[NMCCSC] Report of skiing the East Fork East Loop, Sat., Dec. 19

[Sam Beard]

Hello Skiers,

On Saturday, Dec. 19, Michael Arndt and I skied the East Fork Ridge Trail East Loop near Los Griegos in the Jemez Mountains. We had a sunny day with a 10 am temperature of 27 F.

>From the Los Griegos parking lot, we hiked about 200 feet to the east and skied in on the Las Conchas Burn Trail for about one-quarter mile. We then turned to the right on an old logging road and followed it to the ridge where the loop trail begins. A trail on the west side of this trail junction follows the ridge for several miles. We skied the loop in a clockwise direction, and on the north side of the ridge in the shade we were skiing in 10 inches of powder. At the east end of the loop, we turned to the west and came to the north side of a former pumice mine where grass and young pine trees are now growing. After lunch on the “lunch log” with views of Los Griegos Mountain, we continued along a narrow trail on the south side of the loop back to the trail junction. The snow here was not very good, and it occurred to me that it would have been more fun to return to the west by skiing on the north side of the loop again where the snow was excellent.

We then skied the ridge trail to the west about one mile to a meadow with a view of Redondo Peak and the intersection with Mistletoe Canyon Trail. After skiing to the south about one-half mile on a ridge, we were overlooking the Los Griegos parking lot, and we hiked down to Michael’s truck.

We then drove to the east to check snow conditions at three trailheads. Corral Canyon was covered with snow, and there were ski tracks. The snow at the Missing Link trailhead was only about 4 inches deep. The meadows at Coyote Call Trailhead were covered with snow.

We saw a Prius in the Los Griegos parking lot, and I thought that it might be Dana Price’s car. After retuning home, I read reports by Dana and Vicky Kauffman about skiing on Los Griegos Mountain yesterday.

In general, the Jemez Mountains need more snow, but we are fortunate to have snow this early.

Sam

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