For the past several years, I’ve wanted to take our teens skiing. DH and I debated about whether to take an expensive, week-long ski trip out West or to give them a quick introduction closer to home in North Carolina. Just after Christmas, we headed up to Beech Mountain in North Carolina for a ski lesson and an afternoon of skiing. Everyone loved it.
When we found ourselves going to Arizona and New Mexico at Spring Break, I looked up the ski season at Taos Ski Valley. Fortunately due to lots of snow, they were still open during our trip. I packed a suitcase of ski pants, gloves ans hats — just in case. After checking the snow report and temperatures once our trip started, I found discounted ski lift tickets online since it was a weekday at the end of the season.
High Road to Taos
Two different routes take visitors to Taos from Santa Fe – the High Road and the Low Road. We chose to take the High Road which went through the Sangre de Christe mountains.
Driving through small Pueblo towns, we had opportunities to stop at churches and hop for crafts. However, time was of the essence so we drove past towns such as Santuario de Chimayo, Truches and Las Trampas before entering the Carson National Forest. Snow-capped mountains greeted us and the road gave us unparallelled views down into the valley below.
San Francisco de Asis
Once in Taos, we stopped at San Francisco de Asis church. It was easy to see why this small church is so often photographed. Built in the 1800’s, the adobe-style church sits in a small plaza once surrounded by a military garrison.
Perfectly symmetrical, the old church stood proud on the cloudless, blue day. Inside the small courtyard, statues and gardens basked in the sunshine.
Taos Ski Valley
Continuing along windy roads about 30 minutes past Taos, we came to the Ski Valley. Parking was readily available and we went to the ski rental place attached to the Blake Hotel.
Unlike our previous ski experience, there were no lines. The Taos staff probably got a kick out of us because we were “country come to town” – especially when one of our daughters proudly said she had skied before in North Carolina. They spent time with us making sure our boots fit and we had the proper accessories.
As we rode up the ski lift to the green, White Feather trail, we realized there was no comparison between Taos and Beech Mountain. To give some perspective, Taos boasts over 1,200 skiable acres with a skiable vertical drop of 3,200 feet. Beech Mountain was much smaller and less steep with 95 acres and a vertical drop of only 830 feet. Let’s just say we were a bit out of our league.
The green slope was too tough for our teens who (after many falls and tears) ended up riding back down the mountain via the ski patrol sled. I thought our day was going to be a disaster. Instead our girls loved riding down the mountain and we regrouped over hot chocolate (with lots of whipped cream) and lunch on the deck at Rhoda’s Restaurant.
They decided to hit the bunny slope called Pioneer, while DH and I went on the green slopes Honeysuckle, Lower Totemoff and Winkelried. It took a few runs but when I felt my ski groove return (it had been a couple of decades since I skiied out West), DH went on the blue slopes.
The sun warmed the temperatures and the skiing was glorious. With few skiiers, I felt free to really explore the green slopes. I ventured to Easy Trip, and Japanese Flag and Rubezahl on the other side of the mountain.
When we returned our boots and skis, the staff member said that if you can ski green slopes here, it’s like blue slopes elsewhere.
Taos and the Low Road
Since the slopes close at 4 pm, we weren’t hungry enough for dinner when we drove back through Taos. However, we found a cute coffee shop and drove around the plaza.
Taking the Low Road back to Santa Fe, we followed the Rio Grande. We stopped in Espanola where I had gone on a church mission trip back in high school. McCurdy School is still there but it converted to a charter school a few years ago. However, I could still recognize a few of the buildings and the dorms we stayed in.