Hello Skiers,
On Wednesday, January 16, Bet Gendron, Carl Smith, Mike Meier, and I skied in the eastern part of the East Fork area in the Jemez Mountains on the north side of NM-4. After parking in the large plowed lot at the Los Griegos Trailhead 9.2
miles east of La Cueva, we crossed the highway at the east end of the lot and skied north on Burn Trail. After about one-quarter mile, we turned east and followed a connecting trail to the top of East Fork Ridge. Here the Ridge Trail goes to the west, and
we began skiing the East Loop counterclockwise.
After passing the reclaimed open-pit pumice mine, we stopped for lunch at the east end of the loop. We then skied the north side of the loop in excellent snow with a depth of over 2 feet and two inches of new snow. We returned by skiing
south across the mine, through the thinning project log storage area, and walked or skied back to the vehicles. We broke trail throughout the day, and the track was about 8 inches deep. We had enjoyed four hours of skiing in the best snow in the Jemez in many
years.
Photos of the outing are presented in the attached Word document.
Sam