NMSKI

Thats right, they are rockered.

It all arrived, I guess I have plenty of time to get the bindings mounted. Deal of the century so we'll see how it goes. Should probably spend my money on summer stuff now. <a href="http://s1079.photobucket.com/albums/w520/tcatan01/?action=view&current=08f78628.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w520/tcatan01/08f78628.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>

Seems like you could ship one of these also if the need ever arose. I get nervous checking anything. I picture the baggage handlers and TSA treating my luggage like Ace Ventura UPS guy.

Thanks for the info guys. Thats a nice looking bag. Really surprising to me that there are not any other bags that hold longer skis. My longest are 187, but if I get a pair of pow skis I will for sure need the extra length.

Since there's some good deals to be had out there this time of year, I'm looking to get a new travel bag. What do you all use, or what would anybody recommend? Want to get one that can carry and protect 2 pairs.

This guy is too worried about what other people are doing. Who cares what you look like or how good you are as long as its fun? Only thing I hate is when someone runs over my skis in line.

Prominence is basically how tall the mountain is compared to the surrounding area. If the surrounding area is high elevation already, a really high peak doesn't appear as prominenent. For example, in Colorado there are 14k foot peaks, but the surrounding area is 5-10k feet elevation so the mountains dont look as big.

SurprIsed me that the Tetons weren't on here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_peaks_by_prominence

I expected the rocky mountains to be a little rockier than this. I was thinking the same thing, that John Denver is full of shit man. - harry dunn & lloyd christmas

So I didn't demo a damn thing other than the Atomic Coax which I liked, but I found a pair of the slicers online for ridiculously cheap and since i just got my bonus at work I'm thinking about getting them without having demoed since I only hear great things about them. Seems low risk enough. Was wondering about bindings. I have a set of Salomon STH 14's I could swap onto them, or I also read that the Look PX 12 is recommended for the ski. Should I swap the STH 14's, or get new PX 12's? Other good options?

Warming hut on the way to Kachina Not almost there Still not almost there My goofy ass on top of Kachina Looking back up Kachina

Spent a couple of days in Albuquerque getting acclimated to the altitude, catching up with some friends and letting my mom spend some time with my kids. Did some nice hikes in the nearby Sandia mountains, and saw my NM Lobos beat Boise State for a share of the Mountain West regular season title. Took a couple pics of the hike. When we rolled into the town of Taos it was warm enough that there were people jogging shirtless, so I was fully expecting spring conditions at Taos Ski Valley. It hadn’t snowed in about 10 days or so when we arrived. My general plan was to ski the backside and lower front side in the morning and kind of work my way around the mountain as the day went on to sort of “follow the aspect” so that I could be skiing somewhat soft snow all day. I demoed some skis at Alpine Extreme lift-side and they set me up with the Atomic Coax 191cm. I fully expected to swap in and out of a bunch of different skis, but these actually really did the trick for me and I stayed on them the whole trip. Took me 2 or three runs to get used to them on groomers, but they were awesome on the ungroomed steeps. As far as the skiing goes, North American and Longhorn were 2 of the trails on the front side that were really good in the morning. The first 10 or so turns on Longhorn were some of the steepest stuff I’ve ever skied although not bumped up I’m guessing due to the steepness. The rest of it was big, soft bumps. If bumps are your thing, the front side is where it’s at. In addition to the famous Al’s run there are a bunch of others beside it that are just about as steep and equally bumpy. I steered clear of this area, as I’ve already checked Al’s off my bucket list a while back, and didn’t want to waste all my energy over there. On the backside of the mountain, my favorite by far has to be Hunziker Bowl. I spent the majority of one full day lapping this area as the snow was so good and there are literally acres and acres to explore. Hunziker is accessed by an uphill herringbone track through a gate, so most people are too lazy to go in there but it’s their loss. Once you make it up there you can traverse clear around a bowl with options ranging from wide open bowl skiing to somewhat tighter chutes. Also, the way the wind blows right up the bowl, combined with its difficulty to get to means the snow is fresh windblown all day long. Even when it hasn’t snowed in 10 days. There are some nice long groomed runs on the backside that I really enjoyed getting some speed on. I only skied 1 or 2 of the ungroomed runs on the upper front-side. These would be more fun on a powder day. Castor and Pollux are right under lift 2 and are very steep and have trees interspersed throughout – not somewhere you’d want to fall and lose control. Took me long enough, and was enough work to make it down that I only did it once. Also on the upper front side accessed from lift 2 is the West Basin Ridge, where they had the Salomon Freeride Championships the weekend before I got there. I hiked up to there to check it out, but it was looking pretty beat up so I opted to go left to Highline Ridge. On Highline Ridge, I skied Juarez a couple of times and really liked that. It’s very steep but also very wide open. It’s also visible to other parts of the mountain, so I felt all right skiing it without a partner (my buddy only skied with me one day). Another time up Highline Ridge, I met a guy from Chicago and a girl from Chile and we made a go at Kachina Peak. Took us about an hour and 15 but it was totally worth it. At one point I was so out of breath, I would take 30 steps, rest, take 30 steps, rest, etc. I will invest in a ski pack before doing this again, as it was a monumental pain in the ass to carry my skis all the way up there on my shoulder. I did that hike on Wednesday and my shoulder is still sore as I write this. The descent from Kachina was amazing. The snow was chalky windblown and nice, and it was just endless steep turns. Overall, Kachina was the highlight of the trip. Wish I had gotten more pictures in general, but it’s such a pain in the ass to stop every 50 feet and pull out a camera. Also, most of what I didn’t capture on camera are either groomers or steep mogul runs, which I’m sure you can picture in your imagination pretty accurately. Here’s some pics: Upper backside Hunziker Bowl Looking good to go Looking across Highline to Juarez

Lol, i'll get my shit together tonight after work.

Can't figure out how the fck to post my pics. Also accidentally erased my TR while trying to figure it out. I know, I'm an idiot. Can someone tell me how to put up pics? I have them on my hard drive but can't figure out how to get them into my post.

Will make sure to get some good pics of Al's. Attempting the zipper line might result in yard sale, but I'll see what I can do.

Got you both, right here:

I was getting my shit together for the trip and had an idea I'll throw out there to do something a little different and fun for a trip report. You guys tell me what you want to see in terms of pics from the trip, and I will do my best to make it happen. If theres something you were wondering about, whether its what a certain run looks like, or terrain features, or whatever I will try to get it on film. Kind of like a scavenger hunt for me. Throw your ideas up here and I will make a list and go from there.

Just bought it online. Also printed out and signed the waiver which I will bring with me, so I can't imagine it will take long to take my picture and hand over the pass. Did not realize that. Saves me a trip down and back up.

I'm going to purchase mine on Saturday. If I'm at customer service at 7:30 when they open, will I be able to be on the slopes at 8? Can someone tell me from experience how long it took to process?

Thanks for helping me narrow it down a little. Those slicers are interesting from what I can tell. I'm not really a park guy, but as long as they can do the things I want and they feel good to me, I guess having the twin tip won't hurt me. Maybe It'll even give me reason to get in the park a little. Definitely going to start with these and the 98's. I'm hoping for a pow day while I'm there because I've never skied a really fat pow ski and want to demo one as well (really just for the experience, would be a waste of money for me to buy one). If I'm lucky enough for a powder day, should I start with the Rossi Super 7's and Atomic Bentchetlers, or would you suggest something else? Thanks.

Thanks man, this is interesting. Even though it ain't 40 degrees, Sno is still keeping some pretty decent company from looking at this list.

That makes sense when you compare them like that. Based on the picture I drew while bored at work, 40 seemed reasonable, but I guess thats way off.

So I made a reservation to demo when I'm at Taos in a couple weeks, and the brands offered are K2, Salomon, Atomic, Rossignol, Fisher and Dynastar. I'm looking for something in 95-105mm range that is versatile enough to carve, handle some crud/pow, and fairly quick in the trees. Rather than waste half a ski day figuring it out which ones are good to try, does anyone have opinions for/against specific skis in the brands offered? Of course I can look up gear reviews online but I'm interested in what you guys think.

If you like wings, you will love the long trail brewery too. Some of the best I've had.

That adrenaline rush you get when looking over the headwall and not seeing the ground in front of you until you are right up at the edge is the best. I had not experienced that in PA until skiing white lightning. Elevator at JF might be similar steepness, but not comparable in terms of length. Anyone have any guesses in terms of the degree of steepness? 40 degrees?