Our First Ski Trip of the New Year!

This past weekend we finally went skiing for the first time this season!!! We have been meaning to go, but wanted to wait for good snow conditions. After Friday’s storm, this was the perfect weekend to hit the slopes! Our little Frenchie Rosie gave us the stank eye for not taking her with us, but I think she understands! Though we had to bribe her with a promise to take her hiking the next day.

Lindsay is an old pro, having grown up in Taos, NM, she is used to super steep runs that try to rip your face off. I, on the other hand, went skiing for the first time last season. So, today marks Season 2, Day 1!

We decided to meet up with some friends at nearby Pajarito Mountain Ski Area. It is about a one hour drive from home, with good road conditions. Ski Pajarito is on the north face of Pajarito Mountain, in the Jemez Mountain Range in north central New Mexico. It is close to Los Alamos, NM. The ski area is small, at about 850 acres of privately owned land. The base elevation is 9,200 feet, with a maximum elevation of 10,440 feet.

Man, did we luck out on the weather! Slightly cool, mostly clear and little to no wind! We couldn’t have asked for better conditions. Due to the high visibility, we got stunning views of the surrounding countryside.

We did a few runs on the bunny hill to get warmed up (I needed this, not Lindsay). We then took off and hit some blue runs! The mountain is mostly a single grade, and either slightly less steep for green and blue runs, and slightly more steep for black runs. Nothing is incredibly easy or incredibly hard, so it is a perfect warm up to the season!

Everything went great, and I got to do some mogul runs, which completely wiped out my legs after two go-throughs! I think Lindsay had fun too, but she typically prefers more extreme skiing.

Things were going swimmingly until our buddy had a hard wipeout and broke off a piece of his binding!!! Luckily, he landed in about 3 feet of fresh powder, so his fall was cushioned. Try as we might, we could not find the binding, so he had to ski back on one ski! In case you are wondering, he did survive.

After that ordeal, Lindsay and I did a couple more runs and then called it a day. All in all, a mostly successful first day back on the slopes! We hope to get out again soon and maybe I can teach Lindsay a thing or two! (About falling).

Sincerely,

Nic

The MM Family