[NMCCSC] Report of Class I tour on VCNP, Sat., Feb. 8

[Sam via NMCCSCeGroup]

Hello Skiers,

On Saturday, February 8, 2020, four skiers completed the Class I tour from the Missing Trailhead on the Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP). We had intended to park at the check-in station, but the road was closed at the Main Gate so that the contractor could complete plowing the road to the station. Amy Mathis reported the Class II tour here earlier.

Leslie LaBry, Michael Arndt, Chris Cochrum, and Sam Beard skied from the highway past the Missing Cabin and between Cerro La Jara and South Mountain to the road leading from the check-in station to the cabin area. This road had not been plowed when we had lunch there at noon. As the attached Word document of photos shows, most of the formerly plowed road had been filled with blown snow and wind slab. After lunch, we skied to the SE corner of the History Grove where we rested before skiing to the check-in station. This segment of the tour was very enjoyable, because it was slightly down hill, and the snow was not too fast.

At the check-in station, we saw that the road from the highway had been plowed, and several vehicles were in the parking lot. The contractor was plowing the road to the cabin area with a front loader with a very large V-snow plow blade on the front. From here we skied around to the SW side of Cerro La Jara, the small mountain at the station, and followed tracks back to the Missing Cabin and the highway. We saw the Class II group from South Mountain in front of us. We skied across the East Fork River on a hard wind slab.

The snow ranged from settled powder to hard wind slab that would usually support a skier, but frequently it would break and create a rough track. We did not have problems with snow sticking to the skis and did not apply MaxiGlide. The day was sunny with little wind, and we certainly got a lot of practice kicking and gliding for 7 miles round trip. From the trailhead, we descended 200 feet to the river and then ascended 180 feet to the History Grove.

I drew our approximate tour route on a Google Earth Satellite photo that is presented on page 1 in the attached Word document.

Sam



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