Taos Backcountry Ski update 09 Feb 2025
It’s always interesting to me that when it snows in NM in October that everyone thinks winter skiing will be great. Well, that may or may not be true. The fact is that it’s unusual for NM to have regular snowfall to keep the October storm’s snow from turning into the dreadful facets that can plague the mountains well into late Spring.
Indeed, January has been an extraordinarily dry month and have left the Southwest with a lackluster of snow in the highlands, which is reflected in the mountain people’s glum attitude and outlook. But don’t worry, it also rare that NM doesn’t get a few big storms in Feb, March and perhaps one or two extending into April. And that’s why the die hard backcountry skiers are able to get in some great skiing by simply being a staunch hold-out and keep the skis ready. But you have to be ready to go when it happens. Ironically, skiers hang it up when April comes around and start looking towards rock climbing, cycling, fishing, hunting, or some other outside verb that doesn’t include skiing. Too bad.
Some of the bigger days out are in the late winter and into the following months. I love to ride my motorcycle to Taos with my skis strapped on the saddle bags, met some great friends, and head into the hills while there’s nobody else at the ghosted ski areas. Now that’s the real spirit of NM backcountry skiing.
So, as I teach avalanche course after avalanche course in Taos, and always pray for more snow in order to open up the higher terrain, I wonder if there will be fires this forthcoming summer that will rival the recent Calf Fire. Moreover, I think about all the dead and down and if it will simply be a tinder box in the wilderness zones and run out of control. No doubt, the landscape looks very different around the Wheeler Peak/Gold Hill region than it has in the past. The blow down took out thousands of trees and made some trails impassible. The current situation of low snow isn’t the only problem, it’s the dead and down. Lots of broken legs are happening both in bounds and out of bounds in Taos, but with the low snow year, it pays dividends to keep the tips up and ride in the back seat.
The really good news is that there’s no avalanche danger so far, but there’s a storm on the horizon, so we’ll see. But regardless, I’m happy to teach folks some new skills and keep them safe in the backcountry no matter how much snow is or isn’t on the ground.
