My Page: Carson Bennett
Taos Ski Week, Day 2
Wind, Snow, and Bombs
Monday, 8:45am - I’m lined up with the early-birds, hoping for first chair or as close to it as I can get. I want to take a run before my second ski week lesson starts at 10:00.
It’s snowing, but not that nice fluffy snow that falls slowly, gently ironing out the mountain’s bumps and troughs. No. This snow is wind powered. It shoots horizontally across the base of the mountain. Those of us lined up at chair one duck into our coats, pull balaclavas over our faces, but we don’t get out of line.
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Taos Ski Week, Day 1
The Great Ski-Off
It is a sunny Sunday morning in the Taos Ski Valley. I buy my special January Ski Week ticket for $75 at the Ski School office, park my skis in a rack at the base of the mountain, and walk inside Tenderfoot Katie’s Cafeteria to put on my ski boots. I’m not sure what to expect today, and I’m nervous. Will I be stuck with a group of ski school students who timidly snowplow their way down the groomers? Will I be struggling to keep up to an instructor who leaves his/her students behind? Will the instructor be a hard-ass or a cheerleader? The last time I took a skiing lesson I think I was ten years old, and no matter how many times I caught an edge or was tossed in the back seat by a mogul, the instructor applauded and told me I was doing great. I wasn’t doing great. It frustrated the hell out of me. [more]
Taos Ski Week
Taos: If You Can Ski Here, You Can Ski Anywhere
I’ve been skiing since I was about four years old, but not consistently, and often not well. I didn’t start skiing regularly until college, and I learned in the same way most people do – I simply tried to keep up with my friend, who was much better than me, by mimicking his movements and following his advice. This method worked, to a point. Now, I can get down anything that Arapahoe Basin, Keystone, Vail, Wolf Creek, Taos can throw at me, but it’s not pretty, and I’m often spending more time searching for my skis, poles, and goggles than I am actually skiing. In the last few seasons, my skills have plateaued. I just can’t seem to get any better. So, I decided to look into the Taos Ski Week. [more]
new EIS required
Wolf Creek Development Plans Halted
Developer Red McComb’s plans for a 287-acre “Village at Wolf Creek” at the base of one of Colorado’s last small family-owned ski areas have, for now, been squashed.
On Saturday, February 9th, the Durango Herald reported that Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture has agreed to start a new Environmental Impact Statement for the access road they want to build across public land, “a task that could set them back several years.”
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Bad News for Residents, Good News for Skiing
Northern New Mexico Buried By Recent Storm
The small town of Chama, on the northernmost edge of New Mexico, is buried. 33 inches of snow fell on Chama and most of Rio Arriba County in three days, from February 2nd to February 5th. This is bad news for residents of Chama, many of whom are literally unable to open their front doors.
But it’s good news for the nearby ski areas. The steep slopes of Taos, 115 miles southeast of Chama, received 30 inches in the last three days, bringing their summit base depth to 108 inches.
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Burgers, Beers, Hot Springs, Repeat
Apres Wolf Creek
Congratulations. You’ve skied a full day at Wolf Creek. You caught the first chair and skied ten runs before noon. The snow was so good you didn’t even pause for lunch, preferring a frozen Clif Bar and an apple on the lift. After another dozen runs or so the lifts closed – just in time – the powder turned your legs to Jello. You are hungry. You are sore. You are ready for après ski, Pagosa Springs style. [more]
Be Prepared
Two Snowboarders Still Missing in Wolf Creek
On the first weekend in January, one of the biggest storms in Wolf Creek’s recent history dumped more than eighty inches on the San Juan mountains in three days. Two snowboarders from Albuquerque, two snowboarders from Santa Fe, and two families of snowmobilers from Farmington went missing in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico during the storm. Avalanches throughout southern Colorado closed mountain passes, including Wolf Creek pass, hampering search efforts, and the snow continued to fall. [more]
Recent Storm Dumps 80 Inches
Epic Snow at Wolf Creek
Wolf Creek, Colorado – consistently the “mostest and the bestest” snow in Colorado. With an average annual snowfall of 465 inches (nearly 39 feet) Wolf Creek is a top destination for alpine and cross-country skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers, and snowshoers from Colorado and surrounding states.
Why does Wolf Creek receive so much snow, and so consistently? It has to do with the shape of the San Juan Mountains at Wolf Creek Pass. The San Juan Mountains are the first major obstacle subtropical Pacific storms encounter on their way across the southwestern states. The warm air rises quickly when it hits the San Juans, and as it rises it cools. Since cold air can hold less moisture than warm air, the storms dump precipitation as they make their way up and through the funnel-shaped 10,850 foot high Wolf Creek Pass. Basically, Wolf Creek Pass was designed with powder-junkies in mind.
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Skiing with Friends
A New Year’s Tradition
New Year’s Eve, 2007. It’s 2:00pm at Arapahoe Basin. My best college buddy Jason, his brother Kyle, his friend Josh, my friend (and Jason’s wife) Rosie, and I have been in a car for nearly five hours, circumnavigating the I-70 closure by driving from Denver south to Fairplay, over Hoosier Pass into Breckenridge, then over Swan Mountain road and up to the basin. As soon as we hit the A-Basin parking lot we grab our gear and jump in the lift line. The wind chill is twenty below at the top of the Pallavicini lift. Gales whipping snow over the Pali cornice feel like razor blades. I try to ask Kyle which way we’re going. It’s our first run, so I assume we’ll head left and coast down a nice blue run, like West Wall or Grizzly Road, to stretch our legs after the long car ride. The wind is so cold I can barely move my face. I make a sound like, “Hee, a, leh o rye?” Kyle frowns. [more]
Hoth, the Ice Planet
Snow Memories
I’m visiting my family in Colorado Springs for Christmas. This morning I braved the cold and snow to walk about ten blocks from my mom’s house to the Dog Tooth Coffee shop where I sat down with my computer and a steaming cup of mountain roast and tried to write. Writer’s block set in almost instantly. I’m going skiing over New Year’s with two of my very best college friends up in Summit County, and my mind was elsewhere. I looked out the windows at the snow swirling through the intersection, checked the snow and ski reports repeatedly to see how much powder we can expect early next week, and memories of past snowy days distracted me.
Well, I got nostalgic, and thought I should share one of my favorite snow memories with you. I grew up in Black Forest, north of Colorado Springs, where I remember deep snow blanketing the forest every winter. I rode the school bus, of course, and in the winter I turned the snowy half mile walk home from the bus stop into a daily adventure. Oh, and I should mention, I was obsessed with Star Wars.
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