ROAD TRIP

Search for Powder Leads to Taos

By Bob Berwyn, 1-28-08

	Leigh Wadden enjoys the powder snow during a recent snowshoe trek in Cottonwood Canyon, near Buena Vista, Colorado. Photo by Bob Berwyn.

Even with great early season snow in my Summit County stomping grounds, a skier’s heart can get to yearning around mid-winter. So after a couple of weeks of self-induced headaches (don’t ask), it’s time to hit the road. Leigh and I pack up late Friday afternoon, bound for Taos Ski Valley.

First stop is at Cottonwood Hot Springs, near Buena Vista, where we soak in the hottest pool as a fat, orange and nearly full moon climbs razor-sharp into the icy sky above the Upper Arkansas Valley. The temperature is around zero, and with the wind gusting up to 30 miles per hour, getting out of the rock-lined tub is a frosty adventure. Our bed is soft as a cloud. After a two-hour soak, sleep comes easy.

We’re on a leisurely schedule so so before we head south on Highway 285, we drive a short way up Cottonwood Canyon for snowshoe trek through a thick aspen grove. The snow is deep and powdery, just the way it should be mid-winter, and we relish deep drinks of clean mountain air, laughing every now and then as we break down through a patch of sugar snow and flop down in the fluff to make snow angels.

Since Cottonwood Hot Springs offers a generously late check-out time of 1 p.m., we return for one more quick soak before stocking up on salt-n-vinegar chips and pointing the Subaru south through the wide-open heart of Colorado and the plateau and canyon country of northern New Mexico beyond.

Skiing Taos will be a homecoming of sorts for me, and a new experience for Leigh, who thrives on traveling and seeing new places. I spent a few heyday years of my youth getting to know this amazing mountain, figuring out the intricacies of the telemark turn and pointing my life in a direction that hasn’t changed since. As we cross the Rio Grande gorge and head up the windy canyon toward the ski area, my heart skips a beat. Who says you can’t go home again?

Check out part 2 of the Taos road trip blog here.

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