Hello Everyone:

 

The heavy snows that have visited the Sandias recently, while greatly needed and welcome, were not without their problems. So much snow fell so quickly as to overwhelm the resources available to quickly clear it off roads and parking lots. Due to its lower priority (The Interstates and major highways must come first) the NMDOT was not able to open the Crest road in a timely manner. Once the road was open, users were faced with parking lots covered in deep snow and not accessible.

 

In "normal" snow years, the Sandia Ranger District can usually keep up with snow removal using their small truck-mounted snowplow. However, the snow must be addressed quickly and cannot be more than 6" in depth for this to work. Due to the deep snow and the government shutdown, that option was no longer practical.

 

The District is almost always grossly underfunded for winter snow removal. This year was no exception. What little money was available had to go to the intensely used Capulin Snowplay Area. That left no funds for the remaining parking lots located higher up the mountain.

 

The Sandia Nordic Ski Club is a volunteer group that helps build and maintain the new cross country ski trails located above the 10K South trailhead. In order to provide parking for access to that area for maintenance and general public use, they decided to hire the contractor who usually does snow plowing for USFS, to clear the Ellis Trailhead lot. It is my understanding that they paid about $800.00 for this work. The Ellis parking lot is now open for everyone to use.

 

Apparently, a movie company had obtained a USFS permit to do filming in the 10K area. (These permits are usually issued at the Regional or Forest Supervisors office level.) Due to the snowfall, it was necessary for the film company to also hire the contractor to provide parking at 10K for the movie crew. This worked out well for everyone as both 10K lots are now clear.

 

That left the large parking lot at Sandia Crest as still inaccessible. Apparently, when the NMDOT cleared the Crest highway, the plow operator plowed a long, single lane opening part way down the lot to the south. (The state highway ends at the Crest and the NMDOT is not obligated to plow that parking lot.) There was barely room for 6 or 8 cars to park along that opening. The Annual FOSM Sandia Snowshoe Race is a sellout and is scheduled for Saturday, January 26, 2019. With 150 participants, plus spectators and race volunteers, space to park in excess of 100 vehicles is required. The government shutdown had delayed the issuance of the USFS Special Use Permit needed for FOSM to conduct the race. Thanks to the diligence of District Ranger Crystal Powell, the permit was at last issued. With that problem solved, FOSM was still faced with a basically inaccessible parking lot at the Crest.

 

There were two choices, pay to have the Crest parking lot cleared or cancel the race. Cancel was not really an option, especially since last year's race had been cancelled due to lack of snow. Race Director Steve Roholt made arrangements with the contractor to do the work and received a bid of $1700.00. The FOSM Board of Directors quickly approved the expenditure and the lot was cleared. The final charge was $1680.00. The race will go on as scheduled this coming Saturday.

 

Sorry for the length of this message, but I felt it appropriate that our members and volunteers be aware of all the "behind the scenes" work that was involved in making the mountain accessible for everyone to enjoy. It has been rare that our Sandias have had as much snow cover as this year. It would have been a shame if inaccessible parking lots had denied folks the opportunity to get out and enjoy some great winter recreation on our mountain.

 

To the best of my knowledge, the above information is accurate. I welcome any corrections if needed.

 

Bob L. 

 

 

 

 

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