[NMCCSC] Los Griegos: 2019 Feb 23 and 24

Mon Feb 25 21:17:46 MST 2019

Fellow Snowgoers,
After the big snow in Los Alamos, I was anxious to get into the Jemez this
past weekend. A friend and colleague from 40 years ago, Norbert Ensslin,
and I finally were able to ski together on Saturday. He had not skiied Los
Griegos much recently, and we decided to do the Ladera/Elk Ridge
combination.  It was the best day for cross country skiing in memory for me
(insert sarcastic comment here.)

We were the first on the trails since the recent snow, and broke trail
through 4-8" of medium heavy snow up to Griegos Junction (GJ). Near the
upper intersection of Ladera and Elk Ridge Trails, I got a little snaked up
and missed Sam's blazed trail.  We ended up climbing a steeper route that
lead to Lower Road and then to GJ. This error had the bad side effect of
leaving the wrong broken trail, which all subsequent skiers took. (I
remedied this, as best I could, on Sunday.)

After lunch, we went down Lower Road to Elk Ridge Trail, and descended back
to Ladera, and on to the trailhead.  I'd been looking forward to Elk Ridge
Trail for a long time, including all of snowless 2018.  But the snow was
deep and heavy enough (and unbroken) that the hoped for exhilaration didn't
occur until Norbert volunteered to break the trail ahead of me, to allow me
to get up some speed in his track, and then execute some very enjoyable
turns with my new backcountry setup. Thanks to Bet for patiently explaining
to me how to use it.

On Sunday, I dawdled too long at home, and missed Guy's Los Griegos tour,
and was a little too early to meet Alan Shapiro and Sarah Stout. I went up
Ladera again, this time with less effort, thanks to a number of skiers who
had followed our track. And this time, I did see the contours, and did
follow the correct track up to Los Griegos.  So, if you decide to go, and
find "two roads diverged in a wood...take the one less travelled by."  Alan
and Sarah did so, and I met them at GJ a little later.

While munching an apple at GJ, Guy appeared with his group. Then so did
others, including Alan and Sarah, and it was soon standing room - I think
there were a dozen of us at one point.  It was clear that Squirrel Canyon
had not been skiied, and Guy express interest in following it out.  I tried
to describe to Guy the route back, using Black Dog Canyon. My descriptions
were vague, and I thought it might help if I at least set a recognizable
trail into Black Dog, which we suspected had not been skiied recently.

Lower Road and Elk Ridge were all that I'd hoped for, and skiing in and out
of the broken track from Saturday made for an fast and exhilarating, but
controlled, descent.  Most of my body (not including my out-of-shape quads)
agreed that it was a great run. At Ladera, I climbed back up to Lower Road
(power lines) and skiied down Lower Road and into Black Dog Canyon and then
back to the trailhead to set a track for Guy.  Lower Road was a fun cruise
higher up, but the sun-exposed snow was heavy enough and sticky enough to
require some kicking and gliding lower down.

The Los Griegos area is documented in Sam Beard's "Cross Country Skiing in
Northern New Mexico," p.46, and on the NMCCSC website under the "Trails and
Maintenance/Trails and Maps" tabs.  Attached are screenshots of my tracks
for the two days. The 2/23 track shows my actual (erroneous) track and the
correct one (in color). For Sam, Carl, Bet, and maintenance geeks there is
an attached photo of the large rootball/hole on the second last switchback
below GJ.

There was some snow blown onto NM4 near the Valle, but driving was not
hazardous. The gate was open and a vehicle had gone up FR280.  A few
snowplow swipes had been made at the major trailheads, but I think that 4WD
would be helpful, and perhaps a shovel.

-- 
“A melancholy lesson of advancing years is the realisation that you can't
make old friends.”
― Christopher Hitchens
<http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3956.Christopher_Hitchens>

-- 
“A melancholy lesson of advancing years is the realisation that you can't
make old friends.”
― Christopher Hitchens
<http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3956.Christopher_Hitchens>
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