Not much of a lift line at 9:00 for Lift 1. No problem finding a table at the cafeteria even though the back room was reserved for school groups.

Have heard that it's unlikely that the Kachina lift will run this week. Discovered there is a green trail from the top of Lift 4. It cuts over into the woods just below the base of the Kachina lift and winds around.

Finally noticed that the big sign that says "Don't Panic" is gone. But only temporarily. It's being refreshed by a local artist. The other change at the plaza is that there are Adirondack chairs where the retaining wall and fire pit used to be.

Found out that for 2019-20, the plan is to change access to the main plaza. The roadway will be shifted and the current walkway bridge will go away. Idea is to move the shuttle stop to shorten the walk.

For MCP holders, can get a 50% lift ticket in the late afternoon for the next day at any ticket outlet. The one in the rental shop stays open until 5:00. All the other locations close at 4:00. In addition to the season pass office in the Tent, there is a MCP/Ikon desk across the road next to the sidewalk that stays open until 2:30pm.

On Mondays, there are a few new students for Ski Week. I think there might have been 10. It was hard to tell because a few people who started on Sunday did another ski off. There were a few shifts between groups. As it turned out, the six of us (5 Divas, Jason) are in three groups, two people each. So we all have company in our group, which is nice.

 

[marzNC]

My ski buddy, Jason, and I have been skiing together on trips out west since 2010. We are about the same age. Jason was a better skier who like bumps and trees that first trip to North Tahoe. Since he is working, I've become a better skier but we are very compatible on the slopes in terms of terrain of interest. Jason was part of the crew for my first trip to Taos two years ago when there was lots of snow. He and I didn't do a Ski Week because our schedules didn't match up with Sun/Mon thru Fri. But we did ski Kachina's Main Street, several blacks, and one double-black with an instructor.

Jason was supposed to arrive at TSV with Alison, but his flight from the midwest was cancelled due to a snowstorm. He managed to make it to TSV a day late, taking the Taos shuttle.

For those who don't know us, Jason is an old family friend of my non-skiing husband. His wife stopped skiing a long time ago.

Jason joined my Ski Week group. Our instructor is Trey, who has 20+ years of experience teaching at TSV. One of the other students in the group is Dave, who turns out to be a senior from Raleigh, NC. Another husband with a non-skiing wife who travels alone for ski trips. There were three other seniors from a midwest ski club on Sun, and a fourth was added on Mon. Overall a pretty well matched group. Especially since I'm more interested in solidifying fundamentals so working on technique in blue bumps is fine. Fair to say I've had more lessons than anyone else in the group. The best midwest skiers use technique based on being very good skiers with straight skis.

 

[Susan L]

Day 2 of Race Week - we got to ski gates!!! Woohoo! So after working on some drills on the first day to make sure everyone is on the same level/understands upper-lower body separation, we started doing GS gates. Condition was not good as it was really windy (low visibility) and the wind put a layer of soft snow on our otherwise hard packed run. We learned about the timing of skiing gates, when to “pop” out and into the next, body position, and mental preparedness for skiing faster. I learned alot and it was really fun! At the end of the lesson, I got the chance to ski behind our head coach, a european GS champion! I have watched numerous videos on Youtube of him skiing and to be able to follow him (and be just 2 turns behind) was a dream come true!
For the last few years I have considered myself to be a Taos intermediate level skier (and thought I have plateaued). I officially moved up to the advanced level, so all the mileage I have put in finally paid off

 

[Gidget415]

The week has been great with my mid+ intermediate group and we started working on bumps today, a day earlier than planned.

The week started out a bit slow with drills, but our instructor pulled it all together today. I had already been noticing that I was feeling more upper/lower body separation based on the drills, but today felt like a leap forward when we worked on pole planting and moguls. Everyone in the group is sking noticeably better and we are only on day 3/6. One of the women in our group and @alison wong and I all went back and tried some of the bumps on Lonestar (back side) a few more times this afternoon and then ventured into the trees/bumps in Japanese Glade. It was easier than it looked, but I was relieved once we were through.

I've decided to turn this into a demo week as well and tried out the Stockli Stormrider 161/85s today at my instructor's suggestion. @marzNC has these, as does my instructor! My Black Pearl 88/166s were just not feeling right carving on groomers, so I took them into The Ski Mastery here for an inspection and full tune. The Stocklis were just wonderful on everything I tried today - freshies with @diymom this morning, bumps most of the day in our lesson and after to practice and the steep icy Powderhorn in the afternoon. Tomorrow, I'm trying some Rossignols with a women's specific design and we find out whether my BPs (bought used this year and more beat up than depicted online) can get fixed up enough to do what I need. My instructor thought that the BPs weren't the right ski for my style. Hmmmmm

I'm excited and am happy to report that I'm not afraid of Taos anymore. My legs were tired after full days on Saturday (pre-ski week with my BF) and Sunday, but were fine after a long day today. I neglected to report that on Friday, we came up early and addressed my boot situation at the Boot Doctor. I cannot recommend them highly enough. My boots were a big part of the issues I was having getting power to my skis. It turns out they were way too soft and the three buckle style was killing my high instep/circulation so I wasn't getting a good heel hold. I got an Atomic 105 stiffness (I'm tall with a longer lever) that feels great and has really helped me change up my skiing and get after it. My calves are no longer sore or too tired after a full day, now multiple days. I can feel my toes with no excessive tingling, etc. I'm learning the hard way that great gear makes a great difference.

Overall, it has been really wonderful meeting some Divas and getting to know others' styles, tips and tricks for approaching this mountain. Wow, what a time!

 

[Susan L]

@Gidget415 Yay at conquering the fear of Taos! Glad to hear you are enjoying ski week and are noticing improvements already! You will be skiing all over the mountain in no time
I wish I could ski an afternoon with you guys this week if I can figure out transportation to get back to my condo. Right now my ride leaves the ski valley at 12:30 so I only have enough time to finish my lesson and rush to catch the ride! Condition is so good this week with no crowds at all and all I have been stuck on is Chair 8:(

 

[marzNC]

DAY 4 - Tuesday of Ski Week

There was a few inches of fresh light snow, plus windblown. Turned out to be a partly cloudy, cold day. Temps in the teens. It was good that I brought my insulated pants and heavy long underwear, which I haven't used in a long time.

Learned that taking Lift 1 to Lift 2 and doing a warm up run down Bambi is that way to go when there is fresh snow. Most people warm up on Porcupine and ride Lift 1 again to get to the Whistlestop.

My group was fully into doing black bumps today. Last bump run was down Hunziger Bowl. Our instructor was happy that the wind died down by morning. Also learned about a blue glade off Totemoff, right across from the video hut. We did Japanese Flag Glades too. For the mid-morning break, we went to the new restroom building next to the Bavarian. However, it's annoying that the Phoenix building is completely locked when it's not open for food service on slow days, which is Mon-Wed this week. On a cold day, that means no place to warm up on that side.

Between the cold and doing a lot of skiing in the morning, Jason and I were ready to go in by 3:30 today. We skied a little off Lift 8 after having lunch at the Whistlestop. Then went over to the backside and rode Lift 4 once. We were trying to practice pole usage for bumps.

The Ski Week Tech Talk was today. Doug does them in the St. Bernard and it lasts about an hour. Not too many people this time, just a few of the people with the two midwest ski clubs who are at the Snakedance this week. Jason, @diymom, and I went.

Had dinner at the Mad Dog Cantina. Food was good, but it was cold with only one space heater in the corner.

 

[marzNC]

Overall, it has been really wonderful meeting some Divas and getting to know others' styles, tips and tricks for approaching this mountain. Wow, what a time!

It was great to just sit and chat with Divas last night in the Columbine Inn lobby yesterday evening. Always fun to have a real wood fireplace, especially when someone else takes care of keeping it stoked. Being able to have tea or hot chocolate and homemade cookies every afternoon/evening is a definite bonus.

 

[marzNC]

A few photos . . .

Renovated restroom next to locker room


Busy holiday Saturday morning! at 8:55am


Getting ready for ski off on Sunday morning, next to Whistlestop
@diymom in persimmon jacket and @Gidget415 with persimmon pants


A normal morning at Taos Ski Valley at 8:30am

 

[Christy]

Day 2 of Race Week - we got to ski gates!!! Woohoo! So after working on some drills on the first day to make sure everyone is on the same level/understands upper-lower body separation, we started doing GS gates. Condition was not good as it was really windy (low visibility) and the wind put a layer of soft snow on our otherwise hard packed run. We learned about the timing of skiing gates, when to “pop” out and into the next, body position, and mental preparedness for skiing faster. I learned alot and it was really fun! At the end of the lesson, I got the chance to ski behind our head coach, a european GS champion! I have watched numerous videos on Youtube of him skiing and to be able to follow him (and be just 2 turns behind) was a dream come true!
For the last few years I have considered myself to be a Taos intermediate level skier (and thought I have plateaued). I officially moved up to the advanced level, so all the mileage I have put in finally paid off

Very interesting! Whistler used to have a race camp that people raved about--I remember one diva saying it took her from a regular intermediate to an aggressive advanced skier. I LOVE skiing gates when there is a public NASTAR course.

 

[santacruz skier]

Very interesting! Whistler used to have a race camp that people raved about--I remember one diva saying it took her from a regular intermediate to an aggressive advanced skier. I LOVE skiing gates when there is a public NASTAR course.

First time to Whistler 1996 skied NASTAR course with the Ski Espirit group and got a bronze medal. Actually means nothing as clearly wasn't that great of a skier! but so encouraging and really fun. Did several NASTAR courses for fun after that for about $5.... I have some medals somewhere....

 

[santacruz skier]

@marzNC is your group similar in ability and interest to the group we were in last year given there's a lot more snow and available terrain to explore this season? And, also I believe you said you were in a ski off..and we weren't last year.