USA 2007 - PART 3

Saturday March 24th - Skiing Arizona

With a short drive from Holbrook to Ski Sunrise(1800ft, 800a, $45) I was in no rush but I had a feeling that if it was cold enough in the mountains that it was worth getting up for so I made my way up to the base and arrived before 9am to what appeared to be a busy resort.

I bought my ticket and noticed that a good portion of the mountain was closed for the season but 4" fresh was reported so regardless of terrain I was sure I'd find something to ski.

Although this was a resort I'd kept my eye on throughout the season I was more impressed than I thought I would be. A decent vertical and quite a few lifts over a decent acreage although a good chunk of the resort was closed for the season I had Sunrise Peak to ski and the skies had cleared into a perfect day with views stretching miles into the flat, dry land and I guess somewhere between 4-12" of fresh powder. Suffice to say the turns were the best of the trip so far.

I took a lift with 3 ski patrollers who were surprised to see me. There were around 20 patrollers all training on the mountain and I took the opportunity to ask them about the mountain. Signs had said not to ski in the trees and this was for a variety of reasons. The mountain is owned and operated by Indians and when they cut the trails they simply dumped the trunks in the forest. With a low snow pack and debris it would be asking for trouble and the patrollers said that they hoped that an area would be cleared for gladed skiing but added that it was unlikely.

The trails off Sunrise Peak were absolutely fantastic and with each decent I headed closer to the trees to get fresh turns. Knee deep skiing, brilliant.

Stopping for lunch I settled for the burger, fries and coke that had served me well over the trip and it was very nice indeed for $9.25 and I took my tray through to the bar and tried a couple of their Kilt Lifter beer. Nice stuff.

Heading on my way for the first time into New Mexico I had a long drive so I headed off at about 3pm aiming to hit Alamogordo before dark. Stopping in Eagar I called home for the first time in the trip. One of the highlights was that Scotland had won and England had been held by Israel. This was worth celebrating!

I headed on the long and fairly boring drive to Alamogordo via Socorro and Carrizozo which took around 5 hours all in. I passed through some pretty bleak looking towns and it really did feel like a step back in time. By 8pm I was on the final stretch to Alamogordo and it was fairly dark and to be honest it was a little spooky driving conditions with the flat land with no sign of life.

After a little bit of a struggle finding the Motel 6 I eventually checked in for the night($37) and made my way to my room in lovely warm temperatures. I opened up my door and grabbed some beer and wine and stood outside contemplating the week ahead. A group of teenage guys and girls were going back and forth from their room to their cars and the smell of weed was amazingly strong in the night air. At one stage I went to collect some stuff from the car and passed one of the girls on her phone. By the time I came back she was in tears on the shoulder of a friend. My god, I was in the middle of a typical American teen TV drama!

By 11pm I hit the sack unsure if I would ski at all tomorrow due to distances and conditions. The weather had closed Las Vegas and Arizona Snowbowl along with a few New Mexico resorts I had planned to visit and as such my plans were pretty much made each morning.

Sunday March 25th - Lunar Mission To Apache

I awoke early to beautiful blue skies, warm temperatures and fresh air! I had spotted that Alamogordo was home to the New Mexico Museum of Space History so I decided to check out from the motel and take a look.

I did not go round the inside of the museum and chose instead to wander round the exhibits outside which included a copy of the Mercury Capsule and a host of missiles, rockets and spacecraft. It was interesting and I wish I had more time to spare. Next time I will go inside for a tour.

My next stop was a small ski resort in the town of Cloudcroft. A short scenic drive soon took me to the town and I drove through a couple of miles to the hill. I knew in advance it was closed as a local I had been in contact with before I flew out had told me in early March that the season was almost over. Still, I wanted to see where it was, take a few pictures and see if it was worth a look in the future.

Snow Canyon used to open weekends only and I was surprised to see that the new Ski Cloudcroft would open daily during the season. I could not get to the base as the gates were padlocked but I took a few long range shots of the area which seemed to be a series of trails running perpendicular to a two man lift with a vertical of around 600 feet. Not huge, but you don't come down to some 100 miles north of Mexico and expect to find Whistler!

Heading back down to Alamogordo I was searching, in vain, for some pistachios and pistachio wine. Still looking! I decided to head to Ski Apache(1800ft, 750a) and made the drive to Ruidoso and then onwards to the resort via an extremely scenic and scary drive up the side of a mountain. You quite literally were looking thousands of feet down the mountain and the little crash barriers that were on the road were woefully inadequate and I had to feel that in a snow day this road would be lethal. One very interesting law was that it was illegal to drive uphill between 3-6pm. I knew coming home that it would be easier.

Arriving in a quiet parking lot at lunchtime I had to make a decision. Ski today and tomorrow at Apache, ski today at Apache and then drive hundreds of miles and ski tomorrow at Santa Fe or ski the afternoon at Apache and make tomorrow an easy day of driving and sightseeing. It was an easy choice, ski today, day off tomorrow!

I quickly booted up and bought my ticket for $22. I took a good few pictures of the oldest working gondola in the USA for our friends at coloradoskihistory.com before heading to what looked at first glance to be the only open lift, the Capitan Triple. I cranked a few turns and noticed that lifts over to the right were indeed open so I headed to the Lincoln chair and then the triple chair that pretty much takes you to the summit of the gondola and an elevation of 11400ft.

The skiing was good on nice, firm corn snow and although Apache Bowl was closed I had great fun doing laps from the summit. Most of the trails started steep and then funnelled into a wide flat section back to the bottom of the lift. The slopes were holding the snow very well considering the heat and I was so impressed that I was now considering a second day here.

Heading into the lodge I grabbed a Dos Equis beer and settled down to watch the end of the Georgetown v UNC college basketball match. Best game of the tournament with Georgetown coming from 11 down to win in overtime. March Madness is the collective term for all the finals of university sports during March and early April although it is basketball that everyone in the USA thinks about when we talk about March Madness. Overall this year I was disappointed by the games as most went in the favour of the higher seeds and were not close encounters. Anyway, I love it.

I headed down into Ruidoso and searched for a motel. Eventually I swayed for the Super 8($67) although I think from now on I may start to use some of the local motels rather than chains as this motel was out of town and a bit overpriced. I settled down to an ice cold beer and the NBA basketball which was full of the LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant who had hit 50+ points in each of his previous 4 games which has only ever been achieved by the great Wilt Chamberlain. All the talk was on whether he could make it 5 games. The answer was no but Kobe is the greatest player I have ever seen live in action.

Having had no lunch I decided to head into town for some real Mexican fare so I headed into what looked like an authentic place called La Terraza and tucked into a magnificent plateful of beef fajitas and all the trimmings. Great food but no liquor license so I headed back to the ranch and finished the day with a couple of beers before bed.

Monday March 26th - Billy The Kid

Another beautiful morning awaited me as I headed on the road north towards Santa Fe for a couple of nights. I decided that I would take a detour and head east towards Roswell and then north to Santa Fe. My first stop of the day was at Ruidoso Downs racecourse for a few photos and the like before heading to one of the most historic towns in New Mexico, Lincoln, which was the scene of the escape of legendry outlaw Billy the Kid back on April 28th 1881. A remarkable story in itself and made even more incredible in that after killing two guards he hung about town chatting for one hour before riding off.

The town has changed little since then and it was really easy to imagine Billy standing at the window shooting his guard, Bob Olinger. With the wind in my sails I headed back towards Roswell and then onto Fort Sumner where Billy was shot by Pat Garrett on July 14th 1881.

Over the years I have been able to extend my trips from the normal 2 week trips to a month or so at a time and although I always have great plans to ski every day I also enjoy seeing a little more of the history of the country and when it comes to outlaws I am always fascinated.

The drive north took me through vast cattle ranches and I wondered how on earth they could ever work out where the cattle were hiding. I finally arrived in an extremely hot Fort Sumner and parked the car and headed straight for the graveyard. It was sad to see his head stone inside a cage but as it was stolen twice in its history then I guess needs must. I took a wander round the other graves and then into the gift shop before heading on the road again towards Santa Fe.

Stopping in Santa Rosa for a burger the temperature was better than a mid summers day back home and it certainly did not feel like I would see anything worth skiing in the coming days. Onward I made my way to the Motel 6 in Santa Fe which was on one of the main roads through the city. Two nights came in at $91.68 and I could have spent much longer here than I did.

With my door wide open I wondered back and forth between my room and the outside balcony which links the motel rooms and was able to catch some rays and down some ice cold Bud Light. I ended the night with a takeaway from Denny's. Steakstrip, fries, onion rings and bread washed down with a beer or two whilst watching the women's Elite 8 in the college basketball.

Tuesday March 27th - A New Millennium

An easy drive to Santa Fe(1725ft, 660a, $51), a mere thirty minutes from town, I was again blessed with smashing sunshine, warm temperature and a quiet parking lot. I did however notice what can only be described as an idiot of a female driver who decided that rather than park alongside the rest of our row giving the cars in front space to reverse out she decided on a new concept where you park on the bumper of the car in front who was now completely boxed in on all 4 sides. Pathetic and boy I wish she'd boxed someone in who would take exception to this and came back to a smashed and scratched car!

Anyway, I was here to ski and I headed to the large and well organised base area and got my ticket and headed straight to the Santa Fe Super Quad which whisked me high above the base. Looking at the map it appeared that Santa Fe was a fairly large, bowl shaped resort and after a look around I decided that I'd head to the two higher lifts, Millennium and Tesuque, which would take me to over 12000ft.

The skiing on piste was hard but enjoyable and due to the immaculate grooming I was able to blast up and down the long winding trails from the summit of the Millennium lift. Deciding to stop for some lunch at 12pm I headed to the base for burger, fries and fanta($10.75). It was a huge, modern place with plenty seating for the number of people on the mountain and many more.

My afternoon was spent on the lower Super Quad lift that had some fantastic cruising terrain which had softened nicely in the spring temperatures. With nobody around I cranked it up safe in the knowledge that I had plenty space. I noticed a guy who was clearly out ski race training. He was really cranking short radius turns but I thought he was a little overdressed in the stereotypical race gear on such a nice day with no slalom poles in sight!

Stopping at around 2pm I headed to the Totemoff's Bar at mid-mountain for a nice beer in the wonderful sun, temperature and surroundings. Next to me were a table of young locals and a girl from Salt Lake City who was raving about Wolf Creek in southern Colorado which she had boarded at a few days earlier. None of the locals had heard of it but I knew all about it and smiled to myself as that was on the agenda for this week.

Finishing the day at 3pm I had a couple more blasts to work up a thirst and headed back to the Motel 6 and filled the ice bucket with beers and sat back and took in the late afternoon sunshine.

I nipped out to Taco Bell for Burritos, Tacos and Quesadillas and watched the TV through the evening before hitting the sack at 11pm before an early start in the morning.

Wednesday March 28th - The Toothless Wonder

Packing up the car again I was on my way north to the resort of Sipapu(1055ft, 200a, $20) and I arrived, or rather passed and turned around, in another deserted parking lot with around 20-30 cars and I was delighted to note that the lifts were turning.

I wondered into what was one of the most scenic base areas I have ever seen although it was rustic and I'd imagine that some aspects would not pass Health and Safety checks back home! My first problem was finding a ticket office and after a bit of a look around I eventually found that I could get one from the cashier in the lodge. Although not wanting to graphically describe my toilet habits I was in need of a seat and had to laugh when I ventured into the gents and found myself having to close the shower curtain behind me!

The base lodge is about 30 yards from the lifts and between the two is a small river with a wide wooden bridge. Although it was 6-8 feet wide there were no hand rails at all and I had to wonder if there had been a huge dump of snow whether anyone had actually slipped and fell in. It looked lethal but had an idyllic feel.

I jumped onto the modern three man chair to the top although the other lift was closed and it became apparent the further up I went that coverage was limited and a lot of the trails cut through the dense forest were broken, thin or closed completely. I'd have fun exploring the open ones and chance my luck on some of the marginal ones too!

The longest trail open was a long sweeping cat track from top to bottom that crossed underneath the chair several times. Off of this trail it was possible to jump into trails as and when I could spot something skiable. It was fun hitting the corn snow with nobody else skiing anything other than the cat track.

I was having quite a bit of banter with the liftie at the base as I was racing laps and stopping at the base to undo my boot clips and on my fifth lap of the day I was aware out of the corner of my eye that somebody that appeared out of place was standing a few feet away and I just knew that he was going to ask me something.

After apologising for not quite catching what he was saying I looked up and saw one of the funniest sights that I think I have ever witnessed on skis. In the middle of nowhere I was presented with a sixty year old man in jeans, 3 teeth, two on the upper gum and one below, 2m skis and what I assume was a grandchild with him. "Which way should we get off" was the question and to be honest there was only one way and that was straight off and veer slightly left. I had ventured to the right but it was not for him and I got the impression that he was not competent and the kid was only a beginner.

I let them go ahead, for my benefit more than anything, and although they loaded ok I just knew by the conversation and the actions between the two on the lift that this was not going to be straightforward! Sure enough at the top the pair struggled to get off and I skied around them with a bit of a chuckle to myself and took a little more time than normal to get my boots tightened and kept an eye on them to see how they got on. Suffice to say they were struggling and little wonder. Using 1980's technology was not helping but the fact that grandpa could not ski was not helping the young lad and I was almost at the stage of saying, "look, I am not qualified but I know what I am doing, do you want a hand to get to the bottom?" but thought better of it when one or two others started talking to them. Leaving them to it I blasted down to the bottom and although I was quick I knew it was a 15 minute lap and I was interested to see how my new friends were fairing. Back to the top and there was no sign so I fastened up my boots and headed along the cat track only to turn one corner and find grandpa with one ski heading to the lodge and the other to the summit! I had to laugh, they were just out of their depth but in good conditions there was little risk and I skied on.

I past my friends a few more times and although I think the kid was getting the hang of things the bigger problem lay with his instructor. Anyway, it's all about fun and I don't doubt for a minute that both of them were having a great time and enjoying the surroundings and weather.

By 12pm I headed into the lodge and joined the long queue for my burger and I had to wonder where all these kids had come from. Looks like a nearby lodge was their home. So after a short wait I ordered my Sipabuger, fries and bottle of Corona($9.50) and wondered through to the deserted bar for a seat and I laughed when the big news story of the day was from back home in the UK where a guy had skied down an elevator in the London Underground.

A few more laps in the afternoon and I decided to hit the trail and head up to Los Alamos and see what Pajarito, which had closed the previous week, looked like. The drive from Espanola to Los Alamos was very scenic and although the signposts for the ski area were terrible I eventually found my way to the turnoff but panicked when I saw security check points on the road. If only I had remembered back a few months I would have known that they were due to the old road being closed and a new one going through an army zone. Panicking I turned around and headed for home and my chance of stopping to take a picture ended when I was overtaken by a patrol car on the bend I had in mind for stopping. Anyway, I was heading for Espanola and the Days Inn($105) for the next couple of nights.

Checking in I was disappointed to again find that they only offered free wireless internet action and did not have a computer for the use of guests which meant I was again going in slightly blind to the next few days.

I settled down for the night with no real thought of venturing out and watched a couple decent movies. Alexander the Great and then Just Friends which was a funny film starring Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart which had me laughing quite a few times due to his bad luck chasing the girl. Rounding off with the NBA and the USA taking on Guatemala in the football it was quite a good night in front of the TV and I went to bed contented that I'd had another good day.

Thursday March 29th - Potential For More

Hitting the road to Taos(2612ft, 1294a) at 8am I was a little unsure of how to get there from Espanola and I was glad to find a pair of skis on a car in front of me to follow most of the way! Driving through Taos looked incredibly picturesque and the drive up to the resort was quite spectacular in places and reminded me in a few ways of driving in the mountain areas of Europe with the resort being at the end of the road and surrounded on all sides by steep mountains.

Although the sun was yet again shining it was noticeably quite a bit colder and I decided to put my lightweight jacket on to keep me a bit warmer. After getting my gear together I jumped on the back of the courteousy trailer up to the lift ticket office and pleased to get my ticket for $30. As a skier only resort it was also strange not to see snowboarders for the first time this trip although this was not the first time I'd been at a resort that do not allow snowboarding. Also noticeable at the base area was what I felt was a strong Bavarian theme and I quite liked this aspect.

I jumped onto the High Five and then Whiston lifts to get me out from the base and up to the higher elevations and hopefully some better conditions. Maxi's and Kachina lifts were where I would spend most of my morning doing laps and pretty much practising technique on the perfectly groomed, albeit slightly firm, piste and I had to feel a little disappointed that the lack of fresh snow was stopping me skiing what would be some great skiing off the ridges which surrounded most of the area. The number of ski instructors on the mountain was quite incredible and it was clear that Taos would be a great place to learn with something for everyone including very efficient and very quiet lifts.

By 12pm I was hungry and decided to head into the Phoenix Grill at the base of the Whiston lift for a 1/3lb burger, fries and a hot chocolate to try and get a bit of heat into me as I was finding it a lot colder than it had been for quite some time. A few others in the lodge were having the same problem.

Heading back out I skied a few more runs on the back side before I made my way over to the West Basin only to find the lift closed. With snow falling and a biting wind I decided to call it a day at 2pm and made my way back to the car. I decided to head to the library in Espanola to see what the conditions were like to the north and after an hour or so of catching up with the news back home I ventured into Walmart for some supplies before heading back to the ranch for the night.

Chicken pieces and a couple of glasses of wine finished off the day nicely and I watched a bit of TV while contemplating what my overall opinions of New Mexico would be once I was home. It is definitely somewhere I will go again although the vast distances between open resorts on this trip were a little tiring.

Friday March 30th - Powder At Its Best

I have risen earlier but 6am during this trip was a bit of an eye opener and I jumped into the shower and packed my gear into the car before hitting the road north at 6.45am with my destination for the day, Wolf Creek(1604ft, 1600a) Colorado, a drive of just under three hours to the north.

Cloudless skies were the norm by now and as I headed north I wondered if I'd see any more fresh snow during my trip. I was also saying goodbye to two new friends that I had gained during the previous week. Kit and Leah, aka The Pop Tarts on 98.3 KOB-FM had became an institution in the car and after an hour or so I had to give up altogether and tune into something else. Never forgotten!

The radio was claiming snow in the local area around Wolf Creek and although I was getting closer I found the prediction very hard to believe. Slight clouds maybe, snow, no chance. However, as I entered Pagosa Springs I was beginning to see the change and the drive towards Wolf Creek became more and more difficult and a few miles from the hill it was down to a snails pace in 3-4" of fresh snow and I was glad to sit behind a queue of traffic and a snowplough. Eventually at 9.30am I rolled into the parking lot and it was obvious that today was going to be a real powder day. Picking up a lift ticket($46) I spoke to a couple of what I assume were local ski instructors and they were relishing their day on the slopes and with 8" of fresh reported and more to follow I thought I would have a great day too!

Jumping on the Treasure chair I could see a beautiful ridge out to the left of me with a few people hiking out and a few tracks but an abundance of wide open, fresh powder turns off the face. I knew where I was heading! An easy traverse and climb across the ridge and I decided against following the crowds to the summit which would have given another 50-100 feet of vertical and decided to ski a little less vertical in exchange for a whole lot more untracked powder. It was to be a great decision.

I followed a lone snowboarder out into our start point and allowed him to drop in first before looking off the edge and deciding on a rough path. Cranking up my boots I took one last deep breath and I was in, and I was knee deep and above into the most brilliant light, fluffy and untracked powder you could imagine. These were some of the best turns imaginable and I was in heaven. Simple little bounces in each direction and I was plunging down the fall line and gaining speed and getting deeper turns as I went. A few hundred feet below and I was looking back up towards my line with a real sense of satisfaction and knew that I was skiing well. No doubt in my mind that more practise and good tuition over the last few years was definitely helping.

One downside was that although I loved every second of my decent I really was feeling my inability to climb it again and I really need to get myself in better shape for next winter. Anyway, I skied out to the bottom of the Alberta chair and jumped onto the first chair with not a sole in sight. I skied run after run in the trees of the deserted chair and the tree skiing was some of the best I have ever witnessed with a mix of little chutes, short flats, rollers, tight trees, open glades and the best bit of it all was that only around 30 people seemed to be using the lift so run after run was spent on fresh powder and the sun was beginning to shine. One downside for me and I guess any snowboarders would be the fairly flat run out.

Hungry and thirsty I headed in for a spot of lunch at the lodge and grabbed one of the few remaining seats. Settling for a chilli dog and fries washed down with a 1/2 litre bottle of Samuel Adams Oatmeal Stout I was interested to hear a couple of guys from Albuquerque telling some locals about their night in Durango. Sounded as though they were overdressed for the type of bars they were in but I would be safe enough. No shoes and suits in my bag!

Almost ready to head back out everyone at the table I was facing jumped up and raced my way. Oblivious to what was going on until I looked behind me to see that a man was lying on the floor having some kind of seizure. Being no expert I did not want to draw any further attention to the fella so I let the ski patrol in about and after a minute or two he was back on his feet and heading to the patrollers room for a check up. Lucky it was not outside as the stairs were pretty nasty.

Deciding to head to pastures new I spent a couple of hours skiing on the Dickey and Bonanza chairs from the base area and found both of them to be very quiet with a decent mix of piste and glade skiing. Finishing off with a blast from the top to the parking lot I got a bit carried away and flew into a bit of a mogul field at high speed. I just about stayed on my feet but must have looked like a right idiot from the chair!

Packing the car I had a drive of just over an hour to Durango where I planned to stay for the night. Driving towards Piedra I noticed a huge rock on the horizon shaped like a pinnacle and it looked massive! I took some snaps as I passed and it turns out that it was Chimney Rock which is of major archaeological interest as it was home to Pueblo Indians up to 1000 years ago and 200 ancient buildings have been found in the area. The twin peaks of Chimney Rock and Companion Rock are said to be of particular spiritual importance to the tribe and is the scene of a spectacular lunar event when the moon rises between the two rocks.

Onwards I arrived in Durango with my intention being to head west to Hesperus to see what it looked like and whether there was any sign of skiing. Unfortunately the only snow on the ground was the inch or two that had fallen during the day. The pitch of the hill looked decent and it would be a fun place to spend a few hours on another visit but that would appear to depend on the mountain finding an owner with a large for sale sign planted in the lower slopes.

Back into Durango I was looking for a place for the night and after a drive up through town I decided to check into the rustic Budget Inn($31). A quick chat with the manager and he was able to give me a map of town so I could see where the town's ski hill was. Deciding to look it up in the morning I headed to my room and opened up a bottle of wine and sat watched a bit of TV before heading out at 8pm for a look down the road to see if I could find a bar. Out of luck I headed for home and a glass of wine in front of the NBA before heading for an early night. With a noisy neighbour who clearly wanted to listen to his TV for long enough I grabbed my B&Q ear plugs and gently fell into the land of nod.

This article was written by Quintin Chalmers, a 32-year-old skier from Aberdeen in the north of
Scotland. Quintin has skied at over 80 North American resorts and is in the process of setting up
www.offthebeatenpath.co.uk designed to help like minded people find the best turns in some of the
more unusual resorts in western USA. He has over 20 years skiing experience and enjoys nothing
more than seeing new places that many people write off as being not worth the hassle.